K N O W L E D G E S K I L L B E H A V I O U R
______________________________________
Mastering Business Analysis
______________________________________
C A T A L O G U E
C A T
Developing an Excellent Business Analyst
T he emergence of the business analysis profession is
one of the best things that has happened to business
organisations in this decade! Organisations 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 organisation. 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 organisation’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 organisation 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
organisation. He or she has the
ability to examine the problem from
multiple perspectives and consider
possible solutions with a realistic
view of the organisation’s cost vs.
benefit. Ideas are easy to generate
but a BA challenges, dissects,
The more analysis tools a BA masters, the more valuable he will be to the organisation.
evaluates, and truly “tests” each idea
to determine if it fits within the
corporate direction while also
addressing the specific business
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
Page 2 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
problem at hand. Additionally, an excellent BA assesses the
impact of a recommended change on the organisation.
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
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 (organising, categorising, and utilising 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.
IndigoCube 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 organisation. In many organisations
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 organisation.
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Training Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Management/Technical Seminars
Business Analysis Skills
Communication Skills
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
Excellent Requirements
Process Modeling
Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
IIBATM
BABOKTM
Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Certified Core Courses
Essential Skills for
Business Analysis™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Detailing Business Data Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Detailing Process and Business Rule Requirements . . . . . . . . .12 Advanced and Specialised Courses
Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Requirements Validation . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Overview of Business Analysis . . . . . . . 20
Developer’s Introduction to Business Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Practitioner Courses
Writing Good Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Analysis using UML 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Mastering Requirements Management with Use Cases . . . . . . . . .23
BABOK / CBAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Requirements Template Roadmap . . . . 24
Business Analyst Assessments . . . . . . . 25
List of IndigoCube’s Courses . . . . . . . . 26
Elicitation Techniques
Software Design Knowledge
Change Control
Project Management
Data Modeling
Active Listening
Organisational Skills
Usability Principles
Business Rule Analysis
Gap Analysis
IndigoCube •011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 3
T R A I N I N G O P T I O N S
Onsite Training All of our courses may be taught
onsite at your facilities, where
required, provided that there are
six or more delegates.
Please contact us to discuss
your specific course requirements,
group size, and available training
dates.
Customisation
Public Training IndigoCube offers public classes at
our offices on the Ground Floor,
Victoria Gate South, Hyde Lane,
Hyde Park, Sandton.
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.
Self-study For experienced business analysts, study
guides are available for our three core
courses. Additionally, for business analysts
who are wishing to sit for the CBAP
certification exam, a CBAP Prep Study
Guide is available. These study guides are
ideal for business analysts who are unable
to attend classes but would like to receive
either the B2T Training Certification or
CBAP certification.
All onsite classes will be tailored to address your unique organisational environment and the experience level and interest
of the students. The level of customisation 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 customised
training programme, if needed, which includes topics from existing material that address specific areas of concern.
Customisation requiring additional or new course development will incur a fee.
Course Level 2009 Essential Skills for Business Analysis™ Core Skills 07-10 Dec
Detailing Business Data Requirements Core Skills 30 Nov-02 Dec
Course Level 2010
Essential Skills for Business Analysis™ Core Skills 18-21 Jan 8-11 Feb 8-11 Mar
12-15 Apr 3-6 May 7-10 June
Detailing Business Data Requirements Core Skills 25-27 Jan 15-17 Feb 15-17 Mar
10-12 May
Detailing Process & Business Rule Req. Core Skills 12-15 Jan 01-04 Feb 01-04 Mar
19-22 Apr 21-24 June
Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan Advanced
03-05 May
Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis Advanced ON DEMAND
Requirements Validation Advanced ON DEMAND
Writing Good Use Cases Practitioner ON DEMAND
Analysis using UML 2 Practitioner ON DEMAND
Mastering Requirements Management with Use Cases Practitioner ON DEMAND
Overview of Business Analysis Business Management
ON DEMAND
Developer's Introduction to Business Analysis Dev/Tech ON DEMAND
IndigoCube reserves the right to reschedule courses.
For bookings and information: [email protected]
Page 4 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
IndigoCube’s Curriculum
T R A I N I N G C U R R I C U L U M
Our comprehensive business analysis curriculum is developed and delivered by practicing business analysts.
