CBAP - Elicitation - 10

An interview is an interaction conducted with a specific stakeholder. Questions must be developed ahead of the interview to make the best use of the stakeholder’s time. As the stakeholder answers one question, the business analyst may adjust his or her next question to follow a line of discussion. The business analyst may also develop additional questions as the interview progresses to trace a particular requirement or to clarify an unclear description.

This statement is overused and misleading. A good business analyst will discuss the business needs and work with stakeholders to clarify requirements, and with the solution team to design an effective solution.

This is one of the few places in the BABOK® Guide where tasks need to be performed in order. The order is pretty logical and should be easy to remember. The only tricky part here is that you may perform these tasks concurrently. For the purposes of the exam, think of them as separate tasks.

Repeating back in the exact words does not demonstrate understanding. Agreeing with the stakeholder about the need is not necessary. If you disagree, you should ask follow-up questions to make sure the requirement is accurate and necessary. Although it is important to write down the requirement, the first and most important task is to paraphrase to make sure the requirement is understood.

Interface analysis is used to identify people, organizations, and systems that have some connection to the solution being developed. These connections or interfaces must be analyzed and designed to allow the solution to be implemented into an ongoing business operation.

A requirements workshop is a group elicitation technique, but not appropriate for groups of more than 20, because it requires every attendee to participate. A focus group usually includes 6-12 people. Interface analysis is not an elicitation technique. A survey or questionnaire is the most appropriate elicitation technique to use for a large stakeholder group.

Diverse backgrounds and perspectives are advantages of selecting a heterogeneous group. Focus group participants are not necessarily users of a particular product. Most often, focus groups are built with homogeneous groups so the participants are comfortable talking together. They often come to agreement about ideas for future direction for the product or service being studied.

The best techniques to use when learning about a new business area are observation and document analysis. These are best because the business analyst can obtain a significant amount of information about the current business without taking the time of stakeholders. Observation allows the business analyst to learn the business and also see possible opportunities for process improvements. Document analysis involves reading and researching available information on current business practices (annual report, operating procedures, industry publications), application software packages (vendor manuals, user manuals, access to the system itself), and performing competitive analysis.

By definition, an event-based elicitation technique involves direct interaction with stakeholders, and requires ground rules. Of the choices offered, a survey is the only technique that does not fit the definition.

Documentation should not be done during elicitation, but afterward, if necessary. Performance assessment is not related to elicitation. Note taking is a critical part of elicitation. Tracing requirements should be done during the elicitation activity to follow linkages, and requirements attributes are characteristics of the requirements that should be captured.