Interview Questions and Answers

Ques 1. What is Business Analysis?

Business Analysis is the set of analysis, tasks, knowledge, and techniques required to identify business needs, requirements and determine solutions to enterprise business problems. The general definition is similar, the practices and procedures may vary in different industries.

In Information technology industry, solutions often include a systems development requirements, but may also consist of process or organizational change.

The business analysis may also be performed to get the output of the current state of an organization or business or project. In most cases, however, business analysis is performed to define and certifify solutions that meet business needs, goals, or objectives.

Ques 2. Who is a Business Analyst?

A business analyst is a person who analyzes a business domain or organization and documents its requirements, business, processes, or systems, assessing the business model or its integration with technology.

However, the titles vary based on different organizations such as analyst, business analyst, business systems analyst or maybe systems analyst.

Ques 3. Why a Business Analyst needed in an organization?

Organizations need business to grow and an analyst is required for the following reasons -

• To deploy a system in the organization there is a need to understand the basic structure and the process of the organization.
• To identify improvement areas and understand current problems in the target organization.
• To ensure that the end user, customer, and developers have a common understanding of the target organization.

Ques 4. What is SDLC?

SDLC stands for Software Development Life Cycle. Sometimes, it is also called System Development Life Cycle or Application Development Life Cycle. It is used to describe the process of planning, creating, testing, deploying and maintaining an information system.

The SDLC process includes mainly five phases:

• Planning
• Analysis
• Design
• Implementation
• Maintenance

Ques 5. What is a flowchart?

Flowcharts are used to display the complete flow of systems through symbols and diagrams. It shows that what information is needed in a process and where it is stored, and how it moves through a system to accomplish an objective.

A flowchart is used to solve the problem and get the ultimate solutions.

Ques 6. What is the importance of the flowchart?

The flowchart is essential because it makes the system easy to understand for the developers and all associated people.

The person can understand what is required to implement and how we can make it to reach the goal.

Ques 7. What are the different types of SDLC models?

See the answer here.

Ques 8. What are the most important skills which a business analyst should have?

• Good communication skills
• A good listener
• Quick learner
• Good analytical skills
• Problem-solving approach
• Tech Savvy
• Thinker beyond the box
• Innovative
• Written english

Ques 9. What is the difference between Risk and Issue?

Risk: Risk is something which you can forecast and can handle by formulating mitigation plans.

Issue: Risk which already happened is known as Issue and needs resolution in further. Once the problem has occurred, it is solved by contingency management or Issue management.

Ques 10. What are the key strengths of a business analyst you think of?

Business analysis is an evolving profession, so a business analyst must have the necessary skills for success. He must know technical as well as nontechnical issues.

Ques 11. What is SDD?

SDD stands for System Design Document.

It is a middle step dividing between business users and developers.

Ques 12. What is a use case diagram?

A use case diagram is a tool. It is used to explain the entire business environment and to understand all the business and functional use cases. It shows many related events or actions that are performed by a single actor.

Ques 13. What is UML modeling?

UML stands for Unified Modeling Language. It is a standard in the industry which is used for visualizing, documenting, and constructing the various component of a system.

Ques 14. What are the exceptions?

Exceptions are the unaccepted inputs, situations or result in an application.

Ques 15. What are the roles and responsibilities of a business analyst?

The primary role of a business analyst is to organize requirement and document in a clear format and make sure that the whole stakeholder understand the requirements and the coordination is proper between the client and development team.

Ques 16. What are the main required tools for a business analyst?

A business analyst generally uses rational tools, MS Word, MS Excel, Powerpoint, MS Project, Online UML diagram tools etc.

Ques 17. How is it different from other Professional carrier?

Business analysis is unique from financial analysis, project management, quality assurance, organizational development, testing, training, and documentation development. However, depending on the organization, a Business Analyst may perform some or all these related functions.

Business analysts who work solely on developing software systems may be called IT business analysts, technical business analysts, online business analysts, business systems analysts, or systems analysts.

Ques 18. What is the difference between Business analysis and Business Analyst?

A business analyst is a person who performs business analysis in an organization for analyzing the requirements of any product and understand end-to-end.

Ques 19. In your previous experience, what kind of documents you have created?

Interview response: such as, Functional Specification Documents, Technical Specification Documents, Business Requirements Documents, Use Case Diagram, etc.

Ques 20. What are the main challenges faced by a business analyst?

The following three challenges faced by a business analyst mostly:

• Change management: It is the most difficult challenge because it happens in real time. It occurs when you get the requirements from the client side and when development is started and client will come up with some changes or enhancements.
• Cross team management: It is due to conflict between team and individuals. It requires soft skills and smartness.
• Communication problems: Sometimes this type of problem can happen. You might be good at English speaking and understanding the English language, but sometimes you get difficulty to understand a different kind of English accent. For example, Americans speak English differently, the Romans speak English differently, the Chinese speak English differently, etc.

Ques 21. What is project management? Can you explain?

Project management is the process of planning, organizing, motivating and controlling resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve a specific goal. It is used to coordinate scientific and daily problems.

The primary challenge to project management is to meet all the project goals like time, quality, scope, budget, etc.

Ques 22. What are the diagrams mostly used by business analysts?

• Use case diagram
• Activity diagram
• Business domain model
• Data model
• Data flow diagram
• Feature matrix
• State diagram
• Sequence diagram
• Scope model etc.

Ques 23. What is INVEST?

