Business System Analysis : Discovering, Analysing, Modelling and Specifying User Requirements (Certified Business Systems Analyst)

Introduction

Business systems analysis is the discovering, analysing, modelling and specification of the logical requirements of a business in order to design and build effective business solutions.

Business systems analysis requires specialised knowledge and skills. The process of identifying and defining business requirements is very different from applying technology to address business requirements.

Participants will gain knowledge of the best techniques and methods for gathering requirements from users and other stakeholders; develop business and data models that describe these requirements and write detailed specifications that provide an accurate blueprint for the designing, building and testing of the proposed system. They will also learn how business systems analysis techniques can be related and integrated using the Architecture Framework to ensure that all the requirements are comprehensively described and correctly defined.

ILM Certification

Certified Business Systems Analyst is a fully endorsed programme and upon completion of the seminar and assessment, successful applicants will also be awarded a Certificate from the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM).

Seminar Objectives

This seminar aims to enable participants to achieve the following objectives:

• Understand the role of the business systems analyst
• Understand the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
• Define the system scope
• Identify system stakeholders
• Create a business case
• Understand and apply The Architecture Framework
• Model the business across all its dimensions: data, activities, locations, people, time and motivation
• Apply information gathering techniques
• Define functional and non-functional business requirements
• Write a business requirements specification

Training Methodology

State-of-the-art business systems analysis methods and techniques are transferred by means of short, focused presentations which are followed by experiential learning workshop sessions. In these sessions the knowledge gained is applied to real-world examples and case studies. Rapid learning of the methods and techniques is achieved by means of group work, individual work, participant discussion, facilitator interaction and constructive feedback.

Organisational Impact

• Improved integration between the business and the information technology department of the organisation
• The correct fit between the requirements of the organisation and information systems that are developed or procured
• Reduced information technology development risk, costs and time overruns
• Improved quality of information technology projects.

Personal Impact

• Be able to work effectively in a systems development project
• Have the ability to confidently elicit business requirements from business users and other stakeholders 
• Be able to identify the essential requirements of the business
• Effectively communicate business requirements to stakeholders.

Who Should Attend?

This course is designed for business and systems analysts, business experts, business managers, enterprise architects, systems development project leaders, systems development team members and information technology professionals.

Competencies Emphasised

• Apply information gathering techniques to discover requirements
• Use state-of-the-art modelling methods to describe business requirements
• Write clear requirements specifications
• Communicate business requirements to stakeholders
• Bridge the gap between the business and systems development teams.

Seminar Outline

Day 1 - Introduction to Business Systems Analysis

• The role of the business systems analyst
• The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
• The business systems analysis process
• Identifying system users and other stakeholders
• Defining the system scope
• Creating a business case

Day 2 - Modelling the Business

• An introduction to modelling concepts
• The Architecture Framework
• Modelling data requirements
• Business process modelling for business systems analysis

Day 3 - Modelling the Business (Continued)

• Writing and modelling use cases
• Modelling the location dimension
• Modelling organisations, people and roles
• Analysing business and time events
• Discovering and documenting business rules

Day 4 - Gathering Information

• Communication for business systems analysts
• Interviewing methods
• Using questionnaires
• Document analysis and observation
• Workshop facilitation using Joint Application Design (JAD) techniques
• Eliciting and capturing requirements in workshops

Day 5 - Preparing a Business Requirements Specification

• Functional and non-functional requirements
• Writing effective requirements
• Validating requirements
• The content of a business requirements specification

ASSESSMENT:

Following attendance on the workshop delegates are required to complete an assignment related to their organisation. They should bear in mind the topics covered on the programme. It is recognised that information is vital when undertaking business analysis. Devise a sample questionnaire which you could use to gather such information.