Questions for the seminar

1. What is a business driver? Give me an example

A business driver is a resource, process or condition that is vital for the continued success and growth of a business. Example:

• Changing tastes and preferences of the customers in the market place in automotive sector
• Changing tastes and preferences in the smart phone markets
• New regulation GST from the govt
• Changes in the rules of banking sector in the wake of demonetization

2. What is a pain point ? give me an example?

Pain point : a problem or difficulty

For eg. Organization’s attrition rate, cost of capital is high, low CSAT, low morale of employees, high inventory costs,
higher order processing cycles etc

3. How do you identify the business drivers ?approach

The secret is to focus on a handful of key drivers that:

Normally Business drivers emanate from PESTEL. Look at these factors and identify the business drivers.

For eg: Change in GST slabs, govt policy for encouraging Electrical vehicles, Changes in the banking policies, changes in
the Income tax rules, Govt policies to build 2 crore houses, govt policy to spend 6 lakh crores on highways etc

4. How do you articulate a business requirement?

To <business outcome> the <organization or group> need/want/should/will < action>

Eg. To <maintain our Market share> the company needs <to retain the key customers and add new customers>

5. What is a business case? Why is it required? What happens if this is not there?

A business case outlines the overall business benefits that justify the initial and on-going commitment of time, resources, and
funding for technology projects.

• Financial: Costs, benefits and impact on business performance measures

• Strategic: New capabilities and improved competitive position
• Technical: Benefits to IT infrastructure and support for technology strategy
• Operational: Process improvements (Tangible and Intangible)

The Business Case Should Cover the Entire Life Cycle of the Solution
• DISCOVERY : Qualification of Improvement Opportunity

• EVALUATION :
o Develop business strategy
o Identify business solution
o Align industry solution with key process indicators (KPI’s)
o Estimate total cost of ownership
o Use integrated content to develop business case

• IMPLEMENTATION:
o Incorporate business case as part of implementation methodology
o Ensure KPI’s are measured throughout implementation
o Use business case for scope/change control
o Use integrated content to monitor project risk performance

• OPERATIONS & CONTINUOUS BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT

o Assess baseline value for ongoing business performance
o Measure business performance against industry best practices
o Justify continuous business change and performance tuning
 o Realize continuous improvement

A business case comes between a bright idea for a software project and the creation of the software project.

• To - idea to have a project is born

• Tcheck - formal or informal business case
• Tstart - project is initiated
• Tend - project finishes successfully or is abandoned

Not all ideas for software projects make sense. In the yellow zone above, between idea and project being initiated, some due
diligence on the project idea should occur. This is where you do the business case, even if only informally on the back of a
napkin.

The business case is where you pause and and estimate whether the project is worth it, i.e. will this project leave you better
off than if you did not do it. For those who want precise definitions the project should be NPE +ve. In layman's terms, the
project should leave the organization better off on it's bottom line or at least improve skill levels so that other projects are
better off.

Projects that do not improve skills or the bottom line are a failure.
Out of 10 software projects (see Understanding your chances ):

• 3 are successful
• 4 are challenged, i.e. over cost, over budget, or deliver much less functionality
• 3 will fail, i.e. abandoned
This means that the base rate of success for any software project is only 3 out of 10. Yet executivesr outinely execute projects
assuming that they can not fail, even though the project team may know that the project will be a failure from day 1.

Business cases give executives a chance to stop dubious projects before they start. (see Stupid is as stupid does )
Understanding how formal the business case needs to be comes down to uncertainty. There are three key uncertainties with
every project:
• Requirements uncertainty
• Technical uncertainty
• Skills uncertainty

When there is a moderate amount of uncertainty in any of these three areas then a formal business case with cash flows and
risks needs to be prepared.
Projects with moderate to high risks and no business case are doomed to fail.
An informal business case is possible only if the requirements, technical, and skills uncertainty is low. This only happens in a
few situations:
• Replacing a system where the requirements will be the same and the implementation technology is well understood
by the team
• The next minor version of a software system

Every other project requires a formal business case that will quantify what kind of uncertainty and what degree of
uncertainty exists in the project. At a minimum project managers facing moderate to high uncertainty should be motivated
to push for a business case

