Ashford Week 4 Visual Modeling Types Discussion & Cool Widget Business Presentation
Discussion 1 - Due Jan/14Before beginning this exercise, read the lecture, the chapters in the text and the BABOK® guide located in your online classroom, and the articles. Describe and explain the eight modeling types listed as techniques in the BABOK® guide. Use an example from the CWI Business Problem Scenario (or you may use one of your own examples) to demonstrate one of the modeling types you have described. The example can consist of a scenario accompanied by a graphic, or it can be a narrative that explains how the model was used in a specific situation..Discussion 2 - Due Jan/14 Before beginning this exercise, read the lecture, the chapters in the text and the BABOK® guide located in your online classroom, and the articles. Identify the three most common visual modeling types employed when developing a solution for a business problem. Explain where and/or how they are applied. Additionally, explain what purpose they serve and why they are useful models.Assignment - Due Jan/18part 1 : Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review the lecture, the assigned reading materials, and the CWI Business Scenario. Recall that stakeholders are generally sorted into several categories (see Chapter 3 in the Robertson and Robertson text for a refresher on the categories).For this assignment, you will develop an audio-narrated presentation for your operational work area stakeholders listed in the CWI Business Scenario. First, describe a brief overview of your understanding of the business problem, then present a description of the proposed solution. Include data commonalities shared between all interested parties and related departments (e.g. the containing business and wider areas). Remember that this is a presentation, so include relevant visualizations in the form of diagrams for the target audience in the appropriate areas of your material. If you need help with audio narration in PowerPoint, review Microsoft’s Record a Slide Show with Narration and Slide Timings (Links to an external site.) guide. Part 1: Submit Your Audio-Narrated PresentationIn your audio-narrated presentation,Must be a minimum of 10 slides, not including the title or references listing slide.Identify the stakeholder audience.Describe a brief overview of your understanding of the business problem.Present a description of the proposed solution.Identify other interested parties and related areas.State data commonalities shared between all related departments.Include relevant visualizations in the form of diagrams for the target audience.Upload and submit your audio-narrated PowerPoint presentation for grading. To submit your assignment, click the Submit Assignment button.Part 2 :In your Week 4 - Assignment Part 1, you submitted your audio-narrated PowerPoint presentation. In Part 2 of this assignment, you will submit your presentation notes to your audio-narrated PowerPoint Presentation to Waypoint.Part 2: Submit Your Presentation NotesThe Operational Work Area Stakeholder Presentation NotesMust include speaker’s notes for all narration slides.Must include a separate title page with the following:Title of the presentationStudent’s nameCourse name and numberInstructor’s nameDate submittedMust use at least two scholarly or credible sources in addition to the text.The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.Weekly Lecture:Communication and Information DeliveryIn any project there are a variety of constituents – also known as ‘stakeholders’, who have diverse information needs. They differ in the kinds of information they want as well as in the format types that the information is delivered. Some constituents like executive staff want information at a high level with broad concepts, while other constituents like programmers need information at the component and detail level. Still others need information presented in an audio/visual format to assimilate it well, while others prefer to read the material for themselves.One of your tasks as a BSA is to present the information your various groups of constituents need in the format(s) they prefer. Identifying the best approaches to this early on in the project will pay dividends later when you need to present proposals and deliver status updates to the various groups. Giving your constituents information in the manner that facilitates their understanding will help you provide them with the solution they need for the business problem.One of the ways to deliver information is through modeling. We briefly touched on modeling in week 2 and identified some of the modeling types that are commonly used in BSA. This week, you’ll have the opportunity to examine the models in detail, learn the strengths of each model and how they can deliver the appropriate information to your stakeholders. Recall that a model is a visual representation of a problem, process, or a solution.As you discovered in week 2 when you mapped CWI’s mail delivery problem, modeling can provide a visualization of the way a business problem ‘looks’ in the organization’s current processes. Modeling can depict the processes that surround and make up the problem, and it can provide a visualization of possible solutions to a problem. There are different models that can be used to do this and in week 2 you’ve been introduced to UML and BPMN which are the most commonly used. There are other possible modeling methods, and you’ll discover a number of these in this week’s material. Each has it’s strengths and it’s best uses. Get familiar with the most common models as these are the ones you’ll encounter the majority of time in analysis projects.This brings us back to our original theme, which was the delivery of information to the various constituents associated with the project. Using model visualizations, especially the right model for the subject and the audience, is essential to consistent and accurate information delivery. Before selecting a model, the first thing to determine is the kind of information you need to impart and the audience to whom you’ll deliver it. Consider the list of stakeholders you’ll find in the CWI scenario for some of the variety one will find among stakeholders.Think about the following questions for your stakeholders. What kind of information do each of these folks want or need? What are the best options for delivering that information both efficiently and effectively? Is the information complex? Does the audience need or want details? Does the audience have a foundation or the background necessary for the complexities of the subject matter? Who is the audience, e.g. users, programmers or other technical folks, executives, ancillary stakeholders, etc.?Choose the best model based on answers to questions like these. Modeling and model visualizations can be used to describe as much or as little detail as one needs for the audience. Models can describe the details of a solution to the developers who will build it just as easily as they can describe the big picture solution to a group of executives. Modeling and model visualizations are key tools in a BSA’s toolbox.You’ll use modeling and model visualization throughout the BSA project, so choosing the appropriate methods for the task at hand is important to clear delivery of information to the audience. Be aware that you may use different modeling techniques and model visualizations at various times throughout the project. Don’t be afraid to use a different model if it seems it will do a better job of delivering the information your constituents need. Be sure to read the chapters in the text and the BABOK® guide for more details on modeling and model visualizations.Have a great week!Resources:TextRobertson, S., & Robertson, J. (2013). Mastering the requirements process: Getting requirements right (3rd ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.eduChapter 8: Starting the SolutionChapter 9: Strategies for Today’s Business AnalystChapter 10: Functional RequirementsChapter 11: Non-Functional RequirementsChapter 12: Fit Criteria and RationalBookIIBA. (2015). A guide to the business analysis body of knowledge (BABOK Guide) (3rd ed.). Retrieved from https://ashford.instructure.com/This book is available in the online classroom.Chapter 10: TechniquesArticlesBrandenburg, L. (n.d.). 22 visual models used by business analysts (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/22-visual-models-u...The article provides information about popular business analysis techniques and why they are popular. The article will assist you in your assignments and discussions this week.Accessibility Statement does not exist.Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)Lessing, E. (2015, January 9). Eight (8) of the most popular business analysis techniques | Why are these popular? (Links to an external site.) [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://business-analysis-excellence.com/business-a...The article provides information about popular business analysis techniques and why they are popular. The article will assist you in your assignments and discussions this week.Accessibility Statement does not exist.Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)Munday, L. (2014). Complete business-systems analysis model (UML example) (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.modernanalyst.com/Resources/Articles/ta...This article provides information about UML and will assist you in your assignments and discussions this week.Accessibility Statement does not exist.Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)Supplemental MaterialYoung Gonzaga, S. (2017). Business scenario for Cool Widgets, Inc. [PDF document]. Retrieved from https://ashford.instructure.com/This business scenario provides information you will use in your assignments throughout the course.
