Case Studies from The Business Analyst Blueprint®

Case Studies from The Business Analyst Blueprint^®

If we could sum up in one word what our participants in The Business Analyst Blueprint® program say they experience it would be: CONFIDENCE.

This is a one-of-a-kind, practical, real-world on-the-job training program. Browse our participant success stories to learn more about what you can expect inside the program.

Turning a Skill Set Into a Repeatable Framework: Chad Crider

Meet Chad Crider, a recent participant in The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program and an Applications Analyst from CNG Inc in Ohio. With over 20 years of experience on a different career path, Chad found himself entering into a role that needed a proven, repeatable process framework.

What we love about Chad’s story is how, through The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, he was able to identify skillsets developed in his previous career that were business analyst skills, but lacked the framework to make the skills transferable. The training program provided Chad with a repeatable process framework with quality deliverable outputs that have allowed him to streamline his work and focus on the most valuable deliverables.

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From Technical Writer to Lead Business Analyst and a $20K Salary Increase

Amelia McHenry went from reaching the ceiling of her Technical Writer role to a Lead Business Analyst Role making $90K/year in Brentwood, Tennessee. This move represented a $20K salary bump in less than a year.

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From Quality Assurance Engineer to ServiceNow Business Analyst

For Manuel Ninapaitan, a participant in the Spring 2018 session, it all started with updating his title in his email signature – which he had the confidence to do while in The Business Analyst Blueprint® program. Soon his manager asked him to take on a BA-like project. And a year later he was in his first official business analyst job role.

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From Support Analyst to Business Analyst in 4 Weeks at the British Red Cross

“During The Business Analyst Blueprint®, I held a workshop with people in the organization so that we could collaboratively document the business process, and then improve it. As a result of this words spread in the different teams. Not even the teams that I, necessarily, worked in, but the teams that are containing the people who I helped the workshop with. People were saying, “Oh, this is really good. It’s really good.”

And what happened was that I contacted the program manager for the project off the bunch of project lists that were related, and he introduced me to another, to a project manager who was thrilled when she heard that I wanted to do business analysis. She was looking for someone to help her. As a result, my manager approved that part of my role would be business analysis going forward. So, it wouldn’t just be support analysis, which was great because that’s what I wanted.”

Roshni Dominic

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From Senior BA Lead to BA Manager in the Canadian Government

Annette Richards in Toronto, Ontario, was a senior business analyst when she joined The Blueprint. And, as she says, she knew more than she thought she knew.

But it didn’t matter because she felt like she had a “gap” that was holding her back. With the increased confidence that came from going through the program, and receiving instructor feedback on her business analysis work, she was ready to take the leap into a management position setting up a new business analysis framework and mentoring new business analysts.

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Contracting as a Salesforce Business Analyst: Stephanie Belhomme

Meet Stephanie Belhomme, an ACBA and Salesforce Admin from New Jersey, who used The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program to solidify her business knowledge and maximize her opportunity with clients.

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From Imposter Syndrome to Certification-Backed Confidence: Alison Whitwood

Meet Alison Whitwood, an ACBA and Technical Business Analyst from Sydney, Australia, who recently gained the confidence she needed to succeed in her new role. What we love about Alison’s story is how The Business Analysis Blueprint® certification program equipped her with hands-on experience going beyond the theory-based knowledge she had prior to the program.

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The Power of Perseverance: John Sim Becomes a Salesforce Business Analyst Consultant

Meet John Sim, an Applied Certification in Business Analysis™ (ACBA) recipient and Financial Business Analyst from San Francisco, who recently landed a job as a Salesforce Business Analyst after much determination.

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From Project Manager to Business Analyst: Wendell White

Meet Wendell White, an ACBA and Project Manager, who recently completed The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program. What we love about Wendell’s story is that, similar to many course students, he wasn’t aware that he was already performing business analysis work in his work as a project manager. Through the help of a recruiter friend, he joined the program and received the certification to showcase his value to his superiors.

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Experienced Business Analyst Increases Lands a 20% Salary Increase in a New Industry

Tammy Schlador, a Senior SAP Business Analysts from Tempe, Arizona, leveraged her certification and formalized skill set to land a new BA position in a new industry and received a 20% salary increase.

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From a Confidence-Crushing Lay-Off to a New Position as a Senior Business Analyst

“The reason I signed onto your program was to validate and affirm what I did or didn’t know about being a Business Analyst. I was laid off from a lucrative BA consultant position, and the layoff lasted almost 6 months. In addition to the loss of job, I was told I was ‘not technical’ enough for their needs, ‘we are turning to internal staff to meet our needs’.

I chose to use the lay-off and your program as a learning opportunity. when I completed the program I signed onto, I made copies of my work that your program required, took them to interviews, which resulted in a new Senior Business Analyst position I am currently employed (contracted) with. After I was hired I was reviewing documents for the new job, especially use case documents, and noticed how familiar they were! They were copies (the template) I used and presented in my portfolio during my interview for the job! The project manager liked them so much he presented them to the Data Architect to use.

