Certified Business Analysis Professional Elicitation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A stakeholder is unable to articulate their needs but can easily identify problems with existing solutions. Which elicitation technique is MOST effective in this scenario?
- Structured interviews
- Benchmarking and market analysis
- Prototyping (Correct answer)
- Survey
Correct answer: Prototyping
Prototyping gives stakeholders a tangible artifact to react to, making it easier to elicit needs from people who struggle to describe requirements abstractly.
Question 2: In BABOK, which element is NOT typically part of the preparation for an elicitation activity?
- Scheduling the session logistics
- Identifying questions to ask
- Analyzing and confirming elicitation results (Correct answer)
- Selecting the appropriate elicitation technique
Correct answer: Analyzing and confirming elicitation results
Analyzing and confirming elicitation results occurs after the elicitation activity, not during preparation.
Question 3: A BA discovers that stakeholders in a workshop are dominating discussion while others remain silent. What is the BEST facilitation intervention?
- End the workshop and reschedule with different stakeholders
- Use round-robin questioning or anonymous techniques like nominal group technique (Correct answer)
- Allow dominant stakeholders to continue as they likely have the most expertise
- Document only the vocal stakeholders' requirements
Correct answer: Use round-robin questioning or anonymous techniques like nominal group technique
Round-robin questioning and nominal group technique ensure all participants contribute, preventing groupthink and capturing diverse perspectives.
Question 4: Which elicitation technique is MOST appropriate when requirements must be derived from regulatory documents, legacy system manuals, and industry standards?
- Brainstorming
- Document analysis (Correct answer)
- Interface analysis
- Focus group
Correct answer: Document analysis
Document analysis systematically reviews existing written materials to extract requirements without requiring stakeholder availability.
Question 5: A BA wants to understand the sequence of steps a customer service agent performs when handling a complaint. Which elicitation technique provides the RICHEST contextual data?
- Survey
- Observation/job shadowing (Correct answer)
- Brainstorming
- Benchmarking
Correct answer: Observation/job shadowing
Observation or job shadowing captures the actual process as it happens, revealing workarounds and nuances that stakeholders may not mention in interviews.
Question 6: When facilitating a brainstorming session, a BA should initially:
- Evaluate each idea as it is raised to keep focus
- Encourage quantity of ideas without judgment before evaluating them (Correct answer)
- Limit participation to subject matter experts only
- Document only ideas that are technically feasible
Correct answer: Encourage quantity of ideas without judgment before evaluating them
Classic brainstorming defers judgment to encourage free-flowing idea generation; evaluation happens in a subsequent phase.
Question 7: A BA conducts interviews and finds that two senior stakeholders provide contradictory requirements. What is the NEXT best step?
- Accept the requirement from the stakeholder with higher authority
- Document both versions and escalate to the project sponsor immediately
- Conduct a follow-up session to surface the underlying business need behind each position (Correct answer)
- Ignore the conflict and let developers decide
Correct answer: Conduct a follow-up session to surface the underlying business need behind each position
Understanding the root business need behind each position often reveals that requirements can be reconciled or that the conflict is based on assumptions rather than true needs.
Certified Business Analysis Professional Elicitation 3
A stakeholder is unable to articulate their needs but can easily identify problems with existing solutions.
Which elicitation technique is MOST effective in this scenario?