IntermediatePROBLEM_SOLVING
Think of a time when your analysis of operational or customer data directly changed a business decision or process. Describe the specific dataset you worked with, the tools you used (e.g., SQL, Excel, BI tools), what analysis you performed, and how you presented your findings to secure stakeholder buy-in for the change.
Business Analyst
General

Sample Answer

At my last company, our call center leaders were convinced we needed to hire 15 more agents because average handle time was creeping up and CSAT had dipped to 3.8/5. Before approving the spend, I pulled 12 months of data from our telephony system and CRM using SQL, then joined it in Power BI: call logs, agent IDs, call reasons, NPS, and follow-up tickets. Instead of a volume issue, the data showed 28% of calls were repeat contacts within 3 days, mostly for the same three billing issues. I built a simple funnel view and a Pareto chart that highlighted these patterns and estimated we could cut repeat calls by ~40%, saving about $450k annually, by fixing two workflows and updating one IVR path. I walked the ops director and product owner through a live Power BI dashboard rather than static slides. Once they saw they could track the impact weekly, they agreed to pause hiring and fund the workflow changes instead.

Keywords

Describe the dataset clearly: sources, time range, key fieldsMention specific tools (SQL, Power BI) and exact analyses (joins, Pareto, funnel)Quantify impact in money and operational metricsExplain how the visualization and story secured buy-in
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