Business Analyst Interview Questions and Answers

1) What is the difference between a wire frame and page mockup?

Wireframe is a visual illustration of one Web page. A wireframe is a mockup of the page that only addresses the layout, not aesthetics. Think of it as the skeleton of your page.

Page mockup includes visual illustration as well as aesthetics of the web page.

2) How do you handle business users who have a vision but cannot express requirements?

I will interview customers and document as-is process.

Gather business requirements and establish customer priorities.

I will document to-be process and businesss requirements and then get the user signoff.

I will then begin work on functional designs to identify the gaps between requirements and technical design with inputs from developers. Then I will establish framework with business users and developers that is acceptable for the business.

3) How do you handle changes to requirements?

I will prioritize the changes to requirements (nice to have versus must have), scope of changes, impact analysis to the project. I will perform impact analysis to the project cost, timeline and resources. I will evaluate if the scope change is introducing new gaps to the technical or functional designs or development and testing?

4) How do you cope with constant change to your role/responsibilities or to project objectives/milestones?

I will prioritize, understand and perform impact analysis to have better alignment of my roles and responsibilities with the project deliverables. and talk to the project managers, client and stakeholders to make sure everyone is in sync

5) Can a use case end in different states (i.e. different post-conditions? If yes, explain.

Use Case logic and execution may lead to different post conditions. For example Rule 2 - a cash withdraw will lead to an update of the account and a transaction log leads to a post condition on successful withdrawal - but only if Rule1 which says there must be sufficient funds tests as true.

6) What is an overdraft line of credit?

Overdraft line of credit An overdraft line of credit protects your account by advancing funds to your checking account as needed to cover a required difference up to the limit of your line of credit. Overdraft protection by linking accounts You can also set up overdraft protection by linking your checking account to a savings or money market account. For a minimal transfer fee, the arrangement uses the balance in the linked account to cover a shortfall in your checking account up to the full balance of the linked account.

7) What is an amortized loan?

An amortized loan is a loan where payments are the same amount each month. Each payment pays some of the interest on the loan and some of the principal, or amount borrowed. An amortized loan can be total, meaning the payments will stay the same until the set period when the loan is paid off. Alternately partially amortized loans mean that at the end of the set payment period, a large additional payment, called a balloon payment is then due.

Generally an auto loan is likely to be an amortized loan. Especially during the early months of the loan, most of the payment will likely go toward interest. Very little of the early payments will actually pay off the principal, due to the fact that the amortized loan charges all interest upfront. So with any amortized loan, gradually payment to principal increases and interest payment drops, even though the payment amount is the same.

The disadvantage of an amortized loan in its first few years is that the percentage of property one actually owns can be very small. In an amortized loan for a vehicle, there is usually a point where the resale value of the car is much lower than the actual amount one would owe on the car if paid off immediately.

8) What Does Term Loan Mean?

A loan from a bank for a specific amount that has a specified repayment schedule and a floating interest rate. Term loans almost always mature between one and 10 years.

For example many banks have term-loan programs that can offer small businesses the cash they need to operate from month to month. Often a small business will use the cash from a term loan to purchase fixed assets such as equipment used in its production process.

9) Why do we keep use cases free of any technological/technical jargon?

The business users who have no technical knowledge can understand the desired end state and make sure there is no surprises.

9) How would you describe your core values?

My core values are Hardworking, analytical, problem solving, result oriented and business acumen.

10) Have you ever been overwhelmed by the scope of a job? How did you handle it?

After performing analysis and due diligence on my project work, I made sure the results are clearly communicated to the managers, stakeholders, business owners to extend the project timelines by 6 more months to accomodate the new scope changes for my Project upgrade.

11) Try to remember a Use Case you’ve created for one of your projects. Explain the process in detail steps.

Use case has the following information documented.

Use case name, owner, summary, details, stakeholders, preconditions, triggers, post conditions, basic events, alternative paths, post conditions, business rules.

A use case should:

Describe what the system shall do for the actor to achieve a particular goal.

Include no implementation-specific language.

Be at the appropriate level of detail.

Not include detail regarding user interfaces and screens. This is done in user-interface design.

12) Explain what is the purpose of business use case scenarios?

Use cases describe the system from the user's point of view. A business use case is described in technology-free terminology which treats the business process as a black box and describes the business process that is used by its business actors (people or systems external to the business) to achieve their goals (e.g., manual payment processing, expense report approval, manage corporate real estate).

The business use case will describe a process that provides value to the business actor, and it describes what the process does. Business Process Mapping is another method for this level of business description.

13) What is the purpose of system use case?

A system use case is normally described at the system functionality level (for example, create voucher) and specifies the function or the service that the system provides for the user. A system use case will describe what the actor achieves interacting with the system.

