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The Next Generation of Business Analysis Education

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Become A High-Performing Business Analyst and Get on Track for Your CBAP Certification.

BAPC™ is a 10-week accelerated program designed to give you the business analysis skills you need to deliver high-quality digital products in enterprise environments.

You will also earn 40 PD/CDUs to help you qualify to take the CBAP certification exam or to help you renew your current CBAP certification.

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INTEGRATED LEARNING

Using A Truly Holistic Approach

The core business analysis skillset is made up of a collection of analysis techniques that all work together seamlessly to help the analyst deliver a single cohesive vision of the future state solution.

Most training programs teach a disparate set of arbitrarily selected analysis techniques that fail to produce quality results.

Your process maps form the starting point for your requirements, and your requirements are elaborated through your specifications to support the needs of all your stakeholders.

This is holistic business analysis.

IN DEMAND SKILLS

Backed By Latest Industry Standards

The BAPC™ curriculum is fully aligned with the tools, techniques, and perspectives cataloged across the 6 areas of the BA Body of Knowledge from the IIBA. The successful completion of this course awards you 40 PD/CDU credits toward your CBAP certification/re-certification.

The BABOK V3 currently contains the most comprehensive catalog of the standard tools and techniques that business analysts can learn and deploy to help their companies overcome the business transformation challenges they experience.

This course will teach you how to operationalize the key elements of the BABOK V3.

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LEARNING BY DOING

Using Enterprise Class Tools

Real-world challenges require real-world tools.

You will receive access to the industry-dominant enterprise-class tools that most organizations use in their day-to-day operations.

You will use these tools to, document your requirements (MS Word), build your visual models (MS Visio), construct your product backlog (MS Azure DevOps Boards), and centrally store/organize all your deliverables (MS SharePoint & Azure Boards).

What Our Students Are Saying

I came across the BA Blocks community and decided after a while to take Emal’s Business Requirements and Functional Specifications course. I am glad that I did.

The quality of Emal's teaching and his dedication to his students is amazing. By the end of the first day, I had actionable insights that I could take to the workplace. The depth of Emal’s experience and his obvious passion for teaching makes him a gifted teacher.

I really enjoyed this course and learned a huge amount about my profession. You should try it too.

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Jeremie F.
Business Analyst, Australia

Already CBAP certified and having attended several professional development courses/programs, I was looking to upscale my existing business analysis skillset and knowledge to take me to the next level.

After wading through many options, I stumbled across BA Blocks, there was something different about it.  Almost immediately what was different became glaringly obvious, this wasn’t just a business seeking to maximize profit, this was a passionate, highly skilled trainer and BA practitioner, who was a master at business analysis.

In addition to this and much to my surprise was also a caring, very ethical, and passionate mentor, who walked the walk right alongside his students helping each one to achieve success

I have taken almost all of his courses so far (the only restriction is time on my side), and I will everyone he offers.

There is no one on the market that can come close to offering what Emal offers his students.

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Danielle R.
Senior Manager, Business Analysis, Canada

I'm an experienced BA practitioner and joined BA Blocks to learn more about and connect with Emal.

I enrolled in the requirements and specifications course and can attest his knowledge, skillset, and practical experience is a gift to his students. His approach to teaching the core business analysis concepts and the fundamentals of the Enterprise Solution Delivery (design) Process is, bar none.

His teaching is practical and provides students the opportunity to understand the whole aspect of business analysis is greater than the sum of parts.

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Malia B.
CBAP, Portfolio Manager, United States

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened to the Requirements & Specifications course? Expand

BAPC™ is the next iteration of the requirements and specifications course.

This course has continually evolved since 2017, when it was called the "Core BA Concepts" course, to where it is today.

The course has now been extended from 8 weeks to 10 weeks, and there is a much higher emphasis on producing standard deliverables in addition to requirements & specifications.

Will students get hands-on experience in this course? Expand

Yes, students will be required to produce business requirements, a product backlog, and functional specifications to pass the course.

These deliverables can be showcased to your potential employer in interviews to illustrate that you are capable of producing the materials they will need from you.

How many hours does an average student for the class and for after class work? Expand

You should expect to spend about 8 to 10 hours a week on the course in total.

3 hours - The BAPC lectures/workshops are 3 hours in length, we have one lecture per week.

1 hour - We have an optional office hours session where students can get extra help.

4-6 hours - You should also plan about 1 hour of prep for each lecture and 3 to 5 hours of work per week on the assignments. This last part may vary widely from student to student.

After this course, can one secure a job as a BA? Expand

The course will teach you the core skills you need to do the job of a business analyst, but it would be unethical to imply that you'll get a job just by taking the course.

As a practitioner, I know that securing a job is much more than just skills that you can learn through a course.

It requires skills, a good resume, good interview performance, and most importantly, patience & persistence.

Beware of anyone promising you a job after taking a course. That is a dishonest promise.

