Course 108:
Analyzing and Documenting Business Processes

(3 days)

 

Course Description

In these fast-moving times of highly competitive challenges, the business analyst must be prepared to analyze the business itself—not just the software and hardware—to uncover inefficiency, redundancy, and other opportunities to improve the process of delivering a quality product. One of the primary roles of the business analyst is to examine current business processes to determine inefficiencies, ineffectiveness, and the source of business problems. This course addresses the acquisition of information to determine the business process and analytical techniques aimed at defining the business problem, and modeling techniques for diagramming business processes.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify business processes and their components
  • Identify and document the organization’s workflows and processes
  • Diagram the business process in the problem domain
  • Acquire information from the business community that will define the business process and the problems that may exist with that process
  • Analyze the business process to determine problems
  • Document the process to expose inefficiencies and solve problems

Who Should Attend

Business analysts, project managers, and anyone who is responsible for defining the business problem with the business community.

Prerequisites

Attendees should have experience in modeling or use cases prior to attending this course. Experience equivalent to ROI’s Roles, Responsibilities, and Processes of the Business Analyst (Course 103) program is highly recommended.

Course Outline

Unit 1: The Business Process

  • The Business Process in Context
    • Not the Starting Point
    • The Business Model
      • Diagramming the Business Model
      • Business Modeling Notations
    • Defining the Problem Domain
  • Defining the Business Process
    • Business Process Characteristics
    • Example of Business Process
      • Business Process Documentation Notation
      • Workshop: Diagram the Business Process
    • The Notion of Value
    • Achieving Business Value with Process
    • Elements of Process
      • Workshop: Analyzing Process Components

Unit 2: The Event Horizon

  • The Notion of Value
  • Achieve Business Value with Process
  • Identify Scope of the Business Process
  • Organizational Events
    1. Workshop: Determine Organizational Events
  • Events at the Process Boundary
    1. Exercise; Identify Stimulus and Response
  • Event partitioning
    1. Workshop: Determine the Process Events
  • Documenting the Business Process
    • Functional Decomposition
      • Workshop: Creating a Functional Decomposition
    • Basic Process Structure

 Unit 3: Modeling Business Processes

  • Alternative Method
    1. Functional Decomposition
    2. Workshop: Decompose the case study problem
  • Business Process Modeling
    • Purpose
    • When to Do It
    • Example of a Process Model
  • Workflow Diagrams
    • Workflow Diagrams—Level One
    • Workflow Diagrams Decomposed
      • Level 2
      • Data Flow Rules
    • The Full Arc
    • The String of Pearls
      • Workshop: Creating a Workflow Diagram
      • Analyzing Workflow Diagrams
      • Obstacles and Bottlenecks

Unit 4: Initial Workflow Analysis

  • Identify Workflow Patterns
  • Diagraming Concept: The String of Pearls
    1. Basic Workflow Diagrams
    2. Workshop: Perform Initial Workflow Pattern Analysis
  • Notations for Special Situations
    1. Time, Sequence, and Multiple Flows
    2. Workshop: Adding Some Additional Notation
  • Business Object Model
    • Business Object
    • Value Exchange and Flow
    • Abstract Level
    • Specific Level
      • Workshop: Creating the Business Object Model
      • Relating the Business Object Model to Requirements and Design

Unit 5:  Measuring and Analysis

  • Five Levels of Process Measurement
  • Productivity Analysis
    • Using the String of Pearls
    • Workshop: Establish Productivity Measurements
  • Basic Measurement: Intrinsic Measurement
    • Workshop: Define Intrinsic Measurement for Business Process
  • Measure Results
    • Satisfaction Measurements
    • Value Measurements
    • Service Measurements
    • Workshop: Define Satisfaction, Value and Service Measurements

Unit 6: Analyzing the Processes

  • Analysis
    • Purpose of Analysis
    • Standard Analysis Process
    • Divergence
    • Convergence
  • Analysis Techniques
    • Value Analysis
    • Service Quality Indicator
    • RAEW Matrix
      • Organizational Analysis
    • Activity Matrix
      • Stepwise Refinement
    • Looking for Weaknesses
      • Business Impact Analysis
      • Tracking the Travel Time
        • Communication Analysis
      • CSF Analysis
      • Performance Analysis
    • Impact Analysis
      • Organizational Impacts
        • Drivers
        • Customers and Suppliers
      • Process Impacts
        • Adjusting for Impact
        • External Impacts
        • Perimeter Analysis
      • Deriving Business Requirements
        • Business Rules
        • Defining the Problem
        • Flowing Business Process to Functional Requirements
          • Functional Requirements
          • Non-Functional Requirements

Unit 7: The Bottom Line

  • The Business Analyst Process
    • Workshop: Analyzing a Business Process
    • Effecting Change Successfully
  • Where to Go for More Information

Please Contact Your ROI Representative to Discuss Course Tailoring!