14) What are some Limitations of use case?

Use cases have the following limitations:

• Use case flows are not well suited to easily capturing non-interaction based requirements of a system (such as algorithm or mathematical requirements) or non-functional requirements (such as platform, performance, timing, or safety-critical aspects). These are better specified declaratively elsewhere.
• Use case templates do not automatically ensure clarity. Clarity depends on the skill of the writer(s).
• There is a learning curve involved in interpreting use cases correctly, for both end users and developers. As there are no fully standard definitions of use cases, each group must gradually evolve its own interpretation.

15) What would you do if the client says that you and the other analysts cannot directly talk to the users?

If it is show stopper, i would convince the client to rethink their decision. if not, i would request go to person (super user) to whom we can route the questions. or have the client schedule meeting to talk to the users. or email questions to the client manager.

16) Give me a scenario where you didn’t completely agree with your Lead/PM. How did you resolve the conflict?

The scope of the project was under estimated. Communication is key to resolve differences with the management. I asked their viewpoint and listened carefully. Then I made my manager understand my viewpoint and made sure they understood we are not that far apart with our individual viewpoints.

17) Let us say you’re in a JAD session and someone is constantly trying to divert the topic, what would you do?

I will have a honest one on one to convey that topics not relevant for the meeting have to be taken outside the JAD session.

18) How do you know when you have done a good job

When my Project manager appreciates my hard work and due diligence.

19) Business process reengineering – Give me a specific example of this, what was the issue with the as-is process and how did the to-be process fix it and what was your contribution in that effort?

Existing process is causing increased costs and inefficiency. With the new process, the costs came down by x (20%).

20) You are on an island where there is no sun and people cannot survive without sunlight. The president of the island wants to invest lots of money on people’s survival. The island does not have big technologies or firms and you are assigned to come up with a solution. What do you do?

Plants go through a process called photosynthesis. Plants can grow under lights without ever seeing the sun. Grow plants under lights. Fluorescent, incandescent lights and mercury vapor lights.

Because incandescent bulbs give out more heat than light, dont place the light close enough to the plant to give it the light it needs without burning the plant with heat. However, at a distance, they can supplement light and supplement heat for plants which thrive in warm temperatures.

Use mercury vapor lights as a primary light source, if you plan to grow a lot of plants under artificial light. Mercury vapor lights are more powerful than incandescent and give out less heat, therefore making them good primary light sources for indoor plants.

Grow indoor plants under fluorescent light to supplement or replace artificial light. Fluorescent bulbs are the coolest burning and most energy efficient source. They also provide enough light to be a primary light source.

21) How do you handle a situation where you just got hired as a BA and there is no documentations what so ever? What do you do?

I will start documenting with highest priority documents being given top priority.

22) How do you deal with a difficult user (stakeholder)?

Effective stakeholder management is winning influencing and negotiation skills. Seek first to understand. Probably the most important thing you can do is to earn the right to be heard by them by listening to them first. Listen to their heart.

Reflect back that you understand them. Re-playing, as accurately as you can their position, showing that you can empathise with their pain or sense of threat as well as their rational argument. Then be understood. "Thank you for helping me understand your position. Let me make mine clear and I think we might find we are not so far apart."

Seek 'Win-win' or 'No deal'. Find our their 'WIIFM' ('What's in it for me?'). What benefits could there be in your programme for that stakeholder. What are the 'wins' for them. This is a deeper, and more personal level of stakeholder analysis that is particularly warranted for the difficult individual.

You need to be clear about what your fall-back position will be if you can't get agreement - your BATNA ('Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement'). In a programme environment this could mean some radical re-scoping of the programme to exclude the need for co-operation from his stakeholder or even in the most extreme cases recommending that the programme is stopped altogether.

Make the 'Ask'. Often influencing fails because we don't summon up the courage to make the request (the 'Ask') of the other party when we have the opportunity. Take the risk. Not enough is discussed in business literature about the need for sheer courage.

Let the challenge of meeting with this difficult stakeholder and wrestling with them become part of your mutual programme 'story' that can be shared with them and other at the right moments. If you can't get agreement, be prepared to take the BATNA. This also can be courageous, because it is honest and less desirable than the negotiated agreement.

23) Tell me about the biggest failure in your life and how did you surmount that?

I missed my project deadlines due to some critical changes to the scope requirements. I had to work 80 hours a week so I am not in the critical path for the delivery of my project.

24) Tell me about a time where the initiative/project failed and why?

Upgrade project failed because of environment compatibility issues with the hardware. we had to rollback the software upgrade and test out alternate options such as citrix and downgrading windows vista to xp.

25) Estimate the length of the United States north to south and east to west?

