BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis (inc exam) Total Learning

This course is suitable for anyone new to business analysis or anyone wishing to understand the role better, but it may be advantageous if you have already completed courses in the Diploma stream and/or have some experience

Photographic identification

When you take your BCS exam, you must have photographic identification with you (passport, driving license, or student card), as it is a BCS requirement to produce it for invigilation prior to the exam. Failure to produce a valid form of photographic identification will result in a candidate not being able to sit the exam. For any questions about what form of identification is acceptable, please contact your account manager.

BCS Reasonable adjustments policy

BCS allow additional time for candidates who have a disability or whose native language differs from that of the examination paper. Full details are provided in the BCS Reasonable Adjustments Policy, which is available to view on the BCS website. If you believe you qualify for this, please notify the Exam Administration Team using the details below as early as possible. At least two weeks' notice will be required for processing this request. Delegates failing to advise QA and provide evidence when requested, may not be permitted the additional support offered via the BCS policy. QA Exam Administration can be contacted by email exam.admin@qa.com or by phone 44(0) 1793 696162.

The BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis Syllabus V4.0 is the latest version of the course. At the end of this course, learners will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of business analysis concepts, principles, and techniques in the following areas:

• What is business analysis
• The competencies of a business analyst
• The strategic context for business analysis
• The business analysis service framework
• Investigating the business situation
• Analysing and managing stakeholders
• Improving business services and processes
• Defining the solution
• Making the business case
• Establishing the requirements
• Documenting and modelling requirements
• Validating and managing requirements
• Delivering the requirements
• Delivering the business solution

This Total Learning course consists of three key stages, all explained during a 1-hour virtual kick off session, which includes a Q&A session:

1. Digital stage – up to 25 hours completed over a minimum of four weeks
2. Live event – 2 days
3. Exam – 1-hour multiple-choice BCS exam

Digital stage

The Digital Learning is valid for 3 months from the date of the kick off session

During the Digital stage, learners will work through online content exploring the complete BCS syllabus for the Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis through a series of modules.

The Digital content follows a linear approach, going through the various services business analysts can provide to organisations and the models, tools, and techniques they can apply to deliver those services. Learners will hear from experts and go through examples to gain a better understanding of how to apply these models and techniques in the workplace. They will also have opportunities to check their knowledge as well as practise answering exam questions.

The Digital stage includes:

Module 1: What is business analysis?

• State what business analysis seeks to do
• Explain the business change lifecycle and the role of the BA in the phases of the lifecycle
• Describe the business analysts’ role and the scope of business analysis work
• Describe briefly how business analysis differs in linear and Agile work environments
• Take a holistic approach to identifying business problems
• Identify variants of the BA role
• Recognise business analysis principles

Module 2: Competencies of a business analyst

• Explain the concept of the t-shaped professional
• Identify the different competencies you need to develop to become a successful BA

Module 3: The strategic context for business analysis

• Recognise the importance of understanding the strategic context
• Apply different techniques such as PESTLE and VMOST to analyse the internal and external environment for an organisation
• Apply different techniques to measure performance of a strategy
• Apply different techniques to execute a strategy

Module 4: The Business Analysis Services Framework (BASF)

• Identify the services suggested by the Business Analysis Services Framework
• Describe the objectives of all the services suggested by the BASF

Module 5: Investigating the business situation

• Recognise the importance of investigating business situations
• Apply different techniques such as workshops, observation, interviews, scenarios, prototyping, user role analysis, surveys, and sampling to investigate the business situation
• Document findings of the investigations using techniques such as rich pictures and mind maps

Module 6: Analysing and managing stakeholders

• Recognise the importance of analysing and managing stakeholders
• Identify different categories of stakeholders
• Apply different techniques to manage stakeholders

Module 7: Improving business services and processes

• Identify the three levels of the business process hierarchy
• Model the process/es at each of the three levels through different approaches or techniques
• Analyse the ‘as-is’ business process to identify problems and gaps
• Identify generic approaches to improve business processes

Module 8: Defining the solution

• Analyse various elements of the business to identify gaps in the ‘as-is’ processes
• List requirements that are necessary to fix the gaps
• Apply different techniques to formulate options for change that can help take the business to the ‘to-be’ state

Module 9: Making the business case

• Define the structure and contents of a business case
• Assess the feasibility of options and identify costs and benefits
• Assess risks and impact of options
• Identify investment appraisal techniques that help understand and present the financial implication of options

Module 10: Establishing the requirements

• Recognise the importance of establishing requirements
• Identify various stages of the requirements engineering framework
• Elicit requirements from different stakeholders by applying appropriate techniques
• Refine and create ‘good’ requirements

Module 11: Documenting and modelling requirements

• Recognise the importance of documentation
• Apply different documentation techniques as appropriate to the project context and approach

Module 12: Validating and managing requirements

• Validate requirements with business stakeholders in both linear and Agile project approaches

Module 13: Delivering requirements

• Work with different approaches to deliver requirements
• Identify the advantages and disadvantages of different delivery lifecycles

Module 14: Delivering the solution

• Identify how you can contribute through the different stages of the business change lifecycle
• Support a business with change implementation
• Create a benefits plan and a benefits dependency network

Exam preparation - Live event

During the 2-day virtual Live event, learners will work individually and in teams to consolidate the BCS Business Analysis Foundation Certificate theory through practical, exam-focused activities. The facilitator will use Miro to create a digital workspace environment, enabling a collaborative and interactive learning experience.

Live Day 1:

• Introductions
• Mock exam
• Read case study
• Reflect on key learning topics
• Individual and group activities to apply techniques covered across modules 1-7
• Modules 1-7 sample exam paper and review

Live Day 2:

• Read case study
• Reflect on key learning topics
• Individual and group activities to apply techniques covered across modules 8-14
• Modules 8-14 Sample exam paper and review
• Seek clarifications from trainer

Exam

After the Live phase, learners will progress on to the BCS Business Analysis Foundation Certificate exam. You will receive an exam voucher which will allow you to book the exam yourself with QuestionMark at a time convenient to you after the Live event.

• The exam is a 1-hour closed-book exam with 40 multiple-choice questions.
• The pass mark is 65% (26/40).