The next event will be held in June 2023. Details will be available in April.
Past events have addressed topics such as;
November 2021 - Business Analysis as a Service - Allianz Insurance Case Study/ Workshop
This session provided insights to the BA practice transformation at Allianz Insurance. Key findings were presented on the practice leaders’ experience of offering and delivering business analysis as a service. This workshop follows on from the August webinar on the same subject and included breakout sessions for open discussion.
August 2021 Webinar - Business Analysis as a Service
Thinking about and delivering business analysis as a service, helps to establish and communicate the core value proposition offered by a business analysis team. This approach was outlined at a Forum event in 2018 and has since been pioneered by a number of organisations. This webinar was an opportunity to understand the principles underlying the service approach and to hear from some of the early exponents about their practical experiences.
BA Manager Forum - January 2021 - Working More Effectively with Senior Stakeholders
In January we were able to run a virtual event for a around 150 BA leaders. The topic in hand was how to work more effectively with senior stakeholders. David Harper led the session which was a healthy mix of input and group discussion. Notes taken during the discussions are written up below.
BA Manager Forum virtual event - August 2020
In August we ran three virtual workshops and a webinar for around 150 BA practice leads. Notes and slides from the sessions are below.
Workshop A Business Architecture and Business Analysis
This workshop addressed the lack of clarity regarding the business architect role and how this role should collaborate with the business analyst. The session included case study input from the Bank of England.
Workshop B - Benefits Management
This session reviewed the principles and techniques involved in managing benefits by considering: the challenges and realities of benefits management, the benefits management lifecycle, key benefits management techniques and the business analyst role in benefits management.
Resilience Webinar
This webinar enabled attendees to learn exactly what is meant by resilience, be able to assess their own resilience and understand approaches for building resilience.
BA Manager Forum November 2019
The November 2019 event saw practice leads from a range of sectors gather to attend workshops and special interest groups. Slides and notes relating to the day are provided below.
Workshop A – The BA role within scaled agile delivery
This was an opportunity for attendees to share their experiences of working in a scaled agile environment and included case study information from Aviva and Arm.
Workshop B – The BA Leadership Code
This session invited attendees to consider the values and behaviours that are appropriate to the BA leadership role. It drew on lessons learned by the British Army as a case study.
Workshop C – Digital Accessibility
This session provided very practical insights to digital accessibility and something of the challenges BAs need to take account of in their work.
Workshop D – From Good to Great: building exceptional business analysts
This workshop provided an opportunity to re-assess top performance from BAs. It included case study information on the challenges faced by BAs seeking to excel in an agile environment.
BA Manager Forum May 2019
The May 2019 event saw practice leads from a range of sectors gather to attend workshops and special interest groups. Slides and notes relating to the day are provided below.
Workshop A – Business analysis and cybersecurity
Cybersecurity should be part and parcel of everyday delivery for business analysts. This workshop provided delegates with the necessary insights into the role that can be played by BAs in protecting information assets.
Workshop B – Data analysis and the BA Service
This workshop examined the key questions regarding data analysis and its relevance to the business analyst role. This included: why BAs need to understand data, the skills the BA needs to work effectively with data and how BAs can engage in data analysis and modelling work.
Workshop C – Practical tips on surviving restructure for BA leaders and your team
Restructures are becoming a part of everyday life and BAs are not immune to this change. In this session, attendees discussed the most practical means of ensuring career preservation and personal well-being for themselves and team members.
Workshop D – Transforming the customer experience
This workshop offered insights into what is meant by ‘Customer Experience’ and provided a framework for analysing an organisation from a CX perspective. It also provided opportunities to discuss the relationship between Business Analysis and CX with fellow Forum members.
Special Interest Groups (SIGS)
Time was again made available for two informal discussions.
Ensuring the quality of analysis in an agile environment
Assuring the quality of analysis in a waterfall environment is a well-worn path, but it is less clear of how to do this in an agile environment. This session was an information share on exploring approaches to assuring the analysis output in an agile environment, and continuing to retain that agile environment.
BA Apprenticeships
This session provided an introduction for BA leads who are new to the scheme.
BA Manager Forum November 2018
The November event saw 150 BA Practice leaders gather to attend four workshops and swap notes on BA best practice. The slides and materials from the workshops are below:
BA Manager Forum May 2018
The May event saw 160 BA practice leads from a range of sectors and industries gather to attend workshops and enjoy a networking lunch. Slides and/or notes from the 4 workshop sessions are below.
BA Manager Forum November 2017
The November 2017 event saw 160 BA practice leads gather to attend workshops and enjoy a networking lunch. Slides and/or notes from the 4 workshop sessions are below.
BA Manager Forum June 2017
The June 2017 event saw 150 BA practice leads gather to attend workshops and enjoy a networking lunch. Slides and notes from the 4 workshop sessions are below.
BA Manager Forum event November 2016
The November 2016 event again saw 150 BA practice leads gather to attend workshops and enjoy a networking lunch. Slides and notes from the workshop sessions are below.
BA Manager Forum event May 2016
The May 2016 event saw 150 practice leads congregate to attend workshops on: embedding new working practices, tools of the trade and career next steps for BA Practice Leads.
