Business Analysis Practice

Overview

Understanding how an organisation decides its strategy is fundamental to a Business Analyst being able to put their work into context. This course is designed to help the Business Analyst build the knowledge on the wider picture of business systems. It focuses on using an holistic approach to the investigation and improvement of business situations with a view to developing effective, feasible business solutions.

Content

Rationale

• A lifecycle for business change
• The role of the Business Analyst within the lifecycle for business change
• The framework for business analysis activities

Understanding the Strategic Context

• External environment analysis
• Internal environment analysis
• SWOT analysis
• Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators
• The Balanced Business Scorecard

Project Discipline for Business Analysis Studies

• Terms of Reference/Project Initiation
• Business and project objectives
• Deliverables from business analysis studies

Understanding the Situation & Issues

• Stakeholder identification
• Overview of investigative techniques
• Representing a holistic view of the business situation

Analysing Stakeholder Perspectives

• Stakeholder analysis
• Identifying different perspectives

Analysing and Modelling Business Activities

• Developing a conceptual business activity model
• Identifying business events
• Analysing business rules

Identifying Potential Solutions

• Gap analysis – comparing the ideal and existing systems
• Defining a new business model
• Identifying IS/IT requirements

Making the Business Case

• Structure of a business case
• Identifying options for business change
• Identifying and categorising costs and benefits
• Identifying and categorising risks
• Identifying impacts
• The lifecycle for the business case

Skills Gained

On completion of this course, attendees will be able to:

• Understand business strategy
• Identify & manage stakeholders
• Build a business activity model
• Create a business case

Pre-requisites

There are no pre-requisites for this course.

Who Should Attend

Business Analysts looking to gain an understanding of organisational planning and the context of business analysis within the wider picture of the organisation.