Hi Jermaine,

1. What is the difference between a business analyst and a business process analyst.
   1. depends to an extent on the organisation that defines the roles as there are no standard definitions for the roles but in general: a business process analyst just models business processes whereas a business analyst does that and define all the other components involved in business analysis.
2. What is  the best method of business process modelling. I recently came accross the Integrated Modelling method on the net. It claims to be the fastest and most accurate way to model business processes. What do you think?
   1. "best" is defined by what you want to achieve by modelling business processes and what the method supports. The notiaonal standard for modelling business processes is Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN)
3. What is  the best book/tutorial I can read in order to  get started quickly. Is it the BABOK..
   1. there are so many you could read! This website (ModernAnalyst.com) is publishing a reasonably comprehensive quick start guide next month - I happen to know this because I am writing it!

One other thought: why focus on becoming a business process analyst instead of becomming a business analyst? I have written another article on analysing what you wantfrom a possible career redirection/change here. You may already have done this exercise but you could analyse what you want from a career redirection/change and then see what role best suits what you are looking for...

Hope this helps!

Guy

Hi,

glad the first reply was useful!

Re your questions...

Training that follows a logical sequence...? As I have a training company I suspect there might be a slight conflict of interest here! But look, the thing is business analysis is not very difficult in theory, just in practice. The theory (if you don't get side tracked by the latest methods and fashions) is simple and outlined in an article here. The practice is a bit harder because there is a good deal of resistance to analytical thinking for reasons I have discussed here (just my view of course). What is undeniable is that the practice is hard. Recommendation: don't sweat over the training, just learn the basics and then start trying to apply logical analysis to your BA work (in process modelling and everything else you do).

I haven't read Seven Steps so can't really comment...don't just read the BABOK: its not designed to be an instruction manual (as I understand it and if it is I don't rate it as a good one). What it is good at is being a repository for lots of BA thoughts and concepts that you can reference when you are not sure about something.

My understanding is you need 5 years documented experience for the IIBA CBAP exam. I don't rate that either as I have yet to see a job advert that references it directly. Some adverts reference professional qualifications in BA , but not many (in the UK anyway) and it is always optional not mandatory. Bear in mind that fundamentally the IIBA is a business making money out of certification. That's  not to say its no good, just to state the facts. 

The other major certification in the UK is the ISEB Diploma in Business Analysis. You don't have to have 5 years and it is more widely known than the IIBA (but that's not saying much and it too is a business making money out certification).

I haven't heard of the IBM qualification and so can't comment.

Still hoping this helps!

Guy