Business Analyst Questions
What is business process model?
BPM refers to the creation of a model of a business process in order to better understand the process. Business process modeling relies on conventions like Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) or Unified Modeling Language (UML) to set up models or simulations of a business process for evaluation and possible alteration.
What do you mean by functional and non-functional requirement?
Functional Requirements are requirements on what the product should do or how it should behave, non-functional requirements put constraints on how the functional requirements will function.
What do you mean by requirement gathering? How is it different from requirement elicitation?
Gathering means that the information is already available and ready for documentation, the difference is that in elicitation the information needs to be gathered and analyzed whereas in gathering, this is already done.
What do you mean by agenda?
List of activities that will take place in a meeting, usually draft is sent out couple days before meeting, final email is sent out to all attendees one day prior to the meeting with any request changes.
What is requirement-prioritizing technique (Moscow technique)?
M- Must, this requirement is absolutely necessary for the project S- Should, customer would like the requirement but it can be come back to at a later time C- Could, customer may want the requirement but its not necessary W- Wouldn't customer does not want the requirement
What are contents of BRD?
Objective of the project Current business and environment state Business changes to be done Stakeholder details Assumptions and constraints Risk Analysis Functional Requirements Non-functional requirements Schedule and Budget (optional when BRD is shared with technical team) Terms and Conditions (Legal Information) Partner Sign-off
What do you mean by 5W1H technique?
One of the most universally used tools for information gathering, analysis, organization and presentation is the 5W1H framework, this approach seeks to answer six basic questions in gathering information about nearly any subject: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Sometimes, depending on the context, a 2nd "H" might be used: How Much.
What are different types of non functional requirement ?
Performance Scalability Capacity Availability Reliability Recoverability Maintainability Serviceability Security Regulatory Manageability Environmental Data Integrity Usability Interoperability
What are qualities of good requirements?
Qualities of good requirements include being atomic, uniquely identifiable, complete, consistent, unambiguous, traceable, prioritized, and testable.
What is scope and scope creep?
Scope is the area covered by a particular activity or topic of interest. Scope creep is the process by which a project grows beyond its originally anticipated size. Scope creep refers to a project that has seen its original goals expand while its in progress, scope creep is a subtle process that starts with small adjustments and ends up resulting in projects that take far longer to compete or even fail before they are finished, scope creep usually occurs due to a poor understanding of the original project, changing market conditions, and competing forces within a company.
What is the difference between a process and a project?
The difference between a project and process is that a project generally has a beginning and an end, whereas a process generally does not have an end. In a process, the tasks and or activities are usually repetitive and known to the outsets of the process while in a project, the tasks and or activities are usually not repetitive and generally not known to the the outsets of the project.
What are activities of SDLC?
The activities of the SDLC include planning, implementation, testing, documentation, deployment and maintenance. Planning consists of requirement gathering and or requirement analysis and are usually done by the most skilled and experienced software engineers in the organization. After the requirements are gathered from the client, a scope document is created in which the scope of the project is determined and documented. Implementation is where the software engineers start writing the actual code according to the clients requirements. Testing is the process of finding defects and or bugs in the created software. Documentation occurs in every step of the SDLC and is used for future references and for improvements of the software in the development process. Deployment and maintenance is where the software or product is deployed after it has been approved for release and may need to be updated for new requirements or maintained to fix bugs or errors not found during original testing.
What are agile manifesto principles?
The agile manifesto principles are values attaining to the agile methodology. individuals and interactions over processes and tools. working software over comprehensive documentation. customer collaboration over contract negotiation. responding to change over following a plan. 1. satisfying the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software 2. welcoming requirement changes, even late in the development process 3. delivering working software frequently 4.business people and developers must work together throughout the project 5. build projects around motivated individuals, give them the environment and support they need 6. agile process promote sustainable development, the sponsors, developers, and user should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely 7. working software is the primary measure of progress 8. the most efficient method is conveying info to and from development team face to face 9. continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility 10. simplicity - maximizing the amount of work not done is essential 11. the best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams 12. at regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective.
What are different types of requirement elicitation techniques?
1-1 interviews group interviews use cases JAD sessions facilitated sessions questionnaires prototyping following people brainstorming request for proposals.
What are different scrum ceremonies?
