Question 1

You are the business analyst for your organization. You are currently writing the business goals and objectives as part of the elements for the define business process. Which one of the following statements best describes the business goals and objectives element?

Accepted Answer

Business goals and objectives clearly define the ends that the organization is seeking to achieve. Answer: C is incorrect. This is not a valid definition of the business goals and objectives. Answer: A is incorrect. This is a definition of the project scope. Answer: D is incorrect. This is not a valid definition of the business goals and objectives.

Question 2

You are the business analyst for a large project that will create new software for the entire organization. This new software will affect all of the administrative assistants in the organization schedule meetings, reserve facilities, and share calendars. There are approximately 2,400administrative assistants in your organization and not all of these people can attend requirements gathering workshops. What approach can you use to manage and gather requirements from these 2,400 administrative assistants?

Accepted Answer

When there are large groups of stakeholders, such as in this example, it's practical to find a group of stakeholders that can serve as representatives for the remainder of the stakeholders. Answer: B is incorrect. It's not feasible, as the question indicates, for this large group of administrative assistants to attend requirements gathering workshops. Answer: C is incorrect. You can't assume that one small group of the administrative assistants needs is truly indicative of the reminder of the administrative assistants. Answer: D is incorrect. The administrative assistants' managers likely don't know enough detail of how the administrative assistants currently do their work to speak on their behalf.

Question 3

There are four methods to generate a business need in an organization. Which approach would an organization use when there's recognized competition in the marketplace?

Accepted Answer

From external drivers is used when there's recognized competition in the marketplace. Answer: D is incorrect. From the top down is defined as the need to achieve a strategic goal. Answer: A is incorrect. From the bottom up is described as a problem with the current state of a process, function, or system. Answer: C is incorrect. From middle management is described as a manager needs additional information to make sound decisions or must perform additional functions to meet business objectives.

Question 4

Enterprise analysis provides many things for an organization. All of the following are tasks included in enterprise analysis except for which one?

Accepted Answer

Solution performance assessment is not a task of enterprise analysis; it is in an input to this process. There are five tasks for enterprise analysis. define business need, assess capability gaps, determine solution approach, define solution scope, and define business case. Enterprise analysis is a business analysis activity that helps define and identify business opportunities for an organization. Answer: C, A, and B are incorrect. This is an enterprise analysis task.

Question 5

All of the following stakeholders participate in the prioritization of requirements except for which one?

Accepted Answer

The project team does not participate in the prioritization of requirements.

Question 6

Which stakeholder(s) will be involved to determine if the requirements can be implemented?

Accepted Answer

The implementation subject matter expert will be involved in the process to ensure that the requirements can be implemented. Answer: A is incorrect. The domain subject matter expert may be involved in the review and approval of requirements as defined by the stakeholder by the stakeholder roles and responsibility designation. Answer: C is incorrect. Project team members aren't involved in the decision of implementation, so this isn't a valid choice for this answer. Answer: D is incorrect. The project sponsor reviews the business case, solution, product scope, and all requirements and approves the documents before implementation.

Question 7

You are a business analyst for your organization and you're working with the stakeholders to identify the primary inputs to the business analysis approach. Which of the following are primary inputs of planning the business analysis approach? Each correct answer represents a complete solution.

Accepted Answer

These are the primary inputs of planning the business analysis approach. The primary input of planning the business analysis approach is to consider the problem or opportunity faced by the organization. Time allowed for business analysis planning does have an effect on the thoroughness of the business analysis activities. The risk associated with the plan is also considered.

Question 8

When a business analyst performs requirements tracing, he may need to trace the requirements backward through their lineage and may need to trace the requirements forward through their relationship to other requirements. What is the forward tracing activity called in requirements traceability?

Accepted Answer

Allocation is the forward tracking of a requirement to future requirements in the set of requirements. Answer: C is incorrect. Backward tracing of a requirement is called its derivation, as the requirements may be derived from other older requirements. Answer: A is incorrect. Lineage tracking is not a valid term, so this choice is not valid. Answer: B is incorrect. Backwards pass isn't a valid requirements tracing term; it describes a process in schedule management.

Question 9

Which of the following is the best definition of the business rules analysis?

Accepted Answer

The process of the business rules analysis is the documentation and understanding of the enterprise environmental factors that enable the organization to operate while also creating boundaries for the people and processes within the organization. Answer: A is incorrect. This is a description of the organizational process assets. Answer: D is incorrect. This is an identification of the stakeholders and their positions and characteristics for the business analysis duties. Answer: C is incorrect. The identification of the people that create the enterprise environmental factors are not relevant for this business analysis process.

Question 10

You are the business analyst for your organization and you're working with the key stakeholders to validate the requirements. In your review, you have determined the business value of each requirement and you've discovered three requirements that do not deliver direct or indirect value to the stakeholders. What should you do with these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Requirements that do not add direct or indirect value need to be removed from the requirements set. Answer: B is incorrect. It's not best to justify the existence of requirements; requirements must contribute to the business need or solution. Answer: A is incorrect. If the requirements do not add some type of value, then you don't need to determine the purpose of the requirements. This answer isn't valid. Answer: C is incorrect. If the requirements were integrated or linked to other requirements, then it would already be evident that the requirements offer an indirect value to the requirements, solution, or stakeholders.

Question 11

There are three inputs in the plan business analysis approach. Which one of the following is not one of the three inputs?

Accepted Answer

Risk and rewards analysis is not, of itself, an input to the business analysis approach process. Answer: D, B, and A are incorrect. Following are the inputs in the plan business analysis approach: Expert judgment Organizational process assets

Question 12

In order to define the business need for an organization, there are two inputs. What are the two inputs a business analyst will need to define the business need?

Accepted Answer

In order to conduct the task of defining the business need, the business analyst will need business goals and objectives. Answer: C is incorrect. This isn't a valid answer, as Requirements and Business analysis approach are actually outputs of the task of defining the business need. Answer: B is incorrect. This isn't a valid answer, as stakeholder identification and stakeholder analysis are actually outputs of the task of defining the business need. Answer: D is incorrect. This isn't a valid answer, as Elicitation approach and Solution approach aren't valid inputs.

Question 13

You are the business analyst for your organization and you're working to identify all of the stakeholders within your organization and outside your organization to ensure that you've captured the correct requirements for a project. Which one of the following techniques can be best suited for identifying stakeholders?

Accepted Answer

An interview is a systematic approach. It is used for eliciting information from a person or a group of people in an informal or formal setting by talking to an interviewee, asking relevant questions, and documenting the responses. Interviewees are also able to identify other stakeholders. Answer: C is incorrect. Acceptance and evaluation criteria are useful for identifying who has the authority to accept or reject solutions. Answer: D is incorrect. Risk analysis is the study of the probability, impact, and scoring of identified risk events. Risk analysis is the science of risks and their probability and evaluation in a business or a process. It is an important factor in security enhancement and prevention in a system. Risk analysis should be performed as part of the risk management process for each project. The outcome of the risk analysis would be the creation or review of the risk register to identify and quantify risk elements to the project and their potential impact.   Answer: B is incorrect. User stories are useful to capture requirements, stakeholder attitudes, and for identifying actors and roles.

Question 14

According to 'A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge', when should the business analyst and an organization actually start requirements allocation?

Accepted Answer

Requirements allocation typically begins early in the project lifecycle (as soon as the solution approach is determined) and will continue to be performed until all valid requirements are allocated. Allocation typically continues through design and construction of a solution. Answer: C is incorrect. Requirements allocation doesn't have to wait until the project has been chartered. Answer: B is incorrect. Approval of the requirements is good, but the solution scope for the requirements needs to be created to begin allocating the requirements. Answer: A is incorrect. The budget creation isn't linked to the requirements allocation process.

