Ecba exam practice questions - flagged

A business analyst and the project team are analyzing risks related to their future state recommendation. What exactly are they considering?

Possible consequences if the risk occurs, impact of those consequences, likelihood of the risk, and the potential time frame when the risk might occur.

A business analyst is charged with recommending a more efficient and effective process. What technique would be most helpful?

Process analysis. One of the primary purposes of process analysis is to identify ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a process. BABOK 10.34.2

A business analyst who has just been engages in a process improvement process is working on identifying stakeholders. Which technique would assist in stakeholder identification?

Process modeling. This may help to identify any stakeholder groups that may have otherwise been overlooked. BABOK 10.35.4.1 (Stakeholder list, map, or personas is a technique that can help identify and analyze stakeholders but the question is specific to a process improvement effort. BABOK 10.43.1)

Is the focus group technique qualitative or quantitative research?

Qualitative. BABOK 10.21.2

Who is responsible for the definition and enforcement of standards?

Regulator. BABOK 2.4.8

How does the BABOK guide define a business rule?

A specific, testable directive that serves as a criterion for guiding behavior, shaping judgements, or making decisions.

Which of the following describes message types in a sequence diagram?

A synchronous call transfers control to the receiving objevt; the sender cannot act until a return message is received. An asynchronous call allows the sending object to continue with its own processing while waiting for an answer. BABOK 10.42.3.3

What subset accurately represents the strategies for risk treatment?

Accept, increase, mitigate, transfer, avoid. BABOK 10.38.3.4

What techniques can be used to attain approvals of the requirements?

Acceptance and evaluation criteria and decision analysis. Along with item tracking, reviews, and workshops, these are all techniques that can be used to attain approvals. BABOK 5.5.6

Which technique would assist in defining approval criteria?

Acceptance and evaluation criteria. Acceptance criteria define the requirements, outcomes, or conditions that must be met in order for a solution to be approved. BABOK 5.5.6; 10.1

What techniques are used to validate requirements?

Acceptance and evaluation criteria; item tracking; reviews

What techniques are used to validate requirements?

Acceptance and evaluation criteria; item tracking; reviews. BABOK 7.3.6

Item tracking is an organized approach used by BAs to address SH concerns. Which subset best represents item type?

Actions, assumptions, constraints, dependencies, defects, enhancements, and issues. BABOK 10.26.2

A BA uses paraphrasing as a means of confirming elicitation results. How can paraphrasing be achieved?

Active listening. BABOK 9.4.4.2

Which of the following typically models a single use case using unified modeling language (UML)?

Activity diagram. BABOK 10.35.2

A BA is obtaining approval for their artifacts. Individual artifacts are created, reviewed, and approved individually without having to wait for the entire package. What approach is being employed for this effort?

Adaptive approach. This approach typically approves requirements when construction of a solution is ready to begin. BABOK 5.5.2

Which of the following statements best describes an adaptive planning approach?

Adaptive approaches focus on rapid delivery of business value in short iterations. BABOK 3.1.4.1

A team is organizing brainstormed items into groups with similarities. Which artifact are they creating?

Affinity map. An affinity map is an example of an artifact created through the technique of collaborative games. Affinity maps organize individual brainstormed items into groups containing similar items. BABOK table 10.10.1

Generally, when would a business analyst model requirements in a change initiative?

After requirements elicitation. BABOK 7.1.3

What is the primary goal of functional decomposition?

Allows for each decomposed part to be analyzed independently. BABOK 10.22.1

Requirements change assessment is an output of which of which of the following tasks?

Assess requirements changes. BABOK 5.4.8

When can a requirement be prioritized?

At any time in its life cycle. These tasks occur from inception to retirement. BABOK 5.0

What describes some of the characteristics of requirements and designs quality?

Atomic, concise, feasible, unambiguous, prioritized. BABOK 7.2.4.1

The BA is ensuring their requirements are capable of being understood independently of other requirements or designs. Which quality characteristic does this describe?

Atomic. BABOK 7.2.4.1

The sponsor provided guidance to the BA who was inundated with requests to "address the high priority items and get to the rest when you can." What technique could the business analyst leverage to execute the sponsor's guidance?

Backlog management. Utilizing backlog management would allow the BA to record, track, and prioritize work items. BABOK 10.2.1

Requirements traceability identifies and documents the lineage of each requirement. What are the ways in which this lineage can be identified and documented?

Backwards, forwards, and the relationships between requirements. BABOK 9.6.2

A business analyst wants to use a requirements elicitation technique to produce a broad set of options for an identified problem. Which of the following requirement elicitation activities would be the best approach to satisfy these requirements?

Brainstorming. Brainstorming is used to generate MANY ideas from a group of stakeholders in a short period, and to organize and prioritize those ideas. BABOK 4.2.6

How would the core concept of "solution" be applied by a business analyst when working within requirements analysis and design knowledge area?

By defining solution options and recommending the one that is most likely to address the need and has the most value. BABOK table 8.0.1

How would the core concept of "change" be applied by a BA when working within requirements life cycle management?

By managing how proposed changes to requirements and designs are evaluated during an initiative.

Which of the following describes the purpose and direction for the change request, establishes the context for it, and identifies the critical components of the request?

Change strategy. BABOK 5.4.5

What are the six core concepts in the BACCM?

Change, need, solution, SH, value, and context

The project team is in the process of ensuring their artifacts are in compliance with organizational business analysts performance standards. What tool would help in carrying out these activities?

Checklist. Checklists are used for quality control when verifying requirements and designs and to ensure that items determined to be important are included in the final requirements deliverables.

Requirements must be ____ to be managed, as stakeholders cannot consent to requirements they are not aware of.

Communicated. BABOK 5.5.2

Identify the characteristic of a quality requirement that is least satisfied in this requirement: "The call center operator shall be able to view details of a customer."

Complete. Would be more complete by the inclusion of the type of details. e.g., "The call center operator shall be able to view the payment details of a customer." BABOK 7.2.4.1

A business analyst is eliciting requirements by analyzing historical data to identify trends. What task is the BA performing?

Conduct elicitation. BA is utilizing the "research" type of elicitation. BABOK 4.2.2

Interviews and interface analysis are techniques used during which task?

Conduct elicitation. BABOK 4.2.6

In what tasks are requirements allocated to a solution component or a release?

Define design options. BABOK 7.5.4.3

A BA is facilitating a workshop to understand the current order fulfillment process. One of the participants is the current process owner and is the key contributor to the workshop. What type of stakeholder is the process owner?

Domain subject matter expert. a domain SME is any individual with in-depth knowledge of a topic relevant to the business need or solution scope. BABOK 2.4.3

A BA is conducting a workshop to come up with ideas on how to solve the issue of delays in the billing process. Which one of the following would be a suggested starting point?

Draw a diagram of the process. Process models provide a basis for process analysis which is what the scenario is describing. BABOK 10.35.1; 10.35.2

When assessing requirements changes, which of the following roles should the business analyst consult with to determine the impact of the change on stakeholder work activities?

End user. The End User uses the solution or a component of the solution and can provide information about the impact of the change on their work activities. BABOK 5.4.7

A business analyst is communicating BA information to resource managers via email every Monday as per the SH engagement approach. Those same resource managers contact the BA every week about information that was already emailed. What should the BA do to resolve this breakdown in communication?

Engage the source managers to understand if email is an effective mode of communication.

A BA is facilitating a workshop to identify measures that will be used by the team to choose between multiple solutions. What are they identifying?

Evaluation criteria. BABOK 10.1.2

This elicitation technique is comprised of pre-qualified individuals whose purpose is to discuss and comment on a topic under the guidance of a trained moderator. These sessions can be conducted using a homogenous or heterogeneous audience. What is this technique called?

Focus group. BABOK 10.21.1

A BA is ensuring that the stakeholders with approval authority understand and agree to support the requirements. What is the BA doing?

Gaining consensus. Gaining consensus is described as: "Business analysts are responsible for ensuring that the stakeholders with approval authority understand and accept the requirements." BABOK 5.5.4.3

A BA wants to identify and validate inputs and outputs of the solution. Which technique will best serve this objective?

Interface analysis. BABOK 7.1.6

A BA is eliciting data requirements by discussing how two systems currently exchange data and services. What non-functional requirement is being discussed?

Interoperability. Interoperability is the ability of systems to communicate by exchanging data or services. BABOK Glossary.

"Atomic" is a characteristic of requirements and design quality. What does it mean?

It is self-contained and capable of being understood independently of other requirements or designs. BABOK 7.2.4.1

What is the total cost of ownership (TCO)?

The cost to acquire a solution, the cost of using the solution, and the cost of supporting the solution until it is retired.

What is the purpose of the task "define requirements architecture"?

To ensure that the requirements collectively support one another to fully achieve the objectives. BABOK 7.4.1

Why is it important for BA to confirm elicitation results after a requirements workshop?

