It has often been said that “to fail to plan is to plan to fail”. The same is true with business analysis work: a lack of planning can lead to a sense of stagnation and frustration. Without a clear direction it is difficult to know what to do next… Our Business Analysis Planning & Monitoring Course can help!
This practical and hands-on training course examines how to plan and monitor work as a Business Analyst. It is fully aligned with IIBA®’s Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) Guide, drawing on key techniques that will be of use to both senior and new BAs. For senior BAs, it may ‘formalise’ knowledge and experience that they have learned on the job, while newer BAs will find that it equips them with a toolbox to utilise on their project engagements.
The course focuses on planning as an ongoing activity throughout the change lifecycle. Planning is far more than just scheduling: it also includes deciding on a business analysis approach and narrowing down the techniques that will be used and the artefacts that will be produced.
Course Duration: 1 Day
Learning Objectives
Candidates that successfully undertake this course will:
- Understand the types of planning that a business analyst would typically undertake
- Be able to put together a lightweight business analysis approach/plan for an initiative
- Understand a range of estimation approaches and techniques
- Understand that in many contexts it’s important to undertake ‘just enough’ planning, and that it is rarely possible to achieve complete certainty
- Be able to plan using a relevant prioritisation framework (MoSCoW) on requirements or stories
- Know how to plan for validation of requirements artefacts
- Understand the importance of managing requirements, and deciding which requirements attributes to capture
- Understand the importance of monitoring against a plan, adapting and improving as things change
Video Overview
Course Contents
| 1. Introduction |
| What is ‘planning and monitoring’: Overview of why planning is necessary, some of the challenges that it can bring, and an overview of the IIBA BABOK knowledge area |
| 2. Planning The Business Analysis Approach |
| Creating an initial BA approach/plan: ✔ Discussion of the differences in predictive (waterfall) and adaptive (agile) contexts ✔ Determining what deliverables to produce, and at what level of formality ✔ Identifying which techniques to use ✔ Overview of a range of estimation techniques ✔ Overview of what a BA approach/plan might look like in different circumstances |
| 3. Planning Stakeholder Engagement |
| Understanding Stakeholders: ✔ Overview of a stakeholder categorisation technique ✔ Discussion on how to assess stakeholder communication needs ✔ Practical tips for planning collaboration with stakeholders |
| 4. Business Analysis Governance & Information Management |
| Prioritisation and Decision Making: ✔ Overview of the MoSCoW prioritisation framework ✔ Brief overview of typical change control processes in adaptive and predictive contexts ✔ Planning for validation (sign off) of requirements artefacts ✔ Planning for requirements reuse ✔ Deciding which requirements attributes to capture |
| 5. Monitoring, Reporting & Improving BA Work |
| Assessing Performance: ✔ Tracking progress against plan ✔ Identifying opportunities for improvement |
Course Endorsement
This course is endorsed by IIBA®.
Next Steps
Want to run the course for your team?
For more information and to book this course for your organisation please contact us: