Business Value Analysis

The Business Analyst’s role changes significantly as organizations rapidly replace their traditional system-development methodologies with more iterative or agile approaches. More and more companies are realizing the benefits of faster product deployment at a lower cost, with less rework due to missed requirements. Effective business analysis is key to developing those requirements and keeping projects on track. This indispensable course explores the contributions of good requirements development in an Agile environment and equips business analysts with the critical thinking, analytical skills, and necessary people skills they need to add value to every Agile project.

This practical workshop provides participants with an understanding of the changing role of the business analyst, the tools and techniques best suited to Agile, and the timing for performing key tasks and events. Explanatory, demonstrations, and practice exercises will provide you with the experience needed to create user stories that meet business needs.

Iterative development methods such as Agile require a paradigm shift from the traditional approaches used for business analysis. Agile moves the analysis away from gathering big up-front requirements and towards iterative and incremental techniques. The analyst becomes the “keeper of value” -- the value conscience for the team. To designate the difference in skills and focus, the Agile business analyst is referred to as the Business Value Analyst (BVA). The BVA must guide the team through iterative and rapid product development to maximize business value. To do so requires a mindset shift for the business analyst – the business value mindset.

ASPE’s Business Value Analysis course is the first step towards achieving the coveted expert level in ICAgile’s Value Management track, and earning your ICAgile Agile Product Ownership (ICP-APO) Certification. The course gives you the much-needed skills for the value-based approaches required for successful agile development.

As a stepping-stone towards becoming a Value Manager, the Business Value Analysis training course focuses not only on skills and techniques but also on the mindset shift for the analyst in an Agile environment. The course includes tools and techniques to gather requirement details in an iterative fashion – at the right time and at the right level. The learner will develop an appreciation for Value Management as an Agile discipline and craft.

The Business Value Analysis training course gives you a jump-start on your agile journey. It provides the essential, value-based analysis skills needed to lead teams towards greater agility.

• The Need for Value Management
• The Business Value Analyst role
• Value Management in Various Agile “Flavors”
• Critical thinking skills and behaviors
• Define value and scope
• Understand backlog management and release planning
• Practice agile techniques like defining personas and roadmaps
• Review requirements elicitation and discovery methods
• Understand story decomposition and lightweight modeling
• Assess the importance and priority of product features

Course Outline:

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. The Need for Value Management
3. Role, Scope, and Diversity
4. Skills and Behaviors
5. Seeking Value
6. Project Initiation
7. Backlog Management
8. Understand What is Doable
9. Analyze to Determine Value
10. Exploring the Solution
11. Summary

Who Should Attend:

• Anyone wanting to improve their business analysis skills
• Anyone on their path to becoming a Value Manager
• Business Analysts
• Value Managers
• Product Owners
• Product Managers
• Business Subject Matter Experts
• Business Systems Analyst
• Requirements Engineer
• Process Analyst
• Anyone who performs business analysis activities
• Anyone wanting certification in ICAgile Business Value Analysis (ICP-BVA)
• Anyone wanting to become an ICAgile Certified Expert in Value Management

Prerequisites:

This is an intermediate/advanced level workshop. Participants should have completed basic Agile training - such as:

• An ICAgile accredited Agile Fundamentals course
• A Certified Scrum Master course, OR an equivalent or have completed 6 to 12 months of working with Agile teams. 

If you are unsure if you meet this prerequisite, please contact Coursehorse and ask if you're qualified to take this course.

“Delivered by ASPE, ICAgile Member Organization”