Business Analysis Training

Copyright 2012 | IndigoCube (Pty) Ltd | www.indigocube.co.za P a g e 2
The more analysis tools a BA masters, the
more valuable he will be to the organisation.
Developing an Excellent Business Analyst
he emergence of the business analysis profession is
one of the best things that has happened to business
organisations in this decade! Organisations that have
nurtured and developed business analysts (BAs) are
experiencing huge paybacks for their investments.
People with titles as varied as project manager, quality
assurance analyst, and consultant possess business
analysis skills.
Regardless of the title, individuals who truly understand
how to turn high level corporate objectives into detailed
business solutions are extremely valuable resources.
Excellent BAs are unique individuals who have the ability
to work on details while also understanding how small
these details can impact the larger corporate picture. An
excellent BA looks upon a “simple” maintenance change
to determine if it has a broader impact to the
organisation.
BAs bring requirements skills to many different types
of projects, such as:
• selection and implementation of packaged
solutions (COTS)
• new software development
• business process improvement
The excellent BA is aware of his or her
organisation’s strategic plans and understands
how to implement them at the individual
business unit level. Many corporate executives
are uncertain where to find these people and
how to develop them. Traditional management
training is not appropriate for this role. Specific
technology or methodology training isn’t the
entire solution.
And, focusing on a particular technical
solution or approach is too narrow to
build an effective BA. The skills most
highly valued by an organisation are true
problem solving skills that are broad
enough to allow an individual to see
many possible solutions and to think
outside or beyond a predetermined
solution that may have been presented.
An excellent BA looks at each problem as
a missing puzzle piece that needs to
interlock and work with the other pieces
of the organisation. He or she has the
ability to examine the problem from
multiple perspectives and consider
possible solutions with a realistic view of
the organisation’s cost vs. benefit. Ideas
are easy to generate but a BA challenges,
dissects evaluates, and truly “tests” each
idea to determine if it fits within the corporate
direction while also addressing the specific
business problem at hand. Additionally, an
excellent BA assesses the impact of a
recommended change on the organisation.
Is the Excellent BA Born or Developed?
Is a BA born or made? We believe both.
Individuals selected for this role must have a
critical mind and an acute sense of curiosity. They
are people who are not satisfied settling for a
good solution but are determined to find an
excellent one. They intuitively understand
continuous process improvement. Once you find a
person like this, he or she is eager to learn
techniques that make him more capable and
effective. Analysis skills that can be acquired
through education and practice include critical
thinking skills, root cause analysis, process analysis
(breaking large things into manageable pieces),
and data analysis (organising, categorising, and
utilising large volumes of data in a useful way to
assist in decision making).
T

Analysis skills that can be acquired through education and practice include critical
thinking skills, root cause analysis, process analysis (breaking large things into
manageable pieces), and data analysis (organising, categorising, and utilising large
volumes of data in a useful way to assist in decision making). BAs learn to improve
their communication skills by widening the breadth of their questioning and by fine
tuning their ability to listen for true causes of problems, not just symptoms.
IndigoCube focuses on developing individuals to master business analysis. Our
courses and products equip BAs with a full range of complex business analysis skills,
techniques, and approaches. The more analysis tools BAs master, the more valuable
they will be to the organisation. In many organisations today, projects and problems
do not follow a simple 1-2-3 pattern. Most problems are usually more complex than
they initially appear, involving a number of interrelated factors. Solutions are not
always obvious or easy to build. An excellent BA knows how to get started on a
problem/project that may not be clearly defined or understood.
An excellent BA is flexible and able to adapt to each unique situation. They possess
an inventory of problem solving skills with which they feel comfortable to deploy as
needed. They are able to work with many different types of people on many
different types of projects. They must be agile. Agility is obtained by having a
complete set of skills; and knowing when and how to wield them quickly and
efficiently. Regardless of what type of project the BA is working on, having a solid
skill set will ensure the BA’s critical value to an organisation.
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Training Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
International Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
South African Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Certified Core Courses
Essential Skills for Business Analysis™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Business Process Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Detailing Business Data Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Use Case Modeling and Solution Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Certified Advanced Courses
Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Business Analysis in an Agile Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Specialised Courses
Requirements Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Business Analysis Essentials for Project Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Management/Technical Seminars
Overview of Business Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Developer’s Introduction to Business Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Practitioner Courses
Essentials of Rational Unified Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Writing Good Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Mastering Requirements Management with Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Mastering Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with U ML 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
BABOK / CCBA / CBAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Requirements Template Roadmap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Business Analyst Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
IIBA
®
BABOK
®
Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Business Analysis Skills
Communication Skills
Facilitation Techniques
Use Case Analysis
Requirements Planning
Prototyping
Asking the Right Questions
Structured Approaches
Documentation Standards
Workflow Analysis
Traceability
Requirements Review
Requirements Management
Note Taking
SDLC Knowledge
Cost/Benefit Analysis
UAT Planning
Effective Meetings
Presentation Skills
Interviewing Techniques
Risk Assessment
Dataflow Diagramming
Excellent Requirements
Process Modeling
Elicitation Techniques
Software Design Knowledge
Change Control
Project Management
Data Modeling
Active Listening
Organisational Skills
Usability Principles
Business Rule Analysis
Gap Analysis

T R A I N I N G O P T I O N S
Onsite Training
All of our courses may be taught
on-site at your facilities, where
required, provided that there are
six or more delegates.
Please contact us to discuss your
specific course requirements,
group size, and available training
dates.
Self-study
For experienced business analysts,
study guides are available for our
four core courses. Go to
www.b2ttraining.com
These study guides are ideal for
skilled business analysts who are
unable to attend classes but would
like to receive the B2T Training
Certification.
Public Training
IndigoCube offers public classes at
our offices on the Ground Floor,
Victoria Gate South, Hyde Lane,
Hyde Park, Sandton.
Public classes allow students to
meet and learn with business
analysts from other companies
and industries, offering a broader
understanding of the business
analysis profession.
Customisation
Onsite classes can be tailored to address your unique organisational environment and the experience level and interest
of the students. The level of customisation required is dependent upon a review of your needs and the outline of our course
curriculum. This review will reveal areas that may need more or less focus during training. We will prepare a customised
training programme, if needed, which includes topics from existing material that address specific areas of concern.
Customisation requiring additional or new course development will incur a fee.

T R A I N I N G C U R R I C U L U M
Our comprehensive business analysis curriculum is developed and delivered by practicing business
analysts. Our mature programme has been proven through the success of our customers resulting in
improved requirements.
The curriculum is supported by full requirements document templates, a reference manual for post-
training guidance, coaching, and resources. The skills, techniques, and approaches that we teach
are not tied to or limited to any particular methodology.
Core Courses
Our core training programme is aimed at new
or experienced business analysts. These
courses comprise a complete curriculum and
are written for organisations looking to level-
set the business analyst role in their
companies and for individuals seeking a solid
foundational skill set. Our certification
programme is based on these four core
courses.
Core Courses:
■ Essential Skills for Business Analysis
■ Business Process Analysis
■ Detailing Business Data Requirements
■ Use Case Modeling & Solution Requirements
Advanced Courses
In addition to the four core courses, IndigoCube
offers courses that cover more advanced and
specialised business analysis topics. These
courses are designed for experienced business
analysts or to be taken after completing the four
core courses.
Attend two of the following Advanced Classes for the
BA Certified Exam:
■ Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan
■ Business Analysis in an Agile Environment
■ Facilitating Requirements for Business Analysis
Specialised Courses
We also offer specialised courses designed to
assist project managers and business analysts
who need an understanding of business analysis
practices in the software development
environment.
■ Business Analysis Essentials for Project Managers
■ Detailing Process and Business Rule Requirements
■ Writing Good Use Cases
■ Mastering Requirements Management with Use
Cases
■ Mastering Object-Oriented Analysis & Design with
UML 2.0
■ Requirements Validation
Management and Technical Seminars:
Our management and technical seminars are
designed to help those who work with business
analysts to gain a better understanding of the
business analysis role.
■ Overview of Business Analysis
■ Developer’s Introduction to Business Analysis

B2T I N T E R N A T I O N A L C E R T I F I C A T I O N
Certification
IndigoCube believes that a certified business
analyst should exhibit real-world knowledge and
experience. Our certification programme tests a
business analyst’s ability to apply knowledge and
skills in real-world circumstances and offers two
levels of recognition. Our business analyst
certification programme recognises individuals
who have proven skills, knowledge, and
experience in eliciting, organising, analysing,
documenting, communicating, and verifying
requirements to facilitate the development or
purchase of software applications and/or business
process improvement efforts. Our certification
programme is based on the essential business
analysis skills covered in our four core courses.
BA Associate
TM
The BA Associate is a certificate that recognises
business analysts who possess foundational knowledge
of business analysis topics and skills taught in our four
core courses. It is designed for new and experienced
business analysts. Obtaining the BA Associate
certificate requires candidates to pass all online
proficiency area exams of our four core courses. The
cost of each exam is R900 excluding VAT. Candidates
wishing to test-out the four core courses may purchase
study guides for each of these courses to help prepare
for passing the proficiency exams.
BA Certified
TM
After obtaining the BA Associate certificate,
candidates are qualified to work toward BA Certified.
BA Certified is an elite certification that recognises
individuals who possess proven skills, knowledge, and
experience in eliciting, organising, analysing,
documenting, communicating, and verifying
requirements.
Becoming BA Certified consists of:
■ earning the BA Associate certificate
■ attending any two of the advanced courses
■ register for the final comprehensive exam
■ receive and review the CBAP Study Guide
■ writing and passing the final comprehensive exam
BA Certified business analysts are able to confidently
provide their employers or perspective employers with
evidence that they possess not only business analysis
knowledge, but the ability to apply that knowledge in
day-to-day real-world business analysis environments.
Cost of the final comprehensive exam is available on
request.

