IAB204 Business Analysis for IT Systems
To view more information for this unit, select Unit Outline from the list below. Please note the teaching period for which the Unit Outline is relevant.
| Unit code: | IAB204 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite(s): | IFB103 |
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Timetable | Details in HiQ, if available |
| Availabilities |
|
Unit Outline: Semester 1 2027, Gardens Point, Internal
| Unit code: | IAB204 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Pre-requisite: | IFB103 |
| Coordinator: | Rehan Syed | r.syed@qut.edu.au |
Overview
This unit introduces you to the role, knowledge, skills and techniques required of a business analyst. The unit focuses on the tools and methods used by a business analyst, as well as the soft skills such as creativity and communication, all of which are critical to successful business requirements analysis.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Apply knowledge of Business Analysis to analyse an organisational context, (the legal, economic, environmental, social, cultural (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives), ethical, diversity, and inclusion), to diagnose organisational problems, identify opportunities, and develop a business case for an innovative IT solution.
- Elicit organisational, user, and stakeholder requirements, including the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, to address a critical business problem or opportunity in an organisational context.
- Develop abstract representations of organisational processes, systems and data using established business analysis techniques.
- Ideate and critically evaluate a range of possible solutions and make well-justified recommendations to decision makers.
- Demonstrate initiative and responsibility by continuously enhancing knowledge and skills in writing business cases, managing solution transitions, and communicating professionally and effectively, ensuring skills proficiency and adaptability in a dynamic business environment.
- Collaborate using an established project management approach to produce a cohesive outcome to meet organisational needs.
Content
The topics covered in this unit include:
- The Business Analysis process & its importance.
- IT, business and strategic alignment.
- Defining critical success factors, key performance indicators, and scope of analysis.
- Techniques for identifying, gathering, analysing, prioritising and presenting needs and requirements.
- IT enabled organisational enterprise solution design
- Management and analytical techniques.
- Effective communication skills for developing business cases.
Learning Approaches
This unit is available for you to study in either on-campus or online mode. You can expect to spend 10 hours per week involved in preparing for and attending scheduled classes, preparing and completing assessment tasks as well as independent study and consolidation of your learning.
This unit comprises of a weekly live lecture as well as a pre-recorded lecture, which introduces the concepts methods and techniques as well as case studies of their application and a weekly tutorials that focuses on applying the concepts learned in the lecture each week.
Participation in weekly tutorial cases and scenarios will give you practical experience in the skills and techniques required by Business Analysts in industry. You will apply concepts and methods learned in the lecture through discussion of questions related to business cases or role-playing exercises in groups. This experience will be directly applicable to the assessment outcomes.
In addition, you will have the opportunity to conduct relevant research beyond that covered in the pre-recorded lecture to support your own business analysis recommendations.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
You may obtain feedback on your progress throughout the unit in the following ways:
- teaching staff will be available for advice and assistance during lectures and tutorial sessions
- feedback will be given by teaching staff during the weekly tutorial exercises
- assessment items will be returned to you promptly with comments on your progress
- teaching staff will be available for private consultation outside the lecture and practical sessions.
Assessment
Overview
The assessment items in this unit are designed so that you may develop a practical understanding of the techniques used by Business Analysts to effectively gather, prioritise, analyse, document, and present business requirements and to propose potential solutions based on those requirements.
You will work with a small team to develop, based on a real business problem and using a variety of data-gathering techniques, a business analysis report detailing the business need, the scope of analysis, the current business context, and the relevant set of requirements, followed by modelling and developing a solution approach, scope, assessment, and transition management based on the business problem and requirements.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Report
Analysis of Business Needs, System/Solution Requirements, Potential Solutions, and Business Case: Based on a real business problem, either sourced by you or provided to you, and through various data-gathering and requirement-elicitation techniques, you will be required to develop a business requirements report detailing the scope of analysis, the current business situation, and stakeholder needs within the established scope through various data-gathering techniques. You will be required to develop a solution proposal, detailing, evaluating and justifying how the business requirements identified can be most effectively addressed.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
The ethical and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is authorised in this assessment. See the relevant assessment details in Canvas for specific guidelines.
Assessment: Final Exam
The final exam will test your knowledge, problem-solving skills, and analytical skills. The topics in the exam will cover the key areas taught in the lectures and tutorials.
