Bøker utgitt av BCS Learning & Development Limited

Agile testing brings many advantages to teams, from increasing overall product quality to providing greater scope for flexibility. Building on the ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester syllabus, this book covers Agile principles, methods and tools, showing you exactly how Agile testing can help you and your team.

Whether you're preparing for your service management foundation exam, or simply want to understand service management better, this new edition of our popular book covers the latest thinking and provides you with a comprehensive, practical introduction to IT service management. Building on their collective, extensive service management experience, the authors of this book walk you through essential concepts including the service lifecycle, processes, functions and roles and illustrate these with real-life examples. With this book you'll quickly gain understanding of the basic principles, terminology and benefits of service management.

The development of technical leadership capabilities is often overlooked as a training requirement in organisations but these are key to business success. In this book five management techniques to help you develop your leadership capabilities and build a winning team are described, complete with real life examples, tips and mini exercises.

Computational thinking (CT) is a timeless, transferable skill that enables you to think more clearly and logically, as well as a way to solve specific problems. With this book you'll learn to apply computational thinking in the context of software development to give you a head start on the road to becoming an experienced and effective programmer.

This is an essential guide to entity relationship and class modelling for business analysts in line with, and beyond, the BCS Data Analysis syllabus.

In this book, management experts Brian Sutton and Robina Chatham describe six management techniques to help you develop your leadership capabilities and deliver benefit to your customers, team and organisation. With real life examples, tips and mini exercises, you'll also boost your soft skills as you improve your professional value.

This book explores the role of Computer Science Teacher in a secondary school environment. An overview of secondary school computing is covered, along with what the role encompasses, the attributes, knowledge and skills required to be a success and useful standards, tools, methods and techniques you can employ.

Cloud computing has been positioned as today's ideal IT platform. This book looks at what cloud promises and how it's likely to evolve in the future. Readers will be able to ensure that decisions made now will hold them in good stead in the future and will gain an understanding of how cloud can deliver the best outcome for their organisations.

Today, companies worldwide are applying digital transformation to redesign traditional business models and strategies in the context of new disruptive technologies, digitally-savvy consumers, and our globally connected society. This strategic guide for business and IT executives focuses on how today's most disruptive technologies (including social, mobile, analytics, cloud, wearables, intelligent automation, robotics, and the IoT) can be applied in powerful combinations, together with platform business models, mastery of digital services, and leading practices in corporate innovation, to help you develop and execute your digital strategies for competitive advantage.

The role of service level manager is critical in that the agreements negotiated with customers should inform the activities of the service provider. This book aims to help those whose role is to establish, negotiate, manage or update service level agreements and to use these as the basis of continual service improvement.

Despite the sophistication of modern off-the-shelf IT products, most organisations find they don't get the benefits they expected. This practical book presents a proven decision-making process to help IT and business managers select the off-the-shelf software product that best fits the needs of their organisation, whether in the commercial or public sector. Offering a structured approach to managing stakeholders, requirements and candidate IT vendors, this practical 'how-to' guide will help deliver a rigorous, defensible decision within an aggressive timescale. As well as illustrating the techniques, this book includes case studies from business managers who have been through the process. Useful templates and additional articles are available by download from the supporting website.

Security architects are responsible for maintaining the security of an organisation's computer systems as well as designing, developing and reviewing security architectures that fit business requirements, mitigate risk and conform to security policies. They ensure that each unique set of security needs is addressed, that systems are protected and beneficial security change is implemented. The book provides practical, effective guidance for anyone looking to become a security architect or wanting to know more about what the role entails. It covers areas such as required skills, responsibilities, dependencies and career progression as well as relevant tools, standards and frameworks.

Identifying security gaps in an organisation's information systems is a first and vital step in protecting data and information. This is what makes the role of an information security (or assurance) auditor so important. However, this is a role that is often maligned as a 'check list monkey' who adds nothing to the business. This practical book confronts this stereotype and gives an excellent introduction to the role, covering areas such as purpose, required skills, responsibilities, interface and career progression as well as tools, standards and frameworks related to the role. Based on the author's extensive experience, it gives practical guidance to those new to the role or interested in developing a better understanding of what it entails.

Business relationship management (BRM) is central to all aspects of an organisation's interaction with existing and potential customers. It is crucial for building and maintaining strong relationships between service provider and customer and relies on understanding customer needs. It provides a mechanism for meeting those needs and identifies areas of required change and improvement. This highly accessible book gives an excellent introduction to the role of a BRM manager, covering areas such as purpose, required skills, responsibilities, interface and career progression as well as tools, standards and frameworks related to the role. It gives practical guidance to those new to the role or interested in getting a better understanding of what it entails.

Method and process are important in business analysis, but knowing how to use them is even more so. As a business analyst you can increase your effectiveness most by developing your soft skills, recognising that finesse can be more effective than force. Once developed, you will find that these skills are transferable across project types and whole industry sectors. This book illustrates the application of NLP to develop competencies - better equipping you to communicate across cultures, reframe problems, manage stakeholder groups, resolve conflicts, motivate teams and become an even better leader.

