B2T Training Course Catalog (2009)

F O C U S

Q U A L I T Y

E X P E R I E N C E

Mastering Business Analysis C A T A L O G

www.b2ttraining.com

Developing an Excellent Business Analyst

T

he emergence of the business analysis profession is one of the best things that has happened to business organizations in this decade! Organizations that have nurtured and developed business analysts (BAs) are experiencing huge paybacks for their investments. People with titles as varied as project manager, quality assurance analyst, and consultant

broader impact to the organization. BAs bring requirements skills to many different types of projects, such as: • selection and implementation of packaged solutions (COTS) • new software development • business process improvement The excellent BA is aware of his or her organization’s strategic plans and understands how to implement them at the individual business unit level.

Many corporate executives are uncertain where to find these people and how to develop them.

Traditional management training is not appropriate for this role.

Specific technology or methodology training isn’t the entire solution.

And, focusing on a particular technical solution or approach is too narrow to build an effective BA. The skills most highly valued by an organization are true problem solving skills that are broad enough to allow an individual to see many possible solutions and to think outside or beyond a predetermined solution that may have been presented. An excellent BA looks at each problem as a missing puzzle piece that needs to interlock and work with the other pieces of the organization. He or she has the ability to examine the problem from multiple perspectives and consider possible solutions with a realistic view of the organization’s cost vs. benefit. Ideas are easy to generate but a BA challenges, dissects, evaluates, and truly “tests” each idea to determine if it fits within the corporate direction while also addressing the specific business problem at hand. Additionally, an excellent BA assesses the impact of a recommended change on the organization.

The more analysis tools a BA masters, the more valuable he will be to the organization. possess business analysis skills. Regardless of the title, individuals who truly understand how to turn high-level corporate objectives into detailed business solutions are extremely valuable resources.

Excellent BAs are unique individuals who have the ability to work on details while also understanding how small these details can impact the larger corporate picture. An excellent BA looks upon a “simple” maintenance change to determine if it has a

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Is the Excellent BA Born or Developed?

Is a BA born or made? We believe both. Individuals selected for this role must have a critical mind and an acute sense of curiosity.

They are people who are not satisfied settling for a good solution

Business Analysis Skills Communication Skills

but are determined to find an excellent one. They intuitively understand continuous process improvement. Once you find a person like this, he or she is eager to learn techniques that make him more capable and effective. Analysis skills that can be acquired through education and practice include critical thinking skills, root cause analysis, process analysis (breaking large things into manageable pieces), and data analysis (organizing, categorizing, and utilizing large volumes of data in a useful way to assist in decision making). BAs learn to improve their communication skills by widening the breadth of their questioning and by fine tuning their ability to listen for true causes of problems, not just symptoms.

B2T Training focuses on developing individuals to master business analysis.

Our courses and products equip BAs with a full range of complex business analysis skills, techniques, and approaches. The more analysis tools a BA masters, the more valuable he will be to the organization. In many organizations today, projects and problems do not follow a simple 1-2-3 pattern. Most problems are usually more complex than they initially appear, involving a number of interrelated factors. Solutions are not always obvious or easy to build.

An excellent BA knows how to get started on a problem/project that may not be clearly defined or understood.

An excellent BA is flexible and able to adapt to each unique situation. They possess an inventory of problem solving skills with which they feel comfortable to deploy as needed. They are able to work with many different types of people on many different types of projects. They must be agile. Agility is obtained by having a complete set of skills; and knowing when and how to wield them quickly and efficiently. Regardless of what type of project the BA is working on, having a solid skill set will ensure the BA’s critical value to an organization.

Facilitation Techniques Use Case Analysis Requirements Planning Prototyping Asking the Right Questions Structured Approaches Documentation Standards Workflow Analysis Traceability Requirements Review Requirements Management Note Taking SDLC Knowledge Cost/Benefit Analysis UAT Planning Effective Meetings Presentation Skills Interviewing Techniques Risk Assessment Dataflow Diagramming

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S Excellent Requirements Training Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Advanced Courses

B2T Training Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Developing a Business Analysis

Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Process Modeling

Work Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Elicitation Techniques

Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Software Design Knowledge

Certified Core Courses

Requirements Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Project Management

Essential Skills for the Business Analyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Management/Technical Seminars

Data Modeling

Overview of Business Analysis . . . . . . . . .20

Active Listening

Developer’s Introduction to Business Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Organizational Skills

IIBATM BABOKTM Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Detailing Business Data Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Detailing Process and Business Rule Requirements . . . . . . . . . . .12

CBAPTM Exam Prep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Self Study Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Change Control

Usability Principles Business Rule Analysis Gap Analysis

Mentoring and Coaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

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TRAINING OPTIONS

Onsite Training

Public Training

Self-study

All of our courses may be taught onsite at your facilities. We recommend onsite training for organizations with groups of eight or more students. Onsite training ensures that business analysts learn how to implement industry best practices in their organizational environment. We offer discount pricing for onsite groups. Please contact us to discuss your specific course requirements, group size, and available training dates.

B2T Training offers public classes in a number of convenient locations around the United States. Public classes are ideal for students from organizations that do not offer onsite training. Public classes allow students to meet and learn with business analysts from other companies and industries, offering a broader understanding of the business analysis profession.

