| | | Join Our Linked In Group  Follow Us  @IIBA_NJ  Please share our newsletter with your friends and colleagues. | | Renew Your IIBA Memberships | | | Renew your IIBA NJ Chapter membership here. Renew your IIBA membership here. |
| | | Have you suffered project overruns as a result of incomplete requirements? | | Requirements are the foundation on which the solution to the business need is built. If the project requirements are not complete, clear and correct, then the foundation of the project plan will be unstable which may lead to a collapse or project failure. PMCentersUSA and Pace University can help.
Comprehensive 5-Day BA Training at Pace University - This comprehensive, five-day training conducted by Peter Johnson CBAP®, is intended for business analysts, executives, functional managers, project managers, programmers interested in expanding their effectiveness, and any other individuals involved in project work. Peter will lead students through an examination of all aspects of the challenging job facing the BA. He will deliver training that encompasses not only the requirements development and support work, but also the higher level tasks that senior BAs perform such as business case preparation, feasibility studies, project selection and business architecture. Earn the IIBA® credits that are required to meet the educational component to qualify for the CBAP® exam. This training will enable you to elicit and verify project requirements, understand the techniques used to analyze and document requirements, plan for and monitor the BA process on a project, understand the best practices for use cases, and understand the process for testing and quality assurance. Training will be held at the Pace Midtown campus on November 5 - 9, 2012. Register by October 22 and earn 35 PDs, CDUs or PDUs and 3.5 CEUs for only $2,495.00. For more information or to register, please call 1-888-762-3683 or visit: PM Centers USA | | October 18th - Annual General Meeting
Celebrating our 5 Year Anniversary ! | | | This will be our 6th Annual General Meeting where we will be having our annual general election to elect replacements for our outgoing board members. Contact secretary@newjersey.theiiba.org if you are interested in more information. In addition, there will be a panel discussion that will provide the Business Analyst of today the unique opportunity to understand how the role is viewed by Senior Leaders. Our panelists will be: Erene Philips, Account manager AETEA Information Technology
As an Account Manager at AETEA Information Technology, Erene Philips has been overseeing some of the firms largest clients for over five years. Her primary responsibilities include working closely with her clients to understand their business goals and drivers and then partnering to provide them the best talent to fit their needs. She is accountable for communicating the clients' needs to the recruiting team, ultimately clearing candidates to ensure that they are a good match on all levels for prospective opportunities, and post placement follow up with clients and candidates. Erene prides herself on her commitment to properly aligning candidates with positions that reflect their career objectives. Douglas Stewart, Divisional Information Leader - Health Care Reform, IT Received two undergraduate degrees in Studio Art and Molecular Biology from the University of Richmond, and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Was a health and life sciences consultant with Andersen Consulting during the conversion to Accenture, where he served clients such as Horizon BCBS, Highmark BCBS, and AT&T with a focus on Customer Service System implementations, Data Warehousing Initiatives, and Service Operations improvement through the use of technology.
Currently an employee of Horizon BCBS of NJ for the last 8 years, where he established a Business Analysis Center of Excellence with a focus on the requirements discipline as a critical component of project cost savings and risk reduction. He currently serves as part of an expansion of that organization with a focus on Requirements and Delivery for organizational transformation initiatives related to Health Care Reform.
