Saturday, June 20, 2015

Bluegrass IIBA Chapter receives international acclaim

Bluegrass IIBA Chapter was organized in August 2013 and became an official chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysis in January 2015.  Read more about this innovative and exciting chapter on Business Analysis Excellence.  Read more here.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Business Analysis Webinars for June 2015 - Part II

The Art and Science of Influence
Presented by David Mantica

As organizations flatten to meet the dramatic impacts that disruption and change are having on business, the dynamics of influence are changing rapidly. The old concept of managing up and managing down is being replaced by executing and engaging horizontally throughout the entire organization. To become effective you must show you can get things done while navigating the complexities brought by flat organizations.

Flat organizations might at first seem simple to work through. But the reality is much different. Flat organizations can bring more politics and road blocks as the number of people involved in a decision increase. When you democratize the decision making in an organization, things will slow down and there will be some level of dysfunction.

This presentation will explain why organizations have started to flatten and how professionals can successfully navigate any organization type. We will compare matrix, command and control, and bottom up influence. Then we will look at the psychology of organizational behavior in order to highlight the key professionals skills required to get execution as well as give real-world examples to show different pathways to execution.

Things you will learn in this presentation:

·         Professionals skills required to be a strong influencer
·         Basics of matrix organizations
·         Basics of command and control organizations
·         Basics of self-organized management style
·         High level look at organizational psychology
·         What happens to "bad" or manipulative Influencers, staying away from the "strategy person" trap
·         Tips and techniques to be an executing Influencer

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, June 16, 2015; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: ASPE Training    @ASPE_SDLC

Cost: Free


 

 

 
Preparing for Digital Disruption: Future-Proofing Yourself and Your Organization
Presented by Michelle Moore and Jalene Lumb, Global Knowledge

In this world of volatility and complexity, it seems that the only certainty is the unstoppable advancement of technology. As people and organizations look to improve productivity, innovate their business models and processes, and differentiate their client and employee experiences, they need to be prepared to work in new and different ways. The challenge is that recent data reveals that Canada is falling behind the rest of the world in innovation, especially regarding new and disruptive technologies that promise to significantly impact every industry and organizations of all types and sizes.

In this 60-minute webinar, we will explore the concept of digital disruption and provide information about how to future-proof yourself and your organization to succeed in this new world. You will learn:

·         What digital disruption is.
·         What the building blocks for success for both people and organizations are.

How you can use the new Canada Job Grant Program to develop the skills and knowledge required today and into the future.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, June 16, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Global Knowledge    @GlobalKnowledge

Cost: Free


 

 
 

Blueprint Systems Live Product Demonstration
Presented by Blueprint Systems

Accelerate projects and deliver more business value

Join us for a live, interactive demonstration of Blueprint, a visually driven requirements platform that resolves many of the time-consuming, costly, and error- prone functions, thus ensuring that mission critical projects are completed successfully, on time and on budget.

Blueprint helps:

        Deliver applications that meet business expectations;
        Increase standardization, consistency and reuse;
        Improve visibility and accountability;
        Improve application quality;
        Reduce costs.

Offering seamless integration with application lifecycle management tools, Blueprint works with different development methodologies, including Agile and Waterfall.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 17, 2015; 11:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT

Host: Blueprint Systems   @Blueprintsys

Cost: Free


 

 
 

Using 'Master Specifications' for Requirements Variability
Presented by Regg Struyk of Polarion Software; and Lynda Gaines of Vector Software

In this introductory webinar you will learn how the definition of variability in software product lines represents a key to mass customization efficiency. Learn how being agile while meeting your customer’s needs can differentiate your business and keep you ahead of your competitors as you develop, test and deploy more efficiently. 

Polarion and Vector Software support a new way of delivering testing efficiency and mass customization in a world of quickening demands and changing regulations. When testing multiple configurations, team members could easily create common tests for all configurations or specialized tests for a subset of configurations at the touch of a button.