Our mature programme 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,
coaching, and resources. The skills, techniques, and approaches that we teach are not tied to or limited to any
particular methodology.
Three Core 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 programme, outlined in
the next section, is built upon our
three core courses.
Three Core Courses:
■ Essential Skills for Business Analysis™
- 4 days
■ Detailing Business Data Requirements
- 3 days
■ Detailing Process and Business Rule
Requirements - 4 days
Advanced and Specialised Courses In addition to the three core courses, IndigoCube
offers courses that cover more advanced and
specialised business analysis topics. These courses
are designed for experienced business analysts or
to be taken after completing the three core courses.
Advanced and Specialised Courses:
■ Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan
- 3 days
■ Facilitating Requirements for Business
Analysis - 3 days
■ Requirements Validation - 2 days
Seminars and Practitioner Courses 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:
■ Overview of Business Analysis -1/2 day
■ Developer’s Introduction to Business
Analysis - 1 day
In addition, we offer practitioner courses designed to assist business analysts who have an understanding of business analysis and project management practices in the software development environment.
Practitioner Courses:
■ Writing Good Use Cases - 1 day
■ Analysis using UML 2.0 - 3 days
■ Mastering Requirements Management
with Use Cases - 3 days
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 5
=
C E R T I F I C A T I O N
Certification IndigoCube believes that a certified business analyst
should exhibit real-world knowledge and experience.
Our certification programme 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 programme recognises individuals who have
proven skills, knowledge, and experience in eliciting,
organising, analysing, documenting, communicating,
BA AssociateTM
The BA Associate is a
certificate that recognises
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
and verifying requirements to facilitate the development
or purchase of software applications and/or business
process improvement efforts. Our certification programme
is based on the essential business analysis skills covered
in our three core courses.
business analysts. Obtaining the BA Associate certificate
requires candidates to pass all three online proficiency area
exams of our three core courses. The cost of each exam is
R900 excluding VAT. Candidates wishing to test-out the
three core courses may purchase study guides for each of
these courses to help prepare for passing the proficiency exams.
BA CertifiedTM
After obtaining the BA
Associate certificate,
candidates are qualified
Exam*
to work toward BA
Certified. BA Certified is
an elite certification that
recognises individuals
who possess proven
skills, knowledge, and
experience in eliciting, organising, analysing, documenting,
communicating, and verifying requirements.
Becoming BA Certified consists of:
■ earning the BA Associate certificate
■ possessing two years of business analysis experience
■ providing two professional references
■ passing a final exam
The case-study-based final exam consists of developing
sections of a requirements package and answering
questions about the requirements. Cost of this exam is
available on request.
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.
Page 6 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
B A B O K A L I G N M E N T
IIBA Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® and IndigoCube Courses
IndigoCube’s programme is a comprehensive programme that aligns with all areas of the BABOK. The BABOK is a collection of business analysis tasks categorised into like groupings called knowledge areas. The BABOK is not a methodology and does not infer any particular order of performing the activities. IndigoCube’s programme 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 IndigoCube training courses.
BABOK®
Version 2 .0
Framework Tasks
CORE COURSES ADVANCED COURSES Mentoring and
Coaching Essential
Skills Data Process
Work Plan
Requirements Validation
Facilitating
BA Planning and Monitoring
Plan business analysis approach Conduct stakeholder analysis Plan business analysis activities Plan business analysis communications Plan requirements management process Manage business analysis performance
Elicitation
Prepare for elicitation Conduct elicitation activity Document elicitation results Confirm elicitation results
Requirements Management & Communication Manage solution and requirements scope Manage requirements traceability Manage requirements for re-use Manage requirements package Communicate requirements
Enterprise Analysis
Define business need Assess capability gaps Determine solution approach Define solution scope Develop the business case
Requirements Analysis
Prioritise requirements Organise requirements Specify and model requirements Determine assumptions and constraints Verify requirements Validate requirements
Solution Assessment and Validation
Assess proposed solution Allocate requirements Assess organisational readiness Define transition requirements Validate solution Evaluate solution performance
Underlying Competencies
Analytical thinking and problem solving Behavioural characteristics Business knowledge Communication skills Interaction skills Software applications
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 7
4 DAYS UPDATED
Intended Audience This course is designed for
business analysts, project
managers, business systems
analysts, system architects or
any other project team member
involved with analysis. New
practitioners will learn the tasks
they are expected to perform
and why each task is important.
