PMI PMI-PBA - PMI Professional in Business Analysis

A requirements baseline is a set of approved requirements that serves as the basis for further development and validation. A requirements baseline approval form is a document that records the formal acceptance of the requirements baseline by the customer and other stakeholders. Creating a requirements baseline approval form for the customer to review and approve is the best action to take to establish an approved requirements baseline with the customer. The other actions are not sufficient or appropriate for this purpose. A requirements traceability matrix is a tool that links the requirements to their sources, objectives, and deliverables, but it does not record the approval of the requirements. Requesting that the customer create a baseline of the requirements in the contract specification is not a proactive or collaborative approach. Performing a variance analysis on the design specification and reporting the results to the customer is not relevant to establishing an approved requirements baseline. References: PMI-PBA® Examination Content Outline, page 13; PMI-PBA® Reference List, page 1, BABOK® Guide v3, page 39.

According to the PMI Guide to Business Analysis, a Pareto analysis is a tool that helps to prioritize problems or causes based on their frequency or impact. It is based on the Pareto principle, which states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. A Pareto analysis can help to identify the high-priority changes needed to improve a service by showing which problems or causes account for most of the complaints or dissatisfaction. A work breakdown structure analysis, a flowchart, and a cause-and-effect diagram are other tools that can help to analyze a service, but they do not necessarily help to prioritize the changes needed to improve it. References: PMI Guide to Business Analysis, page 145-146.

 Stakeholder analysis is a process of identifying and analyzing the stakeholders who have an interest or influence on the project and its outcomes. Stakeholder analysis helps to ensure that the requirements are elicited from all relevant sources and that the stakeholders are appropriately engaged throughout the project. By identifying the user from a department that did not participate in the requirements analysis as a stakeholder, the business analyst could have avoided the situation of logging a defect during user acceptance testing and minimized the impact on the project. Interviewing the user to understand how the user’s work would be impacted, involving the user in the development and sign-off of the business requirements, and giving the user the opportunity to review the user acceptance test scripts are possible actions that could be taken after identifying the user as a stakeholder, but they are not sufficient to avoid the situation and minimize the impact on the project. References: PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® Examination Content Outline1, page 9; Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide2, page 55.

Before beginning requirements elicitation, the business analyst should document how the relevant systems interact. This is an important activity that helps to understand the current state of the systems, their interfaces, dependencies, and data flows. It also helps to identify the gaps, issues, and opportunities for improvement in the systems. Documenting how the systems interact can be done using various techniques, such as system context diagrams, data flow diagrams, or interface analysis12.

Preparing the requirements traceability matrix, defining how the solution will be evaluated, and drafting a high-level data model are not activities that should be initiated before beginning requirements elicitation. These activities are part of the analysis, validation, and management of the requirements, and they should be done after the requirements have been elicited12.

References: 1 PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® Examination Content Outline, page 10-11; 2 Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide, page 131-132

Root cause analysis is a technique that involves identifying and analyzing the underlying causes of a problem or an issue. Root cause analysis can help the business analyst to determine how the selection criteria requirement was missed, and to prevent similar errors from occurring in the future. Root cause analysis can be done using various tools, such as fishbone diagram and the Five Whys. A fishbone diagram is a graphical tool that organizes the possible causes of a problem into categories, such as people, process, technology, environment, etc. A fishbone diagram can help the business analyst to visualize the relationships between the causes and the effects, and to identify the most likely root causes. The Five Whys is a questioning technique that involves asking “why” repeatedly until the root cause of a problem is revealed. The Five Whys can help the business analyst to drill down into the details of the problem, and to uncover the underlying factors and assumptions that led to the missed requirement. References: PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® Examination Content Outline1, page 21; Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide2, page 101.

 According to the PMI Professional in Business Analysis objectives and content, a vision/scope document is a document that describes the high-level vision, scope, and objectives of a project or initiative. It also defines the key stakeholders, business needs, expected benefits, assumptions, constraints, and risks. A vision/scope document can help to align the stakeholders’ views of organizational improvement with the project’s purpose and direction. It can also help to establish a common understanding and agreement among the stakeholders, and provide a basis for planning and prioritizing the requirements. References:

PMI Professional in Business Analysis objectives and content: PMI-PBA Certification

PMI Professional in Business Analysis reference list: PBA Reference List

PMI Professional in Business Analysis study guide: Study.com

According to the PMI Professional in Business Analysis objectives and content, a critical design review is a formal review that occurs after the completion of the design phase of a project. The purpose of a critical design review is to verify that the design specification meets the requirements and that the solution is feasible, cost-effective, and acceptable to the customer. A critical design review can help to establish an approved requirements baseline, which is a set of agreed-upon requirements that serves as a reference for further development and testing activities. References:

PMI Professional in Business Analysis objectives and content: PMI-PBA Certification

PMI Professional in Business Analysis reference list: PBA Reference List

PMI Professional in Business Analysis study guide: PMI.com

Power/interest grid is a technique that involves plotting the stakeholders on a matrix based on their level of power and interest in the project. Power/interest grid can help the business analyst to identify and categorize the stakeholders during the initial phase of a project by showing how influential and engaged each stakeholder is. Power/interest grid can also help to determine the appropriate communication and engagement strategy for each stakeholder group. References: = PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA) ® Examination Content Outline (2019), page 9; Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide (2015), page 61.

Functional specifications are a type of requirements documentation that describes what the system or product should do in terms of functions, features, behaviors, inputs, outputs, etc. Functional specifications can help the business analyst to document the requirements in a way that is clearly understood by the development team and provides enough information to check if the requirement has been met. Functional specifications can also include acceptance criteria, test cases, data models, user interface designs, etc. References: = PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® Examination Content Outline (2019), page 10; Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide (2015), page 39.

 Time-boxing is a prioritization technique that involves assigning a fixed amount of time or resource to each requirement or deliverable, and delivering as much value as possible within that time or resource constraint. Time-boxing is useful when the project has a tight timeline or budget, and the stakeholders have too many requirements for the delivery window. Time-boxing helps to focus on the most important and valuable requirements, and to manage the expectations and scope of the stakeholders. References: PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® Examination Content Outline1, page 18; Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide2, page 97.