Same as length of the US from south to north and west to east

26) If you go out with colleagues for lunch and everyone drinks (alcoholic beverages) besides one person because of religious reasons? What do you? Do you still order the drinks? (THINK CAREFULLY ?)

I will not drink during lunch.

27) How many trees do you need to furnish the entire Marriott hotel (Marriott hotels have standard architecture: state your assumptions carefully)

Zero trees. I will use furnitue to furnish the hotel.

28) How do you handle a situation where you just got hired as a BA and there is no documentations what so ever? What do you do?

I will prioritize. And start documenting for the critical business needs.

29) Tell me how many snow shovels are sold every year in Chicago?

As many people as who need snow shovel to shove snow for that year.

It also depends on whether it snowed that year in chicago. People who already own shovels dont buy them. Hundreds of thousands of snow shovels are sold every year in the United States. During seasons with high levels of snow fall, some shovel suppliers have sold as many as 40,000 shovels in one week.

30) What would change about yourself as a BA?

I will keep my cool.

OR

Our little imperfections complete us. They are part of a whole. I wouldn't change mine either.

31) How do you deal with resistant people in a company (not willing to answer your questions when you are gathering requirements)?

One of the most baffling and recalcitrant of the problems which business executives face is employee resistance to change. Such resistance may take a number of forms—persistent reduction in output, increase in the number of “quits” and requests for transfer, chronic quarrels, sullen hostility, wildcat or slowdown strikes, and, of course, the expression of a lot of pseudological reasons why the change will not work. All too often when executives encounter resistance to change, they “explain” it by quoting the cliche that “people resist change” and never look further. Yet changes must continually occur in industry.

• A solution which has become increasingly popular for dealing with resistance to change is to get the people involved to “participate” in making the change.
• The key to the problem is to understand the true nature of resistance. Actually, what employees resist is usually not technical change but social change—the change in their human relationships that generally accompanies technical change.
• Resistance is usually created because of certain blind spots and attitudes which staff specialists have as a result of their preoccupation with the technical aspects of new ideas.
• Management can take concrete steps to deal constructively with these staff attitudes. The steps include emphasizing new standards of performance for staff specialists and encouraging them to think in different ways

32) If you see weaknesses in a testing strategy where everyone is very confident about it and have been applying it for quite some time, what do you do?

Start with understanding their perspective and then communicating mine.

33) You have 2 empty jars, one has a volume of 3 liters and one has a volume of 5 liters (the jars are not measuring jars). You have an empty jar and a water tap running all the time. You need to fill you empty jar (it doesn’t have measures) with exactly 4 liters of water. How do you do it?

I will pour into 3 litre jar bottle. Fill it up.

Transfer to 5 litre bottle.

3 litre jar is empty now. I will Fill up 3 litre bottle again.

Transfer 2 litre to 5 litre bottle.

1 litre remains now in 3 litre jar bottle.

Now I will Empty 5 jar bottle.

Fill up 5 jar bottle with 1 litre from 3 litre jar bottle.

Fill up 3 l jar bottle.

Transfer water to 5 litre bottle.

Now there is 4 litres filled in 5 litre jar.

34) You have 8 balls, 4 Heavy and 4 Light, they all have the same look and feel and you have a scale. I want you to separate all the heavy balls and all the lights ball each on one side of the scale. How many iterations you go through to find out this segregation? (PLEASE DON’T SAY I CAN FEEL THEM IN MY HANDS

How about you align all 8 balls and drop them at the same time. The one that bounces back up the highest is the heaviest. Use the scale to confirm.

35) 8 balls are there of which one is heavy. The remaining 7 are same weight. How do you identify the heavier one?

1) separate 2 balls from 8

2) weigh the remaining 6 balls; 3 on each side

3) if both sides (3-3) are same, weigh the separated balls (1-1) and the one that goes down is heavier

4) if both sides (3-3) are not same, take the heavier ones (3 in all)

5) separate 1 ball from it

6) weigh remaining 2 balls; 1 on each side

7) if both are same weight; the one separated is the heavier one; else, the one that goes down is heavier

36) How many planes are flying in the sky at this moment in USA?

As many as required for transportation.

37) How do you like communicating most? Why?

Depending on the Project needs via phone, email, meeting or personal one on one.

38) If you are introduced to a new domain, how do you become familiar with it and start working on it?

• I will review the documents available.
• Talk to expert on the new domain. Schedule a meeting with expert to clarify my questions.
• Review training materials. I will Perform hands on work with a live project on development and learn.

39) How do you ensure that you have focused on all the necessary details of a task?

40) What do you think is the most important responsibility of a business analyst?

Requirements gathering, functional design and business process , change management are very critical tasks for Business analyst.

