Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis

“In Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis, Barb Carkenord has gone beyond what we discuss in the BABOK™ to address the real challenges business analysts face in the workplace. Those analysis techniques that most other books spend all of their space on are in here, but they are discussed only after looking at the needs of the stakeholders, the project, and the business and technical environment, as should be the case. If a solution isn’t right for a business, it doesn’t matter how well drawn the pictures are. I wish this book had been available years ago, but I’m glad that BAs have the opportunity to benefit from it today.”


—Kevin Brennan, CBAP, Vice President, Body of Knowledge, 

International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA™)


About the Item:

Business analysis is the fastest growing field in business today and the role of the business analyst is both strategic and tactical. At the strategic level, the focus is on understanding the needs of the business as a whole, its strategic direction, and identifying initiatives that will enable the business to meet its goals. At the tactical level, the discipline originally emerged from work previously done by project managers, such as gathering high level business requirements, and work done by systems analysts, such as designing functional requirements for software behavior. 


Early works on business analysis suggest that use of specific diagrams, possessing a technical background or being a strong facilitator is what makes a successful business analyst. Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis advances the field by illustrating how all of these factors combined, along with many others, are the key to success. This book gives insight into the ideal skills and characteristics of successful business analysts and provides a foundation of learning for effecting business analysis work. This guide will also help prepare you for business analysis certification by explaining the tasks and knowledge areas in the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK™). 


Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis will help build the skill sets of new and experienced analysts, and those currently doing analysis work including project managers, system analysts, product managers and business development professionals. Human resource professionals who are working to establish business analysis job descriptions and career paths in their organizations and executives who may have responsibility for managing and evaluating the success of business analysts will also find this book useful.







Key Features:

Provides a “how to” approach to business analysis work for those entering the profession and for those wishing to reach a higher level of success
Presents detailed explanations of business analysis tasks, strategies and techniques, including examples of successful and less-than-successful project situations from which to learn
Covers the tasks and knowledge areas for the 2008 v2.0 of the IIBA BABOK and helps prepare business analysts for the CBAP™ certification exam
Explains the business analysis fundamental concepts and terms for the new analyst in language they can understand
WAV offers free downloadable business analysis white papers and business analysis planning templates that can be customized to fit each organization’s needs — available for the Web Added Value™ Download Resource Center at www.jrosspub.com