This examination will require attendance at a local testing centre. If you are enrolled as internal or on-campus student, the local testing centre will be on QUT campus. For students enrolled as online, QUT Examinations will provide local testing centre information.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.
Assessment: Live Interview
The Live Interview Assessment is an individual evaluative component designed to verify student learning and contribution within a group assignment. During the interview, each student is required to clearly explain the tasks they personally completed, demonstrate their understanding of the overall project, and provide a critical reflection on their work and the group process.
The interview will focus on:
- The student’s specific responsibilities and outputs within the group assignment
- The rationale for key decisions, methods, and tools used
- The student’s understanding of how their work contributed to the overall solution
- A critical reflection on strengths, challenges, lessons learned, and opportunities for improvement
Students should be prepared to discuss both technical and analytical aspects of their work, as well as their collaboration and communication within the team. Emphasis is placed on authenticity, depth of understanding, and reflective capability.
Interviews may be conducted either online or face-to-face, depending on enrolment mode and relevant circumstances. All formats will follow a consistent structure and assessment criteria to ensure fairness and comparability.
This assessment component ensures academic integrity, supports individual accountability in group work, and provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate higher order thinking through explanation and critical reflection.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
This unit makes use of a prescribed textbook. All other learning materials and resources will be provided via the Canvas site.
Resource Materials
Prescribed text(s)
PMI (2017) The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, Project Management Institute. ISBN: 9781628254730
Recommended text(s)
IIBA (2015) A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide) 3rd Edition, International Institute of Business Analysis, ISBN: 978-1927584026
Paul, Cadle, and Yeates (2014) Business Analysis, BCS Learning & Development Limited. ISBN: 978-1780172774
Risk Assessment Statement
There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit.
Standards/Competencies
This unit is designed to support your development of the following standards\competencies.
Australian Computer Society Core Body of Knowledge
1: ICT Professional Knowledge
2: ICT Problem Solving
4: Technology Building
- Human factors
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2 - Systems development and acquisition
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, ULO3, ULO4
Course Learning Outcomes
This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.IN01 Bachelor of Information Technology
- Demonstrate a broad theoretical and technical knowledge of well-established and emerging IT disciplines, with in-depth knowledge in at least one specialist area aligned to multiple ICT professional roles.
Relates to: ULO1, Report , Final Exam - Critically analyse and conceptualise complex IT challenges and opportunities using modelling, abstraction, ideation and problem-solving to generate, evaluate and justify recommended solutions.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO3, ULO4, Report , Final Exam - Integrate and apply technical knowledge and skills to analyse, design, build, operate and maintain sustainable, secure IT systems using industry-standard tools, technologies, platforms, and processes.
Relates to: ULO3, Report , Final Exam - Demonstrate an understanding of the role of IT in enabling business outcomes and how business realities shape IT decisions.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, ULO3, Report , Final Exam - Demonstrate initiative, autonomy and personal responsibility for continuous learning, working both independently and collaboratively within multi-disciplinary teams, employing state-of-the-art IT project management methodologies to plan and manage time, resources, and risk.
Relates to: ULO5, ULO6, Report - Communicate professionally and effectively in written, verbal and visual formats to a diverse range of stakeholders, considering the audience and explaining complex ideas in a simple and understandable manner in a range of IT-related contexts.
Relates to: ULO5, Report - Critically reflect, using a human-centric approach, on the social, cultural, ethical, privacy, legal, sustainability, and accessibility issues shaping the development and use of IT, including respecting the perspectives and knowledge systems of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, ensuring IT solutions empower and support people with disabilities, and fostering inclusive and equitable digital technologies that serve diverse communities.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, ULO3, Report , Final Exam
PU51 Bachelor of Health Information Management
- Critically evaluate and apply theoretical and technical perspectives on health information management (HIM), applicable to professional practice to solve routine and emergent problems. [Knowledge, Practice]
Relates to: Report , Final Exam - Initiate effective approaches for engaging in critical thinking, decision making and problem solving that reflect diverse perspectives and culturally safe and responsive practice, encompassing evidence-based HIM solutions. [Practice, Values/Disposition
Relates to: Report , Final Exam - Exercise judgement in the context of HIM, informed by sustainable, legal, ethical, and professional perspectives that promote social inclusivity, multidisciplinary collaboration and reflective practice. [Values/Disposition, Knowledge, Practice]
Relates to: Report , Final Exam - Reflect critically on performance and feedback to identify self improvements and action learning opportunities, while building productive professional relationships across diverse stakeholders. [Practice, Values/Disposition]
Relates to: Report , Final Exam
Unit Outline: Semester 1 2027, Online
| Unit code: | IAB204 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Pre-requisite: | IFB103 |
Overview
This unit introduces you to the role, knowledge, skills and techniques required of a business analyst. The unit focuses on the tools and methods used by a business analyst, as well as the soft skills such as creativity and communication, all of which are critical to successful business requirements analysis.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Apply knowledge of Business Analysis to analyse an organisational context, (the legal, economic, environmental, social, cultural (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives), ethical, diversity, and inclusion), to diagnose organisational problems, identify opportunities, and develop a business case for an innovative IT solution.