41) How have you dealt with conflicting project deliverables (two projects with deliverables due at the same time)

I talk to my Project managers to identify priorities, critical tasks and due dates for conflicting project deliverables. I will have regular weekly meetings and daily status updates via email or phone to discuss the progress being made on the conflicting project deliverables.

42) How have you handled situations in which you were not given sufficient time to complete a deliverable (e.g. estimate is 6 weeks, you are given 3)

I work weekends and after hours to complete my deliverables.

43) What is Requirements traceability matrix and what is its purpose?

Requirements traceability matrix - List the core functionality and send to the developers and QA. They review to make sure there is no gaps in the requirements versus design and QA testing. (Design, data model, unit test, SQA test case, UAT test lag)

44) What are the tasks of business analyst in a Software development life cycle?

Interview customers

Definition/Planning for business needs,

Document business requirements,

Work on functional design,

Document the requirements traceability matrix,

Prepare test data with inputs from end users

Document use case scenarios

Help testing team with test plan, testing,

Help end users with user acceptance testing UAT,

Support users with cutover tasks, implementation rollout, Go live and post production support tasks.

45) How do you create defects in HP Quality center identified by you?

I will enter the details, design steps, test script, attachments, req coverage, linked defects

I will enter the Defect details -> severity, priority, detected date, owner, status, test phase, assigned to, description

46) What is a Fact table and what it contains?

Fact tables contain Daily transactions, balances (snapshots)

47) What are Master tables and what it contains?

Dimension tables contain client, account, vendor information.

48) What is Surrogate key?

Surrogate key is a unique identifier of the master record. Helps to pull reports by tying with the surrogate key.

For example, if address changes for the customer sk, customer, address, expiry date. Now reports can pull the data based on SK key and expiry date so old reports can pull with old sk and new reports can pull with new sk.

sk, customer, address, expiry date

0001 1001 33 patio dr null

0002 1001 342 gontor dr null

0001 1001 33 patio dr 4/3/2010

49) What is an Functional Interface design and what sections it contains?

Interface design contains the following sections –

Purpose, scope, source system overview, target system overview, interface overview, as is, data flow, requirements, data mapping, frequency, triggers, transform rules, error conditions and handling, risks and assumptions.

50) What is Interface testing document and what it contains?

Interface testing document contains source system, target system, requirements, what are the transformation rules, business logic, data integration testing.

51) Explain to me the tasks of Business analyst for an interface from source to target system (For example Main frame to DW)

Daily transactions interface.

XML, scheduler picks the file through ETL.

Identify fields required for the target system, business owners.

Main frame to DW.

Document the Business requirements, business rules from end users.

Data matrix for the data mapping contains (source table, column, target table, column, staging, transform rules, defaults for fields in target not in source systems)

Document use case scenarios

Document Integration test plan

52) Explain what is the process for documenting Business Requirements?

This process usually involves becoming an expert in the workflows of the end users thru interviews observations and analysis of the systems and /or tools used. The BA will document the business requirements but must always be sure they they have the end users concurrence that they have correctly defined the "WHAT". The WHAT being what the workflow or problem.

53) Explain what is the process for documenting Functional Requirements?

Functional Requirement is where the BA working with the end users and the developers begins to actually design the system that will satisfy the Business Requirement this is the "HOW". This Function Requirement will layout the various screens and features that will allow the end users to satisfy the Business Requirements i.e. HOW the system will satisfy the WHAT.

54) Explain what is the process for documenting Technical Requirements?

Technical Requirement. Normally the BA will assist the development team with advise but will not write the Technical Requirements. The Technical Requirement will lay out the databases tables and processes that will be used to run the system.

55) Tell me about yourself.

My background to date has been centered around preparing myself to become the very best _____ I can become. Let me tell you specifically how I've prepared myself . . .

56) Why should I hire you?

Because I sincerely believe that I'm the best person for the job. I realize that there are many other college students who have the ability to do this job. I also have that ability. But I also bring an additional quality that makes me the very best person for the job--my attitude for excellence. Not just giving lip service to excellence, but putting every part of myself into achieving it. In _____ and _____ I have consistently reached for becoming the very best I can become by doing the following . . .

57) What is your long-range objective? Where do you want to be 10 or 15 years from now?

Although it's certainly difficult to predict things far into the future, I know what direction I want to develop toward. Within five years, I would like to become the very best _____ your company has. In fact, my personal career mission statement is to become a world-class _____ in the _____ industry. I will work toward becoming the expert that others rely upon. And in doing so, I feel I will be fully prepared to take on any greater responsibilities that might be presented in the long term.

58) How has your education prepared you for your career?

