BusinessGenetics Education

Calculating Your Learning Footprint

2009-08-07T15:45:00.005-06:00

I'll admit that I had initially decided to subscribe to "Jane's e-Learning Pick of the Day"

1. because we share the same first name

2. she, also like me, thinks learning technologies are cool...and our slightly geeky little bunch should stick together.

But I am constantly inspired by the little tidbits and tools she brings to my attention.

Case in point. While perusing the posts from the past couple of weeks, I ran across this great site and self proclaimed "fancy pants calculator" for people to use to estimate the cost savings of moving from traditional classroom delivery to e-Learning.

http://www.learningfootprint.com/calculate.html

Besides being easy and insightful, you can print off a .pdf of the results to use in your business case for e-learning.

Learn the Most Scientific Business Modeling Method & Earn Professional Development Credit

2009-08-07T15:14:00.000-06:00

BusinessGenetics' Learning Center is just weeks away from becoming a Registered Education Provider with the Project Management Institute (PMI). This means that when you, a PMP professional, complete our most popular course, Business Modeling Using xBML, you will soon be awarded 24 Professional Development Units (PDUs) for your efforts. Do you have remaining training budget to spend before the end of the 2009 fiscal year? Do you need to earn some PDUs to maintain your certification? We have traditional classroom AND virtual options of this course available in September. Register now for the best availability!

BusinessGenetics Announces xBML Certification Program

2009-07-20T11:13:00.004-06:00

BusinessGenetics Education announces the addition of their xBML Certification Program to their Learning Center. Certification is available at three levels, xBML Modeler, xBML Facilitator and xBML Master. BusinessGenetics continues to enrich and promote the profession of business analysts and business process professionals through their education, toolset and proliferation of their scientific methodology.

Each level of BusinessGenetics’ certification involves a combination of education, application, observation and skill assessment providing the students a comprehensive understanding of the BusinessGenetics solution toolset and methodology. The base certification level, xBML Modeler, validates an individual’s proficiency in using and manipulating the W5 Editor, a critical component in defining and modeling any organization correctly and completely. The second level, xBML Facilitator, confirms an individual’s ability, not only the methodology and the W5 editor, but also how to facilitate work sessions, manage group dynamics, conflict resolution, interpretation and translation of business information. The highest certification level, xBML Master, is the culmination of the program. The Master practitioner is a recognized expert in the BusinessGenetics methodology, the W5 Editor and has significant experience leading facilitated sessions. Additionally the xBML Master practitioner is qualified to deliver project outcomes through either business improvement analytics or business requirements generation.

“BusinessGenetics is thrilled to launch our certification program. This program is not only about book knowledge but about the application and practice of a discipline,” shares Jane Johnson, Director of Education for BusinessGenetics. “As an organization we strive to promote the advancement of the business analyst and business process professional. We designed this program to support their professional development while formally recognizing their expertise.”

Weekly Web Wead - Blogs

2009-04-27T09:36:00.001-06:00

I am sure you have heard the famous saying, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer” (Sun-Tzu), well this week’s web wead is all about a little competitive intelligence… Blog style.

The following links are company blogs of some of our competitors:

IDS Sheer – ARIS
http://www.arisblog.com/

Web Methods Chief Technology Officer
http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/bpmblog/

Lombardi
http://blog.lombardi.com/

You may want to add them to your RSS feeds so you can keep tabs on what they are contributing and working on.

Are there more? Or at this point are you scratching your head and asking ‘what the heck is a blog and why should I care?’

Here is my personal recommendation for learning more about the power of blogs for business:

Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing How Companies Talk with Customers
Preview the Book

Weekly Web Wead - LinkedIn

2009-04-16T14:45:00.007-06:00

LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries.

