CBAP® · IIBA · Requirements Life Cycle Management · Bank updated 2026-10-12
CBAP® practice questions: Requirements Life Cycle Management
5 free questions from 41 on this area · answer and explanation for each · no sign-up
These 5 questions come from the Requirements Life Cycle Management section of our CBAP® bank (41 questions on this area, which carries 15% of the real exam). Every question is original, with the correct answer explained and linked to the source it is drawn from.
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1/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management · easy
After a project closes, a business analyst wants to ensure that several well-defined requirements describing a recurring compliance rule can be leveraged on future initiatives. Which Maintain Requirements activity directly supports this goal?
AObtaining formal sign-off from the sponsor on the compliance requirements, so that the approved set is recorded as closed before the next initiatives begin
BAssessing the impact of each proposed change to the recurring compliance rule and recording the outcome against the affected requirements
CMaintaining requirements for re-use by naming, defining, and storing them so they are accessible to other stakeholders and initiatives
DPrioritizing the requirements again so the highest-value compliance requirements are implemented first on the next initiative
Answer: C. The Maintain Requirements task ensures requirements remain accurate and current after they are first approved, and includes maintaining attributes and maintaining requirements for re-use. Re-use applies to requirements that are stable and long-lasting (such as enduring compliance or regulatory rules); the BA names, defines, and stores them so they are accessible to future initiatives and stakeholders.
Source: BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
2/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management · hard
Late in a fixed-deadline initiative, a stakeholder proposes a change that would deliver meaningful long-term value but would also jeopardize the immovable launch date if implemented now. The business analyst has completed a full assessment of the change's benefit, cost, impact, and urgency. The change is genuinely worthwhile but cannot be safely absorbed before launch. According to Assess Requirements Changes, which recommendation outcome best fits this situation?
ARecommend implementing the change quietly without formal approval, to capture its value without disrupting the governance timeline
BRecommend deferring the change so it is reconsidered for a later release rather than approving it now or rejecting it outright
CRecommend denying the change permanently, because any change that threatens the launch date can never add value to the solution
DRecommend approving the change immediately, since any change with long-term value must always be implemented as soon as it is proposed
Answer: B. The output of Assess Requirements Changes is a recommendation on whether to proceed with a proposed change, and that recommendation may be to approve, deny, or defer it. When a change carries real value but cannot be absorbed in the current release without unacceptable impact, deferring it to a later release is the disciplined outcome: it neither forces a damaging change in nor permanently discards worthwhile value, and it keeps the decision within the governance process.
Source: BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
3/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management
While building a traceability matrix, a BA needs to record that a particular functional requirement exists only because another, higher-level requirement was decomposed and analyzed — fulfilling the lower one fulfills part of the higher one, and removing the higher one would invalidate the lower. The two are not merely sequenced, nor does one merely give context to the other. Which traceability relationship type best captures this?
ADepends (necessity)
BValidate relationship
CDerive relationship
DSatisfy relationship
Answer: C. BABOK identifies several relationship types for Trace Requirements: Derive, Depends (with necessity and effort sub-types), Satisfy, and Validate. The scenario describes a requirement produced by decomposing/analyzing a higher-level one, whose removal would invalidate it — the defining characteristic of Derive. Depends/necessity is about whether a requirement is meaningful without another, Satisfy links solution elements to requirements, and Validate links to confirming evaluations.
Source: BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
4/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management · hard
Two teams in the same organization handle change differently. Team Alpha runs a fixed-scope, contract-driven build and routes every proposed requirement change through a formal change-control board with full written impact analysis. Team Bravo runs short iterations with an evolving backlog and absorbs most changes by re-prioritizing upcoming work, reserving formal assessment for changes affecting an agreed baseline. A new analyst argues one team is doing it 'wrong.' What is the most accurate BA perspective?
ABoth are wrong, because requirement changes should be prevented by freezing the baseline early rather than assessed through either a board or the backlog
BTeam Alpha is wrong, because a formal change-control board with full written impact analysis stops being appropriate once an organization adopts short iterations anywhere in its portfolio
CTeam Bravo is wrong, because every requirement change must pass a formal change-control board with written impact analysis to be valid in any approach
DBoth can be appropriate, because the formality of assessing requirements changes should match the change-control approach defined for each initiative, predictive or adaptive
Answer: D. The degree of formality applied when assessing requirements changes should match the initiative's defined change-control/governance approach. Predictive, contract-driven efforts typically use formal change boards and documented impact analysis; adaptive efforts frequently absorb change by re-prioritizing the backlog and reserve formal assessment for baseline-affecting changes. Both are valid in context, so neither team is categorically wrong.
Source: BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
5/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management · hard
During backlog ordering, a stakeholder argues that a requirement to comply with an upcoming privacy regulation should be ranked at the very top. The requirement delivers little direct customer-facing value, and on a pure cost-versus-benefit comparison it scores low. The BA wants to explain, in prioritization terms, why this low-benefit item can still rightly sit near the top of the order. Which prioritization basis most directly justifies elevating it?
APenalty - the consequences of not implementing the requirement, including failure to meet regulatory or policy demands
BStability - how likely the requirement is to change, so that unstable items are deferred to minimize unanticipated rework
CDependency - whether other requirements rely on this one being in place before they can be built or can function
DBenefit - the advantage that accrues to stakeholders from implementing the requirement, measured against the change's goals
Answer: A. BABOK's Prioritization technique lists several bases including benefit, penalty, cost, risk, dependencies, time sensitivity, stability, and regulatory/policy compliance. Penalty specifically captures the negative consequences of failing to implement a requirement, which subsumes regulatory and policy non-compliance. A compliance item can score low on benefit yet high on penalty, justifying a top ranking on that basis alone.
Source: BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
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