Work at Horizon has been recognized in:
2004 InfoWorld Magazine Top 100 IT Projects
2005 InformationWeek Top 100 Innovators, and 1st place in Service Oriented Computing for Technology Managers Best Practices Sharon R Ashton , VP, Worldwide commercial Automobile , Chubb Sharon Ashton has been with the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies for 26 years. Sharon has a BA in Economics with a minor in Computer Science from Lafayette College Easton, Pennsylvania. After completing her degree, Sharon worked for a year with ADT Security Systems in their Computer Operations Department. Sharon joined Chubb's Information Technology department in 1986 as a programmer. In the last 26 years she has been involved in the design, build and implementation of many I/T applications at Chubb. Sharon has managed both technical and business analysis teams. She has worked successfully with business partners to define technology solutions to support their business plans. Sharon held the position of Business Solution Architect for Commercial lines prior to assuming the role of Worldwide Commercial Automobile Underwriting Manager earlier this year. Sharon has an Associate in Information Technology from the Insurance Institute of America and was one of the founders and past president of the NJ Chapter of the IIBA (International Institute for Business Analysis). Michael Calluori, Executive Sanofi Michael Calluori is a Sr. Manager at Sanofi in Bridgewater, NJ. He has over 10 years of Business Analysis and technical experience in drug research and development with a focus on Regulatory Submissions and Drug Safety. Michael is leading the Business Analysis Community of Practice at Sanofi R&D. Outside of Sanofi, Michael is one of the founders of the IIBA® Pharma/Biotech Special Interest Group and serves as the VP of the Community. Michael has a BA in Computer Science. Christopher Gaffney , Operations Management Director - Centers of Excellence Christopher Gaffney is the Operations Management Director -- Centers of Excellence at AXA Equitable. In this role, Chris is responsible for directing the Centers of Excellence within AXA Equitable IT including Business Analysis, Data Analysis, Project Management, Quality Assurance, Solutions Architecture and Systems Analysis to help maintain quality and a consistent process between the individual COEs. He is directly responsible for the Business Analysis Center of Excellence, advancing the skills and capabilities of the IT Business Analyst job discipline through:
· Resource Management and Recruiting
· Requirement Management Tool Implementations
· CMMi Level 3-compliant Processes, Procedures and Templates
· Metrics Capture and Analysis
· Professional Development
· Training Development and Delivery
· BA Resource Estimation
Chris is recognized as the Business Analysis Subject Matter Expert and Model Practitioner at AXA Equitable. He is well-versed in the theory behind the processes, policies and procedures, but recognizes everything must be practical in the AXA world to be successful. Chris is also the lead for the AXA Global BA Community which promotes Business Analysis best practices, community, tools and techniques for use at AXA companies worldwide. The Global BA Community includes actives representatives from AXA companies in Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Prior to joining AXA Equitable, Chris was an Independent Consultant for 16 years providing Business Analysis, Project Management and Technical Writing services to clients both large and small. He is a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) and Project Management Professional (PMP), and is currently working towards obtaining his AXA Six Sigma Black Belt certification. Please come out and join this forum to discuss trends in the BA profession. You will have the opportunity to: * Network with your peers
* Discover information, influence, and contribute to the BA profession
* Opportunity to learn and share best practices What "requiring" minds want to know!
Food and Beverages will be provided.
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| Special Announcement Changes to Current Board Members | | | Peter Lutz has been appointed to VP Marketing by the Board to fill the remaining term. Kevin Sorensen was appointed to VP Professional Development by the Board to fill the remaining term. Irving Phillips Jr. is serving in a transition role to the VP Communications. Note: VP Professional Development and VP Communications are both up for election this year. Please help us continue to make the NJ IIBA one of the best chapters that provides great support and terrific programs for our members. Please contact secretary@newjersey.theiiba.org if you are interested in volunteering. Any time contribution you can provide would be greatly appreciated! |
Announcement of Board of Directors Elections and Bylaws Changes at the 2012 Annual General Meeting | | | Election of officers to fill the following IIBA NJ Chapter Board of Director positions will be held at the 2012 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday October 18, 5:30pm - 7:30pm, Sanofi-aventis, 55 Corporate Drive, Bridgewater, NJ. VP Strategic Initiatives VP Technology VP Communications VP Membership VP Professional Development Secretary VP Strategic Initiatives and VP Technology are two new positions that have been proposed by the current Board. Changes to the Chapter Bylaw will be voted upon by the general membership at the AGM prior to the Board of Director elections. In order to align new positions with the existing election cycle, the VP Technology will serve a one-year term (1/1/2013 - 12/31/2013) initially, and require re-election to a two-year term in 2013. Individuals elected to all other positions will serve two-year terms of office from 1/1/2013 to 12/31/2014. An individual may nominate himself / herself for more than one Board position, but can only be elected to one Board position. When an eligible individual has been nominated for more than one Board position, separate rounds of voting will take place in order of appearance above, beginning with VP Strategic Initiatives. Eligibility requirements to run for office: - Member in good standing of the IIBA and IIBA NJ Chapter
