Interview Questions for Business Analysts and Systems Analysts


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INTERVIEW QUESTION:

What is Document Analysis?

Posted by Chris Adams

Article Rating // 102739 Views // 1 Additional Answers & Comments

Categories: Business Analysis, Systems Analysis, Elicitation (BABOK KA)

ANSWER

Document Analysis is a technique used to gather requirements during the requirements elicitation phase of a project.  It describes the act of reviewing the existing documentation of comparable business processes or systems in order to extract pieces of information that are relevant to the current project, and therefore should be consider projects requirements.

Business analysts can elicit requirements in many ways. Eliciting requirements from stakeholders using questionnaires, interviews, or facilitating sessions is quite common.  However document analysis is particularly valuable when replacing one or more existing systems with a new system that will offer increased functionality or a better overall user experience.  Existing documentation can be scoured to gain an understanding of key functions, business rules, business entities, and business entity attributes.  Document analysis may also be necessary when stakeholders are not available to offer insight into existing business processes or systems.

Here is a list of potential documents that an analyst should consider reviewing based on their particular project type.

  • Benchmarking studies
  • Business plans
  • Business process and procedure documentation
  • Company memos
  • Competing product literature and reviews
  • Customer contracts
  • Customer suggestions
  • Requests for proposals
  • System defect reports
  • System specifications (of existing systems)
  • Training guides
  • Vision documents for related projects
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Chris Adams
LinkedIn Profile

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ADDITIONAL ANSWERS / COMMENTS

SLarkin posted on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 4:19 PM
Add to your list of documents for doc analysis company policy and procedure documents where they exist.
SLarkin
Only registered users may post comments.

Do your homework prior to the business analysis interview!

Having an idea of the type of questions you might be asked during a business analyst interview will not only give you confidence but it will also help you to formulate your thoughts and to be better prepared to answer the interview questions you might get during the interview for a business analyst position.  Of course, just memorizing a list of business analyst interview questions will not make you a great business analyst but it might just help you get that next job.

 



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