Classes are limited to a maximum of 14 students to ensure optimal learning environment.

For experienced business analysts we offer study guides for our three core courses. Additionally, for business analysts who are wishing to sit for the CBAP certification exam we offer a CBAP Prep Study Guide. These study guides are ideal for business analysts who are unable to attend classes but would like to receive either the B2T Training or CBAP certification.

Customization All onsite classes will be tailored to address your unique organizational environment and the experience level and interest of the students. The level of customization required is dependent upon a review of your needs and the outline of our course curriculum. This review will reveal areas that may need more or less focus during training. We will prepare a customized training program, if needed, that includes topics from existing material that address specific areas of concern.

Customization requiring additional or new course development will incur a fee.

B2T Training International Partners

AchieveBlue is B2T Training’s exclusive Canadian partner and licensee. For training in Canada, contact Mona Mitchell, President, at mmitchell@achieveblue.com or call 416.915.3112.

IndigoCube is B2T Training’s exclusive South African partner and licensee. For training in South Africa, contact Robin Grace, Principal Consultant, at robin@indigocube.co.za.

PMWorks is B2T Training’s exclusive Australian partner and licensee. For training in Australia, contact Phillip Latka, Principal Consultant, at phill@pmworks.au.

Visit www.achieveblue.com for more information.

Visit www.indigocube.ca.za for more information.

Visit www.indigocube.ca.za for more information.

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TRAINING CURRICULUM

B2T Training Curriculum Our comprehensive business analysis curriculum is developed and delivered by praticing business analysts. Our mature program has been proven through the success of our customers resulting in improved requirements. The curriculum is supported by full requirements document templates, a reference manual for post-training guidance, mentoring, and online resources. The skills, techniques, and approaches that we teach are not tied to or limited to any particular methodology.

Three Core Courses

Advanced Courses

Our three consecutive core courses cover essential business analysis skills within the industry that most business analysts are expected to perform. These courses teach students how to elicit requirements and detail them in a business requirements document including detailed data, process, and business rule requirements. Our certification program, outlined in the next section, is built upon our three core courses.

In addition to the three core courses, B2T Training offers courses that cover more advanced and specialized business analysis topics. These courses are designed for experienced business analysts or to be taken after completing the three core courses.

Advanced Courses:

Three Core Courses: I

Essential Skills for the Business Analyst—4 days

I

Detailing Business Data Requirements—3 days

I

Detailing Process and Business Rule Requirements —4 days

I

Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan —3 days

I

Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis —3 days

I

Requirements Validation—2 days

We also offer management and technical seminars designed to help those who work with business analysts gain a better understanding of the business analysis role.

Management and Technical Seminars: I

Overview of Business Analysis—1/2 day

I

Developer’s Introduction to Business Analysis—1 day

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com 5

C E RT I F I C AT I O N

Certification B2T Training believes that a certified business analyst

BA Associate

should exhibit real-world knowledge and experience.

The BA Associate is a certificate that recognizes business analysts who possess foundational knowledge of business analysis topics and skills taught in our three core courses. It is designed for new and experienced business analysts. Obtaining the BA Associate certificate requires candidates to pass all three online proficiency area exams of our three core courses. Candidates wishing to test-out of the three core courses may purchase our study guides for each of these courses to help prepare for passing the proficiency exams.

Our certification program tests a business analyst’s ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world circumstances and offers two levels of recognition. Our business analyst certification program recognizes individuals who have proven skills, knowledge, and experience in eliciting, organizing, analyzing, documenting, communicating, and verifying requirements to facilitate the development or purchase of software applications and/or business process improvement efforts. Our certification program is based on the essential business analysis skills covered in our three core courses.

TM

BA Certified

Essential Skills for the Business Analyst 4 day class

Detailing Business Data Requirements 3 day class

Detailing Process and Business Rule Requirements 4 day class

Pass Proficiency Exam*

Pass Proficiency Exam*

Pass Proficiency Exam*

*Test out option available

Receive Certificate

Case-Study-Based Final Exam 2 Years Business Analysis Work Experience

2 Professional References

Develop Requirements Package

Complete Multiple-Choice Questions

TM

After obtaining the BA Associate certificate, candidates are qualified to work toward BA Certified. BA Certified is an elite certification that recognizes individuals who possess proven skills, knowledge, and experience in eliciting, organizing, analyzing, documenting, communicating, and verifying requirements. Becoming BA Certified consists of: I

earning the BA Associate certificate

I

possessing two years of business analysis experience

I

providing two professional references

I

passing a final exam

The case-study-based final exam consists of developing sections of a requirements package and answering questions about the requirements.

Receive Certification

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BA Certified business analysts are able to confidently provide their employers or perspective employers with evidence that they possess not only business analysis knowledge, but the ability to apply that knowledge in day-to-day real-world business analysis environments.

BABOK ALIGNMENT

IIBA Business Analysis Body of Knowledge and B2T Training Courses ®

B2T Training’s program is a comprehensive program that aligns with all areas of the BABOK. The BABOK is a collection of business analysis tasks categorized into like groupings called knowledge areas. The BABOK is not a methodology and does not infer any particular order of performing the activities. B2T Training’s program is taught in a series of courses that reflect the order of work and iterative nature of business analysis. This chart illustrates the alignment between the current version of the BABOK and B2T Training courses.

