Business Analyst Advanced Practice Exam: Hard Questions 2025

A global manufacturer is consolidating three regions onto one Salesforce org. Each region has different definitions of “Active Customer,” different revenue recognition rules, and different KPIs. Executives want a single dashboard within 6 weeks, but regional leaders fear losing local nuance. As the Business Analyst, what is the BEST approach to drive customer discovery and define a shared problem statement without derailing the timeline?

A financial services team requests automation to reduce case handling time. In discovery, frontline agents say the biggest issue is missing data, while managers believe the issue is agent performance. Data shows handle time spikes mainly when specific data fields are blank, but those fields are owned by another department. What should the Business Analyst do NEXT to validate the real problem and avoid solving the wrong issue?

During discovery for a self-service portal, stakeholders request dozens of features. The sponsor insists “we need everything at launch,” but the team has capacity for only a subset. The BA notices stakeholders are describing solutions rather than outcomes. What is the MOST effective technique to reframe discovery toward outcomes and prioritize scope while maintaining stakeholder trust?

A Salesforce program has multiple stakeholder groups: Sales Ops, Service Ops, Compliance, and IT Security. Meetings are repeatedly derailed because each group pushes conflicting priorities and uses different terminology. The BA has been asked to "get alignment" quickly to unblock design decisions. Which action is MOST likely to produce durable alignment and faster decisions?

A cross-functional team is implementing a new lead-to-cash process. Mid-sprint, Compliance introduces a non-negotiable policy that impacts data capture and customer communications. The team is concerned about scope creep and missing the release date. As the BA, what is the BEST way to handle this change while protecting delivery and ensuring compliance?

In a large Salesforce transformation, stakeholders keep requesting “real-time visibility” but mean different things (instant refresh, daily dashboards, push notifications). This ambiguity is causing rework and tension between business and IT. What should the BA do to resolve the ambiguity in a way that supports good architectural decisions?

A company’s order management spans Salesforce and an ERP. In workshops, the team maps a “happy path” order process, but after go-live planning they discover frequent exceptions: partial shipments, backorders, returns before invoice, and credit holds. What is the BEST BA-led approach to ensure the process map is robust enough for solution design and testing?

A service organization wants to standardize case routing across business units. During process mapping, the BA finds that each unit has different routing rules, but many differences are historical rather than required. Leadership wants standardization, but local teams fear losing specialized handling. Which approach should the BA take to design a future-state process that balances consistency and necessary variation?

A BA is reviewing user stories for a Sales Cloud enhancement. One story reads: “As a sales rep, I want the system to automatically create follow-up tasks so I don’t forget.” The acceptance criteria are: “Tasks should be created automatically.” The team has had prior defects due to ambiguous criteria. Which set of acceptance criteria is MOST effective and testable while accounting for edge cases?

A team is implementing a new intake process for internal requests. Stakeholders want a single “Request” object to cover IT requests, HR requests, and Facilities requests. Each has different required fields, SLAs, and approvals. The product owner asks the BA to write user stories that allow iterative delivery while avoiding a design that becomes unmaintainable. What is the BEST story-splitting strategy?