PMI PBA Certification PMI-PBA Certification General 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which elicitation technique is most appropriate when a BA needs to understand the current state of a complex business process that has never been formally documented?
- Survey/Questionnaire
- Observation (Job Shadowing) (Correct answer)
- Benchmarking
- Brainstorming
Correct answer: Observation (Job Shadowing)
Observation (job shadowing) allows the BA to witness the actual process in real time, capturing tacit knowledge and undocumented steps that stakeholders may not think to articulate.
Question 2: In a predictive project lifecycle, business analysis activities are most concentrated in which phase?
- Execution
- Monitoring and Controlling
- Initiating and Planning (Correct answer)
- Closing
Correct answer: Initiating and Planning
In predictive (waterfall) lifecycles, requirements and business analysis work are front-loaded in the Initiating and Planning phases before development begins.
Question 3: A business analyst is creating a use case diagram. What does the relationship between an actor and a use case represent?
- A dependency between two system functions
- An interaction where the actor initiates or participates in the use case (Correct answer)
- A data flow between system components
- An inheritance relationship between two actors
Correct answer: An interaction where the actor initiates or participates in the use case
In a use case diagram, a line (association) between an actor and a use case shows that the actor initiates or participates in that particular system interaction.
Question 4: Which metric is most useful for assessing the quality of requirements documentation?
- Number of requirements per page
- Requirements defect density discovered during testing (Correct answer)
- Time taken to elicit requirements
- Number of stakeholders interviewed
Correct answer: Requirements defect density discovered during testing
Requirements defect density — the number of defects traced back to requirements errors per unit of requirements — directly measures how well requirements were specified.
Question 5: A sponsor requests a change to a baselined requirement late in the project. What should the BA do first?
- Implement the change immediately to satisfy the sponsor
- Perform impact analysis on scope, schedule, cost, and quality (Correct answer)
- Reject the change because the requirement is baselined
- Update the RTM and rebaseline without further review
Correct answer: Perform impact analysis on scope, schedule, cost, and quality
Before any baselined requirement can be changed, the BA must perform an impact analysis to understand the effect on project scope, schedule, cost, and quality.
Question 6: Prototyping is most valuable during requirements elicitation because it:
- Eliminates the need for formal requirements documentation
- Helps stakeholders visualize the solution and provide concrete feedback (Correct answer)
- Reduces the total project cost significantly
- Replaces user acceptance testing
Correct answer: Helps stakeholders visualize the solution and provide concrete feedback
Prototypes give stakeholders a tangible representation to react to, surfacing hidden needs and misunderstandings that abstract requirements descriptions often miss.
Question 7: Which statement best describes the purpose of a business analysis plan?
- It defines the project budget and schedule
- It outlines how business analysis activities will be performed, monitored, and controlled throughout the project (Correct answer)
- It lists all known requirements at project start
- It assigns technical tasks to the development team
Correct answer: It outlines how business analysis activities will be performed, monitored, and controlled throughout the project
The business analysis plan documents the approach, methods, tools, and activities the BA will use to perform and manage business analysis work across the project.
PMI PBA Certification PMI-PBA Certification General 3
Which elicitation technique is most appropriate when a BA needs to understand the current state of a complex business process that has never been formally documented?