Experienced practitioners will
learn new techniques and more
structured approaches to improve
their requirements activities.
This course may also be
appropriate for individuals who
manage analysis activities and
business stakeholders who
need a more in-depth
understanding of the
requirements process and
deliverables.
Prerequisites None
Earn 28 IIBA CDUs
C E R T I F I E D C O R E C O U R S E
Essential Skills for Business Analysis™
Overview
To identify the best solutions for real business needs, this course provides an extensive
inventory of tools and techniques for use in business analysis work. The business analysis
skill set includes critical thinking skills, elicitation techniques and requirements analysis
and management. Equally important are communication and relationship building skills,
whether they be in person or virtual environments. Expertise with analysis tools and
techniques becomes even more necessary in today’s fast-paced environment. It is further
complicated by the use of dispersed or outsourced teams, complex business processes,
time-driven business initiatives, new agile software development approaches, and poorly
integrated legacy applications.
Regardless of the person’s title, the need for strong business analysis skills is necessary
for companies to remain competitive in any economy. Through education and practice
business or technical professionals will develop and enhance their analytical skills and
provide significant value to projects and the business enterprise.
This course teaches business analysis essentials to both new and experienced practitioners.
It supports and expands on the standards outlined in the IIBA® BABOK® Guide v2.0.
Mentor-led workshops allow students to practice the techniques as they learn them.
Depending on the participant’s skill level, the workshop cases and discussions inspire
learning insights for every level of experience. Students are encouraged to bring their
own projects to class. Using new techniques on a current project often highlights missing
requirements and gives the student specific next steps to follow after class.
In this course students will learn to:
• Analyse and scope the area of analysis, working with project managers and business
sponsors to clarify the level and complexity of the business analysis effort needed for
the project.
• Select the appropriate elicitation technique to efficiently identify critical requirements.
• Analyse and refine business and functional requirements.
• Ask the right questions through the use of interviewing templates developed specifically
for business analysis elicitation.
• Identify the five core components necessary to analyse a business area.
• Plan an approach for analysing, categorising, and managing requirements. Determine
the level of formality required and consider options for documenting and packaging
requirements based on project type, priorities, and risks.
• Identify techniques and documentation options appropriate for various software
development approaches and project types (COTS, maintenance, business process
improvement, new development, etc).
• Define testing objectives and verify requirements are testable.
• Conduct effective requirements reviews to improve the quality of requirements
deliverables.
• Build strong relationships with project stakeholders.
• Apply new communication strategies for eliciting and interacting with virtual teams.
• Anticipate issues, think proactively, and use critical thinking skills to plan stakeholder
elicitation sessions.
Pricing
R9,650 excluding VAT per Student Proficiency Exam: R900 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
• 6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
• 11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
Page 8 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
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
Elicitation Techniques – 2.5 hrs.
• Learn to use and determine the appropriate
elicitation technique:
• One-on-one interviews • Requirements workshops
• Surveys
• Brainstorming • Document analysis
• Focus group
• Job shadowing/observation • Competitive analysis
• Interface analysis
• Reverse engineering • Learn to proactively plan interactions with
stakeholders to make the most effective use
of their time
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. Get an
introduction to Enterprise Analysis.
• Understand the organisational environment. Identify the business stakeholders who will be
involved in the project and how they will
impact business analysis • Learn to ask probing questions about the
requirements scope and facilitate a discussion
with project stakeholders using visual representations of the requirements boundaries
• Learn the context level dataflow diagram
technique to identify and scope “what is” and, more importantly, “what is not” to be analysed.
Analyse interfaces with people, other
organisations, existing systems, and other software applications
• Discuss how a business analyst should collect,
organise, and maintain requirements for efficient analysis and reuse on future projects
• Workshop - Scope the class case study project
• Workshop – Reinforce the analysis techniques on a current project. Students will leave class
with a draft visual representation of their
current business area along with a list of follow up questions.
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 Requirements Analysis Techniques – 5 hrs.
• Learn a recommended approach to
categorising requirements. Why should
requirements be categorised? Who uses each
category? Why is it difficult to create distinct categories?
• Business Requirements
• Functional Requirements • Non-functional Requirements
• Technical Requirements
• Learn the concept of traceability of requirements • Discuss the most commonly used analysis
techniques to organise and refine requirements.