Here is a list of projects that tend to be accepted without any kind of real business case that quantifies the uncertainties:
• Change of implementation technology
o Moving to object-oriented technology if you don't use it
o Moving from .NET to Java or vice versa
• Software projects by non-software companies
• Using generalists to implement technical solutions
• Replacing systems with resources unfamiliar with the requirements
o Often happens with outsourcing

6. What is meaning of the scope of the project? How do you articulate it? Give me an example?

• The project scope is the outline of the project. The project scope is considered the itinerary of an individual project
program. The project scope is the step by step guide to determine who, what, why, when, and where. It will be able
to define to the stakeholders what they want to have done. It will be able to list who will be doing which job. The
project scope will list why each step is critical to success of the project. It will also address the time frame as to when
the project should be completed.

• The project scope will detail for the stakeholders outside resources being utilized for completion of individual tasks.
Each development team will be able to view the project scope and see what is required of them. The project scope
will also detail needs assessment and cost estimates.

• Each project scope will be able to address technical constraints the stakeholders may or may not be aware of. Within
the project scope a detailed report of end user requests will also be added. This will allow the stakeholders to
understand why certain aspects of the project program are different than anticipated.

• The project scope is an itinerary listing short term and long term expectations. Short term goals will be listed allowing
the stakeholders to check each milestone. The project scope will also include a prioritized listing of essential
requirements or features needed for short term and long term success of the project program.

• One of the most critical reports in the project scope is the vision statement. The vision statement will define in clear
and concise wording the project scope. The vision statement will allow the stakeholders to understand the problem
and the solution needed. The vision statement will state the user needs in clear terms. The program features will be
outlined in the vision statement.

• The project scope is the "do to" list of the program. A sort of brainstorming, or in some cases, model storming which
allows all parties involved to be able to follow along. Each department along with the stakeholders will be able to
refer to the project scope throughout the completion of the project. Without the project scope the project has no
start or end point. The project will most likely fail.

EXAMPLE OF PROJECT SCOPE STATEMENT

PROJECT OBJECTIVE
To construct a high-quality, custom home within five months at cost not to exceed $150,000.

DELIVERABLES
 • A 2,200-square-foot, 2½-bath, 3-bedroom, finished home.
• A finished garage, insulated and sheetrocked.
• Kitchen appliances to include range, oven, microwave, and dishwasher.
• High-efficiency gas furnace with programmable thermostat.

MILESTONES
1. Permits approved—March 5
2. Foundation poured—March 14
3. Dry in. Framing, sheathing, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical inspections passed—May 25
4. Final inspection—June 7

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
1. Home must meet local building codes.
2. All windows and doors must pass NFRC class 40 energy ratings.
3. Exterior wall insulation must meet an “A” factor of 21.
4. Ceiling insulation must meet an “R” factor of 38.
5. Floor insulation must meet an “R” factor of 25.
6. Garage will accommodate two large-size cars and one 20-foot Winnebago.
7. Structure must pass seismic stability codes.

LIMITS AND EXCLUSIONS

1. The home will be built to the specifications and design of the original blueprints provided by the customer.
2. Owner responsible for landscaping.
3. Refrigerator is not included among kitchen appliances.
4. Air conditioning is not included but prewiring is included.
5. Contractor reserves the right to contract out services.
6. Contractor responsible for subcontracted work.
7. Site work limited to Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.

CUSTOMER REVIEW
John and Joan Smith

7. What is business-IT alignment? How do you explain it? Give an example?

Strategic alignment is the extent to which the IT strategy supports, and is supported by, the business strategy
 8. What are intangible benefits? What is the approach to quantify them?

where the dollar value of the benefit is not able to be assigned.

• Improve customer experience/service

• Make better business decisions
• Better manage financial resources
• Improve company image

Bayesian Analysis: A technique that quantifies intangible benefits.

• Assumes that out of several identified possible events, one will certainly occur.
• Uses expert opinion to identify what events are likely to occur and the probability of each.
• The sum of these probabilities must equal 1.
• Hence a value can be assigned based on the value of each possible event and the likelihood of it occurring.

