Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA^®) Foundation to Practitioner Certificate Course

Don’t get left behind…

The Business Analyst (BA) is a critical role within an Agile project team and with more and more organisations adopting Agile approaches, BAs performing this crucial role need to have the necessary skills and expertise. Despite this, there has been little in the way of detailed best practice guidance that directly addresses the role, responsibilities and skills of the Agile Business Analyst.

The guidance is based on the DSDM^® (Dynamic System Development Method) Agile Project Framework, an approach which defines the role of the project-based Business Analyst in relation to business, development and testing roles at all levels. However, the guidance goes deeper, with many generic and popular agile techniques also included.

Key Topics

The courses explore the following content, with the Foundation level focusing on the theory and the Practitioner considering the application of the method to a given scenario:

Agile and the DSDM Agile Project Framework

The agile mindset. The DSDM approach, philosophy and principles. Overview of the DSDM process, roles and products.

Strategy analysis

Gaining a holistic view of the business environment using internal and external analysis. Capturing a clear picture of the value an organisation creates through value chain analysis and Lean thinking. Identifying and measuring the impact of implementing organisational strategies. The agile business case.

Stakeholder collaboration

Working effectively with different stakeholders throughout the DSDM process. Analysing stakeholders. The Agile BA’s role in communication planning. Collaborating effectively using facilitated workshops.

Managing requirements

Working with requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria and story maps. The DSDM approach to managing requirements throughout the project lifecycle. The Agile BA’s role. The lifecycle of a requirement. Requirements elicitation models. Estimating requirements in a DSDM project.

Delivering on time

Exploration of key practices to deliver on time: prioritising requirements, timeboxing and iterative development. Common prioritisation techniques. Activities conducted in timeboxes and useful collaboration techniques such as stand-ups and burn charts. Approaches to iterative development.

Modelling and mapping

Modelling perspectives. Modelling techniques for the Agile BA including business domain models and wireframes.

Note: All content is covered in Foundations. Practitioner focuses on preparing participants for the Practitioner exam and so does not introduce new content.

Objectives

Foundation

The Foundation course provides comprehensive instruction and hands-on practice to embed concepts and techniques presented. This course will enable participants to:

• Adopt an Agile approach and philosophy
• Work in line with DSDM philosophy and principles
• Work effectively with key stakeholders to elicit and manage requirements for incremental solution delivery
• Prepare for and sit the AgileBA Foundation examination

Practitioner

The Practitioner level qualification aims to measure whether the candidate has sufficient knowledge and understanding of the AgileBA guidance to apply and tailor it to a given scenario situation.

The Practitioner course builds on the Foundation course, providing additional depth of understanding. This is achieved through a review of Foundation material, consolidation of concepts and sample exam questions for the Practitioner level certification.

This course fully prepares candidates for the AgileBA Practitioner certification exam.

Please note that the Practitioner course is an exam preparation course and focuses on the application of AgileBA to prepare candidates for the Practitioner exam.

Foundation Certification

The Foundation course includes the AgileBA Foundation exam which consists of:

• 50 multiple choice questions
• 50% pass mark (25/50)
• 40 minutes duration
• Closed book

The Foundation exam addresses knowledge of the terminology of the method and a high-level understanding of the concepts.

The Foundation exam is taken on the afternoon of day 3 of the Foundation course.

Practitioner Certification

The Practitioner course includes the AgileBA Practitioner exam.  Please note a pass in the Foundation exam pass is a prerequisite to sitting the Practitioner exam.

The Practitioner exam consists of:

• Complex multiple choice
• 4 questions per paper with 20 marks available per question
• 40/80 marks required to pass (50%)
• 2.5 hour duration
• Open-book (AgileBA Handbook only)

The Practitioner exam tests knowledge, understanding, application, analysis and evaluation of the method. Please note the exam is taken on the afternoon of the course, and papers sent away for scoring.

The Practitioner exam is taken on the afternoon of the Practitioner course.

The AgileBA Practitioner qualification is valid for 5 years. Practitioners should re-register within 3-5 years of their original certification to demonstrate their commitment to professional development.

APMG International administers the AgileBA examination scheme.