Chapter 1: Business Analysis 101

Question 1

Area or boundaries being analyzed

Answer 1

Domain

Question 2

Set of changes to a current State. A solution enables a domain to: meet a business need, solve a business problem, take advantage of an opportunity

Answer 2

Solution

Question 3

The function of this role is to solve problems and work as a liaison among all technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Answer 3

Business Analyst

Question 4

artifacts, practices or information from any participating entity that is used to perform or manage the project

Answer 4

OPA-Organizational Process Assets

Question 5

Higher-level statements of the goals, objectives or needs of a domain/enterprise.

Answer 5

Business Requirements

Question 6

Business Requirements are developed in this knowledge area that consists of defining business needs, assess capability gaps, determine solution approach, define solution scope, define business case

Answer 6

Enterprise Analysis

Question 7

Statements of the needs of a particular stakeholder or class/group of stakeholders

Answer 7

Stakeholder Requirements

Question 8

Solution characteristics to satisfy business and stakeholder requirements

Answer 8

Solution Requirements

Question 9

Behavior and information managed by the solution

Answer 9

Functional Requirements

Question 10

Conditions that do not involve behavior or functionality describing environmental conditions or qualities

Answer 10

Non-Functional Requirements

Question 11

Knowledge are that stakeholder and solution requirements are developed in that consists of prioritize requirements, organize requirements, specify and model requirements, define assumptions and constraints, verify requirements and validate requirements

Answer 11

Requirements Analysis

Question 12

Capabilities of the solution to transition from the current to future state and are not needed after transition is completed. Differentiated from other requirements because they are always temporary.

Answer 12

Transition Requirements

Question 13

Knowledge area that transition requirements are developed in.

Answer 13

Solutions Assessment and Validation

Question 14

Responsible and accountable for the execution of BA activities (BSA, SA, Process Analyst, Consultant and Product Owner)

Answer 14

Business Analyst

Question 15

Makes use of products or services produced (segmented by market, geography and industry, among others)

Answer 15

Customer

Question 16

Individual with in-depth knowledge of a topic relevant to the business need or solution scope (broken out by organizational unit and job role)

Answer 16

Domain SME

Question 17

Directly interacts with the solution (broken out by organizational unit and job role)

Answer 17

End User

Question 18

Responsible for designing and implementing solution (project librarian, change manager, config manager, solution architect, dev, DBA, trainer

Answer 18

Implementation SME

Question 19

Supports operation of project activities (help desk, network tech, release mgr)

Answer 19

Operational Support

Question 20

Ensures project’s objectives are met while balancing project assumptions and constraints related to the scope, budget, schedule, resources, quality and risk, among others (scrum master, team leader)

Answer 20

Project Manger

Question 21

Provides products or services (providers, consultants)

Answer 21

Supplier

Question 22

Responsible for determining how to verify that the solution meets the requirements defined by the BA within the verify requirements task (QA analyst)

Answer 22

Tester

Question 23

Responsible for the definition and enforcement of standards ( govt, regulatory bodies and auditors)

Answer 23

Regulator

Question 24

Responsible for initiating the effort to define a business need and develop a solution (mgrs, execs, pm, process owners)

Answer 24

Sponsor

Question 25

Identifying business problems and assessing proposed solutions so that a full understanding of all needs can be provided to stakeholders

Answer 25

analytical thinking and problem solving

Question 26

developing working relationships with stakeholders, incorporating qualities such as trust and ethical behavior

Answer 26

behavioral characteristics

Question 27

understanding general business principles, and how analysis and available solutions will interact within the business environment

Answer 27

business knowledge

Question 28

enhancing the communication methods and practices between analysts and stakeholders so that there is a clear understanding of ht needs and objectives between parties

Answer 28

communication skills

Question 29

facilitating interaction between stakeholders and divisions, and fostering management involvement so that all goals and objectives are met for current and future projects

Answer 29

interaction skills

Question 30

the tools used during the development and distribution of requirements to stakeholders

Answer 30

software applications

Question 31

minimal requirements met for a solution to be considered implementable

Answer 31

acceptance criteria

Question 32

requirements used to evaluate multiple solutions

Answer 32

evaluation criteria

Question 33

requirements that must be met for a solution to be considered acceptable by key stakeholders

Answer 33

acceptance and evaluation criteria definition

Question 34

the recording of a current state so that a comparison against future states is possible

Answer 34

baselining

Question 35

a comparison of an organization's practices against its own or a competitor's superior performance in areas of strategy, ops and processes, and how much strengths can best be utilized to improve future enterprise ops.

Answer 35

benchmarking

Question 36

producing numerous and diverse options and/or solutions to a particular issue by a group

Answer 36

brainstorming

Question 37

rules that govern decisions which constrain or enable ops within an organization such as SOX, ITIL, CMMI

Answer 37

Business Rules analysis

Question 38

a document ensuring important items are included int eh final deliverables, such as test cases and test scripts

Answer 38

checklist

Question 39

a table or spreadsheet used to manage tracing, such as requirements traceability matrix

Answer 39

coverage matrix

Question 40

key terms used by an org as well as the definition of data elements, their meanings and values

Answer 40

data dictionary/ glossary

Question 41

graphical representation of how information is processed by a system

Answer 41

data flow diagrams

Question 42

description of any relevant concepts and their relationships to one another

Answer 42

data modeling

Question 43

examination of consequences/outcomes of different proposed solutions so that an optimal decisions can still be ascertained during times of difficulty or uncertainty.

