BCS BA DIPLOMA QUESTIONS UPDATED ACTUAL
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. What does baselining requirements mean?
Answer:
A Baseline is a product that has been formally reviewed and agreed upon, it is a frozen version of a
requirement.
Question:
2. What is a business event?
Answer:
A business event is a 'real world' happening. It is a stimulus which causes business activities to be initiated.
Question:
3. What is a business rule?
Answer:
A business rule is a rule that defines or constrains some aspect of business
Question:
4. From where does the work for a Business Analyst originate?
Answer:
"A change. Mainly caused by the business aligning its activities with its Enterprise Architecture, Business
Environment, or Strategy.
Question:
5. Contrast the Business Analysis role with that of the Project Manager
Answer:
A PM is dedicated to managing the projects deadlines, risks, dependencies, managing resources and
defining ToR. PMs do no analytical work. Some of the skills a PM has is a product of BA work.
Question:
6. What do you understand by the term 'strategy'? What is a strategy?
Answer:
A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often "winning".
Strategy links the organisation to its external environment.
Question:
7. What could result from the Validation process?
Answer:
"Accept the requirements Accept the requirements with suggested revisions (provisional sign-off), trusting
that they will be made Plan another review after requirements have been amended
,Question:
8. A famous Chief Information Officer once said "There's no such thing as an 'IT Project', only IT-enabled
Business Change'" what's your view on that?
Answer:
"Agree. All projects must derive from a Business Case, in which the outsomes of the project directly
benefit the business.
Question:
9. Does the Business Case ever change once it is written? When might it change?
Answer:
"Alignment - Business Case is probably very sketchy 'thoughts' at this stage Definition - Each option will
create a new business case. Full business case created for the chosen option Design - should be reviewed
and updated at the end of this Stage Implementation - Final update once BAU is re-established Realisation
- Used to assess Benefits Realisation
Question:
10. Explain how the business case might evolve over the lifecycle of business change
Answer:
"Alignment - Business Case is probably very sketchy 'thoughts' at this stage Definition - Each option will
create a new business case. Full business case created for the chosen option Design - should be reviewed
and updated at the end of this Stage Implementation - Final update once BAU is re-established Realisation
- Used to assess Benefits Realisation
Question:
11. In the LCBC, what stages are there? What is the focus of each stage?
Answer:
"Alignment - Ensuring the alignment of the organisation with external and internal influences
- basis for strategy and strategic goals. This is where change opportunities are identified Definition - The
analysis of business situations and the definition of the required change Design - The design of the
inter-related elements comprising the business changes Implementation - Construction and testing of the
change product, and the deployment of the business change Realisation - Monitoring benefits and
reporting on lessons learnt
Question:
12. Name a few quality characteristics you would be looking for in a candidate Requirement, why are they
important etc.
Answer:
"Atomic - it must not contain more than one requirement Linked to business objectives Where possible the
requirements should be SMART Should specify features that stakeholders need They address a well
defined problem
Question:
13. Attributes you would expect to document about a Requirement.
Answer:
Author, Name, Description, Acceptance Criteria, Source, Owner, Priority, Rationale
, Question:
14. Tell me about [3/4/5] attributes you would expect to see documented about an individual requirement
Answer:
Author, Name, Description, Acceptance Criteria, Source, Owner, Priority, Rationale
Question:
15. What benefit does the business get from employing BAs?
Answer:
BA can take a hollistic view of the business, without taking away any resources from BAU. The BA can
use the relevent skills and techniques to identify and manage change.
Question:
16. How would you sell it as a role?
Answer:
BA can take a hollistic view of the business, without taking away any resources from BAU. The BA can
use the relevent skills and techniques to identify and manage change. Whilst also having the relevent
knowledge of the businesses strategy\mission to incorperate into the change.
Question:
17. Contrast the Business Analysis role with the Systems or Technical Analyst roles
Answer:
BA should consider options that address the original problem. Systems/Technical analysis is about
analysing and specifying requirements for IT systems, they should consider options for the IT solution.
Question:
18. How would you convince a sceptical Manager of the virtues of using Business Analysts?
Answer:
"BA's are Business-focused, whilst still being IT-literate
- They can Liaise with IT providers
- Champion for the sensible use of technology
Question:
19. What negative consequences might there be in the absence of properly conducted business analysis?
Answer:
Bad requirements - this can cause huge retrospective costs when we reach User Acceptance Testing or
worse still Implementation
Question:
20. What does maintaining the traceability of Requirements mean
Answer:
Being able to track backwards to the source of the requirement whether it be an objective or a source.
