Duration
2 days
Course Cost: $0.00
Prerequisite
This course may be taken alone as a standalone course, where trainees have acquired some prior experience as BAs. Trainees taking this course in the context of the complete program are advised to take it at the end, as a capstone course that ties together all of the techniques learned throughout the program.
Description
CDUs: 14
This course addresses the Senior BA’s role in supporting strategic goals and objectives by leveraging the Business Architecture. Based on concepts from the IIBA® Enterprise Analysis Knowledge Area (KA), the course covers typical deliverables for Strategic Analysis, why strategic analysis work is done, and how it ties to project work. You will learn how to apply Business Analysis skills to Strategic Enterprise Analysis activities, understand the basic views of Business Architecture, apply Strategic Analysis to the planning of roadmaps and create a business case to fund the roadmap of work.
Why Attend this Course?
Senior BAs need to be able to think strategically, beyond the gathering of requirements for a given problem, towards a focus on the strategic goals of the enterprise. Without this perspective, software solutions and company resources cannot be effectively targeted towards higher-level business goals, objectives and requirements.
Objective
Introduction to strategic analysis
Introduction to strategic thinking and cognitive analysis: An introduction to concepts related to thought and analysis
Definition of strategic thinking
Relationship of strategic thinking to business analysis
Cognitive analysis and its application with enterprise change
Analysis at the Strategic Level: The application of Business Analysis techniques to change at the Enterprise level
Strategic thinking and the BABOK
Cognitive Analysis and the BA
Business goals and strategic analysis
Goals Elicitation and Analysis: The value of Goals in Strategic Enterprise Analysis, and how to discover them
Goals and Strategic Enterprise Analysis
Effective Goals Elicitation
Applying SWOT to Goals
Goals and organizational structure: How to deconstruct and represent/model goals; tying goals to organizational structure and location
Goal deconstruction
Organizational Structure and physical locations/capabilities
Goals and the Organizational Structure
Aligning BA deliverables to strategic analysis
The Functional View: Understanding how a business will present itself to various interested parties within its environment, and tying this presentation back to goals
What is a Business Functionality and Business Façade View?
Why is Business Functionality important to Strategic Analysis?
How to represent the Functional View of a business
The Process View: Understanding how a business needs to operate internally in order to support the functionality it exposes, including Six Sigma and other process modeling techniques
What is a Business Process View?
Why is Process important to Strategic Analysis?
How to represent the Process View
The Business Entity View: Understanding the information that a business collects and manipulates and how it is used strategically to support business functionality and processes
What is a Business Entity View?
Why is an understanding of Business Entities important to Strategic Analysis?
How to represent the Business Entity View
The Other Views: Understanding what other BA content may be useful in comprehending a business
What other views might be useful?
Why might these other views be important to Strategic Analysis?
How to represent these other views
Applying strategic analysis
The future of the business: What future states imply for change; the different ways Strategic Analysis can be used to define types of business change
Business Evolution and Revolution
Business Operating Model Transformation
Business Acquisition
Enterprise Strategic Analysis and Architecture
Enterprise Analysis and Zachman: Understanding the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture; tying architecture to strategic analysis with the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture
The intent of the Zachman Framework
Tying Zachman to Strategic Enterprise Analysis work
Enterprise Analysis and TOGAF: Understanding TOGAF for Enterprise Architecture; tying Architecture to strategic analysis with the TOGAF
The intent of the TOGAF
Tying TOGAF to Strategic Enterprise Analysis work
Envisioned Future States and Architecture: How architecture is used to lay out the future state of a business
Business Architecture as a component of Enterprise Architecture
Strategic Analysis as a means of informing architecture
Aligning Business and Technology: How business and technology should collaborate for success
Business need driving coordinated change to the business and the underlying technology
Why business should drive technology, not the other way around
Strategic Analysis facilitating the alignment of business and technology
Planning and Business Cases
The Planning and Business Case Work: Planning implementation of the change and obtaining approval for the change
Strategic Analysis as input to Planning
Risk and Prioritization
Roadmaps and Milestones
The Business Case
Workshops
Workshop 1: Business Case development using TOGAF
Workshop 2: Business Case development using the Zachman Framework
Audience
BAs at any level who satisfy the prerequisites
Senior BAs and their managers Class Format
Trainees work in teams, developing a case study over the course of a project. The instructor introduces each step by reviewing techniques required at the time. Working individually and in groups (as appropriate for the step), trainees perform BA activities and create deliverables, with the instructor acting as mentor. After each step is completed, the instructor takes up common issues that arose during the workshop. An option is also provided for practical testing of trainees upon completion of the course through the development of a case study. (A comprehensive case study and sample solution are available for this purpose.)
