35 Commonly-Asked Business Analyst Job Interview Questions

Business analysts play a vital part in increasing the efficiency of an organization. A business analyst examines data, evaluates the requirements of the business, and recommends technical solutions. Given the wide set of responsibilities, organizations rely on interviews to find a business analyst who can make information-centric decisions while dealing with problems.

Through these questions, the employer seeks to understand the candidate’s skills and capabilities. So, whether you are a professional or a fresher there are a variety of business analyst interview questions that you must be prepared to answer.

These questions help showcase your skills and knowledge. To help you prepare we have categorized questions on the basis of intent. Go through the following questions to ace your business analyst job interview.

Common Business Analyst Job Interview Questions

Through these questions, the interviewer wants to assess your foundational knowledge. These are the following questions you may encounter –

Q1. Why do you want to become a business analyst?

A business analyst faces different challenges every day. This role allows you a broader sense of independence and requires you to grow skills constantly. I believe as the technical industry is growing rapidly there are more job opportunities that allow you to collaborate with people from different sectors. Plus, one surely can’t miss the substantial income and opportunities, which is why I want to become a business analyst.

Q2. Why do you believe you will be a good fit for the position of business analyst in our company?

I believe my analytical and critical skills allow me to analyze data and identify problems in any part of the organization. My technical skills help me solve problems with efficiency. Further, I keep myself engrossed in learning the new and upcoming technical and fundamental programming functions to keep up with our fast-paced industry. I also believe in collaborative work and excel at teamwork. This is why I believe that I would be a good fit for this position.

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Q3. What are the most used diagrams by business analysts?

Two of the most commonly used diagrams are case diagrams and process flow diagrams. Case diagrams are used to show the interaction between the system components. On the other hand, process flow diagrams provide an extensive overview of the internal workings of a specific process.

Q4. According to you what are the core competencies of a business analyst?

A business analyst should have a blend of technical and soft skills. One should have negotiation skills along with analytical thinking, and problem-solving skills. A business analyst should be well-versed in industry knowledge along with technical skills.

Q5. What are some tools you use as a business analyst?

A business analyst requires both technical and non-technical tools. The technical tools I use are MS Office Suite, Google Analytics, SQL, Python, and Axure. For my non-technical or analytical tools, I use documentation and business process management.

Q6. Can you tell me something about business modeling?

A business model demonstrates how an organization creates a product or service, delivers it , and in return makes a profit. In simpler terms, a business analyst builds a business model using analytical skills so the company can make a profit.

Q7. How will you perform risk management on your project?

There are various risk management techniques like risk mitigation, risk avoidance, reduction, transferring, and accepting risk. It is the imperative decision of the business analyst to look at the situation and imply the best strategy.

Q8. What are the different stages of a business project?

There are broadly 5 stages of a business project:

• Generating Ideas
• Project Planning 
• Execution 
• Monitoring the Project 
• Closure

Q9. What are the gaps that occur during analysis?

The gap is the void between the present and the desired condition of the company. There are various types of gaps that may occur during analysis like product gaps, need gaps, strategic gaps, and so on.

Q10. Can you differentiate between a software development life cycle and a project life cycle?

A software development life cycle is used to develop specific software products. A project life cycle is used to develop new business products which include idea generation, development, testing, and analysis.

Technical Business Analyst Job Interview Question

The main purpose of these questions is to understand your technical proficiency and application skills. Following are some of the most asked technical job interview questions to business analysts –

Q11. Do you know about Rapid application development methodology?

Rapid Application Development focuses on computational development. It helps accelerate the software development process by delivering functional prototypes.

It focuses on visual modeling tools, prototyping, and generating codes to speed up the development process. Organizations adopt this methodology for projects requiring user feedback so that the developed product aligns with the needs and expectations of the consumer.

Q12. What are the techniques you use for prioritization?

Prioritization is on the basis of business needs, schedule, cost, workflow delay, and many other factors. A few techniques I find useful are:

• MoSCoW Techniques
• Requirement Ranking Method
• 5 Whys
• Kano Analysis

Q13. Do you know what is UML modelling?

Unified Modelling Language (UML) is the standard language used by the industry for documenting, developing, and visualizing different parts of a system. Its primary use is in software development.

Q14. What are some elicitation techniques in business analytics?

Some of the most common elicitation techniques used in business analytics are-

• Brainstorming
• Creating prototypes
• Interviews
• Facilitating workshops
• Document analysis
• Surveys

Q15. What is the difference between BRD and SRS?

BRD stands for Business Requirement Document. It is used in the initiation process and focuses on the business requirements. It helps to find out system expectations.

SRS stands for Software Requirement Specification. It is used during the planning process and focuses on the functional and non-functional requirements. It bridges the gap between the developer and the consumer.

Q16. Do you know about INVEST?

INVEST assists in delivering quality products and services. it stands for-

• I – Independent
• N – Negotiable
• V – Valuable
• E – Estimable
• S – Size Appropriately
• T – Testable

Q17. What are the basic elements of BPMN?

BPMN stands for Business Process Management Notion. It helps to plan out the business process from beginning to end. BPMN has 4 basic elements:

• Flow objects
• Connecting objects
• Swimlanes
• Artifacts

Q18. What are the key attributes of Kano Analysis?

