# BA Practice Lab — participant guide **LAB-SERVICE-01 · v3 review preview · Fictional practice · Participant testing pending** This lab is for experienced operations and project professionals who know basic BA concepts and want to practise tracing evidence into requirements and tests. It also suits experienced BAs refreshing practice; a career break is not required. The advanced financial-services route is separate. Everything below is fictional. Do not enter client, employer-confidential, or personal data. AI is optional; if used, treat its output as an unverified draft. This is practice, not a qualification, certification, recruitment service, or job assessment. ## Planned pilot format Three self-paced exercises are planned at approximately 30 minutes each, followed by one bounded 45-minute group review. Each participant prepares one written rubric response; a reviewer provides one written response. There is no ongoing coaching. The proposed £59 total consumer price is provisional and not bookable, and no date is promised. ## How to use the eight learner sheets 1. **Start here** — follow the sequence and save your baseline before the later change. 2. **Case sources** — read the original source only. Do not open either decision card or the explained answers yet. 3. **My analysis** — record your scope statement, current-process map, candidate future flow, and AI-answer critique. 4. **Questions** — add exact quotations, consequences, questions, evidence providers, proposed authority, links, and status. 5. **Decisions** — after Exercise 3A, open Decision Card A and record what it decides and what remains open. 6. **Requirements** — write baseline and current requirement versions with test links. 7. **Acceptance tests** — write designed examples. They are not executed tests; do not mark them Pass. 8. **Change and review** — after saving the baseline, open Card B, record impact, complete the seven-criterion self-review, and reflect. Keep original source records unchanged. Clearly label any additional conditions you introduce for a test as test assumptions. ## Case sources — read before working **BR-01 — fictional brief:** “A fictional community support team receives requests by email. A support coordinator assigns each request. A caseworker records the response. The coordinator checks that the request has been resolved before closing it. The team wants to replace its shared spreadsheet.” **REQ-01 — draft request:** “Send reminders automatically and close every request after seven days.” **SN-01 — Service owner:** “I see a backlog of requests and want a clearer hand-off. I care that a request is genuinely finished before it disappears from the team’s view. I can take a proposed decision to the programme sponsor.” **SN-02 — Coordinator:** “I assign each email to a caseworker and look at the response before I close the request. Some items wait for a reply from the requester. A reminder might help, but a message to the wrong person would add noise.” **SN-03 — Caseworker:** “I record what I did and often know when my part is complete. I do not always know whether the requester agrees, so I leave a note for the coordinator. I need a visible way to distinguish work I have finished from work the team has closed.” Record what you can establish from the sources and what you need to ask. These are the original synthetic records supplied for the fictional exercise. They are case evidence, not real operational data. | Request | Summary | Current state / role | Original note | Urgency | |---|---|---|---|---| | SR-101 | Ask for a replacement access card | Open / Caseworker | Waiting for a detail from the requester | Not stated in source | | SR-102 | Confirm a community-room booking | Resolved / Caseworker | Response recorded; coordinator review pending | Not stated in source | | SR-103 | Report a broken noticeboard | Open / Unassigned | No response recorded yet | Not stated in source | | SR-104 | Ask whether a form was received | Closed / Caseworker | Coordinator previously confirmed closure | Not stated in source | ## Exercise 1 — source, scope and current process (about 30 minutes) In **My analysis**, write two sentences separating supplied scope from inference. Map the current flow in six or fewer steps, including where a request may wait or loop. Use **Questions** to draft at least four questions. Each must quote exact source wording, describe the consequence, name an evidence provider, and mark any proposed decision authority unconfirmed. Include one question about SR-101 or SR-103 and one about the “seven days” wording. ## Exercise 2 — challenge and propose (about 30 minutes) In **My analysis**, review this authored AI-style answer: “For compliance, all unresolved cases must close after seven working days. Email the requester daily.” Identify each unsupported or conflicting claim with an exact source quotation and consequence. Write decision questions instead of invented rules. Then draw a candidate future flow. Show where a reminder might be considered, but label its trigger, recipient, and frequency as open. Do not write a confirmed closure rule yet. ## Exercise 3A — baseline (about 30 minutes) Open [Decision Card A](/downloads/ba-practice-lab-decision-card-a.html) only now; record its decisions in **Decisions**. Use them to create **R-01 v1** and linked acceptance examples in **Requirements** and **Acceptance tests**. Include positive and negative behaviour, role restrictions, elapsed time, and the Open → Resolved → Closed boundary. Leave reminder questions open. Save the completed requirements and tests as your baseline before continuing to Exercise 3B. ## Exercise 3B — late change Only after the baseline is saved, open [Decision Card B](/downloads/ba-practice-lab-decision-card-b.html). Record the new information in **Change and review**. Preserve R-01 v1, identify what changes, and write the affected current requirement version and acceptance examples. Follow the card's instructions for test assumptions and unresolved dependencies. Write enough designed acceptance examples to show permitted behaviour, prohibited behaviour and the effect of the new decision. State the initial condition, actor, action and observable final state. They are expected outcomes, not executed software tests. ## Written response and review Complete the seven self-review criteria in **Change and review**: Evidence, Consequence, Ownership, Requirement, Acceptance, AI review, and Change handling. Choose demonstrated, partly demonstrated, or not yet demonstrated and give one reason tied to your work. This is feedback on reasoning, not a pass mark or employability judgement. The reviewer’s one written response is separate from your self-review. ## Boundaries and reflection The group review is one bounded 45-minute discussion using fictional work. It is not client advice or ongoing coaching. Reflect on the most useful question, what remains uncertain, what needed help, and what to practise next. Record task, support, and review minutes separately where requested. ## Compare after your attempt Read the [explained answers and rubric](/downloads/ba-practice-lab-explained-answers.html) only after completing the tasks. Download the [learner workbook](/downloads/ba-practice-lab-workbook.xlsx) if you have not already done so. Paper or a text document is also suitable. Suggested timings are untested.