In this introduction to Requirements Variability, you will learn about:

·         Understanding Master Specification, Features, Feature Models, Linking and Traceability
·         How feature modes are used to describe the full variability of all different product attributes
·         Modeling Variability in the Business Process
·         Documenting Product Variability across Product Lines
·         Using UML to Model System Variability
·         Applying Variant Description Model (VDM) and Variant Specifications
Seize this opportunity to learn the benefits of Functional Variability and Cost Saving Testing methods to meet your customer demands so you can outpace your competition without compromising quality or functionality.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 17, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Modern Analyst    @ModernAnalyst

Cost: Free


 


  

Hybrid Integration in the era of Cloud, Mobile and Analytics
Presented by Jonathan Kempel, Senior Product Manager, Hybrid Integration Services and Cast Iron

With the adoption of cloud, mobility and analytics on the rise, differentiation is increasingly driven by digital transformation projects. But in order to turn innovation into tangible results, organizations must find new ways to integrate systems that traditionally operated in isolation as well as turn the challenges of Two Speeds IT into productive collaboration. Join this webcast to learn how IBM's Hybrid Integration offerings can help connect SaaS applications, cloud data sources and mobile projects with on-premises systems to create new revenue channels, cut costs, and reduce time to market.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 17, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Ziff Davis Events    @ZDB2B

Cost: Free

Registration:   Ziff Davis Event Registration

 


 

How to Write Effective Use Cases
Presented by Rick Clare, PMP, CBAP, CSM, MSPM

Use Cases are an effective method to document requirements. This webinar will describe the components and structure of a use case. The differences between a user story, use case and use case diagram will be explained. Guidelines for writing effective use cases will also be reviewed. Attend this webinar learn how to successfully utilize use cases on your projects.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, June 18, 2015; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: PM Centers USA    @PMCentersUSA

Cost: $14.95


 

 

 

Ask Jama About Review Center
Presented by Preston Mitchell, Jama Software

Looking to improve real-time collaboration into your review process? Join Ask Jama about Jama Review Center to learn how to use this feature to improve your requirements and speed approval cycles. We’ll discuss best practices for Review Center, tips for using it with your team and creative ways Jama customers are using Review Center to add value to their organization. 

Whether you currently use Review Center and want to evolve your use or are new to it altogether, join this one-hour session with an expert to learn how to harness Review Center’s capabilities to work for you. 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Friday, June 19, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Jama Software    @jamasoftware

Cost: Free


 

 

 

Introducing the BABOK 3.0
Presented by Deb Oliver

This web seminar is a special presentation by the IIBA.

With the launch of BABOK Guide v3, everyone is anxious to start delving into the finer details of the Guide to gain further insight into today's global view and expectations placed on business analysis professionals to create better business outcomes and drive business success. Join us on June 22nd to discuss these expectations and the way in which BABOK Guide v3 expands the scope of business analysis to support the evolution of the business analysis profession.

Key Points:

·         The journey to BABOK v3
·         What's New… the Major Changes
·         Why these changes are important to the Business Analysis practitioner

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Monday, June 22, 2015; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: ASPE Training    @ASPE_SDLC

Cost: Free


 

 

 

Transitioning Enterprise IT to the Digital World
Presented by Dave Dalton, Senior Product Manager, IBM Systems Group

IT architectures built over decades are facing their greatest opportunity and challenge in supporting a new digital world where applications are created rapidly and by a whole new generation of developers. In this 2 speed world the winners who build truly engaging customer experiences will build upon the value of the existing systems whilst nurturing new innovation and rapid application delivery. Join us as we look at the technology journey, the key perspectives and integration and API Management products, which underpin the transition of an established business into a successful digital enterprise.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host:  Ziff Davis Events    @ZDB2B

Cost: Free


 
 

 

Applied Big Data – Using Data from Hadoop to Improve Your Business
Presented by Roger Yeh, Senior Sales Engineer at Lavastorm Analytics

Are you taking full advantage of the power of big data? Is it enhancing the data you already have, or simply slowing down your speed to insight? Learn how leveraging Hadoop, one of the world’s most popular big data repositories, can help you:
·         add greater context and create a powerful, comprehensive view of the business situation
·         integrate big data with traditional enterprise data sources more efficiently
·         enable the fastest, most accurate way to discover insights and transform them into business improvements

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2015; 11:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT

Host: Lavastorm Analytics

Cost: Free

Registration:    Lavastorm Webinar Registration

 

 

 

Striving for Excellence, Not Perfection
Presented by Rikki Klieman, Legal Assistant and Contributor, CBS News

Having It All, But Not at the Same Time

Women who have a “Be the Perfect Driver” outlook are bound to be disappointed.  In our busy lives, if we see ourselves as having and doing it all at the same time to be perfection, failure is all that we will get. 

Superman is a fictional character and so is Superwoman. 

If we strive for excellence in certain domains at different times, such as happiness, achievement, and significance, we can leave a legacy of a life well lived.   