The Kano model analyzes the needs of the customer. There are three types of attributes of Kano Analysis:

• Threshold Attributes
• Performance Attribute
• Excitement Attributes
• Indifferent Attributes
• Reverse Attributes

Q19. Do you have any experience with SQL? What are the major commands?

SQL stands for Structures Query Language. It is used to communicate with the database and perform specific tasks and functions. There are 5 types of SQL commands –

• DDL
• DML
• DCL
• TCL
• DQL

Q20. Give a rundown of the strategies you will follow to design a use case.

A use case is concise and should be correctly documented. I will follow a three-step approach:
Recognize the goals associated with roles from every category.
Structure the use case according to functional and non-functional requirements.
Review and validate the use case.

Q21. Differentiate between black box and white box testing?

Black box testing is performed without the system’s internal knowledge. It determines the performance, functionality, and security of the system.

On the other hand white box testing is performed with the complete system’s internal knowledge. Comparatively white box testing is better than black box as all the codes used can be tested out.

Q22. What are the applications of a spring burndown chart?

An analyst can assess the number of pending tasks along with the time it would take to complete the task. It gives the organization a predicted time for goal completion.

Role-based Business Analyst Job Interview Question

Role-based business analyst interview questions evaluate practical or situation-based knowledge in different scenarios. Following are some of the top questions:

Q23. Explain benchmarking.

Benching measures the performance of the organization with respect to the industry. An organization is able to compare its performance, policies, rules, and measures.

Q24. What documents are required by a business analyst?

A project requires a lot of documents but these are few documents a business analyst would require irrespective of the utilization process.

• Initiation document
• System Requirements document
• Business requirement document
• Requirement traceability matrix
• Use case specification document
• Gap analysis document

Q25. What is analytical reporting?

Analytical reporting requires qualitative and quantitative data to determine and evaluate a business strategy. It encourages data-driven decisions. It improves productivity, enhances communication, and increases collaboration.

Q26. Can you differentiate between exception and alternate flow?

An exception flow prevents the achievement of the case’s goal. An alternate flow consists of different steps that ultimately lead to the achievement of the main goal.

Q27. According to you what are the three most effective skills to solve problems as a business analyst

The three most effective skills to solve problems as a business analyst are:

• Excellent Interpersonal Skills – A business analyst conveys ideas and opinions to stakeholders. Strong communication and interpersonal skills help in solving problems, facilitating meetings, and interacting with people. 

You can improve your interpersonal skills by taking a business communication course.

• Great Problem-Solving Skills- The role of a business analyst is to identify and solve problems faced by an organization. You need to analyze large amounts of data on a regular basis to generate new ideas, solve problems, and save company resources. 

Go through these tips and techniques to enhance your problem-solving skills.

• Critical Thinking Skills – A business analyst needs to understand the requirements of a company to provide suggestions. You have to use critical thinking techniques to draw conclusions and formulate unique designs to solve the problems. 

You can strengthen these skills by taking a business analysis course.

Q28. What would be your approach to process change to requirement?

A business analyst should have the ability to respond under pressure. It showcases one’s critical and analytical thinking skills. I would first identify the scope of change and what would be its effect on the project. I would also analyze its correlation with other factors such as deadlines, budget, resources, and so on.

Q29. Name a few agile metrics that you use.

Some of the most popular agile metrics that I use are –

• Sprint burndown
• Agile velocity
• Lead time

Q30. When should a business analyst use the waterfall model instead of Scrum?

There is no fixed path that a business analyst follows. The decision is affected by various factors. In general, the waterfall model is better suited for projects with well-defined requirements. Scrum is appropriate for more flexible and evolving projects. The decision behind picking any model should be on the basis of the requirements of the project.

Q31. What approach would you follow while working with difficult stakeholders?

The best way possible to work with difficult stakeholders is by understanding their requirements and keeping them in the loop during the whole process. One should try to build a relationship with them and should be open to new suggestions.

Q32. How would you use personas in user-centered design methodology?

I believe understanding the user preference should be the first step. As it would allow the analyst to formulate the product in a way that enhances the user experience. To efficiently use personas one should pay attention to the needs of the user and incorporate their requirements. I also tend to look for common grounds that we can explore.

Q33. If you ever missed a deadline, how would you handle the situation?

Product development requires dependency on other teams of the organization. I believe an efficient workflow is very important for the delivery of the product. My first priority would be to maintain a smooth channel so that the work remains seamless.

Q34. What are some problems a business analyst may face?

A business analyst may face the following challenges:

• Issues related to employees
• Technical problems
• Access problems
• Issues related to organizational policies
• Errors in the business model

Q35. What is FMEA?

FMEA stands for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. It discovers failures that may exist with product design or process in a structured manner. It is designed to identify, prioritize, and avoid failure modes.

One can not substitute FMEA for quality engineering as it enhances quality engineering by using the knowledge and experience of cross-functional teams.

Conclusion

The role of a business analyst varies from one organization to another. The aforementioned business analyst job interview questions are the most popular and frequently asked. Go through these questions to ace your interview. Also, remember to use personal experience and highlight your strengths and skills while answering questions. Most importantly, revise your technical knowledge. You can pursue a course in business analytics to prepare for your interview.

Was this blog helpful? Let us know in the comments section below. Further, if you are a fresher appearing for the interview do refer to the common interview questions to prepare yourself.