I can take the exam

I got the reply from IIBA, qualifying me to take the exam . Expect to see some study notes as I start preparing ..

Chapter 1: Pretty basic Introductory items ..while I glanced through the other topics , I thought it was worthwhile first reading through the "techniques" chapter 9 first and then diving into the other chapters..Here is what I collected on chapter 9

Chapter 9 - Techniques .

1 Evaluation and acceptance criteria
: used to define requirements that can be used to build the solution in order to be accepted by stakeholders.
DESC: Among a given set of requirements choose the correct ones
so that soln is accepted - this is accpetance criteria
eg: say u have 3 sets of acceptance requirements for a project
1. Authorized user access
2. application will provide all the functionalities of a replaced/retired application
3. In addition it will provide analytic functionalities
Acceptance criteria is usually used to check if current
solution has minimal set of satisfiable requirements to pass or
fail decision .
The evaluation criteria is the set of rules/method that was
used to make the choice when lot of solutions are available
eg: say you are choosing a vendor package for a CRM for
marketing functionality , so you have package vendors like
Oracle/siebel , sugar crm, salesforce . Evaluation criteria is
used to choose one solution among many .
MOSCOW technique to order/rank the requirements , it stands for
Must have this
Should have this if possible
Could have this if it doesnt affect anything else
Wont have this now but would like in future
Advantages : Used in agile , contractual requirements are
expressed in acceptance criteria .
dis adv : difficult to change for politics/legal
_____________________________

2.Benchmarking :
Purpose : compare strength and weakness of oneself (
org/process/operation/strategies etc ) against a competitor or
comparable peer and conclude what we are doing good and what we
can improve or what can be avoided etc..
eg: Computer assembly division of IBM can benchmark itself with
that of dell to find out how dell is able to deliver cheap and
likewise dell can benchmark with ibm to find how their quality is ..
How to benchmark
1. identify the area, leaders in the sector, understand the
modus operandi , develop proposal , visit the benchmarked
company to see how they work ( same as above example ).
Advantages : gives lots of new ideas .
dis adv : too much time involved , cant have expertise to
perform it ( think how will dell allow ibm to have a look at
their operations ) .
Process improvements can be made but cant produce any
substantial advantage .
___________________________________-

3.
Brainstorming :
Purpose : Throw out ideas in a group and try getting a soln.
needs proper facilitation/facilitator .
How to ?
identify a area, it should be specific for example say you
want to identify a bottlenecks in a business approval process?
Have a time limit say in the next hr we have to come out with a
idea to tackle the above issue
Have criteria / expectation for rating ideas .just be a spectator/listener/recorder to the ideas After a certain time just stop the idea collection and start evaluating/rating the ideas.
Adv: can be used to reduce tension / break the ice type of,
situations , can get a lot of ideas at a hsorter time.
disadv : no debating allowed , depending on participants and org
culture, politics ideas may not flow freely
__________________________________________
4. Business analysis rules :
Purpose : rules that control organization operations .it is
supported by business policy which is a non actionable directive
. Business rule on the other hand is actionable testable and
controlled by the organization . Decision table/analysis is one
way of representing this rule .
some of basic things to know on how to manage business rules
stated as atomic level ( self existing as a whole)
separate from process that rule applies/supports
maintain in a certain so the rules can change when supporting
policies change .
Put in proper words/terminology so domain experts can validate
the rules.
Business rule need glossary of terms
business rule need understanding of how they play with each

other (relationships ) called as Term and fact model
Business rules are independent of any implementation .

Types of Business rules
1. operative rules : rules enforced because of a policy . as

name says they guide people of how to work within the org .they

make people to both take as well as refrain from certian

actions.operative rules can be violated but sactions/additional

rules must be defined for violating operative rules
2. structural rules
structural rules are there to determine when something is true

or false or if things in a similar league/category . Structural

rules define the structural rule of a org they cannot be

violated but can be misapplied .
Example : a ship to order can be processed to only one address

or payment can be received from only one mode either cheque or

credit card not combination of both.
structural may inturn have many individula rules.Inference rules

can be used to evaluate decisions during a process .
Eg: Local tax in California varies between different counties!!
Adv : Since business rules and policies are separated , change

in business policy should not affect the rule and even if it

does since business rules are atomic they can be assessed and

changed easily
dis adv : Lots of rules exists and sometimes can contradict one

another .

