You Will Learn How To
- Develop a work plan that successfully addresses the needs of a business analyst (BA)
- Quickly integrate the BA role into the overall project strategy
- Apply planning best practices to get projects done on time and within budget
- Construct a work plan that aligns with the goals of stakeholders
- Create realistic estimates that account for uncertainty
- Keep the project on track while meeting stakeholder expectations
Course Benefits
Whether starting from a project's inception or entering a project after it has been established, business analysts must seamlessly integrate their work into the project 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 the project and its stakeholders.
Who Should Attend
Business analysts, those who perform the functions of a business analyst or anyone who wants to make a successful contribution to a project.
An evolving case study immerses you in an authentic project environment, providing practical experience in building a business analysis work plan. Activities include:
- Defining the traits of successful project contributors
- Developing a stakeholder communication plan
- Creating well-defined project tasks
- Calculating the critical path
- Estimating tasks within appropriate tolerance
- Securing resource commitments from stakeholders
- Assessing and communicating risks
- Presenting your work plan
- Creating a personal action plan for future use
Course Content
The Role of the Business Analyst
Defining your role
- Examining the BABOK® framework
- Pinpointing where you are in the product life cycle
- Establishing your relationship with the project manager
- Gathering information to get started quickly
Making a commitment to the project
- Uncovering the six traits of successful project contributors
- Determining the requirements for effective personal project management
The Planning Process
Key functions of a planner
- Exploring the makeup of a solid BA plan
- Devising change procedures
- Creating the stakeholder communication system
- Synchronising your plan with the overall project plan
Jump-starting the process
- Formulating the right questions
- Eliciting project 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
- Sizing up stakeholders
- Delivering your message for optimal results
Building the Work Plan
Initiating your project
- Conducting stakeholder analysis
- Determining objectives
- Defining the scope of work
Planning the tasks
- Generating a task list
- Developing the WBS
- Listing task attributes and characteristics
- Devising acceptance criteria
Constructing task dependencies
- Identifying critical and slack paths
- Making resource and scheduling decisions
Assigning resources
- Assessing resource requirements
- Utilising a resource allocation matrix
Outcomes of the Planning Process
- Deriving the schedule with a Gantt Chart
- Calculating the budget
Creating Accurate Estimates
Estimating effort, duration and costs
- What constitutes a good estimate?
- Examining project scope, requirements and the WBS to make estimates
Key considerations that affect your project
- Collaborating to encourage ownership of the estimate
- Incorporating a WBS
- Accounting for time/cost trade-offs
- Employing top-down vs. bottom-up estimating
- Raising the level of accuracy with three-point estimates
Managing Risks
Increasing the probability of success
- Leveraging a Risk Analysis Questionnaire
- Communicating the results
Analysing potential problems
- Brainstorming adverse consequences
- Adding preventive and contingent actions into your plan
Executing the Plan
Managing stakeholder expectations
- Controlling scope creep, leak and seep
- Reporting progress
Addressing resistance to change
- Recognising reasons behind resistance to change
- Defusing resistance
Keeping your piece of the project on track
- Resolving problems with a risk register
- Setting up briefing boards
Applying Lessons Learned for Future Projects
- Evaluating project objectives
- Documenting methods for continued improvement
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