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Duration 3 Days 18 CPD hours This course is intended for This course is intended for beginner to intermediate business and requirements analysts who are looking to improve their elicitation and requirements writing and documentation skills. This course is also a great fit for technical writers, product and software testers, project managers, product owners who work closely with business analysts or who perform some for of business analysis themselves. Overview Understand the role of the business analyst and core competencies for performing successfully Discuss the criticality of business analysis and requirements for successful project outcomes Understand the main professional associations and standards supporting business analysts in the industry Discuss the common problems with requirements and explore approaches to address these issues Obtain a clear understanding of the various requirements types and the significance for eliciting each type Demonstrate your ability to identify stakeholders Explore various methods for understanding and analyzing stakeholders Discuss and apply good planning practices to requirements elicitation efforts Obtain knowledge and understanding of over 15 current and commonly applied elicitation techniques Understand how to progress from elicitation to analysis to documentation Write well-formed and validated requirements Gain understanding of the best practices for writing quality requirements Learn the technical writing techniques that apply directly to writing requirements documents Discuss writing pitfalls, risks that impact requirements, and how to address them Learn best practices for communicating and collaborating with stakeholders, sharing the results of elicitation and the resulting documentation Learn approaches for validating requirements Understand the difference between validating requirements and validating the solution With elicitation serving as a major component of the requirements process, it is imperative that business analysts maintain high competency levels in elicitation practices and technique use to help organizations overcome the requirements related challenges faced on projects. Regardless whether you are a practitioner just starting off your career in business analysis or whether you have been performing the role for some years, this course will provide insight into the latest thoughts on elicitation and writing effective requirements and present a number of current techniques that are being applied on projects across industries today. Review of Foundational Concepts Definition of a business analysis Definition of business analyst BA role vs. PM role Business analysis competencies Benefits of business analysis Purpose for having a BA standard IIBA?s BABOK© Guide and PMI?s Practice Guide in Business Analysis Business analysis core concepts Discussion: Project challenges Understanding Requirements Common problems with requirements Understand the problem first Define the business need Situation statements and moving to requirements Understanding requirement types Business requirements Stakeholder/User Requirements Solution Requirements Functional Requirements Non-Functional Requirements Assumptions and Constraints Discussions: Requirement problems, business needs, and identifying non-functional requirements Discovering Stakeholders Definition of a stakeholder Stakeholder types Identifying stakeholders Performing stakeholder analysis Stakeholders and requirements Tips for identifying stakeholders Grouping stakeholders Creating a RACI model Tips for analyzing stakeholders Documenting results of stakeholder analysis Workshop: Discovering stakeholders Preparing for Requirements Elicitation Planning for elicitation Benefits of elicitation planning What do you plan? The elicitation plan Setting objectives for elicitation Determining the scope for elicitation Establishing pre-work Determining the outputs for the session The iterative nature of elicitation Elicitation roles Elicitation planning techniques Discussions: Who to involve in elicitation, planning impacts, and unplanned elicitation Workshop: Planning for elicitation Conduct Requirements Elicitation Elicitation skillset Types of elicitation techniques Using active listening in elicitation Techniques for performing elicitation Benchmarking/Market Analysis Brainstorming Business Rules Analysis Collaborative Games Concept Modeling Data Mining Data Modeling Document Analysis Focus Groups Interface Analysis Interviews Observation Process Modeling Prototyping Survey or Questionnaire Workshops Write Effective Requirements Elicitation and Analysis Requirements related issues Implications of bad requirements Elicitation and documentation Writing skillset Documenting requirements Modeling requirements Defining the project life cycle Impact of project life cycle on documentation Requirements specifications Characteristics of good requirements Guidelines for writing textual requirements Structuring a requirement Writing pitfalls Traceability Requirements attributes Risks associated to requirements Discussions: Project Life Cycle and Correcting Poorly Written Requirements Workshops: Documenting Requirements and Identify Characteristics of Good Requirements Confirm and Communicate Elicitation Requirements Business analysis communication Requirements communication Communication skills The 7 Cs Timing of communication Planning communication Importance of Collaboration Planning collaboration Documenting communication/collaboration needs Confirming elicitation results Verify requirements Characteristics of good requirements (revisited) Requirements checklist Requirements validation Signing off on requirements Discussions: Responsibility for Communication, Eliciting Communication Needs, Validation Signoff Workshops: Communicating Requirements and Obtaining Signoff Evaluate the Solution Business analyst role in solution evaluation Why solutions under perform What we are looking for in solution evaluation When does solution evaluation occur Performing solution evaluation Planning solution evaluation Metrics that might exist Evaluating long term performance Qualitative vs. quantitative measures Tools & techniques used in solution evaluation Comparing expected to actuals When solution evaluation discovers a variance Tools/techniques for analyzing variances Proposing a recommendation Communicating results of solution evaluation Discussion: Addressing Variance Wrap up and Next Steps Useful books and links on writing effective requirements BABOK© Guide Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide Additional course details: Nexus Humans BA04 - Eliciting and Writing Effective Requirements training program is a workshop that presents an invigorating mix of sessions, lessons, and masterclasses meticulously crafted to propel your learning expedition forward. This immersive bootcamp-style experience boasts interactive lectures, hands-on labs, and collaborative hackathons, all strategically designed to fortify fundamental concepts. Guided by seasoned coaches, each session offers priceless insights and practical skills crucial for honing your expertise. Whether you're stepping into the realm of professional skills or a seasoned professional, this comprehensive course ensures you're equipped with the knowledge and prowess necessary for success. While we feel this is the best course for the BA04 - Eliciting and Writing Effective Requirements course and one of our Top 10 we encourage you to read the course outline to make sure it is the right content for you. Additionally, private sessions, closed classes or dedicated events are available both live online and at our training centres in Dublin and London, as well as at your offices anywhere in the UK, Ireland or across EMEA.