S O U T H A F R I C A N
C E R T I F I C A T I O N
Intended Audience
This course is designed for
business analysts, project
managers, business systems
analysts, system architects or
any other project team member
involved with analysis. New
practitioners will learn the tasks
they are expected to perform
and why each task is important.
Experienced practitioners will
learn new techniques and
more structured approaches to
improve their requirements
activities.
This course may also be
appropriate for individuals who
manage analysis activities and
business stakeholders who need
a more in-depth understanding
of the requirements process
and deliverables.
Prerequisites
None
B2T Certification
This class is a part of the
Business Analyst International
Certification Program. For more
information on this Certification,
please refer to Page 6 in this
catalogue.
B2T C E R T I F I E D C O R E C O U R S E
Essential Skills for Business Analysis™
Overview
To identify the best solutions for real business needs, this course provides an extensive
inventory of tools and techniques for use in business analysis work. The business analysis
skill set includes critical thinking skills, elicitation techniques and requirements analysis
and management. Equally important are communication and relationship building skills,
whether they be in person or virtual environments. Expertise with analysis tools and
techniques becomes even more necessary in today’s fast-paced environment. It is
further complicated by the use of dispersed or outsourced teams, complex business
processes, time-driven business initiatives, new agile software development approaches,
and poorly integrated legacy applications.
Regardless of the person’s title, the need for strong business analysis skills is necessary
for companies to remain competitive in any economy. Through education and practice
business or technical professionals will develop and enhance their analytical skills and
provide significant value to projects and the business enterprise.
This course teaches business analysis essentials to both new and experienced
practitioners. It supports and expands on the standards outlined in the IIBA® BABOK®
Guide V2.0. Mentor-led workshops allow students to practice the techniques as they
learn them. Depending on the participant’s skill level, the workshop cases and
discussions inspire learning insights for every level of experience. Students are
encouraged to bring their own projects to class. Using new techniques on a current
project often highlights missing requirements and gives the student specific next steps to
follow after class.
In this course students will learn to:
• Analyse and scope the area of analysis, working with project managers and business
sponsors to clarify the level and complexity of the business analysis effort needed for
the project
• Select the appropriate elicitation technique to efficiently identify critical requirements
• Analyse and refine business and functional requirements
• Ask the right questions through the use of interviewing templates developed
specifically for business analysis elicitation
• Identify the five core components necessary to analyse a business area
• Plan an approach for analysing, categorising, and managing requirements. Determine
the level of formality required and consider options for documenting and packaging
requirements based on project type, priorities, and risks
• Identify techniques and documentation options appropriate for various software
development approaches and project types (COTS, maintenance, business process
improvement, new development, etc.)
• Define testing objectives and verify requirements are testable
• Conduct effective requirements reviews to improve the quality of requirements
deliverables
• Build strong relationships with project stakeholders
• Apply new communication strategies for eliciting and interacting with virtual teams
• Anticipate issues, think proactively, and use critical thinking skills to plan stakeholder
elicitation sessions
4 DAYS

Course Outline
Introduction - 1 hr.
 What is business analysis?
 Review the major tasks performed by the
business analyst.
 Define the essential skills needed to perform
their tasks.
Project Participants and their Roles - 1 hr.
 Identify project stakeholders and their roles.
 Discuss how the business analyst interacts
with these participants.
Elicitation Techniques - 3 hrs.
 Learn to use and determine the appropriate
elicitation technique:
- One-on-one interviews
- Requirements workshops
- Surveys
- Brainstorming
- Document analysis
- Focus group
- Job shadowing/observation
- Competitive analysis
- Interface analysis
- Reverse engineering
- Learn to proactively plan interactions with
stakeholders to make the most effective
use of their time.
Scoping the Project from the Business Analyst's
Perspective - 5.5 hrs.
 Understand why the project is being done.
Without this understanding it will be difficult
for business analysts to elicit and document
the right requirements and focus their
business analysis work in the appropriate
areas. Get an introduction to Enterprise
Analysis.
 Understand the organisational environment.
Identify the business stakeholders who will be
involved in the project and how they will
impact business analysis.
 Learn to ask probing questions about the
requirements scope and facilitate a discussion
with project stakeholders using visual
representations of the requirements
boundaries.
 Learn the context level dataflow diagram
technique to identify and scope "what is" and,
more importantly, "what is not" to be
analysed. Analyse interfaces with people,
other organisations, existing systems, and
other software applications.
 Discuss how a business analyst should collect,
organise, and maintain requirements for
efficient analysis and reuse on future projects.
 Workshop - Scope the class case study
project.
 Workshop - Reinforce the analysis techniques
on a current project. Students will leave class
with a draft visual representation of their
current business area along with a list of
follow up questions.
Defining and Detailing Requirements - 4 hrs.
 What is a requirement? Why is it important to
elicit and document requirements? What are
the criteria used to judge the quality of
"excellent” requirements?
 Learn how software developers use
requirements
 Understand the difference between analysis
and design or "business" vs. "technological"
requirements. Why is it necessary to
understand the business problem before
deciding on a solution?
 Learn the 5 core requirement components,
what they describe, and why they are
important.
- Entity
- Attribute
- Process (use case)
- External Agent (actor)
- Business Rule
Requirements Analysis Techniques - 5 hrs.
 Learn the recommended approach to
categorising requirements. Why should
requirements be categorised? Who uses each
category? Why is it difficult to create distinct
categories?
- Business Requirements
- Functional Requirements
- Non-functional Requirements
- Technical Requirements
 Learn the concept of traceability of
requirements.
 Discuss the most commonly used analysis
techniques to organise and refine
requirements. Business analysts should have
expertise in many analysis techniques to be
able to adapt to different types of projects
and businesses.
- Structured textual templates (process
descriptions, data descriptions, business
rules, use cases)
- Entity relationship diagram
- Decomposition diagram
- User stories, use case diagram and use case
descriptions
- Workflow diagram (UML, BPMN, ANSI,
swim lane)
- Prototyping
 Consider options and level of formality for
packaging requirements and choosing the
appropriate documentation techniques for
each project.
 Review currently available software tools that
can be used for requirements management.
 Workshop - Put into practice several of the
analysis techniques on the course case study
requirements.
Conducting a Requirements Review - 2 hrs.
 Learn how to conduct a requirements review:
Who should participate? What are the
required steps? How is a session conducted?
What are the common challenges?
 Workshop - Review a sample requirements
package.
- Identify missing or incomplete
requirements.
- Identify potential test cases.
- Document issues and develop an approach
for going forward.
Validate the Requirements - 2 hrs.
 Understand the role of business analysis in
validating requirements and software testing.
 Introduction to software testing: Why is
testing important? What is the business
analyst's role in testing? What is the primary
objective of testing? What are the phases and
types of testing?
 Learn to verify that the business requirements
are complete by identifying test cases.
 Practice identifying test cases and refining
requirements based on quality assurance
principles.
Analysis Communication Skills - 2.5 hrs.
 Learn the importance of building strong
relationships with project stakeholders. How
should business analysts communicate with
users? How should business analysts
communicate with the technical team?
 Improve your ability to develop in-depth,
detailed questions for stakeholders by
identifying the appropriate source of
information, deciding on an approach, and using
clear, consistent language.
 Review selected analysis techniques to frame
questions driving stakeholders to reveal core
needs and problems. Ask the right questions
through the use of interviewing templates
developed specifically for business analysis.
 Recognise active listening as the most powerful
elicitation communication skill, learn to listen
for key phrases that reveal specific types of
requirements.
 Improve listening skills by recognising common
barriers to listening, understanding verbal and
nonverbal messages, acknowledging the
message, and responding with appropriate
feedback.
 Learn to effectively plan communications and
facilitate groups to consensus.
 Workshop - Practice active listening and receive
feedback from the instructors and other
students.
Working with Virtual Teams - Optional
 Understand what constitutes a virtual team.
 Learn about virtual team structures and
terminology.
 Learn about technology requirements for virtual
teams
- Define Webinars, web conferencing,
webcasting.
- Understand the uses for collaboration tools.
 Consider business analysis process changes for
virtual team work
- Set policies for the team.
- Utilise the Six Thinking Hats® technique.
 Effectively utilise the people on the virtual team
- Understand the critical success
characteristics.
- Tips for conducting virtual meetings
successfully.
- Choose the appropriate elicitation techniques
for virtual teams.
Develop Your Action Plan/Course Summary
- 2 hrs.
 Review Business Analysts tasks and skills.
 Workshop - Draft an initial Business Analysis
Communications Plan for a CRM project.
 Develop an Action Plan with next steps on the
student's current project.
 Student questions/discussion topics.
Appendix - Overview of Application Development
Methodologies - Optional
 Discuss various methodologies for application
development.
 Learn which models are used in each
methodology:
- Waterfall
- Information Engineering
- IDEF
- RAD
- Iterative/Agile
- BPMN
- Object Oriented – UML
- Spiral/RUP