As you will note on my resume, I've taken not only the required core classes in the _____ field, I've also gone above and beyond. I've taken every class the college has to offer in the field and also completed an independent study project specifically in this area. But it's not just taking the classes to gain academic knowledge--I've taken each class, both inside and outside of my major, with this profession in mind. So when we're studying _____ in _____, I've viewed it from the perspective of _____. In addition, I've always tried to keep a practical view of how the information would apply to my job. Not just theory, but how it would actually apply. My capstone course project in my final semester involved developing a real-world model of _____, which is very similar to what might be used within your company. Let me tell you more about it . . .

59) Are you a team player?

Very much so. In fact, I've had opportunities in both athletics and academics to develop my skills as a team player. I was involved in _____ at the intramural level, including leading my team in assists during the past year--I always try to help others achieve their best. In academics, I've worked on several team projects, serving as both a member and team leader. I've seen the value of working together as a team to achieve a greater goal than any one of us could have achieved individually. As an example . . .

60) Have you ever had a conflict with a boss or professor? How was it resolved?

Yes, I have had conflicts in the past. Never major ones, but certainly there have been situations where there was a disagreement that needed to be resolved. I've found that when conflict occurs, it's because of a failure to see both sides of the situation. Therefore, I ask the other person to give me their perspective and at the same time ask that they allow me to fully explain my perspective. At that point, I would work with the person to find out if a compromise could be reached. If not, I would submit to their decision because they are my superior. In the end, you have to be willing to submit yourself to the directives of your superior, whether you're in full agreement or not. An example of this was when . . .

61) What is your greatest weakness?

I would say my greatest weakness has been my lack of proper planning in the past. I would overcommit myself with too many variant tasks, then not be able to fully accomplish each as I would like. However, since I've come to recognize that weakness, I've taken steps to correct it. For example, I now carry a planning calendar in my pocket so that I can plan all of my appointments and "to do" items. Here, let me show you how I have this week planned out . . .

62) If I were to ask your professors to describe you, what would they say?

I believe they would say I'm a very energetic person, that I put my mind to the task at hand and see to it that it's accomplished. They would say that if they ever had something that needed to be done, I was the person who they could always depend on to see that it was accomplished. They would say that I always took a keen interest in the subjects I was studying and always sought ways to apply the knowledge in real world settings. Am I just guessing that they would say these things? No, in fact, I'm quite certain they would say those things because I have with me several letters of recommendation from my professors, and those are their very words. Let me show you . . .

63) What qualities do you feel a successful manager should have?

The key quality should be leadership--the ability to be the visionary for the people who are working under them. The person who can set the course and direction for subordinates. A manager should also be a positive role model for others to follow. The highest calling of a true leader is inspiring others to reach the highest of their abilities. I'd like to tell you about a person who I consider to be a true leader . . .

64) If you had to live your life over again, what would you change?

That's a good question. I realize that it can be very easy to continually look back and wish that things had been different in the past. But I also realize that things in the past cannot be changed, that only things in the future can be changed. That's why I continually strive to improve myself each and every day and that's why I'm working hard to continually increase my knowledge in the _____ field. That's also the reason why I want to become the very best _____ your company has ever had. To make positive change. And all of that is still in the future. So in answer to your question, there isn't anything in my past that I would change. I look only to the future to make changes in my life.

65) What are your weaknesses?

As far as weaknesses, I feel that my problen solving skills could be stronger, and I am constantly working to improve them.

66) What are your strengths?

creative, team building, Hard working, high integrity,Result oriented, Task oriented , Problem Solving, Expert, analytical, motivate, mentor, visionary.

67) How is R U P used to analyze a process?

The Rational Unified Process describes how to effectively deploy commercially proven approaches to software development for software development teams. These are called best practices not so much because you can precisely quantify their value, but rather, because they are observed to be commonly used in industry by successful organizations.

The Rational Unified Process provides each team member with the guidelines, templates and tool mentors necessary for the entire team to take full advantage of among others the following best practices:

1. Develop software iteratively

2. Manage requirements

3. Use component-based architectures

Rational Unified Process: Best Practices for Software development Teams

4. Visually model software

5. Verify software quality

6. Control changes to software.

68) What is Sharepoint and How does BA work with sharepoint?

Sharepoint is a software that allows you to manage the data / documents / contents in an effective manner and at a single location. All documents are stored at a single location, sharepoint. It also helps in viewing complete snapshot of project and relating it with other collaborative projects.

69) How do you handle a requirement that is not feasible?

Approach towards handling requirements that are not feasible is to first categorise either as possible with some workaround subject to client agreeing on extending timelines to meet that requirement and the extra cost incurred or is superficial and is not at all possible.

For the second categorisation, advisable practice is to say very politily that this is not at all possible and would impact the proposed system in any way.

