1.

What do you think are the key strengths of a business

analyst?
Since business analysis is an evolving and multifaceted profession, hiring managers
want to know that you are aware of the necessary skills for success. You probably have
your own list, but make sure to highlight both technical and nontechnical attributes you
can bring to the job.
The job description should provide clues as to what types of skills the employer is
looking for on both fronts especially technical requirements. Learning what you can
about the company culture prior to the interview can also provide insight on
interpersonal abilities that will likely be valued.
Read this post for more tips on how to prepare for business analyst interview questions.

2. Tell me about your typical project approach.

Here, the hiring manager wants to ensure you have an overall understanding of the
business analysis planning process. Rather than listing numerous projects and
processes, talk more about the general phases or types of deliverables you might
create, while letting the hiring manager know you can customize your approaches to
projects.

3. How have you handled difficult stakeholders?

Answer this one head on. The hiring manager is trying to assess your soft skills,
particularly your communication and collaboration abilities. Working with people from
different areas of the company and perspectives is an area where nontechnical skills
are key.
Find out how todays finance leaders are helping their teams to overcome crossdepartmental collaboration barriers in this post.

4. Which business intelligence tools or systems have you

worked with?
Cite the specific tools and how you've used them. If you have used a system the
company employs, mention your experience to the hiring manager. If you're not familiar
with the technology the employer uses, discuss how you plan to get up to speed quickly.
Did you know that business analytics skills are a requisite for many accounting and
finance jobs today?

5. What do you know about SDD?

Your lingo acumen is being tested when you get one of these types of questions.
Explain that the system design document (SDD) is a middle step separating business
users and developers.
Check out these five hiring and salary trends for senior business systems analysts.

6. Can you define the diagrams most used by business

analysts?
Again, the hiring manager wants reassurance you have the skills to get the job done
and know case, activity and sequence diagrams.
Demand is rising for consultants to support business systems initiatives. Learn
more about this trend.

7. How do you handle changes to requirements?

Your logical-thinking skills are being put to the test with this question. As you answer,
highlight how you thoughtfully respond to changing situations.
One potential response is something along the lines of, First, I prioritize the changes to
requirements, scope of changes and the impact analysis to the project. Next, I perform
an impact analysis to the project cost, timeline and resources. Finally, I evaluate
whether the scope change is introducing new gaps to the technical or functional designs
or development and testing.
See these additional tips for making a good impression in a job interview.

8. Why are flowcharts important?

The hiring manager is trying to learn how you will work with all team members. A
suitable answer here is that flowcharts play an important role in explaining concepts and
processes to both technical and nontechnical members.
1) What is a flowchart and why it is important?
Flowchart shows complete flow of system through symbols and diagrams. It is important,
because it makes the system easy to understand for developers and all concerned people.
2) Define Use Case Model?
Use case model shows sequence of events and stream of actions regarding any process
performed by an actor.
3) What does UML stand for?

It stands for Unified Modeling Language.

4) Do you think Activity Diagram is important and how?
As the name implies, activity diagram is all about system activities. Main purpose of activity
diagram is to show various activities taking place in an organization in different
departments.
5) Can you name the two types of diagrams heavily used in your field?
The two diagrams are Use Case Diagram and Collaboration Diagram
6) Do you know what is meant by an alternate flow in a use case?
It is the alternative solution or activity in a use case that should be followed in case of any
failure in the system.
7) What are exceptions?
These are the unexpected situations or results in an application.
8) What are extends?
Extends are actions that must take place in a use case.
9) Name the two documents related to a use case?
The two documents are FRD (Functional Requirement Document) and SDD (System
Design Document).
10) What is the difference between Business Analyst and Business
Analysis?
Business Analysis is the process performed by the Business Analyst.
11) As a business analyst, what tools, you think are more helpful?
There are many but I mostly use, Rational Tools, MS Visio, MS Word, MS Excel, Power
Point, MS Project.
12) In your previous experience, what kind of documents you have
created?
I have worked on, Functional Specification Documents, Technical Specification Documents,
Business Requirements Documents, Use Case Diagram etc.
13) What INVEST stands for?

INVEST means Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Sized Appropriately,

Testable. It can assist project managers and technical team to deliver quality
products/services.
14) Define SaaS?
SaaS means Software as a Service. It is related to cloud computing. It is different from other
software as you dont need this type of software to be installed on your machine. All you
need is an Internet connection and a Web Browser to use it.
15) What steps are required to develop a product from an idea?
You have to perform, Market Analysis, Competitor Analysis, SWOT Analysis, Personas,
Strategic Vision and Feature Set, Prioritize Features, Use Cases, SDLC, Storyboards, Test
Cases, Monitoring, Scalability.
16) What do you think is better, the Waterfall Model or Spiral Model?
It all depends on the type and scope of the project. Also a life cycle model is selected on the
basis of organizational culture and various other scenarios to develop the system.
17) How can you explain the user centered design methodology?
It all depends on the end users. In such scenario, we develop the system with a users point
of view. Who are the end users, what they require etc. Personas are basically social roles,
performed by any actor or character. It is derived from a Latin word meaning character. In
marketing terminology, it represents group of customers/end users.
18) How do you define Personas?
Personas are used instead of real users that assist developers and technical team to judge
the user behavior in different scenarios, more clearly. Personas are basically social roles,
performed by any actor or character. It is derived from a Latin word meaning character. In
marketing terminology, it represents group of customers/end users.
19) Define Application Usability?
Application usability is actually the quality of the system that makes the system useful for its
end users. Systems usability is good if it is capable of achieving users goals. Personas are
basically social roles, performed by any actor or character. It is derived from a Latin word
meaning character. In marketing terminology, it represents group of customers/end users.
20) Explain in your words, what is database transaction?

When we perform any activity in a database, such as addition, deletion, modification,

searching etc. is said to be a database transaction.
21) Define OLTP Systems?
OLPT stands for On-Line Transaction Processing; such systems are capable to perform
database transactions and are meant to provide good speed for database transactions.
These systems are mainly used for data entry and retrieving data from the database.
22) Do you have any idea about Pugh Matrix?
Pugh Matrix is used to decide about the most optimal and alternate solutions. This
technique is now a standard part of Six Sigma technique. It is also known as problem or
design matrix.
23) What FMEA stands for?
It means Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. It is a failure analysis, that is used mainly in
product development, system engineering and operations management. This analysis is
performed to figure out various failure modes and their severity in any system.
24) What is a 100-point method?
This method is used to assign priority to different steps in a process. Each group member is
supposed to assign points to different steps. In the end all the points for each step are
calculated. The step having the highest points has the highest priority.
25) Do you know what 8-omega is?

It is a business framework that is mainly being adopted by firms and organizations for the
betterment of their business. Its key factors are Strategy, People, Process, Technology.
26) Can you define mis-use case?
It is a term derived from use-case. Unlike use case, a mis-use case is something that shows
-what kind of malicious activities can be performed by an actor that may result in system
failure.
27) What is SQUARE stands for?
SQUARE stands for Security Quality Requirements Engineering. It is one of the software
engineering steps that mainly focus on documenting the security requirements of the
system.

28) What is Pareto Analysis?

It is a decision making technique, also known as 80/20 rule. It is used for quality control
and defect resolution. It explains few factors that can be responsible for big problems. It is
named as 80/20 rule, because as per this rule, 80 % effects in the system, arises from 20 %
causes.
29) Do you have any idea about Agile Manifesto?
Agile Manifesto is a guide for software developers about the development principles to
ensure iterative solutions.
30) What BPMN stands for?
It is Business Process Model and Notation. It is a graphical representation of business
processes.
31) Define BPMN Gateway?
BPMN Gateway is a processing modeling component that is used to control flow of
interaction, sequence of processes.
32) Name the five basic elements categories in BPMN?
They are Flow Objects, Data, Connecting Objects, Swimlanes and Artifacts.
33) Have you ever used Kano Analysis in your previous jobs and how do
you define it?
Yes, I have used Kano Analysis in one of my previous jobs. Kano Analysis is used to
analyze a system in terms of its requirements to identify its impact on customers
satisfaction.
34) How many key areas are there in a Kano Analysis?
They are three in number, namely as Unexpected Delighters, Performance Attributes and
Must Have Attributes.
35) Define Pair-Choice Technique?
The pair-Choice Technique is used to give priority to various items in a process. It is mainly
used when distinctive stakeholders are involved in the project. This technique asks from the
group to compare each item with the other and select the one having highest priority.
36) Do you have suggestions to make an effective use-case model?

