Interview -2

This was an Interview with a company which wanted the development following waterfall method in the world where everything is moving or moved to Agile methodology..This was quit interesting to me As I started working in a waterfall methodology and I still like working in the same fashion as I find there is more consistency in this methodology.

The questions asked were :

1.How have you worked on Waterfall model projects ?

Answer:

The main characteristics of the Waterfall model is a sequential progression through the different stages of a project from initiation to the delivery phase. The waterfall model does have its limitations and because of this there have been many spin off models created over the years.

The Waterfall model consists of the following phases:

1.Initiation/Requirement gathering 2.Requirement Analysis 3.Design 4.Development or coding 5.Testing 6.Implementation and maintenance

The waterfall model used with the SDLC progresses through the six phases. You can picture this process as a waterfall with one phase flowing into the next.

1.Initiation or requirement gathering Phase
The purpose of the initiation phase is to conduct an initial high-level investigation of the business need and come up with a recommendation for the solution. Once approved by the management team, stakeholders, client or project sponsor, it will proceed to the next phase.

2.Requirement Analysis Phase
The purpose of the requirements analysis phase is to conduct a detailed analysis of the current business needs and identify what options are available to achieve those business needs. During the Analysis Phase, the Business Analyst will create the Business Requirements Document (BRD).

3.Design Phase
The purpose of the design phase is to identify and document a solution that will be constructed including technical and procedural specifications. A design document will be created that should include but not limited to technical, environmental, data, program, procedural, testing specifications.

4.Development or Coding Phase
The development phase is where a resource will take the design document created during the design phase and translate it into a functional program or system.

5.Testing Phase
The purpose of the testing phase is to test the system and related procedures that it meets the requirements specified by the stakeholders and documented in the BRD, design plan, and testing plan.

6.Implementation Phase
The purpose of the implementation phase is to release a fully tested and operational product to an end user or customer. The product should meet all the requirements that were documented in the BRD and pass the testing phase before it can be released to a production environment.

Question: 2

How do you write a use case?

Answer:

Use cases capture what the software does not how the software does.


Use cases contain the following elements:
Name – A clear verb/noun or actor/verb/noun descriptor that communicates the scope of the use case.
Brief Description – A brief paragraph of text describing the scope of the use case.
Actors – A list of the types of users who can engage in the activities described in the use case. Actor names should not correspond to job titles.
Preconditions – Anything the solution can assume to be true when the use case begins.
Basic Flow – The set of steps the actors take to accomplish the goal of the use case. A clear description of what the system does in response to each user action.
Alternate Flows – Capture the less common user/system interactions, such as being on a new computer and answering a security question.
Exception Flows – The things that can happen that prevent the user from achieving their goal, such as providing an incorrect username and password.
Post Conditions – Anything that must be true when the use case is complete.

Question :3

What is the responsibilities work of a Business Analyst?

Answer.Business Analysts are responsible for discovering,synthesizing and analyzing information from variety of sources in a given enterprise.including tools ,processes,documentation, and stakeholders.

the BA is responsible for eliciting the actual needs of a stakeholder-Which frequently includes investigating and clarifying their expressed desires- In order to determine the underlying issues and causes.

Business Analysts plays a role in aligning the designed and delivered solutions with the needs of stakeholders.The activities thata BA perfor include

1.Understanding the enterprise problem and goals

2.Analyzing needs and solutions

3.Devising strategies

4.Driving change

5.Facilitating stakeholder collaboration

Question 4:

What is a requirement traceability matrix(RTM) ?

Answer :4

Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) is document in form of a table (mostly a spreadsheet) which shows if each requirement has a respective Test case / cases to make sure if the requirement is covered for testing.

It is used to ensure that ALL the requirements and Change Requests are or will be tested.

Advantages of Requirement traceability matrix.

1. Gives Overview of ALL the requirements.
2. Shows how requirements are linked to Test Cases.
3. Makes sure 100% coverage of requirements.
4. Easy to prepare.
5. No special tool is required.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
   Question 4:Role of BA in UAT                                                                                                          Answer :4                                                                                                                                           1.When testing comes into picture; test cases are prepared which are performed during UAT by the business users. Test cases help in getting a real time understanding of the functioning of the system developed. A business analyst helps in achieving this.                                                          2.UAT checks the effectiveness and efficiency of the system. When a BA is involved in UAT, he can help clear the doubts and questions of the users during testing sessions, as he is the one with end-to-end functional knowledge of the system.                                                                                3.UAT also helps in zeroing down if any new feature or functionality needs to be incorporated in the software. The rationale behind the necessity of the new feature is evaluated by the business analyst and Change Advisory Board together, along with other business stakeholders                    4.If any errors are discovered during UAT, which impose risk on the working of the system and have a high impact on the functioning of other modules, they are rectified or undergo change management (depending on the severity of the error). A business analyst helps in determining the severity of the errors.                                                                                                                  5.UAT helps the users in checking if the system is running smoothly as per the specifications and expectations. This helps in avoiding any drastic changes to the system once it has gone live. The presence of a BA helps in ensuring the precision of the software.
6. Steps to prepare a RTM

1. Get all available requirement documents. For e.g. Business Requirement Document(BRD), Functional Requirement Document(FSD), Technical Requirement Document(TSD)
2. First list down All the requirements from BRD one by one with requirement ID#
3. Now go to FSD, and list all respective functional requirements for each Business Requirements
4. Open Test Scenario or Test Case document and link available TC IDs to respective Functional Requirements

Lets take an example:

Project:Opening Online Flight booking Application

Business Requirement Document(BRD)

This document is provided by Client with high level business Requirements. Suppose for Flight Booking Application it shows below 2 requirements

BR_1 Flight Booking Module :

It should allow user to book one or more tickets, one way or round way for future dates

BR_2 Payment Module:

User should able to make payment for booked tickets via Credit / Debit Card or through Reward Points


Functional Specification Document (FSD)

This document is prepared by Technical team which further elaborate business requirements into functional requirements that can be implemented in a software.

Suppose above 2 business requirements in BRD have more detailed functional requirements:

BR_1 Reservation Module :
FR_1 : One Way Ticket booking
It should allow user to book one way ticket
FR_2 Round Way Ticket
It should allows user to book round way ticket
FR_3 Multicity Ticket booking
It should allows user to book one way or round way ticket for multiple cities

BR_2 Payment Module:
FR_4: By Credit Card
It should allows user to make payment by Credit Cards
FR_5 By Debit Card
It should allows user to make payment by Debit Cards
FR_6 By Reward Points
It should allows user to make payment by Reward Points

And you have written some test cases or test scenarios for each functional requirement.

So if we prepare simple Requirements Treaceability Matrix (RTM) for above example it would like as below:

You can also add Execution Status and Defects columns in RTM to view overall status of all requirements along with Test Cases.