9. What is net present value ? why do you need net present value when you have the payback period?

Net Present Value (NPV) is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash
outflows. NPV is used in capital budgeting to analyze the profitability of a projected investment or project.
Present value takes time value of money whereas payback doesn’t take.

10. What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking may be defined as "reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do". Another
definition by the Critical Thinking Community is: "a mode of thinking, about any subject, content, or problem where the
thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skilfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing reality. Critical
thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking."

Being critical is like being paranoid – Not taking everything you hear or read at face value. Critical thinking creates
opportunities for exhaustive analysis which in turn, leads to well-informed decisions.

11. What could be the steps involved in relationship building

• Keeping the promises
• Mutual support
• Strong communication
• Transparency
• Trust
 • Pay attention
• Give proper time
• Respect time

12. What are different stakeholder engagement strategies? Please represent using a grid. Give me examples?

13. How do you identify the stakeholders once you come on board as a BA?

Organizational chart, past usecases,

 • Sponsor initiating or responsible for project
• Who will benefit from improved program
• Who will articulate and support the financial
• Who will use solution
• Whole role and activities change as a result of solution
• Implement solution
• Support the solution

14. What is requirement engineering? What are the different part of requirements engineering and what is the
relationship among them? Describe the relationship among them on the board?

Requirements engineering is a systematic and disciplined approach to the specification and management of requirements
with the following goals:

• Knowing the relevant requirements achieving the consensus among the stakeholder about these requirements ,
documenting them according to given standard and managing them systematically.
• Understanding and documenting the stakeholders desires and needs, they specifying and managing requirements
to minimize the risk of delivering a system that doesn’t meet the stakeholders need.

15. What are the challenges you would encounter while eliciting the requirements?

• Cultural (work environment). Refers to the conditions that exist within and outside of the project team that are
addressing requirements
• Communications. Refers to the way we elicit and disseminate information
• Understanding/knowledge. Refers to the knowledge that the team members, the customer, and management
possess about requirements and the overall development process
 • Staff/people. Refers to the experience, capabilities, roles, and position that participants bring to the
requirements process
• Processes, tools and techniques. Refers to the mechanisms we employ to elicit and manage requirements from
users
• Unavailability of the stakeholders
• Incompetent BA
• Stakeholders may not know total business
• High expectations of stakeholders
• Lack of current system documentation

16. What is JAD? How do you conduct the JAD? What challenges do you encounter while conducting JAD? How do you
overcome them?

JAD (Joint Application Development) is a methodology that involves the client or end user in the design and development
of an application, through a succession of collaborative workshops called JAD sessions.

 Pre – workshop activities

 Identify Project Objectives and constraints
 Identify & understand the critical success factors
 Define expected Project deliverables
 Establish the schedule of the workshop activities
 Identify and Select the participants
 Prepare and review the workshop materials
 Organize workshop activities and exercises
 Prepare, inform, educate the workshop participants
 Coordinate workshop logistics
 Conduct the work shop
 Refine the deliverables
 Post workshop activities

Disadvantage:

• more expensive and cumbersome if the group is too large with respect to size of the project
• significant planning required
• significant stakeholder time and effort
• trained and experienced professional for recording

17. Who are the probable stakeholders required for conducting JAD
• Key Players in the JAD session
• Facilitator
• Subject matter experts (domain)
• Service side experts
• Executive Sponsor
• Project Manager
• Documentation Expert
• System experts
• Outside experts/consultants

18. When do you use prototying method?

 When there is ambiguity in requirement

Benefits

• Improved Communication between the Developers and end users

• Increased user involvement
• Ability to clarify hidden/ambiguous requirements
• Quicker review of SRS
• Better expectation setting of end users

Drawbacks

• User getting Disillusioned

• Cost of prototyping added

19. What is funnel technique?

Open, probe, close

20. What are the open leading questions? Give examples for these processes?

Open neutral question : This is q question for which there is more than one answer.

For eg.
How is the Professor X?
The answers can be many. He could be knowledgeable, strict, etc

Open Leading Questions: Leads the interviewee in to a specific area.