1. Sprint planning meetings: these meetings help to understand what can be delivered in the upcoming sprint and also what development needs to take place in order to achieve those deliverables. the sprint planning meeting usually has a maximum of 8-hour meeting for one-month sprint, it may be shorter based on the length of the sprint. 2. Daily stand-up meeting: these meetings are usually a quick meeting in the mornings to better understand from each individual what is the progress of each individual and what they plan to take care of for the day, this meeting is also the place to bring up any concerns or questions an individual may have regarding their portion of the sprint. 3. Sprint review meeting: This is held at the end of each sprint to inspect the development and adjust the next sprint according to what was accomplished in the last sprint, usually done through a software that has back-log capabilities. 4. Sprint retrospective meeting: done before the next sprint planning and after the sprint review meeting. the main purpose of these meetings are to see if any improvements can be made from in the next sprint based on the feedback from the last sprint to improve efficiency.
What is project management office (PMO)?
A PMO is a group or department within a business agency or enterprise that defines and maintains standards for project management within the organization. The primary goal of a PMO is to achieve benefits from standardizing and following project management policies, processes and methods. Overtime, a PMO generally will become the source for guidance, documentation, and metrics.
What is change request?
A change request is a formal proposal for an alteration to some product or system, in project management, a change request often arises when the client wants an addition or alteration to the agreed-upon deliverables for a project.
What do you mean by RTM?
A matrix used to track reuqirements relationships. Each column in the matrix provides requirements information and associated project or software development components. It is a document that links requirements throughout the validation process. The purpose of the RTM is to ensure that all requirements defined for a system are tested in the test protocols
What do you mean by end user?
A person or system that directly interacts with the solution. End users can be humans who interface with the system, or systems that send or receive data files to or from the system
What is a process?
A process in SDLC is a series of steps and decisions involved in the way that work is completed, the tasks or activities in a project are usually repetitive and may not be known to the outsets of the project, a process is generally ongoing and doesn't have an end.
What do you mean by ROI?
A profitability measure that evaluates the performance of a business by dividing net profit by net worth. ROI is the most common profitability ratio, the most common way to find the ROI of an organization is to divide net profit by total assets.
What is a project?
A project in SDLC is a an activity to meet the creation of a new product or service, a project usually has an beginning and an end although the end may not be clearly defined sometimes. The tasks and activities in a project are usually not repetitive and not known to the outsets of the project.
What do you mean by tester?
A stakeholder responsible for assessing the quality of, and identifying defects in a software application
What do you mean by sponsor?
A stakeholder who authorizes or legitimizes the product development effort by contracting for or paying for the project?
What do you mean by customer?
A stakeholder who uses products or services delivered by an organization.
What do you understand by request for proposal document?
A type of bidding solicitation in which a company or organization announces that funding is available for a particular project or program, and companies can place bids for the projects completion. THE RFP outlines the bidding process and contract terms, and provides guidance on how the bid should be formatted and presented. A RFP is typically open to a wide range of bidders, creating open competition between companies looking for work.
What do you mean by vendor screening?
A vendor screening program does not screen the vendor corporate entity itself, but the employees those vendors hire, employees who will have access to your facilities, systems, and confidential information. The process screens individual employees of your contracted vendor. Since you do not select for the background screen the employee yourself, a vendor screening program will use your criteria for a background check. Depending on the program you design, the vendor screening programs are as lax or vigorous as you choose, including but not limited to criminal history searches, credit reports, drug testing, and education and employment verification.
What are the components or elements of use case diagram? (Actors, system, extended, included, generalized and relationship between actors and system.)
Actors: individuals who interact with the system System: software or product that the actor will be interacting with Included: components are base use and are necessary Extended: components are use cases and are optional.
What is the difference between agile and spiral model?
Agile: more risk of sustainability and maintenance. Little or no planning required. Suitable for small projects. depends highly on customer interaction. Combination of iterative and incremental. Spiral: Better risk management. heavy planning required. suitable for large or high-risk projects. little customer interaction. combination of iterative and waterfall.
What do you mean by iteration? - (Parallel development)
An iteration, in the context of an agile project, is a time-box during which development takes place, the duration of which may vary from project to project. In agile software development, an iteration is a single development cycle, usually measured as 1 or 2 weeks.
What do you mean by Business process model notation?
BPMN is a method of illustrating business processes in the form of a diagram similar to a flowchart. It is a flow chart method that models the steps of a planned business process from end to end. An Event in an BPMN is usually illustrated by an circle, an event is an action or IT-based activity from an external source or carried out by the customer. An IT activity in a BPMN is usually represented by a rectangle, an IT based activity is usually the documentation, sending, or requesting of information. An action is usually represented by a soft rectangle and is usually carried out by a person within the organization. Finally a decision point or gateway is represented by a diamond and is where a decision has to be made and the flow can go more than one way.
