Business Analyst Certification South Africa

The choice of selected countries in comparative information:

In order to ensure a valid international comparability study three categories of counties were identified: developed countries (United States of America, New Zealand, Australia and England); developing countries outside of Africa (Brazil, India, Turkey, Singapore); and African countries (Nigeria, Egypt, Botswana, Namibia, Ghana and Mauritius).

The inherent multi-disciplinary nature of business analysis makes international comparability challenging because of the various facets that such a qualification can cover. In many of the instances in the African countries, business analysis training takes on the format of high-impact short courses with very limited long-term learning taking place. In some of the developing countries outside of Africa more long-term qualifications in business analysis are offered which allow for a more thorough comparison. The most useful comparison that could be made was with the developed countries, which have well-developed programmes in business analysis. Internationally recognised best practices in business analysis represented by bodies such as the International Institute for Business Analysis (IIBA) and the British Computer Society (BCS) were also compared.

African countries:

Qualification standards in Nigeria, Egypt, Botswana, Namibia, Ghana and Mauritius were examined but only Nigeria was found to have any qualification standards and these were not directly comparable to this business analysis qualification. There are many tertiary institutions throughout Africa that offer qualifications that include business analysis related topics, but these are typically included in a limited way in general Information Technology, Computer Science and Information Systems curricula. Business Analysis is taught in these institutions but no African countries have extracted these into unit standards.

Developing countries outside of Africa:

Most of the information in the developing countries outside of Africa were hard to come by and relates mostly to post-graduate studies. Brazil, India, Turkey, Singapore were examined to find whether they had any business analysis qualification standards. No standards were found to be in place specific to business analysis as the business analysis discipline is usually included with other IT related qualifications.

Developed countries:

United States of America, Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom were examined to find comparable business analysis qualifications.

USA:

Business Analysis qualification standards in the USA and Canada are primarily governed by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) which is discussed in the International Best Practices section below.