Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) Business Analysis Frameworks and Practices Syllabus

After eliciting requirements, what does 'confirming elicitation results' involve?

Reviewing and validating the captured requirements with stakeholders to ensure they are accurate, complete, and correctly understood before they are baselined.

Why must elicitation results be communicated back to stakeholders?

To confirm shared understanding, correct misinterpretations, fill gaps, and gain agreement, ensuring the documented requirements truly reflect stakeholder needs.

What are common sources of stakeholder conflict on a project?

Competing priorities, scarce resources, differing requirements or interests, ambiguous goals, scope disagreements, and personality or communication differences.

What is the role of the BA in managing stakeholder expectations?

To proactively communicate scope, constraints, and progress; clarify what the solution will and will not do; and negotiate trade-offs so stakeholder expectations stay realistic and aligned.

Which conflict-resolution approach generally produces the best long-term outcome?

Collaborating (problem-solving/confronting)—working together to find a win-win solution that satisfies the legitimate concerns of all parties.

What are the main categories of requirements in business analysis?

Business requirements, stakeholder requirements, solution requirements (functional and non-functional), transition requirements, and project requirements.

What are business requirements?

High-level statements of the goals, objectives, and needs of the organization—the reasons why the project is undertaken and the value it should deliver.

What are stakeholder requirements?

The needs of a specific stakeholder or stakeholder group that describe what they require from the solution and how they will interact with it.

What is the difference between functional and non-functional requirements?

Functional requirements describe what the solution must do (behaviors, features, actions); non-functional requirements describe how well it must perform (quality attributes such as performance, security, usability, reliability).

What are transition requirements?

Temporary requirements that describe capabilities needed to move from the current state to the future state, such as data conversion, training, and cutover activities; they are no longer needed once transition is complete.

Give two examples of non-functional requirements.

Performance/response time, security, scalability, availability/reliability, usability, maintainability, and compliance/regulatory constraints (any two).

What is requirements modeling?

Representing requirements visually or structurally (diagrams, matrices, tables, prototypes) to analyze, communicate, and validate them more effectively than text alone.

Name three common requirements modeling techniques.

Use case diagrams, process flow/flowcharts, data flow diagrams, entity-relationship diagrams, state diagrams, user stories, wireframes/prototypes, and context diagrams.

What is a use case?

A description of how an actor (user or system) interacts with the solution to achieve a specific goal, including the main flow and alternative/exception flows.

What is a context diagram used to model?

The scope boundary of a system, showing the solution as a single process and its interactions (data flows) with external entities such as users and other systems.

Why is prioritizing requirements important?

Because time, budget, and resources are limited; prioritization ensures the most valuable and critical requirements are delivered first and guides scope and trade-off decisions.

What does the MoSCoW prioritization technique stand for?

Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have (this time).

Name two requirements prioritization techniques besides MoSCoW.

Numerical/weighted ranking, voting (e.g., dot voting), the Kano model, time-boxing/budgeting, and value-vs-effort (priority/cost) analysis.

What does it mean to validate requirements?

To confirm that the requirements deliver the intended business value and align with business goals and objectives—ensuring you are building the right thing.

What is the difference between verifying and validating requirements?

Verification checks that requirements are well-formed and meet quality standards (built right); validation checks that they deliver business value and meet the actual need (right thing built).

What is a requirements traceability matrix (RTM)?

A table that links requirements to their origin, to one another, and to deliverables/tests, ensuring each requirement is accounted for and traceable from need to solution.

What is the purpose of managing requirements changes?

To control modifications to baselined requirements through a defined process so impacts on scope, cost, schedule, and quality are assessed, approved, and communicated.

What is a baseline in requirements management?

An approved, formally agreed-upon version of the requirements that serves as the reference point; changes after baselining must go through change control.

What role does a change control board (CCB) play in requirements changes?

It reviews requested changes to baselined requirements, assesses their impact, and formally approves, defers, or rejects them.

What is impact analysis in the context of requirements change?

Assessing how a proposed change affects scope, schedule, cost, quality, other requirements, and stakeholders before deciding whether to approve it.

What does it mean to validate a solution against requirements?

Confirming through testing, inspection, or demonstration that the delivered solution actually meets the documented and approved requirements.

What are acceptance criteria?

The predefined, measurable conditions a solution or deliverable must satisfy to be accepted by stakeholders; they define 'done' and the basis for sign-off.

How is evaluating solution performance different from validating requirements?

Validating requirements confirms the solution meets stated requirements; evaluating solution performance measures, after deployment, whether the solution actually delivers the expected business value and benefits in operation.

What is solution sign-off (acceptance)?

The formal approval by authorized stakeholders confirming the solution meets acceptance criteria and requirements, authorizing transition/release and closure of the work.

What does the BA do to support solution transition?

Identify and manage transition requirements—such as training, data migration, documentation, and cutover—to ensure smooth movement from the current state to the new solution in operation.

What is a product roadmap and how do BAs use it?

A high-level, time-oriented plan showing the planned evolution and major releases/features of a product over time; BAs use it to align stakeholders on priorities, vision, and the sequence of value delivery.

What is a product backlog and how is it managed?

An ordered, prioritized list of all desired work/features (often as user stories) for a product; it is managed by continuously refining (grooming), prioritizing, estimating, and reordering items based on value and changing needs.

What is backlog refinement (grooming)?

The ongoing activity of reviewing backlog items to add detail, estimates, and acceptance criteria, splitting large items, and re-prioritizing so items are ready for upcoming work.

What is a user story and what format is commonly used?

A short, user-centered description of a requirement, commonly written as: 'As a [role], I want [goal] so that [benefit].'

What does measuring business value delivered by a solution involve?

Comparing actual outcomes and benefits realized against the original business goals, objectives, and expected value—often using metrics, KPIs, and benefit realization analysis.

Name two common metrics used to quantify business value of a solution.

Return on investment (ROI), net present value (NPV), payback period, cost savings, revenue increase, customer satisfaction, and cycle-time reduction (any two).

What is benefits realization and when does it typically occur?

The process of ensuring and measuring that the expected business benefits of a solution are actually achieved; it often occurs after deployment, sometimes beyond formal project closure, during operations.