Yes, I would suggest making two separate diagrams. One serves as a use-case and the
other serves as an actor diagram. So that we can highlight all the possible activities in a use
case & in actor diagram and then we can merge both the diagrams to get an effective usecase diagram.
37) How many types of actor can be there in a Use-Case?
There are primary and secondary actors. Primary actors start the process and secondary
actors assist them. Moreover, actors can be of four types such as Human, System,
Hardware and Timer.
38) Define BCG Matrix?
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix is developed to analyze several of business
processes and new product offerings from companies. It is a useful tool that can be used in
portfolio analysis, strategic management, product management, and brand marketing.
39) How can you differentiate between pool and swimlane?
A swimlane is related to group activities on an activity diagram while a pool is dedicated
activity to a single person.
40) Differentiate between Fish Model and V Model?
Fish model is comparatively very costly and time consuming, while, V model requires less
time and cost. Moreover, Fish model is used when there were no ambiguities in the
customers requirements. Otherwise, other model is preferred.
41) How do you manage frequently changing customers requirements
while developing any system?
As a business analyst, I would develop a document stating clearly that no change will be
accepted after a certain period of time and get it signed by the user.
42) Define Use Case points?
Use Case points are used to evaluate the cost of work done to develop the system.
43) What does PEST stand for?
It means Political, Economic, Social, and Technological. It is used to analyze business
environment, in which it has to be operated.
44) Name the four key phases of business development?
They are Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.

45) Define Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is about measuring performance of an organization to compete in the
industry. In this process a company may measure its policies, performance, rules and other
measures.
46) What do we mean by SWEBOK?
It means Software Engineering Body of Knowledge.
47) What do you know about GAP Analysis?
It is a process of comparing and determining the difference between two things or
processes.
48) Define Agile?
Agile is basically a technique that uses several light-weight methodologies such as Rapid
Application Development (RAD), Extreme Programming (XP) and SCRUM. All these
methodologies focus on the development of iterative solutions.
49) Define Scrum Method?
It is one of the agile methods, used to develop iterative information systems. In this method
a small team works on the assigned tasks for a time period of 30 days usually.
50) What does JAD stand for?
It means Joint Application Development.

1. How do you define the role of a BA in an organization?

A business analyst is a liaison between different stakeholders in an organization. He acts as
a bridge, a connector and helps the complete project team work as a tightly integrated unit.
Since stakeholders belong to different domains (e.g. finance, business, marketing) its very
important for a business analyst to be able to sort and balance the needs of these
stakeholders while fulfilling the business objectives at the same time.
2. How do you define a requirement?
A requirement is the capability possessed by a solution to solve a problem or achieve an
objective. Requirements are input to various stages of SDLC and must be properly
documented and validated by the business users/stakeholders.
You can learn more about requirements here.
3. What is your requirement elicitation strategy?

The elicitation strategy depends upon the type of the project.

One can take advantage of direct collaboration with client and have facilitated workshops,
interviews and observe the end users. In conjunction, we can use techniques that provide
us with more precise information like prototype and scenario building.
4. Could you describe the main qualities of a good requirement?
The golden rule to measure the quality of a good requirement is the SMART rule.
According to this rule a requirement should be:
Specific: The requirement should be specific so that it could be properly documented
Measurable: We should be able to measure the success criteria of the requirement by
different parameters
Attainable: The requirement should be possible to attain with the given resources
Relevant: The requirement should be in line with the projects business case
Timely: The requirement should be posed in time i.e. early in the project life cycle.
5. When do you know that you have gathered all the requirements?
Once the requirements are gathered, they are validated by the business users/client. It is
only after the approval of the business users, the requirements are considered as to be
completed. Additionally, it should be validated that:
They are elicited from all the stakeholders from all they key stakeholders
of the project.
o They align with the projects business case.
o When they could be done with the resources available i.e. attainable.
o When the stakeholders of the project are in consensus with the elicited
requirements.
All the requirements which pass the above four criteria, they are considered to be as formal
and final. These requirements re then documented and become a part of the project scope.
o

6. What is a typical day of your BA job like?

Interviewers often ask this question to ascertain your work experience, how you handle
multiple things and your perception about the job.
You should stress upon depicting that there is no typical day for a BA and how varied your
work is, through the day. Show your rich experience by explaining how you responds to the
emails, meeting with the subject matter experts, clarification of the business flow to the
technical team, discussion with the project manager over the project status, preparation and
review of functional documents.
To get an idea of how you should effectively portray your typical day, read our post on A
typical Day of a Business Analyst
7. What are the documents that you have prepared as a Business
Analyst?
Through the course of a project, a BA is constantly striving to help technology achieve the
business requirements and in this pursuit he prepares a number of documents. They are :

Project vision document

Requirement Management Plan
Use cases
User stories
Business Requirement Document
Requirement traceability matrix (RTM)
Functional requirement specification (FRS)/ Functional Specification
Document (FSD)
o System requirement specification (SRS)/ System Requirement Document
(SRD)
o Test case
All these documents are explained here.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

8. What are the best practices you follow while writing a use case?
The following are the best practices that are followed to write a clear and well documented
use case:
1.
2.
3.

Capture both functional and non-functional requirements in a use case.

Include use case diagrams along with the use case.
Include the UI details/notes in the use case.

9. What do you know about scope creep?

Scope creep, also known as requirement creep is a term that denotes uncontrolled
changes/deviation in the projects scope without an increase in the other resources
(schedule, budget) of the project.
Scope creep is a risk to the project and is usually caused by poor project management,
improper documentation of projects requirements and poor communication between the
projects stakeholders.
10. What are the skills that a business analyst must possess?
A business analyst must possess fundamental skills such as elicitation skills, problem
solving skills, communication and management skills. Alongside, he must have knowledge
of IT skills, Software development understanding and domain knowledge regarding the
domain he is working in.
There is a detailed post on the key skills of a BA here.
(1. Fundamental skills

Problem Solving : Each project in itself is a solution to a problem and

BAs frequently find themselves surrounded by different sorts of issues,
problems and changes all requiring swift and stable resolution. A BA must
first understand the problem from all the perspectives (i.e.
business, technical and end-user), analyze the available options
and constraints and then, recommend possible solutions. BAs work
towards a collaborative problem solving environment in which they discuss
the pros and cons of a recommendation with the technical team and come

up with a solution which is technically acceptable and viable.

How to develop problem solving skills Use techniques like
Brainstorming and Five Whys to get to the crux of the issue and then
come up with a solution tackling the cause and not thesymptoms.
If you are a fresher or are yet to have analysis experience, get the problem
statements/business case documents for the previous projects executed by
your organization (if such documents are not readily available, you can get
them by contacting the Project Management Office of your organization),
understand them and try to think of solutions to those business problems.
Later, compare your solution to the actual solution and try to find the gaps.
Communication : Nothing holds more importance that being able to
communicate clearly. A business analyst should be expressive and
articulate, should be effective listener and should make sure that
the receiver corrects understands what is being communicated. For
an IT Business Analyst, the modes of communication could be discussions,
meetings, documents, emails, virtual tele-conferences, chats and many
more and for each one of them, a BA must strive to be concise yet clear.
Again, communication not only means getting your points across but its
also about being able to understand what is being said, so, a BA must
practice a patient listening as well.
How to be a better communicator Try to look into the eyes while you
are talking directly to a person or a group and you will find that you are
being taken seriously and your audiences are keen and attentive to what
you speak.
Another time-tested tip is Practice. Well, not any generic
practice but conscious and deliberate practice aimed at improving yourself.
To do so, pick up a concept and describe it in your language. First, explain
it by writing a 1000 word article, a 200 word write-up and a 50 word crisp
summary. Next, for the verbal part, vocally explain it and record yourself
while doing so. Now, read and hear what you have written and recorded
and see whether you are actually able to understand yourself? Believe me,
practice it and you will be amazed with you findings (not to mention the
improvements you will automatically bring within yourself).
Management skills : Since a BA juggles between various activities
throughout the day, he should be able to effectively manage his
responsibilities and excel in balancing all the sides of the project. It
includes collecting requirements, getting sign-offs, documenting
requirements, testing, performing change control, attending meetings, adhoc tasks and managing the project as a whole. I find this skill a crucial one
because if the BA is unable to perform the balancing act, then
sooner or later he will be caught in a vicious circle of tasks and
deadlines!
How to be better at management Management is not only for PMs
and to be a BA who knows how to manage his project, you should first have
all the crucial information for your project. It includes the Key
stakeholders (must be kept satisfied), they key requirements (must be
documented), the key deliverables (must be developed) and the deadlines
(not to be missed). Now, the whole project becomes an act to balance

