B2T Training Course Catalog (2012)

Course Catalog

We Get it. We’ll Help You Get it Too.

introduction

Results Driven Approach – A Complete Solution B2T Training’s approach leads your organization to your desired level of business analysis expertise. With the right level of investment and commitment you can fundamentally transform your organization’s business analysis practice.

Our goal is to ensure your staff has the necessary skills to be confident and credible to provide positive impact to your business.

In order to realize the full value of business analysis in your organization, there are four critical areas which will drive real success: Training, Process, Structure, and Culture.

Fundamentally, training is necessary to level set the BA skills and achieve consistency in deliverables. While formalized training is a critical first step, learning must continue through practice, mentoring and continued education support to ensure adaptability and realize the desired change. We provide core and advanced courses as a comprehensive training curriculum for the skills needed to be an excellent BA. To support students outside the classroom we provide individualized mentoring, deep dive workshops, and continuing education support with seminars, presentations, specialized training sessions, webinars, blogs, white papers, and additional resources and tools available at www. b2ttraining.com.

map your requirements management and work with you to develop or enhance your business analysis standards. We can provide direction and support for your COP or COE and work with your stakeholders and management to provide guidance and education in the area of business analysis. At any phase of this journey, it may be appropriate to conduct an assessment and we offer a full range of assessments for each of these critical success areas.

Our relationship with you is a long term partnership and we will work with you to capitalize on your business analysis development investment.

B2T Training Overview and History Since its inception in 2000, B2T Training has focused solely on providing business analysis training and professional development. We bring over 25 years experience to provide the highest quality business analysis training and support for ongoing development of business analysis professionals. n First comprehensive business analysis training program in

North America. n Instructors, mentors, and course developers that are

business analysis experts. n Founding members of the International Institute of

The process, or business analysis standards and approaches, should be defined and consistently used across similar project types. Defining business analysis roles and responsibilities with a supporting organization, which may include a community of practice or center of excellence, will provide structure for the BA discipline. Lastly, and possibly the most important, is to have an organizational culture that includes management and stakeholder support. We can review and

table of contents B2T Training Curriculum.......................................................................... 3 Certification............................................................................................... 4 IIBA® BABOK® Alignment..................................................................... 5 n Core Courses Essential Skills for Business Analysis................................................... 6 Business Process Analysis......................................................................8 Detailing Business Data Requirements.............................................. 10 Use Case Modeling and Solution Requirements............................... 12 n Advanced Courses Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan....................................... 14 Business Analysis in an Agile Environment........................................16 Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis.............................. 18

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Business Analysis (IIBA®). n Extensively involved in the development of the IIBA®

Business Analysis Body of Knowledge®. n First BA certification program

We get it. We’ll help you get it too. n Specialized Courses

Overview of Business Analysis............................................................ 20 Developer’s Introduction to Business Analysis................................. 21 Improving Communication Through Improvisation........................... 22 Managing Business Analysts............................................................... 23 Requirements Validation........................................................................ 24 Decision Modeling Essentials.............................................................. 26 Business Analysis Essentials for Project Managers ....................... 28 Self Study Options.................................................................................. 31 Mentoring ................................................................................................ 32 CBAP® Study Guide .............................................................................. 33

training curriculum

B2T Training Curriculum We provide a cohesive learning experience that takes the extremely complex elements of business analysis and simplifies them into manageable learning components. All of our courses include hands-on workshops giving students many opportunities to experience the techniques in class so students can return to their desks with the ability to better do their job. Students are encouraged to bring their projects to class to help reinforce the concepts being taught. Our curriculum is developed utilizing business analysis subject matter experts as well as education specialists. This brings together the knowledge of best practices and techniques, with the emphasis on education and adult learning.

Core Courses Our core training program is appropriate for new or experienced business analysts. These courses are written for organizations looking to level-set the business analyst role in their companies and for individuals seeking a solid foundational skill set. Our BA Associate program and study guides are based on these courses.

Advanced Courses Our advanced courses are designed for students who have completed the core courses and/or individuals who are experienced in business analysis.

n Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan – 3 days n Business Analysis in an Agile Environment – 2 days n Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis – 3 days

n Essential Skills for Business Analysis – 4 days n Business Process Analysis – 3 days n Detailing Business Data Requirements – 3 days n Use Case Modeling and Solution Requirements – 3 days

Specialized Courses These courses and seminars are ideal for organizations with specific training needs, and provide management and technical teams an understanding of the business analysis role. n Overview of Business Analysis – 1/2 day n Developer’s Introduction to Business Analysis – 1 day n Improving Communication Through Improvisation – 1 day n Managing Business Analysts – 1 day n Requirements Validation – 2 days n Decision Modeling Essentials – 2 days n Business Analysis Essentials for Project Managers – 3 days

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c e r t i f i c at i o n

Certification B2T Training’s certification program validates an individual’s knowledge of critical analytical concepts and skills necessary to perform their role as a business analyst. This certificate is an independent expert verification of your knowledge and skills. Our program has proven to be a valuable measurement of business analysis performance across organizations.

The certification program consists of two levels of certification. n The first level, BA Associate, covers the core or

foundational concepts and skills for business analysis. n The highest level, BA Certified, includes more advanced

concepts and techniques which require knowledge and years of experience to master. An individual achieving BA Certified will be prepared to complete the IIBA® CBAP® certification.

The cost of obtaining BA Associate and BA Certified is included in the cost of attending training. A test out option is available for the core classes. The graphic below illustrates our certification process.

Essential Skills for Business Analysis 4 days

Pass Proficiency Exam

Business Process Analysis 3 days

Pass Proficiency Exam

Detailing Business Data Requirements 3 days

Pass Proficiency Exam

Use Case Modeling and Solution Requirements 3 days

Pass Proficiency Exam

Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan

Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis

Business Analysis in an Agile Environment

Complete Performance Based Activity

Complete Performance Based Activity

Complete Performance Based Activity

3 days

2 days

Pass Final Comprehensive Exam

4

The BA Associate is a certificate program that recognizes business analysts who possess foundational knowledge of business analysis topics and skills taught in our core courses. It is designed for both new and experienced business analysts “to raise the level of core competencies”.

Obtaining the BA Associate certificate requires students to pass all online proficiency exams for our core courses.

Upon completion of the core courses and exams you will receive a certificate recognizing your achievement and, with your permission, you will be listed on our Web site in the certification directory.

BA Certified™ After obtaining the BA Associate certificate, students are required to attend 2 of the advanced courses.

BA Certified is awarded upon successfully demonstrating their skills through the completion of class specific activities, such as facilitating a session or preparing a BA work plan, and passing a comprehensive final exam. The BA Certified exam covers all topics in the B2T Training curriculum and is aligned with the IIBA CBAP. Completing the BA Certified exam will help prepare students for the CCBA® and CBAP® exams. Students will receive the B2T Training CBAP Study Guide as a resource to prepare for the BA Certified and IIBA® exams.

The cost of obtaining BA Associate and BA Certified is included in the cost of attending training. Being BA Certified entitles recipients the use of the BA Certified logo and the ability to use our organization as a reference. With a student’s permission, certification can also be easily verified on our Web site through the certification directory.

Attend 2 of the Advanced Classes

3 days

BA Associate™

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bab o k a l i g n m e n t

IIBA® Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® and B2T Training Courses CORE COURSES

ADVANCED COURSES

IIBA BABOK – Version 2.0 Business Framework Tasks Essential Process Data

Use Cases and Work Plan Agile Facilitating

Skills Analysis Solution Reqts

BA Planning and Monitoring Plan business analysis approach 3 3 Conduct stakeholder analysis 3 3 3 3 Plan business analysis activities 3 3 3 3 Plan business analysis communications 3 3 Estimate requirements activities 3 3 Plan requirements management process 3 3 Manage business analysis performance 3 Elicitation Prepare for elicitation Conduct elicitation activity Document elicitation results Confirm elicitation results

3 3 3 3

3 3 3 3

Requirements Management and Communication Manage solution and requirements scope Manage requirements traceability Maintain requirements for re-use Prepare requirements package Communicate requirements

3 3 3 3 3

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3 3 3 3

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

Enterprise Analysis Define business need 3 3 3 3 3 Assess capability gaps 3 3 3 Determine solution approach 3 3 3 Define solution scope 3 3 3 Develop the business case 3 3 Requirements Analysis Prioritize requirements Organize requirements Specify and model requirements Determine assumptions and constraints Verify requirements Validate requirements

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3

Solution Assessment and Validation Assess proposed solution 3 3 Allocate requirements 3 3 Assess organizational readiness 3 3 Define transition requirements 3 3 Validate solution 3 Evaluate solution performance 3 Underlying Competencies Analytical thinking and problem solving Behavioral characteristics Business knowledge Communication skills Interaction skills Software applications

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

5

4 days

core course

Essential Skills for Business Analysis Overview To stay competitive in today’s fast paced economy, companies need to deliver innovations that meet business or market needs without spending time on the wrong problem. This foundational course supports those efforts by providing students, regardless of their title, the essential business analysis skills they need to identify the right solutions and drive significant value on their projects. The need for strong business analysis skills is necessary for companies to streamline operations and drive customer satisfaction, therefore this course delivers instruction on a core set of proven tools and techniques for use in business analysis work. It supports and expands on the standards outlined in the IIBA BABOK® Guide V2.0.

organization to use as a starting point to add their unique customizations. Students are requested to bring their own projects to class to use in developing a personal post-class action plan to take their project to the next step.