Intended Audience
This course will be beneficial to
any person, in any size
organisation, hoping to improve
their business processes. The
techniques presented can be
used without any sophisticated
software to quickly identify
areas for improvement and fix
broken processes
Prerequisites
It is recommended that students
first attend our Essential Skills
for Business Analysis class or
have experience in project
scope definition, eliciting
requirements, and
understanding how process
modelling relates to, and is
different from, a software
development project
B2T Certification
catalogue.
Business Process Analysis
Overview
Did you know the six costliest words in business are “we’ve always done it that way”? In
this class you will learn techniques to help your business look at how things are being
done and create solution options to improve the business processes. Creating AS IS and
TO BE workflows gives the business analyst a strategic view of business architecture
which is essential in Agile, SOA, BPM, and any type of process improvement or COTS
project. Workflows are also the foundation for documenting Six Sigma, Lean, and Value
Stream process maps.
Business process analysis is a fundamental activity in defining changes to existing
business systems, business process improvement activities, or performing gap analysis
for COTS. It provides the analyst an understanding of the core business processes they
can use to suggest alternative solutions which meet core business needs and fit with
existing IT infrastructure. Management can then evaluate each alternative for its
potential return on investment and the cost of implementation. Every business is
searching for better ways of getting work done. Improving efficiency, decreasing costs,
increasing productivity and customer service are goals that are universal.
Evaluating the business process may result in software changes, procedural changes,
organizational changes, personnel changes, etc. The best way to improve business
operations is to: 1) study the current procedures, 2) find the core or essential work being
done, and 3) define how this essential work will be accomplished. This course teaches a
proven approach which gives the business analyst the confidence and credibility to offer
and promote the right solution to solve the business problem or opportunity.
 Identify and document complex business process steps in an easy-to-review diagram
using industry standard notation BPMN
 Schedule and conduct discovery/elicitation sessions to learn about current business
processes (AS IS)
 Identify areas for process improvement by reviewing AS IS models
 Develop process re-design strategies and present them for approval (TO BE)
 Ask detailed questions to get a complete understanding of business procedures,
business rules, information use, and events that impact the business processes
 Initiate a process modeling effort with clear objectives and an agreed upon goal
 Define key terms used by the business domain to improve communications within
the business
 Decompose complex processes into lower level tasks and sub-processes
 Identify the most important business component: Essential Processes
 Conduct a review of a process model to assure accuracy
Please Note: If students prefer and have experience using MS Visio to draw diagrams,
they may bring their laptops with MS Visio to use during some of the workshops. This is
not a requirement.
3 DAYS

Course Outline
Introduction to Business Process
Analysis – 1 hr.
 Define student learning objectives.
 Define business process analysis.
 Solidify strong project objectives and
goals.
 Learn the importance of the glossary to
process modeling.
AS IS Workflow Analysis – 5 hrs.
 Utilise workflow analysis to understand
the current business process (AS IS).
 Discuss key terms in process modeling
and their subtle differences (process,
sub-process, function, activity,
essential process, task, procedure).
 Discuss the reasons for creating AS IS
diagrams and models.
 Learn to create detailed Business Process
Models.
 Learn the key BPMN symbols and their
usage (tasks, connections, events,
gateways).
 Discover and analyse tasks in the
business domain.
 Identify events within the business
process including delays,
communications and triggers.
 Decompose complex processes into
sub-processes and create related
diagrams.
 Use data artifacts to collect and
analyse information currently used by
the business.
 Collect metrics or measurements to
establish the business process
baseline.
 Learn to capture business rules during
analysis and document them in a useful
fashion.
 Learn to review a business process
model looking for process improvement
opportunities.
 Learn an approach to managing your
workload on a large business process
modeling project.
 Workshop: Create an AS IS Business
Process Model for the course case study
and present it to the class.
Discovering Business Rules – 3 hrs.
 Learn to listen for business rules when
eliciting business process requirements.
 Learn to ask detailed questions to clarify
business rules.
 Consider several approaches to
organising, documenting and getting
confirmation on business rules.
 Use decision tables to represent complex
business rules.
 Workshop: Identify business rules from
case study.
Essential Business Process Modeling – 3 hrs.
 Learn to identify essential business
processes. An essential business process is a
core requirement of the business area
necessary to re-design the process for
improvement. Each process must be clearly
defined, consistently named, and
completely described.
 Learn to extract essential processes from
detailed user descriptions and the AS IS
process models.
 Learn to identify redundant and reusable
processes.
 Use an interviewing template to document
business narratives for each essential
process.
Process Analysis – 3 hrs.
 Learn to organise essential business
processes in a process outline or
decomposition diagram.
 Learn to decompose business processes
into sub-processes and tasks.
 Workshop: Identify and present essential
processes for the class case study.
TO BE Workflow Analysis – 5 hrs.
 Review BPMN AS IS Models and transition
to a TO BE Model.
 Evaluate the business value of each
process step following the principles of
Six Sigma, Lean, Value Stream Mapping,
etc.
 Identify areas for improvement from the
AS IS Models.
o Use root cause analysis to find the true
reason for each problem.
o Review current process metrics.
o Examine handoffs and communications
between process participants.
 Prioritise areas for improvement.
 Brainstorm on TO BE alternatives.
 Create TO BE models with a re-design or
the business procedures supporting the
essential processes.
 Collaborate with stakeholders to develop
alternative solutions and evaluate each
one.
 Use a solution table to define desired
functionality and priorities. This table can
be used as the backlog for future projects.
 Perform gap analysis to analyse gaps
between the AS IS Process and the
recommended TO BE Process.
 Identify transition requirements.
 Workshop: Create a TO BE Business Process
Model for the course case study and
present it to the class.
Develop Your Action Plan/Course Summary
– 1 hr.
 Develop an Action Plan with next steps on
the student’s current project.

Intended Audience
business analysts, systems
analysts, data administrators,
database administrators, or any
other project team member
involved with business analysis.
This course may also be
manage business analysts or
those who work with the
business requirements
document and need a more in-
depth understanding of the
process and documentation.
Prerequisites
have experience in project scope
definition, eliciting requirements
from subject matter experts, and
understand how business
requirements fit into the entire
systems development effort.
B2T Certification
catalogue.
Detailing Business Data Requirements
Overview
Understanding and documenting business data requirements is a critical component in
defining complete requirements. Eliciting information needs often uncovers additional
processes and business rules. Every business process uses data and almost all business
rules are enforced by data. Missing a critical piece of data or incorrectly defining a data
element contributes to the majority of maintenance problems and results in systems
that do not reflect the business needs. This course teaches students an in-depth
approach to data modeling: identifying and defining all necessary data components using
both textual templates and an entity relationship diagram.
This course teaches business analysis techniques for eliciting, analysing, and
documenting data requirements to both new and experienced practitioners. Students
will be given data templates with a suggested documentation structure for defining
Business Data Requirements. It supports and expands on the techniques in the IIBA
BABOK® Guide V2.0. Mentor-led workshops require students to practice the techniques
as they learn. Students are encouraged to bring their own projects to class.
• Identify core data requirements beginning with project initiation
• Identify excellent data requirements at the appropriate level of detail
• Detail the data requirements (using a data dictionary and data model)
• Detail complex data-related business rules
• Assist with the transition of business data to database design
• Utilise easy normalisation techniques (without all the mathematical theory)
• Validate data requirements with activity (process or use case) requirements
Even if your organisation has a data administrator or data warehouse team who is
responsible for documenting and managing the organisation’s information needs, every
project uses a subset of that enterprise information in its own unique way. Business
analysts must understand the importance of data in all of their projects and include data
requirements in their business requirements documentation. Failing to document which
data elements need to be used in a calculation, or displayed on a report, leaves the
developer the responsibility of choosing the correct pieces of business data from
hundreds if not thousands of available fields. These missing requirements often lead to
expensive and lengthy project delays during the testing phase.
“… the data sees the big picture, while the various people and machines and
organisations that work on the data see only a portion of what happens. As you go about
doing a Structured Analysis, you will find yourself more and more frequently attaching
yourself to the data and following it through the operation. I think of this as
“interviewing the data.”‘ It is usually more productive than any other single interview.”
Tom DeMarco.
3 DAYS