- Committed to IIBA goals, professional standards and Code of Conduct
- Knowledge and skills, or desire and commitment to learn, in one or more areas of Board governance: policy, finance, programs, personnel, or advocacy
Please view the current and proposed Bylaws and descriptions of each position from the chapter website, www.newjersey.iiba.org /About Us /Governance page. Download the Nomination form template and submit completed forms in advance of the Annual General Meeting to the Elections Committee, betsymurphy-iiba@comcast.net. Potential members: If you join before the meeting (even at the door), you will be able to vote and your membership is valid through all of 2013. |
| BBC 2012 is Approaching October 28th - November 1st | | | Building Business Capability 2012 at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is five co-located conferences for the price of one, offering insight and expertise to help you create effective, complete business solutions. Attend just one conference, or mix sessions across all five - your choice. Join an unsurpassed group of professionals tasked with building more capable organizations. Whether you are interested in Business Analysis, Business Architecture, Business Process, Business Strategy & Transformation or Business Rules, or simply want to make your organization more agile, responsive and effective, don't miss this opportunity! See the whole picture and share experiences with like-minded practitioners and managers. Tom Ryder will be speaking about building BA competencies at UPS. Building a Business Analysis Competency and Training Program Peter Johnson will be joined by Curtis Michelson (Central Florida Chapter) and Neil Bazley (Director of the IIBA Chapter Council) on Thursday presenting the findings from the Chapter Maturity Model. IIBAA® What Is the Chapter Maturity Model - What Do We See as Worldwide Trends |
| November 8, 2012 at Microsoft Iselin, NJ The Art of Influence: Getting Things Done When You Are Not In Charge | | |  Our speaker will be Jeff Scott is the VP of Business and Technology Strategy for Accelare Inc., a US- based management consulting firm enabling strategy execution excellence. He works with Fortune 1000 companies on a wide variety of consulting engagements including strategy development, business architecture, organizational change, & innovation management. Before joining Accelare, Jeff was a principal analyst with Forrester Research where he established Forrester's business architecture practice and published over 50 research reports and numerous articles on the topics of business architecture, enterprise architecture management, and strategy development. Prior to Forrester, Jeff founded Logical Leap, Inc., a management consulting firm that specialized in creating powerful IT organizations through the development and execution of organizational, business, and technology strategies. He also developed and delivered leadership and architecture management seminars to over 1,000 IT and business professionals. Jeff is an internationally recognized thought-leader in the areas of business architecture, IT leadership, and organizational innovation. He frequently speaks, writes, and teaches seminars on these topics. He has a Master of Arts degree in learning and experimental psychology from Wake Forest University. Jeff currently writes the blog: The Business Architect. This interactive-presentation provides an overview of the following: The ability to influence others is the key to personal and professional success. Nowhere is this more important than in IT where leaders must bring together people with a variety of perspectives, values, and goals to create a common solution. Too often, IT leaders rely on positional authority, process, and "being the expert" to drive support. While we all yearn for more power and control, this isn't how leaders work. Whether you are an intern, clerk, or CEO, influence is the key to success. This session will explore the relationships between power, process, politics, and promotion to provide proven methods to increase your organizational influence. Key takeaways: - Why people resist change and what you can do about it
- How it increase your personal power
- Models for organizational change
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| | December meeting - BA Round-table | | | It is just before the holidays and many people have had a challenging year, especially for those of us that have been out of work. Although the market has been getting better for BA's and we are starting to get more recognition in the industry, it is important for everyone in our profession to remain sharp, keep our skills honed and continue to expand our knowledge of this interesting field. What better opportunity is there than to get together and share experiences, challenges and learn from some of the leaders and experts within our chapter? Come join us for an evening of round table discussions. You will have the chance to mingle and network with many of your peers and perhaps learn something at the same time. We look forward to seeing you there! If you would like to be one of the facilitators or have a specific topic you are interested in, please contact events@newjersey.theiiba.org. |
| Open Call to Members
| | | New locations are needed for next year's meetings. If anyone can provide a location then the host company can invite employees from their company free of charge. If there is interest please contact the Events VP (events@newjersey.theiiba.org) for more information. |
| Sincerely,
Marcia S. Kasper VP Communications
IIBA New Jersey Chapter |
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