In this course students will learn to: n Analyze and scope the area of analysis, to clarify the level and complexity of the business analysis effort needed for the project. n Select the appropriate elicitation technique. n Analyze and refine business and functional requirements. n Ask the right questions through the use of interviewing

This course explores the breadth of tasks, skills and interactions expected in a business analysis professional role. Students learn repeatable steps and practice techniques to begin a project, stay organized, enable critical thinking, and deliver clear requirements. Students leave knowing how to engage easily with project stakeholders to define the scope of their analysis and which requirements elicitation techniques are appropriate for a variety of projects. This course provides practical tips and hands on exercises to build expertise and confidence using requirements delivery strategies, independent of methodology.

This course teaches business analysis essentials to both new and experienced practitioners. Interactive workshops allow students to practice the techniques as they learn them. The workshop cases and discussions inspire learning insights for every level of experience. This is an excellent course to be held onsite at your organization to level set analysts across the organization. It provides consistent terminology, project participant roles, templates, and suggested standards for an

Intended audience: This course is designed for any individual performing critical business analysis activities; business analysts, project managers, business systems analysts, product managers, product owners, system architect or any other project team member. New practitioners will learn the tasks they are expected to perform and why each task is important. Experienced practitioners will adapt their skills and experience and learn new strategies to improve their requirements activities or ideas to help mentor others. This course may also be appropriate for individuals who manage analysis activities and business stakeholders who need a more in-depth understanding of the requirements process and deliverables.

Prerequisites: None

Earn 28 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs 6

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

templates. n Identify the four core components necessary to analyze

a business area and provide them in a more consumable format. n Plan an approach for analyzing, categorizing, and manag-

ing requirements. Determine the level of formality required and consider options for documenting and packaging requirements based on project type, priorities, and risks. n Identify techniques and documentation options appropriate

for various software development approaches (traditional, iterative, and agile) and project types (COTS, maintenance, process improvement, new development, etc). n Define testing objectives and verify requirements are

testable. n Conduct effective requirements reviews. n Build strong relationships with project stakeholders. n Anticipate issues, think proactively, and use critical

thinking skills to plan stakeholder elicitation sessions.

Public Class Pricing: $2395 Public Class Schedule: Aug 13 – Aug 16, 2012 • Louisville, KY Sep 10 – Sep 13, 2012 • Chicago-Downers Grove, IL Sep 17 – Sep 20, 2012 • Des Moines, IA Oct 1 – Oct 4, 2012 • Atlanta, GA Nov 12 – Nov 15, 2012 • Las Vegas, NV Dec 3 – Dec 6, 2012 • Dallas, TX Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

This class is a part of the B2T Training Business Analyst Certification Program. For more information on the program, see page 4.

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • What is business analysis?

• Review the major tasks performed by the business analyst.

• Discuss business analysis tasks in the context of various development methodologies.

• Define the essential skills needed to perform their tasks.

Project Participants and their Role - 1 hr • Identify project stakeholders and their roles.

• Discuss how the business analyst interacts with these participants.

Elicitation Techniques - 3 hrs • Learn to use and determine the appropriate elicitation technique: o One-on-one interviews o Requirements workshops o Surveys o Brainstorming o Document analysis o Focus group o Job shadowing/observation o Competitive analysis o Prototyping o Interface analysis o Reverse engineering • Learn to proactively plan interactions with stakeholders to make the most effective use of their time.

Scoping the Project from the Business Analyst’s Perspective - 5.5 hrs • Identify why the project is being done in order to ensure that the right analysis effort is being performed and that requirements efforts can be appropriately prioritized. This will help to ensure that the right solution is being identified to address the real problem.

• Get an introduction to enterprise analysis in order to understand the project in the context of the greater organization’s strategic goals.

• Identify the business stakeholders who will be involved in the project and how they will impact business analysis.

• Learn the context diagram technique to identify and scope “what is”, and more importantly, “what is not” to be analyzed. Analyze interfaces with people, other organizations, existing systems, and other software applications.

• Discuss how a business analyst should collect, organize, and maintain requirements for efficient analysis and reuse on future projects.

• Workshop – Scope the class case study project.

• Workshop – Reinforce the analysis techniques on a current project Defining and Detailing Requirements - 4 hrs • Understand what a requirement is and why it can be so confusing.

• Learn how to define “excellent” requirements.

• Understand the difference between analysis and design or “business” vs. “technological” requirements.

• Learn how software developers use requirements.

• Learn the appropriate presentation and level of detail necessary for various audiences.

• Learn the 4 core requirement components, what they describe, and why they are important.

Breaking requirements into components forces more comprehensive analysis so that requirements are not missed. o Data (entities, attributes) o Process (use case) o External Agent (actor) o Business Rules Requirements Analysis Techniques - 4 hrs • Learn the recommended approach to categorizing requirements. Why should requirements be categorized? Who uses each category? Why is it difficult to create distinct categories? o Business Requirements o Solution Requirements • Functional Requirements • Non-functional Requirements o Transition Requirements • Learn the concept of traceability of requirements.

• Discuss the most commonly used analysis techniques to organize and refine requirements.

Business analysts should have expertise in many analysis techniques to be able to adapt to different types of projects and business domains. o Structured textual templates (process descriptions, data descriptions, business rules, use cases, user stories) o Entity relationship diagram o Decomposition diagram o Use case diagram and use case descriptions o Workflow diagram (BPMN, ANSI, UML, swim lane) o User interface prototyping • Consider options and level of formality for packaging requirements and choosing the appropriate documentation techniques for each project.

• Workshop - Put into practice several of the analysis techniques on the course case study requirements.

Conducting a Requirements Review - 2 hrs • Learn how to improve your analysis through effective quality reviews.

• Learn how to conduct a requirements review: Who should participate? What are the required steps?

How is a session conducted? What are the common challenges?

• Workshop - Analyze a sample requirements package. o Identify missing or incomplete requirements. o Identify potential test cases. o Document issues and develop an approach for going forward.

Validate the Requirements - 2hrs • Understand the role of business analysis in validating requirements and software testing.

• Introduction to software testing: Why is testing important? What is the business analyst’s role in testing? What is the primary objective of testing?

What are the phases and types of testing?

• Learn to verify that the business requirements are complete by identifying test cases.

• Practice identifying test cases and refining requirements based on quality assurance principles.

Analysis Communication Skills - 3.5 hrs • Realize how communication can make you effective or undermine your analysis efforts. Communication is at the core of business analysis.

• Understand your personal communication style and learn how your strengths and weaknesses will impact your stakeholder relationships.

• Learn about the communication needs of various audiences in order to more effectively elicit and present the right project requirements.

• Learn to ask the right questions. Review selected analysis techniques to frame questions driving stakeholders to reveal core needs and problems.

• Recognize active listening as the most powerful elicitation communication skill; learn to listen for key phrases that reveal specific types of requirements.

• Improve listening skills by recognizing common barriers to listening, understanding verbal and nonverbal messages, acknowledging the message, and responding with appropriate feedback.

• Workshop - Practice active listening and receive feedback from the instructors and other students.

Develop Your Action Plan / Course Summary - 2 hrs • Pulling it all together.

• Optional Workshop - Draft an initial Business Analysis Communications Plan for a CRM project.

• Develop an Action Plan with next steps on the student’s current project.

• Student questions/discussion topics.

Appendix - Overview of Application Development Methodologies • Discuss various methodologies for application development.

• Learn which models are used in each methodology: o Waterfall o Information Engineering o IDEF o RAD o Iterative/Agile o BPMN o Object Oriented - UML o Spiral/RUP Working with Virtual Teams - Optional • Understand what constitutes a virtual team.

• Learn about virtual team structures and terminology.

• Learn about technology requirements for virtual teams • Consider business analysis process changes for virtual team work • Effectively utilize the people on the virtual team

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

7

3 days

core course

Business Process Analysis Overview Business process analysis is a fundamental activity in support of critical change efforts, whether you are defining changes to existing business systems, improving your business processes, or acquiring, merging, or splitting business units. Every business is searching for better ways of getting work done. Improving efficiency, decreasing costs, increasing productivity and customer service are goals that are universal. This course provides a business analyst a tool for understanding their core business processes so that they can provide alternative solutions which meet core business needs and consider IT impacts. Management can then evaluate each alternative for its potential return on investment and the cost of implementation.

a proven approach which gives the business analyst the confidence and credibility to offer and promote the right solution to solve the business problem or opportunity.

Innovation is critical in today’s environment and the need to take solutions to market faster is critical. Doing things the way they’ve always done is comfortable, but may hamper operational agility in the future. This course provides students with techniques to help your business look at how things are being done and create solution options to improve the business processes. Creating AS IS and TO BE workflows gives the business analyst a strategic view of business architecture which is essential in Agile, SOA, BPM, and any type of process improvement or COTS project. Workflows are also the foundation for documenting Six Sigma, Lean, and Value Stream process maps.

n Identify and document complex business process steps

In this course students will learn to: n Initiate a process modeling effort with clear objectives and an agreed upon goal. n Define key terms used by the business domain to improve

communications within the business. n Ask detailed questions to get a complete understanding of

current business procedures, business rules, information use, and events that impact the business processes (AS IS). in an easy-to-review diagram using industry standard notation, BPMN. This notation was specifically developed for more effective communication with business stakeholders. n Identify areas for process improvement by reviewing AS

IS models. n Develop process re-design strategies and present them for

approval (TO BE). n Decompose complex processes into lower level tasks and

sub-processes. n Identify the most important business component:

Evaluating the business process may result in software changes, procedural changes, organizational changes, personnel changes, etc. The best way to improve business operations is to: 1) study the current procedures, 2) find the core or essential work being done, and 3) define how this essential work will be accomplished. This course teaches

n Conduct a review of a process model to assure accuracy.

