Today the IIBA® announced BABOK® Guide v3 to Education providers.

With Version 3, the world-sourced team sought input from practitioners and employers to continue to provide the “Gold Standard” for Business Analysis. Needs of these groups, included performance improvement skills, strategic thinking and alignment to business goals, further integration with Agile, and increased change management. In addition to a focus on Business Analysis in Information Technology projects and the Agile foundation in version 2, they’ve included full Agile support, Business Process Management, Business Architecture and Business Intelligence for version 3.

Major changes to BABOK® Guide v3 are:

• Elicitation – changed to Elicitation and Collaboration incorporating Communications
• Enterprise Analysis – changed to Strategy Analysis so that it can be used outside of projects.
• Requirements Analysis and Design Definition will incorporate understanding needs and selecting possibilities of those needs
• Solution Evaluation – simplify translation

The full-scale release of BABOK® Guide v3 is scheduled for mid-April, with all edits completed and an exact date to be determined. The process was the most comprehensive in the IIBA®’s history, with input from all corners of the globe, and included ISO-based standards following CSA and ANSI.

The IIBA has not yet determined the new certification processes and levels for the BABOK® Guide v3. We will see an improvement on the mapping of competencies to levels, which will consider not only knowledge and experience, but competency and breadth of experience.

Based on major releases of other certification courses and the feedback from IIBA® it could take up to a year before we see the first exams in the new certification levels. It is for that reason, that we will continue our support of the CBAP® and CCBA® certification preparation course, while incorporating concepts of BABOK® Guide v3 in our basic business analysis courses.

FAQs

Should I get certified now, or wait until version 3 is released?

It will be some time (it could even be a year before the IIBA releases the new certifications. If you are planning to get certified, do it now.

When will BABOK® Guide v3 certification prep courses and exams start running?

The IIBA has promised us notification of 4-6 months before they will start exams on the new certifications. We’ll give you plenty of notice to get studying before the exam.

Will the IIBA continue to run BABOK® Guide v2 certifications?

Yes, the CBAP® and CCBA® certification exams will run until a date nominated by IIBA®. We will have 4-6 months’ notice. In previous versions and in other certifications, the time between new release and exam can take up to a year.

What will the new certifications be?

The IIBA® is still working on the new certification levels. There may be more than the current two, and they may have different names than they currently have.

What happens if I am a CBAP® or CCBA® under the new certification levels?

Certification holders will be moved to a pre-defined certification in the new certification levels.

If I am certified, do I have to re-sit an exam to be certified in BABOK® Guide v3?

No, your current certification will be accepted as long as you meet the other guidelines.

Will I be able to get new certifications under BABOK® Guide v3?

Yes. The IIBA® hinted that you will be able to rise in levels, and/or add certifications based on your experience and competencies.

For more information on BABOK® Guide v3 see https://www.iiba.org/babok-guide.aspx