Course Outline
Introduction – 1 hr.
 What is a business data requirement? Why
are these requirements important?
 Review requirements categories and
classifications.
 What is the difference between business
data and database design?
 Review the 7 characteristics of "excellent"
requirements.
 Review the core requirements components.
Entities and Attributes – 5 hrs.
 Review the components of excellent project
initiation and scope analysis.
 Learn to use the context level dataflow
diagram as a starting point for identifying
data requirements.
 Entity types are the basic building blocks of
the business data. This section defines
entities, gives suggested naming guidelines,
teaches the importance of entity
definitions, gives criteria to evaluate
potential entities, describes entity unique
identifiers, and has students identify and
document entities from the case study.
 Attribute types are characteristics of entity
types. This section defines attributes, a data
dictionary, gives suggested naming
guidelines and class words, gives criteria to
evaluate attributes, and has students
identify and document attributes from the
case study.
 Templates for analysing and documenting
data requirements are provided.
Entity Relationships and Diagramming
Conventions – 4 hrs.
 Learn how business data requirements are
displayed in an entity relationship diagram.
 Relationships are data associations that
define the business rules of the project as
they relate to data. This section defines
relationships and business rules, gives
suggested naming guidelines, teaches
relationship cardinalities, and has students
identify and document relationships from
the case study.
 Review common diagram notations for data
related business rules.
 Learn about an alternative model: the class
diagram.
Detailing the Data Requirements – 5 hrs.
 Detailing repeating data elements.
Repeating attributes must be broken down
into their components, properly named,
and clearly documented with example data
values. Students will refine their
requirements document based on
additional business requirements.
 Detailing complex business rules. Complex
business rules (many-to-many
relationships) should be properly named
and clearly documented with example data
values. Students will refine their
requirements document based on
additional business requirements.
 Detailing sub-category entities. Some
business data naturally falls into sub-
categories and should be documented as
such.
 Review techniques for documenting data
conversion, interface requirements and
perform gap analysis.
Transition from Business Data to a Physical
Design – 2 hrs.
 Learn how to link the data and process
elements to identify missing or incomplete
requirements. Each essential process must
use data, and each data element must be
used by at least one essential process.
 How does business data become a database
design? Review the data requirements for
completeness, understand how logical
components are translated to physical
components, and develop a strategy for
maintaining the business requirements.
 Introduction to database design.
 Scope the design area using subject areas.
 What is de-normalisation? Why de-
normalise a database design?
Workshop - Identify and document data
requirements for the case study – 4 hrs.
 Identify and document entities.
 Identify and document attributes.
 Identify and document data related
business rules.
Appendix - Data Normalisation - Optional
 What is data normalisation and why is it
important?
 What are the rules of normalisation?

Intended Audience
analysts, or any other project
team members responsible for
developing functional, non-
functional, and transition
requirements. Students are
encouraged to bring examples of
their requirements documents
to the class for review and
feedback. This course may also
be appropriate for individuals
who manage business analysts.
Developers and solution
implementers will benefit from
an understanding of how
functional and non-functional
requirements are elicited and
analysed.
Prerequisites
from stakeholders, and
understanding how business
systems development effort. It is
also recommended that
students attend Business Process
Analysis before attending this
class
B2T Certification
catalogue.
Use Case Modeling and Solution
Requirements
Overview
Use case modeling is a commonly used analysis technique which results in functional
requirements and a framework for test case development. When the solution to a
business problem or opportunity involves a software component, the solution team
must determine how software will best support the business. This class focuses on the
business analysis work which includes defining functional, non-functional, and transition
requirements which describe the solution and roll out needs.
This course supports and expands on the techniques in the IIBA BABOK® Guide V2.0.
Specifically techniques for communicating the business requirements to the solution
team, tracing each business requirement to the supporting solution component,
assessing the solution applicability and planning for a smooth transition to the solution.
Mentor-led workshops require students to practice the techniques as they learn.
Students are encouraged to bring their own projects to class.
• Use business requirements to identify, evaluate and present alternative design
solutions which meet customer needs
• Prioritise requirements for inclusion in the software development phase using
plan-driven (traditional) and change-driven (iterative and agile) techniques
• Elicit analyse, and communicate functional requirements that specify how users
will interact with the software and how the software will respond
• Deliver consistent, detailed use case descriptions
• Incorporate usability principles when developing prototypes
• Identify non-functional requirements appropriate for each project
• Learn to assess organisational readiness and build a transition or rollout plan to
smooth the implementation of new software for the business
3 DAYS

Course Outline
 Define students learning objectives.
 What are solution requirements? What are
transition requirements?
 Review requirements categories and
classifications.
 What are the differences between business
and functional requirements?
 Discuss requirements implications based on
the type of solution being developed (COTS,
in house development, maintenance, BI)
 Learn about the software development
approaches used by the team (change driven
vs. plan driven) as it relates to solution
requirements.
Determine the Solution Scope – 4 hrs.
 Define the solution scope model. Use
approved business requirements to define a
solution and allocate the solution
components to each requirement
(traceability).
 Learn a six-step approach to bringing the
business domain stakeholders and
implementation stakeholders to consensus
about the definition of the solution scope:
 Determine the functionality desired.
 Elicit the business priority of each function.
 Assess technical priority and estimated
cost of the desired functionality.
 Break project into phases or iterations.
 Create a scope model using a use case
diagram:
o Define actors involved with the
application.
o Identify actor interactions.
o Determine use cases within each phase
or iteration.
 Obtain approval.
 Review the backlog and learn the change
driven approach to iteration planning.
 Allocate the requirements to the solution
components.
Defining Functional Requirements – 4 hrs.
 Learn to elicit user stories and scenarios.
 Learn to identify use cases.
 Outline each use case for a high-level
understanding of broad behaviour.
 Identify primary path, alternate path, and
exception paths.
 Decompose large use cases into smaller sub-
sets, identifying reusable use cases where
possible.
 Learn how and where to document system
user messages.
 Learn to create detailed use case
descriptions.
Designing User Interfaces – 2 hrs.
 Learn to identify where prototypes are
necessary.
 Create and document prototypes.
 Learn to document report requirements,
including ad-hoc and predefined. Learn the
definition of business intelligence.
 Learn to document field edits and screen
functionality.
 Incorporate usability principals into user
interfaces.
Analyse Interface Requirements – 3 hrs.
 Identify required interfaces based on the
phase/iteration plan.
 Determine how each interface is affected by
the solution design.
 Write interface requirements for each
interface.
Identify Non-Functional Requirements – 2 hrs.
 Identify requirements not previously
addressed by business, functional, or
technical requirement categories:
 Performance requirements
 Security requirements
 Quality requirements
 Scalability
 Consider which non-functional requirement
types are important for your project.
 Discuss the business analyst role in the
development of these requirements.
Develop Transition Requirements – 3 hrs.
 Identify requirements for a smooth rollout of
the solution to the business
 Consider scheduling and timing issues
 Determine the timing of interface
transition and data conversion
 Consider parallel operations vs. cutover
 Develop an implementation plan
Develop Action Plan/Course Summary
Workshop – 2 hrs.
 Review Business Analysis tasks and skills
learned.
 Workshop: What would you do? Determine
analysis approach based on case study.
the student's current project.

Intended Audience
This course is intended for
anyone who is interested in
learning a practical approach to
planning the necessary tasks for
their project.
Prerequisites
Business analysts registering for
this course must have attended
Essential Skills for Business
Analysis, or have at least 2 years’
experience in requirements
elicitation, analysis and
documentation using structured
techniques. Contact IndigoCube
if you would like to discuss an
exception being made to these
prerequisites.
B2T Certification
catalogue.
B2T A D V A N C E D C O U R S E
Developing a Business Analysis Work Plan
Overview
Having trouble getting started with your business analysis work? Unsure about how
much time to request from your project manager?
Developing a business analysis work plan will prevent major problems by ensuring that
all of the appropriate stakeholders are involved and the requirements will be analysed
and presented using the most effective communication approaches. This class teaches
students to consider all of the project and stakeholder characteristics before deciding on
appropriate deliverables and producing a time estimate. The work plan also helps the
business analyst develop realistic time estimates based on the chosen deliverables.
These estimates provide detailed justification for negotiation with project managers and
project sponsors. During class students are presented the Business Analysis Planning
Framework™ and are given worksheets to guide their planning efforts.
Students are encouraged to bring their own project initiation documentation for a
current or past project to the class. During the workshops, students will develop their
business analysis work plan. If students do not have a project, a class case study is
available and should be reviewed prior to the first day of class.
Regardless of when the BA joins a project or the project type, this class will guide
planners to deliver an intelligent business analysis work plan to the project manager and
have a detailed roadmap upon which they can immediately begin to execute. The
business analysis work plan may be a single sheet of brief notes on a small project or a
more formal document on larger projects. Regardless of the output produced, an
excellent business analyst thinks through the plan before starting work.
This course supports and extends the techniques in the IIBA’s BABOK® Guide V2.0.
“Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.”
Kenichi Ohmae, Management consultant
3 DAYS

