The Certified Business Analyst Professional

Course content

Download PDF File

Why Attend

In today’s competitive environment, professional analysts who possess critical analytical thinking skills are a major asset for any organization. These skills involve deductive reasoning, drawing conclusions from given facts, and applying judgments to reach conclusions from a combination of evidence and assumptions. Participants in this course will learn fundamental thinking processes that can be used to analyze and solve a wide variety of business problems giving them a powerful career advantage.

Course Methodology

This course relies on the use of an interactive case study, developed specifically for this course, to demonstrate the different components of effective problem solving and successful analytical thinking. In addition to the customized case, this course utilizes individual debriefs, group discussions, role playing, and presentations.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Defend the value of research and analytics in a business environment
Apply strategic thinking to analyze their current business environment
Structure a problem and break it down into smaller independent issues
Create a work plan that prioritizes resources and focuses team efforts
Identify the right sources for data through research and expert interviews
Analyze and interpret complex data
Create and customize pivot tables to analyze data efficiently
Build structured arguments to communicate findings
Develop a structured story to present to leadership
Present findings to team members and senior leadership

Target Audience

New and advanced analysts and project managers who are involved in researching, analyzing and investigating business problems and issues related to their organization.

Course Outline

Overview of the role of the business analyst
- The business analyst’s scope of work
- Business analysts as internal consultants
- Active data gathering
- Overview of problem solving approaches
- Generating creative solutions
- Intelligence versus creativity
- Effective decision making
- Choosing between alternatives
Thinking strategically
- An overview of strategic thinking
- The three big strategic questions
- Key elements of a successful strategy
- Strategy and the quest for competitive advantage
- The importance of strategy
- The 5 Cs of strategic analysis
- Porter's 5 forces impact Potential Industry Earnings (PIE)
- Creating and capturing value
- Conducting SWOT analysis
- Fundamentals of PEDESTL framework
Structuring problems
- The importance of structuring problems
- Defining the right issue
- Using the issue statement
- Dividing issues into manageable parts
- The use of logic trees in problem-solving
- Prioritizing and planning
- The importance of prioritizing work
- Eliminating non-essential issues
- Using the 80:20 rule
- Prioritization methodologies
- Using the prioritization matrix
- Developing practical project plans
- Building an effective work plan

Communicating and presenting

Turning data into findings
Building effective arguments
Communicating findings by telling a 'story'
Story telling elements
Designing powerful presentations
Presenting to senior management

The Certified Business Analyst Professional

Course Date

Course content

Why Attend

Course Methodology

Course Objectives

Target Audience

Course Outline

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Georgia