Answer 43

decision analysis

Question 44

identification of requirements by studying pertinent documentation on existing and proposed solutions

Answer 44

document analysis

Question 45

approximating the cost and effort required to implement a solution

Answer 45

estimation

Question 46

a preliminary analysis of solution alternatives to gauge whether they can meet the business need

Answer 46

feasibility analysis

Question 47

utilization of a moderator in an interactive environment to elicit ideas about products and services from pre qualified members.

Answer 47

focus groups

Question 48

assess potential problems identified during the readiness assessment, and determine which problems are the most important to deal with so that a mitigation strategy can be developed

Answer 48

force field analysis

Question 49

the separation of issues into smaller components and subcomponents so that work can be assigned to different entities.

Answer 49

functional decomposition

Question 50

identification of interfaces between solutions and/or solution components and how they will interact

Answer 50

interface analysis

Question 51

eliciting and documenting information from an individual or group in a formal or informal setting

Answer 51

interviews

Question 52

compiling and documenting successes, difficulties or areas for improvement, along with resultant recommendations for future projects or project phases

Answer 52

lessons learned process

Question 53

measuring the performance of solutions and their components, and other pertinent areas of interest to stakeholders

Answer 53

metrics and key performance indicators

Question 54

analysis of requirements that fit into the following: must, should, could, won't

Answer 54

MoSCoW Analysis

Question 55

process of describing the required qualities of a system, such as compatibility, security and performance

Answer 55

non-functional requirements analysis

Question 56

process of structuring the whys, whats and hows of project requirements into a hierarchy of objects containing encapsulated data and procedures.

Answer 56

object-oriented design (OO)

Question 57

assessment of a process or environment performed via a passible/invisible approach or an active/visible approach

Answer 57

observation

Question 58

aligning an organization's existing roles, responsibilities and reporting structures with the organization's goals.

Answer 58

organization modeling

Question 59

document identifying the business need and key stakeholders, and entails the positive impact that achieving the objectives will have on stakeholders

Answer 59

problem/vision statement

Question 60

detailing the approach to tracking, managing and resolving defects, issues and risks so that they can be resolved in a timely fashion

Answer 60

problem tracking

Question 61

understanding the work and interaction between groups or processes within an organization which is performed (can be displayed via graphic representation)

Answer 61

process modeling

Question 62

process of identifying, describing and validating the user interface requirements and their integration with other requirements, such as data and business rules

Answer 62

prototyping

Question 63

formal requirements document, product roadmap, system requirements specs

Answer 63

requirements documentation

Question 64

use of a RFI, RFQ or RFP if an outside vendor is to provide a solution

Answer 64

requirements for vendor selection

Question 65

identifying the scope and definition, priority and criteria of requirements by utilizing a facilitator, group and scribe

Answer 65

requirements workshops

Question 66

isolation and management areas of risk that can impact a process, proposed solution, an objective or the organization itself, and evaluating responses

Answer 66

risk analysis

Question 67

determining of the underlying issues/source of a problem

Answer 67

root cause analysis

Question 68

describing of how a person, process or system interacts with a solution to accomplish an objective

Answer 68

scenarios and use cases

Question 69

one specific way to accomplish a goal

Answer 69

scenario

Question 70

all outcomes of an attempt to accomplish a goal that the solution will support

Answer 70

use-cases

Question 71

graphical representation to describe the scope of analysis/solution

Answer 71

scope modeling

Question 72

graphical representation to show how info is passed between objects during the execution of a task

Answer 72

sequence diagrams

Question 73

formalizing of an agreement by stakeholders that the requirements docs are accurate and complete

Answer 73

signoff

Question 74

graphical representation showing the behavior of how a concept transitions in response to a change in conditions

Answer 74

state diagrams

Question 75

a review and discussion used to verify and validate requirements

Answer 75

structured walkthrough

Question 76

survey to elicit info regarding business aspects, personnel and practices

Answer 76

survey/questionnaire

Question 77

identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the pertinent processes

Answer 77

SWOT analysis

Question 78

priorities requirements by allocation of a fixed resources

Answer 78

timeboxing/budgeting

Question 79

description of functionality that user requires from a solution to meet goals

Answer 79

user stories

Question 80

analyzing the differences between planned and actual performance, and identify ing any corrective and preventative actions

Answer 80

variance analysis

Question 81

evaluation of a vendor's ability to meet requirements, commitments or objectives in regard to a product or service

Answer 81

vendor assessment

Question 82

voting to allocate a fixed amount of resources to be distributed among requirements

Answer 82

voting

Question 83

The BA planning and Monitoring Knowledge Area identifies and describes the steps involved in what on the performance of business analysis effort to ensure expected outcomes are produced

Answer 83

planning, monitoring and reporting

Question 84

gathering information from stakeholders to determine and understand their needs

Answer 84

elicitation

Question 85

defines how requirements are managed and how these requirements are communicated to stakeholders of varying backgrounds and business groups

Answer 85

requirements management and communication

Question 86

identifying business need, problem or opportunity, determining the most effective solution and justifying the investment for the new business requirement. Often initiates new projects and continues as changes occur.

Answer 86

Enterprise Analysis

Question 87

examining the capability of stated requirements to provide a potential soution to meet stakeholder needs and develop models of the current state of an organization to identify opportunities for improvement

Answer 87

requirements analysis

Question 88

activities performed to assess and validate all components of the proposed solution to ensure successful implementation

Answer 88

solution assessment and validation