CORE COURSES

BABOK® Version 2.0 Draft Framework Tasks

Ess Skills BA Planning and Monitoring Conduct stakeholder analysis Plan business analysis activities Plan business analysis communication Plan requirements management process Plan, monitor, and report on business analysis performance Enterprise Analysis Identify business need Determine solution approach Define solution scope Develop the business case

Data

ADVANCED COURSES

Process

Requirements Analysis Organize requirements Prioritize requirements Specify and model requirements Determine assumptions and constraints Verify requirements Validate requirements

Fundamentals Software development methodologies Negotiation Consensus building Leadership Quality Assurance Presentation skills Project Management Networking/relationship building Consulting skills Business knowledge Technical knowledge

Facilitating

Mentoring and Coaching

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

Requirements Validation

Elicitation Prepare for elicitation Conduct elicitation Document elicitation results Confirm elicitation results

Solution Assessment and Validation Assess requirements coverage Allocate requirements Determine organizational readiness Validate solution Evaluate solution

Developing a BA Work Plan

CERTIFIED CORE COURSE 4 DAYS Intended Audience This course is designed for business analysts, systems analysts, or any other project team member involved with requirements. New business analysts will learn the tasks they are expected to perform and why each task is important.

Experienced business analysts will learn new techniques and more structured approaches to improve their requirements gathering activities. This course may also be appropriate for individuals who manage business analysts or those who work with the business requirements document and need a more in-depth understanding of the process and documentation.

Prerequisites None Earn 28 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs

Essential Skills for the Business Analyst Overview The business analyst role requires an extensive inventory of tools and techniques to identify the best solution for the real business need. This skill set includes realworld problem solving skills, requirements analysis, interviewing techniques, and critical thinking skills. As we continue with iterative projects and move toward more agile approaches, these skills become even more critical. Through education and practice, business analysts will develop and enhance their analytical skills and provide significant value to projects and the business enterprise.

In this course students will learn to: • Scope the business area of analysis by utilizing the project charter to further identify the level and complexity of the business analysis effort.

• Support requirements and change management by identifying areas of impact.

• Elicit critical requirements using various tools and techniques.

• Analyze and structure requirements.

• Ask the right questions through the use of interviewing templates developed specifically for business analysis.

• Identify five core components necessary to complete a requirements package.

• Recognize and document “excellent” requirements.

• Plan an approach for documenting, categorizing, and packaging requirements.

• Identify which techniques and documentation options are appropriate for each methodology and project type (COTS, maintenance, business process improvement, new development, etc).

• Verify that requirements are testable and generate testing objectives.

• Conduct an effective requirements review to improve the quality of the requirements package.

• Use elicitation techniques to facilitate requirements gathering and work toward consensus.

Public Pricing $2,195 per student Visit www.b2ttraining.com for public class schedules and to register!

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Course Outline Introduction – 1 hr.

• What is the role of a business analyst?

• Review the major tasks performed by the business analyst.

• Define the essential skills needed to perform their tasks.

Project Participants and their Roles – 1 hr.

• Identify project participants and their roles.

• Discuss how the business analyst interacts with these participants.

Scoping the Project from the Business Analyst’s Perspective – 5 hrs.

• Understand why the project is being done.

Without this understanding it will be difficult for business analysts to elicit and document the right requirements and focus their business analysis work in the appropriate areas.

• Understand the organizational environment.

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

• Learn techniques, including the context level dataflow diagram, to identify and document "what is" and, more importantly, "what is not" to be analyzed. This diagram includes interactions with people, other organizations, existing systems, and other software applications.

• Develop a change control process to ensure that once the scope of the project has been approved, all project participants will operate within the scope or formally approve any scope changes.

• Discuss how a business analyst should collect, organize, and maintain project information.

• Workshop - Scope the class case study project.

• Workshop - Scope your own project.

Defining and Detailing Requirements – 4 hrs.

• What is a requirement? Why is it important to gather and document requirements? What are the criteria used to judge the quality of "excellent” requirements?

• Learn how software developers use requirements • Understand the difference between analysis and design or "business" vs. "technological" requirements. Why is it necessary to understand the business problem before deciding on a solution?

• Learn the 5 core requirement components, what they describe, and why they are important.

• Entity • Attribute • Process (use case) • External Agent (actor) • Business Rule

Documenting Requirements – 5 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?

• Business Requirements • Functional Requirements • Technical Requirements • Learn the concept of traceability of requirements.

• Review several documentation formats and analysis techniques. Business analysts should be aware of the documentation options and be trained in the particular techniques preferred by their organization.

• Textual templates • Entity relationship diagram • Decomposition diagram • Use case diagram and descriptions • Workflow diagram • Prototyping • Workshop - Documenting and presenting requirements • Consider options for packaging requirements and choosing the appropriate documentation techniques for each project.

• Review currently available software tools that can be used to document requirements.

Conducting a Requirements Review – 2 hrs.

• 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 - Review a sample requirements package.

• Identify missing or incomplete requirements.

• Identify potential test cases.

• Document issues and develop an approach for going forward.

Validate the Requirements – 2 hrs.

