ÿþ<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head> <title>IRM Newsletter v2i9</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-uk"> </head> <body> <div align=center> <table width=600 align=center cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0> <tr> <td> <font face=arial color=#bbbbbb size=2> You are receiving this newsletter because this email address was subscribed to our mailing list. Having trouble reading this email? View it on our <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/newsletters.htm"><font color=#aaaaaa>website</a>.</font></font><br><br> </td> </tr> </table> <table width=600 align=center border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0> <tr> <td align=center bgcolor=#ff9933> <a href="http://www.irm.com.au" title="IRM Home Page" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.irm.com.au/picts/logonews.jpg" width=600 height=70 border=0></a><br> <font face=verdana size=2> <b>NEWSLETTER - Vol 2, Issue 9 - February 2009</b></font> </td> </tr> </table> <table width=600 align=center border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=8> <tr> <td width=200 valign=top bgcolor=#dddddd> <center><hr color="#ffffff" width="100%"/></center> <font face=arial size=2> <b>In this edition:</b><br><br> What are the most popular BA techniques?<br><br> Precision Administration Services invests in staff training using IRM courses<br><br> New IRM paper - Golden Rules for Business Analysts<br><br> New IIBA endorsed courses<br><br> Stakeholder Partnerships - new course dates<br><br> Business analysis news roundup<br><br> <center><hr color="#ffffff" width="100%"/></center> <br><b>Course Dates & Bookings:</b><br></font> <font face=arial size=2> Just click on your city for dates, prices and online booking:<br><br> <center> <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/brisbane.php" title="Brisbane course dates & booking" target="_blank"> <img src="http://www.irm.com.au/picts/but_bri_off.jpg" width=160 height=31 border=0></a><br><br> <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/canberra.php" title="Canberra course dates & booking" target="_blank"> <img src="http://www.irm.com.au/picts/but_can_off.jpg" width=160 height=31 border=0></a><br><br> <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/melbourne.php" title="Melbourne course dates & booking" target="_blank"> <img src="http://www.irm.com.au/picts/but_mel_off.jpg" width=160 height=31 border=0></a><br><br> <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/newcastle.php" title="Newcastle course dates & booking" target="_blank"> <img src="http://www.irm.com.au/picts/but_new_off.jpg" width=160 height=31 border=0></a><br><br> <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/sydney.php" title="Sydney course dates & booking" target="_blank"> <img src="http://www.irm.com.au/picts/but_syd_off.jpg" width=160 height=31 border=0></a><br><br> <hr color="#ffffff" width="100%"/></center></font> <br> <font face=arial size=2> <b>Need group training?<br></b> <a href="mailto:training@irm.com.au" title="Contact IRM">Contact us</a> for competitive in-house rates. In-house courses can be run anywhere in Australia and the Asia/Pacific region - and no computers are required in the training room which keeps costs down. If space is limited, we can also organise an external venue for you. </font><br><br> <hr color="#ffffff" width="100%"/> <br> <center> <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/business_analysis_papers.htm" title="Business Analysis White Papers" target="_blank"> <img src="http://www.irm.com.au/picts/newswhitepaper.jpg" alt="White Papers for Business Analysts" width=180 height=80 border=0></a></center><br> <hr color="#ffffff" width="100%"/> <br> <font face=arial size=2> <b>Newsletter Editor:</b><br> <a href="mailto:editor@irm.com.au" title="Newsletter feedback" target="_blank">Jan Kusiak</a><br>Training Services Manager </font><br><br> <hr color="#ffffff" width="100%"/> <br> <center> <img src="http://www.irm.com.au/picts/iiba_eep2news.jpg" alt="IIBA Endorsed Education Provider" width=180 height=32 border=0></center><br> <hr color="#ffffff" width="100%"/> <br> <font face=arial size=2> IRM Training Pty Ltd<br> 209/620 St Kilda Road<br> Melbourne, VIC 3004<br> Australia<br> ACN 007 219 589<br> Tel: +61 3 9533 2300<br> Fax: +61 3 9533 2400<br> <a href="mailto:training@irm.com.au" title="IRM email" target="_blank">training@irm.com.au</a><br> <a href="http://www.irm.com.au" title="IRM website" target="_blank">www.irm.com.au</a><br><br> ©2009 IRM Training </font> </td> <td width=400 valign="top"> <font face=arial size=3> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> <b><i>What are the most popular BA techniques?