Business Analysis Professional Certificate

Projects are the lifeblood of any organisation and are executed based on a set of accurate business requirements. Get the requirements right, and you’re on your way to success. Get them wrong, and failure is almost guaranteed.

ESI's Business Analysis Professional Certificate, consisting of 6 different courses, provides all the skills needed for the Business Analyst. The programme is an excellent way to prepare to take IIBA's Certification Exam to become a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP™).

Introduction to Business Analysis

This introductory course is designed to give people new to the business analyst role or those who supervise and/or work with business analysts a basic understanding of the benefits, functions and impact of this critical position.

How to Gather and Document User Requirements

This "how-to" course introduces the roles of the business analyst as they relate to the analysis and documentation of requirements. It familiarises participants with core knowledge and skills required to analyse and document user requirements. It also identifies how these requirements are defined and managed throughout the life cycle.

Logical Data and Process Modelling

This course provides techniques for effectively analysing and modelling any area of your business and creating logical data and process models that show how data flows and work progresses. The approaches taught in this class are designed to focus the attention on the important requirements of the business that are discovered through significant user involvement during the analysis phase.

Process Modelling Management

This highly interactive course provides participants the opportunity to perform the four phases of a process improvement project – define, analyse, implement and control – which have been derived from the leading process improvement models in the industry. The key deliverables and outputs for the business analyst are emphasised during each phase, as well as the importance of tying all outputs back to the business strategy.

Use Case Modelling for Business Analysis

This course frames the process of discovering use cases, beginning with finding the actors, the scope and the various relationships between them. It gives you access to the resourceful nature of the use case by focusing on users’ needs and how the system will help satisfy those needs, at the same time providing traceability from requirements to specifications to the product.

Introduction to Testing

In this course, participants will learn to use test plans effectively, with a focus on differentiating the roles of verification and validation in achieving quality. Verification and validation comprise the backbone of test plans. The tasks involved are critical, in particular reviews, inspections, testing and demonstrations—all of which are covered in this course. Participants will help develop a test plan and write and review test cases at the business level.

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The Role of the Business Analyst

Very simply put, a business analyst gathers requirements from a business area and presents them in ways that are understandable, and actionable, by the organisation.

As such, the business analyst works as an integral member of the project team to:

• Define the project’s scope
• Gather and document requirements
• Communicate the requirements
• Identify the solution
• Manage change requests
• Verify that the business requirements have been met

The business analyst’s sole responsibility is to understand the business and develop a solution for the business user.

It sounds relatively straightforward, but nothing could be further from the truth. Study after study detailing why projects fail invariably point to poor, undocumented or misunderstood requirements.

Business analysis is a difficult job, one that requires considerable diplomatic skill, business savvy and technical background. It’s a profession that is emerging as one of the most critical on the project team, and one that has its own competency model and identified set of skills.

Expert Business Analysis Training

ESI takes business analysis training seriously. We have spent years analysing the emerging role of the business analyst and have developed a comprehensive, skills-based curriculum geared to this exciting and evolving profession.

Our academic partner, The George Washington University, has endorsed this curriculum by awarding a Professional Certificate in Business Analysis, and ESI has taken the additional step of conferring the prestigious Certified Business Analyst (CBA) credential to those who complete the program.

If you’re looking to raise the level of your game, to provide more value to your organisation, to learn a lifelong skill and to ensure your career survival, our Business Analysis Professional Development Program is your next step. Remember, even though jobs may come and go and certifications get hot and cold, the need for professionals with deep business knowledge will always be in demand.

Prepare for the future with skills that will almost never be outsourced or offshored—business analysis, skills for a lifetime.