Business Analytics Interview Questions and Answers

Q1 :  What do you see as the key skills of a business analyst?
A : There are several skills required to be a successful Business Analyst. They are not just limited to your work. These skills even include your personal qualities and approach towards your clients. Some of the key skills expected from any Business Analyst are:
• Customer Service skills
• Strategic thinking approach
• Good communication skills
• Collaborating with other employees and colleagues
• Analytical skills
• Leadership skills
• Customer oriented
• Ability to drive and adapt to the changes.

Q2 : What is Business Analysis?
A : Business analysis can be described as the sequence of activities which are implemented in order to assess the business requirement needs and to fit the required solution so as to bring around the success of the organization and business. So, this sequence of a task is normally performed by a “Business Analyst” or BA.

Q3 : Why is a Business Analyst Position Vital in an Organization?
A : The position is important because a BA is a people’s person when it comes to the users and an IT person when it comes to the developers. He can communicate with the users in jargon that they are comfortable with and is able to understand them in order to collect solid business requirements. Simultaneously he can effectively communicate these requirements and support them with documentation for a developers benefit.

Q4 : What is the main quality of a Good Requirement?
A : The requirement should be good, clear, understandable, and consistent and should be easily verifiable.

Q5 : What are the best practices you follow while writing a use case?
A : The following are the best practices that are followed to write a clear and well-documented use case:
Capture both functional and non-functional requirements in a use case.
Include use case diagrams along with the use case.
Include the UI details/notes in the use case.

Q6 : Briefly Explain the Use Case Model?
A : This is a model used by software engineers to describe the business environment of a given project. It encompasses a series of workflow that is pertained to a particular actor.

Q7 : What are your goals as a Business Analyst?
A : I want to go for the professional Business Analysis certifications such as ISEB and in the near future will be striving for the PRINCE 2 certification also, which will enable me to grow in the Business Analyst career path.

Q8: What are different Software Methodologies?
A : SDLC, RUP, SEI-CMM, Six Sigma, SWOT, Cost-benefit analysis, Risk analysis, Gap analysis.

Q9 : How Can a BA be of Assistance to the Marketing Team?
A : The BA has a good share of both business knowledge and technical knowledge pertaining to a specific domain. So when it comes to marketing a product or procuring a project, he can give his views and prospect oriented perspective in a more acceptable manner to the customers. This makes him a good advantageous role in the marketing department of an organization.

Q10 : How does a Business Analyst play an important role in the initial stages of the Project?
A : To do it right the first time, has always been the motto for projects that are running under a tight schedule. To find out the right requirement thus is important. Translating the requirements from client to the developers is essential for the project to kick off on the right note. If this stage goes off-track, then you can be jeopardizing the future of the entire project.

Q11 : How can you say that a requirement is good or perfect?
A : The features and standards of a good requirement can be pointed out using a rule called SMART rule.
Specific – The description of a requirement should be perfect and specific enough to understand it.
Measurable – There are various parameters through which the requirement’s success can be measured.
Attainable – Resources should be able to achieve success with the requirement.
Relevant – States that what results are realistically achieved.
Timely – Requirements of a project should be revealed in time.

Q12 : What Is Rad?
A :

  • It is called rapid application development.
  • It is a development process that is used to build applications in smaller periods like 50-70 days i.e with some compromises.

Q13 :  What is a Use Case Model?
A :  Use Case model consists of a use case diagram supported by use case descriptions. The diagram shows the processes (Use Cases) in an area and the actors (job roles) associated with them. The Use Case Descriptions give a description / step-by-step account of the process.

Q14 : What is Etl?
A : Extraction Transformation and loading. Used mainly in data warehousing.

 Q15 : Where did you use Rational Rose & Requisite Pro?
A : When we created different modules of requirements for different functions, and finally collected all together and made a single requirement document, we used the requisite pro to do this. And we used rational rose to create the business model as a visual representation.

Q16 : What is the main quality of a Good Requirement?
A : The requirement should be good, clear, understandable, and consistent and should be easily verifiable.

Q17 : State The Different Software Methodologies?
A : The term software methodology, software development methodology, and software process mean almost the same thing in computer software or system development, i.e. the activities carried out by computer system engineers or computer software engineers in an attempt to procure particular computer software that serves a certain function or purpose. This includes the framework adopted, structure, plan as well as the control of the resources engaged in the software or system development process.

Q18 :  What is a User Story?
A : A User Story is a format for a requirement derived from Extreme Programming and widely used by Agile teams. It is a requirement stated from a user point of view, with the format:
As a <user role>, I want
<requirement> so that
<business value>

Q19 : Mention The Difference Between Business Process Improvement And Business Process Reengineering?
A : Business process improvement implies changing a step substep or any part of the process i.e. process is not completely changed In BPR we actually study the business and find out what is the best way I can carry out the process and change the whole way the process runs(business process redesign)

Q20 : What are the skills that a business analyst must possess?
A : A business analyst must possess fundamental skills such as elicitation skills, problem-solving skills, communication, and management skills. Alongside, he must have knowledge of IT skills, Software development understanding and domain knowledge regarding the domain he is working in.

Q21 :  What is the difference between re-insurance and insurance claim handling?
A : Such tricky questions can be asked with the sole purpose being too out the candidate in a big worry-cycle.
The answer the employer expecting is a direct answer which you as a probable candidate can mess up if you are tensed about it. Remember an interview is there just to know how confident you are.
Thus, it is very necessary that you are completely aware of the difference that exists between Insurance claim and re-insurance claims.
Basically, an insurance claim is something that is settled in the company whereas a re-insurance claim would be a thing that is settled by Reinsurance Company.

Q22 : What does INVEST stand for?
A : INVEST stands for Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Sized Appropriately and Testable. It is a way to check the effectiveness of User Stories by building them to these criteria. Bill Wake is the author to note in association with this.

Q23 : Who uses the Output produced by Business Analyst?
A : The output will be used by the Both IT and Non-IT People, as IT people use this document as key for the building of the application and Non-IT people use those document where they can see the prototype of their application.

Q24 : Mention The Difference Between Business Process Improvement And Business Process Reengineering?
A : Business process improvement implies changing a step substep or any part of the process i.e. process is not completely changed In BPR we actually study the business and find out what is the best way I can carry out the process and change the whole way the process runs(business process redesign).

Q25 : Mention the Components Of Uml?
A : UML uses many concepts from many sources.

  1. For Structure: Actor, Attribute, Class, Component, Interface, Object, Package.
  2. For Behavior: Activity, Event, Message, Method, Operation, State, use case.
  3. For Relationships: Aggregation, Association, Composition, Depends, Generalization (or Inheritance).
  4. Other Concepts: Stereotype. It qualifies the symbol it is attached to.