• 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 the two main testing documents: test plans and test cases.

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

Analysis Communication Skills – 4 hrs.

• Focus on specific communication skills necessary for eliciting requirements: • Asking the right questions • Conflict management • Active listening skills • Paraphrasing, mirroring, acknowledging • Learn to use and determine the appropriate elicitation technique: • One-on-one interviews

• Facilitated sessions • Surveys • Brainstorming • Document analysis • Focus group • Job shadowing/observation • Competitive analysis • Effective communication skills: How should business analysts communicate with users?

How should business analysts communicate with the technical team?

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

• Improve your ability to develop in-depth, detailed questions for business area experts by identifying the appropriate source of information, deciding on an approach, and using clear, consistent language.

• Workshop - Conduct an interview.

Gathering Requirements in a Group Setting – 3 hrs.

• Conduct highly effective and successful meetings.

• Conduct facilitated information gathering sessions: understand the importance of session roles, session agenda, resulting work product, and session rules. Learn the difference between a facilitated session and a traditional meeting.

• Review an approach to group decision-making and understand why consensus is preferable to compromise or a majority discussion.

• Manage group discussions, manage group participation, work towards consensus, and manage group conflict.

Course Summary – 1 hr.

• Review Business Analysts tasks and skills.

• Discussion of next steps for the Business Analyst.

• Student questions/discussion topics.

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

• Learn which models are used in each methodology: • Waterfall • Information Engineering • IDEF • RAD • Iterative/Agile • BPMN • Object Oriented - UML • Spiral/RUP

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CERTIFIED CORE COURSE 3 DAYS Intended Audience This course is designed for business analysts, systems analysts, data administrators, database administrators, or any other project team member involved with business analysis.

This course may also be appropriate for individuals who manage business analysts or those who work with the business requirements document and need a more in-depth understanding of the process and documentation.

Prerequisites We recommend that students first attend our Essential Skills for the Business Analyst 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.

Detailing Business Data Requirements Overview Understanding and documenting business data requirements is a critical component in defining complete requirements. Every process uses data and almost all business rules are enforced by data. 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 the business needs. This course teaches students an in-depth approach to identify and define all necessary data components using both textual templates and an entity relationship diagram.

Students will be given data templates with a suggested documentation structure for defining business data requirements. In addition students will be shown how to document data using an entity relationship diagram to produce a logical data model in combination with the supporting detailed templates.

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.

Earn 21 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs In this course students will learn to: • Identify core data requirements beginning with project initiation.

• Identify excellent data requirements at the appropriate level of detail.

• Detail the data requirements (using a suggested documentation structure and templates in Microsoft Word format or using an entity relationship diagram).

• Identify and detail attributive, associative, and subtype and supertype entities.

• Detail complex data-related business rules.

• Discriminate between business data (logical data) and database design (physical data).

• Assist with the transition of business data to database design.

• Utilize easy normalization techniques (without all the mathematical theory).

• Validate data requirements with activity (process or use case) requirements.

Public Pricing $1,795 per student Visit www.b2ttraining.com for public class schedules and to register!

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Course Outline Introduction – 1 hr.

• What is a business data requirement? Why are these requirments important?

• Review the requirements package.

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

• Review the 7 characteristics of “excellent” requirements.

• Review the 5 core requirements components.

Entities and Attributes – 5 hrs.

• Review the components included in the project initiation section of the requirements package.

• Learn to use the context level dataflow diagram as a starting point for identifying data requirements.

• Entity types are the basic building blocks of the business data. This section defines entities, gives suggested naming guidelines, teaches the importance of entity definitions, gives criteria to evaluate potential entities, describes entity unique identifiers, and asks students to identify and document entities from the case study.

• Attribute types are characteristics of entity types. This section defines attributes, gives suggested naming guidelines and class words, teaches attribute cardinalities, gives criteria to evaluate attributes, and ask students to identify and document attributes from the case study.

• Understand the difference between logical unique identifiers and primary keys.

Entity Relationships and Diagramming Conventions – 4 hrs.

• Learn how business data requirements are displayed in an entity relationship diagram.

• Relationships are data associations that define the business rules of the project as they relate to data. This section defines relationships and business rules, gives suggested naming guidelines, teaches relationship cardinalities, and has students identify and document relationships from the case study.

• Review common diagram notations for data related business rules.

Detailing the Data Requirements – 5 hrs.

• Detailing repeating data elements. Repeating attributes must be broken down into their components, properly named, and clearly documented with example data values.

Students will refine their requirements document based on additional business requirements.

• Detailing complex business rules. Complex business rules (many to many relationships) should be properly named and clearly documented with example data values.

Students will refine their requirements document based on additional business requirements.

• Detailing sub-category entities. Some business data naturally falls into sub-categories and should be documented as such. These entities must be properly named, and be related to the supertype entity. The sub-category is defined as either exclusive or inclusive and a discriminating attribute is created.

Workshop - e-commerce case study – 4 hrs.

• Identify and document entities.

• Identify and document attributes.

• Identify and document data related business rules.

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

• What are the rules of normalization?

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.

• How does business data become a 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.

• Introduction to database design.

• Scope the design area using subject areas.

• What is de-normalization? Why de-normalize a database design?

