Requirements for Data Analysis

Question 1

Name the four types of stakeholder within the stakeholder matrix

Answer 1

Technical people
Direct management
General/casual users
Influential Stakeholders

Question 2

Describe ‘technical people’ (stakeholder matrix)

Answer 2

Relevant requirements i.e colleagues on the same level
Lower Influence
Keep satisfied (regular meetings)

Question 3

Describe ‘general/casual users’ (stakeholder matrix)

Answer 3

Monitor with occasional updates
i.e general public
Occasional engagement

Question 4

Describe ‘Direct Management’ (stakeholder matrix)

Answer 4

Direct influence on the project

Requires regular updates and quick adoption of requirements i.e senior managers

Question 5

Describe ‘Influential stakeholders’ (stakeholder matrix)

Answer 5

Can directly affect the future of the project i.e MDs, CEOs, shareholders
Requirements not directly relevant

Question 6

Describe ‘Importance’ in relation to the stakeholder matrix

Answer 6

Relates to the importance that the details of the project must conform to their request
Someone else’s interest in the details

Question 7

Describe ‘Influence’ in relation to the stakeholder matrix

Answer 7

The sway that the person has over the overall running and general outcome of the project.

Question 8

Describe ‘business problems’

Answer 8

Business problems are current or long term challenges and issues faced by a business. This may prevent a business from executing strategy and achieving goals.

Question 9

Name two negatives of using data alone to solve business problems

Answer 9

1) business problems are often complex, with numerous possible solutions
2) Data is too ‘low-level’ to provide direct answers.

Question 10

Name for the four stages in analysing a business problem

Answer 10

1) Generate a hypothesis based on the overall problem
2) Confirm whether the hypothesis is what they want reviewing
3) Gather data
4) Complete the analysis, then refer back to the business problem to evaluate whether you’ve found a solution

Question 11

Define ‘causal analysis’

Answer 11

Causal analysis is the field of experimental design and statistics pertaining to establishing cause and effect (are there any underlying factors)

Question 12

State the two different types of requirements for data analysis and explain them

Answer 12

1) General - A set of policies and standards that the analyst and the output must adhere to
2) Technical - The processes and operations you must follow during the project - relating to what specific IT systems are used, for example.

Question 13

Define ‘policy’ in the context of data analysis requirements

Answer 13

A set of rules enforced by management that guide the overall direction of the business

Question 14

Define ‘standard’ in the context of data analysis requirements

Answer 14

Mandatory actions or rules that give formal policies support and directions. Need to be quantifiable. i.e 99.5% of complaints must be dealt within 24hr

Question 15

Define ‘procedures’ in the context of data analysis requirements

Answer 15

Detailed step by step instructions to achieve a given goal or mandate. Standardised recipes

Question 16

Define ‘guidelines’ in the context of data analysis requirements

Answer 16

Helpful advice to achieve something. Are negotiable. Negotiable is good as it can result in better methods/ways being developed/discovered.

Question 17

Define ‘requirements elicitation’

Answer 17

The practice of collecting the requirements of a system from users, customers and other stakeholders.

Question 18

Define ‘explicit’ knowledge

Answer 18

Codified Knowledge found in documents, databases etc. IT is essential for transfer and storage

Question 19

Define ‘tacit’ knowledge

Answer 19

Experienced based knowledge. Knowledge for day to day learning. Derived from OTJ training.

Question 20

Describe the difference between an ‘As-is’ model and a ‘To-Be’ model

Answer 20

An ‘As-is’ model captures an accurate visual picture of an organisation’s process, whereas a ‘To-Be’ model models the impact of any future process changes before you make them.

Question 21

Describe a ‘Use-case’ diagram

Answer 21

A model showing the interaction a customer has with a system

Question 22

Describe a ‘Context’ diagram

Answer 22

A model showing the system we’re building in the context of everything around it. How does it interact with everything else?

Question 23

Describe a ‘Functional Decomposition’

Answer 23

A model of the system you’ve designed, broken down into different bits of code/programming that make up the model.

Question 24

Describe a ‘Sequence Diagram (Swim flow diagram)’

Answer 24

Shows how information is being passed from one area to the next in terms of time.

Question 25

Describe the difference between data validation and data verification

Answer 25

Data validation is the process of checking that data makes sense when it goes into a database. I.e, an email address has to contain an ‘@’.

Data verification is checking that the provided data is actually correct. I.e, if you set up a new online account, you may get an email to confirm your email address.