- Elicit organisational, user, and stakeholder requirements, including the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, to address a critical business problem or opportunity in an organisational context.
- Develop abstract representations of organisational processes, systems and data using established business analysis techniques.
- Ideate and critically evaluate a range of possible solutions and make well-justified recommendations to decision makers.
- Demonstrate initiative and responsibility by continuously enhancing knowledge and skills in writing business cases, managing solution transitions, and communicating professionally and effectively, ensuring skills proficiency and adaptability in a dynamic business environment.
- Collaborate using an established project management approach to produce a cohesive outcome to meet organisational needs.
Content
The topics covered in this unit include:
- The Business Analysis process & its importance.
- IT, business and strategic alignment.
- Defining critical success factors, key performance indicators, and scope of analysis.
- Techniques for identifying, gathering, analysing, prioritising and presenting needs and requirements.
- IT enabled organisational enterprise solution design
- Management and analytical techniques.
- Effective communication skills for developing business cases.
Learning Approaches
This unit is available for you to study in either on-campus or online mode. You can expect to spend 10 hours per week involved in preparing for and attending scheduled classes, preparing and completing assessment tasks as well as independent study and consolidation of your learning.
This unit comprises of a weekly live lecture as well as a pre-recorded lecture, which introduces the concepts methods and techniques as well as case studies of their application and a weekly tutorials that focuses on applying the concepts learned in the lecture each week.
Participation in weekly tutorial cases and scenarios will give you practical experience in the skills and techniques required by Business Analysts in industry. You will apply concepts and methods learned in the lecture through discussion of questions related to business cases or role-playing exercises in groups. This experience will be directly applicable to the assessment outcomes.
In addition, you will have the opportunity to conduct relevant research beyond that covered in the pre-recorded lecture to support your own business analysis recommendations.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
You may obtain feedback on your progress throughout the unit in the following ways:
- teaching staff will be available for advice and assistance during lectures and tutorial sessions
- feedback will be given by teaching staff during the weekly tutorial exercises
- assessment items will be returned to you promptly with comments on your progress
- teaching staff will be available for private consultation outside the lecture and practical sessions.
Assessment
Overview
The assessment items in this unit are designed so that you may develop a practical understanding of the techniques used by Business Analysts to effectively gather, prioritise, analyse, document, and present business requirements and to propose potential solutions based on those requirements.
You will work with a small team to develop, based on a real business problem and using a variety of data-gathering techniques, a business analysis report detailing the business need, the scope of analysis, the current business context, and the relevant set of requirements, followed by modelling and developing a solution approach, scope, assessment, and transition management based on the business problem and requirements.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Report
Analysis of Business Needs, System/Solution Requirements, Potential Solutions, and Business Case: Based on a real business problem, either sourced by you or provided to you, and through various data-gathering and requirement-elicitation techniques, you will be required to develop a business requirements report detailing the scope of analysis, the current business situation, and stakeholder needs within the established scope through various data-gathering techniques. You will be required to develop a solution proposal, detailing, evaluating and justifying how the business requirements identified can be most effectively addressed.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
The ethical and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is authorised in this assessment. See the relevant assessment details in Canvas for specific guidelines.
Assessment: Final Exam
The final exam will test your knowledge, problem-solving skills, and analytical skills. The topics in the exam will cover the key areas taught in the lectures and tutorials.
This examination will require attendance at a local testing centre. If you are enrolled as internal or on-campus student, the local testing centre will be on QUT campus. For students enrolled as online, QUT Examinations will provide local testing centre information.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.