What You Will Learn

 

·         An assessment of what “having it all” is NOT
·         Techniques of creating your day with gratitude and acknowledgement
·         Looking at the power of language to change a problem into a challenge
·         Having the ability to view your life as reasonably content with moments of ecstasy
·         Devices of modeling, mentoring, and monitoring to move you toward excellence

While attending this program is FREE, reservations are required

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 24 2015; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: American Management Association    @AMAnet

Cost: Free

Registration:   AMA Webcast Registration

 
 

 

Transitioning to Agile - The Journey into Agile Business Analysis
Presented by Dave Saboe

Many companies are making the transition from waterfall to agile. However, Scrum and most other agile practices do not define a role for Business Analysts. So where do you, a Business Analyst from a waterfall world, fit in an agile environment? Just as organizations need to change their mindset and behaviors to transition to agile, so must business analysts. Attend this webinar to understand the role of an agile business analyst and the shift you need to make to be successful in an agile environment. You will also discover how you can bring value to your team and organization through agile practices.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2015; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: ASPE Training    @ASPE_SDLC

Cost: Free


 
 

 

Stress in the Workplace: Using Mind Over Matter to Become a Star Performer
Presented by Casey Mitchell, Instructor and Consultant, Corporate Education Group

Stress occurs when pressure exceeds one’s ability to cope. And it’s no secret that the demands of today’s workplace create more pressure than ever before. Uncertainty in the marketplace, doing more with less, and coping with unhealthy working relationships can cause stress levels to soar. While some stress may actually be good for you by keeping you alert and focused, too much stress can take a toll on your emotional and physical health, not to mention its impact on your work performance. You can become less able to learn and find it tougher to make decisions. The organization pays the price as well. Too much workplace stress diminishes productivity, increases absenteeism and employee turnover, and even adds to the burden of medical and legal costs.

This webinar will help you:

·         Understand the factors that cause job stress.
·         Learn how stress affects your mind, body, mood and behavior.
·         Develop strategies and techniques to reduce your stress levels and boost your performance.
·         Increase personal and organizational well-being.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Corporate Education Group    @CorpEdGroup

Cost: Free


 

 

 

A Jump Start to Preparing Effective Data Models
Presented by Rick Clare, PMP, CBAP, CSM, MSPM

Data modeling has long been considered a Developer’s job, and many Business Analysts persist in ignoring this vital requirements analysis technique.  Come and see how Data Modeling truly fits into the BA world and get a jump start on making it work for you on projects.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, June 25, 2015; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: PM Centers USA    @PMCentersUSA

Cost: $14.95


 
 

 

The Impact of IIBA's New BABOK® Guide and PMI's New Business Analysis for Practitioners Guide
Presented by Adam McClellan and Cheryl Lee, Global Knowledge

The past months have seen the release of both the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA)'s long-awaited A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK® Guide) v3 and the Project Management Institute® (PMI®)'s Business Analysis for Practitioners. While both represent interesting developments in the field of business analysis, they also provide lots of information to process. There's no need to go it alone!

Join Global Knowledge instructors Cheryl Lee and Adam McClellan for this complimentary, hour- long webinar to learn about the differences between the two guides, how both guides compare to the previous version of the BABOK ® Guide, and where all this might be going.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, June 25, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Global Knowledge    @GlobalKnowledge

Cost: Free


 
 
 


The Speed Advantage: Why data-driven organizations are winning the race in today’s marketplace
Presented by: Jerry Kurtz, VP and Partner of Big Data & Analytics, IIBA Global Business Services

If you've blinked, you may have missed several important shifts that occurred in the world of big data — the most significant of which is that velocity is now the number one competitive differentiator for big data. IBM's sixth annual analytics study reveals a group of organizations differentiating themselves with speed-driven data and analytics practices that accelerate speed to insight and drive competitive advantage. Attend "Analytics: The Speed Advantage" to learn a faster, more effective approach to acquiring, analyzing and acting on data.

Audience: Public

Data/Time: Monday, June 29, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Ziff Davis Events    @ZDB2B

Cost: Free

 
 

Monday, June 1, 2015

Business Analysis Webinars for June 2015

Unifying the Product Owner and ScrumMaster
Presented by Melody Yale

A major benefit of agile development is empowered, high-performing teams. To get there, Product Owners and ScrumMasters have to collaborate and employ consistent practices. In this webinar we will deep dive into a few ways to unite the ScrumMaster and Product Owner in order to enable development team success.