To ensure the requirements are accurate and consistent with other information. BABOK 4.3.1

What is the purpose of assessing requirement changes?

To evaluate the implication of proposed changes to requirements and designs. BABOK 5.4.1

What is the purpose of prioritizing requirements?

To rank requirements in the order of relative importance.

A BA is documenting SH concerns and risks that are raised during discussions when developing the business analysis approach. What technique is being used?

Item tracking. This is used to track any issues or risk-related items raised during planning activities. BABOK 3.1.6

As a BA, you have been effective in reducing the resistance to necessary changes. As such, which underlying competency have you most demonstrated?

Leadership and influencing. BABOK 9.5.2.3

A balanced scorecard is composed of which of the following four dimensions?

Learning and growth, business process, customer, and financial. BABOK 10.3.2

Which of the following tasks are included in the solution evaluation knowledge area?

Measure solution performance, analyze performance measures, assess solution limitations, assess enterprise limitations, recommend actions to increase solution value. BABOK 8.0

Data about data can best be described as what?

Metadata. Metadata describes what the entities represent, when and why they were created or changed, how they should be used, how often they are used, when, and by whom. In essence, metadata is the data about data. BABOK 10.15.3.5

Which of the following techniques would be best suited to identify how to evaluate the quality of requirements?

Metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). These assist in the "how" to evaluate the quality of requirements. BABOK 7.26

A bA is struggling with getting the right level of requirements from stakeholders regarding a manufacturing process due to the availability of knowledge stakeholders. What technique could the BA possibly try?

Observation. This technique can be used for understanding a business process. BABOK 10.31.1

Which of the following techniques will help a BA understand an organization's current processes when available documents are outdated and most personnel don't speak the BA's language.

Observation. The BA can "shadow" practitioners to gain an understanding of the process. BABOK 10.31.2

A BA wants to be sure that all appropriate kinds of questions are asked during domain expert interviews to define the requirements for a new accounts payable system. Which types of questions should be included?

Open-ended and closed. BABOK 10.25.3.3

Defining an approach for how business analysis data will be stored and accessed represents the purpose of which task?

Plan business analysis information management. BABOK 3.4.1

Which of the following are ways that BAs collaborate with other SHs to effectively address or "treat" risks?

Removing the source of the risk, mitigating the consequences. Additional strategies include avoiding the risk, sharing the risk with other partiers, or accepting the risk. BABOK 2.2; 10.38.3.4

Which of the following refer to the requirements that have been approved?

Requirements (approved). BABOK 5.5.8

Which knowledge area develops models of the current state of an organization?

Requirements analysis and design definition. BABOK figure 7.0.2

Which knowledge area has a set of tasks that helps ensure that the right people are involved in developing, understanding, and approving the project requirements?

Requirements life cycle management. This contains the tracking, prioritization, maintenance, change assessment, and approval of the requirements. The BA also works closely with key SHs to maintain understanding, agreement, and approval of requirements and designs. BABOK 1.4.2

Requirements that are identified, clearly named, defined, and stored for ling term use by the organization are considered to be:

Reusable. Requirements may be reused when they describe common features or services that could be used over time. BABOK 5.4.2.3

Which statement is accurate regarding risk analysis and management?

Risk originates from the uncertainty present in a solution. BABOK 10.38.1

A business analyst wants to model the "why" of a change. Which technique would be used to accomplish this task?

Scope modeling. BABOK 7.1.4.1

Approval of requirements in your organization is done formally with each member of the governance team. What methods may be used for requirements approval?

The approval method stated in the governance approach. BABOK 5.5.4.3

Which of the following steps are completed during an active brainstorming session?

Share ideas; build on others' ideas. Along with record ideas and elicit as many ideas as possible. BABOK figure 10.5.1

What does verbal communication include?

Spoken words, tone of voice, and non-verbal cues. BABOK 9.4.1

There are several roles involved in a successful workshop. Which of the following roles is generally not a participant in a workshop?

Sponsor. BABOK 10.50.3.2

Which type of stakeholder validates that the prioritized requirements will deliver value from an organizational perspective?

Sponsor. BABOK 5.3.7

Which type of requirement serves as a bridge between business and solution requirements?

Stakeholder requirements. These describe the needs of SHs that must be met in order to achieve the business requirements. BABOK 2.3

Which stakeholders participate in confirming elicitation results?

Stakeholders who have participated in elicitation tasks. They could be considered "domain SMEs". BABOK 4.3.7

Which knowledge areas describe the delivery of business value before, during, and after the life cycle of a project?