Assessment: Live Interview
The Live Interview Assessment is an individual evaluative component designed to verify student learning and contribution within a group assignment. During the interview, each student is required to clearly explain the tasks they personally completed, demonstrate their understanding of the overall project, and provide a critical reflection on their work and the group process.
The interview will focus on:
- The student’s specific responsibilities and outputs within the group assignment
- The rationale for key decisions, methods, and tools used
- The student’s understanding of how their work contributed to the overall solution
- A critical reflection on strengths, challenges, lessons learned, and opportunities for improvement
Students should be prepared to discuss both technical and analytical aspects of their work, as well as their collaboration and communication within the team. Emphasis is placed on authenticity, depth of understanding, and reflective capability.
Interviews may be conducted either online or face-to-face, depending on enrolment mode and relevant circumstances. All formats will follow a consistent structure and assessment criteria to ensure fairness and comparability.
This assessment component ensures academic integrity, supports individual accountability in group work, and provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate higher order thinking through explanation and critical reflection.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
This unit makes use of a prescribed textbook. All other learning materials and resources will be provided via the Canvas site.
Resource Materials
Prescribed text(s)
PMI (2017) The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, Project Management Institute. ISBN: 9781628254730
Recommended text(s)
IIBA (2015) A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide) 3rd Edition, International Institute of Business Analysis, ISBN: 978-1927584026
Paul, Cadle, and Yeates (2014) Business Analysis, BCS Learning & Development Limited. ISBN: 978-1780172774
Risk Assessment Statement
There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit.
Standards/Competencies
This unit is designed to support your development of the following standards\competencies.
Australian Computer Society Core Body of Knowledge
1: ICT Professional Knowledge
2: ICT Problem Solving
4: Technology Building
- Human factors
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2 - Systems development and acquisition
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, ULO3, ULO4
Course Learning Outcomes
This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.IN01 Bachelor of Information Technology
- Demonstrate a broad theoretical and technical knowledge of well-established and emerging IT disciplines, with in-depth knowledge in at least one specialist area aligned to multiple ICT professional roles.
Relates to: ULO1, Report , Final Exam - Critically analyse and conceptualise complex IT challenges and opportunities using modelling, abstraction, ideation and problem-solving to generate, evaluate and justify recommended solutions.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO3, ULO4, Report , Final Exam - Integrate and apply technical knowledge and skills to analyse, design, build, operate and maintain sustainable, secure IT systems using industry-standard tools, technologies, platforms, and processes.
Relates to: ULO3, Report , Final Exam - Demonstrate an understanding of the role of IT in enabling business outcomes and how business realities shape IT decisions.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, ULO3, Report , Final Exam - Demonstrate initiative, autonomy and personal responsibility for continuous learning, working both independently and collaboratively within multi-disciplinary teams, employing state-of-the-art IT project management methodologies to plan and manage time, resources, and risk.
Relates to: ULO5, ULO6, Report - Communicate professionally and effectively in written, verbal and visual formats to a diverse range of stakeholders, considering the audience and explaining complex ideas in a simple and understandable manner in a range of IT-related contexts.
Relates to: ULO5, Report - Critically reflect, using a human-centric approach, on the social, cultural, ethical, privacy, legal, sustainability, and accessibility issues shaping the development and use of IT, including respecting the perspectives and knowledge systems of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, ensuring IT solutions empower and support people with disabilities, and fostering inclusive and equitable digital technologies that serve diverse communities.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, ULO3, Report , Final Exam
PU51 Bachelor of Health Information Management
- Critically evaluate and apply theoretical and technical perspectives on health information management (HIM), applicable to professional practice to solve routine and emergent problems. [Knowledge, Practice]
Relates to: Report , Final Exam - Initiate effective approaches for engaging in critical thinking, decision making and problem solving that reflect diverse perspectives and culturally safe and responsive practice, encompassing evidence-based HIM solutions. [Practice, Values/Disposition
Relates to: Report , Final Exam - Exercise judgement in the context of HIM, informed by sustainable, legal, ethical, and professional perspectives that promote social inclusivity, multidisciplinary collaboration and reflective practice. [Values/Disposition, Knowledge, Practice]
Relates to: Report , Final Exam - Reflect critically on performance and feedback to identify self improvements and action learning opportunities, while building productive professional relationships across diverse stakeholders. [Practice, Values/Disposition]
Relates to: Report , Final Exam