CAPM Business Analysis Frameworks Practice Question
A business analyst is evaluating the success of a recently completed project. The project delivered all requirements on time and within budget, but end-users are dissatisfied with the functionality. Which business analysis technique should the analyst use to assess this discrepancy?
⚠ Common exam trap
CAPM often tests the confusion between lessons learned (documenting for the future) and root cause analysis (diagnosing the present problem), so candidates pick 'lessons learned' because it sounds like the natural post-project activity.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Root cause analysis
Root cause analysis is the technique used to dig past the symptom (user dissatisfaction) to the underlying causes — such as poorly elicited requirements, missing stakeholder validation, or a gap between stated and actual needs. Since the project met time and budget but missed the actual business need, the discrepancy is a quality/requirements problem, and RCA (e.g., 5 Whys, fishbone) is the correct diagnostic tool.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
SWOT analysis
Why it's wrong here
SWOT analysis assesses internal strengths and weaknesses against external opportunities and threats for strategic planning; it does not examine why delivered functionality failed to meet user needs. It is tempting because it evaluates organisational position, and it would be correct when deciding whether to pursue a new product, market or strategic direction.
- ✗
Lessons learned
Why it's wrong here
Lessons learned captures what went well or badly and recommends improvements for future projects; it reviews process execution rather than diagnosing why delivered functionality failed to satisfy users. It is tempting because the project is complete, and it would be correct when the goal is documenting process successes and failures for later initiatives.
- ✓
Root cause analysis
Why this is correct
Root cause analysis investigates why delivered requirements failed to satisfy users despite meeting scope, schedule and budget, exposing gaps between stated requirements and actual needs. This technique directly assesses the discrepancy between project outputs and user expectations.
- ✗
Cost-benefit analysis
Why it's wrong here
Cost-benefit analysis compares projected monetary costs against expected financial returns to justify an investment; it cannot explain why satisfied-on-paper requirements failed users. It is tempting because the project met budget, and it would be correct when deciding whether a proposed change or solution is financially worthwhile before committing funds.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every CAPM question from scratch — 451 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official PMI exam blueprint
This CAPM practice question is part of Courseiva's free PMI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CAPM exam.