BCS Practitioner Specialist in Benefits Management and Business Acceptance

Holders of the BCS Certificate in Business Management & Business Acceptance should be able to carry out the following tasks:

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 4 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 pre-requisites to acceptance testing

There are no specific pre-requisites for entry to the exam, however candidates should possess the appropriate level of knowledge to fulfill the objectves below

• 1. Introduction
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 4.1 Identifying benefit owners
• 4.2 Role and responsibilities of senior responsible owner
• 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
• 5.1 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
• 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
• 7.1 Test progress monitoring and control
• 7.2 Incident Management
• 7.3 Confirmation Testing
• 8. Reviewing the Business Case
• 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
• 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
• 10.1 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

Delegates will take the BCS Practitioner Specialist in Benefits Management and Business Acceptance examination in the afternoon of the final day.