You have a great idea you believe will improve your business. In order to make your idea a reality, you may be asked to write a business case that clearly articulates what you want to accomplish, how you're going to do it, and why it's worth doing. Business cases are traditionally used in approval and prioritization processes. They can also be used to measure the results of an initiative. In this course, join Mike Figliuolo as he explains step-by-step how to craft a compelling business case for your stakeholders. Mike covers how to define the problem your plan addresses, communicate your idea's benefits, build the financial projections to support your case, create a robust risk assessment, and more.

Learning objectives

• Define the structure and uses of a business case.
• Write effective executive summaries.
• Explain the components of a problem definition.
• Describe how to articulate the benefits of an idea.
• Estimate financial results and identify measurements of success.
• Describe how to outline risks and opportunities.
• Create milestones.

In this learning path, you can learn all the skills to gather, document, and analyze business needs and requirements and become a successful business analyst.

Develop basic business analyst skills required for this role.

Demonstrate technical skills to execute effectively.

Build leadership and communication skills to excel and advance.

One of the main reasons given for unsuccessful project results is the lack of clear understanding of stakeholder requirements. Business analysis helps to prevent project failure by identifying and validating those requirements early on. Of course, business analysis doesn’t stop with requirements; business analysts also recommend solutions and facilitate their execution. This course provides an introduction to the foundations of business analysis. It helps demystify the role of the business analyst (BA), and outlines the knowledge and skills required to build a successful BA career. Instructor Greta Blash also provides an in-depth review of the business analysis process, from conducting a needs assessment and identifying stakeholders to testing, validation, and release. Each lesson demonstrates why business analysis works—and how you can use it to improve your organization.

In a business environment where complexity and change are the norm, business analysts and project managers can collaborate together to get more successful results and better business outcomes. If you're a PM or BA, this course will help you understand what great collaboration looks like. Explore exactly what each role entails, and what the ideal partnership can achieve. Discover how BAs and PMs can collaborate at each stage of a project, from scope management and project planning to implementation. Then find out where the roles and responsibilities overlap, and learn how to coordinate on these tasks to enhance communication, reduce risk, engage stakeholders, and more effectively respond to change requests.

When you're trying to grapple with user demands and market changes, it can be difficult to mentally zoom out and assess your organization's operations. Business process modeling helps you see the big picture by allowing you to translate your business processes into easily understood pictures. In this course, instructor Haydn Thomas walks you through the most widely used business process modeling diagrams—context, functional flow, cross-functional flow, and flowchart—and explains the purpose of each one. As Haydn touches on each modeling technique, he shares its unique features, explains how to use that technique to create a diagram, and points out how to avoid common pitfalls. He pulls it all together by comparing process diagrams so you can select the right one for your organization.

Interviews can be an effective component in identifying requirements during project planning, and help business analysts and project managers understand the project from the user's point of view. This course covers interview techniques that can help build relationships with project stakeholders and obtain accurate information about project needs. Author Angela Wick helps you identify when to use interviews, who to interview, and how to plan, conduct, and follow up on interviews.