Intended audience: This course will be beneficial to any person, in any size organization, hoping to improve their business processes. The techniques presented can be used without any sophisticated software to quickly identify areas for improvement and fix broken processes.

Public Class Pricing: $1995

Prerequisites: We recommend that students first attend our Essential Skills for Business Analysis class or have experience in project scope definition, eliciting requirements from subject matter experts, and understanding how business requirements fit into the entire systems development effort.

Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

Earn 21 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs

8

Essential Processes.

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Public Class Schedule: Aug 14 – Aug 16, 2012 • Atlanta, GA Oct 1 – Oct 3, 2012 • Chicago-Downers Grove, IL

This class is a part of the B2T Training Business Analyst Certification Program. For more information on the program, see page 4.

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • Define business process analysis.

• Solidify strong project objectives and goals.

• Learn the importance of the glossary to process modeling.

AS IS Workflow Analysis - 5 hrs • Utilize workflow analysis to understand the current business process (AS IS). o Discuss key terms in process modeling and their subtle differences (process, sub-process, function, activity, essential process, task, procedure). o Discuss the reasons for creating AS IS diagrams and models.

• Learn to create detailed Business Process Models. o Learn the key BPMN symbols and their usage (tasks, connections, events, gateways). o Discover and analyze tasks in the business domain. o Identify events within the business process including delays, communications, and triggers. o Decompose complex processes into sub processes and create related diagrams. o Use data artifacts to collect and analyze information currently used by the business o Collect metrics or measurements to establish the business process baseline.

• Learn an approach to managing your workload on a large business process modeling project.

• Workshop: Create an AS IS Business Process Model for the course case study and present it to the class.

Discovering Business Rules - 3 hrs • Learn to listen for business rules when eliciting business process requirements.

• Understand how business rules drive business decisions.

• Learn to ask detailed questions to clarify business rules.

• Consider several approaches to organizing, documenting and getting confirmation on business rules.

• Overview of the Decision Model.

• Use decision tables to represent complex business rules.

• Workshop: Identify business rules from case study.

Essential Business Process Modeling - 3 hrs • Learn to identify essential business processes. An essential business process is a core requirement of the business area necessary to re-design the process for improvement. Each process must be clearly defined, consistently named, and completely described.

• Learn to extract essential processes from detailed user descriptions and the AS IS process models.

• Learn to identify redundant and reusable processes.

• Use an interviewing template to document business narratives for each essential process.

Process Analysis - 3 hrs • Learn to organize and communicate essential business processes using a process outline or a decomposition diagram.

• Learn several techniques to define business processes: top-down, bottom-up, and event driven.

• Learn to decompose business processes into subprocesses and tasks.

• Workshop: Identify and present essential processes for the class case study.

TO BE Workflow Analysis - 5 hrs • Review AS IS Models and transition to a TO BE Model. o Evaluate the business value of each process step following the principles of Six Sigma, Lean, Value Stream Mapping, etc. o Identify areas for improvement from the AS IS Models.

• Use Root Cause Analysis to find the true reason for each problem.

• Review current process metrics.

• Examine handoffs and communications between process participants. o Prioritize areas for improvement. o Brainstorm on TO BE alternatives. o Create TO BE models with a re-design of the business procedures supporting the essential processes.

• Collaborate with stakeholders to develop alternative solutions and evaluate each one.

• Use a solution table to define desired functionality and priorities. This table can be used as the backlog for future projects.

• Perform gap analysis to analyze gaps between the AS IS Process and the recommended TO BE Process.

• Identify transition requirements.

• Workshop: Create a TO BE Business Process Model for the course case study and present it to the class.

Develop Your Action Plan / Course Summary - 1 hr • Develop an Action Plan with next steps on the student’s current project.

• Student questions/discussion topics.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

9

3 days

core course

Detailing Business Data Requirements Overview Missing a critical piece of data or incorrectly defining a data element contributes to the majority of maintenance problems and results in systems that do not reflect or support the business needs. Business users often fail to articulate their business data needs because they are so inherent in their work that it is difficult to uniquely identify each data requirement. A business analyst, skilled in data elicitation and definition, can save the business significant time and cost for any project.

This course teaches students an in-depth approach to data modeling: identifying and defining all necessary data components using both textual templates and an entity relationship diagram. This course teaches business analysis techniques for eliciting, analyzing, and documenting data requirements to both new and experienced practitioners.

Additionally, this class will tie together other analysis techniques by highlighting the impact of data on the other core requirement components. Eliciting information needs often uncovers additional processes and business rules.

Every business process uses data and almost all business rules are enforced by or govern data.

Students will be given data templates with a suggested documentation structure for defining Business Data Requirements. It supports and expands on the techniques in the IIBA BABOK® Guide V2.0. Mentor-led workshops require students to practice the techniques as they learn. Students are encouraged to bring their own projects to class.

Intended audience: This course is designed for business analysts, project managers, systems analysts, data administrators, database administrators, or any other project team member practicing business analysis.

This course may also be appropriate for individuals who manage or mentor business analysts.

The course provides business analysts the knowledge to: n Identify core data requirements beginning with project

initiation. n Identify relationships between data elements and their

impact on the business. n Identify excellent data requirements at the appropriate

level of detail. n Detail the data requirements (using a data dictionary and

data model). n Detail complex data related business rules. n Use data requirements to verify and communicate a more

complete understanding of the business domain n Assist with the transition of business data to database design. n Utilize easy normalization techniques (without all the

mathematical theory). n Validate data requirements with activity (process or use

case) requirements.

Even if your organization has a data administrator or data warehouse team who is responsible for documenting and managing the organization’s information needs, every project uses a subset of that enterprise information in its own unique way. Business analysts must understand the importance of data in all of their projects and include data requirements in their business requirements documentation.

Failing to document which data elements need to be used in a calculation, or displayed on a report, leaves the developer the responsibility of choosing the correct pieces of business data from hundreds if not thousands of available fields.

These missing requirements often lead to expensive and lengthy project delays during the testing phase.

Public Class Pricing: $1995 Public Class Schedule: Nov 12 – Nov 14, 2012 • Chicago-Downers Grove, IL Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

Prerequisites: We recommend that students first attend our Essential Skills for Business Analysis class or have experience in project scope definition, gathering requirements from subject matter experts, and understand how business requirements fit into the entire systems development effort

Earn 21 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs

10 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

This class is a part of the B2T Training Business Analyst Certification Program. For more information on the program, see page 4.

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • What is business data and how do data requirements support your project solution?

• What is the difference between business data and database design?

• Review the 7 characteristics of “excellent” requirements.

Entities and Attributes - 5 hrs • Review the project initiation and scope analysis to identify initial business data needs.

• Understand the basic building blocks of the business data: entities, attributes, and relationships.

• Learn to define entities and attributes with business goals in mind. Utilize suggested naming guidelines for consistency and readability.

• Identify critical attributes for each entity highlighting their data types, valid values and other attribute characteristics.

• Discuss entity unique identifiers.

• Differentiate unique business facts within a given attribute.

• Workshop using case study to identify and detail entities and attributes.

Entity Relationships and Diagramming Conventions - 4 hrs • Learn how business data requirements are displayed in an entity relationship diagram.

• Detect the business rules of data by identifying key relationships between entities.

• Define relationships and business rules in more detail using naming conventions. Learn relationship cardinalities and understand their impact on your solution functionality.

• Review common diagram notations for data related business rules.

• Workshop to identify and detail entity relationships.

Create a logical entity relationship diagram that accurately reflects the business domain.

Detailing the Data Requirements - 5 hrs • Detail repeating data elements. Break down attributes into their components using proper naming conventions and clearly document the requirements with example data values.

• Identify and define advanced entity types to drive effective analysis.

• Detail complex data business rules and identify additional attributes to describe the business relationships (many to many relationships).

• Detail and differentiate between sub-type entities.

• Review techniques for documenting data conversion requirements, interface requirements and performing gap analysis.

• Workshop to refine and update the entity relationship diagram to reflect newly discovered data requirements.

Transition from Business Data to a Physical Design - 2 hrs • Learn how to link the data and process elements to identify missing or incomplete requirements. Each essential process must use data, and each data element must be used by at least one essential process.

• Learn how business data transitions into database design.

• Review the data requirements for completeness, understand how logical components are translated to physical components, and develop a strategy for maintaining the business requirements.

• Scope the design area using subject areas.

• Understand de-normalization and the effect on database design.

Workshop - Identify and document complete data requirements for a new case study (Student’s projects may be used for this workshop.) - 4 hrs • Identify and document entities.

• Identify and document attributes.

• Identify and document data related business rules.

Appendix - Data Normalization - Optional • What is data normalization and why is it important?

• What are the rules of normalization?

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

11

3 days

core course

Use Case Modeling and Solution Requirements Overview Use case modeling is a commonly used analysis technique which results in functional requirements and a framework for test case development. When the solution to a business problem or opportunity involves a software component, the solution team must determine how software will best support the business. A use case diagram clearly depicts the scope of the solution to be designed which can help set expectations for stakeholders as to the complexity and interactions with the system.

This class focuses on the business analysis work of defining functional, non-functional, and transition requirements which describe the solution and roll out needs. In addition to use case diagrams and descriptions, this course provides guidelines for developing system and user interfaces, a checklist for non-functional requirements, and strategies for developing an implementation plan. These are critical components in fully defining your solution requirements.

This course supports and expands on the techniques in the IIBA BABOK® Guide V2.0. Specific techniques for communicating the business requirements to the solution team, tracing each business requirement to the supporting solution component, assessing the solution applicability and planning for a smooth transition to the solution are explored in detail in this course.

