Capaston Project BA

Prompt

Act as a **Principal Business Analyst, Product Owner, Agile Coach, Solution Consultant and BA Training Architect** with 15+ years enterprise experience. Create an **industry-grade, end-to-end Business Analyst Capstone Project** for BA/Senior Management Trainees (SMTs). The purpose is to assess **real BA thinking—not document-generation ability**. The trainee must demonstrate: **questioning, discovery, stakeholder management, analysis, modelling, requirement engineering, prioritisation, validation, communication and decision-making.** ## 1. PROJECT DESIGN Create a realistic enterprise problem in Banking, Healthcare, Insurance, Retail, Logistics, Manufacturing or another suitable domain. The problem must contain: * Ambiguous/incomplete initial information * Multiple stakeholders with different goals * Stakeholder conflicts * Hidden requirements/business rules * Process inefficiencies * Scope ambiguity * Functional + non-functional requirements * Data, integration, security, reporting and compliance needs * Exceptions/edge cases * Assumptions, constraints, dependencies and risks * Prioritisation challenges * A mid-project change request **Do not reveal the complete solution initially.** Important information must be discoverable through questioning. Simulate: **Business Problem → Discovery → Stakeholders → Elicitation → AS-IS → Root Cause → TO-BE → Gap Analysis → Requirements → BRD → FRD → Business Rules → Features/Epics → User Stories → AC → Process/Data/UML → NFR → Integration/Reporting → Prioritisation → MVP → RTM → Validation → UAT → Change Management → Presentation/Viva** --- ## 2. INITIAL BUSINESS CASE Give trainees only: * Business/company background * Current situation * High-level problem * Business need/objectives * Known pain points * Initial scope/out-of-scope * Known constraints * Initial stakeholders * Limited facts * Success indicators Clearly distinguish **Known / Unknown / Assumption / Needs Validation**. The initial case must contain enough ambiguity to require investigation. --- ## 3. STAKEHOLDERS Create **8–12 realistic stakeholders**. For each define: **Role | Responsibility | Influence | Interest | Goals | Pain Points | Concerns | Information Owned | Expectations | Conflicts** Create stakeholder information that trainees must discover. Required artefacts: * Stakeholder Register * Stakeholder Map * Power/Interest Grid * RACI * Communication Plan * Elicitation Plan * Interview Questions * Meeting Agenda/Minutes --- ## 4. ELICITATION Use realistic: * Interviews * Workshops * Observation * Document Analysis * Surveys where relevant * Process Walkthroughs Create stakeholder personalities and responses. Include: * Good/bad questions * Probing opportunities * Ambiguous statements * Contradictory answers * Hidden requirements * Hidden business rules * Exceptions * Information stakeholders reveal only when properly questioned Do not allow stakeholders to simply provide the answer. --- ## 5. AS-IS + ROOT CAUSE Provide incomplete current-state information. Trainees must create: * AS-IS Flowchart * BPMN * Swimlane * Pain Point Log * 5 Whys * Fishbone Ensure at least one obvious symptom differs from the actual root cause. --- ## 6. TO-BE + GAP Require: * TO-BE BPMN * TO-BE Swimlane * Gap Analysis * Current vs Future comparison * Business benefits * Risks/trade-offs The TO-BE must directly address validated AS-IS problems. --- ## 7. BRD Require a professional BRD containing: **Document Control, Version History, Executive Summary, Business Background, Problem, Business Need, Objectives, Success Criteria, Current State, Future State, Scope, Out-of-Scope, Stakeholders, Assumptions, Constraints, Dependencies, Business Requirements, Business Rules, Risks, Reporting, Compliance, KPIs, Glossary and Sign-off.** Each BR must include: **BR ID | Requirement | Rationale | Priority | Source | Acceptance Measure | Dependencies** Requirements must be specific, measurable and traceable. --- ## 8. FRD Each Functional Requirement must contain: **FR ID | Description | Actor | Trigger | Preconditions | Main Flow | Alternate Flow | Exception Flow | Rules | Postconditions | Dependencies** FRs must trace to BRs. --- ## 9. NFR Cover relevant: **Performance, Availability, Scalability, Security, Accessibility, Usability, Reliability, Maintainability, Compatibility, Auditability, DR, Privacy, Retention, Logging and Monitoring.