On June 9, I passed the Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) exam. The certification is established and managed by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) and is designed to recognize “senior business analysts who have the skill and expertise to perform BA work on projects of various sizes and complexities.” If you’re unfamiliar with business analysis it is basically the practice of soliciting, defining and managing requirements for business solutions. Of course, you can always refer to Wikipedia for a more detailed description.

Since I also achieved the PMP certification several years ago, the CBAP process was quite enlightening. IIBA seems to be where PMI was 20 years ago. They’re just getting their methodology fully defined, just getting the kinks worked out of the exam and application process, and just breaking through as a “required” certification for professionals in the field.

To me, the certifications are not terribly valuable by themselves. Sure, they get added to the resume, the website, LinkedIn, etc., and they might one day help get my name through the initial HR screeners for some positions. But I’ve been doing BA and PM work for long enough to know that the real world does not generally operate as the academic structures of the two methodologies suggest.

So why did I bother subjecting myself to the ridiculous application and testing process required to get the CBAP certification?

When people want to know what I do, I most often tell them I’m a project manager / business analyst with some technical skills in database development and business intelligence.  Simply put, when you are an IT practitioner working for small to mid-size businesses in Montana, project management and business analysis are very complementary skills. In this market, companies don’t usually hire distinct project managers or business analysts. In my experience, if a company is big enough to start hiring an IT staff, they go first for networking and desktop support and then they hire will programming skills. They’ll usually hire several people with technical skills well before they ever hire someone who thinks about the business side of IT. By then, they’ve had a number of problematic experiences where their IT staff (however talented they may be) has failed to deliver in a number of key areas.

I work with these companies. They need people who can understand their business, translate their business requirements into technical terminology, and then procure (if necessary) and manage the technical resources to get the job done.

That’s my niche.

The PMP and CBAP certifications designate me as someone who designs, builds and delivers high quality IT solutions. They don’t prove I can do it, but the successes I’ve had with my clients and employers over the years do.

I recently completed a large project for a non-profit client in the social services industry. The goal was to develop a system that would allow them to manage their case loads efficiently as their existing systems were inadequate to the task. I learned and confirmed several things by managing this project that I think you might find useful.

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Here’s a post I just found in the “I forgot to push the Publish button” file…

This past week (actually late August 2008), I achieved the Project Management Institute’s highly respected certification – the Project Management Professional (PMP). Unlike many certifications, PMI places a priority on verifying that a candidate has sufficient real-world experience to justify the credential. Before candidates can even schedule the exam, they have to document over 4500 hours of project management activities and at least 35 hours of formal education in project management. There is also an ongoing commitment to learning which requires PMPs to complete at least 60 hours of professional development activities over a 3 year span. So I’m pretty proud of this achievement.

The PMI method for managing projects, outlined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), is extremely rigorous. Only the largest of projects would implement the entire methodology as described in the PMBOK. However, there are some great takeaways for smaller businesses. (more…)

As an independent IT consultant, I help organizations improve their businesses through the use of technology.  Most of my client engagements have been very successful.  But when things don’t go as well as expected, I like to try to figure out why so that I can avoid those pitfalls the next time. 

The easiest things to fix are those that I can control.  For example, forgetting to submit regular status updates to the right people or not getting enough information prior to the project to make an informed proposal.

But I’ve also found several things that businesses can do to ensure that everything works smoothly.  Regardless of what type of consultant you’re hiring, the following tips should help make your next consulting engagement more productive.

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IT employees require constant training and skill development opportunities.  It goes with the industry.  As a small business owner, if you have any hope of keeping IT employees around for any length of time, you need to understand this and come up with a strategy that fits the needs of both your business and your employees.

First and foremost, you may be struggling with the expense and value of training classes.  One of the big questions is always "Is certification worth it?"  This is a question at hiring ("This person has a ton of certifications, they must be good."), it’s a question when your employees want training ("Are they going to get this training and then leave?"), and it’s a question after the training when some employees may ask for a salary increase to recognize their new skills.

I’ve never put much stock in certifications myself.  But a couple weeks ago, I had an experience that may be altering my opinions on the subject.

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