Archive for the 'Accreditation' Category

I’m A BA, don’t put me “in a box”

Published by
Maria Murphy
at 14 February, 2008 in Accreditation, Business analyst and business analysis. 6 Comments

 

As a BA community we need to come together and start promoting our frameworks, our methodologies, our approaches in order to shape the future of the profession rather than worrying about defining our role. We should define the scope of what is business analysis as a discipline. Once we achieve this end, this will empower us to look at what the discipline offers in the way of frameworks and tools to interested practitioners, as the specialists in this field.

Organizations representing Business Analysts are looking to certification or accreditation as a way of defining the role and bringing in some level of standardization in order to decrease ambiguity in the marketplace. There has also been a lot of debate about the role vs the discipline of business analysis. Garrett cautions that if we go down the track of defining the role we inevitably threaten someone’s sense of identity. If the Business Analyst’s role differs from the organization’s job description, then does it follow that they are not Business Analysts?

Alternatively, we could argue that whatever the discipline of business analysis is, it follows that those who are specialists in this field are Business Analysts. Although this has the potential for the BA to be “boxed in” may result in Business Analysts having little influence or control over important aspects of projects, where Business Analyst competencies and capabilities are of great value and adding strategic value to organization goals and objectives for process improvement.

As a Business Analyst I’m more often involved at a strategic level. Rather than my involvement with projects ending with the delivery of requirements, I’m utilized throughout the project: I bridge the gap between the business and the technology team; review processes and operations; as well as investigating and advising on the project’s impact and dependencies on other systems and programs initiatives across the enterprise.

All this activity means my role is not easily defined. This is not because I’m trying to be all things to all people (the Project Manager, the Business Analyst and the Systems Architect) or take over another project team member’s role, its more a reflection of the discipline of analysis being increasingly seen as a core capability and that the frameworks and tools used for analysis can be drawn upon for expertise throughout the life of the project and through all the programs across the enterprise.

In short, as a Business Analyst I do lots of things. Don’t put me in a box or label me and don’t predefine what I do … it limits the possibilities for my involvement to add value within projects, between projects, across programs and across the enterprise.

Ultimately, the definition, role, responsibility, and the future of Business Analysis will be determined not by us but by organizations that will base their decisions on their resourcing needs. It is therefore up to us as a Business Analysis Community to continue to promote what we do and how we do it and share our knowledge, understanding and expertise within the community. By doing this as a community we can go out to organizations and showcase the capabilities and competencies of business analysis. This will show the value of the discipline regardless of the role within the organization. Instead of prescribing what a Business Analyst is or isn’t, let’s talk about our frameworks, our theories and what tools are out there to get the job done.

Requirements for Accreditation

Published by
Maria Murphy
at 23 July, 2007 in Accreditation. 3 Comments

 

A friend of mine, Matt, recently blogged about accreditation in the web development sphere and that he has seen accreditation used to:

“define what we do, clarifying and differentiation the different roles within web development, and determining measures for what constitutes a good practitioner and a mediocre one. I’ve seen a lot of discussion about accreditation and certification that is purely academic — a search for identity amongst a wide range of other analyst fields. Some of it is political — the fight control for dominance amongst peers in the community’s space. I’ve also seen that a lot of it is about business and making money”.

Matt prompts us to view accreditation as part of a life long learning process rather than just the pursuit of a “piece of paper” stamped with “version3 “. This is an important point. Accreditation must involve the combination of recognising formal teritary studies as well as experience and relevant course work.

I wrote about accreditation recently so I thought I’d follow up with a comparison of the requirements for accreditation for the two groups I mentioned ABAA and IIBA.

The requirements for ABAA Base Competency Accreditation of “Qualified Business Analysis Practitioner” are as follows:

  • A tertiary qualification from a recognised institution comprising at least four units of Business subjects, and one year of experience in undertaking business analysis tasks, as demonstrated by the candidate’s resume and supporting references or referees; OR

  • Three years’ continuous experience in undertaking business analysis tasks as demonstrated by the candidate’s resume and supporting references or referees.
  • Evidence submitted in support of the assessment request shall comprise the following credentials:
  • A certified copy of the tertiary qualification claimed accompanied by an academic transcript, where assessment is sought through recognition of academic qualifications; and
  • A detailed resume of the applicant including referee contact details for all roles claimed in support of the candidate’s business analysis experience; and
  • Written references from at least two people with whom the applicant has worked (preferably supervisors) identifying their relationship with the candidate and vouching for the experience and tasks completed, as claimed in the candidate’s resume.

The IIBA – Certified Business Analysis Professional requirements for accreditation include:

 

  • Five years (7,500 hours) business analysis work in the last ten years engaged in tasks specifically related to the knowledge areas as defined within the BABOKTM (Business Analyst Body of Knowledge).
  • Demonstrate experience and expertise in at least four of the six knowledge areas in the BABOKTM.
  • Minimum high school education.
  • 21 hours of professional development in the last four years directly related to business analysis or the underlying fundamentals.
  • Two references.
  • Sit and pass the CBAP exam.

The IIBA requirements may be seen are far more stringent (due to the formal examination process and knowledge structure provided through defined areas in the BABOKTM) and may therefore be held in higher regard. The ABAA as an organisation is relatively new but is growing and is still worth considering as it may provide the local contact and regular forums to share ideas and build the profession.

Accreditation for BAs

Published by
Maria Murphy
at 11 July, 2007 in Accreditation. 2 Comments

My BA team is currently looking into accreditation. The problem is that accreditation with either the ABAA or the IIBA organisations does not seem to carry the same weight or importance as the PMI (Project Management Institute) or other similar professional bodies.

Also, to date there has not been demand from our clients for professional association membership or certification. Therefore, we are asking ourselves the question - What is the benefit in joining one of these groups? Is it just the networking opportunity or is there a professional development component? Is accreditation a source of differentiation?

I believe that accreditation for BAs is important and worth considering as it will help to develop standards for the group as a profession. When ABAA President Peter Gibbins announced the new accreditation program he stated that “Business analysis is now a critical element of all business improvement projects, ranging from identifying the requirements sought by the change, the business processes affected or to be developed, and commercial impact of the project. There is strong demand for business analysts and, indeed, a shortage of highly skilled professionals yet there is very little objective information to guide either employers or the analysts themselves as to what a baseline level of business analysis competence might comprise”.

Risk mitigation may be seen as one of the main benefits of accreditation. If someone is certified then the client or employer may have a certain level of comfort in the knowledge that the consultant or candidate has reached a certain level of expertise and experience that has been checked by an independent body.

Our team decided that BA membership and subsequent accreditation is worth investigating. We will probably only get out of it what we are willing to put into it. Whilst certification may be of limited value (as clients do not require or demand it of their BAs) this status may change and grow over time. Accreditation (and membership) would give us as BAs , access to a greater body of knowledge through Internet forums, publications, training seminars and the opportunity to network at chapter meetings.