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Business Analysis Certification
Business Analysis Certification & Standards - October 2009 update
When this page was first published (July 2009) no nationally recognised qualifications or certification process existed in Australia - this is still the case. However, whilst the Australian Business Analysis Association and the International Institute of Business Analysis have been offering qualifications since 2006, several new players have emerged in recent months. This is a list of all the currently known organisations related to business analysis:
See below for an update on the IIBA and ABAA plus snapshots of the new entrants.
The Australian Business Analysis Association (ABAA) www.abaa.org.au
The ABAA was started in 2003 by a group of Canberra and Melbourne based business analysts. They wanted to promote the profession through a not-for-profit, vendor independent, professional association. The ABAA has members across Australia and released the Qualified Business Analysis Practitioner (QBAP) qualification in 2006.
The qualification is evidence based - proof of working as a business analyst for at least 3 years OR 1 year's experience plus a business related tertiary qualification.
A competency framework (the Australian Business Analysis Competency Framework - ABACF) is near to being released and the ABAA is working in co-operation with the IIBA® on this. Expect to see a much closer working relationship between these two organisations in the future.
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The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) www.theiiba.org
Also started in 2003, the IIBA® is a not-for-profit association and has its international headquarters in Toronto, Canada - plus chapters in over 30 countries. The Australian chapter held its inaugural meeting in July 2006. Worldwide the IIBA has over 10,000 members. The main focus of the IIBA has been:
- Publication of the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®)
- Release of the Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP®) qualification
For information on how IRM courses map to the BABOK® see the section below on IRM and certification.
CBAP® was released in 2006 and as of August 2009, the IIBA reports that 763 people hold the qualification, 670 of these in USA/Canada. After this, countries with the most number of certified analysts are Australia (31), New Zealand (17), South Africa (6) and Portugal (5).
To become a CBAP® the IIBA® requires proof of working as a business analyst (minimum 5 years) plus you have to pass a knowledge-based exam. The exam is structured around the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®). For the latest on certification, the application process and fees, visit the IIBA® website.
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Australian Institute of Business Analysis (AIBA) www.businessanalysis.com.au
The AIBA has taken an interesting approach by defining business analysis as a task which is performed at multiple levels of an organisation. They've announced a 9 level competency framework - from entry level and technical requirements analysis through to business analysis being performed at the executive and strategic level.
A brief description appears on the AIBA website and it will be interesting to see more as further details emerge. After all, "analysing the business" is what everyone does at some stage, not just "business analysts". Note that the AIBA is a commercial organisation rather than a not-for-profit one.
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Association of Business Process Management Professionals www.abpmp.org
Founded in 2003, the ABPMP is a non-profit, vendor independent professional organisation dedicated to the advancement of business process management concepts and its practices. Headquartered in Chicago USA, the ABPMP has over 15 chapters (most in the USA) and has an objective to be practitioner-oriented and practitioner-led.
The website offers numerous articles, papers and tutorials plus links to other BPM organisations. In April 2009 the ABPMP announced the release of the Business Process Management Common Body of Knowledge, BPM CBOK® and access to this document is available to members of the association.
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Skills Framework for the Information Age www.sfia.org.uk
This is a UK initiative to provide a common reference model for identification of the skills needed to develop effective Information Systems. It's a two-dimensional framework consisting of areas of work on one axis and levels of responsibility on the other.
The SFIA describes a number of functions (areas of work) making up the systems lifecycle plus tasks within each function. Each task is then graded in skill level from follower (being able to perform the task under supervision) through to strategist (being able to define how the tasks can be modified and/or performed for a particular organisation).
SFIA is not unlike Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning (see Wikipedia definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy). Bloom's Taxonomy is the gospel of educators and course designers, defining learning as being a multi-stage process from having knowledge of a topic through to being able to evaluate and modify what the topic covers.
The strategy behind SFIA is to re-skill the UK for the digital age and it's getting a lot of attention from the UK government. Remember that the UK government, traditionally very forward-thinking, was behind ITIL and PRINCE.
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Business Analysis Maturity Model www.thebamm.org
The BAMM offers a roadmap to measure an organisation's business analysis capabilities. Further information is restricted to members (open to employees of end user organisations).
The BAMM was published in 2006 by Enterprise Agility, a US based professional services organisation. In terms of philosophy, there are a lot of similarities between BAMM and the AIBA in that they both look at business analysis as a function performed across multiple levels of the organisation.
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Australian academic qualifications
Many universities cover some business analysis topics as part of an IT or business degree but none offer a degree specifically in business analysis. The Vocational Education & Training Sector (VET) did offer a Diploma of Business Analysis through TAFE colleges but this was replaced in 2005 by the Diploma of Information Technology (Systems Analysis & Design). This is a more general diploma with only a small business analysis component.
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IRM and certification
IRM, like many other training organisations, is an active supporter of both the ABAA and IIBA®. The ABAA has no formal program with training providers but does provide a list of business analysis trainers on its links webpage.
The IIBA® runs a more formal process called the Endorsed Education Provider (EEP™) program and IRM has been a charter EEP™ since the program started in 2006.
To be included in the EEP™ program, a training provider's course must map to one or more knowledge areas of the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) and one or more areas of the BABOK® Underlying Fundamentals.
The IIBA® reviews the course content and if approved, it becomes an Endorsed Course. It is not a requirement for the course to map to all areas of the BABOK® to be endorsed.
Current IRM endorsed courses are:
Version 2 of the BABOK® was released on 31st March 2009.
To see how IRM courses map to the BABOK® click here.
Before sitting the CBAP® exam, applicants must provide proof of professional development training. All IRM endorsed courses automatically qualify as professional development training.
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Future Directions
The IIBA® plans to introduce a certification for junior business analysts at a future date (initial estimates are 2010). If this could incorporate the ABAA's Competency Framework, there would be the added benefit of locally developed material being included.
None of the other organisations listed above have published details of qualifications but as they do we'll be updating this page and announcing changes through our newsletter. Click here to subscribe
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CBAP® is a registered certification mark owned by International Institute of Business Analysis. This certification mark is used with the express permission of International Institute of Business Analysis.
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