According to the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®), Business Analysts are responsible for identifying the business needs of their clients and stakeholders to determine solutions to business problems.

The Essential Business Analysis Skills (©2008 International Institute of Business Analysis)

  • Analyze and understand the business problems
  • Identify and document requirements
  • Communicate effectively (written and spoken)
  • Manage client relationships
  • Facilitate discussions
  • Negotiate and build consensus
  • Model data and processes
  • Plan and manage activities
  • Facilitate and develop business strategy
  • Understand and manage organizational change

BAs are responsible for requirements development and requirements management. Solutions often include a systems development component but may also consist of process improvement or organizational change. Business analysts are a key facilitator within an organization, acting as a bridge between the client, stakeholders and the solution team.

Many people who are responsible for business analysis activities do not have the job title business analyst. Other job titles that business analysts hold include these:

  • Business systems analyst
  • Systems analyst
  • Computer systems analyst
  • Information systems analyst
  • Application developer
  • Business process analyst
  • Customer Liaison
  • Project Manager

Are you wondering if your company needs business analysis training? Consider these statistics:

  • 66% of software projects aren't expected to finish on time or on budget.
  • 56% of project defects originate in the requirements phase of the project.
  • Completed projects have only 52% of proposed functionality.

Discover how your organization can save time and make more money, right now. When you bring RG Freeman Group's business analysis training in-house, you give your team members the tools and knowledge they need to streamline projects and improve your bottom line.

With business analysis training, your business analysts will have the knowledge to improve communication between business stakeholders and developers in order to:

  • Execute better software development and other projects;
  • Cut costs and delays
  • Gather complete and accurate project requirements
  • Create clear and concise business requirements documents
  • Manage effective use of resources
  • Improve the quality of the final product

Learn more about in-house business analysis training through RG Freeman Group and how we can help you and your organization improve the bottom line!

Who should take business analysis courses?

Our courses are specially designed for entry-level business analysts and their managers;

  • Self-taught business analysts requiring a course that fills in the gaps and puts all the pieces together;
  • Systems analysts and programmers interested in expanding their role into the business area;
  • Quality assurance professionals;
  • Project managers; and
  • Solution architects.

No matter what organization or title owns the function, the business analyst's primary responsibilities are gathering requirements for designing business information systems, modifying systems to improve production or workflow, deploying new applications or expanding systems to serve new purposes. The bottom line for business analysts is to help make their companies more efficient, effective and profitable.

The Business Analysis Knowledge Areas:

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Business Analysis: Foundation Courses

  • RGF-BA01 Business Analysis Essentials - 2 days
    This is an introductory course designed to provide participants with a basic understanding of the benefits, functions and impact a Business Analyst has within an organization. The course discusses the business analysis process as it is applied throughout a project. This includes the preproject activities that comprise enterprise analysis and how a business analyst supports the project throughout the solution development life cycle, from establishing the solution vision and scope in the analysis phase to validating that requirements have been met in the testing phase. After completing this course, participants will understand why and when to involve the business analysis function. They will also have a working vocabulary to enable them to communicate effectively with those who perform that role.
  • RGF- 303 Managing Requirements for SW and IT Projects - 3 days
    This workshop is intended to provide information technology project managers and team members with the techniques and skills necessary for identifying and delivering good project requirements and for building a reusable requirements process.  It employs the requirements techniques and standards developed by the International Institute of Business Analysis (the IIBA®) and documented in its Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (the BABOK®).  It also employs other sources of requirements management best practices.  This workshop is compliant with the project management methods established by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), the world’s largest and most respected association of project managers.  It complies with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (the PMBOK® Guide, Fourth Edition). 
  • Learn how to identify stakeholders and techniques for uncovering their real expectations. Learn the ten (10) analytical methods for understanding stakeholders, and the techniques for leveraging the influence, power, and authority of stakeholders to achieve desired goals. Learn what to do when old stakeholders leave and new ones arrive, as well as techniques for managing stakeholders with non‐converging expectations.

  The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)

Click image to enlarge, or download PDF The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)

Business Analysis: "Deep Dive" Courses

These five core courses can be taken ala carte or together they comprise the RG Freeman Group BA Certificate Program.