_________________________________________________________
5.Data dictionary and glossary

Purpose: Describes terms and data relevant to business domain.
Glossary : self explanatory
Data dictionary: Definition of data in its primitive mode and

how it works together as composite elements.

Primitive data elements : Name , alias , value , description
eg: Name - Institutional client
alais : Institutional investors
Value: Alphanumneric
Description: represents a individual organization which has

investing account by us


Composite data elemements :
Data is assembled from primitive data elements . Composite

data structure include sequence , repetitions ( if happeneing )

and optional elements .

why we need glossary and data mode ? to make sure that everyone

( stakeholders 0 are in the same page regarding the terms used.

__________________________________________________________
6 Data flow diagrams : see wikipedia to understand the

fundamentals

Purpose : to show the information flow , how data is input ,

processed stored and o/p .it doesnt show any direction timing or

order with which data flows or not even sequence or in parallel
Various aspects of dataflow diagram
1. External entitiy - source or destination of data and denoted

by a rectangel.
2.Data store : passive storage area for future/further

processing , denoted by parallel lines or rectangle with a

square.
3. data process : manipulating/converting the data .
4. data flow : describes data move from data process and

external entity . example "------> merged "
Uses :
Adv: discovery technique in data model, functional decomp.

very easy to understand and used in structured programming .
dis adv: No order or direction , cant show who's the owner

___________________________________________________________
7 Data modeling
Purpose : Describes concepts relevant to a domain and how

they relate to each other . Entity relationship diagram and

class diagram are examples. Logical data model describes

entities , attibutes and relationships. Physical datamodel shows

how data is stored and managed .
Concept - is nothing but a area that is important to domain eg

: Account or Contact
Attributes - useful info pertaining to concept .
cardinality - relationship ( if its 1:1 or 1:M etc )
Relationship :
Business assoc that exist between concepts . For example how

account and contact are related ? Account might be associated

with multiple contact and all contacts should be associated with

atleast one account Account --->1:M contact showed by

cardinality
Meta data : data about data .
Adv:flexible , correctness and completeness .
disadv: complex , hard to understand for some people .
_________________________________________________________
8 Decision Analysis
Purpose: To help with decision making process for complex ,

difficult and un certain situations . Its basically helping to

make optimal decisions under uncertain situations.
However follwoing points should be taken into account
1. Value,goal and objective relevant to decision
2. nature of decision
3. affected areas and consequence of decision
Eg: Lay off /down sizing decisions.
Models and complex calculations are used.
some valuation techniques
1. discounted cash flow
2. net present value
3. Internal rate of return
4. average rate of return
5. pay back period
6 cost-benefit analysis
The above methods are specific to financial but if we want to

calculate non financial out comes we normally use customer

satisfation rating , metrics , percentage uptime etc..
To calculate uncertainity we can use expected value of outcomes

= % chance of outcome * Numeric value of outcome
decsion tree is a method of accessing preferred outcome .

Trade off -- When more than one objective is involved we can use

this method

Elimination of dominated alternatives : say u have 2 options

eliminate the one that is inferior .

Ranking objectives on similar scale : Proportinal scoring is

used , give the best one 100 and worst one 0 rank others with

numbers in between . Then give a score for each outcome and

higher the number better is the decision .

Adv : Technique is effective , is a good quantiatative and

honest approach .
disadv : needs quantitative knowledge .
----------------------------------------------------------
9. Document analysis : A way to elicit requirements by reading

thro documentation and compare solutions and identify relevant

info .
Preparation - collect the documents and identify relevant

business details .
doc review - study materials and identify relevant details.
wrap up - meet up with SME , arrange info into relevant format

.
Get all the relevant answers .
Adv : have sometihing to start with , cross verify info .
disadv : docs cud be out of date , time consuming and tedious

process.

________________________________________________________-
10. Estimation
As name says forecast cost and effort in pursuing a action.

Analogous estimation : Take a similar project as basis for

developing estimates , Rough order of estimate is built.

Analogous estimation is also called top down estimation .

