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Business Analyst Skills Evaluation
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Author:
Bruce A. Winrow |
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Date
introduced: 2000 |
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Administration
time: 1 hour |
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Booklet and Internet versions available |
Purpose
To evaluate a candidate's aptitude and
potential for business systems analysis, procedures analysis and user department/IS
department interface. This test assumes some prior business experience, but no previous
knowledge or experience in data processing.
General
Description
The test evaluates the candidate's logical ability,
skill at interpretation of business specifications, and potential for translating business
problems into symbolic logic.
Positions
for which the test is appropriate
The test, from which a
two-page report is provided to the client, consists of four problems that
evaluate the candidate’s logic ability, skill in interpretation of business
specifications and potential for solving business-related problems.
The problems are
intended to evaluate the individual's logic skill, attention to detail, and
ability to solve business
problems. They are
also designed to test the person's ability to analyze complex patterns and
identify relationships to solve a series of problems. As well, he/she must
analyze existing business procedures and then draw conclusions
and find errors. No personality traits are measured in this version.
Job
criteria measured
| Logic
ability:
two of the problems require the candidate to provide results based on
his/her ability to reason with symbols and see relationships between numeric
data.
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| Interpretation
of intricate specifications: one problem in particular determines the candidate's ability
to correctly interpret very succinct requirements, without further
explanation.
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| Attention
to detail:
in the scoring, points are subtracted for the candidate's inability
to recognize detailed specifications.
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| Accuracy:
three of the problems require the candidate to accurately translate
specifications from symbolic to numeric data or narrative to numeric data.
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| Problem
solving using reasoning with symbols:
one of the problems on the test requires the candidate to utilize
reasoning with symbols to reach a conclusion.
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| Ability
to understand the work of individual components
of an organization together with their interrelationships and relationship
to the organization as a whole.
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| Ability
to interpret and understand complex business procedures.
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| Ability
to uncover errors with predefined business specifications.
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Test
administration
The test requires only clerical supervision
to administer. Once begun, it is self-instructive for candidates, requiring
1 hour to
complete.
Sample
question (segment)
Mike
Stacy was excited when he was offered a position at the Chicago head office.
Aged 37, he was one of the youngest Information Technology department
managers ever at CompuTech, Inc. in St. Louis, a branch office of a “computer
products” retailing multinational. The
transfer implied that the company “had their eye” on him as a potential
future candidate for a senior position in international management.
However, after four months on the new job, Mike was terribly discouraged.
He detested the vice-president to whom he reported.
Bob Sykes was a 43-year-old
corporate bureaucrat who had been promoted through the ranks by avoiding
internal political problems and keeping away from controversial decisions.
Mike on the other hand, was noted for his quick decision making at the
St. Louis office, and for obtaining quick approvals from his extremely
supportive boss. His decisions had
consistently worked out well.
But
Sykes had a completely different approach: always requesting a “more in-depth
study” before anything would be done. Mike
complained to his wife, “He always wants more irrelevant data – I can’t
get anything done.”
If YOU were hired to deal with this problem, what five key steps (ranked in
priority order) would you take to ultimately rectify the situation?
Sample Candidate Evaluation Report
Click here to view a sample detailed evaluation report.
Evaluation
The overall rating
is based on scores according to the following table:
| Total |
Overall Rating |
Likelihood for Success |
80-100% |
Strongly Recommended |
We strongly recommend this
individual as having the potential for a successful career as a business analyst. |
| 65-79% |
Recommended |
We recommend this individual for
a career as a business analyst provided further supervised training is supplied. |
| 58-64% |
Recommended for Limited Use |
We recommend this individual for
a career as a business analyst only if highly motivated and if an intensive, well
supervised training course is available. |
| 0-57% |
Not Recommended |
We DO NOT recommend this
individual for a career as a business analyst. |
Validation Information
September,
1999:
Given
the demonstrated relationship between the abilities and skills required to
perform the eight key tasks of the Business Analyst - Introductory/Trainee job,
and those measured by the BUSAN - 1HR, the test represents a content valid
evaluation device for the job.
Languages
published
| English |
| French |
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