This webinar will benefit Product Owners, ScrumMasters, and mid-level managers, especially those that are new to Agile.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Monday, June 1, 2015; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: ASPE Training    @ASPE_SDLC

Cost: Free


 


 
Improve Collaboration and Transparency for Consumers
Presented by Lavastorm Analytics

With Lavastorm Analytics Engine (LAE) 6.0, powerful analytics can now be delivered to analytic consumers via read-only applications that visually display the underlying business logic, simply by sharing a web link.  In addition, consumers can re-rerun the analytic application to address ad-hoc requests using dynamic parameter values, decentralizing data access without sacrificing data security.

With this ability to collaborate across the enterprise via web-based user interfaces, Lavastorm enables organizations to take action in relation to analytical governance in a new way.” — John Myers,

Managing Research Director for Business Intelligence, Enterprise Management Associates

Non-technical analytic consumers are now given insight into an analytic program’s underlying business logic, the how and what of the results, improving transparency and trust. Check out the blog Collaboration Comes to Big Data & Analytics to see how Lavastorm is improving collaboration across the business.

Some of the exciting new features in LAE 6.0 include the ability to:

·         Send non-technical analytic consumers a link to an analytic application that is viewable and executable via the web on any desktop or mobile device.

·         View the “what” and “how” of analytic applications, including data flow logic and interim data, and also execute it to address ad-hoc requests using dynamic parameter values.

·         Share a separate view-only mode for analytic consumers in an HTML5 web interface that requires no installation or download. 

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, June 2, 2015; 11:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT

Host: Lavastorm Analytics    @lavastorm_news

Cost: Free

Registration:   Lavastorm Webinar Registration

 



 
The Art of Making Concessions
Presented by Joe Lukas, PMP, PE, CSM, CCP

Project Managers and Business Analysts engage in many negotiations on projects. Negotiations always involve some amount of compromise and that means making concessions. Unfortunately, bad concessions will result in poor agreements. This webinar will show you how to make advantageous concessions during negotiations. Topics include best practices for making concessions and the effect of concessions on aspiration level.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, June 4, 2015; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: PM Centers USA    @PMCentersUSA

Cost: $14.95


 


 
Embedded Analytics: New edge. New clients. New revenue.
Presented by Michael Lock, VP and Principal Analyst at Aberdeen; and Cindy Waxer, Ziff Davis

Never have the needs of services providers, and the customers they serve, been so perfectly aligned. Surrounded by steep competition, both parties are eager to find new ways to provide their customers with greater value - bottom-line boosting benefits that will make their solutions stickier.

Enter analytics. One of today’s hottest tech trends and for good reason: crunching data sets can turn everyday information into business-critical insights for better decision making.

For enterprises, analytics can provide a key competitive advantage, reduce customer churn, cut costs and drive revenue. At the same time, as these organizations become more data-driven, they’re also more discriminating in their taste for analytical capability.

So what are top enterprises looking to gain from analytics? What do they expect from these solutions? What trends are shaping these wants? And how can MSPs satisfy these demands for maximum business growth?

Join us on this webinar as we examine the impact of business analytics through the lens of today’s services providers:

·         Recognize the trends shaping analytics: data security, cognitive analytics, data monetization, open source, storytelling

·         Discover the key factors driving an increased urgency for business analytics

·         Find out more about the embedded approach to analytics and its tangible impact to business users

·         Learn leading strategies to embed analytics and empower customers, including innovative ways other companies are benefiting from analytics

·         Read about the performance implications (customer growth, average deal size) of effective embedded analytics

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Thursday, June 4, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Ziff Davis Events    @ZDB2B

Cost: Free

Registration:   Ziff Davis Event Registration

 


 

IIBA Certification Chat
Presented by Richard Larson, Watermark Learning

The event is a free chat session using webinar technology. It features written questions and live answers by an experienced CBAP from Watermark Learning. Topics include anything related to IIBA's certifications you want, ranging from the CBAP or CCBA application to the exams to re-certification.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Friday, June 5, 2015; 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm EDT

Host: Watermark Learning    @WatermarkLearn

Cost: Free


 


 
 
10 Steps to Effective Requirements Elicitation
Presented by Terrell Smith, Senior Trainer and Consultant, Corporate Education Group

Requirements elicitation is the process of seeking, uncovering, acquiring, and elaborating requirements for business systems. It is generally understood that requirements are elicited rather than just captured or collected. There are discovery, emergence, and development elements to the elicitation process. Requirements elicitation consists of a variety of techniques, approaches, and tools.

This webinar shares 10 steps to effective requirements elicitation, guiding business analysts to deliver successful results. Requirements elicitation is all about learning and understanding the needs of users and project sponsors with the ultimate aim of communicating these needs to the system developers.