What do you mean by BRD?
BRD is business requirement document in which the main purpose of the document is to achieve the end-result of the project, major part of the BRD is the requirements, BRD is a major document that helps with the creation of the project.
What are the types of document? (BRD, SRS, FRS, PRS)
BRD: BRD is a business requirement document in which the main purpose of the document is to achieve the end-result of the project, major part of the BRD is the requirement, BRD is major document that helps with the creation of the project. SRS: describes a t a high level, the functional and technical specification of the software, specifies the functional and non-functional requirements of the software to be developed, usually created by systems architect who is a technical expert, derived from BRS FRS: document specifies the requirements, shaped into functionality and explains how the particular requirement is going to work as a part of proposed system. FRS describes the requested behavior of an engineering system. Contents: Specific inputs Scope of the system functional behavior of the system defined output of the system PRS: Performance Requirements Specifications outlines the performance of the non-functional requirements
What is difference between BRS and SRS?
BRS: describes at very high level the functional specifications of the software formal document describing about the requirement provided by client usually created by BA who interacts with clients derived from client interaction and requirements SRS: describes at a high level, the functional and technical specification of the the software It specifics the functional and non-functional requirements of the software to be developed Usually created by the System Architect who is a technical expert. derived from BRS
What is business analysis and who is business analyst?
Business analysis is the practice of enabling change in an organizational context, by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders. Business analysis is the business process of assessing an organizations structure, processes, technology, and capabilities to identify and define solutions to roadblocks that impede the achievement of organizational goals. It enables adaptation in an ever-changing business and regulatory environment to allow the organization to grow in the manner defined by management. A BA is any person who performs business analysis activities, no matter what their job title or organizational role may be. Business analysis practitioners include not only people with the job title of a BA, but may also include business systems analysts, systems analysts, requirements engineers, process analysts, products managers, product owners, enterprise analysts, business architects, management consultants. Many other jobs such as assurance and interaction design rely heavily on BA skills for success.
What do you mean by requirement elicitation?
Elicitation means the gathering and analyzing of information, this is done through numerous techniques including interviews, questionnaires, use cases, JAD sessions, etc...
What do you mean by Kanban board?
In Kanban the workflow is visualized, work is broken down into small, discrete items and written on a card which is stuck to a board, the board has different columns and as the work progresses through the different stages, the card is moved accordingly. In kanban the number of items that can be in progress at any one time is strictly limited. The average time it take to complete an item is tracked and optimized so that the process becomes as efficient and predictable as possible. the elimination of waste is paramount.
What is the difference between scrum and Kanban?
In Kanban, roles are fluid, whereas the roles are pre-defined in scrum. In kanban, the tasks are shared by everyone, whereas in scrum, tasks have assigned owners. Kanban is not time-boxed, scrum is time-boxed. kanban is incremental, scrum is incremental and iterative
What do you mean by KPI and examples of KPI?
Key Performance Indicators is a business metric used to evaluate factors that are crucial to the success of an organization, an example would be number of sales made in a month, or number of calls made to customers.
What do you mean by scrum?
Scrum is an agile process most commonly used for product development, especially software development. Scrum is a project management framework that is applicable to any project with aggressive deadlines, complex requirements and a degree of uniqueness. In Scrum, projects move forward via a series of iterations called sprints. Each sprint is typically 2 to 4 weeks long. Scrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. Scrum is lightweight, simple to understand and difficult to master.
What is service request?
Service requests are those requests coming from a user to the service desk and are fulfilled through request fulfillment.
Do you know any process flow diagram? -(Swimlane)
Swimlane is a flow diagram which also helps to represent the responsibilities of each department or each different variable by labeling them.
What are the activities of project closer phase?
Teams close a project when they deliver the finished project to the customer, communicating completion to stakeholders and releasing resources to other projects. This vital step in the project life cycle allows the team to evaluate and document the project and move onto the next one, using previous project mistakes and successes to build stronger processes and more successful teams. Although project management may seem overwhelming at times, breaking it down into these five distinct cycles can help your team manage even the most complex projects and use time and resources more wisely,.
What do you understand by Project Life Cycle (PLC)?
The PLC is a series of phases that represents the evolution of a product or service from conception to delivery, the PLC contains 5 phases: initiation, planning process, execution process, monitoring and controlling process, and the closing process.
