1. The Business Context

Question 1

Name a technique for looking at a holistic view of a buisness through change

Answer 1

Utilising the POPIT model ensures an analyst considers all internal factors when identifying areas for improving the business system:

Processes,
Organisation,
People,
Information and Technology

Question 2

Give me 3 competencies of a business analyst

Answer 2

1 - Interpersonal skills
2 - Business Knowledge
3 - Professional techniques

Question 3

Name 3 necessary Interpersonal skills of a BA

Answer 3

Communication,
Relationship Building,
Influencing,
Team working,
Political Awareness,
Analytical skills and critical thinking,
Attention to detail,
Problem solving,
Leadership,
Self belief,
Professional development.

Question 4

Name 3 areas of Business functions a BA may require knowledge of

Answer 4

Business Finance,
Business Case Development,
Domain Knowledge,
Subject Matter Expertise,
Principles of IT,
Organisation Structures,
Supplier Management,
Business Architecture.

Question 5

Name 3 professional techniques of a BA

Answer 5

Project management,
Strategy analysis,
Stakeholder analysis and management,
Investigation techniques,
Requirements Engineering,
Requirement analysis
Requirement management
Business Modelling,
Data Modelling,
Gap analysis,
Facilitation skills,
Portfolio management,
Benefits management,
Agile thinking.

Question 6

Name a technique to analyse the influences from the external business envirment

Answer 6

PESTLE
Porters 5 forces
SWOT (OT)

Question 7

Name a technique to analyse the capability of the internal business environment

Answer 7

SWOT (SW)

Porters value chain analysis

Question 8

What is SWOT analysis

Answer 8

SWOT analysis consolidates internal and external analysis, summarising the current position and helping form a basis for strategy development.

Internal;
Strengths
Weaknesses

External;
Opportunities
Threats

Question 9

What is PESTLE analysis

Answer 9

PESTLE analysis is a simple tool used to breakdown external impacting factors on a proposal into easily analysed and communicated pieces.

Political
Environmental
Socio-cultural
Technological
Legal
Economic

Question 10

What are CSF’s and give me an example

Answer 10

Critical Success Factors - Statements of the areas in which the business considers vital to its success e.g. Increase Market Share Through Current Customers.

Question 11

What are KPI’s and give me an example

Answer 11

Key Performance Indicators - Areas to be monitored to measure whether each critical success factor is being achieved

KPI = metric + target

Growth in revenue for current customers

Question 12

What are the stages of the lifecycle for business change

Answer 12

Alignment - BA aims to understand business strategy and objectives
Definition - Investigation
Design - Solution design
Implementation 
Realism - Check solution meets needs

Question 13

Why is Business analysis Important

Answer 13

Business analysis is an important part of making sure any business succeeds. In the ever changing professional environment businesses are constantly required to improve and change, business analysis identifies and prepares an organisation on the best opportunities and methods to meet the changing needs in like with our business objectives.

Question 14

Name 3 benefits business analysis can offer an organisation

Answer 14

Specialist knowledge in an area
An unbiased view, opportunity for someone not bedded in to the function or organisation to take a holistic view of the project
Finance and the economy, business case development, understanding of the principles of IT

(Business domain knowledge, Subject Matter Expertise, Organisation Structures & Design, Supplier Management)

Question 15

Why is it important to have a Holistic view of a business system

Answer 15

Able to look at all influencing factors and identify all internal factors that may be influenced by the proposed change, look at the wider ripples of a change and start to think about how to mitigate that. Not bedded in, birds eye view

Question 16

What is the role of BCS in professional development of business analysts

Answer 16

BCS is a worldleader in business analysis certification, helping skill BAs with the tools and critical thinking to thrive in their role and give organisations confidence in the staff they are hiring

Question 17

Identify the importance of a code of conduct/ Professional standards

Answer 17

We have a responsibility to the role, to BCS, to our employer and to our customer to act honorably, truthfully and legally. Knowing and adhering to our code of conduct will ensure we follow this responsibility.

Question 18

How can we utilise PESTLE analysis

Answer 18

PESTLE can be utilised to assess the influence of the external environment upon the organisation and include these factors for consideration when we think about strategy for change, threats to our business and opportunities in the market

Question 19

What are Performance targets

Answer 19

A performance target is a target set against each KPI

Question 20

What is the link between CSFs, KPIs and performance targets

Answer 20

Each Critical success factor should have a set of KPIs against it that are to be monitored against their performance targets to track whether the CSF is being met.

CSF = Metric(KPI) + Target

Question 21

Name the elements of the balance business scorecard

Answer 21

Financial
Customer
Internal Business processes
Learning and growth

all surrounding - Vision and strategy

Question 22

How can we utilise the Balanced Business scorecard in practice

Answer 22

The balanced business scorecard is a framework for identifying CSF and KPIs, analysing the business objectives by key questions surrounding the vision and strategy.

Question 23

What are the key differences between waterfall and agile solution delivery

Answer 23

Waterfall is a linear model of Project delivery

Agile is a continuous iteration of development and testing to deliver a project

The Agile methodology is known for its flexibility whereas Waterfall is a structured software development methodology

Agile allows changes in project development requirements whereas Waterfall has no scope of changing the requirements once the project development starts.

Question 24

How would you describe the role of a BA?

Answer 24

An advisory role for identifying and analysing business situations, identifying and evaluating options for improving business systems, elaborating and defining requirements, and ensuring the effective implementation and use of information systems in line with business needs.

Question 25

What is strategy

Answer 25

• business goal or mission
• timeframe: short, medium and long-term
• organisation resources utilisation: finance, skills, assets, technical competence
• environment: the organisation works in

“What’s happening out there, and how do we fit into and maximise return from it?”

Question 26

What is a resource audit and how can it be utiliised

Answer 26

A resource audit is an internal analysis tool, assessing and deploying core competencies as appropriate, can be a subconcious task

Question 27

What is CATWOE and how is it ustilised

Answer 27

CATWOE is a tool for analysing a Stakeholder’s business perspective on the end result
Customer (Target audience)
Actors (In transfromation)
Transformation (Core processes)
Worldview (What the organisation should be doing and why, BAU not project, Resource + view + objective)
Owner (Key decision maker)
Environmental (PESTLE)

Question 28

What is boscard and how can it be utilised

Answer 28

Boscard is a method of completing the Terms of Reference or Project initiation document.

Using Boscard helps to identify all the key areas for consideration in your analysis

Background
Objective
Scope
Constraints
Assumptions
Resource
Deliverables

Question 29

Why is it important to define a Stakeholders perpective?

Answer 29

Personal goals are not always the same as the organisation or other people, to ensure alignment of views and that you have an understanding of where and why they differ to mitigate going forward