Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK)

BABOK^® Guide 2.0 is now available!

The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge^® (BABOK^®) is the collection of knowledge within the profession of Business Analysis and reflects current generally accepted practices. As with other professions, the body of knowledge is defined and enhanced by the Business Analysis professionals who apply it in their daily work role. The BABOK^® Guide describes Business Analysis areas of knowledge, their associated activities and the tasks and skills necessary to be effective in their execution. The BABOK^® Guide is a reference for professional knowledge for Business Analysis and provides the basis for the Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP^®) Certification.

BABOK^® Guide Purchases

The BABOK^® Guide is available in print and PDF form. IIBA^® Chapters, Endorsed Education Providers (EEP™), and Sponsors are entitled to a 40% discount on all purchases of the BABOK^® Guide from IIBA, in print or PDF. Please contact bok@theiiba.org to place an order.

PDF Version

IIBA Members

IIBA members are entitled to a complimentary PDF copy of the BABOK^® Guide for their own personal and professional use. If you are an IIBA member, please click here.

Non-members

Individuals who are not members of IIBA can purchase a PDF copy for $29.95 USD. Or you can join IIBA and download your complimentary copy once your membership registration is complete.

To join IIBA, click here.

To purchase your PDF copy of the BABOK^® Guide v2.0 for $29.95, click here. You may purchase a copy using a credit card or through your PayPal account. Once you have completed your payment, you will be sent a download link allowing you to access your copy of the PDF. Please be aware that the link will expire one week after purchase.

If you have any questions regarding your purchase, please contact bok@theiiba.org.

Bulk Purchases

Purchasers of 10 or more copies of the PDF copy of the BABOK^® Guide will receive a discount on their purchase.

This discount will be automatically calculated and applied when the quantity is entered.

If purchasing for use within an organization, for example, posting the BABOK^® Guide on the company intranet, IIBA requires that a license be purchased for each business analysis practitioner who will have access to the BABOK^® Guide. For more information about licensing agreements and pricing, please contact bok@theiiba.org.

Print Version

The BABOK^® Guide is also available in print from distributors in the United States and United Kingdom. Copies can also be ordered directly from IIBA, although a minimum order of 10 copies is required.

Unfortunately, IIBA cannot presently process individual orders. Individual copies can be purchased through:

Canada: Amazon.ca 
United Kingdom: Amazon.co.uk 
United States: Amazon.com 

Copies may also be available through other online retailers and in bookstores. Purchasers outside of North America and Europe may wish to order from the Book Depository, which offers free shipping worldwide. The retail price is $59.95 USD, $69.95 CAD, or €44.95.

About BABOK^® Guide 2.0

The release of BABOK^® Guide 2.0 represents the development of a common framework to understand and define the practice of business analysis.

Version 2.0 is a major revision from version 1.6, and represents over two-and-a-half years of work by IIBA volunteers. Since 1.6 was released, we’ve gone through two cycles of review and revision of the materials, during which we received over 5,000 individual comments from practitioners and industry experts, and incorporated that feedback into the new edition. We’ve also received extensive feedback from the almost 200,000 practitioners who downloaded and read the 1.6 draft.

We’ve conducted a number of surveys with the business analysis community to ensure that the content of the BABOK^® Guide really does reflect “generally accepted” practices in the profession. Based on those surveys, we can now be sure that the tasks and techniques found in version 2.0 are performed by the majority of business analysts worldwide.

Our goal for this release was to ensure that the BABOK^® Guide was adaptable enough to fit the needs of the broad community of business analysts, while also making it simpler to use and easier to understand. The Knowledge Areas were reassessed and redefined to more logically group tasks together. We’ve taken the 76 tasks found in version 1.6 and condensed them into 32, to make all of those tasks relevant to the majority of business analysis efforts. The task structure is now significantly more flexible, allowing the BABOK^® Guide to be easily mapped onto a wide range of methodologies and frameworks, including Agile development, CMMI, business process management, and others.