They are needed to evaluate how well your business is doing as well as competitors’ businesses. That information can be used to improve your business and make it stand out.
These skills can be used to collect data and predict certain trends that can happen. When it comes to running a business, there is no more valuable skill than understanding the current market.
Because business analyst skills aren’t easy to pick up, many people turn to courses to learn everything that can about these sought-after skills.
Below are 15 courses and certifications that you use in order to learn everything you need about business analysis.
The BCS offers 5 different certifications: foundation, practitioner, professional, consultant, and expert. This way you are able to improve your knowledge and expand your learning after every course.
The courses will teach you how to model business processes, how to identify ways to improve your business, and also provide a clear career progression path.
Structured training is used to help you learn in an optimized manner.
There is no exam necessary to pass the course but you do need to have passed the previous one before moving on to the next.
This is a relatively new certification and focuses on not just business analysis, but also its application in the real world. This includes ways to obtain relevant data and then analyze it.
By the end, you will demonstrate how certain data can influence a business and the decisions you make in regard to it.
While this is a course that is suitable for beginners, it is better if you have some basic knowledge already. By the end of it, you will come out with proficiency in knowledge of ways to improve your business but also ways to model it.
This qualification will show your skills in collecting and analyzing data and ways to create solutions to any problems that may arise from the data you have collected.
This is a fantastic certification for those who are new to business analysis and it is also accredited by the IIBA (a few of their courses you will also see on this list).
This is a certification specifically tailored to those who are working, or looking to work, in an Agile work environment.
Not only will you understand the key concepts of business analysis, but also become well acquainted with Excel. You will also know how to build interactive dashboards and how to use them.
Google Analytics is the application commonly used by small businesses to see how well their own, and other businesses are doing. This course pairs with this app but also goes much deeper into business analytics.
You don’t need any experience and is a 6-month course, but is only 10 hours a week. It is self-paced so you are able to learn when you have a minute spare and is great for those with a busy schedule.
This is another certification that is great for those working in an Agile environment and is used to rapid change and the need to adapt quickly.
They will train you on how to use practical business analyst tools but it is recommended that you have 5 years of experience in an Agile environment before starting the course.
The 2-hour exam focuses on 4 main topics, delivery horizon (35%), agile mindset (30%), innovative horizon (25%), and strategy horizon (10%). These will cover all the skills needed in an Agile environment and verify you as a professional in your field.
The certification lasts 3 years before it will need to be renewed.
This is a vendor-neutral certification that will prove that you have the necessary skills in business analysis.
In order to qualify you will need a master’s degree in a related field and at least 5 years of experience, or a bachelor’s degree and at least 7 years of experience.
While it is not a certification for beginners, it shows you have a large level of knowledge about the trends and data surrounding businesses.
This is a year-long course that offers 35 hours of guided learning as well as a mock exam. They provide you with a lot of study materials to help you become competent with business analysis.
By the end, you will understand stakeholder analysis, requirements engineering, and case development.
This is also known as the ECBA, Entry Certificate in Business Analysis. It is a course issued by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) and is tailored towards beginners. All you need is 21 hours of professional development over the last 4 years in order to qualify.
You will learn the fundamentals of business analysis and gain knowledge of how to approach certain situations regarding the business.
This is the CCBA, Certification of Capability in Business Analysis, and is for those with mid-level experience in business analysis (around 2 to 3 years).
To gain the certification you need a minimum of 3,750 work experience hours in business analysis in the last 7 years.
In those 3,750 hours, a certain amount of time will need to be aligned with IIBA’s Business Analysis Book of Knowledge (BABOK) guide knowledge areas. 900 hours in 2 of the 6 knowledge areas, or 500 hours in 4 of the 6 knowledge areas.
Similar to the last certification, you will need 21 professional development hours in the last 4 years and also a reference.
This is the CBAP, Certified Business Analysis Professional, one of the most widely recognized and accepted business analyst certificates and is for people with a lot of experience in business analysis.
To complete it you need a minimum of 7,500 business analyst work experience in the last 10 years, with 900 of them being within 4 of the 6 BABOK knowledge areas.
Over the last 4 years, you will have needed 35 professional development hours and have at least 2 references.
To retain this certification, you will need to report at least 60 hours of continuing development units every 3 years.
This is issued by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and is more tailored to people with mid-level experience than beginners.
This is a widely recognized qualification due to its strict entry requirements like what degrees are needed, the number of business analysis hours experience needed, and previous business analyst education hours.
This certification is great for people who are working in project teams or have a focus on product development.
The final exam is around 200 multiple-choice questions and you have 4 hours to complete it.
This course is perfect for beginners and teaches you the foundations of business analyst knowledge. You will learn how to gather, manage, and analyze data to be used when running a company.
Unlike some of the other certifications on this list, you don’t require any technical background in order to start. You can also have access to it from your phone so that way you can learn anywhere.
This is a 1 hour and 25-minute long course that will teach anybody the beginning skills of business analysis.
Each part is split into easy-to-understand sections and is also available on your phone. This way you can learn when you have a minute to spare, no matter where you are.
Once completed, you are able to share your certificate on LinkedIn so that way other companies and maybe future employers will know you have the foundation knowledge of a business analyst.
Final Thoughts
Understanding business analysis can help you form structured goals that can lead you on the right path toward a successful business.
Business analyst skills are useful not just for running a business, but also building up relationships with other companies and any other future job prospects you may have.
Hopefully, one of the above courses can help you learn everything you will need to know about business analysis.
