Business Analyst

This course is designed to give people new to the business analyst role or those who supervise business analysts a basic understanding of the functions and business impact of this role. The course provides a special focus on business analysis functions as they relate to the development of information technology solutions and the business analysis project life cycle. Course topics include the role of the business analyst, gathering and documenting user requirements, modeling the business, business case analysis, process modeling, quality management and testing.

Project management has been proven to be the most effective method of delivering products within cost, schedule, and resource constraints. This intensive and hands-on course gives you the skills to ensure your projects are completed on time and on budget while giving the user the product they expect. You will gain a strong working knowledge of the basics of project management and be able to immediately use that knowledge to effectively manage work projects. In addition, this course will cover whom to plan for and deliver appropriate and timely communication to effectively manage multiple stakeholders, task and project prioritization and grouping and efficient resource allocation using the theory of constraints. These topics focus on selecting the most effective strategies and responses whether multiple small independent projects, portfolios, or large programs are encountered.

This course focuses on the analysis and documentation of requirements and the role of the business analyst. Topics include: capturing requirements in a business requirements document; project vision and scope; identifying users; types of requirements; elicitation techniques (context diagram, concept of operations etc); structuring end user requirements; and documenting user requirements.

Communication skills are essential in all organizational roles. The business analyst role requires additional skills and expertise in communicating technical concepts to others from different professional groups, hierarchical positions, or internal departments. Topics include: advocating ideas upward through more effective issue analysis and argument selection; creating compelling briefings and technical presentations; organizing thoughts and ideas for effecting technical presentations; getting people to feel urgency and make decisions and separating a "real" opportunity from a "resource drain". Course includes role-plays, activities and interactive discussions.

This course focuses on testing and test plans, and on differentiating the roles of verification and validation in achieving quality. Verification and validation are the backbone of test plans. Tasks include: reviews, inspections, testing, defect reporting, and user acceptance testing. Participants develop a test plan and write and review test cases at the business level.

An important goal for most organizations is to automate business processes by implementing IT solutions. One important role of the business analyst is to work with both management and IT staff members in developing these solutions. Consequently, business analysts must have a thorough understanding of what the technology can do and what kinds of problems it can solve. This course provides an overview of various elements of IT technology to the degree needed by business analysts to carry out their jobs. Topics include fundamental computer concepts, networks and communications, operating systems, relational databases, the Internet and World Wide Web, software programming concepts, developing and implementing IT solutions for supply chain management, enterprise resource planning, and customer relationship management, and evaluating commercially available software solutions.

This course provides an overview of systems analysis with an emphasis on the systems approach in developing computer solutions to meet the business needs of an organization. Topics include the design life cycle, performing requirements analyses, integrating separate parts into a system, and understanding how technology solutions support business activities. The course emphasizes examples and case studies focusing on the design, development, and deployment of business solutions employing computer systems.

Learn how to use the Unified Modeling Language (UML), an important aid to software development with an object-oriented programming language. This course, of interest to managers and QA engineers as well as to students and users of object-oriented languages such as C++ and Java, focuses on the use of UML to specify, visualize, construct, and document the artifacts of software systems and business models. The ability to work with UML is especially important for individuals responsible for the analysis and design of object-oriented systems. Students learn the fundamental concepts of UML (based on the work of Booch, Jacobson, and Rumbaugh) and how the UML notation is used to represent business systems. Students also have an opportunity to apply what they learn in a series of laboratory exercises using a graphical design tool. Topics in this course include use-case diagrams, sequence diagrams, class diagrams, collaboration diagrams, statechart diagrams, activity diagrams, and implementation diagrams. This course serves as excellent preparation for further study in object-oriented analysis, design, and programming.

This course provides instruction in the theory and practice of professional writing in business and industry. The course provides comprehensive definition of technical writing, and covers the writer's role in corporate and institutional structures, audience analysis, the publication process, document design, and the problems of standards, styles, and format in technical publications, such as manuals, style guidelines, proposals, and reports, presentations and websites.

The success of projects is dependant upon people and how effectively they work and communicate with one another. You will reflect upon your role as a manager/ leader within a project management framework. Explore concepts of human behavior, motivation, problem solving, decision-making, influence, conflict management, and organization structure. Build skills in recognizing and managing project stakeholders, communications, team development, and working with virtual team members, via presentations, case studies, readings, essays, and discussions.

This course provides a conceptual framework for approaching problem solving and decision-making situations with clarity and confidence. Participants build competence in making effective decisions based on the accurate assessment of the problem and preparing creative alternative solutions. Students learn how to use analysis, synthesis, and positive inquiry to approach individual and organizational problems, develop and evaluate objectives, and assess likely consequences. Using case studies and on-the-job situations encountered by the class, students explore successful models and proven methods that are readily transferable to their own situations.

Learn how the structured approach of business process improvement (BPI) can be performed at all levels in an organization. Through a series of training activities, you will learn how to select, design, sell, implement, and institutionalize the changes necessary for effective BPI. Determine the process flow of a project, evaluate ineffective use of time, and change the process for improved effectiveness. In addition, collaborate on a class project that will allow for application of techniques to organization's processes and procedures.

Learn how to use Agile principles and methods of development and project management to promote team work, accountability, best practices to deliver quality software that is aligned with customer needs and your companies goals. The course is of interest to developers, project managers, business analysts, QA engineers, product managers as well as all managers involved in the software development process. The ability to incorporate Agile processes and methods is important in driving faster value of development effort as measured by working code. Students will learn the motivation behind the Agile movement as well as its methods such as Extreme Programming and Scrum. Students also have an opportunity to apply what they learn in a series of forum discussions and shared experiences. Methods in this course include, Extreme Programming (XP), Scrum, DSDM and Feature Driven Development. Practices covered in the course include, Test Driven Development, Behavior Driven Development and Pair Programming. This course serves as excellent preparation for further detail study in Agile methods and practices.

If you manage IT projects for your company and want to learn how get development done fast, this course is for you! Agile software development refers to a family of methodologies for delivering high-quality software on time, with few bugs, a high level of predictability, and at low cost. Though this course will examine several Agile methodologies, it will concentrate on Extreme Programming (XP) in particular. You'll learn about several support applications for Agile development and XP including the NAnt build tool, the NUnit testing tool, the NDoc document generator, and Microsoft's Visual SourceSafe version control application.