BABOK Stakeholder Engagement 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to BABOK v3, how is a stakeholder defined?
- Anyone who provides financial resources for a project
- A group or individual who has an interest in, or is affected by, the outcome of a change (Correct answer)
- Only the project manager and sponsoring executive
- External parties who formally review and sign off on business requirements
Correct answer: A group or individual who has an interest in, or is affected by, the outcome of a change
BABOK v3 defines a stakeholder as any group or individual with an interest in or who is affected by the outcome of a change, encompassing a broad range of parties.
Question 2: Which stakeholder classification technique uses two axes — power and interest — to help business analysts prioritize engagement efforts?
- RACI matrix
- Stakeholder onion diagram
- Power/interest grid (Correct answer)
- Requirements traceability matrix
Correct answer: Power/interest grid
The power/interest grid plots stakeholders on axes of power (influence) and interest (engagement level) to determine appropriate engagement strategies for each group.
Question 3: What is the primary goal of stakeholder collaboration as described in BABOK?
- To reduce the total number of stakeholders involved in analysis activities
- To ensure stakeholders share knowledge and work together toward achieving a common goal (Correct answer)
- To document all stakeholder objections for compliance purposes
- To assign formal project tasks and accountability to each stakeholder
Correct answer: To ensure stakeholders share knowledge and work together toward achieving a common goal
BABOK emphasizes that stakeholder collaboration ensures shared understanding and coordinated effort so that everyone works toward the same business objective.
Question 4: According to BABOK, which stakeholder role is typically responsible for providing financial resources and formally approving the business case?
- End User
- Project Manager
- Sponsor (Correct answer)
- Subject Matter Expert
Correct answer: Sponsor
The Sponsor role in BABOK is accountable for authorizing and funding the business analysis work, and for championing the change initiative.
Question 5: What does the stakeholder onion diagram visually represent in business analysis?
- The hierarchy of requirements from business to solution level
- The layers of stakeholder groups by their proximity and relationship to the solution (Correct answer)
- The timeline of stakeholder engagement throughout a project
- The risk levels associated with each stakeholder group
Correct answer: The layers of stakeholder groups by their proximity and relationship to the solution
The onion diagram places the core solution at the center and radiates outward through concentric rings showing stakeholder groups from most direct to most peripheral involvement.
Question 6: In BABOK, which stakeholder role represents an authority that defines or enforces requirements that the solution must comply with, such as a government body?
- Sponsor
- Project Manager
- Customer
- Regulator (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Regulator
The Regulator role in BABOK refers to entities such as government agencies or industry bodies that impose compliance requirements the solution must satisfy.
Question 7: What is the primary purpose of a stakeholder register in business analysis?
- To track financial transactions and payments made to stakeholders
- To document stakeholder identification, roles, interests, influence levels, and communication needs (Correct answer)
- To record and escalate stakeholder complaints and disputes
- To assign project tasks and due dates to each stakeholder group
Correct answer: To document stakeholder identification, roles, interests, influence levels, and communication needs
A stakeholder register serves as a central reference document capturing who the stakeholders are, their roles, their stakes in the project, and how they should be engaged and communicated with.
BABOK Stakeholder Engagement 1
According to BABOK v3, how is a stakeholder defined?