** Make NFRs measurable wherever possible. --- ## 10. FEATURES / EPICS Create Feature and Epic Catalogues. Use: **ID | Description | Business Value | Related BR/FR | Priority | Dependencies** --- ## 11. USER STORIES Use: **As a [persona], I want [capability], so that [business value].** Include stories for: * Happy path * Alternate flow * Exceptions * Validation * Security/permissions * Notifications * Reporting * Integration Evaluate against **INVEST**. Include a **Bad User Story → Improved Story** exercise. --- ## 12. ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA Use **Given–When–Then**. Include: * Positive * Negative * Boundary * Validation * Exception * Permission/security * Business rules * Integration scenarios AC must be testable and unambiguous. --- ## 13. BUSINESS RULES Create: **Rule ID | Rule | Rationale | Source | Process | Related BR/FR/Story** Include explicit, hidden, derived, regulatory, validation and exception rules. --- ## 14. DATA + UML Identify: * Entities/attributes * PK/FK * Relationships * Mandatory/optional data * Validation * Ownership * Retention * Sensitive data Require relevant: **ERD, Logical Data Model, Use Case, Activity, Sequence and Class Diagrams.** Every diagram must have a stated purpose. --- ## 15. UI/UX Create low-fidelity wireframes for key journeys. Include: **Purpose, interaction, validation, error/empty/success states, permissions and navigation.** A prototype may be included where useful. Focus on requirements and usability, not visual beauty. --- ## 16. INTEGRATION + REPORTING Identify: **System | Interface/API | Source | Target | Data | Trigger | Frequency | Failure Handling | Security** Create Reporting Catalogue: **Report | Purpose | Audience | Data | Filters | Frequency | Format | KPI** --- ## 17. RTM + QUALITY Create RTM: **BR → FR → Feature/Epic → User Story → AC → Test/UAT** Perform quality review for: **Clarity, Completeness, Consistency, Testability, Feasibility, Traceability, Unambiguity and Priority.** Include missing, duplicate and conflicting requirements for trainees to identify. --- ## 18. PRIORITISATION + MVP Use MoSCoW, Value/Effort or Risk/Value. Require: * Prioritisation Matrix * MVP * Deferred Scope * Dependencies * Trade-off rationale Do not accept unexplained priorities. --- ## 19. DELIVERY THINKING Require basic assessment of: * Complexity * Dependencies * Risks * Relative estimation * Release/MVP thinking Do not require detailed developer estimation. --- ## 20. RAID + CHANGE REQUEST Introduce a realistic mid-project change. Require: * Change Request * Impact Analysis * Scope impact * Requirement/process/data/integration impact * Risk impact * Timeline/delivery impact * Stakeholder impact * Recommendation Maintain: **Risk Register | Assumption Log | Issue Log | Dependency Log** --- ## 21. STAKEHOLDER CONFLICT Introduce at least one conflict such as: **Business vs Technology, Compliance vs UX, Operations vs Management, Speed vs Quality, Cost vs Scope.** Trainees must identify positions, clarify underlying needs, evaluate options, recommend a decision and document trade-offs. --- ## 22. VALIDATION + UAT Require: * Requirement Review * Validation Checklist * Test Scenarios * UAT Scenarios * UAT Acceptance Criteria * Traceability Include ambiguous requirements that trainees must correct. --- # 23. REQUIRED TRAINEE ARTEFACTS Require the relevant artefacts from: **Business Case, Problem Statement, Stakeholder Register/Map, Power-Interest Grid, RACI, Elicitation Plan, Interview Questions, Minutes, AS-IS, BPMN, Swimlane, Pain Points, 5 Whys, Fishbone, TO-BE, Gap Analysis, BRD, Business Requirements, Business Rules, FRD, NFRs, Features, Epics, User Stories, AC, Data Requirements, ERD, UML, Wireframes, Integration Catalogue, Reporting Catalogue, RTM, Prioritisation, MVP, Estimation, RAID, Change Request, Impact Analysis, Quality Review, Test/UAT Scenarios and Final Recommendation.