BCS Certificate in Business Analysis Practice

• Recognising the business change life-cycle
• Clarifying the role of the business analyst
• Examining other roles in business change
• Understanding the framework for business analysis

Internal and external analysis

• Analysing the Internal analysis
• Surveying the business landscape with external analysis

Linking to the internal and external business environment analysis

• Performing a SWOT analysis
• Using a SWOT analysis
• Identifying the strategic context

Executing strategy

• Balanced Business Scorecard
• Recognising Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators

Critical success factors and key performance indicators

• Identifying Critical Success Factors (CSFs)
• Creating Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
• Setting performance targets
• Deploying the balanced business scorecard as a frame

• Identifying the Terms of Reference and/or Project Initiation Documentation
• Clarifying business and project objectives

Stakeholder identification

• Stakeholder wheel
• Other potential sources of information

Investigative techniques

• Investigating the current business situation
• Interviews
• Observation
• Workshops
• Document Analysis
• Focus Groups
• Questionnaires/Surveys

The Business Analysis Process Model

• Stages of the business analysis process model
• Considering the perspectives
• Analysing the needs
• Evaluating the options
• Defining the requirements

Investigating the situation

• Interviewing stakeholders
• Effective Requirements Workshops

Representing a holistic view of the business situation

• Taking a holistic view
• Using various documentation techniques
• Rich pictures
• Mind maps
• Fishbone diagrams

Identifying, categorising and analysing stakeholders

• Defining stakeholder types
• Deploying the Power/Interest Grid

Stakeholder management strategies

• Levels of power and interest
• Building a communication strategy

Understanding stakeholder perspectives

• Analysing stakeholders with CATWOE
• Creating business activity model

Creating a process model

• Pinpointing business events
• Developing the business process model

Modelling system functions and data

• Use case diagrams
• Entity Relationship Diagrams and Class Models

Gap analysis

• Identifying areas of concern
• Analysing the gap with POPIT

Introduction to Business Architecture

• Definition of Business Architecture
• Business Architecture techniques

Structuring the business case

Identifying and shortlisting options for business change

Identifying and categorising costs and benefits

• Tangible and intangible costs and benefits
• Investment appraisal techniques

Identifying and categorising risks

• Identifying risks
• Assessing the impact of the risks
• Assessing the probability of the risks
• Risk management approaches

Identifying impacts

• Organisational culture
• Organisational behaviour

The business case life-cycle