Certification in Business Analysis (CBAP)

What is Business Analysis?

Business Analysis is a discipline of understanding an organization, identifying business needs and recommending solutions to meet those needs. It involves understanding how organizations function, who the key stakeholders are and what their relationships are. Business needs stem from customer request, a problem or an issue, a strategic initiative or a market opportunity. A person who performs Business Analysis is called a Business Analyst or a BA. This skill is used very heavily in building systems or software for automation of business operations. As a result, there are various roles like IT Business Analysts, Systems Analysts, etc who perform BA activities.

One of the major causes for project failure is poor quality of business requirements. A BA needs to understand the requirements, document, communicate and get stakeholder agreement; then work with the solution team and validate that the proposed solution will indeed meet the requirements. In order to perform his/her role effectively, a BA needs to have various competencies like facilitation skills, communication skills, leadership and critical thinking, expertise in software applications.

IIBA and BABOK

International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) was founded in 2003 to serve the field of Business Analysis. It is a not for profit professional organization. Currently, they have 100 chapters and over 12,000 members. One of the major contributions of the organization is Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK), a globally recognized standard for the practice of Business Analysis. BABOK describes knowledge areas, tasks, inputs, outputs, techniques and skills required for effective analysis. BABOK 2.0 is the most current version.

CBAP

IIBA has also created CBAP (Certified Business Analysis Professional) designation to recognize experienced professionals. In order to certify, BAs need to meet certain prerequisites, submit a detailed application, and prepare for the certification test based on BABOK and pass in the test.

Why Certify?

In the competitive environment and tough job market of today, a professional certification distinguishes an individual from a pile of other candidates and shows their higher credibility in terms of knowledge and experience. CBAP provides a similar advantage to Business Analysts. A BA with CBAP can establish credibility as a knowledgeable, skilled, experienced and competent professional with strong foundation of principles and practices. Certification can also help in career growth and recognition from the peers. It adds value to the individual as well as to the organization.

Requirements

These are the basic requirements to be eligible for CBAP


Minimum education requirement: High School
Professional Development requirement: 21 hours of professional development - It could be Business Analysis training, CBAP prep test, or any underlying skills like Facilitation, communication, etc.
Experience requirement: This is the most challenging requirement. A candidate must have at least 7500 hours of experience in Business Analysis activities over last 10 years. Out of that, at least 900 hours each should be in four of the six knowledge areas. Six knowledge areas in BABOK are

Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring
Elicitation
Requirements Management and Communication
Enterprise Analysis
Requirements Analysis
Solution Assessment and Validation

References: Two references to indicate that a candidate is suitable for CBAP.
If you are a BA, Systems Analyst, process analyst, enterprise analyst, or business architect, you should consider getting certified as CBAP in order to improve your market value.

Bina Mehta is a Senior Business Analyst certified as CBAP and PMP. For CBAP and PMP prep classes in SF bay area, she recommends http://www.ultimateinsuccess.com/