Systems development is the process of creating and maintaining information systems, including hardware, software, data, procedures and people. It combines technical expertise with business knowledge and management skill. This practical book provides a comprehensive introduction to the topic and can also be used as a handy reference guide by those already working in the field. It discusses key topics of systems development such as lifecycles, development approaches, requirements engineering and how to make a business case, among others. It is the only textbook that supports the BCS Certificate in Systems Development.

Problem management is the one IT service management process that tends to return more benefits more quickly than any of the others. Based on the author's extensive experience and backed up by suggestions and ideas from other practitioners, this book offers practical, real-world guidance on all aspects of implementing and running an effective problem management function, from proposition and justification of the function to different ways of organising it. Offering advice and recommendations tailored to different types of organisations, it gives IT practitioners, consultants and managers the tools to add real value to their businesses.

Data is a valuable corporate asset and its effective management can be vital to an organisation's success. This professional reference guide covers all the key areas of data management including database development, data quality and corporate data modelling. It is not based on a particular proprietary system; rather it is business-focused, providing the knowledge and techniques required to successfully implement the data management function. The book is aimed at all those involved with data management, including IT/IS and business managers, consultants, and business analysts, as well as data management practitioners from all business sectors. This new edition covers web technology and its relation to databases and includes material on the management of master data.

Anything from an office move to the Olympic Games can be termed a project, and 97 per cent of successful projects are led by an experienced project manager. Presenting over 250 years of professional project management experience in a highly accessible format, this entertaining yet practical book will help project managers get up to speed quickly with good practice, avoid pitfalls and deliver business value. This fully updated edition reflects changes to working practices such as the use of social media and collaboration tools. SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2014 CMI MANAGEMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR.

This practical guide is written for people and organisations that are implementing a business continuity management system and certification in line with ISO 22301. The development of a BCMS requires commitment, time, resourcefulness and management support. This book will fully equip those new to business continuity management or to management systems with survival skills for the ups and downs of the journey. It is divided into four parts; the first two focus on the management system aspects and the remaining two look at the requirements of the standard and translate them into user-friendly guidance notes. Included are checklists to self assess progress and worksheets to assist with the development of a BCMS as the reader progresses through the handbook.

Every information system brought into service in every type of organisation requires user acceptance testing. It is by far the most common activity carried out by non-IT specialists. This book is designed to be a hands-on manual for non-testing specialists to plan and carry out an effective acceptance test of an information system. It provides a structured and step-by-step approach to effective acceptance testing and identifies ways of making the process as simple and cost-effective as possible.

Finance is as fundamental to the IT world as it is to most other aspects of life. However, many IT professionals lack knowledge of the particular financial principles on which decisions about IT should be based - decisions that often have serious financial implications for their organisations. Assuming no prior knowledge, this new edition covers all aspects of finance relevant to IT professionals and is updated with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) terminology. It is ideal for IT decision makers - managers, practitioners, buyers, sellers, consultants and project managers - who wish to conquer their fear of finance or refresh existing knowledge.

Engaging with social media such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter is now a key part of global business communications. Blogs, microblogs, social networking and social news sites have become the new tools for effective marketing and sales. This book is an excellent resource for anyone planning a social media strategy or individual campaign. It includes: specific sites for various types of networking and engagement; blogs and microblogs; online presence and creating a social media brand; brand perception and reputation; legal issues; connecting to a global audience; job recruitment via social media; how different age groups interact online; viral marketing; creating brand advocates and how they can broadcast the message; future predictions. This new edition is updated to cover the latest thinking, practices and technology such as Google+.

Secret wartime projects in areas such as code-breaking, radar and ballistics produced a wealth of ideas and technologies that kick-started the development of digital computers. This is the story of the people and projects that flourished in the post-war period. Their influence is still discernable deep down within today's hardware and software.

Method and process are important in project management, but knowing how to use them is even more so. As a project manager you can increase your effectiveness most by developing your soft skills, recognising that finesse can be more effective than force. Once developed, you will find that these skills are transferable across project types and whole industry sectors. This book illustrates the application of NLP to develop competencies - better equipping you to communicate across cultures, reframe problems, manage stakeholder groups, resolve conflicts, motivate teams and become an even better leader.

Directors and government ministers across the world are increasingly being held accountable for failed IT systems, data loss and poor decisions about their organisation's data. The answer lies in IT professionals working in parallel with their governing body to create an environment where information and information systems can be accessed and used by the appropriate stakeholders. Written in two halves, this valuable book is designed to bridge the gap between the governing body and CIOs/ IT managers. It will help them to create a safe and robust governance framework for their organisation by applying the principles of the ISO Governance of IT Standard 38500 on directing, evaluating and monitoring IT activity.

All professionals need strong interpersonal skills as they are a fundamental requirement in any business environment. The importance of these skills cannot be overstated in today's business world particularly in the light of current economic conditions. Numerous books cover interpersonal skills, but none specifically address their application within professional job roles, in particular those within the IT industry. This book fills that gap, providing guidance on all of the key skills and forming a comprehensive reference manual that will be relevant to a huge variety of situations. Topics include: building rapport; team working; leadership; negotiation; written communication; managing conflict; presentation skills; coaching and mentoring; problem solving.