Course Outline
 Business analysis planning.
 Overview of business analysis planning
activities.
 Discuss the relationship of the project
manager and the business analyst in
planning.
 Use of the BA Planning Framework™
approach to planning.
 Project - Understanding the project
characteristics.
 People - Identifying stakeholders and
planning for communications.
 Process - Planning the analysis activities.
 Root cause analysis and the fishbone
diagram.
 The business analysis work plan.
Planning for Different Types of Projects –
4 hrs.
 Introduce the concepts of plan driven vs.
change driven approaches to projects.
 Planning around unique project
characteristics:
 A large development project.
 Enhancement or maintenance projects.
 A COTS (commercial off-the-shelf
software) project.
 A reporting or data warehouse project.
 A process improvement or re-engineering
effort.
 An infrastructure upgrade (getting a new
e-mail or operating system).
 Planning around methodology and process
characteristics:
 An outsourced or off-shore development
project.
 Iterative style development
methodology.
 Agile style development process.
 Group workshop: Discuss planning
considerations for case study projects
Project - Understanding the Project
Characteristics – 4 hrs.
 Let's get started - A checklist to assess the
current state of the project and to help get
started.
 The Project Overview Worksheet - Is the
project clearly defined?
 Business objectives
 Problems/opportunities
 Requirements scope
 High-level business processes
 The Business Impact Worksheet - What is
the relative importance of the project to
the organisation?
 Size (number of stakeholders, number of
business processes involved, number of
business rules).
 Importance (estimated cost, potential
benefits, criticality of business area, level
of key stakeholders).
 Risk analysis (project, business,
technology).
 Enterprise analysis - Understanding how
this project fits into the organisation's
overall strategy.
 Group workshop - Assess the project and
score the business impact of a sample
project.
People - Stakeholder Analysis and the
Communication Plan – 4 hrs.
 Why plan for stakeholder interactions?
 Assess the project sponsor
 Identify both primary and secondary
stakeholders:
 Searching for all stakeholders, not just
the obvious ones
 Understanding each stakeholder's area
of concern
 Documenting stakeholder's needs
 Consider the characteristics of each
stakeholder group
 Determine effective communication
practices for each stakeholder group:
 Is this group providing requirements,
using requirements, or supporting the
project work?
 Which elicitation technique(s) will be
most effective?
 What requirement presentation format
will be most comfortable for this group?
 The Stakeholder Analysis Worksheet
 When and where will communications
with each stakeholder be most effective?
 What are the best communication
techniques for each stakeholder?
 Group workshop - Identify and analyse the
stakeholder groups for an example project
and identify the appropriate
communication techniques
Process - Planning the Analysis Activities –
3.5 hrs.
 Plan the analysis activities
 Step one - Assess which requirements
components are needed?
 Step two - Determine which deliverables
are needed using the Deliverable List
Worksheet
 Step four - Develop an approach for
creating each deliverable using The
Deliverable Worksheet
 Consult with organisational standards/
methodologies for required deliverables.
Creating the Business Analysis Work Plan –
3 hrs.
 Step one - Create the business analysis task
list
 Step two - Estimate analysis time
 Using historical and expert data to
estimate
 Tracking actual time to estimate
 Step four - Finalise the business analysis
work plan
 Group workshop - develop a task list of
analysis and requirements activities for a
sample project.
 Intelligent negotiation skills.
 Getting signoff on the plan.
 Base lining the plan and initiating change
control.
Ongoing Requirements Management – 1 hr.
 What is Requirements Management?
 Using a requirements repository
 Develop a requirements management
plan
 Reusing existing requirements
 Reusing existing data
 Identifying requirements attributes
 Plan for requirements traceability
 Learn about traceability matrices and
requirements links
 Understand the purpose of forward and
backward traceability
 Determine which requirements should
be "traced"
 Determine the appropriate approach for
managing traceability
 Exercise: Perform impact analysis using
traceability
Course Summary – 0.5 hr.
 Final thoughts
 Planning Worksheet Map
 Optional Exercises
Appendix - Advanced Project Initiation
Requirements – Optional
 Advanced project initiation
requirements:
 Learn techniques to identify strong
project objectives.
 Learn a technique to help subject
matter experts scope a project with
unclear boundaries.
 Group workshop - scope an unclear
project.
Appendix - Advanced Topics – Optional
 Developing a cost/benefit analysis for
a business case
 Evaluating software applications for
purchase (COTS)

Intended Audience
analysts, product owners,
project managers or any other
project team member involved
with requirements on an agile
project. This course may also be
manage business analysts and
need a more in-depth
understanding of the process
and skill set a business analyst
can bring to an agile project
Prerequisites
This is an advanced class. It is
recommended students first
attend our Core classes or have
equivalent experience
B2T Certification
catalogue.
Business Analysis in an Agile Environment
Overview
Agile environments are causing a shift in how teams are formed and the roles individuals
have on their teams. While some agile teams do not have a formal role called Business
Analyst, business analysis skills are still needed on agile teams. BAs possess unique skills
including clear communication, organization, facilitation, requirements elicitation,
critical thinking, and requirements analysis and management skills.
This course is designed to show how business analysis fits in an agile environment and
highlights the reality that business analysis activities are absolutely necessary. For the
Business Analysis practitioner you will understand how the skills you have will help you
become a valued agile team member.
Students will gain knowledge and skills by practicing techniques and soft skills needed to
operate effectively in a requirements-driven agile environment.
In this course students will:
• Agile approaches, key principles, practices and terminology focusing on Scrum.
• How to map traditional skills and tasks of a Business Analyst to agile task and skills.
• How a Business Analyst adds value to an agile project.
• To develop user stories and specify acceptance criteria to assist the Product Owner
and business stakeholders.
• How requirements are managed in an agile environment pre and post the product
backlog.
• How to assist Product Owner and delivery team with four types of agile
planning: Strategy and product planning, release planning, Sprint/Iteration Planning,
daily planning during the Stand-up Meeting.
• To communicate requirements in different ways, adjusting the level of detail and
elaborating requirements iteratively as needed while developing just enough
documentation.
• To prioritise the Product Backlog and handling new requests
3 DAYS
3 DAYS

Course Outline
 Define student’s learning objectives.
 Understand student’s knowledge of
business analysis techniques and agile.
The Agile Environment – 3 hrs.
 Learn how plan- driven (traditional) vs.
change-driven (iterative, agile)
development approaches impact
business analysis tasks and priorities.
 Overview of agile principles,
methodologies and terminology. Learn
values and principles from Agile
Manifesto.
 Discuss business and IT benefits for
using a light agile framework versus
traditional development approach.
 Workshop: Create list of challenges
moving from a traditional environment
to an agile environment.
Business Analysis Skills for Agile Projects – 3
hrs.
 Review the major tasks and skills
needed by BA professionals for
traditional and agile projects.
 Discuss alignment with the IIBA®
BABOK®.
 Discuss the BA’s relationship with the
other project members.
 Learn to transfer BA skills from
traditional methodologies to an agile
approach.
 Workshop: Create a Product Vision.
Requirements on an Agile Project – 4 hrs.
 Define the levels of Agile planning- The
focus will be exploring how the BA will
assist with Product and Release
Planning.
 Develop a Product and Sprint Backlog.
 Learn how to replace formal
requirements documents with face-to-
face communication where
appropriate. Learn how to use informal
models. Don’t strive for requirements
perfection.
 Writing User Stories at the appropriate
level of detail following guidelines of 3
Cs (card-conversation –confirmation)-
and INVEST techniques.
 Learn good story writing tips and what
to avoid.
 Workshop: Breakdown one item on a
product backlog into user stories.
Business Analysis Roles – 2 hrs.
 Understand what activities are
performed by a Business Analysis
Practitioner in an Agile environment
 Learn how the BA supports the Product
Owner.
 Workshop: Create list of ideas how you
can best be utilised on an agile project.
Develop Your Action Plan – 1 hr.
 Discuss role adaptation you will have to
make to be successful in an agile
environment.
 Discuss your skill development
opportunities (Cross functional, Project
Management, technical skills, etc.).
the student's current project.

