Certified Business Analysis Professional

The Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP®) is one of the certifications for which TAPUniversity offers exam preparatory courses. The certification exam is primarily based on the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®). The BABOK is composed of six business analysis knowledge areas, business analyst competencies, and descriptions of common techniques. The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) is the organization that both awards the CBAP and publishes the BABOK. Their website is http://www.theiiba.org. The IIBA endorses certain business analysis courses, and the organization with the approved course(s) is called an Endorsed Education Provider (EEP^TM). TAPUniversity has EEP status. The CBAP exam has 150 multiple-choice questions and candidates have three and a half hours to take the exam.

There are strict guidelines on who is eligible to take the CBAP exam, as it is meant for experienced business analysts. When applying for the exam, 7,500 hours (about 5 years) of business analysis work must be documented within the last ten years. For at least four of the six business analysis knowledge areas, 900 hours (about 6 months) of work experience must be documented. Additionally, candidates must have at least a high school education, 21 hours of professional development in the last four years, and two references.

More about earning the CBAP certification can be found in the official PDF handbook: http://www.theiiba.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Certification/Process/IIBA_CBAP_Handbook22Jun09.pdf.

Exercise and Certification Exam Peformance

Greetings.

Laura Hilkemann, the chair of TAPUniversity, has done the heavy lifting on this blog the last several months.  As of July 21, 2009, there are 124 core descriptions of project management.  We’ve indexed over 500 core learning objects across business analysis, human resource management, information technology, project management and quality management  disciplines.  A good number of those objects cross over those disciplines – for example group formation and development (forming, storming, norming, performing and reforming).

To help your understanding and mastery of those objects, over the last six months I’ve been researching the  impact of physical, spiritual and mental performance on each other. The gate swings all ways.  There’s some solid, reliable research out there to back it up.  Call it the body, spirit and mind game.   My interest is twofold:

• from our work to help professionals achieve certification results as efficiently as possible and
• my passion for exercise – primarily in triathlons, marathons and quests to reach milestones in each.

Exam Day

What started as “ten things to do before your PMP exam” five years ago has grown into a deeper passion of mine.  In looking at 9 certification exam experiences of mine since 2000, I did very well on 8 and so/so on 1.   One of the factors on the so/so one in 2004 was taking exam after a period of 2 weeks of semi activity and on depleted resources (lack of sleep, stress and poor nutrition). 

Before my most recent exam (CBAP – certified business analyst professional –  in April of 2008) I purposely ran two miles (7 minute pace) , 30 minutes prior to the exam.  I had a good overall aerobic and anaerobic exercise week (30 mile running week and 3 strength training sessions).  I felt pumped, though sweaty.  Pity my fellow exam takers .  My pulse was moderate through the experience – not spiking up. I got up twice to grab some water and finished the exam rather fast.  Now, my mental preparation wasn’t necessarily text book – I crammed during a 6 hour lay over at the St Louis airport.  Granted I had been immersed in the BA jargon for 15 years –still not the ideal prep.

So what?  We coach and recommend that exam takers get up and move around during an exam.  Prior to entering the exam we recommend aerobic exercise commensurate with the exam takers current level of fitness. It helps the different pieces and parts of the brain.    It will not replace adequate preparation!  It does help you reach the optimum mental state.

Day to Day Performance

I’ll share more on later blogs in terms of how it does that.  The essence of it is that we’re wired to move; as we move our brain thinks and learns better; as we move we also touch a spiritual pulse inside and the spirit and mind also propel our body to move.  The three are connected.

To complete this first “exermindspir” blog – I want to share two links to one of the works I’ve studied from Dr. John Ratey’s “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.”  Take a peek and let me know what you think!

 http://brainsciencpodcast.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/brain-science-podcast-33-exercise-and-the-brain/

CBAP and PMP Certification Exam Changes this Summer

The summer of 2009 brings changes to two certification exams for which TAPUniversity provides preparation. Both the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP®) exam and the International Institute of Business Analysis’s (IIBA) Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP®) have version changes this summer. As of July 1, the PMP exam is based on the fourth-edition PMBOK®. There will be no more exams given based on the third-edition PMBOK (not even re-takes for those who have failed the exam based on the third edition). The changes from the third-edition PMBOK to the fourth-edition PMBOK are minor. For example, most processes have been re-named and procurement processes have been merged, but this has no effect on the underlying concepts. Two new processes have been introduced—Collect Requirements and Identify Stakeholders—but they should be familiar concepts to most project managers.

The CBAP exam will be based on the BABOK® (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge) version 2.0 beginning August 1. The BABOK change from version 1.62 to version 2.0 has been dramatic. Information has been deleted, added, re-named, and re-arranged. The earlier version was basically an incomplete draft, and the current version is much better edited. If you plan on taking the 1.62 version exam, you only have 3 more weeks to do so.

CBAP Exam Changes

For Business Analysts studying for their CBAP (Certified Business Analyst Professional) certification, be aware that the exam will be changing. The current exam is based on the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) version 1.6. The new version, BABOK 2.0 is being released on March 31st, 2009, according the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) which is the organization that awards the CBAP. The exam will not change with the release of the new BABOK however, and the IIBA states that the current BABOK should be used to study for the exam. A date has not yet been provided for the exam change, but IIBA states that candidates will be “informed well in advance” of the test change date (http://www.theiiba.org). Here at TAPUniversity our online and in-person CBAP courses for those preparing for their exam are currently based on BABOK 1.6, as suggested by the IIBA, and we’ll change to using the BABOK 2.0 for our courses when recommended by the IIBA. If you are planning to take the exam in the future, simply be sure that you are studying from the correct version of the BABOK.