Question:
21. Explain the connection between the Business Change and the Benefits Realisation Process
Answer:
Beneifits Realisation Process is the final stage of the Business Change, after this we can review whether
the change met our predicted benefits and re-align the business accordingly
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Question:
1. What does baselining requirements mean?
Answer:
A Baseline is a product that has been formally reviewed and agreed upon, it is a frozen version of a
requirement.
Question:
2. What is a business event?
Answer:
A business event is a 'real world' happening. It is a stimulus which causes business activities to be initiated.
Question:
3. What is a business rule?
Answer:
A business rule is a rule that defines or constrains some aspect of business
Question:
4. From where does the work for a Business Analyst originate?
Answer:
"A change. Mainly caused by the business aligning its activities with its Enterprise Architecture, Business
Environment, or Strategy.
Question:
5. Contrast the Business Analysis role with that of the Project Manager
Answer:
A PM is dedicated to managing the projects deadlines, risks, dependencies, managing resources and
defining ToR. PMs do no analytical work. Some of the skills a PM has is a product of BA work.
Question:
6. What do you understand by the term 'strategy'? What is a strategy?
Answer:
A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often "winning".
Strategy links the organisation to its external environment.
Question:
7. What could result from the Validation process?
Answer:
"Accept the requirements Accept the requirements with suggested revisions (provisional sign-off), trusting
that they will be made Plan another review after requirements have been amended
,Question:
8. A famous Chief Information Officer once said "There's no such thing as an 'IT Project', only IT-enabled
Business Change'" what's your view on that?
Answer:
"Agree. All projects must derive from a Business Case, in which the outsomes of the project directly
benefit the business.
Question:
9. Does the Business Case ever change once it is written? When might it change?
Answer:
"Alignment - Business Case is probably very sketchy 'thoughts' at this stage Definition - Each option will
create a new business case. Full business case created for the chosen option Design - should be reviewed
and updated at the end of this Stage Implementation - Final update once BAU is re-established Realisation
- Used to assess Benefits Realisation
Question:
10. Explain how the business case might evolve over the lifecycle of business change
Answer:
"Alignment - Business Case is probably very sketchy 'thoughts' at this stage Definition - Each option will
create a new business case. Full business case created for the chosen option Design - should be reviewed
and updated at the end of this Stage Implementation - Final update once BAU is re-established Realisation
- Used to assess Benefits Realisation
Question:
11. In the LCBC, what stages are there? What is the focus of each stage?
Answer:
"Alignment - Ensuring the alignment of the organisation with external and internal influences
- basis for strategy and strategic goals. This is where change opportunities are identified Definition - The
analysis of business situations and the definition of the required change Design - The design of the
inter-related elements comprising the business changes Implementation - Construction and testing of the
change product, and the deployment of the business change Realisation - Monitoring benefits and
reporting on lessons learnt
Question:
12. Name a few quality characteristics you would be looking for in a candidate Requirement, why are they
important etc.
Answer:
"Atomic - it must not contain more than one requirement Linked to business objectives Where possible the
requirements should be SMART Should specify features that stakeholders need They address a well
defined problem
Question:
13. Attributes you would expect to document about a Requirement.
Answer:
Author, Name, Description, Acceptance Criteria, Source, Owner, Priority, Rationale
, Question:
14. Tell me about [3/4/5] attributes you would expect to see documented about an individual requirement
Answer:
Author, Name, Description, Acceptance Criteria, Source, Owner, Priority, Rationale
Question:
15. What benefit does the business get from employing BAs?
Answer:
BA can take a hollistic view of the business, without taking away any resources from BAU. The BA can
use the relevent skills and techniques to identify and manage change.
Question:
16. How would you sell it as a role?
Answer:
BA can take a hollistic view of the business, without taking away any resources from BAU. The BA can
use the relevent skills and techniques to identify and manage change. Whilst also having the relevent
knowledge of the businesses strategy\mission to incorperate into the change.
Question:
17. Contrast the Business Analysis role with the Systems or Technical Analyst roles
Answer:
BA should consider options that address the original problem. Systems/Technical analysis is about
analysing and specifying requirements for IT systems, they should consider options for the IT solution.
Question:
18. How would you convince a sceptical Manager of the virtues of using Business Analysts?
Answer:
"BA's are Business-focused, whilst still being IT-literate
- They can Liaise with IT providers
- Champion for the sensible use of technology
Question:
19. What negative consequences might there be in the absence of properly conducted business analysis?
Answer:
Bad requirements - this can cause huge retrospective costs when we reach User Acceptance Testing or
worse still Implementation
Question:
20. What does maintaining the traceability of Requirements mean
Answer:
Being able to track backwards to the source of the requirement whether it be an objective or a source.
Question:
21. Explain the connection between the Business Change and the Benefits Realisation Process
Answer:
Beneifits Realisation Process is the final stage of the Business Change, after this we can review whether
the change met our predicted benefits and re-align the business accordingly
