PMI-PBA Mock Exam Lite - 6

Question 1

You have recently initiated an organizational process transformation project. Due the low risk tolerance levels of the key stakeholder, you need to pay special attention to project costs. Which of the following structures helps track project costs and can align with the organization’s accounting system?

Answer 1

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) provides the framework for the cost management plan. The WBS contains control accounts, which link directly to the performing organization’s accounting system. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 239]

Question 2

You are leading a workflow digitization process. Prior to conducting face-to-face stakeholder interviews, you decide to review any documentation readily available within existing document repositories, such as process maps and procedure reports, so that the total amount of elicitation time needed with the stakeholder can be reduced. Which elicitation technique are you considering?

Answer 2

Document analysis

This is an example of document analysis which can be used to obtain information that is readily available within existing document repositories. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 162]

Question 3

All the following provide a case for formal requirements traceability on a project EXCEPT:

Answer 3

The project costs need to be tightly controlled.

It is true that predictive projects provide a better case for formal traceability than adaptive projects. It is not true that you would never have formal traceability in adaptive projects. Other factors such as, project environment, organizational standards or the regulatory framework can dictate formal traceability. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 259]

Question 4

You are managing the development of an information management system for a railway operator in your city. The information system will have to interface with multiple digital and manual systems in order to be fully operational. You want to graphically depict the system’s scope along with the interactions with the other systems. Which of the following graphical techniques visually depict the product scope by showing a business system and how other systems interact with it?

Answer 4

Context diagram

A context diagram is a graphical technique that visually depicts the product scope by showing a business system and how other systems interact with it. The other choices are graphical techniques designed to achieve other objectives. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 146]

Question 5

Which of the following Agile concepts implies “smallest possible deliverable that meets customer requirements”?

Answer 5

Minimum viable product

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a product or a project outcome that contains sufficient features to satisfy project stakeholders. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 204]

Question 6

You have been hired by an organization to introduce and coach its product teams on Agile software development methods. The organization has managed all its past projects using waterfall methods. As a start, you are piloting a few projects on a hybrid approach. How would you manage changes to product requirements on these hybrid projects?

Answer 6

Follow the project’s change control process.

The requirements change process is performed differently depending on the selected project lifecycle. For a project following a predictive life cycle, the project team may use a formal change control process, where a project following an adaptive life cycle may not. A hybrid project may have a formal or informal change control process that should be document in its project management plan. [Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide, page 58; The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 269]

Question 7

A product team has developed a tool that will collect and upload human resource performance and productivity data to the corporate management information system in real time. However, for this tool to be successful, the organization needs to adapt to new ways of working. Any resistance to accept and adopt the tool will result in immediate failure of the tool. In this situation, what should you do prior to releasing the tool?

Answer 7

Conduct a readiness assessment.

A readiness assessment is an evaluation of how well an organization is prepared for a change. It provides an evaluation of the ability of an organization to transition to the future state enabled by the solution. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 297]

Question 8

The board of your organization has recently announced a new CEO for the organization. The new CEO has expressed his desire to replace all current legacy IT systems in the organization with current technologies. You have been asked to study the current systems available in the market and especially systems used by leading organizations and report back to the CEO. Which business analysis technique do you need to perform to carry out this task?

Answer 8

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is a comparison of an organization’s practices, processes, and measurements or results against established standards or against what is achieved by a “best in class” organization within its industry or across industries. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 60]

Question 9

You have recently been hired into a custom-designed software development consulting firm. You are helping the organization develop and standardized its business analysis processes and methods. You are currently developing a standard quality checklist to be used for future business analysis deliverables. Which of the following is a valid example of a business analysis deliverable?

Answer 9

Gap analysis results

Agendas, meeting minutes, parking lot lists, and some types of models, although necessary to organize work and perform effectively, are not considered business analysis deliverables. These items are often called work products and are created in order to perform the work but are not a promised deliverable that will be tracked and managed. [Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide, page 62; The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 127]

Question 10

You are analyzing system requirements for a complex IT system. Due to the complexity of the system, the stakeholders cannot articulate all the requirements upfront. You need a method of obtaining early feedback on requirements by providing a model of the expected system before building it. Which of the following techniques would you use?

Answer 10

Prototyping

Prototyping is a method of obtaining early feedback on requirements by providing a model of the expected solution before building it. None of the other given choices are techniques that benefit from building a model. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 168]

Question 11

When analyzing relationships between product requirements, each product requirement is examined from various lenses to understand its relationships with other product requirements. Which of the following is NOT a valid example of a relationship between product requirements?