For the first categorisation, just work for workaround and give client about options either to pay for extra cost and delayed timelines or keep aside the requirement.

70) How will You determine a good Document? What is the most important item in a Document?

Concise (minimal, understandable). The requirement statement includes only one requirement stating what must be done and only what must be done, stated simply and clearly. It is easy to read and understand.

Implementation free. The requirement states what is required, not how the requirement should be met. A requirement statement should not reflect a design or implementation nor should it describe an operation. However, the treatment of interface requirements is generally an exception.

71) What are skills required for business analyst?

Most essential skill supposed to be are: Good communication skill and Good documentation skills.

Most importantly, saving your company from doing the extra effort in terms of cost overrun.

72) How would you use Requirements Modeling and when?

Each changes need mention in the modeling which is already developed. Thus covering the change, no matter what level of change it is. This will especially help in requirement tracibility matrix documentation.

73) How did you assign task and/or hold testers accountable for their work?

Most of the times the task assignments to the Testers is done by the Project Manager in co-ordination with the BA and also the QA Manager. There will a day-to-day co-ordination that is expected from the BA and the technical team to lead the testers and developers in terms of criticality of defects, due date and resolution expected from testing.

74) What type of push back have your received from the business users in relation to QA?

At many times the biggest issue with business users is their time availability. With a good Project Manager and Leadership team, there should be collaboration between them and your business users and their management to ensure the time is set aside to have regular meetings and status updates.

75) When does a BA use Test Director tool and for what purpose in a project?

BA's use Test Director for Requirement Traceability. In Test Director there is a tab for Requirements and all the functional requirements can be added in this section by business analyst.

76) What real challenges does a BA face in different phases of the project?

Challenges faced by a BA include -

• Conflicting requiremnts and changing requirements from the business users can be very challenging for a BA. Sometimes, end users have difficulty explaining the requirements clearly.
• Scope creep has to be limited so it does not impact project costs, timelines and resource availability.
• Gap analysis needs to be performed to determine any gaps between business requirements, interface design and testing.

77) Which stage of the project does a BA prepare Screen Mock ups? What does he do with them?

Wireframes are usually used during the Funcitonal Specification document it describes how the proposed screens should look like. Again this depends on what kind of methodology is used and template.

Screen mockups or wirescreens are only required when someone asks for them or when you feel you need them to further elaborate on the requirements.

You can schedule mockup review sessions with the business users as you develop your requirements and this way the users will change whatever needs to be changed before requirements are stable, etc.

78) What role does a Business Analyst play in the End User Support? Explain in steps the process in detail.

• Business Analyst provides support to the end user in performing user acceptance testing (UAT).
• Business Analyst identifies training requirements for end users.
• BA gives training to the end users after the product is moved to the production phase.

79) How do you make sure the requirements are tested and work fine?

Requirement traceability matrix can be used to make sure that each and every requirement is tested. The RTM consists of the each requirement traced to the design artifact and the testing artifact (i.e. the test script). Therefore by executing each test script/ test case, we would be in a position to conclude whether the corresponding requirement was fulfilled or not.

80) What should be the approach to resolve conflicts during JAD Sessions?

When there is a conflict during a JAD session, i would try to narrow down the scope of the conflict, usually it would be about a specific requirement or a part of the business process flow. I would request the participants to defer the conflict.

Towards, the end of the session, may be, we would have more clarity which would help resolve the conflict, else i would facilitate a seperate session for the open items and i would also seek the intervention of my project manager, architect and super user in solving the open issues.

81) How do you go about working in an area with which you have not worked before?

The main qualities that the business analyst should possess is "ADAPTABILITY" and "INTUTION TO KNOW" and "ANALYSIS".

82) Whom would you invite for JAD Session and why?

I will invite project sponsor/SMEs - to make decision and provide necessary resources for the project.

End user - to discuss requirements and business functions.

System analyst - to give non- technical explaination.

83) What are components of UML?

UML is a standard language for specifying, vizualising, constructing and document the artifacts of a software system. It consists of Nine diagrams - 4 types of diagrams that model the structural aspects and 5 that model the behavioral aspects of the system.

84) How to handle end user if he is very much opposed to change in the process?

Resistance from end users is because of social changes to the organization or they are not easily adaptable to new technology.

One of the best ways to handle end users when they are opposed to process change, is to understand the basis of their resistance and to explain them about the advantages of the process change.

Have the end become active participants and make them get included beginning with the requirements phase.

85) How Business Plan Evaluation is performed by Business Analyst? List out the traditional tools that being used.

Include functional non fuctional requirements and treacability matrix in the Business Plan Evaluation

1. Enterprise analysis.

1.1 Creating and maintaining business architecture.

1.2 Conducting feasibility studies.

1.3 Determining project scope.

1.4 Preparing the business case.

1.5 Conducting the initial risk assessment.

1.6 Preparing the decision package.

1.7 Selecting and prioritizing projects.

86) What are the differences between Agile and RUP?

The Rational Unified Process (R) is a Software Engineering Process. It provides disciplined approach to assign tasks and responsibilities within any Software Development Organization. Its goal is to ensure the production of high quality software that meets the needs of end-users, within predictable schedule and budget. It enhances team productivity and is a process product, developed and maintained by IBM Rational Software.

All efforts, including modeling, is organized into disciplines (formerly work flows) in Unified Process. RUP consists three disciplines like Business Modeling, Requirements, Analyis and Design. Agile Unified Process (AUP) is a subset of RUP and it combines all the 3 RUP disciplines into a single modeling discipline called Agile modeling.

87) Give a specific example of a performance requirement?

Performance Requirement: How the system is tend to perfom in the means of its efficiency, reliability. Ex: The system should be reliable and compatible with all environments(Firefox, Netscape, IE).

88) What types of requirements should not be documented in use cases?

Any non-functional requirements [example: usuability, design, performance] that cannot be directly realted to the usecases should not be documented in Usecases. These non-functional requirements are documented in the interface design document.

89) How does a Business Analyst conduct interviews with Business users?

BA conduct meetings by preparing a set of questions to ask the non-technical business users to extract user requirements out of them. Don't use any technical terms in the conversations. Also use visual aids such as use case diagrams and prototype.

90) Tell me about your experience with the SDLC?

My Software development life cycle experience includes -

• Feasibility, scope definition (business case).
• Planning (business requirements, functional requirements).
• Implementation (design, data mapping, execution of activities).
• Testing (use case scenarios, test cases, integration testing, user acceptance testing, smoke testing).
• User training and Post Production Golive support to end users.

91) What is the role of a Business analyst?

A Business Analyst (BA) analyzes the organization and design of businesses, government departments, and non-profit organisations; they also assess business models and their integration with technology.

There are at least four tiers of business analysis:

Planning Strategically - The analysis of the organisation business strategic needs

Operating/Business model analysis - the definition and analysis of the organizations policies and market business approaches

Process definition and design - the business process modelling (often developed through process modelling and design)

IT/Technical business analysis - the interpretation of business rules and requirements for technical systems (generally IT)

Within the systems development life cycle domain (SDLC), the business analyst typically performs a liaison function between the business side of an enterprise and the providers of services to the enterprise.

92) What sections are contained in the Report specifications?

Define the purpose of a report, its justification, attributes and columns, owners and runtime parameters.

93) How do you define traceability matrix?

Traceability matrix is a cross matrix for recording the requirements through each stage of the requirements gathering process.

High level concepts will be matched to scope items which will map to individual requirements which will map to corresponding functions. This matrix should also take into account any changes in scope during the life of the project.

At the end of a project, this matrix should show each function built into a system, its source and the reason that any stated requirements may not have been delivered.

94) What is Business Process Reengineering and its use in companies?

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a management practice that aims to improve the efficiency of the business process.

The key to BPR is for organizations to look at their business processes from a "clean slate" perspective and determine how they can best construct these processes to improve how they conduct business. Reengineering is a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, speed, and service.

BPR combines a strategy of promoting business innovation with a strategy of making major improvements to business processes so that a company can become a much stronger and more successful competitor in the marketplace.

95) What are some of the drawbacks of business process reengineering?

Drawbacks of business process reengineering

• Lack of management support for the initiative and thus poor acceptance in the organization.
• Exaggerated expectations regarding the potential benefits from a BPR initiative and consequently failure to achieve the expected results.
• Underestimation of the resistance to change within the organization.
• Implementation of generic so-called best-practice processes that do not fit specific company needs.
• Overtrust in technology solutions.
• Performing BPR as a one-off project with limited strategy alignment and long-term perspective.
• Poor project management.

96) What is integration testing?

In integration testing the separate modules will be tested together to expose faults in the interfaces and in the interaction between integrated components. Testing is usually black box as the code is not directly checked for errors.

97) What is user acceptance testing?

User Acceptance testing is the phase of testing used to determine whether a system satisfies the requirements specified in the requirements analysis phase. The acceptance test design is derived from the requirements document.

- To determine whether a system satisfies its acceptance criteria or not.

- To enable the customer to determine whether to accept the system or not.

- To test the software in the "real world" by the intended audience.

98) How do you define the acceptance criteria:

- Functionality requirements.

- Performance requirements.

- Interface quality requirements.

- Overall software quality requirements.

99) How do you develop and execute the UAT plan with end users signoffs :

- Project description.

- User responsibilities.

- Acceptance criteria and description.

