BCS Certificate in Business Analysis Practice

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the the lifecycle for business change
• Discuss the role of business analyst within the business change lifecycle
• Define the scope of BA Activities within strategy analysis
• Highlight the involvement of BA within business analysis
• Describe the scope of BA within IT systems analysis
• List the three areas of business analysis competencies
• Explain personal qualities of a BA professional
• Explain business knowledge of a BA professional
• Explain professional qualities of a BA professional
• Define what strategy is and establish its relevance to organisations
• Highlight internal and external factors in analysing the strategic context
• Describe how Resource Audit helps in unearthing internal aspects
• Describe how PESTLE is used in identifying external factors
• Explain Porter’s 5 Forces model in assessing the market factors
• Discuss how to conduct SWOT Analysis and its significance
• Define MOST and discuss how to deploy MOST analysis technique
• Elaborate on the use of SMART objectives and goals
• Discuss critical success factors and use of CSFs for assessing strategy
• Discuss key performance indicators and use of KPIs for assessing strategy
• Discuss performance targets and use of PTs for assessing strategy
• Explain balanced business scorecard framework and its use in strategic analysis
• Specify the different components of BBS and linkages to CSFs and KPIs
• Describe the BOSCARD technique and its use in defining project charter
• Define stakeholder in the context of business analysis in IT projects
• Identify stakeholder categories using stakeholder wheel
• Discuss investigation techniques for elicitation with stakeholders
• Explain interview as an investigation technique and its merits and demerits
• Explain workshop as an investigation technique and its merits and demerits
• Explain observation as an investigation technique and its merits and demerits
• Explain scenarios as an investigation technique and its merits and demerits
• Explain document analysis as an investigation technique and its merits and demerits
• Explain surveys as an investigation technique and its merits and demerits
• Describe the approaches used in getting holistic view of a business situation
• Discuss how to represent business situation using rich pictures and mind maps
• Explain the applications of business process models and spaghetti maps
• Highlight the importance of fishbone diagrams and business needs log
• List the different approaches in analysing stakeholders
• Discuss stakeholder power-interest grid and its benefits
• Explain stakeholder attitudes and how the model helps in engagement
• Describe stakeholders’ business perspectives and their relevance
• Explain business activity model and how to create a BAM
• Define CATWOE and describe its use in identifying stakeholder views
• Explain the approach to reaching a consensus business perspective
• Highlight the rationale for Conceptual Business Models
• Explain the approach to constructing a Conceptual Business Activity Model
• Discuss the different business activity types
• Define business events and their significance to business analysis
• Describe the rationale for consensus business activity model
• Define business rules and explain the internal and external constraints
• Specify what is gap analysis and describe how to conduct one
• Define a business case and explain the steps in developing a Business Case
• Explain contents of business case and its links with business change lifecycle
• Describe how to conduct feasibility analysis of the options in a business case
• Define cost/benefit analysis and its significance in business case creation
• Define risk analysis and its significance in business case creation
• Highlight the different techniques used in an investment appraisal
• Define payback and explain the calculation of payback
• Define discounted cash flow and explain the calculation of DCF
• Define net present value payback and explain the calculation of NPV
• Define Internal Rate of Return and explain the calculation of IRR