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CERTIFIED CORE COURSE 4 DAYS Intended Audience This course is designed for business analysts, systems analysts, or any other project team members responsible for gathering and documenting business requirements and designing functional 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 or those who work with the business requirements document and need a more in-depth understanding of the process and documentation.

Prerequisites We recommend that students first attend our Essential Skills for the Business Analyst 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. We also recommend that students attend Detailing Business Data Requirements before attending this class.

Earn 28 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs

Detailing Process and Business Rule Requirements Overview Business process requirements provide the foundational element of any project.

This course continues the development of the requirements package by defining the essential processes and business rules. The most effective approach to ensure success is to understand the business environment and use this understanding to elicit and document business and functional requirements.

Students are taught proven techniques to identify and define the essential business processes within the scope of the project and then detail them into functional requirements. These techniques include AS IS and TO BE modeling, workflow modeling, process decomposition diagrams, use cases, and prototypes.

Students will learn how and when to effectively use these techniques at the appropriate level of detail for varying audiences.

Business analysts are uniquely qualified to elicit and document process and business rule requirements because of their understanding of the business needs and the user’s work environment. Business analysts are expected to analyze and understand business problems and present solution recommendations to the business stakeholders. Business process modeling adds value to projects by ensuring the technology solution will meet the business needs.

In this course students will learn to: • Understand and document the business environment using industry best practices.

• Use provided templates to elicit and document processes and business rules.

• Look beyond the current technology or procedures to discover the true nature of the business activity.

• Ask the right questions to identify the core business processes and the business rules that control or guide them.

• Document functional requirements that specify how users will interact with the software and how the software will respond.

• Deliver consistent, detailed use case descriptions.

• Use several diagrams including the decomposition diagram, use case diagram, and workflow diagrams.

• Look at the business area objectively after business requirements are documented and organized to present alternative design solutions that meet the customer needs.

• Validate business processes against data requirements.

• Consider usability when developing prototypes.

Public Pricing $2,195 per student Visit www.b2ttraining.com for public class schedules and to register!

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Course Outline Introduction – 1 hr.

• What are business requirements? Why are they important?

• Review the requirements package.

• What are the differences between business and functional requirements?

• Review the 7 characteristics of “excellent” requirements.

• Review the 5 core requirements components.

Identifying and Defining Essential Business Processes – 3 hrs.

• Learn to identify essential business processes.

An essential business process is a core requirement of the business area necessary to provide the right solution deliverable. Each business process must be clearly defined, consistently named, and completely decomposed.

• Students are given a template to document this detailed information and learn to identify essential processes from a case study.

• Learn to extract essential processes from realworld, detailed user description interview notes.

• Learn to use the process template as both an interviewing and documentation tool.

• Learn to look for redundant or reusable processes.

Processes Analysis – 3 hrs.

• Learn to organize essential business processes in a process outline and decomposition diagram.

• Learn 3 major business process identification approaches and the situations in which each would work most effectively.

• Students will use each approach to identify detailed processes from a case study.

• Top down • Bottom up • Event partitioning Documenting Business Rules – 2.5 hrs.

• Learn the major types of business rules and why each one should be documented.

• Review data-related business rules as they are documented in an entity relationship diagram.

• Learn to detail business rules that involve both data and process components.

• Learn several techniques for documenting business rules.

• Learn to extract business rules from different sources.

Finalizing the Business Requirements – 2 hrs.

• Learn 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 test cases can help solidify requirements.

• Review a requirements completeness checklist.

• Obtain approval signoffs from appropriate stakeholders.

Translating Business Requirements to Functional Requirements – 3.5 hrs.

• Define the design area scope. Once the analysis is complete and the business requirements have been documented, the project team must decide which business processes will be automated.

• Learn a six-step approach to defining the design area scope: • Document the functional design of each process.

• Document business priority.

• Document technical priority and estimated cost.

• Break project into phases.

• Document design area using a use case diagram: - Define actors involved with the application - Identify actor interactions - Learn multiple techniques to derive use cases from essential business processes • Obtain signoff.

Utilizing Workflow Analysis – 3 hrs.

• Learn to create detailed workflow diagrams using a number of techniques: • ANSI standard flowchart • Swimlane diagram • Geographic diagram • UML activity diagram • Understand the benefits of each diagram to target each technique to a specific audience and need.

• Documenting AS IS vs. TO BE scenarios.

Documenting System Functionality – 3 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 subsets, identifying reusable use cases where possible.

• Learn how and where to document system user messages.

• Learn 8 steps for excellent use case generation.

• Learn to create detailed use case descriptions.

• Students are given a template to document the detailed use case descriptions.

Designing User Interfaces – 2 hrs.

• Learn to use completed documentation to identify where prototypes are necessary.

• Learn to document report requirements, including ad-hoc and predefined.

• Create and document prototypes.

• Learn to use provided templates to document field edits and screen functionality.

• Review usability considerations.

Documenting Additional Functional Requirements – 1 hr.

• Identify requirements not previously addressed by business, functional, or technical requirement categories: • Performance requirements • Security requirements • Quality requirements • Scalability • Discuss the business analyst role in the documentation of these requirements.

Workshop - Maintenance Case Study – 3 hrs.

