Business systems analysis is the discovering, analysing, modeling and specification of the logical requirements of a business in order to design and build effective business solutions.

Business systems analysis requires specialised knowledge and skills. The process of identifying and defining business requirements is very different from applying technology to address business requirements.

Participants will gain knowledge of the best techniques and methods for gathering requirements from users and other stakeholders; develop business and data models that describe these requirements and write detailed specifications that provide an accurate blueprint for the designing, building and testing of the proposed system. They will also learn how business systems analysis techniques can be related and integrated using the Architecture Framework to ensure that all the requirements are comprehensively described and correctly defined.

This seminar aims to enable participants to achieve the following objectives:

• Understand the role of the business systems analyst
• Understand the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
• Define the system scope
• Identify system stakeholders
• Create a business case
• Understand and apply The Architecture Framework
• Model the business across all its dimensions: data, activities, locations, people, time and motivation
• Apply information gathering techniques
• Define functional and non-functional business requirements
• Write a business requirements specification

State-of-the-art business systems analysis methods and techniques are transferred by means of short, focused presentations which are followed by experiential learning workshop sessions. In these sessions the knowledge gained is applied to real-world examples and case studies. Rapid learning of the methods and techniques is achieved by means of group work, individual work, participant discussion, facilitator interaction and constructive feedback.

• Improved integration between the business and the information technology department of the organisation
• The correct fit between the requirements of the organisation and information systems that are developed or procured
• Reduced information technology development risk, costs and time overruns
• Improved quality of information technology projects

• Be able to work effectively in a systems development project
• Have the ability to confidently elicit business requirements from business users and other stakeholders
• Be able to identify the essential requirements of the business
• Effectively communicate business requirements to stakeholders

DAY 1

Introduction to Business Systems Analysis

• The role of the business systems analyst
• The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
• The business systems analysis process
• Identifying system users and other stakeholders
• Defining the system scope
• Creating a business case

DAY 2

Modeling the Business

• An introduction to modeling concepts
• The Architecture Framework
• Modeling data requirements
• Business process modeling for business systems analysis

DAY 3

Modeling the Business (Continued)

• Writing and modeling use cases
• Modeling the location dimension
• Modeling organisations, people and roles
• Analysing business and time events
• Discovering and documenting business rules

DAY 4

Gathering Information

• Communication for business systems analysts
• Interviewing methods
• Using questionnaires
• Document analysis and observation
• Workshop facilitation using Joint Application Design (JAD) techniques
• Eliciting and capturing requirements in workshops

DAY 5

Preparing a Business Requirements Specification

• Functional and non-functional requirements
• Writing effective requirements
• Validating requirements
• The content of a business requirements specification