5 Critical Points BAs Need to Remember

1. You will always be describing a process. Determine the process that is to be automated, and describe it.

2. You must understand something at one level before you can truly understand it at a lower level. Start your analysis by describing the overall process at a high level of abstraction to form the framework of the rest of your analysis.

3. You must describe "What" not "How". The business process should be described independent of how a system would help a user to complete the process.

4. Follow the 80/20 Rule. The 80 = the main process flow, when everything goes smoothly. The 20 = the variations from the main flow.

5. Describe each step and sub-step in a process as "Somebody does something with some information". This syntax will help describe the process in a way that is understandable by all, and will lead to the simple identification of the true business requirements.

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