Why this programme exists
Most failed software projects were not badly coded. They were built to requirements nobody checked, on a data model that could not hold what the business needed, managed by someone who found out too late.
This programme covers the work that happens before and around the code: eliciting requirements and writing them so they can be tested, modelling a system in UML, designing a database that will not need rebuilding, and running the delivery.
At a glance
| Duration | 12 weeks |
| Structure | 6 modules, 62 contact hours |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Coverage | Requirements, UML, SDLC and Agile, database design, dev practice, delivery |
| Tools | UML modelling, SQL, Git |
| Delivery | Face-to-face, Mbezi Mshikamano, Dar es Salaam |
| Certificate | Kevajopa Certificate in System Analysis and Design |
| Fee | TZS 450,000, full programme |
What you will be able to do
- Elicit requirements from stakeholders who do not agree with each other, and write them so they can be tested.
- Distinguish functional from non-functional requirements, and specify the latter with numbers rather than adjectives.
- Write use cases to a consistent template that a developer can build from.
- Model a system in UML — class diagrams, and the diagrams that matter for the problem in front of you.
- Normalise a database design and draw the ER diagram that documents it.
- Write advanced SQL: joins, aggregates, subqueries and the queries a real reporting requirement demands.
- Choose between waterfall and Agile for a given project and defend the choice.
- Run a Scrum sprint: planning, estimation, a definition of done that means something.
- Use Git with a branching strategy that survives more than one developer.
- Review code against a checklist, and structure testing across the testing pyramid.
- Write technical documentation and a status report a non-technical sponsor can act on.
Who should attend
- Business analysts and systems analysts
- Developers moving toward design and lead roles
- Project managers running software delivery
- IT officers specifying systems for their organisation
- Computer science and IT graduates with theory but no delivery experience
Entry requirements. Familiarity with computers and with how an organisation works. Some exposure to databases or programming is helpful but not required — SQL is taught from the ground up in Module 4.
How the programme is taught
Roughly a third instruction, the rest analysis and modelling work on a running case. Requirements are elicited from a scenario, modelled, turned into a schema, and then delivered against — so the work compounds instead of resetting each module.
The SQL and database material uses a microfinance context drawn from systems Kevajopa has actually built, so the queries answer questions a real business asks.
Module by module
Module 1 · Weeks 1–2 · 10 hours
Requirements Analysis
Finding out what is actually needed, which is rarely what was first asked for.
- Elicitation techniques, and handling stakeholders whose requirements conflict
- Writing good requirements — specific, testable, unambiguous
- Non-functional requirements expressed as numbers rather than as aspirations
- The use case template, and writing to it consistently
Module 2 · Weeks 3–4 · 10 hours
System Design and UML
Turning an understood problem into a design somebody else can build.
- UML class diagrams: classes, attributes, relationships and multiplicity
- Which UML diagram answers which question, and which to skip
- Design that anticipates change rather than only today's requirement
- Documenting a design so it survives the analyst leaving
Module 3 · Week 5 · 8 hours
SDLC and Agile
How delivery is organised, and choosing rather than defaulting.
- Waterfall, iterative and Agile lifecycles and where each genuinely fits
- Scrum roles, ceremonies and artefacts
- Sprint planning and estimation worked through end to end
- A definition of done that prevents work being declared finished when it is not
Module 4 · Weeks 6–7 · 12 hours
Database Design and Advanced SQL
The data model, which is the hardest thing to change once a system is live.
- Normalisation to third normal form, worked through a real example
- ER diagram notation and using it to communicate with non-technical stakeholders
- Advanced SQL: joins, aggregation, subqueries and window functions
- Writing the queries a reporting requirement actually needs
Module 5 · Weeks 8–10 · 12 hours
Software Development Practices
How working software is produced by more than one person without chaos.
- Git branching strategy — GitFlow, and why a strategy is needed at all
- Code review against a checklist rather than by opinion
- The testing pyramid: unit, integration and end-to-end, and the right proportion of each
- Technical documentation standards
Module 6 · Weeks 11–12 · 10 hours
Project Management and Delivery
Getting it finished, accepted and handed over.
- Planning, scheduling and tracking against a baseline
- Risk and issue management on a software project
- Stakeholder communication and a status report structure that works
- Acceptance, handover and the transition to support
Assessment and certification
Assessment is continuous and portfolio-based: the requirements, models, schema and delivery artefacts produced against the running case, plus a final assessment with written and practical components.
A Kevajopa Technologies Limited Certificate in System Analysis and Design is awarded on satisfactory completion, with a minimum 80% attendance recorded per session.
Where it leads
Business Analyst
Systems Analyst
Product Owner
Project Manager
Technical Lead
What this programme does not cover
- Writing production code — our web development programmes cover that.
- Enterprise architecture and IT governance — that is ICT Consulting and Governance.
- Any project management certification examination such as PMP or PRINCE2.
- Data science and analytics.
- Infrastructure and network design.
Fees and enrolment
TZS 450,000 for the full twelve-week programme, including all instruction, modelling and lab time, course materials, assessment and the certificate. Kevajopa Technologies Limited is not VAT-registered; no VAT is charged and none should be added. Public entities deduct 2% withholding tax at source in accordance with Tanzanian law — the withholding certificate should be issued to Kevajopa Technologies Limited, TIN 172-177-301.
We do not publish a fixed calendar. An intake is scheduled once a
group has confirmed, and confirmed participants receive at least ten working days' notice of
the start date. Group rates are available for three or more registering together, and
corporate cohorts can be delivered at the client's premises.