cbap® preparation course

Targeted Exam Preparation, 21-Hour PDU

CBAP® Preparation Course Mohammad Oli Ahad 31 October 2015

http://www.stcbangladesh.com/course/certified-business-analysis-professional-cbap/

Introduction Getting started

Introduction 5

Ground rules

• breaks

• cell phones

• participation

• emergency and safety (i.e., exit routes)

• lunch

Introduction 6

Approach • We’d Begin by Setting the Context • Foundation Concepts • Decide on which version to peruse – v2 or v3

• We’d cover 4 of the 7 Knowledge Areas

• We Complete Perusing the Remaining 3 (or, 2) KAs • Underlying Competencies • Techniques • What Other Topics to Study for CBAP® beyond BABOK® • New Concepts in v3 – Perspectives, BACCM™ et al • Application and Exam Preparation • CBAP® Practice Test

Day-1 Day-2 Day-3

If don’t have adequate time, we’d put this on a separate day

Introduction 7

Let’s get to know each other

• relevant exposure

• aspiration

[ Time check, 9:40 am ]

Introduction 8

About stc bangladesh • Strategic Transformation Consultants (stc) Limited

• started in April 2012

• world class consultancy and training services in Bangladesh

• project management and operational excellence solutions

• training to both organization and individuals

• framework for organizations toward successful transformation

stcbangladesh.com

http://www.stcbangladesh.com/

https://www.facebook.com/StcBangladesh/

Introduction 9

About me • delivered for 21 countries as a BA

• worked with BAs and stakeholders from Accenture, Alcatel-Lucent, IBM, Microsoft, ANT Poland, Portal, iRise, HCL, ITC, Tata, Wipro et al

• volunteer reviewer of BABOK® Guide v3 for IIBA®

• BA bootcamp and workshop in Australia, Malaysia and Online (USA)

• 9 years in BAT, 6 years as a BA

• IBA (DU), CBAP®, Registered PRINCE2® Practitioner

• married, two butterfly daughters :-)

important, because these enabled critical exposures to an astonishing variances of BA work practices – processes, techniques, templates, tools and cultures

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliahad

mailto:[email protected]

https://twitter.com/oliahad

https://plus.google.com/+MohammadOliAhad

Introduction 10

Expectations from this course

• BABOK® Guide v2

• quizzes/exercises targeted to support learning points

• case studies, tools and techniques

• templates (you need to remind me, please)

• a practice test

• and, the fact that we haven’t covered everything

Introduction 11

Expectations from you

• 7500 hours BA work experience in last 10 years

• 900 hours in four knowledge areas

THE EXAM

CBAP®

The Exam 13

2 exams from IIBA®

• Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) – for the seasoned professional

– “elite, senior members of the BA community”

– first exam in 2006

• Certification of Competency in Business Analysis™ (CCBA®) – for the fully competent practitioner

– first exam offered in 2011

The Exam 14

2 accreditions

• IIBA Academic Diploma in Business Analysis, designed for students

• IIBA® Academic Certificate in Business Analysis for anyone considering a career in business analysis

The Exam 15

The exam

• 3.5 hours, 150 multiple choice questions • comprehension – definition, recall et al • situational analysis – given a scenario, which is the

best course of action

The Exam 16

The exam

Knowledge Area Percentage

Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring 19.33%

Elicitation 14%

Requirements Management and Communication 16%

Enterprise Analysis 15.33%

Requirements Analysis 19.33%

Solution Assessment and Validation 16%

BABOK® v2 Knowledge Areas

These cover around 60% to 75% of the syllabus only

The Exam 17

BABOK® Guide v2 and v3

2009 2015

Our exam would be on v2

The Exam 18

Exam on v2 or v3

• not before Q3-2016, this could change

• would also run exams on v2 and v3 in parallel for a period of time (at least, until Aug-2016)

source: IIBA®

The Exam 19

Statistics

• calibrated standardized cut-off score • won’t publish passing score or rate • community members and trainers believe – passing

score is 70%-plus and success rate is between 80% to 90%

• high passing rate is attributed to “applications screening”

The Exam 20

Venue and cost

• American Alumni Association, Banani – prometric.com/iiba

• $125 application (notwithstanding the decision) plus $325 exam fee ($450 for non-members)

• be a member, you save $75*

[ Time check, 10 am ] * for Bangladeshis

http://www.prometric.com/iiba

http://www.prometric.com/iiba

THE ORGANIZATION

IIBA®

The Profession 22

• an independent, non-profit professional association

• started with 37 members in Toronto, Canada in 2003

• over 30 staff now

• over 27,000 Members and 112 Chapters globally

The Organization 23

The pioneers

• what they’ve achieved in 10 to 12 years is staggering

• still in its growing stage

• conference (bbc), webinars, community network, blogs, special interest groups, LinkedIn groups, newsletters, partnership programs

• its works; and, how you could benefit and contribute

The Organization 24

Began with 4 objectives

• creating and developing awareness and recognition of the value and contribution of the business analyst

• defining the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)

The Organization 25

Began with 4 objectives

• providing a forum for knowledge sharing and contribution to the business analysis profession

• publicly recognizing and certifying qualified practitioners through an internationally acknowledged certification program

The Organization 26

IIBA®

• as the voice of the business analysis community, IIBA® supports recognition of the profession, and works to maintain standards for the practice and certification

THE EVOLUTION OF A PROFESSION

Business Analysis

Evolution of a Profession 28

Role in the organization

• Business Analysis – define organizational capability

• Project Management (PMP cf PRINCE2) – deliver it

• integrated or subsistent


BA practice is applied

• within the boundaries of a project

• throughout enterprise evolution

• continuous improvement


Example, how three of the knowledge areas support before, during, and after the life cycle of a project

Source: BABOK® Guide v3


BA and PM (1/2)

• the Project Manager is concerned with delivering the solution which has been described by the Business Analyst


BA and PM (2/2)

• BA manages the scope of the solution

• PM manages the scope of the project

• a relatively less known profession

• early stage of an evolving profession of a wide participating community

• expectedly, there are inconsistencies* in appreciation of key concepts among the practicing professionals

* decreasing


Evolving, early stage

• prevailing variations among distinctly different faces of BAs in different org. cultures

• organizational experiments


Where is the profession heading towards

• Center of Excellence/Hub Model

• a Pure BA approach


Professional communities

• IIBA

• PMI

• LinkedIn Groups

• Regional Forums

• BA Professional Journals


Business analysis certifications

• formal courses from traditional educational establishments

• IIBA® certifications and accreditions

• BCS certifications Foundation-Practitioner-Professional-Consultant and Expert

• PMI-PBA®– requirements management, support PM


Analytical Thinking Creative Thinking

Decision Making Learning

Problem Solving

System Thinking

Ethics

Personal Organization Trustworthiness

Business Knowledge

Business Principles and Practices

Industry Knowledge

Organization Knowledge

Solution Knowledge

Teaching Skill

Communication Skills

Facilitation and Negotiation

Leadership and Influencing

Teamwork

Specialized Application Knowledge

So, what is expected of a BA

So, what is expected of a BA



We come in different dressings

• business architect

• business systems analyst

• data analyst

• enterprise analyst

• management consultant

• process analyst

• product manager

• product owner

• requirements engineer

• systems analyst


Why has it become so demanding lately

• the Assessment Center experience

• Challenger shuttle

• a checkbox for 10,000 GBP

• four ‘data pulling only’ reports for 190,000 GBP

you . can’t . afford . not . to . have . it


What is particularly challenging

• talking specifics, explicitly – users’ expectations of a system, any system

• users’ expectations of you

• developers’ speak

• submission-approval processes and templates

• remaining yourself

[ Time check, 11 am ]

Why you need a BA in the room

Based on a short story "The Meeting" by Alexey Berezin

“First I laugh because this is so familiar, then I cry because this is so familiar.”

FOUNDATION CONCEPTS

Who is a BA, what does he do?

The Profession Why have BAs become so much sought-after these days?

The Profession 47

What is Business Analysis? (1/5)

• practice of enabling change in an enterprise by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders

why it is performed

The Profession 48


• performed on a variety of initiatives within an enterprise

• initiatives may be strategic, tactical, or operational

where it is performed (what types of activities it’s appropriate for)

The Profession 49


• within the boundaries of a project or throughout enterprise evolution and continuous improvement

when it is performed

The Profession 50


• to understand the current state, to define the future state, and to determine the activities required to move from the current to the future state

so, what it is, really

The Profession 51


• can be performed from a diverse array of perspectives

– agile

– business intelligence

– information technology

– business architecture

– business process management

how it is tailored

The Profession 52

Who is a Business Analyst?

• any person who performs business analysis tasks, no matter what their job title or role is

the activities, not the titles

The Profession 53

A BA is a powerful connector

• a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization

The Profession 54

…an essential interface

• facilitate communication between organizational units

• often play a central role in aligning the needs of business units with the capabilities delivered by information technology

• may serve as a “translator” between those groups

The Profession 55

A BA is expected of

• understanding how organizations function to accomplish their purposes

• defining capabilities an organization requires

The Profession 56

It includes

• definition of organizational goals

• how those goals connect to specific objectives

• determining the courses of action that an organization has to undertake to achieve those goals and objectives

• defining how the various organizational units and stakeholders within and outside of that organization interact

The Profession 57

Repeat, why performed

• to understand the current state of an organization

• or, to serve as a basis for the later identification of business needs

• to define and validate solutions that meet business needs, goals, or objectives

The Profession 58

Bridging the needs and solution

• elicit actual needs of stakeholders

• ensure it is met – verify, validate solution

align the designed and delivered solutions with the needs of stakeholders

The Profession 59

An able researcher

• discover, synthesize, and analyze information from a variety of sources

• investigate and clarify their expressed desires

• determine underlying issues and causes

elicit actual needs of stakeholders

The Profession 60

Summary

• identify business needs

• determine possible solutions to business problems

• identify and recommend solutions

• help organization to reach the future state

The Profession 61

Common job titles • business architect

• business systems analyst

• data analyst

• enterprise analyst

• management consultant

• process analyst

• product manager

• product owner

• requirements engineer

• systems analyst

The Profession 62

As well as

• those who also perform related disciplines such as project management, software development, quality assurance, and interaction design

A good BA is well updated on the principles and practices of User Experiences (UX) design

UX

A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide)

The Guide 64

BABOK®

• Business Analysis Body of Knowledge®

• globally recognized standard for the practice of business analysis

The Guide 65

What does the guide describe

• areas of knowledge

• associated activities and tasks

• skills necessary to be effective in their execution

The Guide 66

BABOK® versions

• Body of Knowledge Committee in October 2004

• IIBA released version 1.0 in January 2005

• Updates in June 2006 and October 2008

• Version 2.0 in 2009

• Version 3.0 in 2015

The Guide 67

Flexible, open

• must be tailored to the specific conditions under which business analysis is being performed

• practices not accepted may be equally effective, or more effective; would be incorporated as accepted

The Guide 68

Structure of the BABOK® Guide

• core content is composed of business analysis tasks

• organized into knowledge areas

[ Time check, 11:30 am ]

The Guide 69

Knowledge areas and tasks

• knowledge areas are a collection of logically (but not sequentially) related tasks

• tasks describe specific activities that accomplish the purpose of their associated knowledge area

Terminologies Part-I

Key Terminologies 71

Tasks

• a discrete piece of work that may be performed formally or informally as part of business analysis


Tasks

• grouped into knowledge areas

• business analysts perform tasks from all KAs sequentially, iteratively, or simultaneously

• in any order, as long as necessary inputs are present

• a business analysis initiative may start with any task


Each task

• purpose

• description

• inputs

• elements

• guidelines/tools

• techniques

• stakeholders

• outputs

new in v3


Purpose

• why – the reason to perform the task

• value created through performing the task

short description


Description

• what the task is

• why it is performed

• what it should accomplish

greater detail

o input o output o other knowledge

areas affected


Inputs (1/2)

• information consumed or transformed to produce an output

• information necessary for a task to begin

list


Inputs (2/2)

• may be explicitly generated outside or by a task

• no assumption that presence of an input means associated deliverable is complete or in final state

• input only needs to be sufficiently complete to allow successive work to begin

• any number of instances of an input may exist during the life cycle of an initiative


Elements

• key concepts needed to understand how to perform the task

• elements are not mandatory as part of performing a task

• usage might depend upon the business analysis approach


Guidelines and Tools

• resources required to transform input into output

• a guideline – instructions or descriptions on why or how to undertake a task

• a tool – something used to undertake a task

• guidelines and tools can include outputs of other tasks

new in v3


Techniques

• how to complete the task

• some are suitable within a specific KA

• some are widely used across multiple KAs

each task might be completed in any number of ways


Stakeholders

• generic list of stakeholders likely to participate in performing that task or who will be affected by it

• BABOK® does not mandate these roles be filled for any given initiative

list


Outputs (1/2)

• results produced by performing the task

– created, transformed, or changed in state as a result of successful completion of a task

• an output may be a deliverable or be a part of a larger deliverable

list


Outputs (2/2)

• form of an output is dependent on

– type of initiative underway

– standards adopted by the organization

– best judgment of the business analyst

an instance of a task may be completed without an output being in its final state


Knowledge areas (KA)

• specific business analysis expertise

• encompass several tasks

• inputs and outputs


7 Knowledge Areas (KA) in v2

• Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring (BAPM)

• Elicitation

• Requirements Management and Communication

• Enterprise Analysis (EA)

• Requirements Analysis

• Solution Assessment and Validation (SAV)

• Underlying Competencies.


6 Knowledge Areas (KA) in v3


• Elicitation and Collaboration

• Requirements Life Cycle Management

• Strategy Analysis

• Requirements Analysis and Design Definition (RADD)

• Solution Evaluation

• .


7 Knowledge Areas in v2


6 Knowledge Areas in v3


Repeat, each task

• purpose – why

• description – what

• elements – concepts

• techniques

• stakeholders – participate or affected

• inputs

• outputs


And, each KA has these, too

• purpose – why

• description – what

• elements – concepts

• techniques

• stakeholders – participate or affected

• inputs

• outputs


So, each KA has this diagram

[ Time check, 11:45 pm ]

Terminologies Part-II


Domain

• a domain is the area undergoing analysis

• may correspond to the boundaries of an organization/unit

• may correspond to key stakeholders outside those boundaries and interactions with those stakeholders


Solutions (1/5)

• a set of changes to the current state of an organization

• to enable the organization to meet a business need, solve a problem, or take advantage of an opportunity


Solutions (2/5)

• scope of solution is usually narrower than the scope of the domain within which it’s implemented

• will serve as the basis for the scope of a project to implement that solution or its components


Solutions (3/5)

• most solutions are a system of interacting solution components, each of which are potentially solutions in their own right


Solutions (4/5)

• software applications

• web services

• business processes

• business rules that govern that process

• a revised organizational structure

• Outsourcing

• Insourcing

• redefining job roles

• any other method of creating a capability needed by an organization


Solutions (5/5)

• business analysis helps define the optimal solution for their needs, given the set of constraints (including time, budget, regulations, and others) under which that organization operates


Requirements (1/4)

1. a condition or capability needed by a stakeholder

2. a condition or capability that must be met or possessed by a solution

3. a documented representation of a condition or capability as in (1) or (2) above


• IEEE 610.12-1990: IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology

• but, IIBA® changed the word user to stakeholder

• as requirements may arise from non-users (who don’t interact with the system under development)

Requirements (2/4)


• requirements from both stakeholders and developers

• business, functional, system, user, technical, static, and dynamic requirements

Requirements (3/4)


• may be unstated, implied, or derived from other requirements

• or, directly stated and managed

• one of the key BA objectives is to ensure that requirements are visible to and understood by all stakeholders

Requirements (4/4)


• what should or should not be considered a requirement

• what are the necessary characteristics of a requirement

Much “discussed” in BA community


• past, present, and future conditions or capabilities

• organizational structures, roles, processes, policies, rules, and information systems

• a requirement may describe the current or the future state of any aspect of the enterprise

IIBA adopts a “broadest possible sense” view


• assessed to whatever level of depth is necessary for understanding and action

Depth of analysis


Requirements Classification Scheme

• Business Requirements

• Stakeholder Requirements

• Solution Requirements

– Functional Requirements

– Non-functional Requirements

• Transition Requirements


Business Requirements

• higher-level; needs of the organization as a whole, and not groups or stakeholders within it

• reasons why a project has been initiated, the objectives the project will achieve, and metrics that will be used to measure its success

• developed and defined through enterprise analysis


Stakeholder Requirements

• needs of a particular stakeholder or class of stakeholders

• needs a given stakeholder has and how that stakeholder will interact with a solution

• bridge between business requirements and the various classes of solution requirements

• developed and defined through reqts. analysis


Solution Requirements

• characteristics of a solution that meet business requirements and stakeholder requirements

• developed and defined through requirements analysis

• frequently divided into sub-categories, particularly when the requirements describe a software solution


Functional Requirements

• behavior and information the solution will manage

• capabilities the system will be able to perform in terms of behaviors or operations (actions/responses)


Non-functional Requirements

• not directly related to behavior/functionality of solution

• environmental conditions under which the solution must remain effective

• qualities that the systems must have

• also known as quality or supplementary requirements


Transition Requirements • capabilities to facilitate transition from the current state

to a desired future state • but will not be needed once that transition is complete • differentiated from other requirements types because

always temporary • cannot be developed until both an existing and new

solution are defined • They are developed and defined through solution

assessment and validation

CLOSURE OF DAY-1

Closure 115

Take away

• the organization, the exam, the guide structure

• evolution of the profession

• role in the organization; how it contributes to PM

• foundation concepts – who is a BA, what does she do

• knowledge area, task, and their components

• key terminologies – domain, solution, requirements

Closure 116

Please share your choice

or

• if you’re more likely to sit for the exam before August 2016, it’d be v2 [v3 exams won’t be available earlier]

• but, if you plan to sit for the exam after July 2016, we’d suggest for v3

Closure 117

Day-2, 7 November


• Elicitation

• Requirements Management and Communication (RMC)

• Enterprise Analysis (EA)

Closure 118

Day-3, 14 November (1/2)

• Requirements Analysis • Solution Assessment and Validation (SAV) • Underlying Competencies • (selective, whichever you’d choose) Techniques

Closure 119

Day-3, 14 November (2/2)

• other topics to study for CBAP® beyond BABOK® • new concepts in v3 – Perspectives, BACCM™ et al • application and exam preparation • CBAP® Practice Test

We’d probably need to organize this another day, because we are not likely to have sufficient time

thank you next, 7 November

Sincere thanks to

Shamima apa, Tarique bhai, and all eleven students of the first batch

Course Page http://www.stcbangladesh.com/course/certified-business-analysis-professional-cbap/ Contents https://leanpub.com/business-analysis Handouts bit.ly/cbap-handouts Instructor [email protected] https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliahad











https://leanpub.com/business-analysis




http://bit.ly/cbap-handouts




mailto:[email protected]




https://twitter.com/oliahad

https://plus.google.com/+MohammadOliAhad


stc bangladesh House-520 Road-10, Baridhara DOHS Dhaka-1219, Bangladesh Phone +880 1777-440066, +880 2-8417345 /stcbangladesh


