PrintBusiness Administration - Business Analysis
Course Descriptions
Core Courses
Business Foundations
The course will examine material related to the development of one’s understanding of key factors, and functional areas, typically found in a business. These functional areas include finance, personnel, marketing, operations and general management. The environment in which most Canadian businesses operate will also be examined including, the economic, legislative, technological and social contexts. The integration of the topics and concepts provide a framework that aids the students’ understanding of the relationships between the functional factors of a business, with an emphasis placed the application of this understanding to current situations and case studies. (3 units)
Course Number: 570-825 (In-class) or 570-424 (Instructor-led online)
Introduction to Marketing
Marketing impacts every aspect of our lives. Where we shop, what we buy, how we eat, what we drive and even where we live. Marketing 570-819/419 is a survey course that introduces learners to the basic concepts of marketing, viewed within a corporate framework. Topics include the development of new products, identifying market segments and targeting consumer groups, pricing strategies, brand equity, distribution channel and promotional activities. (3 units)
Course Number: 570-819 (In-class) or 570-419 (Instructor-led online)
Business Finance & Accounting
This course is designed to provide an introduction to the concepts, language and uses of financial and management accounting in business. The course will cover: business financial statements, including basic accounting concepts, financial statements, financial statement analysis, and sources of finance; and business control emphasizing elementary financial management, cost and budgetary control systems, capital budgeting, profit planning and current developments in accounting. (3 units)
Course Number: 570-817 (In-class) or 570-440 (Instructor-led online)
Organizational Behaviour
The objective of this course is to provide a conceptual and empirical understanding of the structure and function of human behaviour in organizations. Students will study the behavioural influences which affect productivity, organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Topics to be discussed include perception, job and organizational design, decision-making and leadership. Individual and group exercises and the analysis of case material will be used to enhance a practical understanding of theoretical concepts. (3 units)
Course Number: 570-821 (In-class) or 570-421 (Instructor-led online)
Business Communications
The course focuses on the knowledge and skills associated with clearly receiving, transmitting and communicating information within the business environment. Using communication theory and practical application, students will develop effective writing, speaking, and presentation skills required to convey a business’ communication strategy. Issues such as diversity, ethics and technology will be discussed within the context of business communication. Independent and group work activities will be incorporated to the learning environment in order to apply the students’ communication skills and knowledge to topics of teamwork, customer relations and leadership. (3 units)
Course Number: 570-850 (In-class) or 570-450 (Instructor-led online)
Business Analysis Electives
The Business Analysis concentration courses can be completed through McMaster University or Global Knowledge. Please visit each program’s website for more course details and to register.
McMaster Program
Module 1 – Business Analysis Essentials
Learn to identify and analyze potential projects to make sure that the final project product meets the requirements you identified. Through hands-on exercises, you will learn to define the scope of work and master requirements-gathering techniques that will work for a variety of projects and audiences; and you will consider the unique needs of customers, stakeholders, and the IT department as you work toward building, documenting, communicating, and managing requirements.
Module 2 – Requirements Development, Documentation and Management
Numerous studies have concluded that failure to effectively develop and document project requirements is directly related to project failure.
By following the logical methodology for the requirements process presented in this course, you will learn to develop and write effective requirements, including business objectives as well as business, stakeholder, and solution requirements. By working through the requirements process using various elicitation techniques, you will discover the importance of and types of requirements, best practices for writing requirements, steps for sign-off, and management of the requirements baseline.
Module 3 – Use Case Modeling
As a business analyst, and as part of identifying and documenting requirements, you must be able to explain how individuals will interact with a new or updated system. Use case modeling is a modern approach for describing system requirements by focusing on "actors" to describe that interaction.
In this course, you will learn the theory and practice of creating use case models and use case flows, including diagrams and descriptions, to communicate functional requirements. You will learn how use cases can enhance your skills as a business analyst, and help technical staff to clearly understand the requirements of the business.
Module 4 – Business Process Analysis
In this course, you will learn to model business processes as they are currently enacted, assess the quality of those business processes (to determine a business system’s health), identify processes that could become more streamlined, and collaborate with the stakeholders to identify improvements. Once a new process is defined, you'll learn how to convey those process changes to others, gain organizational support for making the changes, and plan for a successful change project.
Module 5 – Data Modeling
Since a business analyst needs to accurately elicit, define and document user requirements, understanding the users' needs is key to an analyst's success. By using logical data modeling, a business analyst can convey requirements in a way that can easily be validated, and doing so allows stakeholders to understand the requirements, business rules, and data management methods for any given project.
In this class, you will gain hands-on experience modeling requirements through entity relationship diagrams, supertypes and subtypes, and attributive and associative entities. You will learn to use logical data modeling to work directly with business users to accurately define requirements.
Module 6 – Effective Facilitation for Business Analysts
In this highly interactive two-day course, you will gain the skills to be an effective facilitator - one who can help stakeholders define their needs and form quantifiable requirements. You will learn tested techniques for meeting planning and preparation, brainstorming, analysis, and decision-making; and you will have the opportunity to practice these techniques in a safe environment with a trained facilitator who will give you relevant, timely feedback. Advanced topics will also be covered, including virtual facilitation, conflict management, and root cause analysis. You will leave class with the confidence to facilitate a meeting from the planning stages, motivating group participation, building consensus, maintaining session focus, and evaluating results for lessons learned.
Global Knowledge Program
The Global Knowledge program offers numerous courses to choose from - please visit the Global Knowledge website for a listing of courses.