 

Business Analysis Core Program:

  • RGF-BA02 Strategic Enterprise Analysis - 2 days
    Learn enterprise analysis skills to support your enterprise solutions with effective consulting and leadership. Learn techniques to identify profitable enterprise opportunities and to move enterprise projects and strategies forward from both a consulting and Enterprise Analysis perspective. Learn how to package and present a compelling rationale for your enterprise solution and develop your consulting skills to get buy-in from senior management.
  • RGF-BA03 Writing Effective Business Cases - 2 days 
    Learn the steps to effective business case development and support your strategic business recommendations with sound budgeting and financial back-up. The one course you need to make high-impact recommendations and receive full management support for your ideas.     This skills-intensive workshop is ideal for experienced managers, directors and corporate officers who regularly develop and present budgets, business plans and recommendations.
  • RGF-BA04 Eliciting and Writing Effective Requirements - 3 days
    Successful projects are built on the foundation of well-written requirements. You will learn to identify your audience, determine their requirements, and provide them with adequate and appropriate information. You'll learn the technical writing techniques that apply directly to writing requirements documents and you'll learn to apply the five Cs of writing-correct, clear, concise, comprehensive, and cohesive-to writing requirements. This course covers the "Requirements Documentation" knowledge area of the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®).
  • RGF-BA05 Process Modeling Using BPMN - 2 days
    An intensive introduction to the best practices in process mapping using the latest industry standards (BPMN) so that both the business and IT stakeholders will be able to understand the models and map processes consistently through-out your organization. BPMN which stands for Business Process Modeling Notation from the Object Management Group (OMG).
  • RGF-BA06 Managing and Communication Requirements for Projects - 2 days
    Learn to develop a plan that includes determining the requirements activities a Business Analyst will perform on a particular project and how you will control and manage changes to the deliverables.  Develop a high level test plan to verify and validate your user requirements and achieve quality performance.

Business Analysis: Electives:

  • RGF-BA07 Implementing an Agile Project- 2 days
    Learn to plan, manage and close requirements for software development projects in reduced time using Agile practices. Learn the agile methodology in this hands-on, skills-building course. Agile differs significantly from traditional plan-based approaches, affecting how requirements for projects are planned and managed. In this course a case study will be used to learn and apply the Agile approach and practices. Your role as the Business Analyst in an agile project will look much different as you form and coach a self-directed team, facilitate continuous collaboration with your client, manage and communicate changing requirements, and deliver business value to your client early and regularly throughout the project.
  • RGF-BA08 Managing Requirements for Agile Projects - 2 days  
    Requirements can change frequently during a project, and therefore projects need a streamlined, flexible approach to requirements change management.  Agile professionals want to develop systems and services which are both high-quality and high-value, and the easiest way to achieve this is to implement the highest priority requirements first.  This enables the projects to maximize value for their stakeholders. The course will explore how your projects can easily and successfully manage requirements in an effective Agile environment.
  • RGF-BA09 Managing Requirements for SharePoint Projects - 2 days
    Requirements can change frequently during a SharePoint project, and therefore projects need a streamlined, flexible approach to requirements change management.  SharePoint professionals want to develop systems and services which are both high-quality and high-value, and the easiest way to achieve this is to implement the highest priority requirements first.  This enables the projects to maximize value for their stakeholders. The course will explore how to successfully manage requirements for an effective SharePoint environment.
  • RGF-BA10 Understanding Root Cause Analysis - 2 days
    Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a structured, team based, analytical approach. When used correctly, RCA can alleviate recurring problems within an organization. In this course, participants will learn to apply several practical, systematic methods for analyzing incidents and problems to uncover root causes. Understanding of these techniques will be reinforced by exercises as we explore effective ways of gathering data for root cause analysis and how to determine which problems should be analyzed. We will also discuss how to design, develop, and implement a root cause analysis program for your organization.
  • RGF-BA12 Writing Effective Requirements - 2 days
    Successful projects are built on the foundation of well-written requirements. This course provides the skills to write well-formed, testable, verifiable user requirements so that you can translate client needs into clear and measurable metrics. These metrics provides a means to track success throughout your development cycle to ensure that business and user requirements are implemented in your final product. You'll learn the technical writing techniques that apply directly to writing requirements documents and you'll learn to apply the five Cs of writing-correct, clear, concise, comprehensive, and cohesive-to writing requirements.
  • RGF - BA14 Problem Determination and Root Cause Analysis - 2 days
    Business success is dependent on effective resolution of the problems that present themselves every day. Often the same or similar problems continue causing repeated losses in time or money and your staff become experts at fixing rather than preventing the problems. Learn to find and fix root causes and develop corrective actions that will effectively eliminate or control these problems.
    Excellent problem determination skills cannot be acquired simply by reading a book. They mostly come from experience as well as discipline. After this course, you should have a general understanding of a structured problem determination approach, which you can then apply in your daily work to gain more experience.
  • RGF - BA15 Planning and Managing Agile Projects - 3 days
    This 3-day course aims at introducing its attendees to the core values, principles, and practices of Agile. This course is a more elaborate version of the Certified Scrum Master training as it discusses how to plan and manage Agile practices, not only those in Scrum.  The course also goes into greater depth about all the roles and responsibilities on the team and not just the ScrumMaster and Product Owner roles. The course outline is aligned with the new, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) certificate that we anticipate will become a worldwide accepted standard for best practices for Agile PM like the PMBOK Guide and PMP recognition is for PM.

