19 Courses in Manchester

Business Process Modeling: 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 A process model is a description of a process in terms of its steps or actions, the data flowing between them and participants in the process, machines, systems, and organizations involved. Modeling is a critical business analysis skill. It applies graphical and text communication techniques to describe the actions, objects, and relationships acted upon in the process and the steps that act upon them. This course teaches the technique of process modeling and ties together the core methods of process, behavior, and data modeling to enable business analysts to fully describe business processes in levels of detail from multiple perspectives. What you will Learn Upon completion, participants will be able to: Identify business processes and their components Work with UML diagrams Use process modeling in business diagramming Diagram and model business processes Foundation Concepts The role of the business analyst The IIBA® BABOK® Knowledge Areas Business Process Modeling (BPM) and the business analyst A practical approach to business process modeling The Context for Modeling Business Processes Overview of context for business process modeling Analyzing stakeholder information Modeling best practices Critical inputs for BPM: Business Rules Critical inputs for BPM: Context Diagrams Data Models Overview of data modeling Entity relationship diagrams Object-oriented approach Class diagrams Other data models Process Models - Part I (Non-UML) Overview of process modeling Data flow diagrams Workflow diagrams Flowcharts Process Models - Part II (UML) Overview of UML Process Models UML Activity Diagrams UML Sequence Diagrams Usage Models - Part I (Non-UML) Overview of usage modeling Prototyping options Static prototyping and storyboards Dynamic prototyping User Interface Design and user stories Usage Models - Part II (UML Use Cases) Overview of Use Cases Use Case diagrams Use Case descriptions Use Cases and the product life cycle Integrating the Models Overview of integrating the models General analysis best practices Specific analysis techniques summary Best practices for transition to design Summary and Next Steps What did we learn and how can we implement this in our work environments?

Project Contract Management Skills: In-House Training Contracts are a critical part of most large or strategic projects/programs. As such, it is imperative that Project and Program Managers be well versed on basic implications of a contract as well as best practices in contract management. While not as critical a need, anyone involved in projects that involve external relationships should have a healthy appreciation for the power of good contract management. The overall goal of the course is to provide knowledge to manage complex contracts in a global environment. What You Will Learn After this program, you will be able to: Explain overall project procurement process from a buyer and seller perspective Recognize the importance of key contractual terms and how they affect projects Evaluate and contribute to the pre-contract documents and processes Identify and mitigate common pitfalls throughout the procurement process Utilize techniques to administer contracts Getting Started Introductions Course structure Course goals and objectives Foundation Concepts The Importance of Contract Management Terms and Definitions Contract Management Process Legal Systems Codes of Conduct Planning Business Analysis Procurement Management Plan Procurement Statement of Work (SOW) Common Pitfalls Solicit Contract Market Analysis Bid documents Sellers' Proposals Pitfalls Execute Contract Evaluate and Award Contract Negotiate Contract Execute Contract Common Pitfalls Deliver the Contract Preparing to Deliver Project Plan Risk Management Common Pitfalls Administer Contract Enabling Contract Management Contract Performance Monitoring and Control Change Management Financial Management / Payment Dispute Management & Resolution Contract Completion and Closure

ITIL® 4 Specialist: High Velocity IT: In-House Training The ITIL® 4 Specialist: High-Velocity IT module is part of the Managing Professional stream for ITIL® 4. Candidates need to pass the related certification exam for working towards the Managing Professional (MP) designation. This course is based on the ITIL® 4 Specialist: High-Velocity IT exam specifications from AXELOS. With the help of ITIL® 4 concepts and terminology, exercises, and examples included in the course, candidates acquire the relevant knowledge required to pass the certification exam. This module addresses the specifics of digital transformation and helps organizations to evolve towards a convergence of business and technology, or to establish a new digital organization. It was designed to enable practitioners to explore the ways in which digital organizations and digital operating models function in high-velocity environments. Working practices such as Agile and Lean, and technical practices and technologies such as Cloud, Automation, and Automatic Testing are included. What You Will Learn At the end of this course, participants will be able to: Understand concepts regarding the high-velocity nature of the digital enterprise, including the demand it places on IT. Understand the digital product lifecycle in terms of the ITIL operating model. Understand the importance of the ITIL guiding principles and other fundamental concepts for delivering high-velocity IT. Know how to contribute to achieving value with digital products. Course Introduction Let's Get to Know Each Other Course Learning Objectives Target Audience Characteristics ITIL® 4 Certification Scheme Course Components Course Agenda Module-End Exercises Exam Details Introduction to High-Velocity IT High-Velocity IT Digital Technology Digital Organizations Digital Transformation High-Velocity IT Approaches Relevance of High-Velocity IT Approaches High-Velocity IT Approaches in Detail High-Velocity IT Operating Models Introduction ITIL® Perspective High-Velocity IT Aspects High-Velocity IT Applications ITIL® Building Blocks for High-Velocity IT Digital Product Lifecycle Service Value Streams Four Dimensions of Service Management ITIL® Management Practices High-Velocity IT Culture Key Behavior Patterns ITIL® Guiding Principles Supporting Models and Concepts for Purpose Ethics Design Thinking Supporting Models and Concepts for People Reconstructing for Service Agility Safety Culture Stress Prevention Supporting Models and Concepts for Progress Working in Complex Environments Lean Culture ITIL® Continual Improvement Model High-Velocity IT Objectives and Techniques High-Velocity IT Objectives High-Velocity IT Techniques Techniques for Valuable Investments Prioritization Techniques Minimum Viable Products and Services Product / Service Ownership A/B Testing Techniques for Fast Developments Basic Concepts Related to Fast Development Infrastructure as Code Reviews Continual Business Analysis Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) Continuous Testing Kanban Techniques for Resilient Operations Introduction to Resilient Operations Technical Debt Chaos Engineering Definition of Done Version Control Algorithmic IT Operations ChatOps Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Techniques for Co-created Value Basic Concepts of Co-created Value Service Experience Techniques for Assured Conformance DevOps Audit Defense Toolkit DevSecOpsPeer Review