Business analysts should have expertise in many analysis techniques to be able to adapt
to different types of projects and businesses:
• Structured textual templates (process descriptions, data descriptions, business
rules, use cases)
• Entity relationship diagram • Decomposition diagram
• User stories, use case diagram and use case
descriptions • Workflow diagram (UML, BPMN, ANSI,
swimlane
• Prototyping • 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 • Workshop – Put into practice several of the
analysis techniques on the course case study
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.
• Understand the role of business analysis in
validating requirements and software testing
• 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 to verify that the business requirements
are complete by identifying test cases • Practice identifying test cases and refining
requirements based on quality assurance
principles.
Analysis Communication Skills – 2 hrs.
• Learn the importance of building strong relationships with project stakeholders. How
should business analysts communicate with
users? How should business analysts communicate with the technical team?
• Improve your ability to develop in-depth,
detailed questions for stakeholders by identifying the appropriate source of information, deciding
on an approach, and using clear, consistent language
• Review selected analysis techniques to frame
questions driving stakeholders to reveal core needs
and problems. Ask the right questions through use
of interviewing templates developed specifically for business analysis
• Recognise active listening as the most powerful
elicitation communication skill, learn to listen for key phrases that reveal specific types of
requirements
• Improve listening skills by recognising common barriers to listening, understanding verbal and
nonverbal messages, acknowledging the message,
and responding with appropriate feedback • Learn to effectively plan communications and
facilitate groups to consensus
• Workshop – Practice active listening and receive feedback from the instructor and other students.
Working with Virtual Teams – 2 hrs. • Understand what constitutes a virtual team • Learn about virtual team structures and terminology
• Learn about technology requirements for virtual
teams: • Define Webinars, web conferencing, webcasting
• Understand the uses for collaboration tools
• Consider business analysis process changes for virtual team work:
• Set policies for the team
• Utilise the Six Thinking Hats® technique • Effectively utilise the people on the virtual team
• Understand the critical success characteristics
• Tips for conducting virtual meetings successfully • Choose the appropriate elicitation techniques
for virtual teams
Course Summary – 1.5 hrs.
• Review business analysts’ tasks and skills
• Workshop – Draft an initial Business Analysis
Communications Plan for a CRM project • Develop an Action Plan with next steps on the
student’s current project
• Student questions/discussion topics
Appendix - Overview of Application Development Methodologies
- Optional
• 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
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 9
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.
Earn 21 IIBA CDUs
C E R T I F I E D C O R E C O U R S E
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 organisation has a data administrator or data warehouse team who
is responsible for documenting and managing the organisation’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.
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.
• Utilise easy normalisation techniques (without all the mathematical theory).
• Validate data requirements with activity (process or use case) requirements.
Pricing
R7,200 excluding VAT per Student Proficiency Exam: R900 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
Page 10 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
Course Outline
Introduction – 1 hr.
• What is a business data requirement? Why are
these requirements 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
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-normalisation? Why de-normalise a
database design?
Workshop - e-commerce case study – 4 hrs.
• Identify and document entities
• Identify and document attributes
• Identify and document data related business
rules
Appendix - Data Normalisation
• What is data normalisation and why is it
important?
• What are the rules of normalisation?
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 11
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
C E R T I F I E D C O R E C O U R S E
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 analyse 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 organised to present alternative design solutions that meet
the customer needs.
• Validate business processes against data requirements.
• Consider usability when developing prototypes.
Pricing R9,600 excluding VAT per Student Proficiency Exam: R900 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
Page 12 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
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 real-
world, 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 organise 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
Finalising 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
Utilising 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 behaviour
• Identify primary path, alternate path, and
exception paths
• Decompose large use cases into smaller sub-
sets, 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
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 13
3 DAYS
Intended Audience This course is intended for
anyone who is interested in
learning a practical approach to
NEW
A D V A N C E D A N D S P E C I A L I S E D C O U R S E
Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan
Overview 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 IndigoCube
if you would like to discuss an
exception being made to
these prerequisites.
Earn 21 IIBA CDUs
This course leads students through the development of a structured business
analysis plan. With a business analysis plan the business analyst is less likely to
miss major requirements or stakeholder areas, or to go down the wrong path and
build the wrong solution for the business problem. There are many things that a
business analyst should consider at the beginning of a project to ensure the
project’s success. An excellent business analyst develops a work plan at the
beginning of each assignment to make sure that the work will be done properly
and completely. 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. Planning is constantly reconsidered and revised as
the business analyst learns more and more about the project.