INVEST stands for Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Sized Appropriately, and Testable. It is used to help project managers and technical team to deliver quality products/services.

Ques 24. Which model is better according to you, the Waterfall model or Spiral Model?

You should answer this question on the type and scope of the project. You can also say that a life cycle model is always selected on the basis of organizational culture and various other scenarios to develop the system.

Ques 25. What is SaaS?

SaaS refers to Software as a Service. It is related to cloud computing. It is different from other software bundles as you don't need this type of software to be installed on your machine. All you need is an Internet connection and a Web Browser to use it.

Ques 26. What steps are required to develop a product from an idea?

You have to perform: 

• Market Analysis
• Competitor Analysis
• SWOT Analysis
• Personas
• Strategic Vision and Feature Set
• Prioritize Features
• Use Cases
• SDLC
• Storyboards
• Test Cases
• Monitoring
• Scalability etc...

Ques 27. What do you mean by project deliverables?

These are the set of measurable services and products delivered to the end customer after project completion. It is the outcome of the project.

Ques 28. What is Pugh Matrix?

This technique is a standard part of the Six Sigma technique. It is also known as a problem or design matrix.

Pugh Matrix is used to decide the most optimal and alternate solutions.

Ques 29. In how many categories do business analysis techniques exist?

There are over 100 business techniques that a business analyst can select when facilitating the business. These are categorized as:

• strategic
• investigative
• analytical
• project management
• documentation
• modeling techniques

Ques 30. What is MoSCoW technique?

MoSCoW stands for Must or Should, Could or Would. A business analyst should implement this process by comparing every demand with other needs to prioritize the framework requirements. For example, is this requirement a must-have or should have?

Ques 31. What is SWOT technique?

SWOT or Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis is the most widely used technique in organizations for proper resource allocation.

A business analyst should be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of any corporate framework and translate them into opportunities and threats. 

Ques 32. How do you keep yourself updated about the latest business trends and knowledge?

With this business analyst interview question, the recruiter wants to evaluate if you are motivated enough to keep pace with emerging latest business developments and trends.

You can answer this question by including references to news and industry publications. You can also list the events and conferences you attend to connect with the business community.

Ques 33. Can you explain SRS and its key elements?

SRS stands for System or Software Requirements Specification. It is a set of documents describing the features of a software application or system. 

It includes various elements required by the stakeholders and customers to convince the end-users. 

The critical aspects of an SRS are:

• Scope of Work
• Non- functional and functional requirements
• Data Model
• Dependencies
• Assumptions and Constraints
• Acceptance Criteria

Ques 34. What is BRD? How is it different from SRS?

BRD stands for Business Requirement Document. It is a formal contract between the organization and the client for the development of the specific product.

• BRD is a functional specification of the software whereas SRS is both BA creates it after their direct interaction with the clients.
• BRD is created by a business analyst after their direct interaction with the clients, whereas SRS is designed based on technical expertise and needs.
• SRS is derived from BRD.

Ques 35. What do you understand by requirement? Can you differentiate between requirements and needs?

A requirement is a targeted solution and representation to achieve specific business objectives. Stakeholders evaluate the project based on set conditions/requirements before its implementation. All the elements are correctly documented for reference purposes.

Needs are the high-level representation of the terms and the result.

For example, you need to get a business analyst job, and the requirements to apply for this job are resume, educational background, and interview practice.

Ques 36. How can you say that a requirement is good or perfect?

A requirement is said to be perfect if it is SMART which stands for Specific, Measurable Attainable Relevant, and Timely.

The description of a condition should be specific, and all the parameters required for success should be measurable. All the needed resources should be attainable and relevant to the project. All the conditions/elements should be revealed timely.

Ques 37. What is the purpose of the Requirement Traceability Matrix?

It records all the requirements given by a client and ensures that all the necessities are met. 

Ques 38. What is business modelling?

Business modelling is a step- by -step approach for identifying the value proposition for operating the business. 

The key attributes of business modelling to develop a strategic plan for an organization are:

• Vision
• Mission
• Objectives
• Strategies
• Action plan

Ques 39. What do you understand by Gap Analysis, and what are the types of gaps that can occur during an analysis?

Gap Analysis means the analysis of the differences between the functionalities of an existing and the targeted system. The gap means changes that are required to accomplish the proposed result.

• Profit Gap is the change between the actual and estimated profit of a company.
• Manpower Gap is the change between the actual and required workforce strength in a company. 
• Performance Gap is the difference between the expected and actual performances.
• Market Gap is the variation between estimated actual sales.

Ques 40. Explain your typical work tactic for a project.

This question is one of the most crucial business analyst interview questions asked by a  manager to assess your work strategy, teamwork, and project management skills.

To answer this question, you can explain the general steps you follow with standard deliverables. For example, if you have managed the planning phase of a project, you could mention deliverables like a requirements management plan, work breakdown structure, or a communication plan.

Each business faces different situations and has distinct needs, but these fundamental steps are essential to achieve a task successfully:

• Firstly, you must clarify your role and determine the stakeholder's perspective in the project. You should define primary objectives along with reconciling the expectations conflict among stakeholders.
• Create a work plan listing steps, timelines, and deliverables.
• Define actionable and concise requirements.
• Ensure technical implementation, as many solutions require the support of IT teams.
• Create documentation and train end-users to implement the solution.
• Finally, assess the value of the project. Did it work, or any follow-ups are needed? 

You should focus on your experience to describe your skills and explain the customized tactics you use.