these four areas and all your tasks/activities should be prioritized based
how well they are serving these areas.
Research : Although not frequently mentioned but being able to research
is also an important skill for an analyst. Every project start with a
problem and recommending a solution requires analysis which in
turn demands for investigating, probing and researching. A
business analyst must dig deep to understand the core problem, look for
similar solutions elsewhere, explore approaches and come up with novel
resolution to deal with the problem. Remember, for every option that is
suggested to solve a problem, there were two more which were overlooked
because enough research was not done.
How to do better research Dont settle for a single solution or idea. Try
to explore the uncommon areas and come up with more viewpoints and
suggestions. Most of the time, the first idea or solution just skims the
surface and its the second one that actually digs deeper and is better
tailored as a solution.

2. Technical skills

Knowledge of IT skills : Although the BAs are not asked to sit and code
the software for the project but still they cant get away without the basic
knowledge of the various areas of the Information Technology space. Lets
take a look at those areas:

MS Office Suite Includes the MS Word, MS Visio, MS PowerPoint,

MS Outlook and MS other applications

Operating systems A basic knowledge of the Windows and iOS is

indispensable

Testing Skills Since a BA is himself expected to conduct some or

the other type of testing through the project, a knowledge of different
testing methods, test cases, test scripts, automated testing and other
aspects of testing is a must

Programming Languages Although not mandatory but an

understanding of at least one programming language like Java, C++,
Visual Basic, PHP will help an analyst thinktechnically

Database A knowledge on different types of databases, their

applications and database programs (MS Access, SQL server and
MySQL).
In IT, business analysts are seen as conduit between
business and technology and are expected that they can
speak to both technical and business audience with authority
and confidence. Now, to live up to this expectation, a BA must have
a respectable grasp on the technology side of his project as well to
understand the project better and garner respect from his peers.
Developing IT Skills Well, developing each of the above IT skills could be a separate
course in its own right but an analyst doesnt have to be an expert in them, just a
respectable level of knowledge and understanding is enough for a start. One can surf the

web to find numerous resources that will teach the basics of the technical areas touched
above.

Software development understanding : In Information Technology

space, the solution development for every project is carried out through a
development methodology and the knowledge of these methodologies is
one of the key skills for any business analyst to be successful. Some of the
most common methodologies are Waterfall model, Rapid application
development and the recent Agile Software Development. A practical
understanding of these methodologies will help an analyst figure
out the process that will be followed for development, what will
happen when in the development cycle and accordingly plan the
analysis, elicitation and other activities.
How to have Software development understanding If one is a
fresher and yet to start his analysis career then the best source will be to
get as much information as possible through the internet. But, if you are
already a part of a development project then look beyond your own duties
and try to look at the bigger picture. Assess why the project is being
developed in the first place, who are your clients, how the solutions is
being developed, which stage the project is in, what is the future course of
action for the project these details will deepen your understanding about
the project and you will realize how your actions are contributing to the
success of the project.
Domain knowledge : A Domain is a specific area of work like Insurance,
banking, infrastructure, healthcare, etc. and every project belongs to a
domain. A business analyst must have a knowledge of the domain
he is working in as it will help him better understand the business
case of the project, its background and see how its meant to solve
the domain-specific problems. Now, you might ask that there are scores
of domains and how an analyst is expected to know about them all? Well,
the answer is You dont have to. An analyst should build upon his domain
knowledge after he has been on-boarded for a project.
How to build upon the domain knowledge The best way to get the
domain knowledge is by interacting with the very people working in that
domain. Ask your client stakeholders for an introduction to the domain by
in-person sessions, documents, notes, reference materials or even an
online resource. By doing this you will get information that is relevant to
the project and will also earn the respect & admiration for your
commitment towards the project.

3. Business Analysis skills

Requirement Elicitation: Elicitation means to be able to draw out

and BAs should be able to distill, collect or extract information and
requirements from his/her stakeholders. These requirements are the
very base of any project and a BA must be well versed in being able to
facilitate a discussion, use different techniques like brainstorming,
interviewing, observation and workshops to elicit functional, technical and
non-functional requirements while asking the right questions to make sure

the information is relevant.

How to be better at elicitation First and foremost, a BA should know
when to use which technique. As a general rule, use:

Brainstorming when you need isolated and out-of-the-box ideas

Interviewing when you want to gain an in-depth insight against a

complex and intricate topic

Observation when you need to capture unconscious requirements

Workshops when you want to gain consensus and agreement

amongst stakeholders
Additionally, dont jump into finalizing the requirements and concluding
them without considering all the associated aspects and scenarios.

Documentation : This is one of the most important skills and a BA

documents requirements by creating use cases, user stories, Business
Requirement Document (BRD), class diagram, Entity-Relationship (ER)
diagram and sequence diagrams for the project he is working on. Writing
requirements is quite tricky and with so many stakeholders relying upon
the authenticity of these documents, a business analyst should do
everything to make sure these documents are consistent,
unambiguous, complete and up-to-date.
How to document better Documentation is all about clarity. While
documenting dont use excessively long sentences, complex words and
avoid rambling as it might increase the chances of your stakeholders
missing requirements or misunderstanding your explanations. Another tip I
find highly useful is avoiding the use of words like approx., etc, some,
sometimes, ordinarily, most, mostly, usually and might make your
requirements specific and precise.
Decision making : This is one of the skills that is not very obvious but
plays a huge part in the day-today workings of an analyst. A BA, apart
from the project manager, is expected to make many decision
himself like controlling changes, preventing scope creep, deciding
the viability of a solution and taking management decisions in the
interest of the projects. They are also a part of various decision making
boards and meetings like change control board, requirement prioritization
discussion, planning meetings, implementation discussions, finalization of
approaches and many others.
How to take better decisions Decision making is a complex skill which
can be mastered only by practicing. While you are presented with a change
or problem requiring a decision making, first employ critical thinking by
understanding why we are doing that change or what is the source of the
problem. Then, follow impact analysis aimed at analyzing all the modules
and functionalities that will/might get impacted by the change at this step
you might come up with different solutions or approaches. Lastly, evaluate
the pros and cons of each of the approach by doing a comparative
analysis. Following these steps will result in you taking a balanced and
well-thought decision.

Creativity : A BA must think out of the box and must come out with novel
solutions. Also, he must creatively portray options, suggestions and
opinions in shapes of wireframes, prototypes and even white board
drawings and all this calls for good creative outlook and
approach. Creativity is an important skill for an analyst as its the
step towards innovation and its required throughout the life-cycle
of a project.
How to be Creative Well, creativity should not be misunderstood for
being good at designing and drawing. Rather, its being unconventional
and thinking in directions which are often overlooked. To develop a creative
outlook try to doodle in your free time, learn a new musical
instrument/language or even do your daily chores in a different manner
(like brushing from your secondary hand) All these activities will trigger
and activate the un-exercised portions of your brain and thus increase the
flow of those creative juices.
Analytical skills : To serve a customers business better, a BA
must tackle every problem analytically i.e. first understanding a
problem, visualizing it, analyzing it, gathering more information
against it and then striving to solve it. This requires an investigative
approach, logical thinking, problem handling and interpretation skills.
How to analyze better Analytical skills can be acquired fairly quickly
because they depend a lot upon the approach you take towards solving a
problem. You can make use of models and use case diagrams to
analytically analyze issues and requirements or can make use of various
analytical techniques to do so, namely Feasibility Analysis, Interface
Analysis and SWOT Analysis.)

