Business Analysis Practice

Overview

This unit aims to build an appreciation of the complex business context in which business analysts operate, and to develop the knowledge and skills required to manage in such contexts. In particular, this involves developing skills and understanding of the challenges of working with multiple stakeholder groups (often involving large numbers of people), working in multi-disciplinary teams, and through leadership and facilitation, help evolve an understanding of the nature of the problem, the desired future state and how that future state might be achieved.

Learning outcomes

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Assessment

Content

• Role and Practices of Business Analysts in contemporary organisational contexts
• Business Analysts as Boundary Practitioners
• Communication in the context of Business Analysis (BA): cross-cultural communication, communication planning
• BA professional practice – understanding relationships and ethical standards critical to the practice of BA
• Interviewing skills
• Methods and tools for BA practice: Focus groups & surveys for requirements elicitation, Rapid Application Development (RAD) and Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions, influencing and negotiation skills
• Business analysis in rapid and agile systems development contexts
• Managing stakeholder expectations
• Alignment of proposed solutions with business strategies & goals, and enterprise architecture
• Managing the change associated with IT innovations
• User experience design
• Design thinking and decision thinking in the context of business analysis