Are you thinking to enroll in the Business Analyst Programme and want to know how much time you will have to spend learning and if it is something you can achieve considering your work commitments?

We are providing you in this article an estimate of the type of learning activities you are expected to do as part of your apprenticeship.

What is the off-the-job training?

Off-the-job training is defined as learning which is undertaken outside of the day-to-day work duties of the apprentice. This training takes place within the apprentice’s normal (contracted) working hours. It averages out to a minimum of 6 hours a week. The off-the-job training must be directly relevant to the apprenticeship and support the apprentice to learn to do the work and take on more responsibilities.

The learning activities explained below represent the off the job training that apprentices are required to do if they do the business analyst apprenticeship with us.

What type of learning activities would the apprentice do as part of our business analyst apprenticeship programme?

The learning activities that the apprentice will do are:

• Certificated training led by a trainer that is attended remotely
• Skills Workshops – led by a trainer that is attended remotely
• Mentoring sessions – 2 sessions per month – remotely
• Work-based learning – done remotely from work or home
• Self-managed learning – done remotely from work or home

We will explain each learning activity in detail below and show the number of hours you need to dedicate to each activity across the 18-month programme so you can calculate the amount of time you need to dedicate to each.

Please be aware that excluding the certificated training that needs to be attended in blocks of 1, 2, or 3 days (as shown below) the rest of the learning activities can be fitted within your working day. All the learning activities need to be completed during your working hours, but you do have the flexibility to schedule them and fit them around your work.

We know fitting learning activities can be challenging in some situations that is why we created this flexibility for our apprentices to make it easier for them to complete the programme and progress in their career.

1. Certificated training that can be attended in person or remotely

As part of the programme, you have the following training days:

BCS Business Analysis Practice – 3 days

BCS Foundation in Business Analysis – 3 days

BCS Modelling Business Processes – 3 days

BCS Requirements Engineering – 3 days

BCS Oral Exam Prep – 1 day

Data Modelling – 2 days

Agile Certification of Choice  – 3 days

You can attend these dates when it is convenient for you and we don’t impose specific dates. We have courses every week so there are plenty of dates to choose from and you can take more courses when your work is less demanding.

Total Recommended Off-The-Job Hours: 140 hours of training

2. Skills development workshops

There are 1-day skills development workshops on specific BA skills that you need to attend as part of the programme. These workshops run thought the year and you can choose the dates that fit best with your work schedule. The workshops are delivered face to face or virtually.

Total Recommended Off-The-Job Hours: 34 hours of workshops

3. Mentoring Sessions

You will also be assigned an expert mentor with BA practical experience that will support you throughout your programme.

You will need to attend 2 mentoring sessions every month.

These sessions are a great opportunity for you to discuss with an expert your individual work challenges and the skills that you want to improve and as it relates to the business analysis competency standard.

A mentor is a valuable resource for you to progress to the next level in your career and be more confident and efficient and is something that you don’t get with a BCS Business Analysis Diploma Bundle.

Total Recommended Off-The-Job Hours: 15 hours of mentoring

4. Work-based learning 

The work-based learning means applying the tools and techniques you learn on the courses to your work on practical projects that are useful to the individual and to the organization.

You apply what you learn to your work, reflect on the result you got, and during the mentoring session, you discuss how you could have done it better.

The mentor is there to support you learn how to apply theory and answer any questions that arise during the process.

You will have the opportunity to challenge yourself and create an impact at work.

Total Recommended Off-The-Job Hours: 127 hours of work-based learning

5. Self-managed learning

A significant part of your apprenticeship is the learning that you do in your own time while you review your learning journey and your progress. Each apprentice has access to an electronic portal that contains copies of materials used in training sessions; curated links to blogs, videos, and other information helpful to Business Analysts; pre-reading for the classroom courses, and quizzes and question banks. You will also get two BCS business analysis books: “Business Analysis” and “99 Techniques”.

Total Recommended Off-The-Job Hours: 32 hours of self-managed learning

By enrolling in our apprenticeship programme, the apprentices will get structure and guidance to learn and know what their responsibilities as a business analyst are and how to do the job without having to second-guess themselves or be unclear about the activities they need to perform.

They will gain confidence in their skills and knowledge and they will be able to take on more responsibilities.

Get in touch to discuss your needs

Metadata Training has been delivering professional business analysis and agile training for over 30 years. Since 2017, we’ve been working with companies to provide the business analyst apprenticeship training. If you have specific requirements, we can adapt the programme to your organisation needs so you get the maximum benefits.

We’ve developed a flexible programme that is delivered by expert trainers and that draws from our fast experience of delivering business analysis training.

If you are:

• a manager looking for a business analyst apprenticeship training provider for your staff
• an apprentice who already has sponsoring from a company to do the business analyst apprenticeship

Then let’s have a chat.

We can adapt it to your organisation needs. As a specialist apprenticeship provider, we work in a flexible way and adapt to your needs so you get the maximum benefits. Please get in touch to arrange a chat with our Apprenticeship Director. Run courses with mixed del

We can help you:

• decide if the business analyst apprenticeship is the right option to train for yourself or your staff
• if our business analyst apprenticeship is the right programme for you and your company’s training needs

Please click here to fill in this form to arrange a call or call us on 020 7272 3726.

Want to find more details? View our apprenticeship page or Click to download our brochure