Parametric estimation : hours * cost calculation ( 5 hrs * 40

$ = 200 $)

bottom up estimation :

Rolling wave : estimate for activities are done as things

come by .
3Point estimation : Optimistic , pessimistic and most likely
Hisotric analysis : history is used to estimate .
Expert judgement :
Delphi estimation : have experts estimate anonymously and then

consensus is reached
(Optimistic + pessimistic + 4 ( most likely ))/6

adv : Can make better decisions
dis adv : estimates are taken as commitements , no honesty in

estimates as more is considered a rejection
_______________________________________________________

11 . focus groups : elicit ideas and thoughts in a interactive

group environment. used to get ideas in exploratory , ready to

launch or in production state ..can be used in any lifecycle of

a project . this form of collection is a qualitative process and

results are reported as themes and perspectives.
has normally 6 - 12 participants and 1-2 hrs in length
Two types of composition / group for focus grp
Homogeneous : People with same characteristics ex : architects ,

developers , might differ in perspective but will not share .

solution keep the homogeneous groups separate meaning handle

developers separate and architects separate if possible.
hetrogenous : People with different back grounds : might

filter/censor some of their views
Moderator is responsible for capturing the comments and extract

themes out of it .
Adv: good to know peoples attitude , all info under one roof .
Dis adv : due to participant ppl might not give the correct

picture , skilled moderator is needed , schedule gets difficult
__________________________________________________________
12. Functional decomp :
Purpose : Decompose a functional area into indiv component parts

so that they can be anlyzed individually . analogy to Work

break down structure .
adv: creates conceptual model , common understanding of scope ,

assist in making estimates .
dis adv : Cant be 100% sure if all comps are captured ,

decomposing a problem without full knowledge can create hamper

analysis.
____________________________________________________________
13. Interface analysis :
Identify interface between components and define how they

interact . Interface should identified earlier in order to

elicit detailed requirements .
Interface identification : Scope modeling ( contect diagram )

can be used to identify / visulaize interface
Each interface should be named and purpose be defined . for

each stakeholder identify what interface is needed in the system
Interface types : internal/external, system to system
For UI related interface try to do protyping

Requirement for interface concentrate mainly on

defining/describing the I/p , o/p and event that trigger

interaction and validation rule which work on I/p and O/p .

Indentifying interfaces , their complexity and testing needs

enables better planning and saves time and money.

Both interface Teams have to co-operate/negotiate with each

other to analyze and elicit the requirements

dis adv: Doesnt give much idea about factors other than things

related to interfaces , not much insights into application
______________________________________________________

14 Interviews

Process to extract info formally or informally from a person

by asking relevant questions and recording the info.
2 types structured and unstructured .
structured : questions are pre determined and just need answers
un structured : fishing for info type / open ended discussion
skill involved: Interviewer need foll skills
domain knowledge
experience in conducting interviews
Assimilating and documenting results
clarity in terviews ( targeted topics)
Relationship btw interviewer and interviewee

prepare for interview :
Define the focus , identify the potential interviewees ( who

holds valuable/authentic info , whats their interrest/stake in

the project .
design the interview
structured vs unstructured
close ended questions ( boolean answer , definitive replies

example whats the SLA for uptime ?
Open ended questions : questions that require More explanation

, example what is the alternative approval process ? or how does

change control influence this project ?

organization of questions : Logical, simple to complex , Dont

jump around topics and follow a logical order .

Prior to the interview communicate to the interviewee the

purpose of the interview and why the interviwee response is

required and ho useful his answers are going to be .

Conduct interview :
Explain the objective to the interviewee
Say that notes will be taken and be shared with interviwee at

the end , ask if there are any questions and concerns b4

starting
closing the interview :
Interviewer as the interviewee if he has got any additional

info to share , if the interviewer missed asking any imp

questions , summarize the session and thank the interviewee.

Post interview
Send the interview notes for review . Meaning of scribe is

"copyist " in this case interviewer .
Adv:
Builds rapport btw interviewer and interviwee , simple technique

, 1:1 communication means free expression of opinions
dis adv: Interviwer requires training to conduct interviews ,

cant get consensus since this is 1:1 communication , requires

follow up documentation subject to interviewers interpretation.
___________________________________________________________

15 Lessons learned .
Compile and document success , failures , improvement ,

recomendation for improving the performance of future projects .