Intended Audience
experienced, knowledgeable
business analysts or project
managers involved with
requirements elicitation and
analysis.
Students are expected to
understand the purpose of
business and functional
requirements.
Prerequisites
from subject matter experts, and
understanding how business
systems development effort.
Facilitating Requirements for Business
Analysis
Overview
The art of bringing people together, face-to-face or remotely, to elicit requirements and
gain consensus on solutions is a critical success factor for all business analysis
professionals. This course teaches facilitation techniques that can be used for structured
sessions and “facilitation-on-the-fly.” This course goes beyond traditional facilitation
training by focusing on facilitation techniques specific to eliciting business and functional
requirements.
This class is limited to 8 students, allowing each student the opportunity to practice
facilitating multiple requirements sessions in a “safe” environment with personalised
feedback. Students will spend 60% of class time participating in interactive, real-world
business case studies and performing each key role in at least one session.
The workshops in this course require students to plan the requirements eliciting session,
develop the correct questions to ask the group, and facilitate the group to a consensus
on the requirements using one of the learned techniques. Students will conduct a
requirements workshop for at least one requirement deliverable (i.e. context level
dataflow diagram, workflow diagram). This course supports and expands on the
techniques in the IIBA BABOK® Guide V2.0.
• Facilitate using proven techniques for eliciting detailed business, functional and non-
functional requirements
• Identify when and how to use each technique
• Develop confidence and a skill set to conduct requirements workshops
• Actively practice learned skills and techniques
• Use a requirements planning session template
• Prepare the participants for the requirements session
• Perform each facilitation role through role playing each session
• Conduct the session to stay focused on the core requirement that was planned as a
deliverable
• Select which facilitation technique to use for each core requirement being elicited
• Complete checklists for managing and conducting the session
• Facilitate a requirements workshop
3 DAYS

Copyright 2000| IndigoCube (Pty) Ltd | www.indigocube.co.za P a g e | 20
Course Outline
Introduction to Facilitating Requirements
– 1 hr.
 Learn guidelines for requirements
facilitators.
 Set session rules and manage the session.
 Learn reactive techniques to use during the
session:
 Encourage participation.
 Manage group focus.
 Manage group conflict.
 Consider remote facilitation techniques.
Student Workshop – 1.5 hrs.
 Conduct a mini-requirements workshop.
 Practice techniques used for requirements
workshops.
Session Feasibility – 1 hr.
 Determine when requirements workshops
are appropriate:
 Determine need/requirements
deliverable desired.
 Determine commitment level.
 Determine risks.
 Practice determining session need using
real-world scenarios.
 Review the core requirements components
and discuss how they are best elicited.
 Learn when not to use requirements
workshops.
Planning and Preparing for a Facilitated
Session – 4 hrs.
 Plan the session:
 Determine the number session(s) needed
and the length of the session(s).
 Document the purpose of the session.
 Identify potential participants.
 Define session requirements deliverables.
 Document the plan using session
planning templates.
 Prepare for a session:
 Outline the goals and requirements
deliverables.
 Select session participants and determine
if pre-session interviews are appropriate.
 Learn facilitation techniques:
 Brainstorming
 Consensus building
 Flowcharting
 Force field analysis
 Hip pocket techniques
 Nominal group
 Root cause analysis
 Storyboarding
 Facilitating across distance
 Develop focused questions to elicit
requirements:
 Direct
 Open-ended
 Clarifying
 Leading
 Re-focusing
 Create a detailed agenda for the facilitation
team.
 Learn group-oriented facilitation
techniques.
 Create a formal agenda for the session
participant.
 Orient the facilitation team.
 Prepare the facilities.
Student Workshop – 3.5 hrs.
 Each student will practice elicitation
techniques in a requirements workshop.
 Personal feedback will be provided to drive
skill development.
Conducting the Session – 1 hr.
 Learn the stages of group
development/productivity.
 Facilitate decision making – work toward
consensus.
 Conducting the session:
 Introducing the session.
 Managing the session.
 Creating a follow-up action plan.
 Review/approve requirements deliverables.
Student Workshop – 8 hrs.
 Plan and conduct a requirements workshop.
 Use one or more of the learned facilitation
techniques.
 Produce the requirements deliverable using
one of the facilitation techniques.
 Personal feedback will be provided to drive
skill development.
Session Follow-Up – 1 hr.
 Produce the final requirements document.
 Share session feedback.
 Determine the next steps to finalise the
requirements.

Intended Audience
business analysts, quality
analysts, project managers, or
anyone interested in improving
and validating the quality of
their requirements.
Prerequisites
first attend our 3 core courses
(or at a minimum Detailing
Process and Business Rule
Requirements) before enrolling
for this course.
B2T S P E C I A L I S E D C O U R S E
Requirements Validation
Overview
This course takes you through the steps to ensure that business requirements are
validated, that the solution is usable and meets the business needs. Validating
requirements improves the likelihood of project success, making sure that we are
building the right solution. The cost to correct a software defect may be as high as 2900
times the cost to correct a requirement. Finding missing requirements and requirements
inconsistencies decreases the overall project length and cost.
Business analysis and quality assurance professionals must use risk assessments to
prioritise requirements and requirements validation activities. The highest risk areas of
the business must be addressed first. This course teaches business and quality analysts
to design efficient requirements validation tests to make the best use of limited
resources and time.
Solution Assessment and Validation is one of the key knowledge areas in the IIBA
BABOK® Guide V2.0. This course addresses many of the important tasks in the
knowledge area along with giving business analysts the ability to design efficient and
effective tests to demonstrate that the application solutions meet their user’s needs.
This course answers many of the key questions about requirements validation including:
• How do we validate requirements?
• Which types of validation and verification processes are appropriate for my project?
• How does the team ensure that the solution meets the business stakeholder needs?
• Where does validation fit in the software development life cycle (SDLC)?
• What is software usability? Why is it important?
• How does the team correct problems when they are discovered?
• How do I work with technical members of the solution team? What do they need
from a business analyst to be successful?
2 DAYS

Course Outline
Introduction to Requirements Validation –
1 hr.
 What are requirements?
 Understand the value of acceptance and
evaluation criteria
 How do we validate requirements?
 When should requirements be validated?
 Who validates requirements?
Validating and Testing Requirements –
3 hrs.
 What does it mean to validate
requirements?
 Conducting effective structured
walkthroughs of requirements.
o Review guidelines.
o Examine a sample review invitation
and results form.
o Review question checklists.
o How do reviews improve future
projects?
o Workshop: validate requirements
using a formal review
 Introduction to usability testing.
 Effective user acceptance testing (UAT).
 Conduct a post implementation user
assessment to identify lessons learned.
 How to correct problems that are
discovered during requirements validation?
 Use a consistent problem tracking
procedure.
 Track defect/problem types to improve
requirements on future projects.
 Assess each problem for its type,
severity, and status.
Usability Testing – 2 hrs.
 Learn the principles of usability.
 Learn how usability testing differs from
traditional testing.
 Discuss methods of usability testing.
 Learn to use requirements to design
usability tests.
 Workshop: Conduct a usability test
Working with IT Stakeholders – 3 hrs.
 Communicating with IT development
stakeholders.
 Verifying requirements or specification.
o Unit testing.
o Integration testing.
o Systems testing.
o Evaluate solution performance -
validate non functional requirements.
o Validate solution against
requirements.
 Business requirements.
 Functional requirements.
 Technical requirements.
o Regression testing - re-testing after a
change.
 Testing environments.
 Common IT testing methods.
o White box and black box testing.
o Positive and negative testing.
o Choosing data values for testing.
 Working with QA stakeholders.
o Software quality assurance (SQA)
planning and structure.
o Utilising SQA personnel throughout
the SDLC.
Documenting Requirements Validation
Deliverables – 3 hrs.
 Designing a requirements validation plan
 IEEE testing templates.
 What is a test design, test case, test
procedure?
 Identifying tests from requirements
documentation.
 Using use case descriptions to develop
testing procedures.
 Tracking test cases.
 Workshop: Validating requirements
using test cases.
 Tracing test cases to requirements - cross
checking the solution.
 Designing a requirements validation
plan.
 Planning considerations:
o Who will validate requirements?
o How will this be accomplished?
o Where are the highest risks?
o Where will tests be conducted?
o Who will conduct testing?
o Who will review test results?
o What test data will be used?
Solution Assessment and Validation
BABOK Knowledge Area – 2 hrs.
 Understanding the tasks in the IIBA
BABOK - Solution Assessment and
Validation.
 Assess the proposed solution
 Allocate requirements.
 Assess Organisational Readiness.
 Define Transition Requirements.
 Validate Solution.
 Evaluate Solution Performance.

Intended Audience
Project Managers who are
responsible for reviewing
requirements, managing the
business analysis efforts,
overseeing the testing efforts, or
obtaining sign-off on the
business analysis deliverables.
For PMs who are also
responsible for eliciting the
business requirements, it is
recommended that they attend
all of the core courses on
business analysis.
Prerequisites
None
B2T S P E C I A L I S E D C O U R S E
Business Analysis Essentials for Project
Managers
Overview
The best way to guarantee success of any type of project is to have a strong, experienced
Project Manager and a strong, experienced Business Analyst. These two individuals,
working together from the beginning of the project, set the stage for success by
accurately planning and clearly defining the expected outcomes. Both roles are
necessary because they are each responsible for a different set of tasks and they each
possess a set of skills that complement each other. The two roles are closely tied, but
exactly what are the similarities and differences, and why does a project need both?
This course discusses the role of Business Analysts and the business analysis skills that a
Project Manager should also possess. The business analysis skill set includes critical
thinking skills, elicitation techniques and requirements analysis and management.
Experienced project managers may already possess some of these skills, but may apply
them differently than BAs. Understanding the complexity of the business analysis role
will allow the PM and BA to work seamlessly and increase the project efficiency.
Scoping is one of the most critical areas on which the PM and BA should work together.
In addition to the project scope, as defined in the PMBOK™, the BA is responsible for
defining the scope of business analysis. When these two components of scope are
combined they define the entire boundary of the project. In this course, Project
Managers will learn how Business Analysts define the scope of the area for which they
will be performing analysis. This is just one example of a task with separate roles for the
PM and BA. Understanding their unique roles is critical to project success.
In this course students will:
• Learn to analyse and scope the area of analysis to clarify the level and complexity of
the business analysis effort needed for the project
• Learn what is an excellent requirement and the difference between business and
functional requirements
• Learn the five core components necessary to analyse a business area
• Be introduced to the most commonly used analysis techniques
• Discuss alternatives for traceability of requirements
• Plan an approach for analysing, categorising, and managing requirements.
Determine the level of formality required and consider options for documenting and
packaging requirements based on project type, priorities, and risks
• Identify techniques and documentation options appropriate for the various software
development approaches and project types (COTS, maintenance, business process
improvement, new development, etc.)
• Understand how validating requirements impacts the project and the components of
software testing
• Review business analysis requirements to improve the quality of your deliverables
3 DAYS
3 DAYS

