DVT, a national business software development house, knows what it wants in its business analysts (BAs).
Ability and experience aside, it wants them to have a BA diploma from Faculty Training Institute (FTI), or if they don't have one on being hired, it wants them to get one.
BAs are a key part of DVT's systems development life cycle - extracting systems requirements from clients at the outset of the engagement, to be built into solutions developed by DVT's developers.
Cathy Banks, DVT's BA lead and overall client account manager, says the company sees FTI as the de facto standard in BA skills provision to the SA market. Only three of its 14 BAs have not been sent on the FTI course.
On recruiting BAs, Banks says if the candidate hasn't gone through FTI, DVT looks for comparable courses - "of which very few exist" - as well as passion, energy and intrinsic analytical ability. "If all that is there, at least we know we can send them on FTI's course, unless of course they have years of experience and we don't see a need for doing so."
Banks herself did the FTI course. "But it speaks volumes wherever it's encountered. It is valued by our clients and our peers; its reputation precedes it. If a client understands business analysis, it becomes obvious soon, if not immediately, that they have the real thing in an employee with an FTI diploma. If they don't know the field, there's a compelling argument to be made for FTI."
The argument is thus: There is no other BA course in SA that brings the same level of skill and industry experience to the qualification, over the period it is offered, Banks says. "They offer an unbeatable combination of a respected industry and academic track record," says Banks.
She says the effects on DVT's business include an invaluable contribution to the consistency of its methodologies and approaches, as well as a high level of industry and client acceptance.
Jennie Mullins, a business analyst at DVT, says FTI's modules were a respite from her working experience in the UK, where some companies had not yet embraced fixed methodologies. "FTI gives you a standard toolkit to glean information that is inherently complex and exists in disparate ways in people's heads."
Asked if the course has broadened her professional prospects, she says industry interest in her skills has certainly heightened. "Even if you don't know the provider, one's work speaks for itself."
Banks says after eight years of gaining value from FTI, DVT will continue the arrangement of sending delegates on its course.
Steve Erlank, MD of FTI, notes that delegates from DVT are always of an exceptional standard, and are ideal candidates to have on the diploma course, frequently coming in the top 10% of the class. It would seem that DVT has a culture that gets the very best from its staff. It recruits top quality candidates, their coaching and mentorship of BAs is top class, and their BAs are both empowered and expected to be professional and highly competent.
Companies around the world are struggling to define the roles and responsibilities of their business analysts. In many companies, a BA is a junior role, whose main role is writing maintenance specifications and doing a bit of testing. Leading companies, however, have realised how much enduring value a professional BA can bring, if they are properly trained, and allowed to play more of a consulting type role that encompasses the full spectrum of requirements management, as well as integrating well with project management and enterprise architecture efforts.
"The BA diploma is designed specifically to develop these kinds of BAs," says Erlank. "The role of the professional BA is now defined in the BA body of knowledge. Our diplomas have more than 80% fit to the full BABOK and our strategy is to move even closer as we seek to ensure that South African BAs are truly world-class."
FTI expects to run more than 20 full diplomas in 2007. All scheduled courses are already fully-booked for the year in both Johannesburg and Cape Town, and additional programmes are in the process of being scheduled.
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Faculty Training Institute (FTI) is a private training company that specialises in offering world-class career-oriented training courses for professional knowledge workers, mainly in the corporate world. Focusing on mid-career rather than entry-level training, FTI specialises in project management, business analysis, systems analysis, software engineering, IT management, and e-business training. It offers a variety of training options, including public or in-house, part-time or full-time courses.
FTI was founded in 1989 by five experienced lecturers from the Department of Information Systems at the University of Cape Town, who perceived a gap between the technical or entry-level training offered by most private training companies, and the longer degree programmes offered by tertiary institutions. During the past 17 years, FTI has expanded its successful product offerings from the initial two diploma courses into growing range of diplomas and short courses that serve the career needs of corporate South Africa.
In October 2006, FTI was awarded Charter Endorsed Education Provider status with the International Institute for Business Analysis (IIBA). It is one of a handful of training organisations worldwide who have achieved this status.
For more information please visit www.fti.co.za
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