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You Will Learn How To
- Develop a work plan that successfully addresses the needs of a business analyst (BA)
- Define the goals and deliverables of the initiative and develop the work charter
- Organise, structure and schedule work using breakdown structures, network diagrams and bar charts
- Adopt common and effective techniques to estimate task work and duration that reflect initiative uncertainty
- Identify, analyse and manage risks that affect scheduling
- Keep the work on track and manage key controls while meeting stakeholder expectations
Course Benefits Whether starting from an initiative or entering a project after it has been established, business analysts must seamlessly integrate their work into the planning process. To do this successfully requires a well developed and executed work plan. In this course, you learn practical project management methods, tools and techniques to adapt a work plan to the needs of your initiative and its stakeholders.
Who Should Attend Business analysts, those who perform the functions of a business analyst or those who may be required to contribute to or lead a project.
RealityPlus™ An evolving case study immerses you in an authentic project environment, providing practical experience in building a business analysis work plan. Activities include:
- Developing a stakeholder communication plan
- Creating well-defined work tasks
- Calculating the critical path
- Estimating tasks within appropriate tolerances
- Securing resource commitments from stakeholders
- Assessing and communicating risks
- Communicating and presenting your work plan
- Creating a personal action plan for future use
Course Content The Role of the Business Analyst
Defining your role
- Comparing the BABOK® and PMBOK® Guide frameworks
- Pinpointing where you are in the process life cycle
- Identifying that your work can be defined as a project
- Establishing your relationship with the project manager
Making a commitment to the project
- Gathering information to get started quickly
- Determining the requirements for effective personal management
The Planning Process
Key steps of planning
- Exploring the makeup of a solid BA plan
- Creating the stakeholder communication system
- Synchronising your plan with an overall project plan
Jump-starting the process
- Formulating the right questions
- Eliciting work constraints
- Assessing impact on business
Influences on the planning process
- Juggling the triple constraint
- Development methodologies
- Stakeholder concerns
Communicating effectively
- Fostering relationships and trust
- Discovering your communication style
- Delivering your message for optimal results
Building the Work Plan
Initiating your work
- Conducting stakeholder analysis
- Determining objectives
- Defining the scope of work
- Creating a work charter for approval
Planning the tasks
- Generating a task list
- Developing the work and organisational breakdown structures
- Listing task attributes and characteristics
- Devising acceptance criteria
Constructing task dependencies
- Identifying the critical path and calculating slack with network diagrams
- Making resource and scheduling decisions using bar charts
Assigning resources
- Assessing resource requirements
- Utilising a responsibility assignment matrix
Outcomes of the planning process
- Deriving the schedule using a Gantt chart
- Calculating the budget
Creating Accurate Estimates
Estimating effort, duration and costs
- What constitutes a good estimate?
- Identifying standard estimating techniques
Key considerations that affect your estimates
- Collaborating to encourage ownership of the estimate
- Incorporating a WBS
- Accounting for time/cost trade-offs
Managing Risks
Increasing the probability of success
- Leveraging a Risk Analysis Questionnaire
- Communicating the results
Analysing potential problems
- Brainstorming adverse risks
- Adding preventive and contingent actions into your plan
Mitigating risks
- Identifying opportunities and threats
- Conducting qualitative and quantitative analysis
- Planning contingent actions
Executing the Plan
Managing stakeholder expectations
- Controlling scope creep
- Reporting progress
Addressing resistance to change
- Recognising reasons behind resistance to change
- Defusing resistance
Keeping your piece of the work on track
- Resolving problems with a risk register
- Identifying standard techniques for tracking time and money
Applying Lessons Learned for Future Work
- Evaluating project objectives
- Documenting methods for continued improvement
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RealityPlus TM is a trademark of Learning Tree International, Inc. BABOK is a registered trademark owned by International Institute of Business Analysis.
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"My Learning Tree Course experience was nothing less than excellent. To begin with, it was very refreshing to be able to attend a class where the instructor wasn't simply repeating text from a PowerPoint slide but rather relating the content to real-world situations. In addition, I found that much of the knowledge I gained was extremely useful. The course substantially augmented my own knowledge and provided me with many helpful ideas that I could implement as soon as I returned to my job".
– N. Gasowski
Level Four Software, Ltd.
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