For eg:
What do you say about the performance aspects of your current system?
How do you monitor the current performance?

Closed-ended Questions: Provides confirmation

For eg: Is the current performance satisfactory ?

21. What are high gain questions? Give me examples of these high gain questions? Why do you need to use these high
gain questions?
• High gain Questions :
o Speculate or Imagine

What could you do if the budget is unlimited

What might be the ideal solution that you imagine
If you are given a free reign, how would you do this?
 o Evaluate or analyze

How would you compare “X” with “ Y”

How would you evaluate success in this initiative?
What are the three top most challenges you see in implementing this initiative?

o Express feelings or emotions

How do you feel about bringing these changes?

How would the people react to this new system?
What is your reaction to this issue?

 Benefits of High gain questions

 Involve the client by requiring him or her to think more
 Provide new insights into the business
 Expose underlying issues
 Result in your being seen as perceptive professional who can add value to the relationship
 Cause the client to believe that the conversation is valuable
 Typical responses for High gain questions
 Well, let me think about it
 Oh, that is a tough one
 Hmm… that is interesting. I never put those two ideas together that way before

22. What is a business process? Give me an example?

A collection of interrelated tasks, initiated in response to an event that achieves a specific result for the customer of the
process

23. What is the purpose of studying a business process? Who will provide the inputs regarding the business process?

24. What is a swim lane diagram? ?give me an example? Why do we use a swimlane diagram?

A swim lane (or swimlane diagram) is a visual element used in process flow diagrams, or flowcharts, that visually
distinguishes job sharing and responsibilities for sub-processes of a business process. Swim lanes may be arranged either
horizontally or vertically.
 A swim lane (also known as swimlane) diagram is a type of flowchart. ... A swim lane diagram makes responsibilities more
clear than a regular flowchart. When looking to improve processes, knowing which department is responsible for what
can help speed up the process of correcting inefficiencies and eliminating delays.

Shows functional relationships versus time

Can help in measuring loading on various functional areas
Illustrates cross-function communication processes
Useful for mapping MIS support for processes

25. How would swimlane diagram help the project?

 Attack each delay

 What causes it?
 How long is it?
 How could we reduce its impact?
 Examine each decision point
 Is this a real decision or just a checking activity?
 If the latter, can we automate or eliminate it?
 Dematerialize documentation.
 Can we do it electronically?
 Eliminate multiple copies?
 Share a common database?
 Look for loops

 Why is this loop here?

 Would we need to loop if we didn’t have any failures in quality, planning, etc?
 Process steps
 What is the value of this activity, relative to its cost?
 Is this a necessary activity (support or developmental?), or something else?

26. What is analysis? What is the output of analysis phase? What are the ways to analyse the process?

27. What is the current state? How do you study current state?

How process I currently performend in the organization. – As is process

28. What is the target state? How do you design a target state?

29. Who will be able to validate the current and target state?
 30. What is a use case?

A use case captures a contract between the stakeholders of a system about its behavior.

Describes the system’s behavior under various conditions as the system responds to a request from one of the stakeholders
called the primary actor.

The primary actor initiates some interaction with the system to accomplish some goal. The system responds, protecting the
interests of all of the stakeholders.

31. What is “include” and “extends”. Provide examples

Include is used to extract use case fragments that are duplicated in multiple use cases. The included use case cannot
stand alone and the original use case is not complete without the included one.

For eg :

• With drawl involves validation of user

• Transfer involves validation of user
• Cancellation involves validation of user

Extend is used when a use case adds steps to another first class use case.

For example, imagine "Withdraw Cash" is a use case of an ATM machine. "Access Fee" would extend Withdraw Cash and
describe the conditional "extension point" that is instantiated when the ATM user doesn't bank at the ATM's owning
institution. Notice that the basic "Withdraw Cash" use case stands on its own, without the extension.