Business Intelligence: In-House Training Business Intelligence (BI) refers to a set of technology-based techniques, applications, and practices used to aggregate, analyze, and present business data. BI practices provide historical and current views of vast amounts of data and generate predictions for business operations. The purpose of Business Intelligence is the support of better business decision making. This course provides an overview of the technology and application of BI and how it can be used to improve corporate performance. What you will Learn You will learn how to: Specify a data warehouse schema Identify the data and visualization to be used for data mining and Business Intelligence Design a Business Intelligence user interface Getting Started Introductions Agenda Expectations Foundation Concepts The challenge of decision making What is Business Intelligence? The Business Intelligence value proposition Business Intelligence taxonomy Business Intelligence management issues Sources of Business Intelligence Data warehousing Data and information Information architecture Defining the data warehouse and its relationships Facts and dimensions Modeling, meta-modeling, and schemas Alternate architectures Building the data warehouse Extracting Transforming Loading Setting up the data and relationships Dimensions and the Fact Table Implementing many-to-many relationships in data warehouse Data marts Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) What is OLAP? OLAP and OLTP OLAP functionality Multi-dimensions Thinking in more than two dimensions What are the possibilities? OLAP architecture Cubism Tools OLAP variations - MOLAP, ROLAP, HOLAP BI using SOA Applications of Business Intelligence Applying BI through OLAP Enterprise Resource Planning and CRM Business Intelligence and financial information Business Intelligence User Interfaces and Presentations Data access Push-pull data access Types of decision support systems Designing the front end Presentation formats Dashboards Types of dashboards Common dashboard features Briefing books and scorecards Querying and Reporting Reporting emphasis Retrofitting Talking back Key Performance Indicators Report Definition and Visualization Typical reporting environment Forms of visualization Unconstrained views Data mining What is in the mine? Applications for data mining Data mining architecture Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CISP-DM) Data mining techniques Validation The Business Intelligence User Experience The business analyst role Business analysis and data analysis Five-step approach Cultural impact Identifying questions Gathering information Understand the goals The strategic Business Intelligence cycle Focus of Business Intelligence Design for the user Iterate the access Iterative solution development process Review and validation questions Basic approaches Building ad-hoc queries Building on-demand self-service reports Closed loop Business Intelligence Coming attractions - future of Business Intelligence Best practices in Business Intelligence

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

This course shows you how to apply various approaches and algorithms to solve business problems through AI and ML, follow a methodical workflow to develop sound solutions, use open-source, off-the-shelf tools to develop, test, and deploy those solutions, and ensure that they protect the privacy of users. This course includes hands-on activities for each topic area.

In today's fast-changing competitive environment, people in all roles need to have more commercial awareness and responsibility.