Besides building and maintaining your professional network, here are some other ideas of how you might leverage this popular tool:

Smart Ways to Use Linked In
http://www.linkedintelligence.com/smart-ways-to-use-linkedin/

You Should be Using LinkedIn for Demand Generation
http://www.louisgray.com/live/2009/03/you-should-be-using-linkedin-for-demand.html

Recommendations Are Feel Good Business for a Recession
http://www.louisgray.com/live/2008/12/linkedin-recommendations-are-feel-good.html?obref=outbrain

Browse LinkedIn Answers
The LinkedIn site now allows you to broadcast your business-related questions to both your own network and the greater LinkedIn community.
http://www.linkedin.com/answers

Weekly Web Wead - Twitter

2009-04-09T14:23:00.000-06:00

What are YOU doing in 140 characters or less??? Twitter has become such a phenomenon as a new communication channel that it is worth gaining a little understanding of this web sensation.

Here’s a little head start to catching up with what Twitter is and how it is being leveraged in the sales and marketing arenas specifically:

Why Twitter Matters
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080514_269697.htm

Twitter: A Guide for Sales Professionals
http://www.passivepipeline.com/resources/feature-articles/109-twitter-for-sales-professionals.html

eMarketing Tips Using Twitter
http://www.consultingpulse.com/2009/04/emarketing-tips-using-twitter.html

To Tweet or Not to Tweet, That Is the Question
http://www.clickz.com/3633252

BusinessGenetics to Offer Virtual Training and Other "Green" Options for Their Education Courses

2009-03-31T10:00:00.002-06:00

BusinessGenetics, a pioneer in the Business Modeling, Business Requirements, Business Improvement and IT automation markets, is proud to announce the expansion of their virtual training class schedule. Currently BusinessGenetics offers their foundational course, Business Modeling Using xBML, over eight, three-hour, virtual sessions held monthly, and on an open enrollment basis. Students learn how to use the xBML modeling language to create and manipulate business models using the xBML W5 software, practice Document Co-formulation, Facilitated Co-Formulation and Project Co-Formulation. Virtually delivered versions of the advanced courses will also be available beginning in September 2009.

As with other decrease their carbon footprint. Historically, BusinessGenetics has supplied each student participant with a 100-200 page binder of course materials. Now, as part of BusinessGenetics commitment to reducing their carbon footprint, students will be provided with a personalized flash drive containing electronic files of all course materials as well as access to the same files on demand, stored on the BusinessGenetics practitioner community site. For those clients who may still request a printed binder, a portion of the $150 per binder fee will be used to purchase carbon offset credits.

"Expanding our efforts to reach our geographically dispersed client needs through our virtual training options was our first step," says Jane Johnson, Director of Education for the Englewood-based company. "Reducing our reliance on hard copy materials delivery is the correct next step in support of both our business and environmental sustainability."

BG Education Going 'Green'

2009-03-13T12:06:00.004-06:00

Not the green associated with the upcoming St. Patrick's day holiday or the luck of the Irish, but BG Education is going 'green'...going paperless. No more printing and assembling binders. You’ll no longer find Michele spreading out the binder assembly line across the BG offices in preparation for each classroom course.

Instead, we will be providing our course materials in two ways:

Course confirmation emails will contain information to join the BG community course cadre and all materials will be available on the group page for immediate download and printing.
Each participant will receive a BG flash drive on the first day of class that will contain all course materials electronically for their reference.

More important than the incremental labor savings (estimated at about 1 hour/binder), material/printing savings (approximately $40/binder) and the associated shipping costs, we are embracing a more environmentally friendly approach to our materials delivery.

We have already been using electronic material delivery since launching our virtual courses last year. But we will now expand this to all future deliveries of our entire course curriculum.

For clients still stuck in the last century, we will offer to provide a printed binder for an additional fee of $150/binder. A portion of which will be used to purchase carbon offsets for their production.

Welcome to the Cyber 'Hood

2009-02-24T14:26:00.011-07:00

“Corporate memory (CM) is the total body of data, information and knowledge required to deliver the strategic aims and objectives of an organization. A corporate memory is the combination of a repository, the space where objects and artifacts are stored, and the community, the people that interact with those objects to learn, make decisions, understand context or find colleagues.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_memory)

We are very pleased to be launching our BusinessGenetics community, xBML Practitioners, as a way for us to develop, gather and document our own ‘corporate memory’. This social network based site is built using a very user friendly, WYSIWYG* web software called Ning.

