Category Archives: BA Articles

Business Analysts and BA students have been hearing about BABOK® Version 3 for quite some time now.  The biggest question always is: when is it coming out?  Knowing when version three will be published affects the study and certification plans for students.  Is it better to certify with version 2 or wait for version 3 to come out?  It all depends on the student, and the publication date of BABOK® v3.  Today, the IIBA published an article in their newsletter, BA Connection®, that gives us a few clues to this important date.

If you’re considering a career in business analysis, you probably want to know: Do I have to have an IT background to work as a BA? What are the growth areas for business analysis? At a recent IIBA Conference in Geneva, IIBA Founder and former CEO Kathleen Barrett answered these questions.  According to Barrett, the IIBA has identified several growth areas for business analysis—where the jobs are. Some of these jobs are based in IT, while others have a business focus.

Now business analysis practitioners have a set of practices, tools and techniques they can use when working in any agile environment. Developed in collaboration with the Agile Alliance, the Agile Extension to the BABOK® Guide provides guidance on the effective practice of business analysis in an agile context. Agile business analysis is about increasing the delivery of business value to the stakeholders of the project or product being developed.

Big Data is certainly a popular topic these days, with good reason.  With increasing numbers of software tools and the ability to leverage inexpensive computing power, organizations are able to accomplish things that would not have been financially practical just a few years ago.

Jonathan Nituch, Program Coordinator for Sheridan’s Business Analysis certificate has earned a spot contributing blogs to the Calgary Herald’s Business Technology Blog.  “This blog is focused on two topics that are very important to business analysts: business and technology,” explains Jonathan.  “We still see a lot of companies who make changes and implement solutions without analyzing their requirements first.  These companies need to understand the value of business analysis; that is one of the things I plan to talk about in this blog.”