Microsoft® Project Orange Belt 2016: On-Demand This workshop gives participants a full insight into creating effective schedules using Microsoft® Project 2016. Gain knowledge of how to estimate, coordinate, budget, staff, and control projects and support other users, and an understanding of where Project 2016 fits in the Microsoft® EPM solution. Course content is kept up to date with the framework of knowledge outlined by the Project Management Institute (PMI)® A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) and the Practice Standard for Scheduling. What You Will Learn By attending this course, you will learn how to use Microsoft Project 2016 to: Initialize project planning Create a well-formed project schedule Understand task types and the schedule formula Assign resources and costs to tasks Analyze resource utilization and optimize the schedule Set a baseline and track progress Create and manage project reports Customize views and fields Apply Earned Value Management Understand the basics of managing multiple projects Updating the Schedule Optimizing the Schedule Entering Assignments Entering Resources and Costs Entering Deadlines, Constraints, and Task Calendars Entering Dependencies Getting Started Concepts of Project Management Getting Started with Project 2016 Entering Tasks Entering Estimates Reporting Earned Value Management (EVM) Evaluating the Project Summary and Next steps
Agile Release Plans: Virtual In-House Training While many Agile frameworks provide guidance on a focus on value and iterative development, many do not explain how that value is delivered to the customer. Release Plans have become an accepted and common practice to bridge the gap between the Product Vision and the Product Backlog (Agile requirements). In this course, you will be provided with an introduction to Agile and to Scrum, the most utilized Agile framework. You will also learn how the Vision, Roadmap, and Charter help to establish the Release Plan. The goal of this course is to equip you with the necessary knowledge, skills, and techniques to build Release Plans to ensure you deliver the most value to your customers. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Recall the Scrum framework elements (roles, events, and artifacts) Examine the benefits of Agile Develop a Product Vision and Roadmap Create an Agile Project Charter Prepare a Release Plan Write user stories to support a Product Backlog Foundation Concepts Introduction to Scrum Scrum Overview Agile Benefits Product Definition Business Goals Product Vision Product Roadmap Agile Project Charter Product Scope Project Risks Release Deadlines Sprint Durations Team Norms Release Planning Release Plan Process Select Stories and a Release Date Product Backlog User stories Building the product backlog Product Backlog Refinement Transitioning to the Scrum Team
Effecting Business Process Improvement: Virtual In-House Training Business analysts facilitate the solution of business problems. The solutions are put into practice as changes to the way people perform in their organizations and the tools they use. The business analyst is a change agent who must understand the basic principles of quality management. This course covers the key role that business analysts play in organizational change management. What you will Learn You will learn how to: Define and document a business process Work with various business modeling techniques Perform an enterprise analysis in preparation for determining requirements Analyze business processes to discern problems Foundation Concepts Overview of business analysis and process improvement Defining the business process Introducing the proactive business analyst Focusing on business process improvement for business analysts Launching a Successful Business Process Improvement Project Overview of the launch phase Understanding and creating organizational strategy Selecting the target process Aligning the business process improvement project's goals and objectives with organizational strategy Defining the Current Process Overview of current process phase Documenting the business process Business modeling options: work-flow models Business modeling options: Unified Modeling Language (UML) model adaptations for business processes Analyzing the Current Process Process analysis overview Evaluation: establishing the control group Opportunity techniques: multi-discipline problem-solving Opportunity techniques: matrices Building and Sustaining a Recommended Process Overview of the recommended process and beyond Impact analysis Recommended process Transition to the business case Return to proactive state
Building High-Performance Teams: Virtual In-House Training This course pulls together the most current and popular theories and writings on this complex topic and presents this amalgamated view in a highly interactive workshop and activity-based approach. Students will understand and have the skills required to build and participate in high-performance project teams and will possess the insight to proactively affect change within their respective organizations by guiding the existing culture to one that promotes high performance. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Define a team and describe the optimum team size for effective performance Describe characteristics and guiding behaviors of high-performance teams Describe the major elements of each development stage in two distinct models Recognize cultural barriers in achieving high performance List the attributes of a high-performing corporate culture Assess your own corporate culture Discuss corporate leadership as a factor in building high-performance project teams Describe the three A's of selecting team members State three leadership responsibilities Describe leadership responsibilities, styles, and roles List and describe the eight components of the team charter model for building high-performance teams Foundation Concepts The Nature of Teams Characteristics of High-Performance Teams Understanding Team Development Stages of Team Development - Model 1 Stages of Team Development - Model 2 Designing a High-Performance Culture Corporate Cultures Corporate Leadership Establishing the Attributes of High Performance Choosing the Right People Team Effectiveness Team Leadership The Team Charter Model