To end my success story, I was able to validate and affirm, that the prior boss who implied that I wasn’t technical was simply using that statement as an excuse to end my contract and not a valid fact of my capabilities or lack there of. I am using the skills I knew and the ones I learned from Bridging the Gap in my current job!”

Kevin B.
Senior Business Analyst

Becoming the Go-To Business Analyst with her ACBA

Andrea Wilson, ACBA, PMP is doing business analysis under the title of Information Management Resource Consultant in Tallahassee, Florida, working in the court system. After participating in The Business Analyst Blueprint®, she became the go-to business analyst in her organization. And with the ACBA, she received even more recognition from her manager, CIO, and even some recruiters.

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How to Take Your Career into Your Own Hands by Examining the Environment Around You

Beverly Sudbury, an ACBA and Business Process Analyst from Prince Edward Island, recently took control of her career and went from a Software Tester to a Business Process Analyst. Beverly observed the work environment around her, recorded in detail the work she had been doing, and used those findings to build the case for her first promotion from Software Tester to Junior Business Process Analyst.

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Confidently Transitioning into a Senior Business Analyst Role in the Cybersecurity Industry: Michelle Bosomworth

Meet Michelle Bosomworth, an ACBA and Senior Business Process Analyst in the Cybersecurity industry from Southwestern Ontario, who recently acquired a senior role in her company while sharpening her skills through The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program.

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Saving $40K in Consulting Costs and Increasing Confidence – During Module 1!

Jeannie C. was part of our Spring 2021 session, and after passing Module 1: Business Process Analysis, she sent us this celebratory message.

“Whoo-hoo!!! That is so exciting!!! Thank you Toni, I will absolutely make sure to review and implement your suggestions. After reviewing/taking in your original suggestions and redoing the workbook, I had so much more confidence as well as the ability to “read” previous workflows created for other projects. There were many aha! moments.

I am happy to share a win – I will be creating the workflows and steps going forward for ALL our accounting and underwriting processes, bypassing the vendors $40K cost. Additionally, the IT Director has requested to work directly with me on the project which is fantastic.

Thank you Toni and BTG!!! I’m on a cloud. :)”

From Underwriting to Business Analyst with English as Her Third Language

Zineb Iotti, ACBA transitioned from a 13-year career in understanding to doing business analysis under the title of Transformation Manager – and decided to invest in herself after her first BA job applications were rejected. The program got her career unstuck and she now works on a multi-lingual team in Switzerland and leverages the techniques she learned in The Business Analyst Blueprint®.

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How to Up-Level to a Senior Business Analyst Role Without a Technical Background

Munzolli Tower, from the New Jersey area, is a business analyst with an SME background. Learn how he secured a promotion to Senior Business Analyst, and the kind of confidence he gained in his business analyst skills through The Business Analyst Blueprint®, despite already having several professional certifications.

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How to Land Paid Contract Work and Build a Work Portfolio During COVID-19 with No Technical Background

Becky Goll, ACBA, tackled the challenge of a pandemic and leveraged her participation in the Spring 2020 session to land paid contract work during shelter-in-place orders, even while she was recently unemployed. She left the program with a work portfolio she can show to future employers.

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Providing Credibility for Your Knowledge and Experience with the ACBA

Emma Lander, an ACBA and CSI Analyst from Bournemouth, England, recently completed The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program while simultaneously transitioning into a new career. Learn how she used The Business Analyst Blueprint® to hit the ground running in her new career as a CSI Analyst.

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Gaining Recognition from Technical Professionals and Succeeding at a Major Systems Integration Project

“I’m part way through a legacy ERP & SAAS e-commerce integration project and found myself knee deep in relational databases and trying to understand how these fit together with the business requirements. I talked thru my ERD with the DBA at work … and we spoke the SAME language! It was awesome to get the recognition from a technical person.”

Joanne Thirlwall

Unemployed in the UK – Lands 2 BA Job Offers

Perry McGuire joined The Business Analyst Blueprint® having held the title of business analyst, but not fulfilling the full scope of business analyst work he found in his local job postings in Jersey, one of the British Islands. By going through each of the skill sets in The Business Analyst Blueprint® and applying them through volunteer work at a local non-profit, Perry boosted his practical business analyst skills and increased his confidence to apply for a broader range of business analyst positions.

“I thought I was quite competent with workflow diagrams and process maps etc. but the information provided by the course has forced me to review this so-called competency – which is good and confirms that one’s BA practical skills are already improving! : )

My main-take away was the additional practical skills that I now have which in-turn gives me confidence in my skills and abilities. My confidence in January was low but as a consequence of my participation on the The Business Analyst Blueprint® course, it is high and I am now optimistic about my chances of securing another BA role soon.”