In this course students will learn to: n Use business requirements to identify, evaluate and

present alternative design solutions which meet customer needs. n Prioritize requirements for inclusion in the software

development phase using plan-driven (traditional) and change-driven (iterative and agile) techniques. n Elicit, analyze, and communicate functional requirements

that specify how users will interact with the software and how the software will respond. n Create a use case diagram to clarify solution scope. n Deliver consistent, detailed use case descriptions. n Incorporate usability principals when developing

prototypes. n Determine the impact of interfaces and develop interface

requirements. n Identify non-functional requirements appropriate for each

project. n Learn to assess organizational readiness and build a

transition or rollout plan to smooth the implementation of new software for the business.

Mentor-led workshops require students to practice the techniques as they learn. Students are encouraged to bring their own projects to class.

Intended audience: This course is designed for business analysts, systems analysts, or any other project team members responsible for developing functional, non-functional, and transition requirements. Students are encouraged to bring examples of their requirements documents to the class for review and feedback. This course may also be appropriate for individuals who manage business analysts. Developers and solution implementers will benefit from an understanding of how functional and non-functional requirements are elicited and analyzed.

Prerequisites: We recommend that students first attend our Essential Skills for Business Analysis class or have experience in project scope definition, eliciting requirements from stakeholders, and understanding how business requirements fit into the entire systems development effort. We also recommend that students attend Business Process Analysis before attending this class.

Earn 21 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs 12 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

Public Class Pricing: $1995 Public Class Schedule: Sep 17 – Sep 19, 2012 • Atlanta, GA Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

This class is a part of the B2T Training Business Analyst Certification Program. For more information on the program, see page 4.

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • Define solution and transition requirements.

• Review requirements categories and classifications.

• Discuss the differences between business and functional requirements.

• Discuss requirements implications based on the type of solution being developed (COTS, in house development, maintenance, BI).

• Learn about the software development approaches used by the team (change driven vs. plan driven) as it relates to solution requirements.

Determine the Solution Scope - 4 hrs • Define the solution scope model. Use approved business requirements to define a solution and allocate the solution components to each requirement (traceability).

• Learn a five-step approach to bringing the business domain stakeholders and implementation stakeholders to consensus about the definition of the solution scope: o Determine the functionality desired. o Elicit the business priority of each function. o Assess technical priority and estimated cost of the desired functionality. o Break project into phases or iterations. o Obtain approval.

• Create a solution scope model using a use case diagram: o Define actors involved with the application. o Identify actor interactions. o Determine use cases within each phase or iteration.

Defining Functional Requirements - 4 hrs • Learn to identify use cases.

• Outline each use case for a high-level understanding of broad behavior.

• Identify primary path, alternate path, and exception paths.

• Decompose large use cases into smaller sub-sets, identifying reusable use cases where possible.

• Learn how and where to document system user messages.

• Learn to create detailed use case descriptions.

Designing User Interfaces - 2 hrs • Learn to identify where prototypes are necessary.

• Create and document prototypes.

• Learn to document report requirements, including ad-hoc and predefined. Learn the definition of business intelligence.

• Learn to document field edits and screen functionality.

• Incorporate usability principals into user interfaces.

Analyze Interface Requirements - 3 hrs • Identify required interfaces based on the phase/ iteration plan.

• Understand the most effective interface strategy for each design solution.

• Write interface requirements for each interface.

Develop Transition Requirements - 3 hrs • Identify requirements for a smooth rollout of the solution to the business o Consider scheduling and timing issues o Determine the timing of interface transition and data conversion o Consider parallel operations vs. cutover o Develop an implementation plan

Develop Action Plan/Course Summary Workshop 2 hrs • Review Business Analysis tasks and skills learned.

• Workshop: What would you do? Determine analysis approach based on case study.

• Develop an Action Plan with next steps on the student’s current project.

Identifying Non-Functional Requirements - 2 hrs • Identify requirements not previously addressed by business, functional, or technical requirement categories: o Performance requirements o Security requirements o Quality requirements o Scalability • Consider which non-functional requirement types are important for your project.

• Discuss the business analyst role in the development of these requirements.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

13

3 days

a d va n c e d c o u r s e

Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan Overview Having trouble getting started with your business analysis work? Unsure about how much time to request from your project manager?

formal document on larger projects. Regardless of the output produced, an excellent business analyst thinks through the plan before starting work.

Developing a business analysis work plan will prevent major problems by ensuring that all of the appropriate stakeholders are involved and the requirements will be analyzed and presented using the most effective communication approaches. This class teaches students to consider all of the project and stakeholder characteristics before deciding on appropriate deliverables and producing a time estimate.

The work plan also helps the business analyst develop realistic time estimates based on the chosen deliverables.

These estimates provide detailed justification for negotiation with project managers and project sponsors. During class students are presented the Business Analysis Planning Framework™ and are given worksheets to guide their planning efforts.

This course supports and extends the techniques in the IIBA’s BABOK® Guide V2.0.

Students are encouraged to bring their own project initiation documentation for a current or past project to the class.

During the workshops, students will develop their business analysis work plan. If students do not have a project, a class case study is available and should be reviewed prior to the first day of class.

Regardless of when the BA joins a project or the project type, this class will guide planners to deliver an intelligent business analysis work plan to the project manager and have a detailed roadmap upon which they can immediately begin to execute. The business analysis work plan may be a single sheet of brief notes on a small project or a more

Intended audience: This course is intended for anyone who is interested in learning a practical approach to planning the necessary business analysis tasks for their project.

Prerequisites: Business analysts registering for this course must have attended Essential Skills for Business Analysis, or have at least 2 years experience in requirements elicitation, analysis, and documentation using structured techniques. Contact B2T Training if you would like to pass out of these prerequisites.

Earn 21 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs

14 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

In this course students will learn to: n Use project characteristics, people, and process to

determine what business analysis tasks are needed for a project. n Create a business analysis work plan which includes tasks

and time estimates for the business analysts and other stakeholders. n Determine the appropriate level and formality for a plan. n Use the business analysis work plan as a negotiation tool

to get approval for business analysis work on a project.

“Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.”

- Kenichi Ohmae, management consultant

Public Class Pricing: $1995 Public Class Schedule: Oct 22 – Oct 24, 2012 • Chicago-Downers Grove, IL Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

This class is a part of the B2T Training Business Analyst Certification Program. For more information on the program, see page 4.

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • Business analysis planning. o Overview of business analysis planning activities. o Discuss the relationship of the project manager and the business analyst in planning.

• Use of the BA Planning Framework™ approach to planning. o Project - Understanding the project characteristics. o People - Identifying stakeholders and planning for communications. o Process - Planning the analysis activities.

• Root cause analysis and the fishbone diagram.

• The business analysis work plan.

Planning for Different Types of Projects - 4 hrs • Introduce the concepts of plan driven vs. change driven approaches to projects.

• Planning around unique project characteristics: o A large development project. o Enhancement or maintenance projects. o A COTS (commercial off-the-shelf software) project. o A reporting or data warehouse project. o A process improvement or re-engineering effort. o An infrastructure upgrade (getting a new e-mail or operating system).

• Planning around methodology and process characteristics: o An outsourced or off-shore development project. o Iterative style development methodology. o Agile style development process.

• Group workshop: Discuss planning considerations for case study projects.

Project - Understanding the Project Characteristics - 4 hrs • Let’s get started - A checklist to assess the current state of the project and to help get started.

• The Project Overview Worksheet - Is the project clearly defined? o Business objectives o Problems/opportunities o Requirements scope o High-level business processes • The Business Impact Worksheet - What is the relative importance of the project to the organization? o Size (number of stakeholders, number of business processes involved, number of business rules). o Importance (estimated cost, potential benefits, criticality of business area, level of key stakeholders). o Risk analysis (project, business, technology).

• Enterprise analysis - Understanding how this project fits into the organization’s overall strategy.

• Group workshop - Assess the project and score the business impact of a sample project.

People - Stakeholder Analysis and the Communication Plan - 4 hrs • Why plan for stakeholder interactions?

• Assess the project sponsor • Identify both primary and secondary stakeholders: o Searching for all stakeholders, not just the obvious ones o Understanding each stakeholder’s area of concern o Documenting stakeholder’s needs o Consider the characteristics of each stakeholder group • Determine effective communication practices for each stakeholder group: o Is this group providing requirements, using requirements, or supporting the project work? o Which elicitation technique(s) will be most effective? o What requirement presentation format will be most comfortable for this group?

• The Stakeholder Analysis Worksheet o When and where will communications with each stakeholder be most effective? o What are the best communication techniques for each stakeholder?

• Group workshop - Identify and analyze the stakeholder groups for an example project and identify the appropriate communication techniques.

Process - Planning the Analysis Activities - 3.5 hrs • Plan the analysis activities o Step one - Assess which requirements components are needed? o Step two - Determine which deliverables are needed using the Deliverable List Worksheet o Step three - Develop an approach for creating each deliverable using The Deliverable Worksheet • Consult with organizational standards/ methodologies for required deliverables.

Ongoing Requirements Management - 1 hr • What is Requirements Management? o Using a requirements repository o Develop a requirements management plan o Reusing existing requirements o Reusing existing data o Identifying requirements attributes • Plan for requirements traceability o Learn about traceability matrices and requirements links o Understand the purpose of forward and backward traceability o Determine which requirements should be “traced” o Determine the appropriate approach for managing traceability o Exercise: Perform impact analysis using traceability Course Summary - 0.5 hr • Final thoughts • Planning Worksheet Map • Optional Exercises Appendix - Advanced Project Initiation Requirements - Optional • Advanced project initiation requirements: • Learn techniques to identify strong project objectives.