The business analyst may sometimes be assigned to a project after a project
manager has already scoped and planned the project. Sometimes they are
assigned before the project has been clearly defined and approved. The business
analyst must first assess his or her assignment to determine what has already
been done and plan the business analysis work from that point.
The course will help business analysts plan for and estimate the business
analysis effort for various types of projects and situations including:
• Projects using an agile development approach.
• Stakeholders who are geographically dispersed.
• Projects that have not been clearly defined.
• Projects with high business impact and risks.
Pricing R8,400 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
Page 14 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
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 a large development project
• Planning for enhancement or maintenance
projects
• Planning for a COTS (commercial of 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 email 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
organisation?
• 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)
• High-level business processes
• Enterprise analysis - Understanding how
this project fits into the organisation's
overall strategy
• Group Workshop - Assess the project and
score the business impact of a sample project
People – Stakeholder Analysis and the Stake Holder
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 analyse the
stakeholder groups for an example project
and develop the communication plan
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 organisational 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 – Finalise the business analysis
work plan
• Group workshop – Develop a task list of
analysis and requirements activities for a
sample project
• Intelligent negotiation skills
• Getting sign off 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 SWOT 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
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 15
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
A D V A N C E D A N D S P E C I A L I S E D C O U R S E
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 personalised 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.
Pricing R8,400 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
Page 16 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
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 real-
world 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
Student Workshop – 3.5 hrs.
• Each student will practice elicitation
techniques in a facilitated session
• Personal feedback will be provided to drive
skill development
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 finalise the
requirements
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 17
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.
Earn 14 IIBA CDUs
A D V A N C E D A N D S P E C I A L I S E D C O U R S E
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 prioritise 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.
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?
Pricing R5,600 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
Page 18 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
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
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
• Utilising SQA personnel throughout the SDLC
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
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 19
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.
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,
analyse, and document
requirements.
Prerequisites None.
M A N A G E M E N T / T E C H N I C A L S E M I N A R S
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 organisation will implement
the business analysis process and approaches for documenting the requirements.
Both large and small organisations are realising 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, analyse, 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.
Pricing R2,000 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
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.
Pricing R2,800 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
Page 20 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
1 DAY
Intended Audience This is a basic course for
team members who are
involved in writing use cases.
Prerequisites None
P R A C T I T I O N E R C O U R S E
WRITING GOOD USE CASES
Course Description
This course is designed to systematically build student skills in writing good use
cases. After taking the course, students will be able to define use-case modeling
concepts, and apply different writing techniques to write a detailed use case
using the recommended Rational Unified Process (RUP) style.
Note: This course does not teach requirements management using the RUP.
To learn how to manage requirements using the RUP and to write use cases,
enrol in Mastering Requirements Management with Use Cases.
Skills Taught
Define key use case related terms
Describe the use case writing process
Write a detailed use-case specification
Topics Covered
Introduction to use-case modeling
Use cases and the requirements management process
The use-case writing process
Finding actors and use cases
Creating use-case diagrams
Outlining a use case
Detailing a use case
Use case writing tips
Pricing R2,400 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 21
3 DAYS
Intended Audience Practitioners who desire an
understanding of business/
systems analysis and concepts
using UML modelling, as
well as hands-on practical
experience applying the
techniques within a use-
case-driven and iterative
development process, and
who are involved in writing
use cases.
Prerequisites Students should be familiar
with:
Analysis Tasks
Note: This course is a combination
of the following Courses:
• Essentials of Visual
Modeling with UML 2.0
• Mastering Object-Oriented
Analysis (excluding Design)
with UML 2.0
• Business Modeling with UML
• Writing Good Use Cases
Course Overviews for each of the
above are available on request.
P R A C T I T I O N E R C O U R S E
ANALYSIS USING UML 2.0
Course Description
Business/Systems Analysis using Unified Modeling Language (OOA/UML 2.0)
presents the concepts and techniques necessary to effectively use diagrams and system
requirements captured in use cases to drive the development of a robust analysis model.
