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Business Analysis Oral Exam > C5 Investigation Techniques > Flashcards

C5 Investigation Techniques Flashcards

1
Q

What sort of prior research can a Business Analyst complete before starting a new project / starting with a new client?

A

STUDY WEBSITE
- Simplest way to get a view on what the organisation does, what it’s values are and how it wants to be percieved.

STUDY COMPANY REPORTS
- To confirm the health of the company. Ltd Liability companies are required to file statutory documents re their financial position.

STUDY PROCEDURE MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION
- Give an idea of the expected ‘as-is’ process (for domain knowledge).

STUDY THE ORGANISATION CHART
- Sets out the management structure of the organisation and can offer insights into the style and culture of the organisation.

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2
Q

What are qualitative and quantitative investigation techniques?

A

Qualitative - understanding what is needed,

Quantitative - concerned with the volumes and frequencies.

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3
Q

The interview is a key tool in the Business Analyst’s toolkit. ADVANTAGES?

Interviews can:

  • establish a basis for BA work,
  • help to develop rapport with key business stakeholders,
  • help to acquire information about a business situation,
  • discover different stakeholder perspectives and priorities.
A
  • Provides an opportunity to build a relationship with the users or clients,
  • Great for understanding perspectives (viewpoints and attitudes),
  • Enable chance to collect documentation,
  • Highlight any underlying political factors.
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4
Q

The interview is a key tool in the Business Analyst’s toolkit. DISAVANTAGES?

Interviews can:

  • establish a basis for BA work,
  • help to develop rapport with key business stakeholders,
  • help to acquire information about a business situation,
  • discover different stakeholder perspectives and priorities.
A
  • They can take time and can be expensive,

- Only one perspective.

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5
Q

What is the STOP organisation model?

A

Strategic - strategic level management to confirm TOR / agree alignment with business objectives.

Tactical - CSFs and KPIs and any associated reporting requirements.

Operational - The people who perform the actual tasks of the department.

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6
Q

What framework could you use when preparing for interviews and what’s a good format for an interview?

A

THINK - Why? What? When and Where?

Open with: Introductions and setting the scene.
Body: Questions and answers.
Closure: Summarise points covered and actions agreed,

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7
Q

Observation ADVANTAGES?

A
  • Access to situations where interviews and questions are difficult to use.
  • Access to people in real life situations.
  • Good for explaining meaning and context,
  • Can be strong on validity and in-depth understanding,
  • Can be strong on validity and in-depth understanding.
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8
Q

Observation DISADVANTAGES?

A
  • Can be viewed as too subjective,
  • Time consuming,
  • Depends on the role of the researcher,
  • May influence findings, people changing how they do things under pressure,
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9
Q

What is Protocol analysis?

A

Asking the users to carry out a task and describe each step they perform. It’s a way of eliciting information about the skills required to complete a task that cannot be described in words alone.

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10
Q

What is Shadowing?

A

Involves following a user for a period, such as one or two days, to find out what a particular job entails.

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11
Q

WORKSHOPs are a key tool in the Business Analyst’s toolkit. ADVANTAGES?

Workshops can:
- Provide an excellent collaborative forum in which issues can be discussed, conflicts resolved and requirements elicited.

A
  • Gain a broad view of the area under investigation,
  • Increase speed and productivity,
  • Obtain BUY IN and Acceptance,
  • Gain a consensus view or group agreement
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12
Q

WORKSHOPs are a key tool in the Business Analyst’s toolkit. DISADVANTAGES?

Workshops can:
- Provide an excellent collaborative forum in which issues can be discussed, conflicts resolved and requirements elicited.

A
  • Can be time consuming to organise,
  • Forceful participants can over shadow the less forceful if not properly organised,
  • Difficult to ensure participants have the required level of AUTHORITY.
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13
Q

What should be considered when preparing for a workshop?