- Execute the acceptance test plan.

100) What is test strategy?

Decide how we are going to approach the testing in terms of people, tools, procedures and support. Test Strategy is the plan for how you are going to approach testing. A test strategy is a planning document that provides the overall direction for the software testing needs of a project. Developing a test strategy is about setting direction and resolving high-level testing questions.

Type of testing (manual versus automated), scheduled date, participants, location, environment required, identify data to be used for testing, backup procedures, data restore, problem identification - procedure to be used when a tester finds a suspected defect, defect logging, defect resolution, retesting, sign off testing activities, identify how the total testing will be signed off. This includes all activities in the "Test Plan" and any rectification of defects, test management software, testing software, performance testing software.

101) What is Test Approach?

The test approach describes the types of tests performed and the sequence of tests as executed in the test lab. Test approach is included in the test plan.

Test methodology document will contain the phases of testing and the test levels that the testing cycle will go through.

102) What is test plan?

Test Plan is a detailed procedure to organize and execute the workflow of a software testing project . A test plan documents the strategy that will be used to verify and ensure that a product or system meets its design specifications and other requirements. A test plan is usually prepared by or with significant input from Test Engineers. Test plan is the Master document which mentions the test approach ,and test methodology in it.

The first step in developing a test plan is to develop test scenarios. The first point of call for developing the scenarios is the business requirements. They should identify the functionality to be tested. There will however be other things to test. Typically these include things like screen layout, validity of information displayed, speed, correct data capture etc. specific to Unit testing, Performance Testing, Integration Testing.

103) What is Test Strategy versus Test approach/ test plan

1 Test Plan is The set of ideas that guide or represent the intended test process

Test Strategy is The way tests will be designed and executed to support an effective quality assessment

2 Test Plan are of different types:

Unit, Integration, System, UAT

Test strategy should

A. focuses most effort on areas of potential technical risk, while still putting some effort into low risk areas just in case the risk analysis is wrong.

B. address test platform configuration, how the product will be operated, how the product will be observed, and how observations will be used to evaluate the product

C. is diversified in terms of test techniques and perspectives. Methods of evaluating test coverage should take into account multiple dimensions of coverage, including structural, functional, data, platform, operations, and requirements.

D. Specify how test data will be designed and generated.

3 Test Strategy is at program level

versus test plan is at the project level

104) What is process flow for different phases of testing life cycle?

Requirements analysis: Testing should begin in the requirements phase of the software development life cycle. During the design phase, testers work with developers in determining what aspects of a design are testable and with what parameters those tests work.

Test planning: Test strategy, test plan, testbed creation. Since many activities will be carried out during testing, a plan is needed.

Test development: Test procedures, test scenarios, test cases, test datasets, test scripts to use in testing software.

Test execution: Testers execute the software based on the plans and test documents then report any errors found to the development team.

Test reporting: Once testing is completed, testers generate metrics and make final reports on their test effort and whether or not the software tested is ready for release.

Test result analysis: Or Defect Analysis, is done by the development team usually along with the client, in order to decide what defects should be treated, fixed, rejected (i.e. found software working properly) or deferred to be dealt with later.

Defect Retesting: Once a defect has been dealt with by the development team, it is retested by the testing team. AKA Resolution testing.

Regression testing: It is common to have a small test program built of a subset of tests, for each integration of new, modified, or fixed software, in order to ensure that the latest delivery has not ruined anything, and that the software product as a whole is still working correctly.

Test Closure: Once the test meets the exit criteria, the activities such as capturing the key outputs, lessons learned, results, logs, documents related to the project are archived and used as a reference for future projects.

105) What is test plan?

A test specification is called a test plan. The developers are well aware what test plans will be executed and this information is made available to management and the developers. The idea is to make them more cautious when developing their code or making additional changes.

106) What sections are included in test case?

A test case normally consists of a unique identifier, requirement references from a design specification, preconditions, events, a series of steps (also known as actions) to follow, input, output, expected result, and actual result. The optional fields are a test case ID, test step, or order of execution number, related requirement(s), depth, test category, author, and check boxes for whether the test is automatable and has been automated. Larger test cases may also contain prerequisite states or steps, and descriptions. A test case should also contain a place for the actual result. These steps can be stored in a word processor document, spreadsheet, database, or other common repository.

107) What are included in a test script?

The test script is the combination of a test case, test procedure, and test data. Initially the term was derived from the product of work created by automated regression test tools. Today, test scripts can be manual, automated, or a combination of both.

108) What is included in a test data?

In most cases, multiple sets of values or data are used to test the same functionality of a particular feature. All the test values and changeable environmental components are collected in separate files and stored as test data. It is also useful to provide this data to the client and with the product or a project.