Question 15

You are the business analyst in your organization and you've just completed the assessment on three different proposed solutions. In your judgment, you don't think any of the solutions provide enough value to justify being implemented. What should you tell the stakeholders?

Accepted Answer

When there is no business value to implement the solution, then you should recommend that the initiative be terminated. Answer: A is incorrect. Choosing the least costly solution that doesn't add value doesn't make sense for the organization. Answer: D is incorrect. While this is tempting, the best choice is to recommend that the initiative be terminated. There's not a good reason to implement a solution that doesn't bring value to the organization. Answer: B is incorrect. Asking for more time isn't the best answer when you've already determined there's no business value in the solutions.

Question 16

You are working with the project stakeholders to analyze and prioritize their requirements for the project. One of the project requirements is to achieve a high-level of customer satisfaction for the project deliverable. What is the danger in this project requirement?

Accepted Answer

While every project manager wants to achieve customer satisfaction, this subjective term is too vague to be measured or accounted for. What one person deems customer satisfaction may be low compared to another. Requirements need metrics to determine the level of success. Answer: C is incorrect. The subjective requirements cannot be measured or mapped to quality requirements. Answer: B is incorrect. This is not an assumption, but a subjective requirement. Answer: A is incorrect. This is not a risk, but a requirement that needs metric for measurement attached to it.

Question 17

In a change-driven environment, what's more important than formal communications in regard to effective requirements management?

Accepted Answer

Change-driven approaches focus more on frequency of communication than on formal documentation. Official documentation is often in writing, but informal communication takes precedence over more formal written communication. Answer: D is incorrect. The best answer is frequency of communication, not the type of communication. Answer: A is incorrect. The best answer is frequency of communication, not correct communication - which is important, but it's not the best selection for the question. Answer: C is incorrect. The best answer is frequency of communication, not message of communication. Having the correct message and correct communication channels are important, but these aren't the best selection for this question.

Question 18

What type of analysis can a business analyst perform to understand the functions of stakeholders, the location of stakeholders, the tasks stakeholders complete, and the stakeholders' concerns about the solution?

Accepted Answer

The stakeholder impact analysis captures the stakeholders' functions, locations, tasks, and concerns about the solution. Answer: C is incorrect. An organizational assessment isn't a valid element for the assessment of organizational readiness. Answer: D is incorrect. The operational analysis will predict if the organization will actually take advantage of the solution once it's implemented. Answer: A is incorrect. A technical assessment, like an operational assessment, reviews the implementation to see if the stakeholders will use the solution once it's been implemented.

Question 19

You are the business analyst for your organization and you're reviewing a change to your requirements. During this impact analysis, what tool can best help you assess the total impact of a requirement change?

Accepted Answer

Traceability can help a business analyst determine the full impact of a change on requirements. When changes are presented and/or approved, traceability helps the business analyst determine what changes affect other requirements within the set. Answer: C is incorrect. A coverage matrix can be used to help facilitate tracing of requirements. Answer: A is incorrect. An Implementation SME is a stakeholder, not a tool, who may help link requirements to the solution components. Answer: D is incorrect. Integrated change control is a project management activity, not a business analysis tool, so this choice is incorrect.

Question 20

You are the business analyst for a large project in your organization. While your company prefers face-to-face communications there are many stakeholders located in different geographical locations. How can you still effectively serve as a business analyst when the stakeholders are not collocated?

Accepted Answer

According to the BABOK, the best solution in these instances is to increase videoconferences and teleconferences to complete the business analysis duties. Answer: C is incorrect. Adding more business analysts will increase the cost of the business analysis duties. Answer: B is incorrect. Traveling to all of the geographical locations is not always a feasible solution as there may be a small amount of stakeholders in one locale versus another. Answer: A is incorrect. Sometimes it is effective to bring all of the stakeholders together, but this is not always practical due to cost, schedules, and the amount of stakeholders involved in the project.

Exam 2: Certification of Competency in Business Analysis