What went wrong or right in the following areas

Business analysis activities , BA deliverables , Final Product ,
BA Process , Managerial concerns or issues , how did we do

against the plan , variance if any ..
Lessons learned can happen in formal meetings with

questions/agenda being sent out before the mtg , or thro

sessions , get totgether which may or may not include

celebration .
adv : useful for identifying ways to improve process
helps build team morale
disadv : avoid any blame games , can turn into a complaining

sessions , participants can be relectant to participate
____________________________________________________________
16 Metrics and Key performance indicators (KPI)
Used to measure performance of solution and related things

which is of interest to stakeholders.

Metrics is quantifiable indicator used by organization . KPI

measures progress towards goal . Metrics and reporting a 2 key

compoenents of monitoring and evaluation .
Monitoring involves contineous process of collecting data to

determine how well a solution is /has been implemented compared

to results ( eg u perform earned value analysis , tracking work

to project plan )
Evaluation : Evaluation is process systematic inspection of a

solution to determine status and its efficiency to meet /improve

the solution so that it better meets the objective.
Reporting is process if informing the stakeholders of metrics

with specified format at specific intervals . Eg: sending a

project report

Indicator : Identifies a nemerical measurement of goal , impact

, o/p , i/p . Has 5 characters
Clear , concise , relevant , Economical, adequate ,

quantifiable.
Remember the word CREAQ
Adv : can know how effective the objective is being reached .
Facilitatie goals to objectives , resources , underlying tasks

.
disadv: too much data gets redundancy which means increased

expense .
if metrics are used on certain areas then sometimes individuals

try to excel on the areas where metrics are collected but

sometimes dont concentrate on the other areas .
_____________________________________________________________

17 Non - Functional requirement analysis
the purpose is to describe the reqd qualities of a system like

usability and performance chanracteristics . Think of it as a

general non functional requirement - which is to cater to the

non functional aspects of the application like performance ,

uptime , usabilitity ( ease of usage ) , SLA , quality of

service et al .

Non functional requirement are divided into different categories

:
1 Reliability ( is it dependable ? ) : 2 performance effeciency

( xample how is the responsiveness ) 3 Operability ( is the app

easy to use ? ) 4 . Security 5 . compatibility 6 .

maintainability 7 transferability .
use declarative statements like " 90% of response in no more

than 2 seconds
Disadv: Difficult to articulate no functional reqs.
________________________________________________________
18. Observation : Assesement of stakeholder work , observer an

learn env. aka ..job shadowing . 2 types Passive/invisible and

active/visible
passive/invisible: Dont ask questions , just observe till the

end of process and then ask questions
active/visible : can ask questions and interrupt as the process

proceeds , observer becomes temp trainee. Demo takes place .

Preparation : Determine the crowd, prepare questions
Observe : Observer should assure that work is not questioned ,

can stop the observer if they feel its hindering their work
Conduct observation : Take notes , if active observation the

ask questions about why certain tasks and process are being

made.
Post observation : Provide summary after observing , send the

observation to all , if observing a multiple users then try to

compare and contrast .Provide summary to user/'s after the

observation gets over and have it reviwed with them.
adv: first hand information of process , can get

undocumented/realistic process
dis adv : May pose a disturbance to person who is shadowed
time consuming , possible only fo existing scenarios
Not possible for work with intellectuals

_______________________________________________________________

19 Organization Modelling: Arrange present organization roles

and responsibilities and reporting strcuture with actual

organization goal . Org model defines how the org unit is

structured . Communication adn cross functional co-ordination

problems are called as "silos" . Market oriented means aligning

the org structure based on the market . Example think about a

service oriented organization / business unit !! Other areas of

market based organizational alignment are in customer groups ,

georgraphical areas , projects and proces .

Matrix :
Separate mgr for each functional area . Staff report to

a line mgr who is responsible for type of owrk and improvement

in work and a market mgr is there who will manage the work .

Role : Each role requires specific set of knowledge .

Interfaces: Each org will have interfaces with other orgs in

work package forms . such Work packages need to have

requirements quality controls , standards need to be formally

or informally defined .

Org charts : Fundamental diagram on org modelling is org chart .