</b></i> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center></font> <font face=arial size=2> Do you know which methodology analysts have the most experience using? How about diagramming techniques? A recent survey of over 1,100 business analysts (68% with over 5 years experience) gave some interesting results.<br><br> When it comes to software development methodologies, 68% said they had experience with waterfall development, 46% said iterative whilst object-oriented (44%) and agile (34%) also rated highly.<br><br> Assuming that many of these analysts would be working for large organisations - with mainframe systems - it s not surprising to see waterfall so widely represented. We can also conclude that analysts need to work on a variety of different applications - iterative, OO and agile being very common on web services and client/server projects.<br><br> Interestingly, disciplines like ITIL and Six Sigma, which have received lots of press recently, only rated 20% and 17% respectively.<br><br> Whilst the most regularly used diagramming technique was flowcharting (63%), when it comes to formal diagramming techniques, use case led the way (55%) followed by data flow diagrams (42%), activity diagrams (38%) and context diagrams (34%). Entity relationship diagrams were still widely used (30%) and  new kid on the block BPMN came in at 13%.<br><br> Note that Business Process Management (BPM) scored highly in the methodologies section (52%) but didn t show a correspondingly high result for BPMN usage. Perhaps this indicated that BPM was interpreted as a generic term covering methodology, software products and general process improvement?<br><br> For requirements gathering, 67% said interviewing was the most frequently used method. Requirements workshops came in at 45% and JAD sessions 34%.<br><br> The survey showed there were a bewildering range of tools, techniques and methodologies in widespread use. Probably too many for the poor analyst to master. As always, it comes down to the old saying - it s not what you know it s how you use it!! <br><br> </font> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> <font face=arial size=3> <b><i>Precision Administration Services invests in staff training using IRM courses</b></i> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center></font> <font face=arial size=2> One company defying the financial doom and gloom of the last 6 months is Precision Administration Services, provider of Administration and IT services to one of Australia s top 10 superannuation funds - Sunsuper. <br><br> Precision Administration Services wanted a uniform standard for documenting business requirements and selected IRM to deliver its <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/uml_training.htm" target="_blank">Modelling Requirements with Use Case & the UML</a> workshop to 70+ business analysts and account managers. From start to finish the training program spanned only 5 months. It consisted of practical, case-study driven workshops and enabled a company-wide change in how new system enhancements were captured, documented and communicated to stakeholders, business users and technical staff. <br><br> To quote Claudia Lajeunesse the Business Analyst Team Manager who attended one of the workshops:<i>  The Workshops provided an excellent foundation for business requirement documentation that is concise and consistent for all stakeholders. </i> <br><br> Tom Ives, IT Development Manager, also attended one of the workshops and said it provided a <i> ..good background for interacting with our business analysts ,</i> <br><br> At a time when the newspapers are full of cost-cutting, job layoffs and financial uncertainty, it s encouraging to see a company investing in its staff and its future through the up-skilling of its workforce. <br><br> </font> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> <font face=arial size=3> <b><i>New IRM paper - Golden Rules for Business Analysts</b></i> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center></font> <font face=arial size=2> Like all professions, business analysis has its golden rules  rules that are fundamental to the design of successful business systems. They might seem like common sense but it s surprising how often we forget them and get ourselves into hot water... <br> <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/papers/Golden_Rules_for_Business_Analysts.PDF" target="_blank">read full paper</a> <br><br> </font> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> <font face=arial size=3> <b><i>New IIBA endorsed