11. How do you avoid scope creep?

Scope creep is a hindrance to the projects success and could be avoided by:
Clearly document the scope of the project.
Following proper change management.
Informing the effects of change to the affected parties before making a
change.
o Documenting the new requirements in the project log.
o Refrain from adding additional features to the existing functionalities (also
called Gold Plating)
o
o
o

12. Tell us the difference between an alternate flow and an exception

flow of a use case?
Alternate flow are the alternative actions that can be performed apart for the basic flow and
might be considered as an optional flow whereas Exception flow is the path traversed in
case of the error or an exception being thrown. For e.g. on a logic page the Forgot
password is the alternate flow and system showing 404 error when correct username and
password are entered is exception flow.

1.
What is business analysis?
One should not restrict the BA role to only being a link between Non-It and IT or only
for development projects.A BA is someone who is able to bring in improvements,
changes (technology, process, peopleetc.) in an efficient manner. So a BA could be
part of the marketing team who helps themarketing team in providing
estimates/high level solutions for a said project which is under the process of
procurement. Or he could be someone involved during the
Requirementgathering/analysis once the project is initiated. Or he could be
someone who brings profit to thecompany by performing process improvement
activities ROIs at process level.Last but not the least BAs could be domain specific
as well.For more BA Questions, Sample Resumes and Open Jobs please
visit:http://futurethoughtsllc.com/InterviewQuestionsandAnswers.aspx
2.
What is the career path for a Business Analyst?
A Business Analyst in the IT field has many varied directions among which to choose
a career path. The most direct would lead to a Lead Business Analyst position and
then Project Manager whereby the incumbent manages projects through the entire
lifecycle from inception to post-implementation including the management of
business analysts system analysts qualityassurance analysts and most likely
development project managers or team leads. That path wouldthen lead to Program
Management perhaps PMO management or Product Manager and on toDirectorship.
In addition a good Business Analyst may find they are heading toward a Customer
Relationship Manager position whereby they become the primary IT interface to a
givenBusiness Unit (BU). This role most often leads to a position within the BU as a
Manager of Applications or a Process Management role. Process Management opens
many jobs including process re-engineering quality program development and large
scale or enterprise processmanagement programs such as ITIL or Six Sigma
initiatives. These roles will continue to proliferate as companies realize the benefits
of having a SME in process and quality. And stillmany Business Analysts find their
understanding of business process entirely portable into purely system related
positions in the business side that are only peripherally related to IT. Theseof course
may lead to quantitative roles manager roles or operational roles such as supply
chainlogistics et cetera.Of central importance to a successful Business Analyst is the
interest inspeaking to people. Face to face verbal communication is paramount to
support other tools suchas surveys and diagrams. Incumbents must be interested in
understanding not only the pieces thatcomprise a system but the people that
comprise it and the realities that embrace the system.Briefly the Business Analyst
must understand and not judge the what should be and the what is.

For more BA Questions, Sample Resumes and Open Jobs please

visit:http://futurethoughtsllc.com/InterviewQuestionsandAnswers.aspx

3.
How would you transform business requirements to functional requirements?
While preparing Business requirements documents you mention why you need to
built a system,i.e. problem statement. What you need to do while creating
functional requirements is you haveto specify is, solution of the problem. Specify
thoroughly business problem and explain solutionfor the same.Business
requirement documents does not necessarily contains solution part,
functionalrequirement may contain it how end user wants the system to perform.
Dont forget to add non-functional requirements same doc.Following is the instance
of Business Requirement, Functional Requirement and NonFunctionalRequirement.Business Requirements :- sales order is made against
customers purchase order. Sales order isgiven for approval to upper
authorityFunctional requirement:- Sales order shall be made with reference from
Purchase order and itshould be approved from upper authority. Non-Functional
Requirement:- Sales order should be in proper format (Specify format) and sixcopy
of sales order should be printed from printer in 1 minute.For more BA Questions,
Sample Resumes and Open Jobs please
visit:http://futurethoughtsllc.com/InterviewQuestionsandAnswers.aspx
4.
How do you resolve issues?
I would rather focus on issues and the facts related. Origin of issue, severity of the
issue,implications and possible solutions to solve the issue.
Try not to focus on the person who brough up the issue.

5.
What analysis and modeling techniques do you use to translate business
objectivesinto system requirements?
Create project-initiation diagrams including business use cases, activity diagrams,
workflow

diagrams, flowchartsDetermine project scope and derive context diagrams and

project use cases from the business

diagramsDetail the use cases by using activity diagrams or other techniques


Create high level analysis dataflow diagrams, domain class diagrams, and entityrelationship

diagrams from the use cases or other high level diagramsRecognize and
understand the various design models, including the other relevant types of

UML diagrams, detailed design entity-relationship diagrams, and decomposed

dataflowdiagramsDetermine when to use which modeling technique, following them
through a project life

cycle, and understand which diagrams are derived from othersUnderstand the
basic concepts of normalization and decomposition so can converse

intelligently on the topic and review diagrams that have been normalized or
decomposedFor more BA Questions, Sample Resumes and Open Jobs please
visit:http://futurethoughtsllc.com/InterviewQuestionsandAnswers.aspx
6.Mention some of the tools commonly used by business analyst?
There might be various tools that you as a business analyst would be using
depending upon thework environment.The primary tools are:MS-Office (Especially
Word)MS-Visio (for visualizing the concepts, creating diagrams)But a lot of bigger
organizations have been using Rational Software. Rational software licensingis
expensive so you might not find it being used everywhere.Rational Requisite Pro (for
Requirement Management)Rational ClearCase/ClearQuest (For change
management)I have also found that some places like using MS-SharePoint, telelogic
DOORS and other toolsfor document collaboration. I would say, keep a working
knowledge of MS SharePoint, at least.Sometimes you might end up being a BA com
QA. As such, it is nice to have a workingknowledge of creating Test cases, using
Load Runner, QTP etc.
7.Explain equivalence class?
Equivalence class a mathematical concept is a subset of given set induced by
anequivalencerelationon that given set. (If the given set is empty then the
equivalence relation is empty andthere are no equivalence classes; otherwise the
equivalence relation and its concomitantequivalence classes are all non-empty.)
Elements of an equivalence class are said to beequivalent under the equivalence
relation to all the other elements of the same equivalence class.For each
equivalence relation there is a collection of equivalence classes. Any two
differentequivalence classes are disjoint and the union over all of the equivalence
classes is the given set.Equivalence classes and their corresponding equivalence

relation are defined in set theory a vitalfoundation for mathematics and those fields
that use mathematics. More details can be found in astudy of equivalence
relation.For more BA Questions, Sample Resumes and Open Jobs please
visit:http://futurethoughtsllc.com/InterviewQuestionsandAnswers.aspx
8.What are the problems solved by business analysis?
As a BA the most critical part is in gathering requirements (we should understand
them very wellfrom a Business User /stake holder point of view!!!)Reason: There
might be a chance for the whole project to go in the wrong path due to
wrongunderstanding of the Business users/ Stake holders needs and the gathered
requirements createdfor the work following that step i.e. going from A to C instead
of going from A to B. Notes: (Business Users: are the individuals who work in
organizations in different departmentslike Logistics accounting finance Inventory) in
the company who wanted the software in Placefor them to work on to help the
Customers.Stake Holders: Someone who is related to the Project? 2 types of People
are involved:Direct Stake holders: business end users customers developers tech
team.Indirect stake holders: management etc.The Project Manager responsibility
(usually) identifies the stakeholders determine their needsand expectations and
more important must manage and take their help for the project success.

