Certified Business Analysis Professional Elicitation 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following BEST describes the purpose of the 'Elicit Information' task in BABOK v3?
- To confirm that documented requirements are accurate and complete
- To draw out information from stakeholders and other sources using various techniques (Correct answer)
- To analyze and prioritize requirements after they have been gathered
- To create the stakeholder engagement plan
Correct answer: To draw out information from stakeholders and other sources using various techniques
'Elicit Information' is the task where the BA actively draws out information from stakeholders and other sources using chosen elicitation techniques.
Question 2: A BA is using the nominal group technique (NGT) during a requirements workshop. What is the DEFINING characteristic of NGT compared to regular brainstorming?
- Ideas are generated verbally in a round-robin format
- Ideas are generated silently and independently before group discussion and voting (Correct answer)
- A neutral facilitator generates all ideas for the group to rank
- Only subject matter experts are permitted to submit ideas
Correct answer: Ideas are generated silently and independently before group discussion and voting
NGT requires participants to silently write ideas independently before group sharing, which reduces social influence and encourages equal participation.
Question 3: When conducting interface analysis as an elicitation technique, the BA is primarily interested in:
- The graphical user interface color scheme
- The data and control flows between the system and its external entities (Correct answer)
- The coding standards used by the development team
- The testing approach for integration points
Correct answer: The data and control flows between the system and its external entities
Interface analysis examines how a system interacts with external actors, systems, or devices, capturing data exchanges and triggers at system boundaries.
Question 4: A business analyst plans to use benchmarking as an elicitation technique. What information does benchmarking PRIMARILY provide?
- Internal process performance metrics from historical data
- Comparison of an organization's practices or performance against industry peers or best practices (Correct answer)
- User stories from stakeholder interviews
- Gap analysis between current and future system states
Correct answer: Comparison of an organization's practices or performance against industry peers or best practices
Benchmarking compares the organization's current practices or performance to those of competitors or industry leaders to identify improvement opportunities.
Question 5: Which scenario BEST illustrates when collaborative games are an appropriate elicitation technique?
- Documenting compliance requirements from regulatory texts
- Unlocking creative thinking and surfacing tacit knowledge from reluctant stakeholders (Correct answer)
- Analyzing data flows between legacy systems
- Reviewing a draft business requirements document for completeness
Correct answer: Unlocking creative thinking and surfacing tacit knowledge from reluctant stakeholders
Collaborative games use structured play to lower defenses, stimulate creativity, and elicit tacit knowledge that traditional interviews might not uncover.
Question 6: A BA discovers that key stakeholders are unavailable for interviews due to time constraints. Which elicitation approach would BEST address this challenge?
- Delay the project until stakeholders become available
- Use asynchronous techniques such as surveys or collaborative online tools (Correct answer)
- Proceed with elicitation using only available stakeholders and omit others
- Hire a consultant to replace the unavailable stakeholders
Correct answer: Use asynchronous techniques such as surveys or collaborative online tools
Asynchronous techniques like surveys allow stakeholders to contribute on their own schedule, overcoming availability constraints without halting the project.
Question 7: In the context of elicitation, what is the PRIMARY risk of relying solely on interviews with senior managers to gather requirements?
- Interviews take too long to schedule
- Senior managers may lack detailed operational knowledge, leading to incomplete or inaccurate requirements (Correct answer)
- Interviews cannot be documented effectively
- Senior managers always provide redundant information
Correct answer: Senior managers may lack detailed operational knowledge, leading to incomplete or inaccurate requirements
Senior managers often have strategic vision but may not know day-to-day operational details, so requirements gathered only from them may miss critical user-level needs.
Certified Business Analysis Professional Elicitation 4
Which of the following BEST describes the purpose of the 'Elicit Information' task in BABOK v3?