Org chart shows :
1. Org units -- Mix of people , divisions , teams represented

in a diagram /chart.
2. Lines of reporting : shows accountability and control btw org

units . Solid line - Direct authority
dotted line : situational authority , lines of

reporting shows how many people report to particular manager.
Roles and people : Org chart shows roles that exist withi

org
advantages : All orgs have it , reporting structures and

management co-ordination is based on this .
disadv: not a easy effort and needs executive support .Informal

lines of support exist which dont get reflected on org chart.
______________________________________________________________

20 Problem tracking :
Problem tracking gives organized approach to tracking ,

mgmt , conflicts and resolutions to it in atimely manner.
example : think about a task managment tools in ur company.
Issue tracking tool should have
Problem description
Status Updates
Resolution results
priority
impacts .
Issue tracking leads to :
Resolution of issues in a timely manner , allocation resources

, identification of root causes.

Problem record should or can contain the following
Description
Assigned to
created by
Impact
ETA
prority
status
Action required to resolve
responsible for action
outcome
completed date if action

Problem management : Problem should be tracked and managed until

no further action isneeded ( resolved ) , if problem is not

solved in a specific time then escalation is required
Metrics : Metrics is required to see how well the problem was

handled which is done thro KPI ( key process indicators ) and

metrics . Example of KPI : No of issues with certain priority

and status , like how manyissues with status open/pending

issues that are of 'high' priority .
Another example : time taken to complete a issue after

being assigned .

Adv: organized method for solving issues .
dis adv : without routine management the issues become un

manageable
Solving issues is dependant on resources
____________________________________________________________

21 Process modelling :
Done to understand how work is handled btw different role

and department within an organization.
Some points :
Process intiated by event in business domain , example a

failure to complete a task , or a escalated task and have to

find where the process is stuck or a process bottle neck

identification exercise .
General model

Role1 Role2
Start
|
Task1
|
Decision yes or no if yes ____________________> Subtask --|


Elements :
Commonly used flowcharts and uml activity diagrams.
Activities : Piece of work that needs to be done and can be

decomposed to sub tasks.

Decisions: Meeting point for outcomes in flow of work.sometimes

it can be exclusive or parallel depending on decision taken.

Events: Happens outside the process which can

create/interrupt/terminate the process. Example : Organizational

resource changes based on market trend ( which is external) .

Flow : direction of workflow , can split , merge or happen

simultaneously.

Roles: Person or group who is responsible for a certain activity

.

Pools/swimlane: Sections of a process model which is performed

by a particular role . Each boundary in the swimlane represents

a specific role and once flow enters the boundary it means the

work is performed by role indicated in the boundary .

Termianl points : Starting or end of process flow and its

visible to organization .
example : In a service request handling process , if the service

request is escalated and moved to another group then this action

is usually visible across to everyone.

2. Process improvement :
Lean , 6 sigma , stream mapping , process framework ,

statistical analysis are some of business process modeling

approaches .
Apart from above we can apply some general rules to improve

process like
1. Identify and remove process that dont add value to

customer/stakeholder.
2. Reduce bottlenecks, improve interface or hand off between

Roles and org units.

Advantages :
Easy to grasp key concepts on a process model and can

show interfaces which explains the various business scenarios.
DisAdvantages:
Can be complex if not structured .
All things cannot be understood just by looking at the

process model , stillstakeholder involvement is necessary to

understand hands on issues.
_________________________________________________________

22 Prototyping :
models the UI requirements and integrates the model with sue

case , scenarios , data and business rules.stakeholders find

prototyping a means to identify , describing the interface needs

.A prototype models a narrow slice of system functionality .
Prototype is thrown away once the system is fully developed .
Throwaway / functional prototype : Fully functional system with

initial interface requirements and is done via prototyping tool

or language .

Prepare for prototyping : Determine prototyping approach throw away VS functiona/evolutionary and fuctionality that to be modeled.
Prototype :
--- To be continued ----

My path to becoming a certified business analyst

I start crapping this as i start my journey to acheive certification for IIBA certified business analyst ( CBAP) ..at this point I have submitted my application to IIBA.org and i suppose im being validated with the 125$ that i paid ..

Custom Search