32. What is the structure of the usecase? Give me an example?

Name Approval of sales expenses - claim submission

ID UC-001
Actor Sales person
Precondition Sales person must have logged in
Tasks 2. System displays claims icon for employees
3. Sales person clicks on the icon for claims
4.System displays the claimform
5.Sales person fills the claim form
6.Sales person submits the form
7.System saves the claim
8.System routes the claim to HR Exec

Post condition System successfully routed the form to HR EXEC

Data All the fields that are required by the form
(Name.emp ID,Purpose,duration,from date, to
date,name of the customers, hotel expenses day 1--
.n,food expenses day 1… N, travel day 1…n expnses)
Business rules the claim should be filed within a week from the data
of the sales visit
Non functional requirements Response time - 1 sec, available 7 X24X365 days

33. What is the meaning of precondition?

Describes anything that should be in place prior to the usecase starting in order for the usecase to succeed. Also
known as entry criteria in process parlance

34. What is the post condition?

A condition that should be in place to say the usecase execution is complete. Also known as Exit criteria in process
parlance

35. What is use case interaction diagram? What is the purpose of making the usecase interaction diagram?

Interaction diagrams are models that describe how a group of objects collaborate in some behavior - typically a single
use-case. The diagrams show a number of example objects and the messages that are passed between these objects
within the use-case.

I'll illustrate the approach with the following simple use-case. In this behaviour the order entry window sends a prepare
message to an order. The order then sends prepare to each order line on the order. The order line first checks the stock
item, and if the check returns true it removes stock from the stock item. If stock item falls below the reorder level it
requests a new delivery.

Interaction diagrams come in two forms, both present in the UML. The first form is the sequence diagram. In this form
objects are shown as vertical lines with the messages as horizontal lines between them. This form was first popularized
by Jacobson. The diagram below shows this form in its UML notation. The sequence of messages is indicated by reading
down the page.
The second form of the interaction diagram is the collaboration diagram. Here the example objects are shown as icons.
Again arrows indicate the messages sent in the use case. This time the sequence is indicated by a numbering scheme.
Simple collaboration diagrams simply number the messages in sequence. More complex schemes use a decimal
numbering approach to indicate if messages are sent as part of the implementation of another message. In addition a
letter can be used to show concurrent threads.

One of the great strengths of an interaction diagram is its simplicity. It is difficult to write much about interaction
diagrams because they are so simple. They do, however, have weaknesses, the principal one is that although they are
good at describing behavior: they do not define it. They typically do not show all the iteration and control that is needed
to give an computationally complete description. Various things have been done to try and remedy this. Jacobson uses
pseudo-code in conjunction with sequence charts to provide a more executable model. Others have added various
diagrammatic notations to increase the model's execuatability. Many of these are included in the UML.

I have mixed feelings about these trends towards greater executability. To me, the beauty of interaction diagrams is their
simplicity, and much of these additional notations lose this in their drive to computational completeness. Thus I would
encourage you not to rush to the more complex forms of interaction diagrams, you may find that the simpler ones give
you the best value.

When to Use Them

Interaction diagrams should be used when you want to look at the behavior of several objects within a single use case.
They are good at showing the collaborations between the objects, they are not so good at precise definition of the
behavior.

If you want to look at the behavior of a single object across many use-cases, use a state transition diagram. If you want to
look at behavior across many use cases or many threads, consider an activity diagram.

36. How do you ensure that you have captured all the use cases in a given business process?
Business process is mapped using swim lane flow and is validated by all the stakeholders. Then each role performing
activities in each swimlane becomes a potential use case. This way the BA canot miss any use case
37. Why do you have to collect the data during the elicitation? How does it help?

• The data is important because we need to do user acceptance testing at the end. In order to do this, we need to
collect the data during Elicitation and map it to the user acceptance test scenarios (The UAT scenarios are validated
by the Business stakeholders). Then we will not spend additional time for data collection at the time UAT

38. What are non-functional requirements? Give me examples?

Non functional requirements that define expectations for the performance or operation of a solution also have an
implied context of usage, because of solution is expected to perform or be available scalable or usable so that work can
be accomplished. It is used to specify overall system-wide characteristics of the solution such as performance,
throughput, availability, reliability, scalability, flexibility and usability. E.g. availability of new mobile technology- can it
support x% increase in the number of users using it simultaneously. Requirements that express properties that the
product is required to have, including interface, environment, and quality attribute properties.

