Requirements Elicitation & Documentation Flashcards

A business analyst is working with stakeholders who have difficulty articulating their needs verbally. Which elicitation technique is MOST appropriate to help surface tacit knowledge?

Answer: Observation (job shadowing)

Observation allows the BA to watch stakeholders perform their actual work, surfacing tacit knowledge that stakeholders cannot easily verbalize.

During a JAD (Joint Application Design) session, participants begin arguing about competing solutions rather than defining requirements. What should the facilitator do FIRST?

Answer: Refocus participants on defining the business problem before discussing solutions

The facilitator should redirect participants back to the problem statement, since requirements elicitation must precede solution design.

Which elicitation technique is BEST suited for gathering requirements from a geographically dispersed group of 200+ end users?

Answer: Surveys/questionnaires

Surveys/questionnaires are the most scalable technique for gathering input from large, distributed user populations efficiently.

A BA is analyzing an existing legacy system to understand undocumented business rules. Which elicitation technique is MOST applicable?

Answer: Document analysis

Document analysis involves reviewing existing artifacts—including legacy systems, reports, and logs—to extract embedded business rules.

What is the PRIMARY difference between a focus group and a workshop in requirements elicitation?

Answer: Focus groups gather attitudinal data from a representative sample; workshops are structured work sessions aimed at producing deliverables

Focus groups collect opinions and attitudes from a representative sample, while workshops are structured collaborative sessions designed to produce specific elicitation outputs.

A BA conducting interviews notices that stakeholders give different answers to the same question. What is the BEST course of action?

Answer: Document the variance and schedule a reconciliation session to resolve conflicting views

Conflicting stakeholder answers reveal ambiguity or differing perspectives that must be documented and then reconciled through further elicitation or prioritization.

When using prototyping as an elicitation technique, what is a key risk the BA must manage?

Answer: Stakeholders may mistake the prototype for the final product and resist changes

A major risk of prototyping is that stakeholders become attached to the prototype and resist changes, believing it represents the committed solution.