Initially, we will be piloting this community with our consultants as part of our Accelerated Business Improvement Using xBML internal certification beginning in March. But we are extending an invitation to everyone at BG to join this community, take a look around, and perhaps even begin to contribute to our collective BG knowledge base.

I am personally very interested to see if this type of community will thrive or die in our current corporate culture. Stay tuned.

2009 Education Calendar Announced

2009-01-14T14:11:00.002-07:00

Whether you are looking for foundation or advanced level training, traditional classroom or virtual delivery options, we have the xBML course just for you.

Seats are limited, so register online now for best availabilty. Custom and client dedicated courses are also available.

Business Modeling Using xBML
This foundational course is comprised of xBML methods & model formulation, Business Co-Formulation (BCF) and Project Co-Formulation (PCF) methods. Students will learn how to use the xBML modeling language to create and manipulate business models using the xBML W5 software. Students will practice Document Co-Formulation (DCF), a method for converting implicit and explicit organizational knowledge into the xBML language, and develop work session facilitator skills for purposes of conducting Facilitated Co-Formulation (FCF) work sessions. Project Co-Formulation, a specific application of the xBML methodology to aid in the successful, multi-dimensional and complete definition of any project will also be introduced.

February 23 - 26 & March 2 - 5 (Virtual)
March 23 - 26 & March 30 - April 2 (Virtual)
April 20 - 23 & April 27 - 30 (Virtual)
May 11 - 14 & May 18 - 21 (Virtual)
June 15 - 18 & June 22 - 25 (Virtual)
July 13 - 16 & July 20 - 23 (Virtual)
August 10 - 13 & August 17 - 20 (Virtual)
September 14 - 17 & September 21 - 24 (Virtual)
October 12 - 15 & October 19 - 22 (Virtual)
November 9 - 12 & November 16 - 19 (Virtual)
December 7 - 10 & December 14 - 17 (Virtual)

Virtual Delivery Details: This course will comprise of 8 - 3 hour blocks of synchronous virtual instruction held from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM MST/MDT Monday through Thursday for two consecutive weeks.

NOTE: Additional 'offline' time will be necessary to complete individual exercises interspersed throughout the course content and virtual 'office hours' may be scheduled by the instructor to provide individualized exercise support as needed.

Business Improvement Using xBML
This course builds upon the prerequisite Business Modeling Using xBML™ foundation level course to prepare students to utilize existing xBML business models to analyze and improve their businesses. Student teams are presented with a case example as the basis for them to plan, organize, and execute a business improvement project. This intensive, hands on course culminates with the teams preparing and presenting a sample business case for the fictitious company's CEO and board. Topics include: Issue Analysis, Business Dimension Analysis, Root Cause, Cycle Time Reduction, Future State Modeling, Visioning and Transformation Planning.

March 9 - 12(Washington DC)
May 4 - 7 (Denver)
June 29 - July 2 & July 6 - 9 (Virtual)
September 28 - October 1 ( Washington DC)
November 30 - December 3 (Denver)

Business Requirements Using xBML
This three day course will provide students a detailed approach to utilizing business models to create customized business requirements for IT business automation initiatives. The course leverages real-world examples and case studies to illustrate how to identify the project context, discern true business requirements, and examine industry issues, solutions and results achieved by using xBML business models to generate robust business requirement documentation.

March 16 - 18 (Washington DC)
June 8 - 10 (Denver)
August 3 - 5 (Washington DC)
November 2 - 4 (Denver)

BusinessGenetics® Education to Offer Live eLearning Delivery Option for BPM / Business Modeling Courses

2008-04-25T16:09:00.000-06:00

BusinessGenetics announces today a new, live eLearning delivery option for their Business Modeling Using xBML™ foundation level training course.

xBML (eXtended Business Modeling Language) is the world’s first scientific method for accurately describing business. It provides companies a comprehensive view of their entire enterprise – one that depicts the complex relationships between activities, information, responsibilities and geographies within a multi-dimensional model. These models unlock the genetic code of the organization and may be called upon repeatedly to describe, to automate, ensure regulatory compliance and to improve business.