39. What is SMART methodology?

Goals are usually broad based and span over 1-2 years. Objectives are used to enable goals; they are more specific and
are short term than goals, often within1 year. The common link between goals, projects, objectives and programs is
business case. Goals and objectives needs assessment because they provide context and direction for any change that
addresses business need. Goals and object can be assessed using smart methodology

Specific – clear , concise and observable outcomes are needed

M – Measurable – The outcome should be testable

A – Action oriented

R- Realistic

T- Time bound

40. Demonstrate the understanding of SMART methodology with a practical example?

Example: In the previous insurance company example, the insurance company had a goal of reaching 5 billion $ in
revenue within 5 years with a 20% net profit margin. The company had the following supporting objectives for the
coming year,

• Increase revenue by 10% by December 31 (necessary to help them reach 5 year goal)
• Decrease overall claims cost by 5% in the same time period
• Reduce time needed to process claims by 6.25% in each quarter

41. How do you identify missing requirements, demonstrate with an example?

Missing requirements can be identified through process flow. Process flow can be used to analyse current and proposed
processes. Another use is to analyse for the way processes contribute to a give problem. Can be used for a root cause
analysis tool. Non-optimal will have gaps, duplications, unnecessary non value added activities. They are not useful for
analysing opportunities.
 Techniques like interface analysis and business rules analysis can also help to uncover missing requirements you may not
have thought of from scratch.

Traceability matrix

State diagram

Doing logical models reduces the risk of missing business requirements that otherwise would arise belatedly in the
process, causing delays and rework.

1. Ensure there is traceability between all your requirements and models. Each object in a model should relate to a
requirement…for example if you have process flows, organize the requirements by process step. This will ensure that
you are not missing requirements for a particular step.

2. Tie requirements to business objectives. If a requirement does not relate to an objective, should it really be in
scope? This will also help you to ensure that all business needs are being met. Of course, the key to this is to have
clearly defined objectives.

Business Objectives > Features > Requirements

3. Establish traceability early in the project in order to avoid re-work down the line.

4. Use a requirements management tool to keep everything in order. This also helps reduce the amount of work required
to manage Word versus Excel versus Visio.

5. Carry traceability through the design and implementation phases. Functional specifications should relate to
requirements, design elements, and test plans.

By defining traceability in your software requirements, you will 1) ensure that the requirements are organized, 2) identify
holes or missing requirements, and 3) manage scope by ensuring that each requirement meets a business need.

42. How do you identify ambiguous requirements? Demonstrate with an example?

Ambiguous requirement can be clarified though prototyping. The process of categorization helps expose vague,
misstated, ambiguous or otherwise poorly written requirement. When the business analyst is unable to place the
information or a requirement in a category the requirement is likely to be invalid and may need to be revised, expanded
or removed.

43. How do you do validation of the requirements? Who is involved in the validation of requirements?

Validation is assurance that a product, service, or system meets the needs of the customer and other identified stakeholder.
Requirement validation is the process of ensuring all requirements accurately reflect the intent of the stakeholder ; therefore
ensuring requirement meet specification.

Validation can be done through

• The concept of continual confirmation

• Requirement walkthrough
 • Prototypes
• Test case generation

Involved roles

• Organizer
• Moderator
• Author
• Inspector
• Minute taker

44. What is baselining? When does this happen? Who baselines? What is the significance of baselining? What happens
if you do not baseline?

About baselining - Baselining is the boundary that contains all the approved requirements for the project, project phase,
iteration, increment, release, or any other part of the project.

Significance of baselining –

• The baseline provides a mechanism for comparison, thereby, allowing the project team to recognize that a change
has occurred. All approved work is inside the boundary of baseline. Everything outside the boundary needs to be
approved.
• Assess performance
• Earned value calculation

When does baseline happen – Baseline happens at the beginning of the project

Who baselines – Project Manager or BA

What happens if you do not baseline - assessing the performance, cost, and value calculation becomes difficult, as there is
no boundary to compare