• Identify essential processes and build a decomposition diagram.

• Determine the design area scope.

• Write a use case description.

• Document functional requirements for an online screen, report, and manual procedure.

Course Summary – 1 hr.

• Review techniques appropriate for each project using real-world scenarios.

• Pull it all together; review the complete steps to business analysis.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com 13

ADVANCED COURSE 3 DAYS 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 the Business Analyst, 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

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?

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.

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

Public Pricing $1,795 per student Visit www.b2ttraining.com for public class schedules and to register!

14 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

Course Outline Introduction – 1 hr.

• Business analysis planning • Overview of business analysis planning activities • Discuss the relationship of the project manager and the business analyst in planning • Use of the BA Planning Framework™ approach to planning • Project - Understanding the project characteristics • People - Identifying stakeholders and planning for communications • Process - Planning the analysis activities • The business analysis work plan Planning for Different Types of Projects – 4 hrs.

• Planning for a large development project • Planning for enhancement or maintenance projects • Planning for a COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf software) project • Planning for an outsourced or off-shore development project • Planning for a project using a RUP style/iterative style development methodology • Planning for an agile style development process • Planning for a reporting or data warehouse project • Planning for a process improvement effort • Planning for an infrastructure upgrade (getting a new e-mail system or operating system like VISTA) • 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?

• Business objectives • Problems/opportunities • Requirements scope • High-level business processes • The Business Impact Worksheet - What is the relative importance of the project to the organization?

• Size (number of stakeholders, number of business processes involved, number of business rules) • Importance (estimated cost, potential benefits, criticality of business area, level of key stakeholders) • Risk (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: • Searching for all stakeholders, not just the obvious ones • Understanding each stakeholder's area of concern • Documenting stakeholder's needs • Consider the characteristics of each stakeholder group • Determine effective communication practices for each stakeholder group: • Is this group providing requirements, using requirements or supporting the project work?

• Which elicitation technique(s) will be most effective?

• What requirement presentation format will be most comfortable for this group?

• The Stakeholder Analysis Worksheet • When and where will communications with each stakeholder be most effective?

• 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 • Step one - Assess which requirements components are needed?

• Step two - Determine which deliverables are needed using the Deliverable List Worksheet • Step three - Develop an approach for creating each deliverable using The Deliverable Worksheet • Consult with organizational standards/methodologies for required deliverables Creating the Business Analysis Work Plan – 4 hrs.

• Step one - Create the business analysis task list • Step two - Estimate analysis time • Using historical data to estimate • 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 Course Summary – 0.5 hr.

• Final thoughts • Planning Worksheet Map • Optional Exercises Appendix - Ongoing Requirements Management – Optional • What is Requirements Management?

• Using a requirements repository • Develop a requirements management plan • Reusing existing requirements • Reusing existing data • Identifying requirements attributes • Plan for requirements traceability.

• Learn about traceability matrices and requirements links • Understand the purpose of forward and backward traceability • Determine which requirements should be "traced" • Determine the appropriate approach for managing traceability • Exercise: Perform impact analysis using traceability Appendix - Project Cost/Benefit Analysis – Optional • Learn the purpose of cost/benefit analysis • Learn to use the requirements package to estimate project costs and benefits Appendix - Enterprise Analysis – Optional • Learn to use root cause analysis • Learn to use SWOT analysis • Learn to create a high-level Six Sigma SIPOC process map 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 • Gap Analysis

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com 15

ADVANCED COURSE 3 DAYS Intended Audience This course is designed for experienced, knowledgeable business analysts involved with requirements gathering.

Students are expected to understand the purpose of business and functional requirements.

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

Earn 21 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs

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

The workshops in this course require students to plan the requirements gathering session, 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 gathering session for at least one requirement deliverable (i.e., context level dataflow diagram, workflow diagram).

In this course students will learn to: • Facilitate using proven techniques for business requirements gathering.

• Identify when and how to use each technique.

• Develop confidence and a skill set to conduct facilitated sessions.

• Actively practice learned skills and techniques.

• Use a requirements planning session template.

• Prepare the participants for the requirements gathering session.

• Perform each facilitation role through role playing each session.

• Conduct the session to stay focused on the core requirement that was planned as a deliverable.

• Select which facilitation technique to use for each core requirement being gathered.

• Complete checklists for managing and conducting the session.

• Facilitate a requirements gathering session.

Public Pricing $1,795 per student Visit www.b2ttraining.com for public class schedules and to register!

16 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

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: • Encourage participation • Manage group focus • Manage group conflict • Consider remote facilitation techniques Student Workshop – 1.5 hrs.

• Conduct a mini facilitated session.

• Practice techniques used for facilitated sessions.

Session Feasibility – 1 hr.

• Determine when facilitated sessions are appropriate: • Determine need/requirements deliverable desired.

• Determine commitment level.

• Determine risks.

• Practice determining session need using realworld scenarios.

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

• Learn when not to use facilitated sessions.

Planning and Preparing for a Facilitated Session – 4 hrs.

• Plan the session: • Determine the number session(s) needed and the length of the session(s).

• Document the purpose of the session.

• Identify potential participants.

• Define session requirements deliverables.

• Document the plan using session planning templates.

• Prepare for a session: • Outline the goals and requirements deliverables.

• Select session participants and determine if pre-session interviews are appropriate.

• Learn facilitation techniques: - Brainstorming - Consensus building - Flowcharting - Force field analysis - Hip pocket techniques - Nominal group - Root cause analysis - Storyboarding - Facilitating across distance • Develop focused questions to gather requirements: - Direct - Open-ended - Clarifying - Leading - 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.

Conducting the Session – 1 hr.

• Learn the stages of group development/productivity.

• Facilitate decision making – work toward consensus.

• Conducting the session: • Introducing the session • Managing the session • Creating a follow-up action plan • Review/approve requirements deliverables.

Student Workshop – 8 hrs.

• Plan and conduct a requirements gathering facilitated session.

• 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.

Student Workshop – 3.5 hrs.

• Each student will practice elicitation techniques in a facilitated session.

• Personal feedback will be provided to drive skill development.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com 17

ADVANCED COURSE 2 DAYS Intended Audience This course is designed for business analysts or anyone interested in improving and validating the quality of their requirements.

Prerequisites We recommend that students first attend our 3 core courses (or at a minimum Detailing Process and Business Rule Requirements) before enrolling for this course.

Requirements Validation Overview This course takes you through the steps to ensure that business requirements are validated and 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 2900 times the cost to correct a requirement. Finding missing requirements and requirements inconsistencies decreases the overall project length and cost.

Business analysts 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 analysts to design efficient requirements validation tests to make the best use of limited resources and time.

Earn 14 IIBA CDUs and PMI PDUs Solution Assessment and Validation is one of the key knowledge areas in the BABOK. This course addresses many of the important tasks in the knowledge area and equips business analysts to design efficient and effective tests to demonstrate that the application solutions meet their user’s needs.

This course answers many of the key questions about requirements validation including: • How do we validate requirements?

• Which types of validation and verification processes are appropriate for my project?

• How does the team ensure that the solution meets the business stakeholder needs?

• What is software usability? Why is it important?

• How does the team correct problems when they are discovered?

• How do I work with technical members of the solution team? What do they need from a business analyst to be successful?

Public Pricing $1,395 per student Visit www.b2ttraining.com for public class schedules and to register!

18 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

Course Outline Introduction to Requirements Validation – 1 hr.

• What are requirements?

• Why do we validate requirements?

• 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?

• Conducting effective requirements reviews: • Review guidelines.

• Sample review invitation and results form.

• Review question checklists.

• How do reviews improve future projects?

• Workshop: validate requirements using a formal review.

• Introduction to usability testing.

• Effective user acceptance testing (UAT).

• Post implementation user assessment.

• How to correct problems that are discovered during requirements validation?

• Use a consistent defect reporting procedure.

• Track defect types to improve requirements on future projects.

• Assess defect 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.

• Learn to use requirements to design usability tests.

• Workshop: conduct a usability test.

Documenting Requirements Validation Deliverables – 3 hrs.

• Designing a requirements validation plan: • IEEE testing templates.

• What is a test design, test case, and test procedure?

• Identifying tests from requirements documentation.

• Using use case descriptions to develop testing procedures.

• Tracking test cases.

• Workshop: validating requirements using test cases.

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

• Designing a requirements validation plan • 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?

Solution Assessment and Validation BABOK Knowledge Area – 2 hrs.

• Understanding the tasks in the IIBA BABOK Solution Assessment and Validation • Develop alternate solutions.

• Ensure the usability of the solution.

• Support the QA process.

• Support the implementation/deployment of the solution.

• Communicate the solution impacts.

Working with IT Stakeholders – 3 hrs.

• Communicating with IT development stakeholders.

• Verifying requirements or specification: • Unit testing • Integration testing • Systems testing • Testing business requirements • Testing functional requirements • Testing technical requirements • Regression testing - re-testing after a change • Testing environments.

• Common IT testing methods: • White box and black box testing.

• Positive and negative testing.

• Choosing data values for testing.

• Working with QA stakeholders: • Software quality assurance (SQA) planning and structure.

• Utilizing SQA personnel throughout the SDLC.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com 19

MANAGEMENT/TECHNICAL SEMINARS 1/2 DAY Intended Audience This seminar is a management overview of business analysis for managers, supervisors, and project managers who work with business analysts.

Prerequisites None.

Overview of Business Analysis This seminar presents the business analyst role to managers and others who lead and work with business analysts. For the business analyst to be successful, both the IT and business community must embrace the business analysis process. This seminar can be used as a working session to discuss how an organization will implement the business analysis process and approaches for documenting the requirements.

Both large and small organizations are realizing the benefits of using business analysts on all of their application development projects. Improving the communication between the business areas and the IT team significantly increases the quality of the systems developed.

A business analyst’s main responsibility is to elicit, analyze, and document requirements in a format that is useful to their business stakeholders and the technical developers. Analysis is a very important and time-consuming phase of every project. Business analysts need strong leadership as they gather and document requirements that are often unclear, inconsistent, and expensive.

Business analysts work most effectively when they have clear direction and frequent reviews of progress.

