The Task

In this assessment, you will demonstrate an understanding of the core competences and skills required for a Business Analyst. You will also demonstrate your knowledge in use of tools and techniques for requirements elicitation and reporting. The required topics are covered during Weeks 1- 4.

The submission of this assessment item must strictly follow the guidelines below:

• For this assessment item, you will initially prepare an e-journal with all needed journal entries (i.e. your answer to each task item is a journal entry) using the software tool Mahara.
• All contents of your e-journal must be produced on a single Mahara web page, i.e. surely without any use of tabs, embedded URL links and words/images with hyperlinks in all the entries. Any variations means your marker will only mark whatever he/she can see at the time of marking. All students are warned to avoid losing marks by not strictly following this guideline.
• To prepare work for submission, you hit the Printer (print) button located at the bottom on your Mahara web page, which will generate a PDF file for your submission.
• You need to upload this PDF file generated from your Mahara for your online submission.
• This assignment must be submitted by strictly following all guidelines above. Otherwise, you will receive a ZERO mark.

A submission not as an expected PDF file having followed the guidelines above will be awarded a ZERO mark outright.

For full details of Assessment 1 including the marking criteria, see them at the unit Moodle website.

Each e-Journal entry will be assessed upon:

• Synopsis: quality of a summary of the journal entry;
• Reflection: demonstration of understanding of each of the topics given in the Assessment Specification; and
  
• Critique: development and support of critical arguments of the practical application of knowledge and
  understanding

In this assessment item, you will demonstrate your understanding and skills developed by learning the topics from Weeks 4 - 7, and more specifically techniques of knowledge capture, knowledge codification, and use of appropriate modelling tools.

The submission of this assessment item must strictly follow the guidelines below:

• For this assessment item, you will initially prepare an e-portfolio with all needed entries (i.e. your answer to each task item is an e-portfolio entry) using the software tool Mahara.
• All contents of your e-portfolio must be produced on a single Mahara web page, i.e. surely without any use of tabs, embedded URL links and words/images with hyperlinks in all the entries. Any variations means your marker will only mark whatever he/she can see at the time of marking. All students are warned to avoid losing marks by not strictly following this guideline.
• To prepare work for submission, you hit the Printer Image (or print) button located at the bottom on your Mahara web page, which will generate a PDF file for your submission.
• You need to upload the generated PDF file from your Mahara for your online submission.
• This assignment must be submitted by strictly following all guidelines above. Otherwise, you will receive a ZERO mark.

A submission not as an expected PDF file having followed the guidelines above will be awarded a ZERO mark outright.

For full details of Assessment 2 including the marking criteria, see them at the unit Moodle website.

Each e-Portfolio will be assessed upon:

• Quality of description of business from the perspective a Business Analyst (BA), based on the given scenario;
• Development and support of arguments in relation to analysis and documentation of the business context;
• Demonstration of comprehensive and detailed documentation of the main business processes and justification of the modeling tools used; and
• Quality of presented conclusion supported by your findings

You are required (as a group with up to four members) to write a report based on a given case study.

In this report, you need to evaluate current business systems and processes and propose improvements for the given case study. You are required to demonstrate your analytical and modelling skills to communicate your findings from the case study.

The group case study report will be presented in report format as per the details in the Assessment 3 Specification on the unit Moodle site. In addition, your report should also contain a title page, headers and footers, executive summary, introduction and summary of your evaluation. Use headings and sub-headings as appropriate. Your report must include in-text citations and a correctly cited list of references ordered alphabetically by surname of first author. You are strongly encouraged to use meaningful and helpful pictures, diagrams, and charts in presenting your ideas to enhance your explanations and professionally improve the quality of your group case study report.

All members are expected to equally share the workloads and take responsibilities of the report contents. Submission of the case study report will require all members to submit a copy for marking.

Every student member of a group is also required to conduct a self and peer assessment of the completed report and submit your assessment outcome by a given date in the email sent out to you.

The group case study report will be assessed upon:

• Professionalism in report presentation e.g. an effective title page, headers and footers, use of headings and sub-headings as appropriate;
• Quality of Executive summary;
• Quality of introduction;
• Demonstration of an articulate statement about current business processes and problems;
• Critical analysis in the requirements of a new System;
• Quality in the assessment of the feasibility of the new Business case and
• Quality of a presented conclusion, supported by the related findings.

The case study report is further assessed through the inclusions of in-text citations together with a list of correctly cited references, ordered alphabetically by surname of first author, in accordance with the Harvard style of referencing. Note: Refer to the unit website for the link to the guide.

Participation, contribution and collaboration in group work are assessed through the completion of an Self and Peer Assessment Online Survey by all group members.