• Learn a technique to help subject matter experts scope a project with unclear boundaries.

• Group workshop - scope an unclear project.

Appendix - Advanced Topics - Optional • Developing a cost/benefit analysis for a business case • Evaluating software applications for purchase (COTS)

Creating the Business Analysis Work Plan - 3 hrs • Step one - Create the business analysis task list • Step two - Estimate analysis time o Using historical and expert data to estimate o Tracking actual time to estimate • Step three - Finalize the business analysis work plan • Group workshop - develop a task list of analysis and requirements activities for a sample project.

• Intelligent negotiation skills.

• Getting signoff on the plan.

• Base lining the plan and initiating change control.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

15

2 days

a d va n c e d c o u r s e

Business Analysis in an Agile Environment Overview Agile environments are causing a shift in how a business analysis professional works. There are some new rules.

While some agile teams do not have a formal role called Business Analyst, business analysis skills are needed on agile teams. BAs possess unique skills including clear communication, organization, facilitation, requirements elicitation, critical thinking, and requirements analysis and management skills. Additionally agile teams often expect team members to cross over and perform tasks traditionally done by other specialized roles. Since most business analysis professionals are experienced at assisting in extra responsibilities and are trained collaborators, they can make excellent agile project team members.

This course is designed to show how business analysis fits in an agile environment and highlights the reality that business analysis activities are absolutely necessary. For the Business Analysis practitioner you will understand how the skills you have will help you become a valued agile team member.

Students will gain knowledge and skills by practicing techniques and soft skills needed to operate effectively in a requirements-driven agile environment.

Students will learn: n Agile approaches, key principles, practices and

terminology focusing on Scrum. n How to transfer traditional skills, techniques and tasks of a

Business Analyst to an agile environment to add value to the team. n How the entire team gets engaged with requirements and

how the BA facilitates this process. n The importance of planning in an agile environment and

how to assist product owner and team during each of the levels of agile planning n How to assist the product owner to develop and prioritize

the product backlog and how changes are managed. n How to facilitate eliciting the appropriate level of

requirements detail pre-iteration, during an iteration, and post iteration. n To develop user story requirements and specify

acceptance criteria to assist the product owner, domain stakeholders, and the team to build a quality product or system n To use formal and informal methods of communication

requirements, adjusting the level of detail and elaborating requirements iteratively as needed while developing “just enough” documentation. n New techniques that are useful for agile environments

such as, commitment based planning, product visioning, user story writing workshops, estimating with story points, purpose based leadership and more.

Intended audience: This course is designed for business analysts, systems analysts, product owners, project managers or any other project team member involved with requirements on an agile project. This course may also be appropriate for individuals who manage business analysts and need a more in-depth understanding of the process and skill set a business analyst can bring to an agile project.

Prerequisites: This is an advanced class. We recommend students first attend our Core classes or have equivalent experience.

Earn 14 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs

16 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

Public Class Pricing: No public classes currently scheduled.

Public Class Schedule: Sep 17 – Sep 18, 2012 • Dallas, TX Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

This class is a part of the B2T Training Business Analyst Certification Program. For more information on the program, see page 4.

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • Review common project approaches • Discuss solution requirements efforts for various types of projects • Review requirements categories and classifications The Agile Environment - 3 hrs • Overview of agile principles, methodologies and terminology.

• Learn values and principles from Agile Manifesto.

• Learn how plan-driven (traditional) vs. changedriven (iterative, agile) development approaches impact business analysis tasks and priorities.

• Discuss business and IT benefits for using a light agile framework.

• Workshops: o Scrum simulation. o Create list of challenges and benefits moving from a traditional environment to an agile environment.

Roles in an Agile Environment - 1 hr • Understand the various roles in an agile environment.

• Understand what activities are performed by the roles used in an agile environment.

• Workshop: Comparison of roles and activities in traditional and agile environments.

Writing User Stories - 2 hrs • Learn how to write user stories.

• Write user stories at the appropriate level of detail following guidelines of 3 Cs (card-conversation– confirmation) - and INVEST techniques.

• Develop a Product and Sprint Backlog.

• Learn how to identify non-functional requirements and acceptance criteria in an agile environment.

• Workshops: Multiple workshops on writing and organizing user stories.

Agile Planning and Estimating - 3 hrs • Learn the levels of agile planning and how the business analyst is involved.

• Learn the difference between traditional planning and agile planning.

• Define the product vision and project purpose.

• Learn how to estimate on agile projects using story points and planning poker.

• Conduct iteration planning meetings.

• Workshops: o Create a product vision. o Release and iteration planning. o Planning poker session to estimate size of stories.

Applying BA Skills in the Agile Environment - 3.5 hrs • Learn to develop and maintain a product backlog.

• Learn how to use face-to-face communication to replace formal requirements documents where appropriate.

• Use informal models to communicate requirements.

• Learn to transfer traditional BA Skills to an agile environment.

• Workshops: o Create list of ideas how a business analyst can best be utilized on an agile project based on scenarios. o Deriving user stories from traditional models. o Use examples to elaborate requirements and generate acceptance criteria.

• Develop an Action Plan with next steps on the student’s current project.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

17

3 days

A d va n c e d c o u r s e

Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis Overview The art of bringing people together, face-to-face or remotely, to elicit requirements and gain consensus on solutions is a critical success factor for all business analysis professionals.

This course teaches facilitation techniques that can be used for structured sessions and “facilitation-on-the-fly.”

This course goes beyond traditional facilitation training by focusing on facilitation techniques specific to gathering business and functional requirements.

This class is limited to 8 students, allowing each student the opportunity to practice facilitating multiple requirements sessions in a “safe” environment with personalized feedback. Students will spend 60% of class time participating in interactive, real-world business case studies and performing each key role in at least one session.

In this course students will learn to: n Facilitate using proven techniques for eliciting detailed

business, functional and non-functional requirements. n Identify when and how to use each technique. n Develop confidence and a skill set to conduct

requirements workshops. n Actively practice learned skills and techniques. n Use a requirements planning session template. n Prepare the participants for the requirements session. n Perform each facilitation role through role playing each

session. n Conduct the session to stay focused on the core

requirement that was planned as a deliverable.

The workshops in this course require students to plan the requirements workshop, develop the correct questions to ask the group, and facilitate the group to a consensus on the requirements using one of the learned techniques. Students will conduct a requirements workshop for at least one requirement deliverable (i.e., context level dataflow diagram, workflow diagram). This course supports and expands on the techniques in the IIBA BABOK® Guide V2.0.

n Select which facilitation technique to use for each core

Intended audience: This course is designed for experienced, knowledgeable business analysts involved with requirements elicitation and analysis. Students are expected to understand the purpose of business and functional requirements.

Public Class Pricing: $1995

Prerequisites: We recommend that students first attend our Essential Skills for Business Analysis class or have experience in project scope definition, eliciting requirements from subject matter experts, and understanding how business requirements fit into the entire systems development effort.

Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

Earn 21 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs

18 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

requirement being gathered. n Complete checklists for managing and conducting the

session. n Facilitate a requirements workshop.

Public Class Schedule: Dec 3 – Dec 5, 2012 • Atlanta, GA

This class is a part of the B2T Training Business Analyst Certification Program. For more information on the program, see page 4.

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • Learn guidelines for requirements facilitators.

• Set session rules and manage the session.

• Learn reactive techniques to use during the session: o Encourage participation. o Manage group focus. o Manage group conflict. o Consider remote facilitation techniques.

Student Workshop - 1.5 hrs • Conduct a mini-requirements workshop.

• Practice techniques used for requirements workshops.

Session Feasibility - 1 hr • Determine when requirements workshops are appropriate: o Determine need/requirements deliverable desired. o Determine commitment level. o Determine risks.

• Practice determining session need using real-world scenarios.

• Review the core requirements components and discuss how they are best gathered.

• Learn when not to use requirements workshops.

Planning and Preparing for a Facilitated Session 4 hrs • Plan the session: o Determine the number session(s) needed and the length of the session(s). o Document the purpose of the session. o Identify potential participants. o Define session requirements deliverables. o Document the plan using session planning templates.

• Prepare for a session: o Outline the goals and requirements deliverables. o Select session participants and determine if pre session interviews are appropriate.

• Learn facilitation techniques: o Brainstorming o Consensus building o Flowcharting o Force field analysis o Hip pocket techniques o Nominal group o Root cause analysis o Storyboarding o Facilitating across distance • Develop focused questions to gather requirements: o Direct o Open-ended o Clarifying o Leading o Re-focusing • Create a detailed agenda for the facilitation team.

• Learn group-oriented facilitation techniques.

• Create a formal agenda for the session participant.

• Orient the facilitation team.

• Prepare the facilities.

Student Workshop - 3.5 hrs • Each student will practice elicitation techniques in a requirements workshop.

• Personal feedback will be provided to drive skill development.

Conducting the Session - 1 hr • Learn the stages of group development/productivity.

• Facilitate decision making – work toward consensus.

• Conducting the session: o Introducing the session. o Managing the session. o Creating a follow-up action plan.

• Review/approve requirements deliverables.

Student Workshop - 8 hrs • Plan and conduct a requirements workshop.

• Use one or more of the learned facilitation techniques.

• Produce the requirements deliverable using one of the facilitation techniques.

• Personal feedback will be provided to drive skill development.

Session Follow-Up - 1 hr • Produce the final requirements document.

• Share session feedback.

• Determine the next steps to finalize the requirements.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

19

0.5 day

sp e c i a l i z e d c o u r s e

Overview of Business Analysis Overview In order for business analysis to be successful in organizations, both the IT and business community must embrace the business analysis process. This seminar presents the business analysis role to managers and others who lead and work with business analyst professionals.

The seminar can be used as a working session to discuss how your organization will implement the business analysis process and approaches for eliciting, analyzing and communicating requirements.

Both large and small organizations are realizing the benefits of using business analysis professionals on all of their application development projects. A business analysis professional acts as a liaison between business people who have a business problem and technology people who know how to create automated solutions. Improving the communication between your business areas and your IT team significantly increases the quality of the systems developed.

By understanding business analysis you will be able to maximize the impact your individual business analysis professionals and overall business analysis practice will have on your organization.

In this course students will learn to: n The positive impact a strong business analysis practice

can have on your organization. n The key characteristics of a successful business analysis

professional. n Tips for managing and working with business analysis

professionals. n Current industry trends impacting business analysis.

Intended audience: This seminar is a management overview of business analysis for managers, supervisors, and project managers who work with business analysis professionals.

Prerequisites: None

This course is customized for each organization’s unique environment to maximize the effectiveness of the business analysis practice.

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • Group Exercise: Identify problems and opportunities that can be addressed by business analysis practices.

• Discuss positive impacts good business analysis practices have on organizations.

Business Analysis Role - 1.5 hrs • Learn the scope of the business analysis role.

• Understand how the role is used in the industry.

• Discuss the key characteristics of a successful business analysis professional.

Tips for Managing Business Analysis Professionals - 0.5 hr • Support the requirements elicitation process.

• Understand the most productive BA work environments.

• Learn the importance of requirements reviews and collaboration.

Current Industry Trends - 0.5 hr • Provide overview of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®).

• Learn the Project Manager and Business Analysis partnership framework.

• Discuss considerations for the PM/BA combined role.

• Understand Agile development approaches and the impact on business analysis.

Develop Your Action Plan / Course Summary - 0.5 hr • Develop an Action Plan with next steps to improve your BA practice.

• Student questions/discussion topics.

20 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

1 day

sp e c i a l i z e d c o u r s e

Developer’s Introduction to Business Analysis Overview Developing great solutions requires great requirements.

While requirements are the primary responsibility of the business analyst, achieving the right solution requires collaboration with the technical team. Part of the collaboration is understanding how the role of the developer and business analyst can align their efforts and expertise.

Setting expectations for each project participant is a key component to an effective process.

n What is a requirement.

This class provides an overview of the business analysis role and a detailed review of the requirements provided to the development team. It is helpful to understand the categories of requirements, the interaction during solution scoping, and the types of deliverables and the communication formats used for each type of requirement.

Intended audience: This course is designed for software developers, software architects, or any other project team member who will be using requirements documents for their development work. It is useful for both new developers and experienced developers.

Developers will learn how Business Analysts elicit, analyze, and communicate requirements.

n The types of requirements that are being elicited and

communicated so developers can design and implement the best solution. n How to identify the solution options and solution scope. n How to proactively utilize business analysis deliverables.

In this course students will learn to: n How the role of business analysis benefits the

development team. n Tips for collaborating with the business analysis

professional. n What is business analysis.

Prerequisites: None

This course is customized for each organization’s unique environment to maximize the effectiveness of the business analysis practice.

Course Outline Introduction - 2 hrs • What is business analysis?

• Review the major tasks performed by the business analyst • Review project participants and their roles • Increasing the value add of business analysis to development • What is a requirement? (business vs technology) • Requirements categories and organization o Business requirements (Context and decomposition diagrams, process descriptions, data, business rules) o Solution requirements (Functional and Non-functional) o Technical requirements o Transition requirements • Traceability.

Determining the Solution Scope & Use Cases - 2 hrs • Developer’s participation in defining solution scope • Discuss design options • Identify technical priority of the desired functionality • Break complex projects into phases or iterations • Review who uses the software • Use case descriptions • User stories

Consuming Business Analysis Deliverables - 3 hrs • Review additional BA deliverables available to developers o Entity relationship diagram o Workflow diagrams • AS IS vs TO BE • ANSI • BPMN • UML Activity o Interface requirement documentation • User interface – Prototyping • System interface documentation (checklist) • Set expectations for feasibility, standards, and design o Non-functional or supplementary requirements

documentation • Review questions BAs ask about non-functional requirements o Transition requirement documentation

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

21

1 day

sp e c i a l i z e d c o u r s e

Improving Communication Through Improvisation Overview Talking and reacting in the moment is the core of what you do as a project manager and business analyst. Much of what happens on a project is unscripted. To propel to the senior level of your profession you need to continually improve your creative thinking skills and how you interact and communicate with your stakeholders. It just so happens that improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one’s immediate environment.

This highly interactive and fun session focuses on key improvisation lessons that will help you be a more attentive and flexible business analyst and project manager. You will walk away with lessons to help you stay in the present, temporarily suspend judgment, keep conversations moving forward and listen generously.

In this course students will: n Understand how improvisation can help them be better communicators n Learn to think on your feet and keep a conversation

moving forward

n Learn lessons that will help you be an advocate for your

stakeholders n Gain confidence and trust in yourself and others n Participate in teamwork activities to be a true team player n Practice presenting to the class to improve presentation

skills

Intended audience: This course is beneficial to any person, in any size organization, hoping to improve their communication and collaboration skills.

In addition to individuals, this workshop is ideal for teams.

Prerequisites: None Public Class Pricing: No public classes currently scheduled.

Public Class Schedule: No public classes currently scheduled.

Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

Course Outline Introduction/Getting Ready - 1 hr • What is improvisation and how it applies to business analysis and project management.

• The fundamental skills improvisation develops.

• Tips for improvisation workshop.

• Warm-up activities.

Active Listening - 1.5 hrs • Participate in improvisation exercises to improve your ability to be an active listener.

• Discuss how the lessons learned in exercises apply to business professionals.

• Learn the common barriers to listening.

Teamwork/Collaboration - 1 hr • Participate in improvisation exercises to improve your ability to be a better collaborator and team player.

• Discuss how the lessons learned in exercises apply to business professionals.

• Learn the 5 traits of an effective team.

Thinking on Your Feet - 1.5 hrs • Participate in improvisation exercises to improve your ability to think on your feet and be present in the moment.

• Discuss how the lessons learned in exercises apply to business professionals.

• Learn tips for improving your ability to think on your feet.

Presentation Skills - 1 hr • Participate in improvisation exercises to improve your presentations skills and feel comfortable presenting in front of a crowd.

• Discuss how the lessons learned in exercises apply to business professionals.

• Learn 3 key actions to improve your presentation skills.

22 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

Developing Your Action Plan/Course Summary - 1 hr • Review the fundamental skills and how they apply to business analysis and project management.

• Develop an Action Plan with communication improvements you can make.

• Student questions/discussion topics.

1 day

sp e c i a l i z e d c o u r s e

Managing Business Analysts Overview By understanding how to best manage business analysis professionals you will be able to maximize the impact your individual BAs and overall business analysis practice will have on your organization.

Both large and small organizations are realizing the benefits of using business analysis professionals on all business and IT projects. A business analysis (BA) professional acts as a liaison among many different stakeholder groups to facilitate the right solutions. For example, the most common use of a BA is aligning business people who have a business problem with technology people who know how to create automated solutions.

In order to realize the maximum value a business analysis discipline can bring to an organization, BAs require consistent support, encouragement, and coaching to empower them to fulfill this critical role. Additionally, for business analysis to be successful in organizations, both the IT and business community must embrace the business analysis process. The most important support group for the BA is their direct manager.

In this course students will: n The positive impact a strong business analysis practice

can have on your organization. n The key characteristics of a successful business analysis

professional. n Strategies for managing and working with business

analysis professionals. n Current industry trends impacting business analysis.

Intended audience: This seminar is for managers, supervisors, and project managers who manage or direct business analysis professionals.

Prerequisites: None Public Class Pricing: No public classes currently scheduled.

Public Class Schedule: No public classes currently scheduled.

Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

Course Outline Introduction - 1.5 hrs • Identify problems and opportunities that can be addressed by business analysis practices.

• Discuss positive impacts good business analysis practices have on organizations.

What Makes a Good BA - 1.5 hrs • Learn the scope of the business analysis role.

• Understand how the role is used in the industry.

• Discuss the key characteristics of a successful business analysis professional.

Strategies for Managing Business Analysis Professionals - 3 hrs • Support the BA throughout the business analysis process.

• Understand the most productive BA work environments for: o Lead or Senior BA o Intermediate BA o Junior or New BA • Learn the importance of requirements reviews and collaboration.

• How to motivate your BAs. • Coaching BAs about leadership.

• Understand Agile development approaches and the impact on business analysis.

Current Industry Trends - 0.5 hrs • Provide overview of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®).

• Learn the Project Manager and Business Analysis partnership framework.

• Discuss considerations for the PM/BA combined role.

Develop Your Action Plan / Course Summary - 0.5 hrs • Develop an Action Plan with next steps to better manage your BAs. • Student questions/discussion topics.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

23

2 days

sp e c i a l i z e d c o u r s e

Requirements Validation Overview This course takes you through the steps to ensure that business requirements are validated, that the solution is usable and meets the business needs. Validating requirements improves the likelihood of project success, making sure that we are building the right solution. The cost to correct a software defect may be as high as 2,900 times the cost to correct a requirement. Finding missing requirements and requirements inconsistencies decreases the overall length and cost of the project.

This course answers many of the key questions about requirements validation including: n How do we validate requirements? n Which types of validation and verification processes are

appropriate for my project? n How does the team ensure that the solution meets the

business stakeholder needs? n Where does validation fit in the software development life

cycle (SDLC)?