This course prepares students to systematically create and manipulate their own xBML models using BusinessGenetics’ exclusive methodology and W5 Business (process) Modeling software application.

The new live eLearning delivery format successfully combines the benefits of their traditional classroom format with the advantages of technology enabled, web delivery. Virtual instructor led courses will now bring their expert instructors to your desktop, continuing the same level of interaction and practice while reducing associated travel costs, time away from work, and scheduling conflicts.

“Our clients seek out xBML to provide discipline around modeling an increasingly complex business environment and one contributing factor often involves handling a distributed workforce, “ says Jane Johnson, Director of Education for the Englewood, Colorado based company. “Offering our courses virtually is a natural extension of our commitment to support these clients and their geographically dispersed teams in learning and applying our methodology and tools.”

This new course delivery option will be offered on an open enrollment basis beginning in May. Client dedicated options are also available. For more information on schedule and pricing, please contact education@businessgenetics.com.

My Dirty Little Clip Art Habit

2008-04-22T12:08:00.009-06:00

Hi. My name is Jane and I use clip art.
[and the Chorus responds...'Hi Jane']

After my previous life of teaching college kids visual literacy and interface design I have very little patience for the visual vomit of gratuitous graphics that plague so many learning and other presentations these days.

I cringe at the sight of 'screen beans'; I roll my eyes anytime I see one of those stock animated .gifs flickering on my screen. It's hard for me to pay attention to the actual content because I find myself so annoyed by the visuals. Generally, it's not the author's fault...I've seen bad clip art happen to otherwise very good people. Personally I blame Microsoft for giving such easy access to such a wealth (and I use that term loosely) of neatly organized, keyword searchable clips into the hands of individuals that innocently wish to make their content more visually compelling. However they are so easily lured into the 'if a little is good, then more must be better' trap. And that can get ugly.

So given this obvious loathing of clip art abuse, it pains me to admit publicly that I actually use it myself quite regularly. You all have Tom Kuhlmann to thank for brokering this admission. His post today on his Rapid eLearning blog provided tips on taking free clip art via Microsoft Office Online and creating custom characters for eLearning scenarios. Already being a fan of Tom's graphic style, this somehow allows me to identify with his stance on using the 'bones' of clip art as the basis for rapidly creating meaningful graphics without the assistance of full blown graphics software.

Most recently, I pilfered the Microsoft clip library for a related series of graphics that I could use as a visual mapping device within our course content slides. After finding a style of simple 3D icon buttons that I liked, I went about adjusting them to work with our visual templates.

First, I wanted to make sure each one related to one another but still was distinctive enough to map as different types of content. Enter 're-coloring'. This is so simple it's silly. Inserting a graphic into PowerPoint 2007, you can format it to take on several different variations of coloring and BONUS; the re-coloring options all are associated with your selected presentation color palette:

Second, I needed to further customize one to serve as the ‘instructor led activity’ button. Not as easy, but I still had a running start by taking another silhouette clip from the library (which was already similar to the other icons) and one of the other buttons into Photoshop and merging them into the exact symbol I needed. WAY faster than starting from scratch:

So yes, there it is...my dirty little secret revealed. Thanks Tom for providing the impetus for me to share with the group.

Introducing BusinessGenetics® Education Blog

2008-04-18T16:57:00.004-06:00

See Jane. See Jane Blog. Blog Jane, blog.

Just a short inaugural post to introduce this new BusinessGenetics® Education blog. This blog will be a vehicle for me to share with you not only information and announcements related to BusinessGenetics education services, but also my own personal experience with learning the xBML™ language, methodology and software tools.

Further, you’ll likely find posts that explore topics associated with my role (and professional interest) in the art and science of learning: instructional design, content development, eLearning, collaboration tools and other learning technology.

Thanks for joining me in the 'blogosphere'. I look forward to your comments.