A
  • The objective of the workshop,
  • The people invited to the workshop,
  • The structure and techniques used,
  • Arranging a suitable venue.
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14
Q

What techniques can be used in workshops?

DISCOVERY and VISUALISATION

A

Discovery:

  • Round robin (round the table),
  • Brainstorming,
  • Post-it exercise,
  • Break-out groups.

Visualisation:

  • Process models,
  • Rich Pictures,
  • Mind maps,
  • Context diagrams,
  • Use Case diagrams,
  • Task scenarios,
  • User stories.
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15
Q

SCENARIOs are a key tool in the Business Analyst’s toolkit. ADVANTAGES?

Scenarios: telling a story of a task or transaction. Useful when analysing or redesigning business processes as they help both the staff member and the analyst work through the steps required of a business process / system.

A
  • They require the user to include each step and the transitions between steps, and as a result remove the opportunity for omissions,
  • helps to ensure there are no taken-for-granted elements and tacit knowledge is addressed.
  • Top down approach helps the business user to visualise all possible situations and removes uncertainty.
  • Good for creating test scripts / developing prototypes.
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16
Q

SCENARIOs are a key tool in the Business Analyst’s toolkit. DISADVANTAGES?

Scenarios: telling a story of a task or transaction. Useful when analysing or redesigning business processes as they help both the staff member and the analyst work through the steps required of a business process / system.

A
  • Time consuming and scenarios can be complex.
17
Q

How would you develop scenarios?

A

1) Identify task or interaction,
2) Identify steps and the sequence,
3) Define control conditions,
4) Identify alternative paths.

18
Q

PROTOTYPING is a key tool in the Business Analyst’s toolkit. ADVANTAGES?

Prototyping: an important technique for eliciting, analysing, demonstrating and validating requirements.

A
  • To clarify uncertainty on the part of the analyst and confirm to the user we have understood what they ask for.
  • To identify new requirements as users understand what the system will be able to do to support their jobs.
  • Demonstrate the look and feel of the system,
  • Identify any errors.
19
Q

SURVEYS. Drawbacks?

Surveys: can be useful if we need to get a limited amount of information from a lot of people and interviewing them individually or running a serious of workshops would not be practical or cost effective.

HEADING / CLASSIFICATION / DATA SECTIONS.

A
  • People might find it hard to find the time to complete unless they have an invested interest,
  • Think about giving a prize / reward.
20
Q

Special purpose records (DESCRIPTION ONLY)

It is used to discover information both subjective and quantitative information.

Lets suppose we want information related to an activity: what is actually happening when we do that activity - for the purpose a form or a special purpose record is created.

Lets suppose following categories are identified:

  • Sent wrong product key
  • Sent product keys after one hour of product confirmation
  • How many complainants in LMS signing up process
A

Activity Sampling (DESCRIPTION ONLY)

Activity Sampling is a statistical technique that can be used as a means for collecting data. It is defined by BS 3138:41008 as: A technique in which a large number of observations are made over a period of time of one group of machines, processes or workers.

21
Q

Document analysis involves reviewing samples of source documents to uncover information about an organisation, process or system.

What might you analyse from the documents?

A 
How the document is completed?
Who has completed the document?
Validation or controls on the document?
When is the document used?
How many are used / produced?
22
Q

How might you document the CURRENT SITUATION?

A

Rich Pictures: Overview of the entire organisation without fixed notation (allows human / cultural aspects),

Mindmaps: Useful tool for summarising a lot of information in a simple visual form that is structured to highlight connections between different ideas and topics.

Business Process Models: Swimlane diagrams to show the tasks in a process, actors responsible for carrying them out and the process flow.

Spaghetti Maps: A tool to show the movement and interactions of the stakeholders in a particular environment, when performing particular tasks and processes.

Fishbone diagrams: to show problems and causes (root cause analysis) -
The four M’s - Machines, Manpower, Measures, Methods.

Business Analysis Oral Exam (15 decks)

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