Workshop notes are posted below.
BA Manager Forum event November 2015
Around 130 BA practice leads gathered again at Hamilton Place, London. The agenda for the day included a whole group presentation on coaching and workshops on; entry level BA development, marketing and branding the BA role and evaluating the maturity of BA practice. Slides and notes from the event are below.
BA Manager Forum event May 2015
Around 120 BA practice leads gathered at Hamilton Place, London to hear presentations and attend workshops on; measuring BA performance, The Advanced Diploma in Business Analysis, the BA practice lead view of business architecture, better support of BAs in an Agile environment, working with remote colleagues, tools selection and personal development for BAs.
BA Manager Forum event January 2015
Over 130 BA practice leads gathered at the John Lewis conference centre in Cookham, Berkshire to attend sesions on; measuring BA performance, senior BA career development and certification, strategic and tactical resourcing, creativity for BAs, prioritising BA workload and establishing BA team structure.
Measuring BA performance - the start of a longer term piece of work to establish available best practice for measuring BA performance. Craig Rollason provided an insight to the creation of a performance hub for BAs at National Grid.
Tactical and Strategic Resourcing - a workshop to establish best practice considerations in respect of BA team resourcing. This session was led by Simon Nicholls and Eva Cairns of Standard Life Investments and Gail Oxley and James Dell of Ypsilon Business Solutions.
Clinic/Open Forum workshop - attendees discussed the topics; establishing BA team structure, creativity for BAs and prioritising the BA workload. This session was led by Craig Rollason of National Grid and Lynda Girvan and Lawrence Darvill of AssistKD.
Career progression for established BAs; from the BA Diploma to the Expert BA Award. - a workshop to assess and review the steps for established BAs seeking to develop their careers to expert level. This session was led by Debbie Paul and Paul Turner of AssistKD.
BA Manager Forum event April 2014
Around 130 BA practice leads gathered at the Barclays Bank offices on Canary Wharf, London to hear presentations on personal efectiveness, NLP for business analysts, recruiting talented BAs and evaluating the maturity of BA practice.
Evaluating the maturity of BA practice - a workshop to look at approaches to evaluating the maturity of a BA Practice and identify the actions necessary for further development - James Cadle (AssistKD)
Recruitment best practice - the write up of the workshop on best practice in relation to BA candidate attraction, selection and retention. This session was led by Dylan Jones (Debenhams) and Melissa Carr (Consulting Cube Ltd)
An introduction to NLP for business analysts. Delegates gained an insight to the essential skills that NLP can help with in the context of business analysis practice. Corrine Thomas (Choices Consulting and Coaching)
BA Manager Forum Event November 2013
The agenda for the day included;
Getting to the Top Table - A panel discussion addressing influencing at the highest level and career options for those managing BA resources. Kim Bray (Nationwide), Joe Soule (Capital One), Iain Gillespie (Barclaycard) and Nigel Chambers (Skandia).
Value Streams - A participative workshop allowing delegates to practise this technique. Paul Turner - (Assist Knowledge Development).
Agile in a Business Context - A re-examination of the Agile philosophy and its potential to be applied more widely to the business context. Lyn Girvan - UK Government
Requirements Tool Selection - A case study on the exercise to select a requirements tool for use across a large retail banking organisation. Neil Constable, Syringa Camp and Phran Ryder (Lloyds Banking Group).
BA Manager Forum Event March 2013
The agenda for the day included;
Business Architecture at the Pru - A presentation on the developing Business Architecture Practice at The Prudential – An experience share of what worked/didn’t work – Steve Danby and Andrew Wainwright – The Prudential.
The Competent Business Analyst? - This session reviewed the output
of recent academic study into this field and provides a critical comparison of the IIBA and SFIA frameworks against the views of academics and practitioners alike. Jonathan Hunsley – Senior
Business Design Analyst - Barclaycard
Workshops, run in parallel, on the day included; Business Architecture, approaches to measuring the performance of the BA function and facilitative
leadership.
Schroder Event – May 4th 2012
The agenda for the day included;
Recognising the Expert BA - A detailed update on the initiative to develop a new Award for Business Analysts with higher level capability. Lawrence Darvill, Lynda Girvan and Corrine Thomas.
Improving Business Acumen - Eugene O’Connell – An assessment of what we mean by Business Acumen, the importance of Financial Literacy and how to improve acumen.
Devising a business analysis capability framework – Debra Paul and Maura Shields - This session focused on an approach that can be taken along with practical tools for use in devising a framework within which BA roles can be defined and capability measured.
Vinoplis – “Bursting the Bubble” May 2011
The agenda for the day included;
An external consultant’s view of the BA world – Andrew Holmes - Consulting models and approaches, attitudes and behaviours, the consulting skills gap and the BA community's appetite for making the maximum impact.
Stepping outside your comfort zone –Tony Combellack – Dealing with
ambiguity, understanding and taking risks, and what leaders can do to facilitate and promote the development of business analysis within their organisations.
Four parallel round table discussions for individuals to share ideas, experiences and views on a topic of interest to them including; Recognition for the Expert BA, The BA role and Six Sigma, Consultancy Behaviours and Business Analysis and Agile approaches.