Question 1

Nancy has asked you to trace a particular requirement for her. What does 'to trace a requirement' mean?

Accepted Answer

Tracing a requirement is the linkage of the requirements to all the parts of solution including its execution and creation. Answer: C is incorrect. This is not a valid definition of tracing a requirement. Requirement tracing does not consider risk, cost, quality, and other scope elements. Answer: A is incorrect. This is not a valid definition of tracing a requirement. It does not examine its position in the project WBS.

Question 2

Project Communication Management includes the processes required to ____.

Accepted Answer

Project Communications Management is one of the nine Knowledge Areas. It employs the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval, and ultimate disposition of project information. The following processes are part of Project Communications Management. Identify Stakeholders Plan Communications Distribute Information Manage Stakeholder Expectations Report Performance The Project Communications Management processes provide the critical links among people and information that are necessary for successful communication. These processes interact with each other and with the processes in the other Knowledge Areas as well. Answer: D is incorrect. This is true for Project Human Resource Management. Answer: B is incorrect. This is true for Project Integration Management. Answer: C is incorrect. This is true for Project Time Management.

Question 3

Why is it important to have a requirements signoff process for approved requirements?

Accepted Answer

Signoff formalizes the agreement and confirmation that the requirements are accurate and complete. Answer: C is incorrect. This isn't a valid statement, as signoff shows the agreement of the stakeholders that the requirements are complete. Answer: D is incorrect. This isn't a valid statement. Answer: B is incorrect. This isn't a valid statement, as the agreement is among the stakeholders, not between the project manager and the project sponsor.

Question 4

Holly is the business analyst for her organization and she's leading a requirements workshop for a proposed solution. In this workshop, Holly is using a requirements tracing matrix to help prevent against scope creep. What is scope creep?

Accepted Answer

Scope creep is the addition of the deliverables that don't trace back to the original business goals to the project scope. Answer: B is incorrect. The addition of deliverables to the project scope in an attempt to consume the project budget is called gold plating. Answer: A is incorrect. The removal of elements that don't contribute to the overall quality is the removal of non-value added deliverables. Answer: C is incorrect. This answer is tempting but is incorrect, as the project scope doesn't exist yet, as Holly is only gathering the requirements for a proposed solution.

Question 5

A business analyst has determined that a project should be worth $2,750,000 in four years if her company decides to pursue the project. Assuming the rate of return on the investment is six percent, what is the minimum amount of funds the organization should invest in this project?

Accepted Answer

To find the solution to this answer, you'll need to use the present value formula which is Present value=future value(1+i)n, where i is the interest rate and n is the power of the number of time periods. In this instance, it's $2,750,000(1.262) for the present value of $2,178,257.57. If the cost of the project is more than the present value, it's not a good investment for the organization. Answer: D is incorrect. This is not a valid calculation of the present value formula. Answer: B is incorrect. This is not a valid calculation of the present value formula. Answer: A is incorrect. This is not a valid calculation of the present value formula.

Question 6

Barry is a project stakeholder that is excited about the deliverable your project wants to create for the organization. He's helpful, provides information, and offers support whenever your project needs it. How would you classify Barry based on this information?

Accepted Answer

Barry is considered a positive stakeholder, as he is in favor of the project's success. Negative stakeholders are people that are opposed to your project.

Question 7

When can changes to requirements occur in a business analysis planning and monitoring assignment?

Accepted Answer

Changes to requirements can, and often do, happen at any time. Answer: D is incorrect. Just because the key stakeholders approve the requirements does not mean that they would not like to add requirements later in the project. Answer: C is incorrect. The project scope is generally a good reflection of the identified requirements, but changes can still happen. Answer: A is incorrect. Changes to the requirements can happen even before the project begins.

Question 8

Mark is a business analyst for his organization. A business need has been identified; therefore, Mark immediately sets out to identify the stakeholders. How long will stakeholder analysis need to continue?

Accepted Answer

Stakeholder analysis is an ongoing business analysis activity. It continues as long as business analysis continues. Answer: B is incorrect. This isn't a valid statement, as stakeholder analysis continues as long as business analysis continues. Answer: A is incorrect. This isn't a valid statement, as stakeholder analysis continues as long as business analysis continues. Answer: D is incorrect. This isn't a valid statement, as stakeholder analysis continues as long as business analysis continues.

Question 9

What should an organization do if the business analyst has determined that the existing capabilities are inadequate to seize an opportunity?

Accepted Answer

When a business analyst identifies a resource or capabilities gap, it's often recommended that the organization launch a project in order to fill the capabilities gap. The recommended project allows the organization to get the capabilities needed to seize the opportunity or satisfy the business need. Answer: B is incorrect. The business analyst shouldn't recommend against seizing the opportunity. Answer: D is incorrect. Sharing the opportunity with others isn't always a feasible option. Answer: C is incorrect. Hiring contracts isn't the preferred recommendation for this scenario.

Question 10

You are the business analyst for your organization. You're creating a document that states the business need, identifies the key stakeholders, and defines the positive impact the solution will bring to the organization and stakeholders. What document are you creating?

Accepted Answer

This is an example of a vision statement. A vision statement, also called a problem statement, shows the categories of stakeholders and how the solution will help each stakeholder. Answer: C is incorrect. A project charter authorizes the project. Answer: B is incorrect. The business case justifies the cost of the solution for the rewards the solution will bring to the organization. Answer: A is incorrect. The requirements documentation doesn't define the benefits of the solution for the stakeholders; it only lists the requirements of the endeavor.

Question 11

You are the business analyst for your organization and you're notifying the key stakeholders of a need to gather requirements for an endeavor. One of the stakeholders that you'll need to attend your requirements workshop is the project manager. What role will the project manager have in this workshop?