Answer 11

Discretionary dependency

Discretionary dependency is a concept in project scheduling, and it exists between project tasks and not product requirements. The rest of the choices are all valid product requirement relationship types. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 259]

Question 12

Jim is conducting the business analysis activities for a robotic process automation project. He is currently performing the Identify Stakeholders process. Which of the following documents should be produced by the end of this process?

Answer 12

Stakeholder register

The stakeholder register is the only output of the Identify Stakeholders process. At this stage it is usually early to analyze the related risks, requirements and the engagement strategies; these areas are explored more during the Conduct Stakeholder Analysis process. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, Page 111]

Question 13

Confirm Elicitation Results is a critical elicitation process. If this process is not performed correctly, a significant risk of rework gets introduced to the project. Which of the following is one of the reasons why elicitation results must be confirmed?

Answer 13

Elicitation results need to be refined and/or corrected and extraneous information eliminated.

Confirm Elicitation Results is the process of performing follow-up activities on the elicitation results. If this process is not performed correctly, a significant risk of rework gets introduced to the project. One of the reasons for performing this process is to refine and correct the elicitation results. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 171]

Question 14

You are meeting with your stakeholders to gather requirements for your project. You are well aware that requirements to be gathered include both product and project requirements. All the following tools can be used to gather, define, and analyze project requirements from stakeholders except:

Answer 14

Decomposition

Both product and project requirements are gathered from stakeholders during the Collect Requirements process. This effort is undertaken during project planning. Focus groups, surveys, and prototypes are some of the tools used to define and analyze requirements. Decomposition is used only to break down the work and not to gather requirements. Therefore, decomposition is the correct answer. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Pages 138, 158]

Question 15

You are currently leading a complex organizational change management project with different stakeholders having varying level or interests and attitudes towards this project. Given this huge number of directly impacted project stakeholders, you are planning to classify the project stakeholders and put them in groups. Which of the following stakeholder analysis techniques is recommended when you need to analyze project stakeholders based on their power, urgency, and legitimacy?

Answer 15

Salience model

The salience model is used to analyze classes of stakeholders based on their power (ability to impose their will), urgency (need for immediate attention), and legitimacy (their involvement is appropriate). [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 513]

Question 16

You are leading the business analysis activities on a payroll management application development project. Since this is the first time you are conducting business analysis for a project in this organization, you are reviewing lessons learned from the past projects to understand the project environment and challenges. A common problem reported by business analysts was the stakeholder disengagement during the elicitation process. What should you do on this project to minimize this risk?

Answer 16

Develop a business analysis plan and get it approved by key stakeholders.

Obtaining approval on the plan helps to reduce the risk of stakeholders not supporting the business analysis process once it starts. You need to come up with a solid business analysis plan, and have it reviewed and approved by the key stakeholders to minimize this risk. [Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide, page 68; The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 127]

Question 17

On traditional projects, a change control board is usually established to authorize change requests. Who is responsible to authorize changes on an Agile project?

Answer 17

Product owner

Product owners have the ultimate responsibility of the project success. They prioritize the project backlog and authorize change requests on an Agile project. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 216, 264]

Question 18

An Agile team wants to outsource a chunk of project scope to a vendor. Instead of locking the entire procurement scope of work and budget into a single agreement, the team is considering decomposing the scope into fixed-price micro-deliverables. Which of the following can be used as micro-deliverables for the agreement?

Answer 18

User stories

Rather than lock an entire project scope and budget into a single agreement, a team can decompose the scope into fixed-price micro-deliverables, such as user stories. Team charter and Kanban board are tools used by the team to manage the team’s WIP. WBS and WBS dictionary are used in predictive approaches. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 133]

Question 19

You are currently leading a requirements elicitation workshop for a major project in your organization. Apart from top-notch technical and analytical skills, you would rely on your interpersonal skills for the success of the business analysis effort. Which of the following interpersonal skills is of prime importance during the collection and analysis of stakeholders’ needs and expectations?

Answer 19

Active listening

Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listeners to feedback what they hear to the speaker, by way of re-stating or paraphrasing what they have heard in their own words. This confirms what they have heard and moreover, confirms the understanding of both parties. Active listening is of prime importance during the collection and analysis of stakeholders’ needs and expectations. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, Page 373]

Question 20

John is managing a construction project that is expected to complete in three years’ time. The project requires demolishing a cinema complex and constructing a shopping mall in its place. Since the construction site is in the heart of the city, a number of construction hazards must be put in place. For this project, when should John plan for risk identification activities?