Businesses that don't control their costs don't stay in business. How well are you doing? Is everyone in your organisation sufficiently aware of costs, managing them effectively and maximising opportunities to reduce them? If there is scope for improvement, this course will help get you back on track. It will demonstrate that cost reduction is so much more than cost control and cost cutting. True cost management is about being aware of costs, seeking to reduce them through good design and efficient operating practices whilst taking continuing action on overspending. This course will develop the participants' skills in: Being aware of costs at all times Seeking cost reduction from the start (including life-cycle costing) Appraising projects / production to identify and take out risk Understanding real budgeting Using techniques such as ZBB and ABC where appropriate Ensuring cost reports lead to action Managing a cost reduction process that delivers Benefits to the organisation will include: Identification of cost reduction and business improvement opportunities Better reporting and ownership of costs Greater awareness and control of everyday costs 1 Introduction - the cost management process The risks of poor cost control Capital and revenue costs The importance of cost awareness The importance of cost reduction Cost management - the key aspects How to build a cost management and control process checklist for your areas of responsibility 2 Cost removal - taking out costs Cost awareness Costs of poor design / poor processes Value engineering Removing redundant costs 3 The need for commercial, technical and financial appraisals Understand the problems before cash is committed and costs incurred Making the effort to identify commercial and technical risk The time value of money - DCF techniques for long term projects Cost models for production processes and projects Costing models - project appraisals The use of spreadsheets to identify sensitivity and risk How to focus on risk management 4 Budgeting - proper budgeting challenges costs The philosophy of the business - are costs an issue? The importance of having the right culture The need for detailed business objectives Budgetary control measures Designing budget reports - for action 5 Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) - the principles Much more than starting with a clean sheet of paper What ZBB can achieve The concept of decision packages - to challenge business methods and costs Only necessary costs should be incurred A review of an operating budget - demonstrating what ZBB challenges and the costs it may lead to being taken out 6 Awareness of overheads and other costs Definitions of cost - direct and indirect Dealing with overheads - what is meant by allocation, absorption or apportionment? The apparent and real problems with overheads Different ways of dealing with overheads Review of overhead allocation methods and accounting and reporting issues 7 Overheads and product costing Activity-based costing (ABC) - the principles Where and how the ABC approach may be helpful Know the 'true' cost of a product or a project Should you be in business? Will you stay in business? Identifying weaknesses in a traditional overhead allocation How ABC will help improve product or service costing Identifying which products and activities should be developed and which abandoned 8 Cost reduction culture The need for cost reports What measures can be used to identify over-spends as early as possible Cost control performance measures and ratios 9 Design of cost control reports Reports should lead to action and deliver Selecting cost control measures which can be acted upon Practice in designing action reports 10 Course summary - developing your own cost action plan Group and individual action plans will be prepared with a view to participants identifying their cost risks areas and the techniques which can be immediately applied to improve costing and reduce costs

An insightful, enjoyable and experiential programme to help you analyse data and information and make a balanced decision based upon sound commercial reasoning. It will enable you to identify options, make decisions and take actions based on a thorough analysis combined with instinct and intuition to make a positive effect on profitability. This programme will help you: Identify ways to analyse data and sort relevant from irrelevant information Develop analytical and numerate thinking, and consider the financial implications of a decision Make decisions based on sound commercial reasoning - a mix of intuition and analysis Select from a range of tools to analyse a situation and apply these effectively Understand how costs and profits are calculated Use tried-and-tested techniques to manage and control your budgets Appreciate the fundamentals of financial analysis Focus on the bottom line Identify the basics of capital investment appraisal for your business Evaluate results and seek opportunities for improvement to your business 1 The commercial environment What do shareholders and investors want? What do managers want? Profit v non-profit organisations Investor expectations 2 Financial and non-financial information Risk and reward considerations Drivers of commercial decisions 3 Running a business A practical exercise to bring financial statements to life Different stakeholder interests in a business The impact and consequences of decisions on financial statements 4 Where do I make a difference to the organisation? How can I contribute to an improved business performance? Key performance indicators - measuring the right things A 'balanced scorecard' approach - it's not all about money! 5 A 'balanced scorecard' approach Analysing and reviewing my contribution to the business direction What is the current focus of my commercial decisions? Developing the business in the right way - getting the balance right! Where should/could it be in the future? Do my decisions support the overall vision and strategy? 6 Making commercial decisions Left-brain and right-brain thinking Convergent and divergent thinking Analysis and instinct Interactive case study exercise - emotional and rational decisions Reflection - what is my style of making decisions 7 Let's consider the customer! Identifying target markets Differentiating propositions and products Customer service considerations Marketing considerations and initiatives Pricing strategies and considerations 8 Strategic analysis The external environment The internal environment LEPEST analysis SWOT analysis Forecasting Group activity - analysing markets and the competition How do these improve your decisions? 9 Comparing performance Analysing key financial ratios Ways to compare performance and results Break-even analysis 10 Profit and loss accounts and budgeting Managing income and expenditure The budgeting process How does this link to the profit and loss account? Managing and controlling a cost centre/budget The role of the finance department Different ways of budgeting Incremental budgeting Zero-based budgeting 11 Understanding the balance sheet Purpose of balance sheets Understanding and navigating the content What does a balance sheet tell you? How do you affect your balance sheet? Links to the profit and loss account A practical team exercise that brings financial statements to life 12 Business decisions exercise How does this improve your decisions? A practical exercise to apply new knowledge and bring commercial thinking to to life The impact and consequences of decisions on financial statements 13 Working capital Why is this important? The importance of keeping cash flowing Business decisions that affect cash Calculating profit 14 Capital investment appraisal Capex v Opex Payback Return on investment The future value of money The concept of hurdle rate 15 Lessons learned and action planning So what? Recap and consolidation of learning The decisions that I need to consider Actions to achieve my plan