What is difference between agile and waterfall model?
The difference between the agile and the waterfall model is that in agile, change is possible and common and backward scalability is also possible, in the waterfall model, it is extremely difficult to implement changes and backward scalability. Agile is very flexible whereas waterfall is structured agile splits the project into numerous smaller cycles called sprints whereas waterfall is just one large project agile is iterative, whereas waterfall is a sequential model. agile is suited for where change and improvements are common, waterfall is suited for where requirements are well defined in the beginning of the project and where change in uncommon
What are the three different type of projects?
The first type of project is a development project, which is the creation of a new project or service completely. The second type of project is enhancement project, which is when a new feature or requirement is added to an already existing project. The last type of project is maintenance project, this is to make sure that the product or service is working normally, this is where bugs and defects are usually located and fixed.
What are the activities associated with the project initiation phase?
The initiation phase is the first phase of the PLC, this is where the project's feasibility and value are measured, this is usually done through the development of the business case document, this document lists the need for the project and potential financial benefits. This phase also includes the feasibility study, which is an evaluation of the project's goals, timelines, and costs. This phase helps the company to decide if they should either abandon the project or move forward with it.
What is the difference between project management and process management?
The main difference between project management and process management is that in project management, the main emphasis is achieving the end result of the project whereas the main emphasis of process management is to increase efficiency and repeatability of the tasks of the project.
What is RUP?
The rational unified process attempts to capture many of modern software developments best practices in a form suitable for wide range of projects and organizations. This process recognizes that the traditional waterfall approach can be inefficient because it idles key team members for extended periods of time. Many feel that the waterfall approach also introduces a lot of risk because it defers testing and iteration until the end of the project life-cycle. Problems found at this stage are very expensive to fix.
What do you mean by pre-project phase?
The sequence of processes before the start of the project which contains the project proposal, feasibility study, and the project charter. The project proposal sits outside the boundaries of the project management process groups and is an input to the initiating process group. The feasibility study is an analysis and evaluation of a proposed project to determine if it is technically feasible, is feasible within the estimated cost, and will be profitable. A project charter describes what your project is and how you will approach it, and it lists the names of all stakeholders.
What do you understand by SDLC framework?
The software development life cycle (SDLC) is a framework defining tasks performed at each step in the software development process. SDLC is a structure followed by a development team within the software organization. It consists of a detailed plan describing how to develop, maintain and replace specific software. The life cycle defines a methodology for improving the quality of software and the overall development process.
What do you understand by Spiral model?
The spiral model is similar to the incremental model, with more emphasis placed on risk analysis. The spiral model has 4 phases: Planning, risk analysis, engineering and evaluation. A software project repeatedly passed through these phases in iterations called spirals. The baseline spiral, starting in the planning phase, requirements are gathered and risk is assessed. Each subsequent spiral builds on the baseline spiral.
What are different types of business process model?
The two main types of business process models are swim-lane and use cases. Swim-lane is a flow diagram which also helps to represent the responsibilities of each department or each different variable by labeling them. Use case diagrams are a graphical tool used to identify different scenarios from people interacting with the software, use cases include actors, the system, and the end goals.
What do you mean by V model?
The v- model is an SDLC model where execution of processes happens in a sequential manner in a v-shape. It is also known as Verification and Validation model. The v-model is an extension of the waterfall model and is based on the association of a testing phase for each corresponding development stage. This means that for every single phase in the development cycle. there is a directly associated testing phase. This is a highly-disciplined model and the next phase starts only after completion of the previous phase.
What are the activities associated with the project planning phase?
This is the 2nd phase of the PLC, this is the phase where all the resources for the project are obtained, finances are acquired along with procurement of materials. The project plan gives the team direction for producing quality outputs, handling risk, creating acceptance, communicating benefits to the stakeholders and manage suppliers. The project plan also prepares teams for obstacles they might encounter over the course of the project and help them understand the cost, scope, and time frame of the project. A gantt chart provides a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project.
What are the activities associated with project execution and project monitoring control
This phase is most commonly associated with project management, execution is all about building deliverables that satisfy the customer. Team leaders make this happen by allocating resources and keeping team members focused on their assigned tasks. Execution relies heavily on the planning phase. The work and efforts of the team during the execution phase are derived from the project plan. Monitoring and control and sometimes combined with execution because they often occur at the same time. As teams execute their project plan, they must constantly monitor their own progress. To guarantee delivery of what was promised, teams must monitor tasks to prevent scope creep, calculate key performances indicators and track variations from allotted cost and time.