Answer 20

Ongoing throughout the project

Identify Risks is the process of determining what risks can affect the project. Many different stakeholders usually participate in the Identify Risks process. The process of Identify Risks is iterative because unknown risks can be discovered throughout the life cycle of the project. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 409]

Question 21

You have completed all planned elicitation activities and are currently analyzing the obtained results. You find out that there are several uncertainties associated with the product requirements. What should you do next if you want the team to immediately dedicate some time for research to address these product risks?

Answer 21

Start a risk spike.

If you want the team to immediately dedicate some time to address these risks, you need to start a risk spike. A risk spike is a sprint or iteration specifically designated for research to address product risks. Risk registers and burndown charts are some of the tools that can be used during this sprint. Adding risks to the lessons learned library doesn’t make any sense; however, you would update the lesson learned library if the team learns something new as part of actioning the risk response strategies. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 410]

Question 22

You are conducting the initial business analysis of a product idea and are about to complete the business case. Apart from a business case, which of the following is a key output of the Assemble Business Case process?

Answer 22

Product scope

The outputs of the Assemble Business Case process are business case and product scope. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, pages 101, 102]

Question 23

You are about to initiate an Agile project. A business analyst has already conducted some business analysis activities during the pre-project work and established an initial product backlog. Which of the following team events will you use to identify the subset of product backlog items from the product backlog that the development team will work on for the current iteration?

Answer 23

Iteration planning

In adaptive approaches, iteration planning, or sprint planning, is the activity used to identify the subset of product backlog items from the product backlog that the development team will work on for the current iteration or sprint. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 267]

Question 24

You are currently auditing the project management practices of an organization. You have realized that although most projects had an approved scope statement, scope creep was a common problem on all organizational projects. You have now shifted your attention to the content of these scope statements to identify the root cause of this issue. Which of the following components of a project scope statement is useful in reducing scope creep?

Answer 24

Exclusions

Project exclusions identify what is excluded from the project. Explicitly stating what is out of scope for the project helps manage stakeholders’ expectation and can reduce scope creep. Other choices cannot help more in this regard. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 154]

Question 25

Jim was hired as the lead business analyst on a factory refurbishment project. Jim identified the key stakeholders and concluded product requirements elicitation and analysis activities. He now has a solid product requirements traceability matrix that he will continue to update throughout the product development. The project is most likely following:

Answer 25

A predictive lifecycle

The scenario is implying a firm sequence of requirements management processes, this is typical of predictive projects. Predictive projects provide a better case for formal traceability than adaptive projects. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 259]

Question 26

You are currently analyzing the list of reported defects in a recently released product. You have grouped these defects into categories and now want to conduct a detailed root-cause analysis. Which of the following techniques will help you conduct this analysis?

Answer 26

Five Whys

Five Whys is a technique that suggests anyone trying to understand a problem needs to ask why it is occurring up to five times in order to thoroughly understand the problem’s causes. The rest of the choices are not valid root-cause analysis techniques. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 72]

Question 27

The chief financial officer of your firm has asked your team to develop an online billing and payment system for the organization’s customers. You are required to present your product roadmap to the chief financial officer before she could approve the funding. Which of the following techniques should you use to develop your product roadmap?

Answer 27

Facilitated workshop

Facilitated workshops use a structured meeting led by a skilled neutral facilitator and a group of SMEs to collaborate and work towards developing a product roadmap. None of the other choices involve facilitated sessions. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 95]

Question 28

You have formed a small team of analysts responsible for conducting system evaluation activities for all organizational software development projects. All the following are solution evaluation preparation good practices EXCEPT:

Answer 28

Identifying alternatives to the proposed solution and conducting cost benefit analysis.

Identifying alternatives to the proposed solution and conducting cost benefit analysis is part of the feasibility study of a solution, and not post-implementation solution evaluation. The rest of the choices are all solution evaluation good practices. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 279]

Question 29

You are conducting needs analysis for a financially struggling organization. You need a tool that can help you show the traceability of a selected solution back to the business problem it is supposed to resolve. Which of the following tools can potentially extend a capability table to show the end-to-end relationship between a situation, its root causes, capabilities needed to address the situation, and how these capabilities will be addressed by the new solution?

Answer 29

Solution capability matrix

A solution capability matrix could be used to extend a capability table: A capability table is generally applied to depict the relationship between a situation, its root causes, and the capabilities needed to address the situation. A solution capability matrix identifies where these capabilities will be addressed in the new solution. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, pages 67, 82]

Question 30

You are currently scheduling your business analysis processes for your project. Which of the following business analysis processes transforms the unconfirmed elicitation results to confirmed elicitation results?