Agile Practices for All Projects: Virtual In-House Training Agile methods are becoming increasingly prevalent, and have facilitated projects in reducing time to market, being adaptive to changing customer requirements, and increasing value to customers and organizations. These benefits have been implemented in both IT and non-IT environments to help all types of projects. This course will present key Agile techniques and processes that can be readily incorporated into your projects to enable greater flexibility and higher productivity, while maintaining the traditional project lifecycle framework. The overall goal of the course is for learners to be able to integrate appropriate Agile elements and/or techniques into any project in any environment. What you will Learn Course participants will understand the basic Agile approach, and the various methods for achieving agility and will be able to: Recall project management principles and methodologies Explain Agile practices and compare several Agile methods Apply Agile software development techniques in a project lifecycle framework Employ Agile processes in a project management framework Foundation Concepts Project Lifecycles What is Agile? Agile Benefits Agile Methods Agile Roles Agile Requirement Techniques Agile Requirements User Stories Just in Time (JIT) Requirements Agile Software Development Techniques Agile Design Agile Development Agile Testing Agile Deployment Agile Initiating & Planning Processes Agile Initiating Agile Planning Agile Delivery Processes Agile Execution Agile Monitoring & Control Agile Closing Implementing Agile Practices Agile Approaches Outside of Software Development Dispelling Agile Myths Applying Agile Techniques & Processes Summary and Next Steps What did we learn, and how can we implement this in our work environments?
Developing the Business Case: Virtual In-House Training Business analysts must be able to create business case documents that highlight project benefits, costs, and risks. The business case is based on the real business need to be solved. These become parts of proposals, feasibility studies, and other decision support documents. This course teaches the purpose, structure, and content of a business case. It presents the basic techniques for determining financial ROI, non-tangible benefits, and the probability of meeting expectations. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Perform feasibility studies Justify the business investment to solve the business problem Prepare an effective business case document Plan and implement a business case approval process Foundation Concepts The role of the BA An introduction to the BABOK® Guide The business analyst and the product / project life cycle (PLC) The business case deliverable Introducing the Business Case Process The BA and strategy analysis The BA and the business case process (BCP) The BA during the business case process (BCP) The BA after the business case process (BCP) Importance of defining solution performance metrics Defining the Business Need Overview of defining the business need Business needs: problem / opportunity statement Product vision Objectives and constraints Exploring Business Case Solutions Overview of exploring solutions Solution identification for feasibility Solution definition for analysis Assessing project risks Justifying the Business Case Overview of justifying the business case Qualitative justification Quantitative justification Approving the Business Case Overview of business case approval Developing recommendations Preparing the decision package - documents Preparing the decision package - presentations
Duration 1 Days 6 CPD hours This course is intended for Individuals responsible for articulating the technical benefits of AWS services Individuals interested in learning how to get started with using AWS SysOps Administrators, Solution Architects and Developers interested in using AWS services Overview Recognize terminology and concepts as they relate to the AWS platform and navigate the AWS Management Console. Understand the foundational services, including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), and Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS). Understand the security measures AWS provides and key concepts of AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). Understand AWS database services, including Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). Understand AWS management tools, including Auto Scaling, Amazon CloudWatch, Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), and AWS Trusted Advisor. AWS Technical Essentials introduces you to AWS services, and common solutions. It provides you with fundamental knowledge to become more proficient in identifying AWS services. It helps you make informed decisions about IT solutions based on your business requirements and get started working on AWS. Prerequisites Working knowledge of distributed systems Familiarity with general networking concepts Working knowledge of multi-tier architectures Familiarity with cloud computing concepts 1 - AWS introduction and history AWS Global Infrastructure Demonstration: AWS Management Console 2 - AWS Storage Identify key AWS storage options Describe Amazon EBS Create an Amazon S3 bucket and manage associated objects 3 - Compute, network and storage services Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) Demonstration: Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) Hands-on lab: Build your VPC and launch a web server 4 - AWS Security, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Demonstration: AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) 5 - Compute Services & Networking Identify the different AWS compute and networking options Describe an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Create an Amazon EC2 instance Use Amazon EBS with Amazon EC2 6 - Managed Services & Database Describe Amazon DynamoDB Understand key aspects of Amazon RDS Launch an Amazon RDS instance 7 - Databases (RDS, DynamoDB) SQL and NoSQL databases Data storage considerations Hands-on lab: Build your database server and connect to it 8 - AWS elasticity and management tools Auto scaling Load balancing Cloud Watch Trusted Advisor Hands-on lab: Scale and load balance your architecture 9 - Deployment and Management Identify what is CloudFormation Describe Amazon CloudWatch metrics and alarms Describe Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM)