324 Concept courses in Edinburgh

Effecting Business Process Improvement: 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

Developing the Business Case: 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

Scrum Product Owner Workshop: In-House Training The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the Development Team. The Product Owner must be knowledgeable, available, and empowered to make decisions quickly in order for an Agile project to be successful. The Product Owner's key accountability is the Product Backlog. Managing, maintaining, and evolving the Product Backlog involves: Establishing a clear Vision that engages the Development Team and stakeholders Clearly expressing Product Backlog items Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve the Vision and goals Ensuring that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all Working with the Development Team throughout the project to create a product that fits the customer's needs The overall course goal is to support you in becoming an effective Product Owner. What you will Learn You'll learn how to: Differentiate between poor, good, and great Product Owner attributes, and their impact on the team, product, stakeholders, and the organization Engage your stakeholders by knowing your customers and market Develop an effective and value-driven Product Backlog Evaluate the Product Owner's role in Scrum's 5 events and team engagement Foundation Concepts Agile foundation Product owner role Product Ownership Product ownership Project vision Understanding your customers and market Personas Stakeholder management and engagement The Product Backlog Epics and user stories Preparing user stories for a sprint The product backlog Visualizing the product backlog Product backlog prioritization Technical debt Sprint Planning and Delivery Sprint planning The sprint Sprint Reviews, Retrospectives, and Closing Sprint reviews Key agile patterns Retrospectives Closing the project

Writing and Managing Requirements Documents: In-House Training This course is part of IIL's Business Analysis Certificate Program (BACP), a program designed to help prepare individuals pass the IIBA™ Certification exam to become a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP™). Learn more at www.iil.com/bacp. Once a business analyst has completed the information gathering and analysis to produce the solution to a business problem, the results must be documented for all stakeholders to see and understand. This course will enhance the skill set needed for writing and managing the complex readership that business analysts interact with on a day-to-day basis. What you will Learn Upon completion, participants will be able to: Write an understood requirements document that is approvable and acceptable Validate a requirements document Manage the changes to requirements documents through the SDLC Foundation Concepts The role of the business analyst An introduction to the BABOK® Guide The business analyst and the product/project life cycle The requirements documentation process Planning for Effective Requirements Documentation Overview of requirements planning Planning for validation Planning for verification: well-formed criteria Planning for verification: understood and usable criteria Writing Effective Requirements Documents Overview of writing requirements documents Using a standard structure / template Applying formatting techniques Meeting the challenge of writing non-functional requirements Baselining Requirements Documents Overview of the requirements baseline process Validation Verification Approval Managing Requirements Change through the Product Life Cycle Overview of requirements change management Establishing a formal change management process Tracing requirements through design and development (build, test, and implementation) Following through to post-implementation (transition and early production)

Scrum Master Workshop: In-House Training A Scrum Master helps project teams properly use the Scrum framework, increasing the likelihood of the project's overall success. Scrum Masters understand Scrum values, practices, and applications and provide a level of knowledge and expertise above and beyond that of typical project managers. Scrum Masters act as 'servant leaders', helping the rest of the Scrum Team work together and learn the Scrum framework. Scrum Masters also protect the team from both internal and external distractions. What you will Learn You'll learn how to: Comprehend the Agile Manifesto and mindset Explain the fundamental principles of Scrum Guide the Scrum team in their responsibilities Write requirements in the form of user stories Define Ready and Done Estimate using planning poker and prioritize using MoSCoW Facilitate the team through the 5 Sprint events Fulfill the role of Scrum Master in a Scrum project Create Information Radiators to enable transparency Define the structure of the retrospective Foundation Concepts Agile History, Values, and Mindset Introduction to Scrum Scrum events Scrum artifacts Scrum Roles and Responsibilities Product Owner responsibilities Scrum Master responsibilities The Team responsibilities Cross-functional Teams Building Effective Teams The Product Backlog and User Stories The Product Backlog User Stories Definition of Done Backlog grooming Estimating User Stories Story points, planning poker Prioritizing User Stories The Sprint Team capacity and velocity The Sprint Planning Meeting The Sprint Backlog The Sprint Learning to self-manage, self-organize, self-improve Sprint Review and Retrospective Project Progress and Completion The Daily Scrum The Task Board and The Burndown Chart Information Radiators Closing a Scrum Project Summary and Next Steps Review of course goals, objectives, and content