Business analysis and quality assurance professionals must use risk assessments to prioritize requirements and requirements validation activities. The highest risk areas of the business must be addressed first. This course teaches business and quality analysts to design efficient requirements validation tests to make the best use of limited resources and time.

n What is software usability? Why is it important? n How does the team correct problems when they are

discovered? n How do I work with technical members of the solution

team? What do they need from a BA to be successful?

Solution Assessment and Validation is one of the key knowledge areas in the IIBA BABOK® Guide V2.0. This course addresses the solution validation tasks in the knowledge area along with giving business analysts the ability to design efficient and effective tests to demonstrate that the application solutions meets their user’s needs.

Intended audience: This course is designed for business analysts, quality analysts, project managers, or anyone interested in improving and validating the quality of their requirements.

Prerequisites: We recommend that the Business Analyst has already attended our 4 core courses (or at a minimum Business Process Analysis and Use Case Modeling and Solution Requirements) before enrolling for this course.

24 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

Public Class Pricing: No public classes currently scheduled.

Public Class Schedule: No public classes currently scheduled.

Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • What are requirements?

• Understand the value of acceptance and evaluation criteria • How do we validate requirements?

• When should requirements be validated?

• Who validates requirements?

Validating and Testing Requirements - 3 hrs • What does it mean to validate requirements? o Conducting effective structured walkthroughs of requirements.

• Review guidelines.

• Examine a sample review invitation and results form.

• Review question checklists.

• How do reviews improve future projects?

• Workshop: validate requirements using a formal review o Introduction to usability testing. o Effective user acceptance testing (UAT). o Conduct a post implementation user assessment to identify lessons learned.

• How to correct problems that are discovered during requirements validation? o Use a consistent problem tracking procedure. o Track defect/problem types to improve requirements on future projects. o Assess each problem for its type, severity, and status.

Usability Testing - 2 hrs • Learn the principles of usability.

• Learn how usability testing differs from traditional testing.

• Discuss methods of usability testing.

• Workshop: Conduct a usability test.

Working with IT Stakeholders - 3.5 hrs • Communicating with IT development stakeholders. o Verifying requirements or specification.

• Unit testing.

• Integration testing.

• Systems testing.

• Evaluate solution performance - validate nonfunctional requirements.

• Validate solution against requirements.

• Business requirements.

• Functional requirements.

• Technical requirements.

• Regression testing - re-testing after a change. o Testing environments. o Common IT testing methods.

• White box and black box testing.

• Positive and negative testing.

• Choosing data values for testing.

• Working with QA stakeholders. o Software quality assurance (SQA) planning and structure. o Utilizing SQA personnel throughout the SDLC.

Solution Assessment and Validation BABOK Develop Your Action Plan/Course Summary - 1 hr • Requirements validation summary.

• Develop an Action Plan with next steps on the student’s current project.

• Student questions/discussion topics.

Documenting Requirements Validation Deliverables - 3.5 hrs • Designing a requirements validation plan o IEEE testing templates. o What is a test design, test case, test procedure? o Identifying tests from requirements documentation. o Using use case descriptions to develop testing procedures. o Tracking test cases.

• Workshop: Validating requirements using test cases.

• Tracing test cases to requirements - cross checking the solution.

• Designing a requirements validation plan. o Planning considerations: • Who will validate requirements?

• How will this be accomplished?

• Where are the highest risks?

• Where will tests be conducted?

• Who will conduct testing?

• Who will review test results?

• What test data will be used?

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

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2 days

sp e c i a l i z e d c o u r s e

Decision Modeling Essentials Overview The Decision Model provides an efficient new method of eliciting, organizing, managing and testing business rules and logic. It brings to the world of business rules and logic a well-defined structure with the rigor of integrity and normalization principles. The model supports business rule analysis and decision analysis techniques as defined in the BABOKÂŽ. It is similar in concept to what the relational model brings to the world of data and it provides business analysts with a new way to succeed by ensuring that critical business rules are not missed. The Decision Model provides for unambiguous creation and sustainable maintenance of business logic, often with minimal IT intervention.

business situation. Exercises and workshops can be done with paper and pencil. Students will have access to downloadable decision modeling templates for use after class.

At the completion of this course, attendees will be able to: n Create The Decision Model which provides a simplistic

business friendly view of complex business rules n Understand when and how to utilize The Decision Model n Show how The Decision Model simplifies Business

Processes Models This course introduces business analysts to The Decision Model and provides a practical step- by-step approach for creating them as a new standard business analysis deliverable. It is based on the book, The Decision Model: A Business Logic Framework Linking Business and Technology

by Barbara von Halle and Larry Goldberg (Taylor & Francis, LLC, 2009).

n Prioritize business decisions based on business impact n Explain to business and technical audiences the benefits

and concepts of The Decision Model as a new kind of deliverable n Discuss the important differences between The Decision

Model and previous techniques n Build skeletal and detailed decision models

This course provides ways to improve and simplify business process models as well as an approach to decomposing business policies, rules, and related statements into reusable pieces of business logic. This model is also an important artifact for improving data quality and supports compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

The first day of the course covers concepts and principles with reinforcing exercises. It continues to the second day with an in-depth case study where attendees work to apply decision modeling techniques to a realistic, sophisticated

n Conduct validation of decision models against integrity

principles n Encourage business creativity in discovering optimum

decision model content n Conduct decision modeling sessions in an iterative

fashion

Intended audience: This course is designed for business analysts, business stakeholders, business stewards, project managers, system and enterprise architects involved with elicitation, management, and/ or automation of business rules and logic.

Public Class Pricing: No public classes currently scheduled.

Prerequisites: Students should understand the concepts of workflow modeling.

Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

26 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

Public Class Schedule: No public classes currently scheduled.

Course Outline Introduction - 1.5 hrs • Learn the value of using the Decision Model • Understand its benefits for an organization • Learn how Decision Models simplify process models Decision Model Concepts - 5.5 hrs • Learn various approaches to defining a decision model • Practice decomposing decisions into their simplest form • Learn a standardized format for representing rules and decisions • Recognize and document rule patterns • Identify gaps and inconsistencies in rules • Learn a structured technique for defining key terms • Establish relationships between rule sets to promote logic reuse • Learn decision model principles which guarantee uniformity, integrity, and technology independence • Exercise: Create a basic Decision Model Utilize a 10 Step Approach to Create a Decision Model - 6 hrs Workshop: Complex real-world case study • Identify the business need for analyzing and documenting a business decision • Build skeletal Decision Model structure • Explore possible decision conditions • Add supporting decision structures • Solidify the glossary of fact types • Iteratively detail and structure the Decision Model • Learn approval process Course Summary - 1 hr • Learn to integrate the Decision Model with other business analysis deliverables • Discuss on-the-job application of course concepts • Develop an Action Plan with next steps to be applied on the student’s current project

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

27

3 days

sp e c i a l i z e d c o u r s e

Business Analysis Essentials for Project Managers Overview The best way to guarantee success of any type of project is to have a strong experienced Project Manager and strong, experienced Business Analyst. These two individuals, working together from the beginning of the project, set the stage for success by accurately planning and clearly defining the expected outcomes. Both roles are necessary because they are each responsible for a different set of tasks and they each possess a set of skills that complement each other. The two roles are closely tied, but exactly what are the similarities and differences, and why does a project need both?

This course discusses the role of Business Analysts and the business analysis skills that a Project Manager should also possess. The business analysis skill set includes critical thinking skills, elicitation techniques and requirements analysis and management. Experienced project managers may already possess some of these skills, but may apply them differently than BAs. Understanding the complexity of the business analysis role will allow the PM and BA to work seamlessly and increase the project efficiency.

Scoping is one of the most critical areas on which the PM and BA should work together. In addition to the project scope, as defined in the PMBOK™, the BA is responsible for defining the scope of business analysis. When these two components of scope are combined they define the entire boundary of the project. In this course, Project Managers will learn how Business Analysts define the scope of the area for which they will be performing analysis. This is just one example of a task with separate roles for the PM and BA. Understanding their unique roles is critical to project success.

Intended audience: This course is designed for Project Managers who are responsible for reviewing requirements, managing the business analysis efforts, overseeing the testing efforts, or obtaining sign-off on the business analysis deliverables. For PMs who are also responsible for gathering the business requirements, we recommend that they attend all of the core courses on business analysis.

Prerequisites: None

28 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

In this course students will: n Learn to analyze and scope the area of analysis to clarify

the level and complexity of the business analysis effort needed for the project. n Learn what is an excellent requirement and the difference

between business and functional requirements. n Learn the four core components necessary to analyze a

business area. n Be introduced to the most commonly used analysis

techniques. n Discuss alternatives for traceability of requirements. n Plan an approach for analyzing, categorizing, and

managing requirements. Determine the level of formality required and consider options for documenting and packaging requirements based on project type, priorities, and risks. n Identify techniques and documentation options

appropriate for the various software development. approaches and project types (COTS, maintenance, business process improvement, new development, etc). n Understand how validating requirements impacts the

project and the components of software testing. n Review business analysis requirements to improve the

quality of your deliverables.

Public Class Pricing: No public classes currently scheduled.

Public Class Schedule: No public classes currently scheduled.

Visit www.b2ttraining.com for other dates and to register!

Course Outline Introduction - 1 hr • What is business analysis?

• Review the major tasks performed by the business analyst.

• Discuss business analysis tasks in the context of various development methodologies.

• Define the essential skills needed to perform their tasks.

Project Participants and their Role - 1 hr • Identify project stakeholders and their roles.