Course Outline
 What is business analysis?
 Review the major tasks performed by a
business analyst.
 Define the essential skills needed to
perform these tasks.
Project Participants and their Roles – 1 hr.
 Identify typical project stakeholders and
their roles.
 Discuss how the business analyst interacts
with these participants.
Scoping the Project from the Business
Analyst's Perspective – 4.5 hrs.
 Understand why the project is being
done. Without this understanding it will
be difficult for business analysts to elicit
and document the right requirements
and focus their business analysis work in
the appropriate areas. Get an
introduction to Enterprise Analysis.
 Understand the organisational
environment. Identify the business
stakeholders who will be involved in the
project and how they will impact business
analysis.
 Learn to ask probing questions about the
requirements scope and facilitate a
discussion with project stakeholders using
visual representations of the requirements
boundaries.
 Learn the context level dataflow diagram
technique to identify and scope "what is"
and, more importantly, "what is not" to be
analysed. Analyse interfaces with people,
other organisations, existing systems, and
other software applications.
 Discuss how a business analyst should
collect, organise, and maintain
requirements for efficient analysis and
reuse on future projects.
 Workshop - Scope the class case study
project.
Defining and Detailing Requirements – 4 hrs.
 What is a requirement? Why is it important
to elicit and document requirements? What
are the criteria used to judge the quality of
"excellent” requirements?
 Learn how software developers use
requirements.
 Understand the difference between
analysis of the business and design of the
solutions or "business" vs. "technological"
requirements. Why is it necessary to
understand the business problem before
deciding on a solution?
 Learn the 5 core requirement components,
what they describe, and why they are
important.
 Entity
 Attribute
 Process (Use Case)
 External Agent (actor)
 Business Rule
Requirements Analysis Techniques – 5 hrs.
 Learn the recommended approach to
categorising requirements. Why should
requirements be categorised? Who uses
each category? Why is it difficult to create
distinct categories?
 Business Requirements
 Functional Requirements
 Technical Requirements
 Learn the concept of traceability of
requirements.
 Discuss the most commonly used analysis
techniques to organise and refine
requirements. Business analysts should
have expertise in many analysis techniques
to be able to adapt to different types of
projects and businesses.
 Structured textual templates (process
descriptions, data descriptions, business
rules, use cases)
 Entity relationship diagram
 Decomposition diagram
 User stories, use case diagram and use
case descriptions
 Workflow diagram (UML, BPMN, ANSI,
swim lane)
 Prototyping
 Consider options and level of formality for
packaging requirements and choosing the
appropriate documentation techniques for
each project.
 Review currently available software tools
that can be used for requirements
management.
 Workshop – Put into practice several of the
analysis techniques on the course case
study requirements.
Conducting a Requirements Review – 2 hrs.
 Learn how to conduct a requirements
review: Who should participate? What are
the required steps? How is a session
conducted? What are the common
challenges?
 Workshop - Review a sample requirements
package.
 Identify missing or incomplete
requirements.
 Identify potential test cases.
 Document issues and develop an
approach for going forward.
Validate the Requirements – 2 hrs.
 Understand the role of business analysis in
validating requirements and software
testing.
 Introduction to software testing: Why is
testing important? What is the business
analyst's role in testing? What is the
primary objective of testing? What are the
phases and types of testing?
 Learn to verify that the business
requirements are complete by identifying
test cases.
 Practice identifying test cases and refining
requirements based on quality assurance
principles.
Course Summary – 1.5 hrs.
 Review business analysis tasks and skills.
 Workshop – Draft an initial Business
Analysis Communications Plan for a CRM
project.
the student’s current project.
Appendix - Overview of Application
Development Processes and Standards –
Optional – as time allows
 Discuss various methodologies for
application development.
 Learn which models are used in each
approach:
 Waterfall
 Information Engineering
 IDEF
 RAD
 Iterative/Agile
 BPMN
 Object Oriented - UML
 Spiral/RUP
.

Copyright 2011 | IndigoCube (Pty) Ltd | www.indigocube.co.za P a g e | 25
Intended Audience
This seminar is a management
overview of business analysis for
managers, supervisors, and
project managers who work with
business analysts.
Prerequisites
None
Intended Audience
software developers, software
architects, or any other project
team member who will be using
requirements documents for
their development work. It is
useful for both new developers
and experienced developers.
Developers will learn how
business analysts elicit, analyse,
and document requirements.
Prerequisites
None
B2T S P E C I A L I S E D C O U R S E S
Overview of Business Analysis
This seminar presents the business analyst role to managers and others who lead and
work with business analysts. For the business analyst to be successful, both the IT and
business community must embrace the business analysis process. This seminar can be
used as a working session to discuss how an organisation will implement the business
analysis process and approaches for documenting the requirements.
Both large and small organisations are realising the benefits of using business analysts on
all of their application development projects. Improving the communication between the
business areas and the IT team significantly increases the quality of the systems
developed.
A business analyst’s main responsibility is to elicit, analyse, and document requirements
in a format that is useful to their business stakeholders and the technical developers.
Analysis is a very important and time-consuming phase of every project. Business
analysts need strong leadership as they elicit and document requirements that are often
unclear, inconsistent, and expensive. Business analysts work most effectively when they
have clear direction and frequent reviews of progress.
Developer’s Introduction to Business
Analysis
This class provides an overview of the business analyst role and a detailed review of the
Requirements Document provided to the development team. To ensure an integrated
team, IT developers need to understand the role of the business analyst.
They should also be familiar with the requirements that business analysts are eliciting
and documenting. This includes understanding categories of requirements, the core
requirement components, and the documentation formats used for each type of
requirement. IT team members must also understand the testing life cycle and the
personnel involved. This course gives students an overview of the role of the business
analyst, requirements documentation, and software testing.
½ DAY
1 DAY

Intended Audience
This is a basic course for:
• Process engineers
• Technical managers
• Project leads
• Analysts and designers
• Software architects and
engineers
• Configuration management
personnel
• Testing and quality-assurance
personnel
• Individuals who need an
overview of the RUP
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of software
development
IBM P R A C T I T I O N E R C O U R S E
Essentials of Rational Unified Process V7.0
Course Description
Explore this introductory course to the Rational Unified Process (RUP). RUP is a
knowledge base, containing software engineering practices that represent many of the
best practices observed in a successful software development. Get an introduction to
iterative development and to the organisation and content of this knowledge base.
Emphasise the main principles of iterative software development: phases and their
objectives and the mitigation of risks. Also, gets an introduction to RUP tailoring choices.
Skills Taught
Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to:
 Understand the Key Principles of Business-Driven Development
 Be familiar with the guidance RUP provides for iterative development
 Be familiar with the structure and navigation facilities of RUP
 Be introduced to the content of RUP and its application
 Be introduced to RUP tailoring and implementation choices
 Have simulated the use of RUP on a project
Topics Covered
 An Introduction to RUP and the Key Principles of Business-Driven Development
 RUP Structure and Navigation
 Iterative Development
 RUP Content
 Tailoring RUP
 RUP Project Simulation
2 DAYS

Intended Audience
This is a basic course for team
members who are involved in
writing use cases
Prerequisites
None
Writing Good Use Cases
Course Description
This course is designed to systematically build student skills in writing good use cases.
After taking the course, students will be able to define use-case modeling concepts, and
apply different writing techniques to write a detailed use case using the recommended
Rational Unified Process (RUP) style.
Note: This course does not teach requirements management using the RUP. To learn how
to manage requirements using the RUP and to write use cases, enrol in Mastering
Requirements Management with Use Cases.
Skills Taught
 Define key use case related terms
 Describe the use case writing process
 Write a detailed use-case specification
Topics Covered
 Introduction to use-case modeling
 Use cases and the requirements management process
 The use-case writing process
 Finding actors and use cases
 Creating use-case diagrams
 Outlining a use case
 Detailing a use case
 Use case writing tips
1 DAY

