Course · IT & Analysis

Business and Systems Analysis from Scratch

A practical course on the business/systems analyst profession in English: requirement levels and quality (BABOK), elicitation and stakeholders (RACI), process modeling (BPMN), scenarios (use cases, user stories with Given-When-Then), conceptual ER modeling, and specifications (SRS, traceability matrix). Concepts aligned with BABOK.

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Unit 1 — Who the analyst is and why they matter

The bridge between business and the delivery team

6 exercises · The learner can explain in their own words what an analyst does: the bridge who turns business needs into requirements the team can build, while neither deciding for the business nor writing the code.

BA vs SA: where the line is drawn

5 exercises · The learner can distinguish the focus of a business analyst (business need, goals, value) from a systems analyst (system, integrations, data, technical specification) and place adjacent roles around them.

What the analyst is NOT: problem vs solution and common myths

6 exercises · The learner can separate a problem statement from a proposed solution and recognize the limits of the role, debunking myths such as 'the analyst just writes documents' or 'the analyst decides what to build'.

Unit 2 — Requirements: levels and quality

Requirement levels: from business need to system function

6 exercises · The learner can sort requirements into levels: business requirements → stakeholder requirements → solution requirements (functional + non-functional) → transition requirements.

What makes a requirement good

6 exercises · The learner can evaluate a requirement against testable quality characteristics: unambiguous, verifiable/testable, consistent, feasible, atomic, and traceable.

Hunting ambiguity

6 exercises · The learner can find ambiguous and unverifiable wording ('fast', 'user-friendly', 'etc.') in a requirement and rewrite it into a precise, testable statement.

Unit 3 — Elicitation and stakeholders

Choosing an elicitation method for the situation

6 exercises · The learner can match an elicitation method (interview, observation, document analysis, workshop, survey, prototyping) to a given situation and justify the choice.

Stated want vs real need

6 exercises · The learner can tell a stated want from the real underlying need, surface implicit and conflicting requirements, and avoid asking leading questions.

Stakeholder analysis and RACI

6 exercises · The learner can analyze stakeholders on an influence × interest grid and capture responsibility with a RACI matrix that has exactly one Accountable per task.

Unit 4 — Process modeling (BPMN)

The BPMN alphabet: events, tasks, gateways, flows

6 exercises · The learner can recognize and correctly name the basic BPMN elements: events (circles), tasks (rounded rectangles), gateways (diamonds), sequence flows (arrows), and swimlanes (who performs).

Reading and building a process

5 exercises · The learner can read a simple BPMN diagram described in words and arrange the steps of a process into a correct, consistent order with proper branching.

As-is and to-be: what is and what will be

5 exercises · The learner can distinguish an as-is (current state) model from a to-be (future state) model and explain why both are modeled.

Unit 5 — Scenarios and data

Use cases: actor and flows

6 exercises · The learner can write a use case with an actor, preconditions and postconditions, a main success scenario, and at least one alternative flow.

User stories and acceptance criteria (Given-When-Then)

6 exercises · The learner can write a user story in the form 'As a <role>, I want <action>, so that <value>' and add acceptance criteria in Given-When-Then format.

Data basics: entities, relationships, cardinality, keys

6 exercises · The learner can build a conceptual ER model: identify entities and attributes, define relationships with correct cardinality (1:1 / 1:N / M:N), and explain primary and foreign keys.

Unit 6 — Specification and putting the profession together

Specification artifacts: SRS, glossary, traceability

6 exercises · The learner can describe the purpose and structure of the key specification artifacts: the software requirements specification (SRS structure), the glossary, and the requirements traceability matrix.

The analyst in an Agile team

6 exercises · The learner can explain how an analyst works in an Agile team: helping the product owner maintain and order the backlog, splitting and refining stories, and refining requirements iteratively rather than all up front.

End-to-end case: from situation to specification

5 exercises · Given a business situation, the learner can elicit requirements and write a clear specification, then self-check it against the requirement-quality checklist.