courses</b></i> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center></font> <font face=arial size=2> We're pleased to announce that the following IRM courses have recently been endorsed by the <a href="http://www.theiiba.org" target="_blank">IIBA</a>: <br><br> * <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/problem_solving_training.htm" target="_blank">Analysing & Solving Problems</a><br> * <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/uml_training.htm" target="_blank">Modelling Requirements with Use Case & the UML</a><br> * <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/successful_stakeholder_partnerships.htm" target="_blank">Successful Stakeholder Partnerships</a><br><br> For course codes and CDU rating click on the course. <br><br> </font> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> <font face=arial size=3> <b><i>Stakeholder Partnerships - new course dates</b></i> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> <font face=arial size=2> How do you find out what your stakeholders really want  what s their top priority? Requirements gathering will spell out what business functionality is required but projects need more than this to succeed. <br><br> Stakeholders will expect you to look out for their interests, to alert therm in advance of potential problems, to pro-actively seek new and innovative solutions. In short they want a relationship of trust with their business analyst, project manager and project team. <br><br> In this 1-day workshop, you ll learn how to build a value network and use a Partnership Scorecard to measure your stakeholder s expectations. You ll minimise the ambiguity in relationships, put metrics on these  soft deliverables and give your next project the maximum chance of success. <br><br> Presented by Dr. Laurie Lock Lee one of the leading exponents of Value Network Analysis, this interactive, scenario- based workshop costs $825 inc. GST and is scheduled for: <br><br> Melbourne - April 16 - <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/melbourne.php" target="_blank">book online</a><br> Canberra - April 28 - <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/canberra.php" target="_blank">book online</a><br> Sydney - April 30 - <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/sydney.php" target="_blank">book online</a> <br><br> Or click <a href="http://www.irm.com.au/successful_stakeholder_partnerships.htm" target="_blank">here</a> for the full workshop description. <br><br> </font> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> <font face=arial size=3> <b><i>Business analysis news roundup</b></i> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> <font face=arial size=2> * Conference dates for <a href="http://www.businessanalystworld.com/" target="_blank">Business Analyst World 2009</a> have now been announced:<br><br> Sydney: <i>6-7 July</i><br> Melbourne: <i>13-14 July</i><br> Canberra: <i>21-22 September</i><br> Perth: <i>28-29 September</i><br> Brisbane: <i>5-6 October</i><br><br> Presentations, panel discussions and networking sessions covering a variety of business analysis topics. Agenda will be published on the <a href="http://www.businessanalystworld.com/" target="_blank">BAW website</a> in the next month or so. Well worth a visit. <br><br> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> * The <a href="http://www.theiiba.org" target="_blank">International Institute of Business Analysis</a> celebrated its 5th anniversary in October 2008 and announced that global membership exceeds 7,000 in 60 countries. <br><br> <i>Upcoming IIBA events:</i> <br><br> - Melbourne, 5.40pm 23rd March. Presentation "Agile Business Analysis".<br><br> Further details on the <a href="http://www.theiiba.org" target="_blank">IIBA website</a>. <br><br> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> * The <a href="http://www.abaa.org.au" target="_blank">Australian Business Analysis Association</a> announces availability of the <a href="http://www.abaa.org.au/cms/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=48" target="_blank">BA Competency Framework V1.0</a> with an invitation for comment and discussion on the ABAA forums. <br><br> <i>Upcoming ABAA events:</i> <br><br> - Adelaide, 6pm 25th February. Open Session.<br><br> - Canberra, 5pm 26th February. Presentation "The wild & wide world of Business Analysis".<br><br> - Melbourne, 6.30pm 3rd March. Open Session.<br><br> Further details on the <a href="http://www.abaa.org.au" target="_blank">ABAA website</a>.<br><br> </font> <center><hr color="#4775CB" width="100%"/></center> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </body> </html>