Business Analysis Fundamentals: In-House Training This course is part of IIL's Business Analysis Certificate Program (BACP), a program designed to help prepare individuals to pass the IIBA® Certification exam to become a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP™). This course teaches participants the overall process of business analysis and where it fits in the bigger picture of the project life cycle and the business context. The course is interactive and combines discussion, active workshops, and demonstrations of techniques. The goal is bottom-line results that cut through the real-world problems facing people seeking to improve the way they operate to develop new and improved systems and products or otherwise deliver results through project performance. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Define the solution scope Work with the development team in the systems testing stage Ensure the solution is usable in the business environment Foundation Concepts Defining the business analyst (BA) function The role of the BA as change agent An introduction to the BABOK® Guide BA roles and relationships through the project life cycle (PLC) Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring Overview of business analysis planning and monitoring (BAP&M) Business analysis planning and monitoring - process and tools Business analysis planning and monitoring - roles and responsibilities Business analysis planning and monitoring - governance, information management, and performance improvement Elicitation and Collaboration Overview of elicitation and collaboration Elicitation and collaboration techniques Requirements Life Cycle Management Overview of requirements life cycle management Requirements life cycle management task details Strategy Analysis Overview of strategy analysis Analyze current state Define future state Assess risks Define change strategy Requirements Analysis and Design Definition Overview of requirements analysis and design definition (RA&DD) The anatomy of requirements RA&DD task descriptions RA&DD techniques Solution Evaluation Overview of solution evaluation Solution evaluation tasks Solution evaluation in development stages Underlying Competencies Overview of underlying competencies (UC) Underlying competencies

Assuring Quality Through Acceptance Testing: In-House Training It is also the business analyst's responsibility to confirm that the resulting solution developed by IT does, in fact, solve the defined problem. This is done first through testing, especially acceptance testing, and then through monitoring of the installed solution in the user community. It is the business analyst's job to define the business problem to be solved by IT. It is also the business analyst's responsibility to confirm that the resulting solution developed by IT does, in fact, solve the defined problem. This is done first through testing, especially acceptance testing, and then through monitoring of the installed solution in the user community. The business analyst is not only concerned with the testing itself, but also with the management and monitoring of the users doing the acceptance testing, and recording, analyzing, and evaluating the results. What you will Learn Upon completion, participants will be able to: Create a set of acceptance test cases Manage and monitor an acceptance test stage where users perform the testing Work with the development team in the systems testing stage Assess the solution once it is in the business environment Foundation Concepts The role of the business analyst An introduction to the BABOK® Guide BA roles and relationships through the project life cycle Introduction to assuring software quality through acceptance testing The Scope of IT Testing Overview of testing stages The testing process Testing documentation Pre-Acceptance Testing The BA's role in testing Early development testing stages (unit and integration) Late development testing stage (system) The Acceptance Test Stage - Part I (Planning, Design, and Development) Overview of user acceptance testing Acceptance test planning Designing user acceptance tests Developing individual user acceptance test cases Building effective user acceptance test scenarios The Acceptance Test Stage - Part II (Execution and Reporting) Operating guidelines Execution Reporting Post-Acceptance Testing Overview Project implementation Project transition (project closure) Production through retirement Testing Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Software Overview Selecting the software Implementing the software Summary What did we learn and how can we implement this in our work environments?

Recovering Troubled Projects: In-House Training Despite our best intentions, many of the projects that organizations undertake either don't achieve their intended business results or end in complete failure. Most seasoned project managers have had their share of experiences with difficult or troubled projects and unless they are careful, they will encounter more. This workshop does not focus on 'failed' projects but rather on those projects which without appropriate intervention would be headed for failure. Failed projects are those beyond help and which should be terminated. Here we focus on projects that are salvageable. It is an exercise-driven, no-nonsense, professional practice-focused workshop positioning the participant to immediately apply the tools and lessons learned in the classroom. The workshop employs the use of both illustrative and practical/working case studies. Illustrative case studies will examine insights from real-world troubled projects. Participants will be asked to bring descriptions of their own examples of troubled projects on which they're currently working or on which they have worked in the past. A number of these will be used as the basis for the practical/working case studies. The approach builds on and complements the disciplines addressed in Project Management Institute's PMBOK® Guide and also addresses issues that arise when managing projects in a complex environment. What You Will Learn You will learn to: Recognize the value of a structured project recovery process Explain the reasons most projects fail Analyze the causes of a project's troubles Construct a negotiation process to use with key stakeholders Apply an effective strategy to planning the recovery effort Manage, evaluate, and adjust the ongoing recovery effort Foundation Concepts Recognizing a troubled project Defining the project recovery process The Reasons Projects Fail Putting failure in perspective Reviewing management issues Analyzing planning issues Exploring complexity issues Assess the Project Stabilizing the project Determining preliminary Go / No-Go Conducting a detailed recovery assessment Negotiate the Recovery Reviewing the basics of negotiation Setting reasonable expectations Obtaining appropriate PM authority Securing key stakeholder support Plan the Recovery Planning for recoveries Rebuilding the project team Reshaping the project plan Managing parallel activities Planning for change management Implement and Adjust the Project Implementing project recoveries Facilitating change Enabling continuous learning Fostering the project team Sustaining stakeholder engagement

