Facilitation Skills for Business Analysts
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™).
Business analysts are communicators who bridge the gap between people with business needs and knowledge and the people who will provide solutions. Business analysts are continuously involved in communications with stakeholders and developers as they create the solution to business problems. They participate in information-gathering sessions including interviewing, joint requirements definition, and Joint Application Design (JAD) workshops which are used to streamline information gathering and get immediate validation from user representatives. The business analyst is also involved with negotiating the solution with the stakeholders, upper-level management, and the developers, mediating among the groups when disagreements take place, and influencing the results of decisions during the solution cycle. This course teaches the methods needed to organize and run information-gathering events. It combines the basics of graphic decision making and modeling with facilitation, communication, and meeting management skills.
What you will Learn
At the end of this program, you will be able to:
Identify the major touch points between key BABOK® Guide knowledge areas and business analysis communication
Describe the facilitation skills that are most supportive of those intersections
Improve your ability to apply these skills in the context of your business analyst functions
Foundation Concepts
The role of the Business analyst (BA)
An Introduction to the BABOK® Guide
Business analyst roles and the product / project life cycle (PLC)
Facilitation skills for the business analyst
The BABOK® Guide and Communication
An introduction to the communication process
Addressing basic communications challenges
Planning business analysis communication
Communication and BABOK® Guide tasks
Targeted Elicitation Techniques
Synergy between communication and targeted elicitation techniques
Preparing for elicitation
Cornerstone targeted technique: interviews
Other targeted elicitation techniques
Related general communication skills
Group Elicitation Techniques
Synergy between requirements communication and group elicitation techniques
Cornerstone group elicitation technique - requirements workshops
Other group elicitation techniques
Related general communication skills - meeting management best practices
Related general communication skills - facilitating best practices
Process / Model-Based Elicitation Techniques
Synergy between requirements communication and process / model-based elicitation techniques
Process / model-based elicitation techniques
Related interpersonal skills - problem solving and decision making
Investigative Elicitation Techniques
Synergy between requirements communication and investigative elicitation techniques
Cornerstone investigative elicitation technique - document analysis
Other investigative elicitation techniques
Summary of elicitation techniques by usage in the requirements process
Using Presentations, Structured Walkthroughs, and Influencing
Structured walkthroughs, presentations, and influencing within BABOK® Guide tasks
Cornerstone technique - structured walkthroughs
General communication skill - presenting
Related interpersonal skill - influencing
Special Facilitation Skills - Negotiating and Mediating
Negotiating
Mediating