(You should Understand them well to provide them with right service for the right
success of the project)...SMEs: are the Subject Matter Experts who know about that
project and have in-depthknowledge about that software application used and that
particular business domain knowledgelike Finance (terms and permutations etc.)
Accounting (Business Planning Ledger maintainingForecasting) Mortgage (Local
banking rules Knowledge about compliancy of applications forms/applications that
needs the authorizations of the local Government bodies or countiesUnderwriting
conditions (How flexible the Loan lending organizations at the individuals
creditcheck or History)So The SMEs help the Project Manager or BA to help them
understand about the necessities or needs of the Business Users or Stake holders
like/interests- (How the Project help save time for the transactions or? how much
secure/security is needed the application wise or profitable over long run) and
SMEs explain How the Stakeholders or Business Users want the application to beor
appear to be for the Customers or Business Users).For more BA Questions, Sample
Resumes and Open Jobs please
visit:http://futurethoughtsllc.com/InterviewQuestionsandAnswers.aspx
9.
What is the difference between data
model
and an entity relationship
diagram

?
A data model is a model which shows how data is stored and used for e.g. a normal
database Ithas 3 main parts1)Structural part:- how data is structured2)Integrity
part:- Rules governingstructure3)Manipulation part:- operators used to
select,update,querry that data,egselect,update,delete commands in sqlTo furhter
add Data Modelling is when we add this theoryto Live instance.ENTERPRISE DATA
MODEL(ENTERPRISE RELATIONSHIPMODELING) :- This can be called as an
conceptual model or semantic model The sub parts of an ERM are1)Entity:- It is an
object,eg employees,computer2) Relationship:- It captures howtwo or more entities
are related to each other3)Attributes:- Every entity has its own sets of attributes
(e.g. PAN no in India for each employee or SSN in US)To clarify the point look at egA
employee is an entity belonging to entity sets(All employees) which has a
relationship withdepartment, and attributes is emp codeFor more BA Questions,
Sample Resumes and Open Jobs please
visit:http://futurethoughtsllc.com/InterviewQuestionsandAnswers.aspx
10.Who uses the output produced by business analyst?
The output will be used by the Both IT and Non-It People, as IT people use this
document as keyfor the building of the application and Non - It people use those
document where they can see prototype of their application.

1. What are the qualities you have that makes you suitable for the position of
BusinessAnalyst?
As a Business Analyst, one always have to have the top notch communication skills.
A perfectmix of technical knowledge and business market knowledge is highly
essential. I consider myself a very quick learner and with a good ability to
communicate with the development teams and thecustomers, I think I can certainly
make a good difference to the organization on the whole.Ability to deal with
conformance tests and identify the prominent parts of the use cases and track them
through time will make me more than efficient in the overall work that is involved
2. What do you think are you weaknesses? How do you plan to deal with them
effectively?
No person can boast of No weaknesses. But the thing that would make the
difference is theway you deal with it. Acquiring in-depth knowledge about the entire
project with latesttechnological updates to the knowledge is quite a tiresome part of
being a Business Analyst. Ithink every BA has to deal with it on a continuous basis.
But having the positive attitude andtaking such difficulties as challenges will help
me overcome them entirely
3. How do you see your future as a Business Analyst?
I have always liked the career of Business Analyst not just because of the
management perspective but also because of the responsibilities that would be held
in order to make the entire project successful one.. Growing with the organizations

success as a more prominent andeffective analyst has always been in my mind right
through. I would also like to take up the BAcertifications like the PRINCE 2 in the
near future. This would help me grow in a field that I likemost, in a more
professional way
4. What do you think is an important characteristic that a Business Analyst should
have totide over tough times of project?
The first and foremost character that a Business Analyst has to show is confidence.
Without thataspect, the interactions with customers and clients can never be
positive. Especially during therough times of project when there are development
related issues that are being handled, thecustomer has to be given the right
positive picture from the business/development perspective.This has to be done and
handled by the Business Analyst. Not just self-confidence but theconfidence that he
places on the other teammates come into prominence.
5. How can you identify yourself with this organization?
The personal principles and motives in the business domain of mine coincides with
the goals of this organization. There can be no better thing than to have like-minded
people working on projects. The organization tries to promote itself with projects in
the same domain that I have been interested to deal with right through my career.

Example Theory based Business Analyst Interview

Questions

What is the purpose of the Business Analyst within an organisation?

What do you believe are good attributes of a Business Analyst?

What is the difference between a functional requirement and a non-functional

requirement?

What are the attributes of a good business requirement?

What is the purpose of requirements traceability?

When do you use a RACI or RASCI model?

How do you ensure your business requirements are of a high quality

What is contained within a typical Requirements Management Plan?

Describe the phases of the SDLC. Which phases have you worked in?

Describe the difference between a Waterfall based methodology and an Agile methodology?

What is a user story in an Agile context and how is it used?

What is a use case and when would you use it as a Business Analyst?

What is the difference between a functional specification and a business requirements

document? How are they related?

Describe an effective way to manage change to requirements within a project.

Example Behavioral based Business Analyst Interview

Questions

Describe a time when you had to deal with a stakeholder that just didnt want to participate
in one of your requirements workshops and tried to sabotage it. What did you do?

Describe a situation when you were unable to deliver one of your requirements
documents on time. What did you do?

Tell us about a time when you needed to gain approval for one of your business
requirements documents but a stakeholder kept on delaying or postponing meeting with
you.

As a business analyst, describe your ideal project environment.

Describe a time when you introduced a new idea or process into a project or department and
how it improved the process or situation.

Describe a situation where you had to mentor a colleague on any tool or concept. How did
you approach this?

Describe a time when you had to facilitate a requirements gathering activity where your
stakeholders were not located in the same city. If you havent done this before, describe to
us how you will deal with this type of situation.

Describe a situation where you used business analysis techniques to gather business
requirements from stakeholders. Which techniques did you use and why did you choose
those techniques?

Describe a time when you were responsible to plan and facilitate a requirements
workshop. How did you go about it?

Describe a time when you had to win a difficult stakeholder over to accept the project change
that will affect his/her department. How did you do it

Describe a time when you were in a project where change happened constantly without any
change control to requirements. How did you deal with this situation and how did you
overcome the associated challenges?

Describe a time when you had to deal with stakeholders at all levels of the organisation.
How was the message different?

Question: What is the importance of a flow chart?

Answer: When answering this question you need to make it clear that you
understand what this tool is used for. A flow chart is a tool that provides a
graphical representation of a process. This chart will make a system easy to
understand for everyone that is involved with the project that is underway.
Question: What is a use case model?

Answer: A use case model is a tool that is used to describe the business
environment. The goal of the tool is to show the actions and events that take
place during a given process that is performed by an actor.
Question: What is UML modeling?

Answer: UML stands for Unified Modeling Language. It is the standard in

the industry for visualizing, documenting and constructing various
components of a system.
The interviewer will likely want to know that you understand how each of
these tools is used in the daily life of a business analyst professional. It is
crucial that you can describe the methods and techniques used for each tool
in a manner that shows you know what you are talking about. Check out the
following course to better understand financial modeling and be informed
when you answer questions at your interview.
Question: What is an activity diagram and why is it significant?

Answer: The purpose of an activity diagram is to provide an outline of work

flow in the business, including the action and activities that are completed.
For example, with a company there is likely to be more than one department,
with various access levels to the system. If there are departments including
HR, Medical and Accounting, they only have access to the screens that relate
to their work. An activity diagram will be used to highlight the differences in
the departments, which is extremely helpful for developers when they are
coding and designing.
Question: What is the role and responsibility of a business analyst?

Answer: If you are interviewing for the position of a business analyst, you
should be able to answer this question without much thought. Some of the

jobs of a business analyst will include comparing facts and figures, listening
to managers and shareholders to provide effective solutions for problems and
the negotiation of issues between departments. Check out the course
on business analysis to learn more about your role in this position.
Question: How well do you understand Risk and Issue?

