BCS Certificate in Business Analysis Practice Training

This BCS Certificate in Business Analysis Practice course takes you through an end-to-end holistic business analysis process. This holistic approach considers four aspects of a business system: the processes, the people, the organisational context, and the technology. Starting with the rationale for a holistic approach, the course provides a clear understanding of the strategic context and the project discipline needed for business analysis. You will learn how to understand the business situation and associated issues, analyse stakeholder perspectives, model business activities, identify potential solutions to business issues, and finally make the business case for potential solutions. Without this end-to-end process, much of the cost of a project is often attributable to re-work from a poor up-front analysis.

In addition, this course prepares you to take the BCS Business Analysis Practice exam at the end of the course.

Business Analysis Practice Training Delivery Methods

• Train your whole team by bringing this course to your facility

  • In-Person
  • Online

Important Business Analysis Practice Training Information

• Business Analysis Practice Training Benefits

  • Recognise the role and competencies of a business analyst
  • Perform strategy analysis
  • Identify and analyse stakeholders
  • Deploy industry-standard investigation and modelling techniques
  • Identify different solutions to business needs
  • Build a business case to prove the value of those solutions
  • Leverage continued support with after-course one-on-one instructor coaching and computing sandbox

• Business Analysis Practice Training Prerequisites

  Experience at the level of:

  • Introduction to Business Analysis Training: Defining Successful Projects
  • BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis

• Business Analysis Practice Training Exam Information

  You can earn the Practitioner Certification in Business Analysis Practice if you pass the course exam.

  • Open book
  • One-hour written exam based on a business scenario
  • Passing grade is 50%
  • Exam included

  This course is part of a series to earn an International Diploma in Business Analysis

  The BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, offers this internationally recognised certification, enabling you to take your skills worldwide. The four modules required to apply for this certification include one foundation level course and three practitioner level courses:

  • BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis
  • BCS Certificate in Business Analysis Practice Training
  • BCS Certificate in Requirements Engineering Training
  • The International Diploma requires a 50-minute oral examination with two examiners. The questions will require you to apply your business analysis knowledge and understanding to scenarios described by the oral examiners. For additional information, see BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis .

• BCS Associate Membership

  Upon passing your exam, BCS will contact you to activate your membership. Once activated, you will be a BCS Associate Member and access the wealth of benefits and support to help you in your career.

  • BCS Associate membership provides exclusive access to resources, content and opportunities that will enrich your career.
  • Note: This offer is only available once to each exam candidate. Exam candidates who have previously benefited from free Associate Membership will not be eligible for this offer again, even if they take another qualifying BCS exam.

Business Analysis Practise Course Outline

Module 1: The Rationale for Business Analysis

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

Module 2: Understanding the Strategic Context

Internal and external analysis

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

Linking to the internal and external business environment analysis

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

Executing strategy

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

Critical success factors and key performance indicators

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

Module 3: Business Analysis Project Discipline

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

Module 4: Understanding the Current Situation

Stakeholder identification

• Stakeholder wheel
• Other potential sources of information

Investigative techniques

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

The Business Analysis Process Model

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

Investigating the situation

• Interviewing stakeholders
• Effective Requirements Workshops

Representing a holistic view of the business situation

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

Module 5: Stakeholder Analysis and Management

Identifying, categorising and analysing stakeholders

• Defining stakeholder types
• Deploying the Power/Interest Grid

Stakeholder management strategies

• Levels of power and interest
• Building a communication strategy

Understanding stakeholder perspectives

• Analysing stakeholders with CATWOE
• Creating business activity model

Module 6: Modelling Business Processes and Requirements

Creating a process model

• Pinpointing business events
• Developing the business process model

Modelling system functions and data

• Use case diagrams
• Entity Relationship Diagrams and Class Models

Module 7: Defining the Solution

Gap analysis

• Identifying areas of concern
• Analysing the gap with POPIT

Introduction to Business Architecture

• Definition of Business Architecture
• Business Architecture techniques

Module 8: Making a Business and Financial Case

Structuring the business case

Identifying and shortlisting options for business change

Identifying and categorising costs and benefits

• Tangible and intangible costs and benefits
• Investment appraisal techniques

Identifying and categorising risks

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

Identifying impacts

• Organisational culture
• Organisational behaviour

The business case life-cycle