Course Title:
ISEB Business Analysis Essentials

Duration: 3 days

Next Public Course Date(s):

London 2010
13 January
10 February
24 February
10 March
24 March

Price includes exam cost

Price: £1,320 (+VAT) per delegate

Course Overview
Business Analysis Essentials provides delegates with the skills they need to become effective business analysts. A range of business analysis techniques including SWOT analysis, stakeholder management, business activity modelling and gap analysis are explored. During the course, delegates will be encouraged to apply these techniques in the context of a business analysis assignment. The stages of this assignment will include the investigation of the business situation, analysis of key issues and their root causes, gap analysis to establish the business problems as well as the identification and evaluation of possible solutions.

Business Analysis Essentials is delivered by trainers who bring their substantial experience of practical business analysis projects to the programme. The case study supporting the course is based on a genuine consultancy assignment. A comprehensive manual, containing detailed information about business analysis techniques and providing references for further reading, is supplied as part of the course.

ISEB qualifications
This course prepares candidates to sit the examination for the ISEB Certificate in Business Analysis Essentials. This involves a one-hour, open book examination that may be taken at the end of the course or at a public examination session. The certificate in Business Analysis Essentials is a core module for the ISEB Diploma in Business Analysis and a specialist module for the ISEB Diploma in Systems Development .

Course Content


Business analysis rationale
What is a business system
The place of business analysis
Business analysis versus systems analysis
Approaches to business analysis

Strategic analysis in context
Understanding the organisation's strengths and weaknesses
External analysis - PESTLE
Internal analysis - Resource Audit
Building a comprehensive SWOT analysis

A project approach to business analysis
Business analysis studies as projects
Terms of reference and project initiation
Assuring business benefit

Understanding the situation/issues
Types of business 'problem'
Rich pictures
Defining the problem
Review of investigation techniques

Business perspectives
Business perspective - introduction
Defining the perspective - CATWOE

Analysing and modelling the business activities
Modelling business activities
Five types of business activity
Modelling multiple perspectives
Decomposing activities
Validating the business activity model
End-to-end process maps

Creative problem solving
Barriers to creativity
Brainstorming
Stimulating creative thinking

Identifying potential solutions
Exploring the gap between the current and desired situation
Areas for business improvement (structure, processes, people)
Holistic approach to business solutions
Discussion of business change programmes

Making the business case
Contents of a business case
Options
Costs and benefits
Impacts and risks
Payback and discounted cash flow
Presenting the business case

Course summary and review
Review of concepts and approaches covered



After discussing our requirements with your Trainer, he was able to develop us a tailored course which focused on our specific UML needs for our job role, fitted in with our current project management model, and which linked in with the training he had already given to the architects.
In addition to the course content, your Trainer was able to offer a lot of useful advice on how we might take things forward to integrate the modelling techniques into our processes.
Please pass on my thanks to your Trainer for an excellent course and for his useful advice. This has gone a long way towards helping us develop a consistent and efficient process for modelling and for developing a more unified approach to Projects
IS project Analyst
AstraZeneca PLC


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