Accepted Answer

The role of the project manager in elicitation tasks is to ensure that the needed resources are available. Answer: C is incorrect. The project manager will likely be involved in the requirements workshop. Answer: A is incorrect. The project manager won't facilitate the requirements workshop, the business analyst will. Answer: D is incorrect. The project manager may help elicit requirements from stakeholders, but this isn't the best choice for the question.

Question 12

You have 83 project stakeholders from all across your organization. Some of the stakeholders, such as functional management, require weekly communication from you, while other stakeholders, such as the end users, only need quarterly progress updates. Where can you record these communication requirements based on your stakeholder analysis?

Accepted Answer

The project communications management plan is a document to define who needs what information, when the information is needed, and the modality the information is expected. Stakeholder communication preferences are also recorded here.

Question 13

You are the business analyst for your organization. You are coaching Tom about the different approaches to business analysis. Which type of business analysis approach has the most business analysis work at the beginning of the project or during the start of a project phase?

Accepted Answer

The plan-driven approach has the most business analysis work at the beginning of the project or during the start of a project phase. This approach has a high amount of formality and detail for all areas of the business analysis duties, requirements gathering, and monitoring.   Answer: B is incorrect. Change-driven approach uses short iterations of business analysis tasks throughout the project. Answer: A is incorrect. Requirements-driven approach is not a valid business analysis term. Answer: D is incorrect. Value-driven approach is not a valid business analysis term.

Question 14

You are the business analyst for a new project. Part of this project is for the project team to manually install new workstations through the company's campus. Based on your research you have determined that the project team can install 25 new workstations per hour. Since there is a fixed amount of time that these workstations need to be installed you are considering adding additional labor for the implementation. You are also considering to adjust the prioritization of the project requirements based on the amount of workstations the project team can install per hour. What does the 25 workstations per hour represent in this scenario?

Accepted Answer

Timeboxing describes the amount of work that the project team is capable of completing in a set period of time. Answer: B is incorrect. Planning is a generic project management process that plans for the project work.

Question 15

You work as a business analyst for u Certify Inc. You have been assigned the task to implement the job shadowing process. Which of the following statements are true regarding the job shadowing process? Each correct answer represents a complete solution.

Accepted Answer

Job shadowing is an elicitation process that is a part of job observation. In this process, the observer is required to keep an eye on those workers whose work routine is down and who are unable to explain their work. The observer has to understand their work process for better assessment of the modifications of the work required. The following are the approaches for this technique: Passive/Invisible. In this approach, the observer does not ask questions from the user about his work while the user is working. Active/Visible. In this approach, the observer does ask questions from the user about his work even when the user is working.

Question 16

Sam is the project manager of the NHT Project. His project has stakeholders from the end users, server administrators, functional managers, external customers, technicians, and executive managers. In this high-profile project, which group of stakeholders is the most important?

Accepted Answer

Customers, internal or external, are always considered to be the most important group of stakeholders in a project. Recall that a stakeholder is anyone that has a vested interest in the outcome of your project.

Question 17

As a business analyst, it's important to understand the relationships among requirements. All of the following are valid relationship types among requirements except for which one?

Accepted Answer

There is not a relationship type called linked. There are five relationship types among requirements. necessity, effort, subset, cover, and value. Answer: B is incorrect. Necessity is a relationship type that describes the linkage between requirements based on the implementation of one requirement in order to add the second requirement. Answer: D is incorrect. The subset relationship type describes the decomposition of one requirement to more specific requirements. Answer: C is incorrect. The cover relationship among requirements describes the top-level requirement of a decomposed requirement.

Question 18

Which stakeholder map shows the relative influence, impact, and relation of stakeholders by plotting them closer to or farther away from the solution?

Accepted Answer

An onion diagram shows the relative influence, impact, and relation of stakeholders by plotting them closer to or farther away from the solution. It is called an onion diagram because plotting of the stakeholders is done in ovals which, when completed, looks like an onion sliced in half. Answer: D is incorrect. A tornado diagram is often used to show opposing forces for a solution or issue. Answer: A is incorrect. The RACI matrix explains the roles of the people involved in business analysis activities. It depicts stakeholders as having one or more of the following responsibilities for a given task or deliverable: [R]. Responsible does the work [A]. Accountable is the decision maker (only one) [C]. Consulted must be consulted prior to the work and gives input. [I]. Informed means that they must be notified of the outcome Answer: C is incorrect. A control chart is a quality control tool that shows the results of measurements over time.

Question 19

An organization has selected a solution for a business need and the business analyst has elected to use the time boxing/budgeting technique for requirements prioritization. What is the time boxing/budgeting technique?

Accepted Answer

The timeboxing/budgeting technique for requirements prioritization allows the business analyst to filter requirements down to meet the amount of funds available and the amount of schedule that may be available. Answer: B is incorrect. This isn't a valid definition of the timeboxing/budgeting technique for requirements prioritization. Answer: D is incorrect. This isn't a valid definition of the timeboxing/budgeting technique for requirements prioritization. Answer: C is incorrect. This isn't a valid definition of the timeboxing/budgeting technique for requirements prioritization.

Question 20

When a business analyst hosts a structured walkthrough of the requirements, what should the walkthrough always include at the beginning of the process?

Accepted Answer

A structured walkthrough should begin with a review of the requirements to be discussed in the session. Answer: C is incorrect. An agenda is often necessary, but it's not the best answer for this question. Answer: A is incorrect. The business case isn't needed for review during a structured walkthrough of the requirements. Answer: D is incorrect. The identification of the objectives and goals isn't appropriate at this meeting.

Exam 2: Certification of Competency in Business Analysis