Business Analysis Certification – The Meta Business Analyst

IIBA BABOK vs PMI PBA Guide, What’s the Difference?

Angelo the BA — Sun, 30 Oct 2022 21:18:46 +0000

After getting my certification (CCBA) from the IIBA, I had no intention of jumping ship and doing the BA certification from the PMI group, PMI Professional in Business Analysis. I didn’t want to have to learn a new structure of information if I ever decided to go and get the next level of certification for myself (CBAP). However, I decided to check it out to see how different it really is. Here is my at-a-glance analysis comparison of the two.

1. The big picture structure is generally the same

The IIBA sections business analysis into 6 knowledge areas and the PMI folks basically use the exact same concepts, only they just call them sections and they (rightfully) group some together. Below is the high-level categorization, in the order that they are given the relevant texts.

IIBA Knowledge Areas

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

PMI Sections

Needs Assessment
Business Analysis Planning
Requirements Elicitation and Analysis
Traceability and Monitoring
Solution Evaluation

You can see pretty immediately that they are extremely similar, which is good because that means basically everybody agrees on what business analysis is, and the certifications from the two will include similar data.

2. The Flow of information is completely different

I have a much more intimate understanding of the BABOK because I studied it for my certification exam, and in skimming through the PMI guide I found the flow of information very different. As I think about it, the structure and flow of the information are in accordance with what they have titled their relevant works of literature.

BABOK Flow

The BABOK stands for Business Analysis Body of Knowledge, so the information is very thoroughly sectioned and categorized. For example, each knowledge area is sectioned into Tasks (PMI has roughly the same tasks as well), and each task is sectioned into 4 categories: Inputs, Elements, Outputs, and Techniques. An input for a task might come from an output that actually falls into a later section, therefore you have to jump there to fully understand the input. Techniques are all held in the back of the book, so they just touch on them within the section, you’d have to go back and read more about it. As a result, trying to read it once through will leave a lot of gaps in your understanding. There is a lot of back and forth that has to happen before you can understand everything fully. The order of Knowledge Areas also doesn’t quite follow real life, so it’s a little confusing for a brand-new business analyst. However, the organization and categorization of like information makes it very easy to study for a test.

BA Practitioners Guide Flow

The PMI’s book is called Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide. It’s a guide, so instead of trying to categorize bits of information and section them together, it’s more like a walkthrough from the beginning to the end of an engagement. Meaning, if you are a brand new business analyst, you can start from page one, and use it as a walk-through guide as you progress through your project. The techniques are fully explained as you read along. They even throw in common roadblocks and techniques to handle them. It makes it much easier to visualize the typical business analysis process and how specific outputs are reached. BABOK on the other hand might say here are 5 elements of this task, also here are 6 potential outputs of the tasks leaving you a little confused as to how 3 of the 6 outputs exist because they don’t quite match the 5 tasks. I can’t speak to how to study friendly the PMI guide is, because I haven’t had to study from it, but it definitely seems like an easier reading end-to-end.

Conclusion

The information is roughly the same, the major difference is how the information is organized. In my opinion, the BABOK structure would work so much better as a wiki type of site, where jumping around and digging in where you need to is much more common. The PMI guide would benefit a more green BA who needs guidance and doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to nag other more experienced BA’s for clarifications.

Getting Business Analysis Certification: Passing the Exam Part I

Angelo the BA — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:18:00 +0000

I’ve broken up this quick guide into three parts that I believe will help you cruise through your certification. Including the things I wish I had done better. I did pass, but doing some of these better could have spared me a lot of anxiety during the test.

Hint: Watch the video if you’re too lazy to read, same stuff

Part 1: What You Absolutely Must Know

Memorize the knowledge Areas

I am NOT a memorizer. I am a conceptualizer. I hate memorizing. In school, I always did well by mastering concepts, not memorizing facts. I always felt that if you master a concept, then the facts will fall into place. That was always my philosophy and I had to let it go to pass this exam and I’m glad I did.

The BABOK® Guide organizes its core themes around six knowledge areas: Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring, Elicitation, Requirements Management & Communication, Enterprise Analysis, Requirements Analysis, and Solutions Assessment & Validation. Each has around 4-6 tasks that make up the knowledge area. Each one of those tasks has an…

Input: Stuff you need to start the task
Elements: What you do to complete the task
Output: What the task produces
Recommended Techniques: Different Methods to Complete the Task

You need to memorize all of these, for every task. Seriously. You should be able to recite the 6 knowledge areas, all the tasks in every knowledge area, and the input, elements, outputs, and tasks for each. I know it sounds brutal, but it will save you some serious anxiety on the test.

