Business Analysis
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Wednesday, February 6th, 2013
Written by Sherry Pate, PMP
Although there are many things you need to do, the following items are a good start. First, identify what you want to accomplish with a Business Analysis Center of Excellence (BACOE) for your specific organization. Yes, you want to improve things but unless you define what those things are, you can’t begin with the end in mind. With a BA team and other stakeholders – other IT roles, the business, etc., – brainstorm what you want to accomplish. Put each item on a post it note and number them, then have the group cluster items together by calling out numbers (i.e. 1 and 7 go together), then name the themes. You’ll probably have 5-6 major goals you want to deliver. For example, here are two goals identified by brainstorming items first, then clustering.
- Improve Project Delivery
- Gain efficiency/reduce defects through PI
- Project deliver: faster and more accurate
- Productivity
- Establish and follow standardization
- Drive consistency
- Standard artifacts
- Consistent standards for deliverables
- Establish standard process and delivery Click to continue »
Posted in Business Analysis, Business Analyst Center of Excellence (BACOE), Web Seminar, business analyst | Comments Off
Tags: ASPE, aspe web seminar, ASPE-SDLC, aspe-sdlc web semianrs, BACOE, buiness analyst training, business analysis training, Establishing and Business Analyst Center of Excellence, sherry pate
Tuesday, February 5th, 2013
Written by Kelley Bruns
Imagine this: you wake up, do your morning routine, arrive at work, and start where you left off on your project yesterday – performing requirements elicitation, analyzing requirements, refining requirements, updating the requirements documentation, validating requirements with stakeholders. In other words, a fairly common day in the life of a business analyst. You complete your work day, go home, perform your evening routine, and go to bed. Then you wake up the next morning only to find you are Bill Murray and you have to keep reliving that same day over and over again.
Would you do everything the same way when you re-live that day? Or, would you do things differently to improve on what you learned? I hope you chose the latter question, to do things differently. Now think about this – replay your last work day. What worked well in your analysis efforts? What didn’t work well? What do you want to keep doing? What do you want to stop doing? What do you want to start doing? I like to replay my day and think about: Start, Stop, and Continue/Keep. That way I do not fall into my own ground hog day. Following this process daily will lead you into the concept of continuous improvement and not expecting to get different results from the same actions repeated over and over again. Click to continue »
Posted in Business Analysis, business analyst | Comments Off
Tags: ASPE, aspe ba training, aspe business analysis training, aspe business analyst training, ASPE-SDLC, ba, business analysis, business analysis training, Business analyst, business analyst training, How Does the Movie Ground Hog Day Connect to Business Analysis, kelley bruns
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013
Simply put, the Business Analyst’s role can be broken into three components: Enterprise Analysis, Process Modeling, and Requirements Engineering. Each component can and does bring value to an enterprise organization, especially in the face of outsourcing and rapidly increasing and evolving user needs. On January 15, 2013, ASPE President David Mantica broke down each component to help better understand the Business Analyst’s role.
In this one-hour presentation David discussed how the Agile Framework, with its specific practices around software development, offers a very different approach to project success. One that on initial view reduces the value the BA brings to the enterprise. The reality is that Agile is pointing a light at a trend in BA work that if continued significantly reduces the value received by the enterprise. That light David referred to is that in a vast majority of cases, enterprises have focused the BA role around requirements engineering. Of the three primary roles, it is the most repeatable and scalable and one that can be measured. The problem it is that it is the one that provides the least value to the enterprise and, ultimately, can be outsourced (under proper conditions).
Click to continue »
Posted in ASPE, ASPE-SDLC, BA, Business Analysis | Comments Off
Tags: Agile Framework, ASPE-SDLC, Business analyst, SDLC, The Business Analysts Role in Transformation, Web Seminar Recap
Tuesday, October 16th, 2012
Recently we had a unique opportunity to speak with a very special trainee who has taken a great deal of training from our firm. Although we often have repeat customers who attend multiple classes, this particular student has probably attended more than most. She is in a great position to offer perspective on the overall experience of the ASPE student.