Intended Audience
The course serves two
audiences. The primary audience
is people who will be actively
engaged in the elicitation and
definition of software
requirements. This includes
systems analysts, requirements
analysts, and business analysts.
The secondary audience would
be interested in taking this class
because they are consumers of
the software requirements and
need to under-stand how to
read, verify, interpret and plan
with the software requirements
of the system. This group
includes project managers,
software analysts and designers,
QA designers and testers, and
customers and users.
Prerequisites
Students should have an
understanding of:
 Project management
practices
 The software development
lifecycle
Mastering Requirements Management
with Use Cases
Course Description
Mastering Requirements Management with Use Cases provides training in requirements
management and use-case modeling techniques. The course focuses on eliciting and
managing the changing requirements of a project; analysing the problem, defining the
product vision and feature requirements, defining software requirements with use cases,
and requirement attributes, and maintaining traceability, change management, and
impact analysis for project scope management. The course shows how use-case
modeling and requirements management techniques are used to define and document
requirements that meet stakeholder needs. In-class exercises will give students practical
experience in developing use cases.
Skills Taught
 Apply requirements management techniques to define a clear statement of
product requirements.
 Capture and document requirements with use-case modeling techniques.
 Develop requirements in an iterative process.
 Describe a documentation hierarchy and standards for defining levels of
requirements for a product.
 Use requirement attributes and traceability to help manage scope and change
throughout product lifecycle.
 Use requirements to drive ongoing design, test, and user documentation activities
Topics Covered
Best Practices of Software Engineering
Introduction to Mastering Requirements Management with Use Cases
Introduction to Use-Case Modeling
 Analyse the Problem
o Find the root causes of the problem
o Identify the best solution to solve the business problem
 Understand Stakeholder Needs
o Define the System
 Define product features
 Find Actors and Use Cases
 Manage System Scope
o Use requirements attributes to plan and manage scope
o Refine the System Definition
 Detail the Use Cases
 Define Supplementary Specifications
o Manage Changing Requirements
o Structure the Use-Case Model
 Include, extend, use-case, and actor generalisation
 Requirements across the Product Lifecycle
3 DAYS

Intended Audience
Analysts, designers, and
software developers, and other
practitioners, who desire an
understanding of object-
oriented analysis and design
concepts and hands-on practical
experience applying the
techniques within a use-case-
driven, architecture-centric, and
iterative development process
Note: You should be currently
involved in analysis and design
work or in developing analysis
and design models using UML
Prerequisites
Understanding of the SDLC
Mastering Object-Oriented Analysis and
Design with UML 2.0
Course Description
Mastering Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Unified Modeling Language
(OOAD/UML) 2.0 presents the concepts and techniques necessary to effectively use OO
technology and UML through the project life-cycle from understanding the business ‘as
is’ process, to the ‘to be’ process to capture and communicate analysis and design
decisions. System requirements are captured in use cases to drive the development from
an analysis model to a robust design model. In this intensive hands-on workshop, learn
to apply UML 2.0 notation to fundamental OOAD concepts, including objects, classes,
components, subsystems, stereotypes, relationships, and supporting diagrams.
Use UML throughout the project life-cycle to capture and communicate analysis and
design decisions. Thus, you learn UML 2.0 notation in the context of an iterative, use
case-driven, architecture-centric process.
Note: There is no visual modeling toolset training incorporated into this methodology
course.
Skills Taught
 Apply the OO concepts of abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance and
polymorphism
 Use UML 2.0 to represent the full SDLC from business process to analysis to design
Topics Covered
 Principles and benefits of modeling
 Concepts of object orientation
 Business process modeling as a precursor to system development
 Requirements overview
 Analysis and design overview
 Use-case analysis
 Identify analysis elements
 Identify design elements
 Identify design mechanisms
 Describe the run-time architecture
 Describe distribution
 Use-case design
 Class design
 OO to RDBMS Database design (optional)
4 DAYS

Prerequisites for
CCBA/CBAP
Individuals must meet the
IIBA’s application
requirements to sit for the
CCBA /CBAP exams
including work
experience, areas of
expertise, education and
professional development,
and references. See the
requirements listed on the
IIBA website at
www.theiiba.org for
details.
B A B O K / C C B A / C B A P
BABOK®
The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge
®
(BABOK
®
) is the collection of knowledge
within the profession of Business Analysis and reflects current generally accepted
practices. As with other professions, the body of knowledge is defined and
enhanced by the Business Analysis professionals who apply it in their daily work
role.
The BABOK
®
Guide describes Business Analysis areas of knowledge, their associated
activities and the tasks and skills necessary to be effective in their execution. This
Guide is a reference for professional knowledge for Business Analysis and provides
the basis for the Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP
®
) Certification.
CCBA™ and CBAP® Certifications
The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA
®
) is dedicated to the
development and maintenance of standards for the practice of Business Analysis,
and for the certification and recognition of practitioners. It is the first organisation
to offer formal certification for Business Analysis Professionals.
The IIBA
®
has created the Certification of Competency in Business Analysis (CCBA™)
and the Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP
®
), designations awarded to
candidates who have successfully demonstrated their expertise in this field. This is
done by detailing hands-on work experience in business analysis through the
application process, and passing the relevant IIBA
®
examination.
For more information on B2T Training’s IIBA® CBAP® Prep Study Guide, go to
www.b2ttraining.com.
Certified Business Analysis Professionals are experts in identifying the business
needs of an organisation in order to determine the best solutions, a role that is
increasingly seen as a vital component of any successful project. More and more
companies are recognising the CBAP
®
designation and the value and expertise that
these professionals bring to their organisations.
If you are working in the role of business analysis, systems analysis, requirements
analysis or management, project management, consulting or process improvement,
and have an advanced level of knowledge and experience, you may want to consider
the many professional benefits of earning the CBAP
®
designation
Requirements Template Roadmap
Each project that a business analyst works on is unique
and may require different combinations of
requirements components. Templates provide
a checklist for planning requirements
work. The Requirements Template
Roadmap helps the business
analyst choose appropriate
templates to use for each project.
To assist business analysts in
documenting requirements,
we offer a Requirements
Package Template that is available
on the “Downloads” section of our
website.
The templates in this package
provide business analysts with a structured format for
eliciting and
documenting requirements. Standard, re-usable
templates allow for faster and easier requirements
review and approval.
The Requirements Template Roadmap may be used as
a companion to B2T Training’s Requirements Package
Template. This “Roadmap” serves as a reference tool
for business analysts when completing the
requirements package based upon the templates.
Using this Roadmap as a guideline or “map” for the
requirements templates will help
business analysts determine
what to include in a
requirements package, who
should prepare package,
who should prepare
requirements components should
be prepared. Additionally, the Roadmap provides
examples of complete requirements templates.
The Requirements Template Roadmap is available
for purchase from IndigoCube.
Contact: info@indigocube.co.za
*Students who attend the Essential Skills for
Business Analysis™ course will receive a free copy

Developing the skills of an individual Business Analyst is no simple task. An
ideal Business Analyst has to have the right aptitude (inborn ability) and the
acceptable skill levels for the relevant methodology and techniques used by
an organisation.
Most Business Analysts will have different skills and abilities while the
relevant skills they require might differ from one organisation to the next.
Any attempt to improve skills levels to a common level will require some
insight into the existing abilities, skills levels and imbalances.
In response, IndigoCube has developed one of the most comprehensive
individual assessments to address these challenges.
Our assessment consists of several modules that allow tailoring to the specific skills requirements of the organisation
before it is executed. We use the output from the individual assessment to tailor training and skills development
initiatives for the organisation, as well as for the individual.
What are we testing?
This assessment focuses on two critical components
required of a Business Analyst: aptitude and skill.
The aptitude test determines how closely a person
matches the ideal profile of a Business Analyst. A
person may undergo ongoing training but, if they don’t
have the required aptitude, performance may be
insufficient.
The skills assessment is a practical test that questions the
Business Analyst within all the Knowledge Areas of the
BABOK (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge) and on
specific methodologies and techniques.
 Enterprise Analysis
 Requirements Planning and Management
 Requirements Elicitation
 Requirements Communication
 Requirements Analysis and Documentation
 Solution Assessment and Validation
 Business Analysis Fundamentals
How do we test?
Aptitude test
We make use of the Neethling Brain Instrument (NBITM
).
By using the NBITM
we are able to map a
person’s profile and then compare that to the ideal. This
not only allows us to determine the suitability of the
individual to do Business Analysis but also to identify
areas where training and skills development need to
receive more attention.
Skills assessment
The skills assessment is done using a structured
questionnaire that contains four sections:
Section 1: A multiple-choice section that tests the
individual’s understanding of the Business
Analyst’s role.
Section 2: A case study that tests the individual’s
analytical skills.
Section 3: Scenario-based questions that test the
individual’s ability to use specific Business
Analysis techniques which are relevant to the
organisation.
What is the output?
After completion of the assessment, a report is
compiled that will indicate the following:
1. The suitability of the individual in the role as a
Business Analyst.
2. Confirmation of the individual’s skills levels.
3. Training recommendations specific to the individual.
Assessing the skills of the Business Analysts
in your organisation

B A B A O K A L I G N M E N T
IIBA Business Analysis Body of Knowledge®
and IndigoCube Courses
IndigoCube’s programme is a comprehensive programme that aligns with all areas of the BABOK. The BABOK is a collection of
business analysis tasks categorised into like groupings called knowledge areas. The BABOK is not a methodology and does not
infer any particular order of performing the activities. IndigoCube’s programme is taught in a series of courses that reflect the
order of work and iterative nature of business analysis. This chart illustrates the alignment between the current version of the
BABOK and IndigoCube training courses.

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