Article: The Business Analyst Career Road Map
The Business Analyst Career Road Map from International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) maps business analysis opportunities for those wishing to enter this growing profession. It also provides direction for business analysts looking for senior positions, and includes the emerging roles in business architecture and business intelligence, roles which are in high demand.
The BA Career Road Map recognizes experience outside of the realm of business analysis. If you have experience as a subject matter expert (e.g. insurance, finance, health care), or, software testing, or project management or sales—just to name a few—then your transferable skills are an important foundation for business analysis.
Once you have a few years of experience in business analysis, agile projects, systems analysis, and are Certification of Competency in Business Analysis™ (CCBA®) certified, moving to a senior role is definitely a good option. If you currently hold a senior position and the Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) designation, there are opportunities for skill and career development.
Your BA career is a journey, with many entry and exit points. Identify your current position from the many role families listed; keep in mind that you probably have expertise in more than one family. For example, a functional analyst can also have process analysis experience, therefore your options for career growth have multiple entry and exit points. Then find out more about the role(s) by visiting the Business Analyst Career Road Map page under the “Careers” tab at www.IIBA.org
Functional Business Analyst Examples
Our innovative and growing company is looking for a functional business analyst. We appreciate you taking the time to review the list of qualifications and to apply for the position. If you don’t fill all of the qualifications, you may still be considered depending on your level of experience.
- Defining testing requirements with the Quality Assurance and Testing team with the clients
- Management experience with the ability to lead and coach
- Excellent communication skills with fluency in English (written and verbal)
- Analytical with problem solving experience
- Able to work in virtual teams in a matrixed organisation
- Prior work experience as a Business Analyst/Functional Analyst in a financial services firm
- Strong time management skills, with the ability to multi-task and prioritise multiple initiatives
- Equities, listed derivatives, securities lending or prime brokerage experience and domain knowledge (beneficial)
- A Bachelors degree in business, economics, engineering or science, or the equivalent experience or qualifications
- Financial services competencies including equity finance, equity swap trade processing, or risk management technology, gained in a equity finance trading environment
Scenario-based/Role-specific Business Analyst Interview Questions
21. Explain your typical work tactic for a project?
To answer this question, you can explain the general steps you follow with standard deliverables. For example, if you have managed the planning phase of a project, you could mention deliverables like a requirements management plan, work breakdown structure, or a communication plan.
22. What documents are needed by a business analyst? Which documents have you prepared in your previous works?
With this question, the hiring manager wants to understand if you have used several types of documents and assess your capability of delivering both business and technical specifications.
23. What is the requirement elicitation? Have you ever participated in these elicitation meetings?
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24. What are the various kinds of diagrams you use as a business analyst? How do they impact the work?
Your hiring manager may ask this role specific question to ensure that you understand standard business analysis documents and how to apply them to a client’s case. You must list your past experiences and examples to validate your credibility and value.
These diagrams are beneficial in visualizing the functional requirements of a system and finalizing development priorities. They also identify any external/internal factors that should be considered as they can influence the project.
25. What is the exception and alternate flow in a use-case diagram? How are they different from basic flow?
26. What are personas, and how they are useful in user-centred design methodology?
Personas are created in place of real users to understand their behavioral patterns in different scenarios. In user-centered design methodology, a system is developed, keeping the viewpoint of end-users in mind. Personas help create such systems.
27. Define analytical reporting.
You can start your answer by a brief definition of analytical reporting. It is a type of business reporting that offers data analysis, information, and recommendations. The recommendations are the critical attributes that make it different from informational reporting.
After that, you can describe the impact your analytical reporting made in previous roles. Focus on showing how you can create recommendations from data sources and demonstrate your analytical skills.
28. If there are multiple stakeholders in a project, how do you influence them? Also, explain how you would work with a difficult stakeholder?
With this type of business analyst interview questions, the recruiter is trying to understand how you implement your various competencies, especially communication, negotiation, problem-solving, decision making, influencing, and collaboration skills.
As a business analyst, you will deal with various people at different positions with distinct personalities. This question is crucial as it conveys whether you can successfully navigate interactions with different stakeholders or not.
Dealing with difficult stakeholders is a significant responsibility for any business analyst. Use the STAR method to explain the situation you were dealing with, what your task or role was in the case. Outline the action you took to resolve the problem. Finally, describe the result & learnings of your actions.
29. How can you manage the post-implementation and pre-implementation problems of a project?
You can answer this by briefly explaining both the problems. The problems that declare their presence before the project implementation are called pre-implementation problems. The difficulties arising after the project implementation are called post-implementation problems, and most of the concerns fall in this category.
30. During the development of a system, how do you manage frequently changing customers’ requirements?
It is one of the most frequently asked business analytic interview questions. The first task of a business analyst is to draft a document stating the number of changes that are allowed, and after a certain point, no amendments will be accepted. It is vital to get this document signed by the user.
In case the change required is accepted, make sure to note down all the changes and find out their overall impact on the project. Calculate the timeline, cost, and resources needed for this change.
Sources:
https://www.iiba.org/professional-development/knowledge-centre/articles/roles-ba-career-road-map/
https://www.velvetjobs.com/job-descriptions/functional-business-analyst
https://www.simplilearn.com/business-analyst-interview-questions-article