Answer 30

Confirm Elicitation Results

The Confirm Elicitation Results process transforms the unconfirmed elicitation results (input to the process) to confirmed elicitation results (output of the process). [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 170]

Question 31

Your organization has recently initiated four projects to meet a strategic objective. Project A has the maximum project duration. Project B requires use of technology that has not yet been fully developed. Project C has multiple stakeholders and significant ambiguity in project features. Project D needs to be executed in a highly regulated environment. Which of these four projects is the most complex?

Answer 31

Project C

According to PMI’s Pulse of the Profession® In-Depth Report: Navigating Complexity, the presence of multiple stakeholders and ambiguity of project features are the top two contributors to the project complexity. [Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide, page 42; The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 115-116]

Question 32

You have recently completed a series of workshop with some SMEs. As an output of these workshops you have gathered a number of ideas that now need to be further analyzed. Which of the following tools is similar to a mind map in that it allows a large number of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis?

Answer 32

Affinity diagrams

An affinity diagram is similar to a mind map in that it is used to generate ideas that can be linked to form organized patterns of thought about a problem. It allows a large number of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis. The other choices are not similar to mind maps. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 144]

Question 33

You are halfway through the execution of an ERP implementation project. You realize that the original cost baseline is not valid anymore and you would require additional funding to complete the project. You are now writing a proposal for additional required funding. Which communication style should you choose?

Answer 33

Formal and upward

Since this will be an official project document, it should be formal. Additionally, since you are requesting money from someone higher up in the organization, you are creating an upward communication. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 361]

Question 34

You have recently initiated a system redesign project and have successfully acquired your project management team. The rest of the project team can only be acquired once substantial project planning is complete and a clear view of resource requirements is available. You are currently working with your project management team to develop the project’s WBS. The WBS structure can be created in a number of forms except which of the following?

Answer 34

Using work packages as the second level of decomposition, with the project deliverables inserted at the third level

The work packages are at the lowest level of a WBS. The other statements are correct regarding the structure of the WBS. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 159]

Question 35

You are leading an enterprise-level software development project. The project is already six months late. Although the reasons for the delay are justifiable and the product owner supports the product team, the product owner has requested to make a smallest possible release that would meet the customers’ basic requirements. What is the product owner asking you to develop?

Answer 35

Develop a minimum viable product

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a product or a project outcome that contains sufficient features to satisfy project stakeholders. The product owner is essentially asking you to develop the MVP. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 204]

Question 36

Some senior stakeholders have lost confidence in the success of the product you are developing. Which of the following models should you ask the product team to quickly develop to regain stakeholder confidence by showing them a mockup of the system being developed?

Answer 36

Prototype

A prototype is an early model, or release of a product built to test a concept. A prototype is generally used to evaluate a new design to enhance precision by system analysts and users. Developing and showcasing a working prototype will help you regain the lost stakeholder confidence. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 199]

Question 37

Albert is leading a project that requires production of about a million sleepers for client who is currently building a railway network. The last batch of deliverables was rejected by the client and Albert is now reviewing this with the team. The following was prepared during the meeting. What diagram is this?

Answer 37

Fishbone diagram

This is an example of a fishbone diagram. A fishbone diagram, also called a cause and effect diagram or Ishikawa diagram, is a visualization tool for categorizing the potential causes of a problem in order to identify its root causes. [PMBOK® Guide, 6th edition, Page 294]

Question 38

You are leading the development of a technological product in your organization. The sponsor has asked you to prioritize the development of the features that deliver the most value to the organization. Which of the following techniques should you use in order to sequence user stories based upon their business value and the order in which their users typically perform them?

Answer 38

Story mapping

Story mapping is a technique used to sequence user stories based upon their business value and the order in which their users typically perform them, so that teams can arrive at a shared understanding of what will be built. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 95]

Question 39

You are performing the business analysis activities for a workflow digitization project in your organization. In order to complete your assessment of the current state workflow, you need to obtain feedback of key stakeholders on your findings. Which of the following is the most appropriate technique to be used to obtain this feedback?

Answer 39

Interviews

Document analysis and observation will be of no use in this context. Questionnaires and interviews are both good candidates for the correct answer. However, interviews are more interactive and allow you to clarify ambiguous feedback, hence more appropriate for soliciting an accurate feedback. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 68]

Question 40

You are the business analyst on a website development project. You are currently analyzing all the requirements gathered from the stakeholders. You want to setup a mechanism that will help you and the team link all requirements to product features and the business objectives to ensure alignment with the business case. Which of the following tools can help you establish this mechanism?