1 DAY 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 gather, analyze, and document requirements.

Developer’s Introduction to Business Analysis This class provides an overview of the business analyst role and a detailed review of the requirements document provided to the development team. To ensure an integrated team, IT developers need to understand the role of the business analyst.

They should also be familiar with the requirements that business analysts are gathering and documenting. This includes understanding categories of requirements, the core requirement components, and the documentation formats used for each type of requirement. IT team members must also understand the testing life cycle and the personnel involved. This course gives students an overview of the role of the business analyst, requirements documentation, and software testing.

Prerequisites None.

These seminars are only offered through onsite training.

20 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

CBAP EXAM PREP

CBAP Exam Prep Boot Camp Escape the clutter of your daily routine to focus on CBAP prep. We can help you prepare for the CBAP exam with our structured CBAP Exam Prep Boot Camp. This intense 4-day study session will streamline your study efforts and firm-up your understanding of the BABOK. Our CBAP-certified instructors share their knowledge, expertise, and experience to get you in prime condition for passing the CBAP exam.

Get mentally prepared for the CBAP exam by: • Assessing your areas of expertise and identifying your individual needs for concentration.

• Learning valuable tips for exam prep and exercises to strengthen your memory skills.

• Practicing 450 sample CBAP exam questions with CBAP-certified instructors.

• Understanding why an answer is correct or incorrect to reveal areas that may need more targeted conditioning.

• Focusing on key BABOK concepts to maximize your study efforts.

4 DAYS

• Experiencing a recommended 12-hour pre-exam process.

• Completing a timed practice exam.

Intended Audience This boot camp is designed for individuals who are seeking the CBAP certification and want a focused, structured session to ensure a thorough understanding of the BABOK and to prepare for the CBAP exam.

Prerequisites Individuals must meet the IIBA’s application requirements to sit for the CBAP exam including work experience, areas of expertise, education and professional development, and references. See the requirements listed on the IIBA website at www.theiiba.org for details. Attendees should read the BABOK prior to attending the boot camp and bring a copy with them.

Check our website for dates and locations.

• Building endurance as you increase your understanding of each knowledge area.

“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.

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.”

Prefer independent study? Purchase our CBAP Exam Prep Study Guide on our website for only $149!

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com 21

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, like our certification program, are based on our three core courses.

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.

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.

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.”

$99

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

Requirements Template Roadmap 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 Requirements Template Roadmap 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.

22 B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com

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

The Requirements Template Roadmap is available for purchase at www.b2ttraining.com.

MENTORING AND COACHING

Mentoring and Coaching Post-training mentoring and coaching reinforce concepts taught in class and jump start a business analyst’s work after learning new techniques. We offer business analysis onsite mentoring and distance coaching.

How Mentoring Works

How Distance Coaching Works

A B2T Training instructor stays onsite for 1-2 days after a class to assist your organization with business analysis activities. Our experienced business analyst instructors have helped hundreds of companies formalize their business analysis and requirements activities. A description of the task/project for which you need mentoring and supporting materials is supplied to the instructor prior to mentoring. This allows the instructor to preview materials to fully prepare for the sessions.

Our instructors work with students who have attended Essential Skills for the Business Analyst to establish goals for structured and focused distance coaching sessions. Using phone calls, email, and collaborative software, the sessions are intended to span over a 2-3 month period to provide incremental feedback and benefits to the student.

Examples of mentoring work that may benefit your organization: • Walk through the B2T requirements templates to help you decide which ones will be adopted by your organization.

Provide ideas for customization to adapt templates and techniques with your development and/or project management methodology.

• Review and discuss existing organization standards/templates and suggest modifications and enhancements.

• Review and provide guidance to refine the project initiation document for a new project.

• Assist with the development of a requirements management plan.

• Help to develop questions for upcoming requirements elicitation sessions.

• Observe interviews/requirements gathering sessions and give feedback for elicitation improvements.

Pricing and Scheduling Mentoring is priced on a per-day rate and is scheduled immediately following an onsite training class to minimize additional travel expenses for the customer.

Mentoring assignments longer than 2 days will be considered based on instructor availability.

During these coaching sessions the business analyst works with an experienced instructor who performs the role of a coach by reviewing projects. The business analyst takes an active role in defining issues, solutions, and goals. The role of the coach is to share personal tips to help the BA get started, answer questions to assist the BA when they are stalled, help focus the BA on the critical steps, help the BA gain perspective when things get off track, and encourage the BA when their activities go well.

Examples of coaching sessions include: • Provide coaching for the development of data requirements.

• Provide coaching for the identification of essential business processes.

• Provide coaching to plan brainstorming sessions on solution ideas.

• Observe and give feedback in formal requirements reviews.

Pricing and Scheduling Distance coaching is sold as a package consisting of 7 hours of coaching time. We recommend each coaching session either be scheduled for 30 minutes twice a week or one hour once a week, 2-3 weeks a month and span a 2-3 month time period. There are no travel expenses incurred with this service.

Contact B2T Training to learn more about our mentoring and coaching services.

B2T Training • 866.675.2125 • www.b2ttraining.com 23

Education is ongoing.

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

B2T Training Web Site I BA Blog I Downloadable templates I Library I BA tools I the bridge archives

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

11675 Rainwater Drive, Suite 325 Alpharetta, GA 30009 www.b2ttraining.com