A state or condition the business must satisfy to reach its vision. Enterprise Analysis (BABOK Knowledge Area) Any methodology that emphasizes planning and formal documentation of the processes used to accomplish a project and of the results of the project. A comparison of the current state and desired future state of an organization in order to identify differences that need to be addressed. The free-form arrangement of objects lends itself well to showing the sequenced interactions in a more compact space. A description of the planned activities that the business analyst will execute in order to perform the business analysis work involved in a specific initiative. A formal type of peer review that utilizes a predefined and documented process, specific participant roles, and the capture of defect and process metrics. A shared boundary between any two persons and/or systems through which information is communicated. See requirements risk mitigation strategy. A model that illustrates the flow of processes and/or complex use cases by showing each activity along with information flows and concurrent activities. More info on CBAP - Certified Business Analysis Professional. The stakeholder assigned by the performing organization to manage the work required to achieve the project objectives. It compares the amount of work remaining (typically measured along the vertical axis) against time (measured along the horizontal axis). The SIPOC diagram is a tool that is used to outline the scope of a process improvement initiative (often as part of a Six Sigma improvement project). A Business Requirements Document is a requirements package that describes business requirements and stakeholder requirements (it documents requirements of interest to the business, rather than documenting business requirements). A view organizes diagrams into logical groups to describe a particular aspect of the system. They describe the needs that a given stakeholder has and how that stakeholder will interact with a solution. It is most often depicted as a tree structure where high level tasks break down into lower level tasks. Any unique and verifiable work product or service that a party has agreed to deliver. A requirements package is a set of requirements grouped together in a document or presentation for communication to stakeholders. An entity-relationship diagram is a graphical representation of the entities relevant to a chosen problem domain, the relationships between them, and their attributes. It requires a listener to understand and actively evaluate what he or she heard. An analysis model showing the life cycle of a data entity or class. Pseudocode Assumptions are influencing factors that are believed to be true but have not been confirmed to be accurate. A role is different than a job title. Any recognized association of people in the context of an organization or enterprise. Cost Benefit Analysis is a technique used to determine if the financial benefits of a project outweigh the associated cost of undertaking the project in the first place. Programming Languages – Although not mandatory but an understanding of at least one programming language like Java, C++, Visual Basic, PHP will help an analyst ‘ think’ technically Database – A knowledge of different types of databases, their applications, and … The discount rate is the percentage rate used to reduce future cash flow values for each year in the future that they occur. A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. Concentration Ratio (CR) is a measurement used to understand the level of competition that exists within a market or industry in which a company operates. It is often used to model logic that may otherwise require many sentences or paragraphs to convey. The tool captures all of the relevant elements of the process under consideration. The Herfindahl Hirschman Index (HHI) is a measurement used to understand the level of competition that exists within a market or industry, as well as give an indication of how the distribution of market share occurs across the companies included in the index. A person or system that directly interacts with the solution. In addition to documenting entities, a business entity model may capture the attributes of an entity, relationships between entities, and cardinality information. It describes checking a final product or deliverable to ensure that it is defect or error free and meets specifications. User Story See also metric, indicator and monitoring. A successful outcome of a process will deliver value to one or more stakeholders. Involves identifying the forces, depicting them on opposite sides of a line (supporting and opposing forces) and then estimating the strength of each set of forces. PDCA stands for Plan, Do, Check, Act. It is sometimes called a business entity model. Active Listening is a method used to listen and respond to others in a structured and deliberate way. A description of the types of communication the business analyst will perform during business analysis, the recipients of those communications, and the form in which communication should occur. A Business Analyst evaluates business processes, identifies needs, and develops strategies to maximize opportunities. Stakeholder Analysis SWOT Analysis A requirements document issued when an organization is seeking a formal proposal from vendors. One system can be a sub-element (or subsystem) of another system. A structured walkthrough is an organized peer review of a deliverable with the objective of finding errors and omissions. Internal environmental factors are classified into strengths and weaknesses, while external environmental factors are classified into opportunities and threats. A set of user stories, requirements or features that have been identified as candidates for potential implementation, prioritized, and estimated. Pseudocode is a notation that combines some of the structure of a programming language, such as IF-ELSE and DO WHILE constructs, with a natural language, such as plain English. An organizational unit, organization, or collection of organizations that share a set of common goals and collaborate to provide specific products or services to customers. A BABOK 2.0 Knowledge Area that describes the business analysis activities required to compare the needs of the business against the current capabilities of the business and identify opportunities for improvement. A partial or preliminary version of the system. An impact analysis assesses the effects that a proposed change will have on a stakeholder or stakeholder group, project, or system. CRUD stands for: Create, Read, Update, Delete. RuleSpeak is fully consistent with the OMG’s SBVR standard. The set of capabilities a solution must deliver in order to meet the business need. See also metric. A description of the requirements management process. A stakeholder, person, device, or system that directly or indirectly accesses a system. There may be many secondary actors for a given system. Technical constraints are limitations on the design of a solution that derive from the technology used in its implementation. A business rule is a specific, actionable, testable directive that is under the control of the business and supports a business policy. A user story (typically used by Agile methodolgies) is a high-level requirement containing just enough information to help the team produce a reasonable sizing for the requirement. Stated requirements frequently reflect the desires of a stakeholder rather than the actual need. They are intended to guide the actions of people working within the business.