CBA

The Business Architecture Guild's Certified Business Architect (CBA) exam focuses on a broad understanding of business architecture and its application. There isn't a publicly available, detailed breakdown of the exact weighting of each topic, but the main points covered generally fall under these categories:

I. Foundational Knowledge of Business Architecture:

• Defining Business Architecture: Understanding its purpose, scope, and relationship to other architectural disciplines (IT, data, etc.). This includes knowing different perspectives and viewpoints on business architecture.
• Business Architecture Frameworks and Methodologies: Familiarity with common frameworks like TOGAF, Zachman, FEAF, and others. Understanding their strengths and weaknesses and when to apply each.
• Business Architecture Principles: Understanding the core guiding principles that underpin effective business architecture practice.
• Business Architecture Models and Notations: Competency in understanding and using various modeling techniques and notations (e.g., BPMN, UML, ArchiMate).
• Stakeholder Management and Communication: Understanding how to effectively engage with and manage stakeholders at all levels of an organization.

II. Core Business Architecture Activities:

• Business Strategy Alignment: Aligning business architecture with strategic goals and objectives. This includes understanding strategic planning processes and how architecture can support them.
• Business Process Modeling: Creating and analyzing business processes, identifying inefficiencies, and proposing improvements.
• Organizational Modeling: Mapping organizational structure, roles, responsibilities, and relationships.
• Information Modeling: Understanding the flow and structure of information within an organization.
• Application Portfolio Management: Assessing and managing the organization's application landscape.
• Change Management: Understanding and applying change management principles to business architecture initiatives.
• Risk Management: Identifying and mitigating risks associated with business architecture initiatives.

III. Applying Business Architecture:

• Business Case Development: Building a business case for business architecture initiatives.
• Implementation and Governance: Understanding how to implement and govern business architecture initiatives.
• Measurement and Evaluation: Measuring the effectiveness of business architecture initiatives.
• Technology and Business Integration: Understanding how business architecture integrates with and supports technology initiatives.

In summary: The CBA exam tests your ability to understand, apply, and communicate the core principles and practices of business architecture within a real-world context. It's not just about memorizing frameworks, but about demonstrating your understanding of how to use those frameworks to solve business problems and drive strategic change. Focus on the practical application of these concepts and your ability to explain your reasoning.