What do you mean by UML?
UML is a universal modeling language enabling developers to specify, visualize, construct and document artifacts of a software system. It uses graphic notation to create visual models of software systems. UML diagramming was created to forge a common visual language in the complex world of software development that would also be understandable for business users and anyone who wants to understand a system.
What is difference between waterfall and V model?
Waterfall: testing comes in last phase. difficult to make requirement changes. used for product based applications. V model: Testing done parallel to development phase. easy to make requirement changes. used for project based applications.
What do you mean by wireframes, mockup and prototype? What's the difference between them?
Wireframe: a low-fidelity way to present a product, can efficiently outline structures and layouts Mockup: a kind of high- fidelitty static design diagram, should demonstrate information frames and statically present content and functions. Unlike a wire-frame, a mock-up looks more like a finished product or prototype, but it is not interactive and not clickable. It is rather a graphical representation. Wire-frame is the basic and visual representation of the design Prototype is very close to the finished product. Here, processes can be simulated and user interaction can be tested. A prototype looks very similar to the finished product.
What are core practices of Extreme Programming?
XP is a framework which focuses heavily on ensuring the quality of delivered software and which prescribes engineering solutions towards that end. An XP team engage in release planning and iteration planning. They work in very short development cycles so that change requested by the customer can be incorporated frequently. Through more than a dozen core practices which include test driven development, customer testing, continuous integration, small releases and pair programming, XP works towards a continuously improving, high quality product which can respond to changes in customer requirements.
What is service level agreement?
a SLA is a contract between a service provider and its internal or external customers that document what services the provider will furnish. An SLA is a document that describes the minimum performance criteria a provider promises to meet while delivering a service.
What do you mean by stakeholder?
a group or person who has interests that may be affected by an initiative or influence over it.
What do you mean by regulator?
a stakeholder with legal governance authority over the solution or the process used to develop it.
What do you mean by SME?
a stakeholder with specific expertise in an aspect of the problem domain or potential solution alternatives or components
What are day-to-day activities of a business analyst?
day to day activities of a BA include investigating, analyzing, communicating, documenting, and evaluating. Investigating: BA's spend a good deal of time asking questions. In order to expand their knowledge, they might conduct interviews, read, and observe the operations of a functional business area that they've been assigned to. They'll do research and look for solutions options, both within and outside the organization. Analyzing: BA's spend a great deal of time analyzing the info that acquire - studying it for patterns and trends, continually reviewing it to ensure that it is current, thorough, and accurate, and probing deeply for the resources of a problem and potential solutions. Many problems suggest multiple solutions and weighing them against the actual needs. Communicating: BA's spend many hours actively communicating, more than simply talking, this means listening to verbal and non-verbal messages, establishing open dialogue, confirming that they've understood what they've heard, and communicating what they learn to those who'll build actual solutions. Documenting: BA's spend a fair amount of time documenting what they learn and observe, and the results of their analyses. the BA's must reflect on the best ways to document specific types of info, whether as text or visual form. Evaluating: a BA must also spend time identifying options for solving specific problems, then help select the best one, and then evaluate the chosen solution through its design and construction to ensure that it continues to meet the business needs and that the team chooses the best process for putting it in place.
What is your understanding about minutes of meeting?
meeting of minutes keep a record of what was done or talked about at a meeting, including any decision made or action taken. date, time and location of meetings. purpose of meeting names of attendees and those who were unable to attend agenda items decisions that were made actions that need to be done. include the deadline and who it was assigned to. follow up meeting meeting of minutes provide a written record of what was discussed and agreed at a meeting, so you and your colleagues will have the same recollections from the meeting and the same ideas about what was agreed.
What is SWOT analysis?
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats is a useful technique for understanding you Strengths and Weaknesses, and for identifying both the Opportunities open to you and the threats you face. Strengths and weaknesses are often internal to your organization, while opportunities and threats generally relate to external factors
Tell me something about use case template?
the elements included in a use case are actors, pre-conditions, post-conditions, assumptions, regular flow, and alternatives flow.
What do you mean by project manager?
the stakeholder assigned by the performing organization to manage the work required to achieve the project objectives
Why requirement prioritization is needed?
to prevent scope creep and misuse of resources.
What do you mean by use cases?
use cases are diagrams or templates that help to capture the different scenarios between actors and the system, the elements included in a use case are actors, pre-conditions, post-conditions, assumptions, regular flow, and alternatives flow.