• Discuss how the business analyst interacts with these participants.

Scoping the Project from the Business Analyst’s Perspective - 5.5 hrs • Identify why the project is being done in order to ensure that the right analysis effort is being performed and that requirements efforts can be appropriately prioritized. This will help to ensure that the right solution is being identified to address the real problem.

• Get an introduction to enterprise analysis in order to understand the project in the context of the greater organization’s strategic goals.

• Identify the business stakeholders who will be involved in the project and how they will impact business analysis.

• Learn the context diagram technique to identify and scope “what is”, and more importantly, “what is not” to be analyzed. Analyze interfaces with people, other organizations, existing systems, and other software applications.

• Discuss how a business analyst should collect, organize, and maintain requirements for efficient analysis and reuse on future projects.

• Workshop – Scope the class case study project.

Defining and Detailing Requirements - 4 hrs • Understand what a requirement is and why it can be so confusing.

• Learn how to define “excellent” requirements.

• Understand the difference between analysis and design or “business” vs. “technological” requirements.

• Learn how software developers use requirements.

• Learn the appropriate presentation and level of detail necessary for various audiences.

• Learn the 4 core requirement components, what they describe, and why they are important.

Breaking requirements into components forces more comprehensive analysis so that requirements are not missed. o Data (entities, attributes) o Process (use case) o External Agent (actor) o Business Rules

Requirements Analysis Techniques - 4 hrs • Learn the recommended approach to categorizing requirements. Why should requirements be categorized? Who uses each category? Why is it difficult to create distinct categories? o Business Requirements o Solution Requirements • Functional Requirements • Non-functional Requirements o Transition Requirements • Learn the concept of traceability of requirements.

• Discuss the most commonly used analysis techniques to organize and refine requirements.

Business analysts should have expertise in many analysis techniques to be able to adapt to different types of projects and business domains. o Structured textual templates (process descriptions, data descriptions, business rules, use cases, user stories) o Entity relationship diagram o Decomposition diagram o Use case diagram and use case descriptions o Workflow diagram (BPMN, ANSI, UML, swim lane) o User interface prototyping • Consider options and level of formality for packaging requirements and choosing the appropriate documentation techniques for each project.

• Workshop - Put into practice several of the analysis techniques on the course case study requirements.

Conducting a Requirements Review - 2 hrs • Learn how to improve your analysis through effective quality reviews.

• Learn how to conduct a requirements review: Who should participate? What are the required steps?

How is a session conducted? What are the common challenges?

• Workshop - Analyze a sample requirements package. o Identify missing or incomplete requirements. o Identify potential test cases. o Document issues and develop an approach for going forward.

Validate the Requirements - 2 hrs • Understand the role of business analysis in validating requirements and software testing.

• Introduction to software testing: Why is testing important? What is the business analyst’s role in testing? What is the primary objective of testing?

What are the phases and types of testing?

• Learn to verify that the business requirements are complete by identifying test cases.

• Practice identifying test cases and refining requirements based on quality assurance principles.

Course Summary - 2 hrs • Pulling it all together.

• Optional Workshop - Draft an initial Business Analysis Communications Plan for a CRM project.

• Develop an Action Plan with next steps on the student’s current project.

• Student questions/discussion topics.

Appendix - Overview of Application Development Processes and Standards - Optional - as time allows • Discuss various methodologies for application development.

• Learn which models are used in each methodology: o Waterfall o Information Engineering o IDEF o RAD o Iterative/Agile o BPMN o Object Oriented - UML o Spiral/RUP Appendix - Working with Virtual Teams - Optional as time allows • Understand what constitutes a virtual team.

• Learn about virtual team structures and terminology.

• Learn about technology requirements for virtual teams • Consider business analysis process changes for virtual team work • Effectively utilize the people on the virtual team

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

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self study options

Self Study Options Study Guides B2T Training offers study guides for experienced business analysts who would like to obtain certification.

The study guides help business analysts practice and review material to validate their understanding of business analysis techniques and approaches. Additionally, these study guides are appropriate for business analysts who are considering pursuing training, but are not sure at what level they should begin training. These study guides will help identify areas where business analysts may need to strengthen their knowledge.

Additionally, each study guide consists of a textual file that includes high-level content review for each course’s proficiency area, a case study with analysis exercises, and a list of recommended additional study resources. This file will be made available for use to download as a “pdf.”

Each study guide includes an initial online assessment test and two online practice exams consisting of multiple choice questions that test a business analyst’s knowledge regarding each proficiency area. Feedback provided for each response to the questions gives further assistance and insight for studying.

To purchase a study guide visit www.b2ttraining.com.

Business Analysis Playbook Each project that a business analyst works on is unique and may require different combinations of requirements components. Templates provide a checklist for planning requirements work. The Business Analysis Playbook helps the business analyst choose appropriate templates to use for each project. To assist business analysts in documenting requirements, we offer a Requirements Package Template that is available on the “Downloads” section of our website. The templates in this package provide business analysts with a structured format for eliciting and documenting requirements. Standard, re-usable templates allow for faster and easier requirements review and approval.

30 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

The Business Analysis Playbook may be used as a companion to B2T Training’s Requirements Package Template. This “Playbook” serves as a reference tool for business analysts when completing the requirements package based upon the templates. Using this Playbook as a guideline or “map” for the requirements templates will help business analysts determine what to include in a requirements package, who A “must have” should prepare which sections reference tool of the package, and when $19.95 and why the requirements components should be prepared. Additionally, the Playbook provides examples of complete requirements templates.

The Business Analysis Playbook is available for purchase at www.b2ttraining.com.

self study options

Education is on going.

Go beyond the classroom with easy-to-access online resources!

B2T Training Web Site n BA Blog n Downloadable templates n Library n BA tools n CBAP Study Guide

Online Communities n Business Analysis Times (www.batimes.com) n LinkedIn BA groups (www.linkedin.com) n BA Collective (www.bacollective.com) n Business Rules Community (www.brcommunity.org) n Business Process Management (www.bpm.com) n International Institute of Business Analysis (www.theiiba.org) n Modern Analyst (www.modernanalyst.com) n Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org) n Requirements Networking Group (www.requirementsnetwork.org)

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/B2T_Training

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

31

mentoring

Business Analysis Mentoring Our classes include one hour of after class business analysis mentoring for each student. Students love having the opportunity to work with an industry expert to apply techniques learned in class to their unique situations during a one-on-one session.

Effective business analysis training and mentoring can help companies raise employee results. Proper business analysis mentoring can give access to new ideas, tips and strategies that will help you build upon the team’s current skills and strengths to give you a competitive edge. Learn how to drive more revenue by leveraging your business analysts.

Mentoring is available additionally as an on-demand service to jump start a new project, a new skill development effort, and to reinforce concepts or techniques. This real time service is provided by our experts at B2T Training onsite or virtually. Virtual mentoring can be purchased online.

Examples of mentoring assistance provided: n Guidance for selecting the appropriate deliverables for

your project n Assistance in determining and estimating business

analysis activities n Strategies for effectively engaging all stakeholders and

project team members n Coaching you to become a more agile BA n Provide direction for adapting and customizing templates n Help with roles, career paths and skill development

identification n Direction for building and sustaining a Community of

Practice or Center of Excellence

Contact us at 866.675.2125 or email sales@b2ttraining.com for more information.

32 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

CBAP Study guide

CBAP® Study Guide v2.0 The CBAP Study guide is the “nucleus” of studying for the exam. This study guide provides tips, suggestions and other guidance needed to help prepare individuals for the CBAP exam.

Get prepared for the CBAP exam at your own pace by: n Answering questions in each knowledge area to assess

where your experience requires more development. n Learning valuable tips for exam prep and exercises to

strengthen your memory skills n Practicing over 450 sample CBAP exam questions written

by CBAPs n Understanding why an answer is correct or incorrect to

reveal areas that may need more targeted conditioning n Focusing on key BABOK® concepts to maximize your

study effects “After many years of no formal study, I found it almost impossible to concentrate on subject matter that I believed I already knew and had been practicing for years. Your study guide is not an alternative to the BABOK. It led me to read the BABOK several times; each time with an inquiring mind to examine how the authors’ views differed from mine.

Purchase our CBAP Exam Prep Study Guide v2.0 on our website for only $149!

High marks on the choice of the 450 questions. The ‘practice exam’ format perfectly prepared me to comfortably pace myself in the exam that I had ample time to recheck my answers.”

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

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B2T Training International Partners

B2T Training’s Public Classes Core Courses

Good Methods Global India www.goodmethodsglobal.com

Essential Skills for Business Analysis – 4 days

IndigoCube South Africa www.indigocube.ca.za

Use Case Modeling and Solution Requirements – 3 days

Interdual Brazil www.interdual.com.br

Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan – 3 days

Netmind Spain Visit www.netmind.es for more information.

PMWorks Australia www.pmworks.au Redvespa New Zealand www.redvespa.com Contact sales@b2ttraining.com if you would like to become an international partner.

Business Process Analysis – 3 days Detailing Business Data Requirements – 3 days

Advanced Courses Business Analysis in an Agile Environment – 2 days Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis – 3 days Locations Atlanta, GA • Chicago, IL • Dallas, TX • Des Moines, IA • Las Vegas, NV • Louisville, KY • Orlando, FL Receive a 10% discount!

1. When you register and pay for three courses.

2. When groups of 3 or more employees from the same company

register and pay for one course.

Visit www.b2ttraining.com for the latest public class schedule, pricing information, and to register.

11675 Rainwater Drive, Suite 325 Alpharetta, GA 30009 678.366.1363 • fax 678.366.1983