Personally, I stopped at 6 knowledge areas and tasks. I tried to focus on the conceptual aspect of the actual inputs, elements, and outputs and my punishment for that was having to guess on more questions than I would have liked. You will find lots of answer choices that sound like they could be correct and you won’t be able to distinguish between them unless you have this all memorized.

Next, Know the Techniques

Understanding each of the techniques and how and when they are applied is important. There are a lot of techniques and there will be some that you think you understand better than you actually do. Don’t make that assumption. Read through all of them, understand how they work, and try them all out. Use old notes, data, or whatever, but make an attempt.

Each technique has its own usage that makes sense. Practicing actually using the technique will make it easier to answer questions about the technique.

Organizing the Competencies

The competencies are the easiest to understand on their own because they aren’t specific to business analysis. They are generic competencies for the most part. What’s important is understanding how they are grouped. A good example. “Is teaching considered an interaction skill or communication skill?” Most of us know what teaching is, the important thing to know is how the IIBA sees and categorizes teaching.

For this, you should be able to name all 6 top-level competencies and all the skills within those competencies. Understanding each of them (not memorizing) should be enough because most are things you are probably already familiar with and can easily grasp.

Don’t FORGET! Follow the link to Part 2 below to see exactly how I used the study materials to pass!

Part II: Bench Marking Your Progress >>

Getting Business Analysis Certification: Passing the Exam Part II

Angelo the BA — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:18:00 +0000

Part II: Benchmarking Your Progress

Practice Makes Perfect

The best way to know if you can do something (like passing a test), is actually doing it. In the past, my strategy for taking practice tests was to answer all the questions, then review all the questions with the material to see which I got right or wrong. This time around I tried something different.

I Studied Like A Sprinter!

Well, not really like a running sprinter, but like an agile sprint. Instead of seeing what I got right or wrong, I just checked the score. Of course, it helped that I had an automated test engine (which came with the book) on a CD, so it did the grading for me. My methodology was to read through a section/chapter and then take the section practice test. I did this for every section, and if you just read the section (I also outlined as I read to more actively study) you should do fairly well on the section test. You can either do the automated ones on the CD or use the questions at the end of each chapter. After I got through all the sections, I took the mock exams (50 questions).

This is the study guide I used that had better than awesome practice tests >> CBAP Certification Study Guide w/ Test Engine CD

The study guide I used had 4 mock exams, 2 for the CCBA and 2 for the CBAP. I focused soley on the CBAP exams because they were harder. The first time around I got around 60%, which is terrible, but I used it as my benchmark. I didn’t check any answers so I was never sure which I had gotten right or wrong. Then I would study for 3-7 days and take the other exam. I kept redoing this cycle over and over and my scores started increasing. It was also a way for me to gauge if my study techniques were effective.

My Study Methods

I had two primary study methods. The first was flash cards. I had two sets. I had handwritten note cards for all the terms in the glossary. I preferred to use the definition side, as my question so I could start learning all the BABOK terms, so I could recognize them during the test. My other set was via StudyBlue which is an awesome flashcard site that has apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android. It scores you and tracks your learning progress too. This set grew gradually as I memorized. I used a snowball style. It went kind of like this..

Round 1: Name the 6 Knowledge Areas and 6 Competency Areas (round 1 didn’t take long)
Round 2: Name all the tasks related to knowledge Area
- Front: Knowledge Area
- Back: Related Tasks
Round 3: Recognize the inputs, outputs, techniques, and elements for each task
- Front: Listing of all related items (for example all the inputs of a particular task)
- Back: Task + Type (input, output, technique, or element)

For example, it’s easier to see three items and know that it’s the input for a particular task than it is for me to give you a particular task and you spit out the 3 items. The smart thing to do is start the easy way, then switch to the hard way. I didn’t, and I’m sure I lost a few points on the test because of it.

Every time I got through a batch of cards, I retested myself.

The Weekend Before The Test

Before the test itself, I walked through the entire book again outlining from scratch to get all the relationships, side notes, and so forth fresh in my mind.