Business Analyst Interview Questions

1. Who is a business analyst?

A business analyst is a person who performs the business analysis of the organization and business. He designs technical systems, business models, and processes. He also helps to identify strategic business needs to attain the business objective. A BA is the key link to help business implement and make use of technology effectively.

Video : Business Analyst Interview Questions and Answers

2. What are the main responsibilities of a business analyst?

The responsibilities of a business analyst depend on the project being worked on. Some of the major ones are:

i.) Ensure a clear understanding of data requirement and prepare project plans.

ii.) Check if any project requires any special check and provide project assistance.

iii.) Improve report quality.

iv.) Work closely with all the stakeholders in the project.

v.) Quality improvement of products and services delivered by technology.

vi.) Coordinate between technology and business.

vii.) Act as support system during implementation.

viii.) Prepare training material and support implementation material.

3. As a business analyst, do you feel you have to carry the burden of expectation all the time? How will you handle it?

A Business Analyst has to collaborate with different teams. They have to work with the account managers, project managers, developers and testers, clients, etc. A client would expect a business analyst to add value to the project. The developers would want a detailed explanation about the requirement of the project. Hence at times, business analyst does feel the burden of expectation.



Here are a few ways which help the business analyst fulfill the expectation of different team members:

i.) Know your clients business. This will help you to make good decisions and will also help you contribute to the client's goals.

ii.) Try and get all the first hand information about the client form the sales team.

iii.) Know the expectations well. As an analyst, you should be aware of the deliverables and the boundary of your work. Get proper information about the project through the statement of work.

iv.) Engage and interact with your internal teams regularly. Make sure you know their concerns, their expectations, etc. They should be aware of what is expected of them and they also have the correct and updated information about the project.

v.) Explain to all the vendors their role in the project from the very beginning. Do not hesitate to ask for information and make sure you plan your work accordingly.

vi.) Understand the requirement of the project, the objective of the project, the need for the project and the needs of the customers.

4. What are the different IT / technical skills for a Business Analyst to possess?

As a business analyst, you are not required to be an expert in programming language however you need to be comfortable with certain software tools. Some of the tools and software concepts a business analyst is required to be aware are as follows:

i.) Reporting tools

ii.) Testing tools: Business analyst act also work as testers. So, they are expected to possess a good knowledge of testing tools that help in the release of the system/allocation.

iii.) MS Office: Business Analyst should be proficient with MS office tools such as MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, and MS Word. These tools help in the daily operation of work.

iv.) Mind Map: To explore details about a particular situation.

v.) Prototyping tools: As an analyst, you are required to evaluate and also look for feedback on a requirement. Prototyping tools help a lot. The favorite prototyping tool widely used is Pencil.

vi.) Requirements management tools: There are quite a few requirement management tools available in the market. They help in managing requirements or the needs of the product.

vii.) BPM Tools: Help in visual representation to communicate the process flow.

viii.) Basic knowledge about OOP, Database structure

ix.) Modeling tools: To draw diagrams. The popular ones are YUML.ME, Architect enterprise, etc.

5. What do you understand by "exceptions"?

Exceptions are the unexpected situations or results thrown by an application.

6. What do FRD and SRD stand for?

i.) FRD - Functional Requirement Document

ii.) SDD - System Design Document

Both these documents are related to a use case.

7. What are the skills required to be a Business Analyst?

The key skills required to be a business analyst are as :

i.) Excellent Communication skills: To communicate with clients, developers, testers, etc. about project requirement, changes required.

ii.) Technical Skills: Business analyst needs to have knowledge about a few testing, designing, reporting software. They need to know what technology tools are being used and what do they have to offer.

iii.) Strong analytical skills to perform their job well.

iv.) Problem-Solving skills: They need to have the ability to create a workable solution, find ways to resolve the problem and move forward towards successful completion of the project.

v.) Decision- Making Skills: As an analyst, you should be able to assess the situation and select the best course of action. You need to be able to understand the viability of the solution.

vi.) Managerial Skills: A business analyst needs to plan the project scope, he/she needs to direct the team members, forecast budget, handle change request, etc. He/she needs to have the ability to manage the project.

vii.) Customer focused: Should be able to understand and get client's requirements fulfilled.

8. What is a database transaction?

We perform various activities in a database like addition, deletion, modification, searching etc.. Any such activity performed is called as database transaction.

9. What do you understand by OLTP Systems?

OLTP - On-Line Transaction Processing

These systems can carry out the transactions from the database at a remarkable speed. They are used for data entry and data retrieval from database.