Gateway Preparation runs across all semesters
This module introduces apprentices to the Business Analyst role. It covers the value BAs add to organisations, and the lifecycle, methodology and regulatory context they work within. It is the foundation module of the apprenticeship. It establishes what business analysis is, how it sits within different organisational structures, and how apprentices fit into the wider business change profession.
The module also grounds apprentices in practical workplace conduct: reporting expectations, meeting etiquette, and how to communicate and escalate appropriately. It introduces the lifecycles and methodologies (waterfall, agile, hybrid) BAs operate within, the regulatory and quality assurance context that shapes their work, and the technology and industry trends driving change, including generative AI. The module frames the BA's distinctive value as contextual, organisational judgement, not mechanical tool use: someone who stays curious about their organisation and, over time, the organisations they support, so they can offer real insight rather than just process a task.
Finally, the module establishes the foundational professional behaviours of a Business Analyst: logical and analytical thinking, productive and secure working, wider business awareness, and active CPD commitment.
This module covers the structured techniques Business Analysts use to investigate business situations, identify and engage stakeholders, and frame problems and opportunities clearly. It teaches the practical craft of stakeholder analysis, structured interviewing, environmental analysis, root cause analysis, and the ethical and legal framework investigation must operate within. It also covers data protection and the value of data to organisations, as foundational compliance context for all later BA work.
The module is structured as a guided investigation. Apprentices work through a real workplace business situation step by step across the module, engaging and analysing its stakeholders, framing the problem, and building towards a defensible outline definition of the situation by the end.
This module covers the modelling craft of a Business Analyst. It teaches swim-lane diagrams, functional decomposition, organisational views, and an introduction to data modelling notations, including how to generate first-draft models quickly using AI chat tools and Mermaid diagrams. The emphasis throughout is on the BA as a critical reviewer and facilitator, not just a producer of diagrams. Apprentices learn to check an AI-generated model against what stakeholders actually tell them, spot where it doesn't match reality, and work with stakeholders to refine and explore the model together. The module sets the foundation for the following modules.
This module covers the requirements engineering discipline, the structured craft of eliciting, analysing, documenting, prioritising, validating and managing business and user requirements. It teaches techniques for eliciting requirements from stakeholders, distinguishing requirements from solution descriptions, and understanding an organisation's actual capability. Stakeholders often describe what they can do, and capturing this as a real, limiting requirement is a critical BA skill. Requirements work is too often pulled towards what an ideal system would look like, not what is pragmatic given the organisation's current capability.
The module also teaches documenting functional and non-functional requirements clearly, analysing requirements to remove duplication and conflict, prioritising appropriately, and supporting requirements traceability and change control. Apprentices explore GenAI prompting as an emerging technique for language review and decision documentation, using it to tighten requirement wording and keep a clear record of why decisions were made. It is the most technical BA discipline and the heart of the apprenticeship.
This module covers the "moving the organisation from current to future" side of business analysis - gap analysis, options development, cost-benefit analysis, impact assessment, acceptance criteria, benefits realisation, business acceptance and stakeholder communication of recommendations. It is the module that pulls the apprentice's earlier work (investigation, modelling, requirements) into actionable business change recommendations. It includes the BA's role in supporting business acceptance and the communication craft of presenting options and recommendations to decision-makers.
This is also the module where the apprentice starts taking real ownership of their own development. Options are shaped by current technology and industry trends, so apprentices are expected to go and find that information themselves, from vendor material, industry reports and current practice, rather than relying only on what's taught, and bring it into their analysis and recommendations. This is the module where the apprentice consolidates as a practitioner-level Business Analyst capable of delivering full BA engagements end-to-end.
This is the synoptic project module for the apprenticeship. Apprentices consolidate learning from five course modules into a substantial workplace project demonstrating competence across the full ST0117 standard. This module is not a teaching module. Apprentices have completed their substantive learning already.
The module is a structured 3-month period in which the apprentice produces, refines and presents the workplace project, supported by individual tutorial supervision, structured mock assessments, and Skills Reviewer engagement. All teaching, project delivery, and academic assessment (CW1 and CW2) take place within this period, before Gateway.
Gateway is confirmed at the end of the module, once all evidence, portfolio and qualification requirements are complete. Note that ST0117 v1.2 is on the pre-reform EPA model. Formal EPA is conducted separately by a regulated EPAO after Gateway, following the standard's published Assessment Plan. This EPA period is not part of the funded module, involves no further teaching or learning, and is not marked by LSBU. Apprentices are graded Pass, Merit or Distinction by the EPAO.