Answer 40

Traceability matrix

A traceability matrix is a table that connects or traces links between items. Most commonly, business analysts use traceability matrices to trace requirements backward to features and business objectives. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 195]

Question 41

You are leading a workflow automation project. The system requirements have been collected and the project scope has been defined. If one of the major project’s success factors is delivering within the budget, which of the following approaches would you recommend to be used on this project?

Answer 41

Predictive

Since the project requirements are fixed and the goal is to manage cost, a predictive approach is most suitable in this case. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 19]

Question 42

You are evaluating a product’s performance post its release. The product was intended to increase the firm’s market share. To analyze this, you have created a chart with one axis reflecting market growth from low to high, while the other reflecting the market share of the firm from low to high. What is this chart called?

Answer 42

Growth-share matrix

A product portfolio matrix, also known as a growth-share matrix, is a market analysis quadrant diagram used by organizations to qualitatively analyze their products or product lines. One axis reflects market growth while the other reflects the market share. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 283]

Question 43

A traceability matrix is a grid that links product requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them. Which of the following is the key benefit of establishing and maintaining a traceability matrix on a project?

Answer 43

Preventing scope creep

A traceability matrix is a grid that links product requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them. The matrix can support linkages among many different types of objects, providing a mechanism for tracking product information through the project and product life cycles. Establishing these links manages scope creep by ensuring that only relevant product information is incorporated into the solution. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 261]

Question 44

Which of the following tools can enhance the visibility of traditional written project plans and other documents to provide a real-time overview of the project status?

Answer 44

Visual management tools

Some project teams use visual management tools, rather than written plans and other documents, to capture and oversee critical project elements. Making key project elements visible to the entire team provides a real-time overview of the project status. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 73]

Question 45

You are leading a complex project with a huge list of features. Due to schedule and budget constraints, you might not be able to develop all of the features. Which of the following would help in developing the feature set that maximizes business value?

Answer 45

MoSCoW analysis

MoSCoW stands for must have, should have, could have, and won’t have. Applying MoSCoW rules to project requirements ensure that the highest valued business requirements/features are developed first. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 234]

Question 46

You are leading a complex organizational transformation project. You have a wide range of stakeholders from active supporters to non-supportive and resistant stakeholders. You are now analyzing these stakeholders based on their influence and impact. What will be your strategy to manage the stakeholders classified as “high influence” but “low impact” stakeholders?

Answer 46

Maintain open communication with stakeholders in this category to leverage their support and advocacy; this group of decision-makers may not provide product requirements but may serve as product champions.

Stakeholders who are expected to adapt to the implemented solution once it is built are from the “low influence/high impact” group. Stakeholders that are just being monitored to ensure their behavior does not change over time are from the “low influence/low impact” group. Stakeholders who are decision-makers have “high influence”, and the stakeholders who are a critical source for requirements are “high impact”. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 119-120]

Question 47

The paint on the exotic cars that are manufactured in your plant is bubbling about a year after application. What would be the best tool for your team to use to find potential causes of the peeling paint?

Answer 47

Ishikawa Diagram

All the choices are tools and techniques in quality control; however, the best choice would be the Ishikawa or cause-and-effect diagram. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 293]

Question 48

A business analyst develops several models during a product life cycle. Many models, once developed, are often revisited, and updated. However, the development order might be different as some models can only be developed until more detailed and refined product information becomes available. From the list of given models, which one, in your opinion, should be developed after the others?

Answer 48

Data Flow Diagram

Data flow diagrams are usually created during the analysis phase. Entity relationship diagrams, process flows, and ecosystem maps are generally created first to identify the data objects, processes, and systems to show in a data flow diagram. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 188]

Question 49

The recently appointed CEO has come up with a great product idea. You have been tasked to conduct the financial feasibility of the product idea. The investment’s NPV is $100,000. Which of the following statements is correct?

Answer 49

This is a profitable investment for the organization.

The Return on Investment (ROI) is the percentage return on an initial investment disregarding the time value of money, however the NPV value cannot be used to calculate the ROI. The NPV is the difference of total inflows and outflows expressed in today’s value for money. If the NPV is a positive value, the investment decision is profitable. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 90]

Question 50

Which of the following is a valid business analysis technique that is typically used to depict the relationships that exist between stakeholders and the solution?

Answer 50

Onion diagram

An onion diagram is a technique that can be used to model relationships between different aspects of a subject. This is a valid business analysis technique while the rest of the choices are not. [The PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 121]