BCS Benefits Management and Business Acceptance

Delivery Method

Classroom and virtual delivery. Note that due to the exam for this subject requiring written answers, the exam itself must be taken in a classroom environment (i.e. not on-line).

This course is not available in our public schedule but is available for on-site delivery.

Course Tutors

Our course tutors are practising business change professionals with at least 5 years training delivery experience.

Suitable for

This course is aimed at individuals who would like to achieve the BCS Benefits Management and Business Acceptance certificate, a practitioner specialism module required for the BCS Diploma in Business Analysis.

This course will benefit those who want to gain knowledge of carrying out tasks relating to benefits management and business acceptance testing. It is an alternative practitioner specialism module for the BCS Diploma in Business Analysis for those who do not wish to take BCS Modelling Business Processes.

What is included?

• 3-day tutor led training course
• BCS Benefits Management and Business Acceptance examination, taken at the end of the course
• Course notes and exercise workbooks
• A sample exam paper taken and assessed with support and guidance from the course tutor.
• Experienced tutors who have also worked on business change projects for at least 10 years
• Case studies and exercises to apply techniques learnt

Learning Outcomes

The syllabus splits into 2 distinct areas within which attendees should be able to:

Benefits Management

• Describe the contents of a business case
• Explain the importance of the alignment between the business strategy and the business case
• Describe at least four distinct categories of benefits
• Describe potential roles in benefits management
• Develop a benefits dependency network
• Undertake an investment appraisal
• Describe a benefits management process

Acceptance Testing

• Define a framework for effective acceptance testing
• Develop appropriate acceptance testing scenario test specifications
• Define prerequisites to acceptance testing

Course syllabus

The course covers the BCS syllabus for Benefits Management and Business Acceptance which is divided into the following ten areas:

1. Introduction (5%)

1.1 The rationale for Benefits Management

1.2 The rationale for Business Acceptance

1.3 Lifecycle for solution development

2. Defining the Business Benefits (15%)

2.1 Developing the business case

2.2 Contents of a business case

2.3 Ensuring strategic fit

2.4 Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators

2.5 The value chain and value propositions

2.6 Drivers for business change

3. Benefits Classification and Networks (15%)

3.1 Benefits Classification

3.2 The measurement of anticipated benefits

3.3 Defining business benefits, business changes and enabling changes

3.4 The benefits dependency framework

4. Planning for Benefits Management (15%)

4.1 Identifying benefit owners

4.2 Role and responsibilities of senior responsible owner – Producing the delivery plan for the benefits

4.3 Stakeholders in benefits management

4.4 Identifying relevant costs

4.5 Investment appraisal – payback, net present value and internal rate of return

4.6 Determining discount rate

5. Testing for Business Acceptance (5%)

5.1 The objectives of acceptance testing

5.2 Principles of testing

5.3 Roles and Responsibilities

5.4 Acceptance testing in the system development lifecycle

5.5 Functional and non-functional testing

6. Test Design Techniques (15%)

6.1 Test conditions and test cases

6.2 Models to design tests and establish coverage

6.3 Test cases from selected models

6.4 Test procedure specification

7. Test Planning, Management and Confirmation (5%)

7.1 Test progress monitoring and control

7.2 Incident Management

7.3 Confirmation Testing

8. Reviewing the Business Case (10%)

8.1 Review gateways

8.2 Assessing the impact of changes

8.3 Revising the business case

8.4 Reassessing the benefits

9. Implementing the Business Change (5%)

9.1 Planning the implementation

9.2 Implementation strategies

9.3 Contingency planning

9.4 Managing stakeholders

9.5 Developing the required skills and knowledge

10. Benefits Delivery (10%)

10.1 Embedding the business changes

10.2 Reviewing the achievement of predicted benefits

10.3 Defining and enacting actions and adjustments

10.4 Confirming delivery of the benefits plan

10.5 Assessing the potential for further benefits delivery

10.6 Signing off the business case

To view the full BCS syllabus for the Certificate in Benefits Management and Business Acceptance please click here.

Course preparation

There is no pre-reading required for this course. On-site clients wishing their attendees to pre-prepare for the course will be supplied further information at the time of booking.

Additional course information

Courses take place 09:00 – 17:30 over 3 days with the exam being sat at the end of the third day.

BCS Examination and Accreditation Details

The BCS Certificate in Benefits Management and Business Acceptance exam is taken on the final afternoon of the course.

The format for the examination is a one hour written open book examination based on a business scenario with 15 minutes reading time.

Candidates must achieve 50% to be awarded a pass grade.

Part of the BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis

The BCS Certificate in Benefits Management and Business Acceptance is a practitioner specialism module required to complete the BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis. To obtain the full Diploma, candidates must also obtain the two core modules and a knowledge-based specialism module. Candidates must also take a one-hour oral exam directly with the BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT, following successful completion of the four modules.