Level 3 - Cbap

[Magnhild Lachowicz]

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This series of articles came about by the number of despondent ECBA certification holders who have approached me for help to enter business analysis because they battling to get noticed with an #ECBA #certification by recruiters and employers.

In Part One, where I introduced my reasonings. We looked at the BABOK as a framework and that reading the BABOK does not teach you how to do business analysis, but how to approach business analysis.

2.Knowledge - this is what you know. The key here is being able to apply what you know to the skills to achieve the desired outcome. Knowledge comes from your learnings, e.g. ECBA, past experiences, and your failures and successes.

Employers are looking for experienced business analysts and entry-level jobs are far and few between. Most entry-level jobs go to people within the organisation who have already proved their experience in the knowledge and skills that are transferable to business analysis. Even if they have no formal training n business analysis.

An ECBA will help you approach all of these through the BABOK approach to business analysis. In that respect, it is a good reason to do the certification. However, you can't stop there. You need to learn the how of the techniques, skills, and application of knowledge to all of the above that comes from practice, practice, and more practice.

According to a Modern Analyst article - Business Analyst Career Progression the following are the critical skills for a junior entry-level business analyst. In fact, they apply to all levels of business analysis.

When I did my open water scuba diving course, I had to study a book and learn all the knowledge. I then had to get into a classroom and do an exam that tested my ability to understand how to apply that knowledge. Then I had to get into a pool and apply the knowledge underwater in a safe environment before I went into the sea and completed underwater tasks to get my scuba diving certification. Even with that certification, there was a limit to how deep I could dive.

Like I have said before in this series, I am not anti ECBA. I am trying to address a problem that most entry-level business analysts experience when using the ECBA as a job door opener in business analysis.

This normally happens in the entry-level space where an organisation recognises the transferable skills of an individual and they have shown some experience in these skills in their current role. They then get moved into a business analysis role.

As you have already shown skills that are usable as a business analyst and you may not have enough experience to do a CCBA or CBAP, the ECBA might be a way for you to build your knowledge and how to approach business analysis.

I would still think about formal training that is going to provide you with good quality skills learning with the ability to practice those skills through some form of assessment. Not a quiz, but an assessment of your ability to apply those skills.

I think this is where lots of people misread or misunderstand the role of the ECBA. It does not prepare you well enough to step into a business analysis role, but it gives you the foundational knowledge to approach business analysis.

I will go deeper into this in the final part 4 blog of this series. Suffice it to say that if you do the ECBA then you need to be thinking of it as a tool to move you through the 4 stages of competency, which we talk about a bit later in this blog. I will also expand on this in the next and final part 4.

Laura Brandenburg from Bridging the Gap also has some good points about the ECBA that I think will help you understand more. She makes these comments in her blog Thoughts on the IIBA new ECBA certificate.

I think this is a very important point in that it does not validate any past work experience and therefore is more geared towards those who are not business analysts and want to gain knowledge of business analysis. Not sure if you need to write an exam to achieve that goal, but that is a totally different topic.

Laura goes on to say, "One significant challenge I see with the ECBA is that it brands you as an entry-level business analyst.....jobs are reserved for recent college graduates at entry-level salaries. The harsh reality is that whether or not you are willing to accept a lower salary, often employers will pass over more experienced and qualified candidates for recent college graduates."

That also holds true for someone who has worked in a non-business analysis role as well. Even though you have not worked as a business analyst, you are more than likely to have a lot of potential with the transferable skills you have. However, you might be overpriced for an entry business analysis role and you could then be overlooked.

I think this is very important to understand for building your competency in business analysis. Again I want to quote Laura Brandenburg from the blog above. She makes a really good case about how to build your experience.

The ECBA is a knowledge-based certification and therefore if you are going to do the ECBA then you need to have a plan about how you are going take that knowledge to build your work experience, using that knowledge, to build a portfolio of evidence for your first role as a business analyst.

Skill - about how well you do something. Are you able to determine when to use the right skill for the right purpose at the right time? Knowledge - this is what you know. The key here is being able to apply what you know to the skills to achieve the desired outcome. Knowledge comes from your learnings e.g. ECBA, past experiences, and your failures and successes. Attributes - these are the behaviours, thoughts, feelings you have that is influenced by your past experience, what you know, and the level of skill you have.

The BABOK will give you knowledge about the discipline of business analysis. It will teach how to approach business analysis. The skill will come from learning the how and repeatedly practising that skill e.g. when the BABOK suggests a technique in a task you build competency by practising that and being able to adapt it to different situations. The attributes will come from the experiences you create, practising in your current job, learning new things, and your successes and failures.

Building competency in business analysis is not just doing a course and a certification but requires building the competency through repeated practice of skills, building knowledge further, and development of the other attributes.

For anyone entering business analysis, you will work through the above four stages as you progress to become a competent business analyst. The goal of building your competency is to reach stage four.

Observable - Can someone observe you using the skill and provide feedback. A good course should provide this and also a business analysis mentor. Measurable - can you quantify the outcome of you using that skill? e.g. it saved 20% on the turnaround time. Linked to the workplace - if you can link your practising of skills to your current work even better. Even if you are not working as a business analyst. For example, could you map out a process to define a current state and then design a future state with a gap analysis based on strategic objectives set for the organisation? Linked to the academic environment - this is where an investment in good business analysis training that provides the opportunity to practise the skill, get feedback is a much better investment. Transferable - practise those skills like communication, stakeholder management, and workshop facilitation that are not unique to business analysis. Based on performance - if can prove how you performed in that skill and get feedback about the performance that is awesome for your confidence and building competency.

Once you complete the entry-level exam, you can continue on to the Certified Advanced Level Business Analyst (CALBA) and Certified Expert Level Business Analyst (CELBA) certifications. Accredited training and exam centers in the United States are currently limited, with centers in Chicago, Maryland, Oklahoma, Florida and Texas. However, there are options to take training courses and exams online.

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