Business Analysis Training Course Directory

Course Overview

Behaviour Driven Development: Helping business and technology professionals to collaborate in delivering the best possible products.

This course is designed to leave delegates more confident in five key areas:

• Defining the problem: Why it’s difficult to specify what software should be
• BDD scenarios: Specifying acceptance criteria with examples of behaviour
• Where BDD scenarios fit in with full-cycle product development
• Gherkin: how clear and concise scenarios can drive automated regression tests
• BDD in context: what this tool means for your organisation

Approach

Our BDD course is a workshop designed to allow professionals from business and technology backgrounds to learn how to collaborate effectively. It explores the use of BDD as a tool to support the entire software development lifecycle from understanding the requirements to preventing regression of existing features. Delegates leave having written real BDD feature files based on their own products, and know what to do next to establish automated regression testing.

BDD can be highly effective as a tool to support the consistent delivery of high-quality and high-value software, but sometimes the benefits are not realised when used with the wrong intentions and without the right people. This workshop will establish the intent and practices of BDD before helping delegates apply it directly to their context by writing scenarios on their existing or upcoming products.

Understand the Intent

It’s often very difficult for everybody involved in the delivery process to agree and understand what is required before the feature is built. BDD provides a structure to this conversation by considering how the product should behave in different scenarios. For example, should the login system allow you to try again if you entered the wrong password? How about if you’ve already tried four times? This course introduces the concept of scenarios structured as preconditions, actions and results. For example:

Given I have entered the wrong password four times, when I try again then I see an error message stating my account is locked.

Delegates will learn that these conversations bring assumptions to the surface that may be clarified before development takes place.

Having learned that BDD allows business and IT professionals to collaborate on deciding what to build, delegates then practice these techniques on an example product backlog. The given-when-then format is powerfully simple but surprisingly easy to misinterpret at first. Common mistakes such as using scenarios to describe a bug; rather than how the system should respond to a problem; are explored as a group to consolidate learning. These practices are further established with exercises to refactor poorly-written scenarios that use inappropriate technical or business language, lack focus, or test the wrong thing.

The final part of the workshop is a practical coaching session based on real features from your existing or planned product development. This allows context-specific issues to be addressed with an experienced BDD consultant and allows delegates to leave the course having started to use the techniques learned. Whether your product is still a twinkle in the product owner’s eye or an established production system, every team is able to engage in breaking down features into real BDD scenarios and experience the process of deciding what to build. Some teams that already have test automation expertise chose to use this time to explore building real automated tests.

• Technology and business people have gained experience in working together to define requirements
• People have gained a solid understanding of Gherkin formatted scenarios and how these may be automated with Cucumber, Behat, Specflow, or Lettuce
• Teams have considered where BDD fits into their overall process as a tool supporting effective delivery
• Test specialists have had the opportunity to lead group exercises with their collegues, creating the basis for a productive ongoing working relationship
• With the right environments in place teams have the opportunity to end the course by implementing a real BDD feature file with automated tests

Accordingly to PMI research, 51% of completed projects finish within its’ initially scheduled times and 64% of completed projects successfully meet their original goals and business intent.^[1] Directly associated to these poor measures is the lack of proper business analysis. According to PMI’s Pulse of the Profession^®: Requirements Management – A Core Competency for Project and Program Success 

“51 million dollars is wasted for every 1 billion spent on projects and programs due to poor requirements management.”^[2]

With such alarming statistics, organizations have a sense of urgency to address their ineffective business analysis processes, to mature their requirements practices, and hire business analysts with the right competencies. With the demand for skilled and experienced business analysts on the rise, there has never been a better time to pursue a business analysis credential with PMI.

Florida Atlantic University’s PMI-PBA^® prep course provides an in-depth review of the business analysis knowledge, skills, and tasks as discussed in PMI’s business analysis standard Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide. Students will review the business analysis domains, techniques, knowledge, and skills addressed on the exam and will assess their personal readiness. The PMI-PBA^® prep course will help students organize their notes, highlight key areas of importance, consolidate terminology, and improve their overall study and exam approach.

 This course is taught by:

Laura Paton

Adjunct Faculty
Executive Education

Biography

30 years of experience with over 18 years in business analysis and over 8 years in IT project management. Over 8 years BA management experience with responsibility overseeing BA resources, strategy, processes, standards and tools. Extensive background working with various development methodologies including Agile. BA experience working in all phases of the SDLC. Over 8 years experience as a BA/PM virtual and classroom instructor at both the corporate and collegiate levels. Business analysis standards development lead experience at IIBA and PMI.

Certifications

• Certified Business Analyst Professional (CBAP ® ) 
• Certified Scrum Master 
• Certified Business Analyst Professional (CBAP ® ) 
• Six Sigma Green Belt 
• Certified Project Manager Professional (PMP ® ) 

Teaching Interests

• Project Management Professional (PMP), Professional in Business Analysis PMI-PBA, Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM). Experience establishing BA COEs, Communities of Practice, Coaching/Mentoring BA teams, BA and PM training, standards development and managing and coordinating the work of large geographically dispersed/virtual teams.

Course Title: Writing Effective Business Cases 

2 Day Workshop – Course BA03

BA03 – Writing Effective Business Cases

Course ID: BA03

Credits: 14 PDUs/CDUs

Course Duration: 2 days

Course Level: Intermediate

Prerequisites:  This course suitable for both novices and experienced people who need to develop and justify the business case. It is recommended that participants complete the BA01 – Business Analysis Essentials course prior to enrolling.

Course Abstract:  Learn the steps to effective business case development and support your strategic business recommendations with sound budgeting and financial back-up. The one course you need to make high-impact recommendations and receive full management support for your ideas.

Course Objectives:

Students will be provided a deep exploration of how to perform pre-project activities necessary to develop a well-structured business case. The course begins by providing students an understanding of the business analyst’s role in pre-project activities. Techniques are provided to support the business analyst in analyzing the current state business environment, identifying the current business problem (or opportunity) and creating a ‘situation statement’ to communicate to decision makers why a change is required in the business. Students then explore how to go about determining a desired future state and identifying the needed changes and capabilities that will support the enterprise in achieving the business need. A thorough exploration of the business case is presented, including feasibility analysis and the various areas of a solution option the business analyst must explore in order to build a convincing business case.  Students learn the components of a well-structured business case and walk away understanding how to logically present a business case and obtain buy-in. Techniques are also discussed to help prepare a business analyst for the challenges that often are presented when delivering business cases to management.

Note: This course is compliant with IIBA’s Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK® Guide) version 3 standard in business analysis and is aligned with and upholds the practices as discussed in PMI’s Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide.

Included:

§  Full Student Guide

§  Requirements templates

Intended Audience: This course is intended for intermediate business and requirements analysts who are looking to improve their business case development and presentation skills. This course is also a great fit for project managers and product owners who work closely with business analysts or who perform some form of business case work themselves.

Learning Objectives:

§  Understand the role of the business analyst within the business case process

§  Understand the main professional associations and standards that support business analysts in the industry

§  Discuss the benefits of business case creation

§  Explore how to define the business need

§  Describe the role of the business analyst in  supporting the enterprise to determine how to optimally invest in the right project initiatives

§  Explain how to identify stakeholders and the significance to the pre-project activities

§  Discuss the importance of analyzing the enterprise

§  Describe and explore the activities performed to assess the current business environment

§  Explain how a business analyst describes a ‘future’ state environment including how to identify gaps in enterprise capabilities

§  Present and explore how to define the scope of a solution

§  Describe the activities performed and techniques used to determine viable solution options

§  Explore various techniques for evaluating solution options including feasibility and risk analysis

§  Thoroughly understand the purpose of conducting a feasibility assessment

§  Discuss and practice a number of business analysis techniques that support the business case process  

§  Explore the components of a business case

§  Describe how the business case supports decision makers in making go/no-go decisions

§  Demonstrate how to assemble the output from pre-project activities into a well-structured business case

§  Present techniques for presenting business cases to top level managers and obtaining buy-in

§  Discuss methods for preparing for challenges during business case delivery

Contact Deborah Kenney at dkenney@rgfgroup.com or call us at 978-618-6152