Business Analysis Frameworks
What this domain tests
Business analysis bridges stakeholder needs and solution delivery. Candidates must understand elicitation techniques (interviews, workshops, observation, surveys, document analysis), requirements classification (business, stakeholder, solution, functional, non-functional, transition), and traceability from need to requirement to test. Know the BABOK-style knowledge areas conceptually: planning, elicitation, requirements lifecycle management, strategy analysis, and solution evaluation.
Concepts to master
- Needs vs. wants vs. requirements: a need is a problem or opportunity; a requirement is a condition the solution must satisfy.
- Functional (what the system does) vs. non-functional (performance, security, usability) requirements.
- Traceability matrix: links requirements to design, build, and test - essential for impact analysis and scope control.
- Prioritization techniques such as MoSCoW and value-based ranking.
- Verification (built correctly) vs. validation (built the right thing).
- Root cause analysis (e.g., five whys, fishbone) before proposing solutions.
Traps in questions
Questions often present a stakeholder complaint and offer “build the requested feature” as a distractor. The disciplined answer is to elicit and analyze the underlying need first. Another trap: treating a non-functional requirement (e.g., “must respond in under two seconds”) as functional. Also watch for skipping traceability - if a requirement changes, you need the matrix to find affected tests and designs.
Worked example
A stakeholder asks for a new report. Before designing it, ask what decision the report supports. If the real need is faster month-end review, the requirement may be a dashboard with real-time data - not a static report. Elicit, confirm the need, then write a testable requirement with acceptance criteria.