Why Business Analysis

The International Institute of Business Analysis has defined business analysis as “the practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders“.

In today’s complex business environment, an organisation’s adaptability, agility, and ability to manage constant change through innovation can be keys to success. Traditional methods may no longer lead to achieving key business objectives when economic conditions are unfavorable. That’s where business analysis comes in.

The application of business analysis mechanisms helps you to convert statistics and feedback into valuable insights. There are different business analytics tools available to support data collection and transformation processes. With business analytics tools, you not only accelerate the data processing, but you can use them to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organisation, and to recommend solutions that enable the organisation to achieve its goals and gain a competitive edge for the company. This Diploma is relevant if you require an understanding of business process modelling, and hold a position such as business analyst, business manager, business change manager and project manager. It will support you to understand the systems and processes which support the design and implementation of major change programmes within your organisation to improve performance, build capabilities, and strengthen behavior over time.

The programme may also be of benefit to those tasked with introducing, leading or implementing change in your organisation as a result of Organisational merger, or those working within HR or a training and development function.

While you do not have to have a technical role within an organisation to engage with the programme, it may be relevant to the individuals in roles such as quality manager, test manager, requirements engineer, functional tester, user acceptance tester, and performance test specialist.

Reasons why this course is for you:

• Develop new/improved innovative business processes from gap analysis through process design in support of a company’s strategic objectives in a socially responsible manner.
• Utilize effective and established research, documentation methods, and business improvement procedures in order to develop and document business processes and business models according to established timelines and project goals.
• acquire proven modern methodologies and techniques for analyzing and solving business problems that impact upon cost, efficiency, capacity and service quality
• Develop strategies to bridge gaps between requirements and existing systems using appropriate methods, tools, techniques and documentation in accordance with standard business practices.
• Use a project management approach to communicate technical and business information to a variety of stakeholders, including technical and business stakeholders.
• Collaborate, network and communicate with various stakeholders in an ethical manner by applying negotiation and problem-solving skills in order to evaluate and align business processes and business models with the strategic objectives of the organisation and work closely with management to prioritise business goals, business processes and information needs.

Course Overview

This course will provide you with the skills to develop new or improved innovative business processes to support a company’s strategic objectives.

One of the most important roles of a Business Analyst is to facilitate communications among an organisation’s stakeholders in order to find out what their needs are and to turn those needs into measurable IS/IT requirements and solutions. To succeed in this role, you must have a broad range of business, technical, and interpersonal skills.

This course will support you to engage with an organisation’s business processes and information systems to identify the needed change, create a vision to guide the change, and execute the change, with the commitment of the members of the group/organisation. The course introduces you to the theories and practices which underlie and support transitional change leadership and facilitation within organisations.

On completion of this programme you will be able to:

• Analyse the core business objectives and strategy of an organisation or strategic business unit.
• Examine the processes, procedures, systems and structures that are in place – with the aim of planning for change, improving effectiveness and efficiency, driving cost-reduction, and increasing potential profit margins.
• Understand the dynamics of change [including culture, barriers, resistance] – and how to harness the positive energy needed to bring about successful change.
• Develop the skills to introduce, implement and embed change within complex settings.
• Utilise the skills necessary to communicate and negotiate effectively with stakeholders within and outside of an organisation.

Course Content

Learning on the programme is facilitated through a combination of lectures, workshops and practical applications – you will work on a simulated project during the course, deploying the skills that you have learned in the classroom. You will learn how to interact with project stakeholders to capture and negotiate requirements, and to work in teams to solve business problems (presented cases) and produce the required analysis outputs.

At the end of the course you will formally present your recommendations to the lecturer. In this way, the learning is given context and relevance and you are able to explore real-world application of the tools and techniques covered.

Introduction to Change

An introduction to the need for Business Analysis and the role and scope of the Business Analyst; this module considers the need for strategic awareness in the delivery of business change, regardless of methodology, the Business Analyst plays a critical role in ensuring the business change is aligned to business needs.

• The role of the Business Analyst within the lifecycle for business change
• The framework for business analysis activities
• Understanding the Strategic Context
• Defining a new business model
• Internal analysis – SWOT analysis
• External analysis – PESTLE, Five Forces
• Gap analysis – comparing the ideal and existing systems
• Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Identifying IS/IT requirements
• Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators

Project Discipline and Initiation

Securing terms of reference, identifying the stakeholders and planning the business analysis effort are vital components of a successful project; this module examines why taking shortcuts leads to failure; this module introduces you to a number of project management tools and techniques to plan and measure business change.

• Business and project objectives
• Terms of Reference/Project Initiation
• Stakeholder identification
• Interviewing Stakeholders
• Pragmatic approach to planning, preparing, conducting and following-up an interview.
• Deliverables from business analysis studies
• Identifying and categorizing risks
• Identifying impacts and risks
• Representing a holistic view of the business situation
• Project Network Diagrams

Making the Business Case and Reaching Agreement

Examining motivation and how people interact; much of the Business Analysis effort is accomplished with groups of people working together. This module considers how to make these interactions productive and introduces you to effective and proven approaches to help facilitate effective business relationships and avoid conflict.

• Structure of a business case
• Identifying options for business change
• Identifying and categorizing costs and benefits
• Examining motivation and how people interact.
• Effective Presentations
• Build productive business relationships and avoid conflict
• Presenting the business case

Business Process Modelling and Requirements Engineering

Most Business Analysts need to investigate and model business processes; this module covers practical modelling and engineering techniques for gathering and refining requirements and designing new business processes you are introduced to Business Entities, User Stories and User Cases providing a clear understanding of the linkages between people, business processes and technology. The module deals with the nature of requirements and the difference between ‘capturing’ and ‘engineering’, it explains the principles, interrelationships and challenges of engineering business processes to support the business strategy of the organisation while ensuring they are aligned with the company’s core Information Systems and technology.

• Business Process Modelling and Notation (BPMN)
• Analysing and modelling the business activities
• Exploring the gap between the current and desired situation
• Requirements Engineering
• Capturing and documenting IS/IT requirements using User Stories and Use Case
• Areas for business improvement (organisation context, technology, processes, people)
• The difference between process, task and functional modelling
• Relationships between process models in the hierarchy
• Managing the information resource

Career Opportunities

Business analysts are accountable for the technology solutions that meet defined business requirements, they

• Facilitate the selection of these solutions;
• Write high-quality, robust requirements;
• Ensure the usability of the solution; and
• The implementation of the solution and support the quality assurance process.

They need to work within a business strategy, using proven techniques to analyse a business area and identify changes to business processes as well as the IS/ IT systems needed to meet specific internal and external challenges.

Potential opportunities for those who successfully complete the programme may include:

• Business Analyst
• Commercial Business Analyst
• CRM (Customer Relationship management) Business Analyst
• Human Resource Manager
• (Transformational) Change Programme Advisor