** Mark each as **Required / Recommended / N/A with justification** where appropriate. --- # 24. AI USAGE POLICY ### GREEN – AI ALLOWED Grammar, formatting, templates, structure, brainstorming, summarisation, format conversion, diagram syntax, consistency checks and draft AC. ### YELLOW – AI ASSIST + HUMAN VALIDATION User stories, NFR ideas, business rules, risks, process improvements and test scenarios. Trainee must validate against evidence. ### RED – AI CANNOT REPLACE Stakeholder interviews, discovery, probing, clarification, conflict resolution, business understanding, prioritisation, scope decisions, assumption validation, AS-IS validation, stakeholder management, trade-offs, final recommendation, presentation and Viva. Require: **AI Usage Log: Task | AI Used | AI Output | Trainee Changes | Validation Method** A polished AI-generated submission without understanding must score poorly. --- # 25. PROGRESSIVE INFORMATION RELEASE Release information in stages: **1. Business Problem 2. Stakeholders 3. AS-IS Information 4. Interview Responses 5. Business Rules 6. Technical Constraints 7. Change Request 8. Stakeholder Conflict 9. Final Validation** Trainer controls release. --- # 26. TRAINER MASTER PACK Create a separate trainer-only section containing: * Expected solution * Hidden requirements * Hidden rules * Stakeholder objectives * Stakeholder personalities * Known/hidden information * What each stakeholder reveals/withholds * Conflict triggers * Change-event instructions * Expected questions * Common mistakes * Model artefacts * Scoring guidance * Viva questions/model answers * Red flags **Never expose trainer-only information in the trainee pack.** --- # 27. STAKEHOLDER ROLEPLAY For each major stakeholder define: **Personality | Objective | Pain | Known Information | Hidden Information | Reveal Conditions | Avoided Information | Likely Responses | Conflict Position** Responses must depend on trainee questioning quality. --- # 28. FINAL PRESENTATION + VIVA Presentation: **15–20 minutes** Viva: **10–15 minutes** Cover: **Problem → Stakeholders → Discovery → AS-IS → Root Cause → TO-BE → Requirements → Features → Stories/AC → Solution → Prioritisation → MVP → Risks → Change → Recommendation → Business Value** Viva must test ownership. Ask: * Why this requirement? * Who provided it? * What evidence supports it? * What assumption did you make? * What happens if it is wrong? * Why this priority? * Why was something excluded from MVP? * What conflict occurred? * What changed after validation? * What was hardest to discover? * What could fail in production? * What would you investigate next? --- # 29. ASSESSMENT – 100 POINTS | Area | Marks | | ------------------------------ | ------: | | Business Understanding | 10 | | Stakeholder Analysis | 10 | | Elicitation | 15 | | Requirement Analysis | 15 | | BRD/FRD | 10 | | Process Modelling | 10 | | Stories & AC | 10 | | Traceability & Quality | 5 | | Prioritisation/Decision Making | 5 | | Communication | 5 | | Presentation/Viva | 5 | | **Total** | **100** | Also score **BA Thinking**: **Problem Solving, Analytical Thinking, Questioning, Business Acumen, Detail Orientation, Stakeholder Thinking, Decision Making, Challenging Assumptions, Identifying Missing Requirements and Handling Ambiguity.** --- # 30. FAILURE / RED FLAGS Penalise heavily if trainees: * Copy the problem into requirements * Create requirements without evidence * Cannot identify sources * Write stories without value * Create diagrams they cannot explain * Ignore exceptions/NFRs/stakeholders * Make unvalidated assumptions * Cannot justify priorities * Have weak/no traceability * Skip validation * Cannot explain their own artefacts * Depend excessively on AI * Fail Viva --- # 31. FINAL OUTPUT Generate the Capstone in this order: 1. Project Overview & Learning Objectives 2. Domain & Business Case 3. Trainee Instructions 4. Progressive Information Plan 5. Stakeholder Profiles 6. Elicitation Scenarios 7. AS-IS Information 8. Hidden Information 9. Change Request 10. Conflict Scenario 11. Artefact Requirements 12. Templates/Guidelines 13. AI Policy 14. Assessment Rubric 15. Viva Framework 16. Trainer Master Pack 17. Expected Solution 18. Hidden Requirements/Rules 19. Model Artefacts 20. Roleplay Scripts 21. Common Mistakes 22. Trainer Evaluation Guide ## CORE PRINCIPLE This must feel like a **real enterprise BA engagement, not an academic document-generation exercise**. Start with incomplete information. Make trainees discover the real problem through questioning and evidence. Reward: **Curiosity + Questioning + Evidence + Analysis + Stakeholder Thinking + Modelling + Prioritisation + Validation + Communication + Business Judgement.** The final test is simple: **Can the trainee explain and defend WHY every major requirement, assumption, process, rule, priority and recommendation exists?** If not, the artefact should not receive a high score.