Learning objectives include:

·         Understand the application domain
·         Identify the sources of requirements and analyze the stakeholders
·         Select the techniques, approaches, and tools to use
·         Prepare to use the selected elicitation techniques
·         Document your approach and create a “strawman” to generate the right conversation
·         Send input material to participants in advance with clearly defined objectives for the specific elicitation events
·         Elicit the requirements from stakeholders and other sources
·         Assign a scribe for note taking and use a whiteboard or a smart screen to document the requirements
·         Use a standardized requirements document template
·         Continue to revalidate the requirements until they are clear and can be acted upon by those who read them - business stakeholders AND implementers

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Friday, June 5, 2015; 1:00 – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Corporate Education Group    @CorpEdGroup

Cost: Free


 



 
What Do You Need to Know About Business Rules?
Presented by Gina Schmidt

"Business rules are the foundation of any business, and standardizing their fundamentals- their definitions and relationships – is essential for supporting complex operations." Ellen Gottesdiener and Jim Bruce

In the role of a business analyst, we must elicit the requirements needed to build the solution. Business rules provide the means to make good and consistent operational decisions within that solution. What you will learn in this webinar:

·         What are business rules and the various types

·         Business rules and how they align to business policies or regulations

·         Levels of enforcement

·         Hints for eliciting business rules

·         Hints for standardizing and documenting business rules

·         The future of business rules

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Monday, June 8, 2015; 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT

Host: ASPE Training    @ASPE_SDLC

Cost: Free


 



 
Creating engaging, easily modifiable applications
Presented by Bonitasoft BPM

The promise of easily modifiable, maintainable applications is here...it’s time to disrupt the old model!

Join us for this preview of cutting edge technology for creating engaging, easily modifiable applications with the release of Bonita BPM 7.

We’ll show you how this major release of Bonita BPM has decoupled user interfaces from process logic, and decoupled both from the business data model, enabling the design of user interfaces independently from the process itself.  

See how Living Application technology permits simultaneous collaboration by your process developers and your front-end developers, and how live update on deployed applications is now possible.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about design innovations coming with Bonita BPM 7.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, June 9, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Bonitasoft BPM    @bonitasoft

Cost: Free

Registration:   Bonitasoft Event Registration




 
 

Presented by Tim Kounadis, Cloud Services and Marketing at IBM

All business is digital business. Business demands are putting ever increasing pressure on IT to increase performance and efficiencies - both at the same time. Technology is an essential prerequisite of business innovation in practically all areas of the business. Scale is required, but with tight budgets - scale is hard to achieve. Join us to and explore the possibilities of cloud as we dive into the benefits of Infrastructure as a service and why Infrastructure matters.

The confluence of technology, integration and expertise is essential to drive the transformation required to accelerate digital business for organizations large and small. In this session we'll review current trends and how hybrid cloud can help address them as well as, the importance of hybrid cloud solutions, why they should be the cornerstone of your cloud strategy and how you can start leveraging the possibilities of cloud today.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, June 9, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Ziff Davis Events    @ZDB2B

Cost: Free

Registration:   Ziff Davis Event Registration
 

 


The Cloud Powered Business Continuity Superhero
Presented by Dave LeClair, VP of Product Marketing, Unitrends

DRaaS enables businesses to replicate data backups and virtual environments, and store them at a cloud-based, offsite location. When disaster strikes, replicated data can be restored and infrastructures run in the cloud as virtual machines. There are many benefits to this model, but only if kept in balance with an overall solutions mix. Unitrends will provide real-world use cases illustrating how a multi-environment platform of virtual, physical and cloud technologies is the best way to achieve recovery assurance.

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Tuesday, June 9, 2015; 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT

Host: Ziff Davis Events    @ZDB2B

Cost: Free

Registration:   Ziff Davis Event Registration

 


 

How to Pass a Quality Review of Your Project
Presented by Bonnie Cooper, Trainer and Consultant, Corporate Education Group

How many of you work in organizations where quality practices don't exist or are still maturing? Or how many of us are balancing the goal of project management to deliver a quality result with the goal of program management to deliver on business results, which may mean sacrificing on quality? What are the minimum requirements to delivering on quality in your projects and how do you leverage quality experts? This webinar will address these questions, explore the project quality management best practices to plan, perform, and control quality with real world examples and a practitioner spin.

In this webinar, you will learn how to:

·         Describe the quality project management best practices

·         Differentiate between project and product quality management

·         Identify minimum requirements for delivering on quality

Audience: Public

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 10, 2015; 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT

Host: Corporate Education Group    @CorpEdGroup

Cost: Free

Registration:   Corporate Education Group Webinar Registration