In this intensive, hands-on workshop, learn to apply UML throughout the project
life-cycle to capture and communicate analysis decisions. Thus, you learn UML 2.0
notation in the context of an iterative, use case-driven, process.
In addition, the course is designed to systematically build student skills in writing good
use cases. After taking the course, students will be able to define use-case modeling
concepts, and apply different writing techniques to write a detailed use case using the
recommended Rational Unified Process (RUP) style.
Skills Taught
Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to:
Apply an iterative, use case-driven, process to the development of a robust
analysis model
Use UML 2.0 to represent the analysis model
Define key use case related terms
Describe the use case writing process
Write a detailed use-case specification
Topics Covered
Modeling the as-is and to-be business process as a pre-cursor to systems analysis
Overview of requirements activities and artifacts
Use case analysis
Basic Principles of object-oriented analyis
Domain modeling and other UML diagrams
Introduction to use-case modeling
Use cases and the requirements management process
The use case writing process
Finding actors and use cases
Creating use case diagrams
Outlining a use case
Detailing a use case
Use case writing tips
Pricing R7,200 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
Page 22 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
3 DAYS
Intended Audience The course serves two audiences.
The primary audience is people
who will be actively engaged in
the elicitation and definition of
software requirements. This
includes systems analysts,
requirements analysts, and
business analysts. The secondary
audience would be interested in
taking this class because they are
consumers of the software
requirements and need to under-
stand how to read, verify, interpret
and plan with the software
requirements of the system. This
group includes project managers,
software analysts and designers,
QA designers and testers, and
customers and users.
Prerequisites Students should have an
understanding of:
Project management practices
The software development
lifecycle
P R A C T I T I O N E R C O U R S E
MASTERING REQUIREMENTS MANAGEMENT WITH USE CASES
Course Description Mastering Requirements Management with Use Cases provides training in requirements
management and use-case modeling techniques. The course focuses on eliciting and
managing the changing requirements of a project; analysing the problem, defining the
product vision and feature requirements, defining software requirements with use cases,
and requirement attributes, and maintaining traceability, change management, and impact
analysis for project scope management. The course shows how use-case modeling and
requirements management techniques are used to define and document requirements
that meet stakeholder needs. In-class exercises will give students practical experience
in developing use cases.
Skills Taught Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to:
Apply requirements management techniques to define a clear statement of
product requirements.
Capture and document requirements with use-case modeling techniques.
Develop requirements in an iterative process.
Describe a documentation hierarchy and standards for defining levels of
requirements for a product.
Use requirement attributes and traceability to help manage scope and change
throughout product lifecycle.
Use requirements to drive ongoing design, test, and user documentation
activities
Topics Covered Best Practices of Software Engineering
Introduction to Mastering Requirements Management with Use Cases
Introduction to Use-Case Modeling
Analyse the Problem
o Find the root causes of the problem
o Identify the best solution to solve the business problem
Understand Stakeholder Needs
o Define the System
Define product features
Find Actors and Use Cases
Manage System Scope
o Use requirements attributes to plan and manage scope
o Refine the System Definition
Detail the Use Cases
Define Supplementary Specifications
o Manage Changing Requirements
o Structure the Use-Case Model
include, extend, use-case, and actor generalisation
Requirements across the Product Lifecycle
Pricing R7,200 excluding VAT per Student Assessment: R500 excluding VAT per Student The following discounts apply to the above pricing:
6-10 candidates per scheduled course: 7% discount on total course booking
11+ candidates per scheduled course: 14% discount on total course booking
IndigoCube • 011759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 23
Prerequisites for CBAP
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.
B A B O K / C B A P
BABOK®
The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge®
(BABOK®
) is the collection of knowledge
within the profession of Business Analysis and reflects current generally accepted practices.
As with other professions, the body of knowledge is defined and enhanced by the Business
Analysis professionals who apply it in their daily work role.
The BABOK®
Guide describes Business Analysis areas of knowledge, their associated
activities and the tasks and skills necessary to be effective in their execution. This Guide
is a reference for professional knowledge for Business Analysis and provides the basis
for the Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) Certification.
CBAP® Certification
The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) is dedicated to the development
and maintenance of standards for the practice of Business Analysis, and for the certification
and recognition of practitioners. It is the first organisation to offer formal certification for
Business Analysis Professionals.
The IIBA® has created the Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP
®), a
designation awarded to candidates who have successfully demonstrated their expertise
in this field. This is done by detailing hands-on work experience in business analysis
through the CBAP® application process, and passing the IIBA
® CBAP
® examination.
Certified Business Analysis Professionals are experts in identifying the business needs
of an organisation in order to determine the best solutions, a role that is increasingly
seen as a vital component of any successful project. More and more companies are
recognising the CBAP® designation and the value and expertise that these professionals
bring to their organisations.
If you are working in the role of business analysis, systems analysis, requirements
analysis or management, project management, consulting or process improvement,
and have an advanced level of knowledge and experience, you may want to consider
the many professional benefits of earning the CBAP® designation.
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
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,
offer a Requirements Package
Template that is available on
the “Downloads” section of
our website.
The templates in this package
reference tool R250 ex VAT*
and when and why the
requirements components
should be prepared. Additionally,
the Roadmap provides examples of
complete requirements templates.
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.
The Requirements Template Roadmap is available for
purchase from IndigoCube. Contact: [email protected]
*Students who attend the Essential Skills for
Business Analysis™ course will receive a free copy.
.
Page 24 IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za
IndigoCube • 011 759 5950 • www.indigocube.co.za Page 25
Developing the skills of an individual Business Analyst is no simple task. An
ideal Business Analyst has to have the right aptitude (inborn ability) and the
acceptable skill levels for the relevant methodology and techniques used by an
organisation.
Most Business Analysts will have different skills and abilities while the relevant
skills they require might differ from one organisation to the next. Any attempt
to improve skills levels to a common level will require some insight into the
existing abilities, skills levels and imbalances.
In response, IndigoCube has developed one of the most comprehensive
individual assessments to address these challenges.
Our assessment consists of several modules that allow tailoring to the specific skills requirements of the organisation before it
is executed. We use the output from the individual assessment to tailor training and skills development initiatives for the
organisation, as well as for the individual.
What are we testing?
This assessment focuses on two critical components required
of a Business Analyst: aptitude and skill.
The aptitude test determines how closely a person matches
the ideal profile of a Business Analyst. A
person may undergo ongoing training but, if they don’t have
the required aptitude, performance may be
insufficient.
The skills assessment is a practical test that questions the
Business Analyst within all the Knowledge Areas of the
BABOK (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge) and on
specific methodologies and techniques.
Enterprise Analysis
Requirements Planning and Management
Requirements Elicitation
Requirements Communication
Requirements Analysis and Documentation
Solution Assessment and Validation
Business Analysis Fundamentals
How do we test?
Aptitude test
We make use of the Neethling Brain Instrument (NBITM). By
using the NBITM we are able to map a
person’s profile and then compare that to the ideal. This not
only allows us to determine the suitability of the individual
to do Business Analysis but also to identify areas where
training and skills development need to receive more
attention.
Skills assessment
The skills assessment is done using a structured
questionnaire that contains three sections:
Section 1: A multiple-choice section that tests the
individual’s understanding of the Business
Analyst’s role.
Section 2: A case study that tests the individual’s
analytical skills.
Section 3: Scenario-based questions that test the
individual’s ability to use specific Business
Analysis techniques which are relevant to the
organisation.
What is the output?
After completion of the assessment, a report is
compiled that will indicate the following:
1. The suitability of the individual in the role as a
Business Analyst.