Accelerated BA Immersion Courses

  •  RGF-BA11 Business Analysis Life Cycle Accelerated Workshop - 5 days
    A focused overview of both the “hard” and “soft” skills necessary for business analysis and an    d an introduction to the processes included in the IIBA BABOK® requirements cycle. This workshop uses an interactive capstone exercise that requires participants to demonstrate the skills they have learned and to apply those skills in a simulated project. The goal of this workshop is to help learners develop and apply the skills and techniques needed to elicit, assess, critically analyze and validate requirements to meet the business needs. Building on the IIBA® Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) industry standard, participants will also learn how to assemble organizational information, effectively facilitate groups, build a shared understanding between various stakeholders and the project team, and communicate solutions that will help achieve an organization's goals.
  • RGF-310 Process Quality Management - 2 days
    This workshop focuses on identifying the root causes of business problems, building processes that meet those needs, and ensuring that those processes meet quality standards

 RG Freeman Group Webinar Series:

  • BA-WEB01 - How Business Analysts provide value in today's work environment
    In this webinar, we will introduce you to how Business Analysis can contribute to strategic, project and organizational success. We will cover the following topic areas:
    • Growth in the interest in the Business Analyst
    • The International Institute for Business Analysis (IIBA)
    • The role of the business analyst and this role works with other roles during the project cycle
  • BA-WEB02- 10 Components to designing a business model
    Every organization, and every part of every organization, whether public or private, whether large or small, uses a business model. Having a proper understanding of your business model, what it provides, to whom and how, is critical to an organization being able to achieve its desired outcomes.
    In this webinar, we will introduce you to how to build an effective business model that shall define how the organization delivers value to customers, and entices customers to pay for that value. We will cover the following topic areas:
  • Understanding the organizations desired outcomes
  • The service and product offerings to support those outcomes
  • The infrastructure necessary to execute the business model
  • The target audience for the products and service and how they are delivered
  • The financial structure of the business model
  •  BA-WEB03- The skills required for Business Analysts to manage stakeholders expectations
    A key element of a Business Analyst’s proficiency is being aware of the array of techniques, tools, and deliverables that are available and selecting the ones that are appropriate to a particular problem. The Business Analyst collaborates with business stakeholders throughout the organization to ensure high quality, on-time deliverables and seamless communication.
    In this webinar, we will introduce you to the essential skills required for Business Analysts. We will cover the following topic areas:
  • Analyze and understand the business problems
  • Identify and document requirements
  • Communicate effectively (written and spoken)
  • Manage client relationships
  • Model data and processes
  • Facilitate and develop business strategy
  • Understand and manage organizational change
  • BAPM- WEB04 - How to Successfully Implement an Agile Project
    Many of today’s Project Management and Business Analyst Professionals are finding themselves leading, managing and analyzing on  Agile development teams - only to find that many of the tools and techniques applied when using a traditional project management approach no longer work as effectively or at all. In order to do more than survive in this iterative development environment, today’s Project Manager and Business Analyst must employ additional project management and business analysis tools and techniques to effectively lead their teams and deliver their projects.
  • This webinar will introduce to you how your projects can easily and successfully make the transition to an effective Agile environment. Agile Scrum is an incremental, iterative framework for project management and software development - where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams.

To Find out more about the RG Freeman Group Business Analysis training programs call Rick Freeman at 781-784-5721 or email rfreeman@rgfgroup.com.