Project Risk Management: In-House Training Have you been surprised by unplanned events during your projects? Are you and your project team frequently fighting fires? Well, you are not alone. Uncertainty exists in any project environment. While it's impossible to predict project outcomes with 100% certainty, you can influence the outcome, avoid potential risks, and be ready to respond to challenges that arise. In this course, you'll gain the proper knowledge needed to identify, assess, plan for, and monitor risk in your projects. You'll learn how to set up and implement risk management processes, helping you to minimize uncertainty and achieve more consistent, predictable outcomes as a result. What You Will Learn You'll learn how to: Demonstrate to others how the risk management processes in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) apply to your project's environment, especially for high-risk projects Adapt these processes for a particular high-risk project team's operating principles Explain the importance of using risk management best practices at single and enterprise project levels Lead an initiative to implement risk management best practices in your project environment Foundation Concepts Risk-related definitions The risk management process High-risk projects and project failures Classical failures in implementing risk management Plan Risk Management Project risk management and governance Risk management planning for high-risk projects High-risk variations on a risk management plan Identify Risk Adapting the risk identification process for high-risk projects Recognizing risks spontaneously Confirming and structuring risk events for treatment Wrapping up risk identification for high-risk projects Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis Adapting qualitative risk analysis for high-risk projects Accelerating risk analysis Clearing risk action Wrapping up qualitative risk analysis for the next level Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis Adapting quantitative risk analysis for high-risk projects Ensuring effective risk analyses with data quality assessments Building a foundation for quantitative risk analysis Using discrete quantitative tools Using continuous quantitative tools Wrapping up quantitative risk analysis for high-risk projects Plan Risk Responses Adapting risk response planning for high-risk projects Optimizing active risk response strategies Leveraging contingencies for high project performance Wrapping up risk response planning for high-risk projects Implement Risk Responses Implementing Risk Responses Process Executing Risk Response Plans Tools and Techniques Best Practices Continuous Risk Management Monitor Risks Adapting risk monitoring for high-risk projects Optimizing risk plan maintenance Weaving risk reassessment into the project's progress Maintaining a continuous 'vigil' in high-risk project environments

Global Project Management: In-House Training: In-House Training In this course, you will dig deeper-and differently-into project management processes, tools, and techniques, developing the ability to see them through the lens of global and cultural project impacts. In today's increasingly global environment, managing a project with customers and support organizations spread across multiple countries and continents is a major challenge. From identifying stakeholders and gathering requirements, to planning, controlling, and executing the project, the basic logistics of a global project present their own standard challenges. However, with additional cultural, language-based, and regional elements, global projects involve more complexities than teams often realize. There are unique communication needs, cultural awareness elements, varying customs and work expectations, and critical legal differences to consider. In this course, you will dig deeper-and differently-into project management processes, tools, and techniques, developing the ability to see them through the lens of global and cultural project impacts. This will leverage you to problem solve differently on global projects, prevent problems, and ensure success. The goal is for you to effectively navigate the challenges of leading projects with multi-regional footprints and globally diverse sets of stakeholders. What you Will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Determine when a project meets the criteria of being a true global one Articulate global project needs based on the project grid and framework Identify and analyze global project stakeholders Recognize cultural differences and articulate how they impact project work Determine global project estimating, scheduling, and staffing challenges Assess global project risks and develop problem-solving responses Analyze complex cultural situations and align optimal project communication and negotiation tools and techniques Apply best practices for conducting virtual team work and mitigating virtual challenges Evaluate ways to control for global project scope, cost, and procurement Align customer management best practices with global customer needs Implement key global project closing activities Foundation Concepts What is a global project? What makes a global project different? A global project management framework Initiating the Global Project Launching a global project Respecting cultural differences Identifying and analyzing stakeholders Developing the communications plan Defining the ideal global project manager Crafting a global project charter Planning the Global Project Gathering requirements for a global project Defining the scope, region by region Estimating and scheduling for global projects Staffing the global project Developing the global risk management plan Executing the Global Project Managing global stakeholder expectations Embracing cultural diversity Honing global negotiation techniques Procuring goods and services on a global basis Managing global legal and regulatory issues at the micro and macro level Monitoring and Controlling the Global Project Status reporting Virtual communication Cost control Schedule control Scope control Customer satisfaction Closing the Global Project Contract closure at the macro and micro levels Administrative closure with global reach Lessons learned