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Modernizing Requirements Gathering: Reshaping the Approach to Business Analysis

Presented by David Heidt, Managing Partner, Enterprise Agility or faculty

Schedule

May 7-10

Chicago

June 25-28

San Francisco

Sept 17-20

DC

Nov 5-8

New York

Call to register
(508) 475-0475 x15

3/7 - 3/8

7/18 - 7/19

11/14 - 11/15

2012 Enroll Form (PDF)
or call 508-475-0475, x15

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Private Live Online
(10 or more)

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Course Description:
Today's conventional approach to requirements analysis and engineering is limited in its value as organizations attempt to address demands for increased innovation, rapid product and service rollout, outsourcing and new technology enablers such as BPMS, business rules engines and SOA. 

Additionally, the agile development movement and IT-centric methods for analyzing and designing software solutions don't accurately represent how business processes, rules, events, knowledge and human to system interaction fit together. This prevents the creation of a cohesive business solution design that can be understood by the business analysts and their stakeholders.

The inability to preserve business concepts throughout the business/IT change lifecycle leaves the business community to continually rely on their IT counterparts to understand the details of how their business operates, resulting in a cycle of rework that is incompatible with agility.

This one-day course provides students with an introduction to defining requirements and representing business behavior scenarios at a level above technical software designs. It provides business analysts a way to make a transition from their "go-between" role for business and IT to a valued advocate for the business that has an instrumental role in designing key aspects of a business solution with a service-based product mindset.

This new perspective for the business analyst results in the creation of higher quality requirements and specifications that can be validated for completeness and consistency. Which results in reduced downstream risk, change requests and production defects in the business and software change lifecycle.

Through the integrated case study within the course, students are introduced to techniques and tools that elevate the role of the business analyst. Exercises are used to walk through the inception of business needs, requirements and business specifications that can map to executable workflows, business rules, user interfaces and software services .

In addition to business analysts, the course is ideal for business process and business architecture professionals interested in understanding how strategic and analytical deliverables within their organization can translate into operational models. This allows them to:

• Influence IT to make better decisions
• Help break the cycle of dysfunction that exists between business and IT
• Facilitate the mapping of business behavior directly to BPMSs, business rules engines and software services

Course Outline:

• What is the Problem with Today's Requirements Approaches?
• Reshaping the Role of the Business Analyst
• A Survey of Business Analysis Techniques
• Leveraging the Business  Analysis  Body of Knowledge 2.0
• Elicit and Capture Requirements  with Specifications  in Mind
• Leverage Task  Design
• Fit together Process, Rules, Event and Knowledge
• Build Organizational Business Analysis Competency
• A Case Study: Apply Techniques for Business Specification
• Fit together
• Requirements
• User Interfaces
• Workflow
• Knowledge
• Rules
• Events
• Techniques for Identifying  Business and Software Services
• How to Apply Project Archetypes
• Frameworks and Tools for the Business Analyst

Course Objectives:

• Identify why the way requirements are done today is a misfit for most organizations.
• Understand the concept of business-level specifications.
• Understand how to make a top-down business case for changing the role of the BA and the requirements process.
• Understand the BA BoK 2.0, business specification techniques and the delta between them
• Have a grasp of how the elements of a business-level specification fit together.
• Understand how to incrementally adapt current state BA work products for better requirements and business level specifications.
• Be able to utilize a business analysis strategic roadmap and project archetypes for guiding the organization towards increased business agility and reduced IT rework.

Instructor Biography:
David Heidt is a Managing Partner with Enterprise Agility. As a IIBA Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) and Endorsed Education Provider , David helps organizations create high quality business applications through the development of inter-dependent business and automation specifications. As a frequent presenter at industry conferences, he has authored numerous white papers and articles in the areas of business process analysis, business rules management and bridging the gap between business & IT. He provides mentoring and leadership services for Fortune 1000 clients in the areas of requirements analysis, rules-driven business process management, and business process transformation. He's an advisory board member at Northwestern University and VP of Marketing and Relationships for the Chicagoland Chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysis (theIIBA.org).

Target Audience/Who Should Attend:

• Business Analysts
• Business Architects
• Business Process Analysts
• Business Process Designers
• VP/Director Executives, Strategic Planners
• Business Managers, Operational Managers

Unique Value of Course:

• Business Analysts are provided an improved technique for defining requirements
• Business Analysts and Business Architects are provided a new technique for collaborating to define requirements
• Business and IT professionals are provided an improved approach toward specification and collaboration