Answer: As a business analyst this is something that you will face on a daily
basis. Fully understanding these terms is crucial for securing this job. Risk
refers to something that can be forecasted and handled by creating
mitigation plans. Risk that happened is called Issue. There will be issue
management or contingency management to solve issue. As a business
analyst you will not be solving the issue, but rather trying to make Damage
control and use the knowledge gained as a learning experience for projects in
the future.
Tell me about yourself or brief your CV
this is the most common question irrespective of any job opening.
You can start with your education background (if your score is good then mention percentage else not required
Your knowledge on Business Analysis
Your certifications (not mandatory)
Activities you carried / involved during your college days (like seminars, workshops)
Your knowledge on domains (if you know else not a problem!!)
Your academic projects (do not explain in-detail, you can explain in-detail when specific question is asked to
explain your project).
Some personal details (only at higher level like your family and hobbies. Note: keep it simple, do not tell
stories)
[When this question is asked, interviewer will be interested to know your education, mainly your
communication level, team player and knowledge level. This question seems simple but your answer will
impress interviewer for sure. Prepare good answer]

What is SDLC?
SDLC is Software Development Life Cycle or System Development Life Cycle. SDLC is a framework defined to
develop a software or application. SDLC is phase mannered approach and each phase will have set of activities
to perform.
There are different SDLC models, the most popular are Waterfall & Agile software development models.

Explain Waterfall SDLC model

Information given in http://anil-businessanalyst.weebly.com/

Explain Agile SDLC model

Information given in http://anil-businessanalyst.weebly.com/ (you need refer other websites for agile
development)

Tell me the differences in Waterfall & Agile

Waterfall is traditional method of delivering software of application. It empathizes on documentation and
process oriented.
Agile is quick delivered compared to waterfall. It has less documentation.
Waterfall has defined roles and everyone performs their own role. Agile is team based approach, everyone will
perform multiple roles.
In waterfall product is delivered at end but Agile is incremental model, functionality keeps adding.
In waterfall feedback about software come at last and hence corrections will have impact on cost & schedule.
Agile is sprint based and every sprint there is a feedback and hence corrections are fast.
In waterfall client is not involved in all the phases and activities but agile client (product owner) is involved in
day to day activities and confirmations, decisions are on the go.
In waterfall, testing is a separate phase. In agile testing is carried in the same sprint. Developers will also
perform testing.

How do you collect requirements?

From the Plan or Define phase, there will be High level business needs. Based on the business needs, Business
Analyst will do some research (if it is a product). If it is application Business Analyst will hold sessions with
client to understand requirements.
Requirements gathering is done: face to face or closed room discussions, telephone, emails.
Requirements gathered will be documented and formatted and shared with all the stakeholders. Requirement
review sessions will be held to improvise requirements. Once requirements are finalized, Business Analyst will
freeze the requirements and get sign-off from client

What are the characteristics or skills a business analyst should have?

Refer http://anil-businessanalyst.weebly.com/business-analyst-roles.html

What are the roles and responsibilities of business analyst?

Refer http://anil-businessanalyst.weebly.com/business-analyst-roles.html

Explain your academic projects?

You know the answer. You can be cross-questioned on the projects as well so be prepared.

Key differentiating factors that you have, that makes you eligible for the job?
This question sounds like again asking strengths but you need to answer smartly. You need to portray your
Business Analysis skills, team player skills, domain knowledge and strengths. The overall Idea is to know how
you stand out from other candidates.

Do know QA or testing cycle?

Refer http://anil-businessanalyst.weebly.com/qa.html

You can be told some scenario and asked to act as Business Analyst and collect
requirements (interviewer will act as client).
This will be scenario based question like, I am running xyz business and I want to build software, as a business
analyst what do you suggest?
You can be told some scenario or business case and asked to write possible requirements on a sheet of paper.
Understand the requirement clearly, ask questions? list down the possible requirements.

What is your understanding on Risk and Issue?

Risk is something which can be forecasted and can be handled by formulating mitigation plans.
Risk which happened is called Issue. There will be contingency management or issue management to solve
issue. Basically we will be not solving the issue but will try making Damage control and take it as learning for
other projects.
For example:
It may rain heavily next week and road transportation becomes tough This is a Risk
It rained heavily, water is stagnant on roads and vehicles are not moving This is Issue.
Whenever there is a risk, there needs a mitigation plan. When there was risk raised for next week, mitigation
plan was suppose to be (a) Before next week, clean the drainage blocks so that water can flow into drainage (b)
Have alternate roads identified to divert vehicle traffic.

What would you do if you haven't received all the required sign offs on phase
documentation submitted for approval?
Flag process risk, for resolution you will work with Project manager.

What are your strengths and weakness?

Explain your strengths like (if you are) punctual, flexible, smart working, smart thinking. You may be asked
with one more question to defend your strengths with an example. So be prepared, just do not tell punctual,
smart etc for answering sake.
Weakness very important thing you should keep in mind. NEVER EVER bluff by portraying your strength as
weakness. Like I am hard worker I cannot sit idle, I am very punctual and when others are not punctual I
get irritated these sorts of things will be told you in soft skill classes but it is very wrong. You should mind that,
interviewer would have passed all these stages and he/she will know all the gimmicks. Interviewer can easily
make out that you are bluffing. So be honest for this question. Like I was bad in time management and I am
working constantly to improve my time management from past 3 months and I am improved as of now and
shortly I will overcome this weakness.
You should tell your weakness and followed by your actions to overcome that weakness.

Business Analyst Interview Questions

What analysis and modeling techniques and methodologies have
you found to be the most effective, and why?
What are some of the most important points a business analyst
must take care of when preparing a business plan?
What diagrams and/or other materials do you use to capture and
describe customer needs and convey technical information?
How many business case engagements have you worked on?
What was your involvement?
Tell me about a time when you created long-range plans at a
previous employer.
How do you determine which Business Intelligence (BI) tools to
use? Which have you worked with?
If two companies are merging, explain what tasks you would
implement to make the merge successful, and how you would
implement those tasks.
Explain the steps you must take to create use cases when
working with specific document requirements.
Tell me about a time when you've had to work with difficult
stakeholders, and how you handled it.
Describe three of the different types of diagrams that business
analysts most often use.
Define and describe the difference between basic flow, exception
flow, and alternate flow in use cases.
Tell me about how you usually approach a project.
How have you handled stakeholders who were difficult ?
Can you define the diagrams that business analysts use?

 Why do you think flowcharts are important?

Where do you see the role of a business analyst fitting in to an
organization?
What is your requirement elicitation strategy?

Questions About Business Analyst Terms

Define application usability.
What is Pareto Analysis?
What steps are necessary to turn an idea into a product?
What does BPMN stands for? What is BPMN Gateway?
Explain CAP Analysis.
What INVEST stands for and what does it do?
What is meant by an alternate flow in a use case?
Tell me what you know about scope creep.
Describe the difference between business requirement document
(BRD) and functional requirement document (FRD).
Explain the difference between an analysis model and a design
model.

1. What do you see as the key skills of a business analyst?

Answer: There are several skills required to be a successful Business Analyst.

They are not just linited to your work. These skills even include your personal
qualities and approach towards your clients. Some of the key skills expected
from any Business Analyst are:

Customer Service skills

Strategic thinking approach

Good communication skills

Collaborating with other employees and colleagues

Analytical skills

Leadership skills

Customer oriented

Ability to drive and adapt to the changes.

2. What is a use case model?

Answer: A business analysis presentation of the steps involved in defining the

interactions between a user (actor) and a system (computer system) is termed as
use case model. It gives details on the interactions and sets the expectations of
how the user will work within the system. The use case model consist of 2 main
elements:

Use case diagram It is a graphical representation that details which actors

can operate which use cases

Use case description It is a detailed textual step by step presentation of

interactions and dialogue between the actor and the system.

3. What is an activity diagram and why is it significant?

Answer: An activity diagram is a simple and intuitive type of a flow chart which
enables analysts to present a robust and easy visual of the workflow of a
business use case. The objective of activity diagram is to show various activities
taking place in an organization in different departments. Different departments in
any organization like HR, Accounts, Sales, etc. have access to the screens that
relate to their fields but activity diagrams highlight the differences in the
departments which help the developers when they code and design. The
important elements in Activity diagram are initial nodes, control flows, activities,
decisions, guard conditions, a fork and join and end nodes.

4. Define SaaS?

Answer: SaaS stands for Software as a Service. It is related to cloud computing.

It is an online software for which you just need an internet connection and a web
browser. Unlike other softwares, you need not have to install it on your machine.
SaaS is a software delivery model in which the software, and usually the data,
are hosted in the cloud

5. What is a BCG Matrix?

Answer: To evaluate and analyze the business units and product offerings of
corporations, the Boston Consulting Group developed the BCG Matrix in 1986.
Companies use this simple 2 x 2 matrix as an analytical tool in portfolio analysis,
strategic management, product management, and brand marketing.

Question Marks: These are the business having low market share in a fast
growing market. As the market growth is strong, there is a potential for Question
Marks to grow. They require large amounts of capital to gain in market share.

Stars: These businesses enjoy large market share in fast growing market. Stars
boast a prominent market position for the time. They require investment of
resources to maintain or increase their market share if the market continues to
grow.

Dogs: These businesses have a low market share in a slow growing and mature
market. They are small projects with small amount of capital allocated to support
them. They barely make enough to sustain themselves and are the weakest of
situations.

Cash Cows: These businesses enjoy a relatively high market share with a low
market growth. It represents the already matured market and the business is well
established and positioned in the market. These businesses generate revenue
which is in excess of what is required for sustenance.

6. What is PEST analysis and what is its importance??

Answers: PEST basically stands for Political, Economic, Social and

Technological. PEST analysis is used to assess the above four external factors in
relation to your business situation. It is beneficial for your business as them help

in understanding how these 4 factors will affect your business in the long term. A
detailed understanding of PEST analysis can be obtained from our blog.

7. What do you know about GAP Analysis and what is its importance?

Answer: GAP analysis is the process of comparing the current state and the
proposed state of any business and its functionalities. It comes under the
Enterprise Analysis which is a knowledge area of a business Analyst. It helps in
determining what steps need to be taken to meet the proposed state
requirements for the business. In simple language it can be defined as a gap
between 2 questions - Where we are? and Where we want to be?

This analysis can be conducted for:

How the Current business process activities and steps are vs how will be the
future business process activities and steps.

How the data that a system provides to an interface is now vs how the data
needs to be provided in the future

How well a business meets certain goals and metrics now versus the targeted
goals and metrics in the future.

8. What is UML modeling?

Answer: UML is Unified Modeling Language. UML is the standard that the
industry uses for visualizing, documenting and constructing various components
of a system. It is a modeling standard used primarily for software development,
but can also be used for other conceptual models such as describing job roles,
business processes and organizational functions. For Business Analysts UML is
being able to represent requirements with use cases, class diagram and state
diagrams. For Business Analysts, the important part of understanding UML is in
understanding the diagram tools and when and how to use them best.

9. What is the importance of a flow chart?

Answer: A flow chart is a tool that provides a graphical representation of a

process. This chart will make a system easy to understand for everyone that is
involved with the project that is underway. If you have a massive and complex
project with many entities, data, data sources, data destinations and processes
involved, a data flow chart is one of the most effective ways of making sense of
all that data. The flowchart mostly concerns itself with the flow of data through
the system. It is popularly used in Structured Systems Analysis and Design.

Source: businessanalystlearnings

10. As a business analyst, what tools, you think are more helpful?

Answer: The degree and frequency to which a management performs the

analysis of a company decides the success or failure in a business. Using
business analysis tools can help greatly in increasing productivity and efficiency
of work which will lead to business success. Some of the tools which are popular
and usually used by Business analyst are:

ERP system This system gathers information from accounting system,

inventory records, sales performance and other key elements of your business.
Having this information at your fingertips completes the prime step in performing
regular business analysis to see if your company is operating efficiently. It also
helps in identifying potential problems which can be worked on.

Microsoft Word Microsoft word is another important tool which almost every
business analyst uses. MS word is very handy in preparing requirements
specification documents in absence of Requirement Management Tools.

Templates can be created for the documentation of software requirements.

Through MS word you can even set preferred fonts, apply your companys
theme, embed external objects such as a Visio diagrams or Excel worksheets,
etc.

Microsoft Excel Excel is one of the most powerful tools when you require any
kind of Data analysis on the job. With MS Excel you can create pivot tables,
examine trends in the data, sort and filter data, create charts or graphs, etc. It
provides many built-in mathematical and financial functions that can help in
analysis.

Balsamiq - It is a very useful tool through which you can create wireframes
quickly in brainstorming sessions. It is also useful for getting immediate feedback
from stakeholders. Business analysts and designers use this category of tools for
creating mockups which can be converted into actual designs after signing off.

Rational Requisite Pro It is one of the most important Requirements

Management tools. Working on a large project in a business analyst team will
require a concrete tool for managing your requirements. It provides the
functionality of Word processing along with the capability to sort and query data
using a dynamic database. Tracing requirements along with their changes and
prioritize them for implementation becomes easy with this tool.

These are the 10 important questions you can expect and prepare yourself for
before going for a business analyst interview. But hold on, we are not done yet.
We give you one more BONUS question and the answer to it, so here it is:

BONUS question: What is Pareto Analysis?

Answer: Pareto Analysis includes application of the Pareto Principle as a

decision making technique. Also known as the 80/20 rule, Pareto analysis is
frequently used within the context of quality control and defect resolution. It
suggests that a vital few factors or causes are responsible for producing the
majority of the problems. It plots the distribution of events in a standard Pareto
Chart.

"For easy accessibility to these Q&As, we are providing you with the PDF file for
the same which you can download and carry with you on your Laptop or Phone
wherever and whenever you go."

Let us know how you fair in your interview and all the best!

 General

1. If you could take 2 training courses this year, what would they be?
2. What do you expect of this role?
3. What are project constraints? How are they different from
requirements?
4. What's the worst project you've been assigned? What was the root
cause of the project's problems?
5. Who do you most admire? Why?
6. What do you most enjoy about your current (or previous) role? What
would you like to change?

Strategic planning

7. What is the point of strategic planning?

8. What is a organizational vision statement?
9. What is the purpose of a organizational value statement?
10. What process do you use to plan a business strategy?
11. Are you familiar with SWOT analysis? What is its purpose?
12. What is your approach to strategic planning?
13. Why are balanced scorecards useful?
14. How do business environment factors feed into strategic planning?
15. If you were asked to form a business strategy what factors would
you consider?

16. How do you translate strategy into action?

17. How does an organization build competitive advantage?

Business Case Development

18. What is a business case? What information does it contain?

19. Why is it important for a business case to document project
alternatives?
20. What is the most effective way to document business benefits?
21. What financial forecasts are typically found in a business case?
22. Are you familiar with net present value? What is it?
23. What is a payback period?

Business Model Analysis

24. How do you identify business goals and objectives?

25. How do you identify the current capabilities of a business?
26. Have you conducted a capability gap analysis? What is it?
27. What is a business model?
28. What's the difference between a business process and a business
model?
29. What company has the best business model (in your opinion)? Can
you tell me what you know about their business model?

30. What do you know about our business model?

31. What is business risk? How is it managed?
32. How is risk measured? Can you give me an example of a time you
measured risk?

Interpersonal & Communication Skills

33. Have you worked with a project manager who was too demanding
or unreasonable? If so, how did you handle the situation?
34. Can you tell me about the most difficult stakeholder you've work
with? How did you handle the situation?
35. How do you resolve conflicts between stakeholders?
36. What was the best presentation you ever gave? Why was it
effective?
37. What was the worst presentation you ever gave? What would you
change?
38. What stresses you out (at work)?
39. Are you candid with people? Why is this important / not
important?
40. What is the most assertive thing you've done (in a business
situation)?

Process Definition and Design

41. Can you tell me about a business process you designed? What value
did it add?

42. What is process improvement?

43. What process improvement methodologies are you familiar with?
44. What is your approach to process design?
45. What is your approach to business process reengineering?
46. How are business processes measured?
47. Can you give me an example of a business metric?
48. Have you developed reporting requirements for a business process?
What metrics or KPIs did you include?

IT Analysis

49. Can you give me an example of a security requirement for an IT

system?
50. How do you ensure that both technology and business understand
requirements?
51. What is the purpose of a prototype?
52. What are architectural requirements?
53. What is the role of a solution architect in an IT project?
54. What are performance requirements?
55. Have you noticed that technical personnel and business
stakeholders use different vocabularies? Can you give me an example?
How do you ensure that everyone understands your communications
and deliverables?
56. How do you validate the technical feasibility of requirements?

57. What are non-functional requirements? Can you give me an

example?
58. In your experience, approximately what percentage of IT projects
fail? As a business analyst, what can you do to reduce the risk of a
project failing?
59. What is data integration? Can you give me an example?
60. Have you developed integration requirements? What information
did you include?

Requirements (General)

61. Have you developed requirements in your current role? What

challenges did you face?
62. What information goes into a requirements document?
63. What's the difference between a good requirements document and a
great requirements document?
64. What are some common problems with requirements?
65. How do you ensure that requirements don't contradict each other?
66. How do you manage the situation in which different project
stakeholders request requirements that contradict?
67. Can you give me an example of a requirement for a car?
68. Can you give me an example of a bad or unclear requirement?
69. How do you ensure that requirements are traceable (it's possible to
validate that stakeholders actually requested it)?

70. How do you validate that requirements are feasible?

71. How do you ensure that requirements are clear and unambiguous?
72. How do you rank the importance of requirements?
73. How are requirements verified?
74. Are some requirements easier to verify than others?
75. How do you ensure that requirements are verifiable?
76. What is the potential project impact of low quality requirements?
77. Can requirements be too specific? If so, can you give me an
example?
78. How do you manage changes to requirements?
79. How do you manage versioning of requirements?
80. In your current role (or previous role) how did you manage changes
to requirements (change control)?
81. What does it mean to baseline requirements?

Requirements Elicitation

82. What techniques have you used to elicit requirements from

stakeholders?
83. How do you elicit requirements from stakeholders who don't seem
to have any ideas?
84. Have you used any brainstorming or facilitation techniques to elicit
requirements?

85. How do you manage key stakeholders who show little interest in
providing requirements?
86. How do you manage stakeholders who change their requirements
frequently to the point that you have low confidence in their
requirements?
87. How do you work with stakeholders who don't seem to understand
the project?
88. Can you give me an example of a time that a stakeholder gave you
a requirement that didn't make any sense in the context of the project?
How did you handle the situation?
89. How do you typically interview stakeholders?
90. Have you organized requirements workshops?
91. Are you familiar with reverse engineering of existing systems? Is it
difficult? Why / why not?

User Interface Requirements

92. What's the best user interface you've ever used? What makes it
good?
93. What information goes into user interface requirements?
94. How do you help stakeholders who aren't familiar with user
interface design to define requirements?

UML

95. What is your favorite modeling language?

96. What is UML?

97. What is a use case? Can you draw me a use case for a car?
98. What information does a use case capture?
99. What are the different types of use cases?
100. Have you used activity diagrams? What do they depict?

"Tell Me About a Time You Led a Project to Completion"

The most successful business analysts evolve into leadership roles as their careers
progress. The top companies in the field try to identify these candidates during the interview
process and get them on board early. Your interviewer's job is not simply to fill an entry-level
analyst role; it is more important to him to locate his next superstar.
Come prepared to talk about more than numbers, flow charts and processes. Craft a
concise but powerful narrative about a time you demonstrated leadership, and use it to wow
your interviewer. Even if this specific question does not come up, there invariably comes a
point during your interview when it makes sense to work in your leadership story.

What is the difference between a Business

Requirements Documents (BRD), a Functional
Requirements Document (FRD) and a Technical
Requirements Document (TRD)
This is a tricky question! Be cautious here, as there is a movement away
from the idea of building a one-off big BRD, FRD or TRD, in favour of "just in
time" evolution of detail (This is the Agile approach). In general terms (as
there is not a one-size-fits-all standard):

A BRD explains what the business requirements are.

A FRD explains the business requirements in more detail and may

describe how they can be achieved.

A TRD is the Technical Designers detailed interpretation of how,

technically, the requirements will be met.

Some organisations will expect a full description of requirements at the

outset of a project, which must be signed-off before further work is
undertaken; others will take an Agile approach and allow requirements to
emerge and evolve, but against a higher level documented set of
requirements (known as a Product Backlog or Prioritised Requirements
List). Your research into the company before the interview may help you to
determine which they use. Otherwise, you could ask whether they take an
Agile or a Traditional approach to their projects.
Traditional Approach: Advantages of a Requirements Document:
It helps prevent:

building against assumed requirements which do not really reflect

stakeholder needs;

building a solution based on an incomplete understanding of the

dependencies between requirements;

losing control and clarity due to requirements changing during

development;

misunderstandings between stakeholders which result in a solution

being developed which does not fit the need;

feature creep, where additional requirements emerge during the

project, but it is unclear that they were not part of the estimated work
at the outset, so they push the project over time and budget.

Agile Approach: Disadvantages of a detailed requirements

document at the outset:

We learn as we go, so change is inevitable. If we lock change out, we

build the wrong solution.

If detail is specified at the start of a long project, the environment may

have changed by the time it comes to being developed. Therefore the
early detailed work is now wrong and is just waste.

If we deliver a solution in small increments and get feedback from their

use, it better informs us of what works and adds value, so the detail is
better specified after this learning.

What is the technique known as PESTLE used for

PESTLE is a business analysis tool used to assess the environment in which
the business has to be operated. It stands for the perspectives of: Political,
Economic, Sociological, Technological, Environmental, Legal. It is used to
analyse the external environment and identify constraints, opportunities
and pressures of the environment from those perspectives.

What can you tell me about "Porter's 5 Forces"?

Porter Five Forces is a framework to analyse the level of competition within
an industry, based on the 5 forces of: Suppliers; Buyers (customers);
Rivalry with those already in the industry; Threat of new entrants to the
industry; and Product substitutes which may threaten competitiveness. It
can be used to understand the competitive environment in which an
organisation operates and to influence organisational strategy. The
originator of this technique is Michael E. Porter of Harvard University.

What is a Use Case Model

A Use Case model consists of use case diagram supported by use case
descriptions. The diagram shows the processes (Use Cases) in an area, and
the actors (job roles) associated with them. The Use Case Descriptions give
a description / step-by-step account of the process.

What is a "Swim Lane" diagram

A business process model using swim lanes is the most popular process
modelling technique. It shows a sequence of tasks performed by a
particular actor or department, triggered by a specific event.

What is a User Story

A User Story is a format for a requirement derived from Extreme
Programming and widely used by Agile teams. It is a requirement stated
from a user point of view, with the format:

As a <user role>, I want

<requirement> so that
<business value>
For example:
As a hotel receptionist, I want
the ability to record a reservation, so that
I can charge the customer for the room, and have the room
available when the customer arrives.
Mike Cohns book "User Stories Applied" is a good reference.

What does INVEST stand for?

INVEST stands for Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Sized
Appropriately and Testable. It is a way to check the effectiveness of User
Stories by building them to these criteria. Bill Wake is the author to note in
association with this.

Define "Usability"
Application usability is the quality of the system that makes it suitable for
its end users. In other words, it allows end users to achieve what they need
to. It concerns not only the right functionality in the system but the user
interface through which this is presented to the user. User Experience (UX)
is a job-role in its own right with its own professional standards.

What is a functional requirement; What is a nonfunctional requirement?

Functional Requirements: These are requirements which define what
the solution will do (or give the user the ability to do)
Non-functional requirements: sometimes referred to as "Quality
Attributes", these specify how well the system needs to perform against
certain criteria. These criteria are attributes such as performance, security,
usability, compatibility which are contributory to its success. They are a
required characteristic of the system.

What is Kano Analysis?

The Kano model is a theory of product development and customer
satisfaction developed in the 1980s by Professor Noriaki Kano, which
classifies customer preferences into five categories.
The original paper is in Japanese. However, these categories have been
translated into English using various names (delighters/exciters, satisfiers,
dis-satisfiers) or (Will, Want and Wow factors).
The Kano model offers some insight into the product attributes which
are perceived to be important to customers and those which they take so
much for granted that they would not be excited by their presence, but
would be dissatisfied by their absence. Kano's model focuses on
differentiating product features, as opposed to focusing initially on
customer needs.

What can you tell me about MoSCoW prioritisation?

MoSCoW is a time-dependent way of looking at requirements priorities in
terms of:

Must Have

Should Have

Could Have

Wont Have this time

It is fully described as a part of the DSDM Agile Project Framework but

widely used by other agile approaches.