Why it is important for business analysts to document the organisation from more than just a business perspective.

So often when I train business analysis professionals I am told “we do not look at data during requirements gathering because it is the responsibility of IT”. Is this thinking common?

Business Analysis practitioners must have a holistic view of the organization’s elements and must be able to determine which types of models are required to document (model) requirements views from different perspectives that includes behaviour (how work flows), structure (data needed to support the work flow), dynamics (triggers work to begin) and control (the business rules that control organization behaviour). Whenever single dimension views are taken there is a high risk of poor requirements. Asking business stakeholders to detail the information needed to support a business process is an excellent technique that helps the analyst to understand the business from another perspective and it allows the business to drive system design and not the other way around. By identifying and detailing data in a model, further requirements and problem areas will arise and can be dealt with long before software design.

Please login or sign up to continue reading this ebook from Joan Pournara.