Perry McGuire

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How to Land Paid Contract Work as a Business Analyst with a Software Background

Todd Fleming, a participant in the Spring 2019 session, is from Somers Montana, which is near Kalispell, Montana, and leveraged his investment in The Business Analyst Blueprint® to land paid contract work with a past employer, and the opportunity to build up his on-the-job business analyst experience.

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Gaining the Confidence and Skills to Become a Salesforce Consultant

Faraz Khan, an ACBA recipient and Salesforce Consultant, was invited as a speaker for the Salesforce BA Summit alongside our founder, Laura Brandenburg, and Bridging the Gap instructor, Dr. Michael White. Learn how The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program provided him with the technical skills to validate his diverse career background, giving him the confidence to become a Salesforce Consultant.

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From Corporate Trainer to Business Analyst Creating ERDs!

Sara Rankin, ACBA, had just recently discovered the profession of business analysis when she participated in The Business Analyst Blueprint® program, and realized how well the role matched up with her innate gifts.

“I think the biggest win for me professionally was this just really built my confidence. Before I would look at things differently or I would ask questions or I would just walk through how things worked with my stakeholders. And I was definitely doing that kind of haphazardly, not in a formalized or contextual, well thought out way, to pain the complete picture.

I would definitely say that the course has built my confidence, and I think it really has been a great stepping stool to step off in terms of, “I can do, I can be, I am a business analyst.” And after completing my first data model, I have some street cred with the developer.”

Sara Rankin

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Moving Into a Leadership Role on an Agile Team (With No Technical Background)

David Sullivan jumped in to lead his team of business analysts shortly after participating in The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program. He also shares the skills he relies on to be successful on highly technical projects, even though he doesn’t have a coding background, and why the foundational business analyst techniques are still critical in an agile environment.

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Elevating the BA Contribution on An Agile Software Development Team: Dave Gallant

Meet Dave Gallant, an ACBA and Business Analyst for the Federal Government from Ontario, who recently completed The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program where his biggest takeaway was an increase in confidence in knowing what to do for deep analysis work.

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Leveraging The Blueprint on Strategic Initiatives in Healthcare

Jami Moore, ACBA, a participant in the Spring 2020 session (right during the COVID outbreak), leveraged the techniques in The Business Analyst Blueprint® program to bring clarity and make a bigger impact on a multi-year strategic program re-envisioning her organization’s entire customer experience.

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Finding Her Transferable Skills to Launch a BA Career in a Non-Profit

“The biggest change that has happened is that this course has enabled me to better correlate the ‘systems analysis’ work I performed 20 years ago to the ‘business analysis’ work I am seeking today.”

Cathy Warren, ACBA,
Health Ministry Program Director

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Leaving Full-Time Employment During a Pandemic – and Finding His Dream Job

“I just wanted to reach out and let you know how much my time with Bridging the Gap means to me. I secured a dream job with a state agency as a Financial Analyst. This has been a dream of mine since stumbling onto the profession in my sophomore year in college.

The only reason I had the confidence to leave my previous position and fulfill this dream was due to The Business Analyst Blueprint® program – that told me to believe in myself. I left my previous employment during the pandemic, took my 401k, and invested in the most defining journey of my lifetime. Thank you for being the confidence boost I needed to set myself in the right direction! I could not have done it without the nudge from Bridging the Gap!”

Zachari Walker

Finding Confidence in Her Value as a Business Analyst in the Energy Industry

Kira Judge, from Saskatchewan, Canada, shares her journey to finding her confidence in a relatively new business analysis role and how she shows up as a leader to ensure she’s solving the right problems for her organization.

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Long-Time Business Analyst Affirms He Is Doing Things Right

When Michael Rodriguez joined The Business Analyst Blueprint®, he had quite a bit of experience (like 10-15 years of experience) gathering requirements as a software development lead. He is a highly skilled and competent professional, and was looking to take his business analysis skills to the next level.

“The biggest win overall for me is having a sense of confidence that I was doing things right, and now being able to add these other scales that you went over in each module and putting it all together. I was looking for something practical, and I think I found that in The Blueprint. Without The Blueprint, I think I would just be still at that surface level where I’m still wondering, I read about that already, but I just wanted to make sure that I was doing it right.”

Michael Rodriguez

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Case Study Examples of Real-World BA Projects

In this first-of-its-kind panel of business analysts, you’ll discover the specific projects 4 participants from different industries and career backgrounds used to complete The Business Analyst Blueprint® and earn their ACBA certifications.

You’ll discover how:

Tammy has brought process to an organization that’s proud of “flying by the seat of their pants,” and started to gain recognition for her true skills and abilities.
Hyo has gone from DBA/Developer to leading a major business process improvement effort across her organization, even though her coursework was never made an active project.
Munzolli gained confidence in industry standards and moved into a Senior BA position.
Anne leverages The Business Analyst Blueprint® techniques to increase her effectiveness as a Salesforce consultant.

About The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program

When you join The Business Analyst Blueprint® training program, you’ll learn all 12 of the industry-standard techniques and the business analysis process framework – to build your confidence in the best practices of business analysis.