Strategy analysis, Requirements Analysis and Design Definition (RADD) and Solution Evaluation. While all six knowledge areas deliver value, these three support the delivery of business value before, during, and after the life cycle of a project. BABOK 1.1.1

You are in the process of selecting people to participate in a particular elicitation event. You are considering whether the questions will be open-ended or close-ended and are also considering the best mode of distribution. Which technique are you likely planning?

Survey or questionnaire. Defining the target survey group, choosing the appropriate survey style, along with the distribution mode are all stated elements for surveys or questionnaires. BABOK 10.45.3

Requirements may be modeled using a variety of formats. Which of the following correctly lists the types of requirements formats?

Text, matrices, diagrams BABOK 7.1.4

A business analyst decided to administer a survey to stakeholder groups in person vs. email. What is the most likely rationale for this decision?

The BA wanted to bolster the response rates. Administering the survey in person is the best reason of those given. It is easy to ignore the email! BABOK 10.45.4.2

Which of the following is an example of acceptance criteria?

The solution must be provided by a pre-approved vendor. Acceptance criteria describe the minimum requirements a solution must meet to be worthy of consideration. It is binary in that either the solution meets the criterion or it does not. BABOK 10.1.2

What does the BABOK contain?

The standards and methodologies to which all business analysts should adhere.

What is the purpose of the specify and model requirements task?

To analyze, synthesize, and refine elicitation results into requirements and designs.

A senior BA was providing advice to a new BA and recommended using a matrix for their requirements modeling format. What is the purpose of this type of format?

To convey a set of requirements that have a complex but uniform structure that can be broken down. BABOK 7.1.4.1

A senior business analyst was providing advice to a new BA and recommended using a data dictionary for their documentation. What is the purpose of this type of documentation?

To standardize a definition of a data element, thus enabling a common interpretation among stakeholders.

Which of the following tasks are included in the requirements life cycle management knowledge area?

Trace requirements, approve requirements, prioritize requirements, assess requirement changes, and maintain requirements. BABOK 5.0

If the solution team thinks that the requirements are not represented by the solution, which of the following tasks would help them address their concerns?

Trace requirements. Traceability is used to ensure that the solution confirms to requirements by linking each requirement back to the business value. BABOK 5.1.2

Traceability is best described by the following statement:

Traceability identifies and documents the lineage of each requirement, including its backwards traceability, its forward traceability, and its relationship to other requirements. BABOK 5.1.2

A BA is video recording a production crew in order to understand their process. What sort of elicitation technique is the BA utilizing?

Unnoticeable observation. When using a passive/unnoticeable observation approach, the observer does not interrupt the work. BABOK 10.31.2

How is mind mapping utilized in the preparation for the elicitation task?

Used by the BA to identify which sources of business analysis information to consult and which elicitation techniques might be cost effective. BABOK 4.1.6

Which technique is likely to have the LEAST amount of detail regarding requirements?

User story. User stories contain a short, concise statement of functionality. This brevity helps promote additional conversations between SHs to ensure understanding of the needed functionality. BABOK 10.48.2

A BA is reviewing requirements with their sponsor and customer to ensure they are aligned with business and project objectives. What task is the BA performing?

Validate Requirements. BABOK 7.3.1

A business analyst has been tracking several problems for quite some time on his project. When is the tracking process considered to be complete?

When each item has been tracked to its closure or resolution. BABOK 10.26.3.2

When is the best time for a BA to specify and model requirements during the elicitation and collaboration knowledge area?

Whenever it would all value to the elicitation and collaboration tasks. Models may improve collaboration. BABOK 4.3.4.2

A BA needs to elicit detailed requirements from multiple stakeholders in a short period of time. Cost is one of the aspects that must be considered while deciding upon the technique. What would be the best technique in this situation?

Workshop. Most cost-effective and efficient technique. BABOK 10.50.4.1

What is a focused event that has a facilitator and a scribe, is attended by key stakeholders and SMEs for a concentrated period of time, to achieve a predefined goal?

Workshops

Which two techniques are best for confirming stated requirements and stakeholder concerns?

Workshops and interviews. Interviews, document analysis, reviews, and workshops are techniques for the confirm requirements task. BABOK 4.3.6

Which technique is used to gain an understanding of the basis for prioritization by various stakeholders in a group setting?

Workshops. Workshops can be used to gain an understanding of stakeholders' basis for prioritization in a facilitated group setting. BABOK 5.3.6

A requirement must be ____ to ensure it remains valid over time.

maintained. BABOK 5.2.4.1