IIBA-ECBA Study Guide "Understands" -
Chapter 4,5,7 Questions with Answers
Understand the Scope of Elicitation - ANSWER To determine the scope of
elicitation BA consider:
• business domain,
• overall corporate culture and environment,
• stakeholder locations,
• stakeholders who are involved and their group dynamics,
• expected outputs the elicitation activities will feed,
• skills of the business analysis practitioner,
• other elicitation activities planned to complement this one,
• strategy or solution approach,
• scope of future solution, and
• possible sources of the business analysis information that might feed into
the specific elicitation activity.
Understanding the scope of the elicitation activity allows business analysts to
respond if the activity strays from the intended scope. It also allows them to
recognize if people and materials are not available in time, and when the activity
is complete.
Select Elicitation Techniques - ANSWER The
techniques used depend on cost and time constraints, the types of business
analysis information sources and their access, the culture of the organization, and
the desired outcomes. The business analyst may also factor in the needs of the
,stakeholders, their availability, and their location (co-located or dispersed).
Choosing the right techniques and ensuring each technique is performed
correctly is extremely important to the success of the elicitation activity.
BA consider:
• techniques commonly used in similar initiatives,
• techniques specifically suited to the situation, and
• the tasks needed to prepare, execute, and complete each technique.
Secure Supporting Material - ANSWER Business analysts identify sources of
information that are needed to conduct the
elicitation activity. There might be a great deal of information needed to conduct
elicitation including people, systems, historical data, materials and documents.
Documents could include existing system documents, relevant business rules,
organizational polices, regulations, and contracts. Supporting materials might
also take the form of outputs of analysis work, such as draft versions of analysis
models.
Prepare Stakeholders - ANSWER Business analysts may need to educate
stakeholders on how an elicitation
technique works or what information is needed. It may be helpful to explain an
elicitation technique to stakeholders not involved in the activity to help them
understand the validity and relevance of the information elicited. Stakeholders
may be unresponsive or challenging during an elicitation activity if they feel that it
is not aligned to their individual objectives, don't understand the purpose, or are
confused about the process. In preparing for elicitation, the business analyst
, should ensure that there is buy-in from all necessary stakeholders.
Business analysts may also prepare stakeholders by requesting that they review
supporting materials prior to the elicitation activity in order to make it as effective
as possible. An agenda might be provided in advance to support stakeholders in
coming prepared to the activity with the necessary frame of mind and
information.
Eliciting through research or exploration may be a solo activity for the business
analyst and not require preparing other stakeholders.
Guide Elicitation Activity - ANSWER Understanding the proposed
representations of business analysis information,
which were defined in planning, helps ensure that the elicitation activities are
focused on producing the intended information at the desired level of detail. This
applies to each instance of an elicitation activity throughout a change and may
vary based on the activity. BA consider:
• the elicitation activity goals and agenda,
• scope of the change,
• what forms of output the activity will generate,
• what other representations the activity results will support,
• how the output integrates into what is already known,
• who provides the information,
• who will use the information, and
• how the information will be used.
While most of these are considered when planning for the elicitation activity, they
are also all important while performing the