It is very important for a professional to be certified in his or her field to get those much valued letters after his or her name, denoting the certification. Take for instance an accountant who can a CPA certification or a nurse who can achieve a CNA certification. Bringing some good news for business analysts is the CBAP or Certified Business Analysis Professional certification meant to give business analysts credibility in their profession.

The profession of business analysis is spread across the various segments of business all over the world and its importance across various industries is only increasing every day. Until now with no certification to unite the profession of business analysis, it was difficult to establish the required levels of expertise desired in a business analyst.

It is mostly known and understood that business analysis involves requirements discovery, gathering and writing and also reviews among other aspects but what CBAP certifications brings to this profession is a much needed certification that establishes a certain set of standards required to be a business analyst. The CBAP certification has been established by the International Institute of Business Analysis and is the first internationally recognized, measurable certification standard for business analysts.

While there are a certain set of requirements for you to be eligible for the CBAP certification, it should be noted that fulfilling the criterion only makes you eligible to appear for the CBAP exam and that you be clear the exam to receive the due certification. The CPAB examination called the CBAP certification test is made up of 150 multiple choice questions covering six distinctive areas of business analysis.

Some of the requirements that would make you eligible to appear for the exam include five years of analyst experience within the last ten years, six months of work experience when engaged in four of the six knowledge areas which are enterprise analysis, requirements planning, requirements analysis, requirements elicitation, requirements communication and solution assessment.

For your CBAP examination preparation you can either join CBAP study groups in your city or take CBAP exam preparation courses, most of which are available online. You should also familiarize yourself with BABOK 2.0 and its terms and principles which is available here. Alternately you can also prepare from the CBAP published study guides available with online book sellers.

Some vendors also offer CBAP boot camps that not only help you with your CBAP exam preparation but will also help you with other areas of your preparation including submitting your application. They also help you identify you strengths and weaknesses and equip you with different test taking strategies.

You do not have to be a member of the International Institute of Business Analysis should you want to apply for the certification. You will be asked to pay a higher than the members though. The CBAP certification lasts for about 3 years and you will be contacted thirty days before the certification expires giving you an option to renew it again.