What dates exactly in Jan/Feb are u looking to start so we can plan properly? Expand

Lecture 1 starts on Feb 4th 2023, and our last lecture will be held on Feb 8th.

See the course schedule below for full details.

What is the cost of this course? Expand

The fee for the winter 2023 session is $2,500 USD for members and $3,000 USD for non-members.

This fee is all-inclusive, meaning that it covers the cost of all the tools (Visio, Azure, Office, etc.) You will need to complete the course.

Is there a payment plan? Expand

Yes, students will be given the option of making the payment over three months instead of paying a lump sum. The plan will work as follows:

  • First payment of $1000 USD is due at enrolment
  • Second payment of $1000 USD is due 30 calendar days after the enrollment date.
  • Third payment of $1000 USD is due 60 calendar days after the first payment.

Our billing system automates the recurring payments so you don't have to make the second and third payments manually.  The system will automatically charge your card on the scheduled date.

Member discounts are not available on the payment plan.

 

Can this project be used on our resume when searching for a job? Expand

Yes, you can list the deliverables you produced on your resume.  You should clarify on your resume that these deliverables were produced as part of a class project.

Would your company issue a reference letter to that effect after completing the course? Expand

Students who successfully complete the required assignments will receive a certificate of completion that that lists the expertise they have gained and the PD/CDU's they have acquired as a result of completing the course.

Does this course count as experience towards qualifying to write CBAP exams? Expand

No, the course does not count toward the 7,500 hours of experience required to qualify for the CBAP exam, but it will provide you with 40 PD/CDU credits to help you fulfill the credit requirements to write the CBAP.

The current CBAP PD/CDU requirements are 35 credits. The 40 credits you will receive exceed that minimum requirement.

Is this a CBAP exam prep course? Expand

No, this course is not an exam prep course and is not aimed at helping you pass the exam.

This is a hands-on practical course aimed at teaching you how to produce the deliverables that your employers will need you to produce.

We will use the tools, techniques, and perspectives of the BABOK to produce actual requirements, a product backlog, and functional specifications.  This course is meant much more to help you learn how to perform the job than to pass the exam.

Does BAPC include the Visio course and SQL course? Expand
The Visio and SQL courses are separate from BAPC and not included as part of the course.
Students of BAPC will, however, receive a 30% discount on those two courses after they have finished the BAPC.
Does BAPC also cover knowledge about scrum and product owner responsibilities ? Expand
We cover the responsibilities of all the stakeholders involved, including the product owner but we do not cover scrum.
The course is a hands-on 10-week course where you will be given scenarios and create deliverables (i.e. process maps, requirements, product backlog, and specifications).
Does BAPC cover any specific domains (like healthcare, banking etc.) for building functional knowledge? Expand

Our project this year will be in the legal domain.  We will be designing a system that helps a company manage its global intellectual property assets.

Does BAPC provide any guidance on resume and job search ? Expand

We don't cover job search and resume in the course, but the course gives you a lifetime membership to our community where I share my own resume and provide input on job search strategies in a group setting.

Will I be certified as a business analyst after this course? Expand

No.   A training company cannot certify you as a business analyst.

Despite the misleading marketing of some training companies, a true certification can only come from a neutral third-party certifying body such as the IIBA, BCS, or IREB.

You will receive a certificate of completion from this course demonstrating that you've successfully produced the deliverables to a base standard, but this certificate is not a certification.

Do I have to find my own project? Expand

No, you are not required to find your own project to complete the course.

We will be jointly working on the same project and you will be given options for the areas of the project that you want to focus on for producing your functional specificaitons.

Course Schedule - Winter 2023

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Enrolment Begins: Jan 23 - You will be able to start enrolling in the course through this website. Once enrolled, you will be onboarded onto Peterson & Baker, our fictitious company that is hiring you to produce the deliverables for project synthesis.

Enrolment Closes: Jan 27 - This is the last day students have to enroll in the course. The enrolment window must be closed one week prior to class start to allow for the proper onboarding of students.

Classes Start: Feb 04 - Our first lecture begins.  You will be oriented with Peterson & Baker's solution delivery process to get oriented with the company and get ready to produce your deliverables using their processes.

Lectures will be held on Saturdays.  The lecture days are Feb 04, 11, 18, 25, March 04, 11, 18, 25, and April 01, 08 between 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM ET.

Optional office hours will be held on Tuesdays. The office hours are on Feb 07, 14, 21, 28, March 07, 14, 21, 28, and April 04. 

We will spend the next 10 weeks producing a business requirements document, a product backlog, and a set of functional specifications.

Classes End: Apr 08 - We will do a full course review on the last day of classes and discuss your career plan and the next steps for your development.

Support Window Begins: Apr 9 - The 3-month support window gives you the ability to continually practice producing requirements & specifications and to ask for help when you get stuck.

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