Barb Lobermeier is a former program analyst with GE, and has recently entered the world of Agile business analysis. She has taken ten of our courses, both seated and virtual, and has earned two professional certifications through our accredited Saint Louis University program. She is a stellar example of someone who sensed early shifts in the business analysis and project profession, and used training to keep up with this rapidly evolving world. She chatted with us about her role at GE, the state of the business analysis and project management professions, and how her choice to pursue professional training in these areas allowed her to stay ahead of the curve.
Barb spoke with Chris Knotts, ASPE’s creative director. Read the interview.
Posted in Agile, BA, Business Analysis, Interview, Project Management, Training, Training Advisors, business analyst, certification | Comments Off
Monday, October 15th, 2012
On Tuesday, October 9, 2012 Mary Zarba presented the free 1-hour web seminar, Essential Business Analysis Skills in Healthcare. In this web seminar, Mary provided guidance to medical practices and hospitals who need to apply proven business analysis and ROI assessment tools to understand and implement new healthcare requirements. This web seminar addressed:
• Political and legal aspects of the new healthcare guidelines and HIPAA requirements.
• Statistical data on actual healthcare project success/failure factors.
• How to understand The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, plus Federal & State technology initiatives that will affect your organization.
• Preventing the mistakes and pitfalls that others have made in the selection, management and implementation of healthcare IT systems and meeting Meaningful Use guidelines.
• Identify issues that are often overlooked such as third party interfaces, data conversions, paper medical record retention and database management.
You can listen to a complete recording of this presentation at aspeevents.webex.com. Select “View Event Recordings” in the top right corner. You can also download the slides from this presentation by visiting our Web Seminar Archives.
Posted in ASPE, ASPE-SDLC, American Health Sciences Institute, Business Analysis, Healthcare, Training, Web Seminar, Web Seminar Recap | Comments Off
Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
On Tuesday, September 4, 2012 Billie Johnson presented the web seminar, “Business Analyst Work Plan.” The one-hour web seminar covered the creation and utilization of work plans by Business Analyst in the requirements elicitation process.
As a business analyst, you are most likely highly organized, but without the planning tools and business analysis expectations; you may have the appearance of being disorganized in your plight to deliver effective requirements. If we do not pause to plan our work, it is as if you are trying to ride a bicycle before the wheels have been attached. You might be able to sit on the bike and think about where you want to go, but you won’t get anywhere at all. In a rush to provide a solution, the problem still might not be resolved because users are still unskilled. So the cycle of design a solution, find a problem, design a solution, and find a problem just continues, with everyone who is involved still unhappy and unproductive.
Most organizations have identified productivity as a strategic goal for all employees. Business analysts can contribute by developing their plans and working toward the plans. We are challenged to deliver with speed, increased productivity & efficiency, and to help deliver a competitive advantage. Management will most likely press to complete the analysis phase quicker than possible. The plans will provide you the ammunition to discuss the options to meet aggressive timelines. This web seminar will give you some hints and tips for producing key business analysis plans. If you are currently in the role of a business analyst, or interface with business analysts, then this webinar is for you.
Recording:
Listen to a recording of the Business Analyst Work Plan web seminar in its entirety by clicking View Event Recordings (at the top right).
Free Business Analysis Planning Template:
Download the free Business Analysis Planning template Billie mentioned during the web seminar.
Posted in ASPE-SDLC, Business Analysis, Free, Gathering Requirements, Giveaway, Requirements, Special Offers, Web Seminar, Web Seminar Recap, business analyst | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
Drumroll please… ASPE-SDLC is proud to unveil our newest curriculums: Data Analysis and Business Writing! So far, 2012 has been a very busy year at ASPE. The introduction of our two new SDLC curriculums will allow students to maximize their amount of knowledge and skills to an even greater extent.
One of the most extreme challenges in Business Analysis today is finding and using the vital information contained within data. For those who do have a strategy in place, there are still inefficiencies that can prevent concrete corporate intelligence from emerging. ASPE-SDLC’s new Data Analysis training courses will allow you to effectively manage your data and translate the information into real-world strategies that can give you a competitive edge. The curriculum includes the following: Click to continue »
Posted in ASPE-SDLC, Alexander Hamilton Financial Technologies, Business Analysis, Data Analysis, New Courses, Technical Writing, Training | Comments Off
Tags: alexander hamilton center, ASPE, aspe ahc, ASPE-SDLC, business writing training, data analysis training, data mining training, model development training, predictive analytics training, scientific writing training, technical writing training