2. Confirmation of the individual’s skills levels.
3. Training recommendations specific to the individual.
Assessing the skills of the Business Analysts
in your organisation
ID Name Days Prices
ex VAT Project, Process and Portfolio Management
RP401 Essentials of Rational Unified Process V7.0 2 R 4,800.00
RP601 Mastering the Management of Iterative Development 2 R 5,600.00
RP215 Basic Method Authoring with IBM Rational Method Composer V7.5 2 R 6,000.00
Software Architecture Management
RD601 Mastering Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with UML 2.0 4 R 7,900.00
RD565 Essentials of Modeling with Rational Software Architect V7.5 2 R 5,600.00
RD270 UML Model Reporting with Rational Software Architect and BIRT 2 R 6,000.00
RA902 Architecting Services with IBM Rational Software Architect V7 2 R 6,000.00
RD406 Essentials of IBM Rational Asset Management V7.1.1 1 R 3,000.00
Construction and Assembly Management
JA355 Introduction to Java SE 5 Using Eclipse 3.2 5 R 5,500.00
RD810 Mastering Servlet and JSP Development with Rational Application Developer V7.5 5 R 14,500.00
RD815 Mastering Web Application Development with Rational Application Developer V7.5 5 R 14,500.00
RD795 Mastering JSF Development with IBM Rational Application Developer V7 3 R 9,800.00
RD793 Mastering EJB Development with Rational Application Developer V7 5 R 14,500.00
WD505 Web Services Dev’t for WebSphere Application Server V6.1 with IBM RAD V7 5 R 14,500.00
WD501 Using Struts for Web Application Development with WebSphere Studio 3 R9,800.00
RS800 Essentials of IBM Rational Team Concert V2.0 1 R 3,000.00
RD195 Essentials of IBM Rational Software Analyser V7.0 1 R 3,000.00
Business Analysis / Requirements Definition and Management
B2T101 Essential Skills for Business Analysis™ 4 R 9,650.00
B2T102 Detailing Business Data Requirements 3 R 7,200.00
B2T103 Detailing Process and Business Rule Requirements 4 R 9,600.00
B2T201 Facilitating Requirements for Analysis 3 R 8,400.00
B2T202 Requirements Validation 2 R 5,600.00
B2T203 Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan 3 R 8,400.00
B2T301 Overview of Business Analysis ½ R 2,000.00
B2T302 Developers Introduction to Business Analysis 1 R 2,800.00
IC601 Analysis using UML 2.0 3 R 7,200.00
RR621BPMN Business Modeling with the UML and BPMN 1 R 2,800.00
WB284 IBM WebSphere Business Modeler V6.2: Process Mapping and Analysis 3 R 9,000.00
RR611 Mastering Requirements Management with Use Cases 3 R 7,200.00
RR631 Writing Good Use Cases 1 R 2,400.00
RR350 Essentials of IBM Rational Requirements Composer V1.0 1 R 3,000.00
RR331 Essentials of IBM Rational RequisitePro V7.0 1 R 2,400.00
RD561 Essentials of IBM Rational Software Modeler v7.0 1 R 3,000.00
Change, Build and Release Management
RS204 Essentials of IBM Rational ClearQuest V7.1 1 R 3,000.00
RS524 Essentials of IBM Rational ClearCase UCM for Windows V7.1 1 R 3,000.00
RS319 Essentials of IBM Rational ClearCase UCM using CC Remote Client V7.1 1 R 3,000.00
RS404 Essentials of Configuration Management with IBM Rational ClearCase UCM V7.1 2 R 6,000.00
RS602 Mastering IBM Rational ClearCase Administration for Windows V7.0 2 R 6,000.00
RS633 Mastering Rational ClearQuest Administration V7.1 3 R 9,000.00
RS544 Essentials of IBM Rational Build Forge V7.1 2 R 7,000.00
QG126 Efficient Document Production with IBM Rational Publishing Engine V1.1 1 R 3,000.00
Quality Management
RT101 Principles of Software Testing for Testers 2 R 5,600.00
RT270 Essentials of Test Management with IBM Rational Quality Manager V1.0.1 1 R 3,000.00
RT280 Essentials of Manual Testing with IBM Rational Quality Manager V1.1 1 R 3,000.00
RT545 Essentials of IBM Rational Functional Tester, Java Scripting V8.0 2 R 6,000.00
RT546 Essentials of IBM Rational Functional Tester, .NET 2005 Scripting V8.0 2 R 6,000.00
RT522 Essentials of IBM Rational Performance Tester V7.0 2 R 6,000.00
RT550 Essentials of Functional Testing with IBM Rational Tester for SOA Quality V7.0.1 1 R 3,000.00
Web-site Security and Compliance Management
RT355 Essentials of IBM Rational AppScan Enterprise Edition V5.4 2 R 6,000.00
RT350 Essentials of IBM Rational AppScan Standard Edition V7.7 2 R 6,000.00
RT360 Essentials of IBM Rational Policy Tester V5.4 2 R 6,000.00
Nov 2009
IndigoCube (Pty) Ltd Victoria Gate South P O Box 408 Hyde Lane GALLO MANOR Hyde Park, Sandton 2052
email: [email protected] / Tel: 011 759 5950 / Fax: 011 759 5907