BA115 - Analyze New Opportunities for Your Organization
Back | Print

Course description

An organization selects and prioritizes projects based on whether they align with and contribute to its strategic goals and objectives. By applying business analysis practices, organizations identify business opportunities, build the framework of their Business Architecture, and determine the enterprise’s optimum investment path for its projects, including implementing new solutions for business and technical systems. Ultimately the organization selects and prioritizes projects that optimize the return on organizational investments.

At the enterprise level, business analysts are often called upon to provide vital support to decision makers who rely on the business analyst's expertise to help evaluate proposed corporate initiatives and projects. This course explores the business analysis practices employed as projects are proposed, approved, implemented, and measured against business objectives.

Throughout the course, practical tasks and techniques are presented to equip the business analyst with the skills and knowledge to identify, understand, and prioritize problems and opportunities; determine the risks and exposures to the business; investigate alternatives and select those that best align with the organization’s goals; develop a business case to help the organization determine if it can justify the investment required to deliver the proposed solution.

This course explores the role of the business analyst and those practices employed to identify and understand business needs, assess capability gaps, determine the solution approach, define the solution scope, and define and develop the business case for an initiative or pending project.

Throughout the course, tasks, elements, and hands-on-experience using techniques are presented to equip the business analyst with the skills, concepts, and knowledge to work in the enterprise arean of an organization.

Key characteristics that differentiate this course from others include:

Mapping to the IIBA Body of Knowledge
Boston University Corporate Education Center (BUCEC) is designated by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) as a Charter Endorsed Education Provider. This course supports understanding of the following Knowledge Areas and is 100% compliant with IIBA's current Business Analysis Book of Knowledge (BABOK):

• Enterprise Analysis

Experiential Training
Two case studies are integrated into the course to allow participants to view demonstrations of work products and techniques and then apply learned skills within a consistent context. Much of the class time is devoted to exercises in which participants can practice the skills being taught.

Experience
The course is written and delivered by professionals with extensive experience in business analysis.

Who should attend

It is recommended that participants attend BA111: Core Competencies for the Business Analyst.

The course is intended to serve several audiences and meet a variety of needs. The material in the course is directed at both the novice looking to enter the field and the self-taught veteran looking to fill gaps in his or her skills or knowledge. Individuals who perform business analysis in organizations are known by various titles including business analyst, systems analyst, business/systems analyst, functional analyst, project manager, and tester. Individuals who will benefit from this course include:

• Entry-level business analysts and their managers
• Self-taught business analysts requiring a course that fills in the gaps and puts all the pieces together
• Systems analysts and programmers interested in expanding their roles into the business area
• Quality assurance professionals
• Project managers

What you will achieve

• Describe the role and responsibilities of the business analyst in the context of the Enterprise Analysis Knowledge Area.


• Define Business Architecture artifacts and documents including strategic plans, business functions and roles, business process models, workflow models, and business rules.


• Describe the process and prepare components necessary for a feasibility study.


• Describe and develop key components of the Business Case.


• Identify financial analysis methods


• Identify, assess, and plan responses to risks associated with recommended solutions linking risks back to strategic goals.

What you will learn

• Enterprise Analysis challenges and methods to overcome them


• Key components and critical success factors of Enterprise Analysis deliverables, including:
  • Enterprise and Business Architecture artifacts and documents
  • Feasibility study
  • Business Case
  • Solution Scope


• Purpose, process steps, challenges, and benefits of Enterprise Analysis techniques:
  • Business goals and objectives
  • Root Cause analysis
  • Current Capability analysis
  • The Zachman Framework
  • Cost-benefit analysis
  • Risk assessment
  • SWOT analysis
  • Assessment and new requirements
  • Alternative Generation
  • Assumptions and Contraints
  • Feasibility Analysis
  • Scope Modeling (context diagrams, use case diagrams
  
  
  Course Content:
  
  Day One
  
  
  • The Enterprise Analysis Knowledge Area
  • Strategic Planning and Organizational Context
  • Creating and Maintaining the Business Architecture
  • Conducting a Feasibility Study
  
  
  Day Two
  
  
  • Preparing the Business Case
  • Identifying the Project Scope
  • Conducting the Initial Risk Assessment
  • Selecting and Prioritizing Projects
  • Measuring Project Value