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Business Analysis Cheat Sheet by NatalieMoore
What is Business Analysis? What is a business analyst? BA Knowledge Areas
A person responsible for: 1. Business Analysis Planning
identifying the business needs of and Monitoring (Orange)
the customer (external or 2. Enterprise Analysis (Dark

internal) and other stakeholders Green)
determining solutions to 3. Elicitation (Light blue)

business problems
4. Requirement Analysis (light
BA activities include identifying, pink)
analyzing, developing and
5. Solution Assessment and
managing the requirements.
Validation
Business Analyst is not respon‐
6. Requirements Management
sible for determining the
and Communication
solution implementation
(creating the product’s design)
Common Objectives of Business
The Business Analyst acts as a Analysis
bridge between the customer
Collect and document the requir‐
and other stakeholders (e.g., the
ements
project team), identifying,
negotiating and achieving a Design business solutions to
consensus between the needs of resolve the business problems
the various representative indivi‐ Assist in the timely completion
duals and groups. of the project by providing
accurate requirements identific‐
ation and analysis
Improve efficiency by increasing

the quality of requirements
identification and analysis and
therefore reducing the need for
rework and fixes in the later
stages of the project
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11/15/22, 9:55 AM Business Analysis Cheat Sheet by NatalieMoore - Download free from Cheatography - Cheatography.com: Cheat Sheets F…
The practice of enabling change Why is Business Analysis Business Analysis influences
in an organizational context, by Necessary? other project areas
defining needs and recomm‐
Significant impact on project
ending solutions that deliver
management (especially scope
value to stakeholders.
and time management)
disciplined approach
Design – Business Analysis
Business analysts identify and determines the required
define the solutions that will business architecture and scope
maximize the value delivered by of the solution
an organization to its stakeh‐
Development – The Systems
olders
Analyst (who determines detailed
Business analysts work across all requirement specifications) uses
levels of an organization and the Business Analysis to
may be involved in everything determine what has to be
from defining strategy, to implemented.
creating the enterprise archit‐
Testing and other Quality
ecture, to taking a leadership
Assurance activities – Products
role by defining the goals and
of Business and Systems Analysis
requirements for programs and
are a basis for testing
projects or supporting
continuous improvement in its
Business needs
technology and processes.
Business Analysis is the set of A Business Need describes the
tasks, knowledge, tools and business problem or opportunity
techniques required to identify which the Business Analyst must
business needs and determine understand and analyze in order
solutions to business problems to recommend appropriate
[BABOK] solutions
BA Solutions may include: before a project starts, the

Business Need (understood as a
- Development of software
problem or an opportunity) and
systems
Business Case (understood as
- Development of software costs vs. benefits) are defined,
components either formally or informally.
- Extensions of existing for the projects that help the
software organization reach its vision,
- Improvements to the strategic goals, and business
business process objectives.
- Changes to the organization Business Analysts are often

supported by Project Managers
and Product Managers in
defining Business Needs
One of the responsibilities of a

Business Analyst is to cooperate
with the person or group
requesting the project, including
users or proxy users, and to help
them articulate the real need.
Role of BA in project phases Problems with requirements can What is a business process?
cause projects to fail. In most
Supporting implementation work
cases those problems are caused
in order to ensure developers
by poor or incorrectly conducted
understand and implement the
Business Analysis (especially
requirements properly
Requirements Engineering, a part
Business Analyst supports the of the Business Analysis
project from the beginning knowledge area).
through the system deployment
Common problems
(and sometimes to the system
retirement). - Ambiguous, under-specified,
unclear, impossible, contra‐
Supporting testing, for example
dictory business requir‐
by validating test cases in order
ements
to ensure that testing will
adequately cover all the requir‐ - Instability of the requir‐
ements ements (frequent and

uncontrolled changes in
Analyzing and documenting
requirements)
change requests for the requir‐
ements - Poor translation of the
business needs to requir‐
Processing new requirements
ements (incomplete, incons‐
(new regulations, standards, etc.)
istent, or not measurable
Processing the requests to fulfill requirements)
new needs requested by the
- Unclear objectives of the
customer or user
initiative
- Communication problems
What is an artefact?
- Language barriers
Final or intermediate work
products that are produced and - Knowledge barriers
used during a project - Vague wording
Might describe the function, - Overly formal wording

architecture, and design of
- Redundancy
software
- Gold plating (adding unnece‐
Might be concerned with the
ssary scope)
process of development itself,
such as project plans, business - Insufficient user involvement
cases and risk assessments - Overlooked user classes
Should use version control - Minimal specification
Should be correctly traced to Consequences of low quality BA

their origin
- Problems during during
scope definition
- Planning difficulties
- Implementation problems
- Testing problems
- Unclear requirements, or low

quality business design of
the solution, can lead to
confusion and questions
regarding the intended
What is a Business Goal? software product or process set of activities aimed at

solution producing a specific output for a
A Business Goal is a short- or
- risk of the project’s failure particular customer or market.
long-term objective of an organi‐
increases focuses on how the work is done
zation. Business Goals should be
characterized by the following - Requirements are imprecise within an organization, the way
qualities of organizing work, activities,

- Requirements are ambiguous
relationships and the depend‐
- Specificity - Requirements are contra‐ encies between them. A process
- Optimism dictory can be considered as the
- Realism - Requirements do not fulfill ordering of work activities across
the agreed criteria time and place, with a
- Both short- and long-term
beginning, an end, and clearly
scope - Requirements are missing
defined inputs and outputs [
Setting Business Goals is - Business processes and
A business process must have
important because: artifacts are not covered by
the following characteristics
requirements or are
- The organization needs to
described incompletely - Has a goal
have a vision of what it wants
to accomplish. This is facili‐ - All stakeholders are not - Has specific inputs
tated by having clearly stated identified - Has specific outputs
goals, along with establ‐ - Business goals or needs are - Uses resources
ishing time periods in which not identified causing the
they need to be achieved - Has a number of activities
designed solution to fail to
that are performed in some
- It keeps a clear picture of meet the organization’s
order
what the organization is needs and not achieve the
trying to do with the business goals - Affects at least one organi‐
business, and helps focus sational unit

Common reasons for neglecting
motivation BA - Creates value for the
- It allows the organization to customer (both internal and

- Time pressure
understand and maintain a external)
- Exclusive focus on fast
commitment to the business’ Identification of processes allows
results
main objectives the Business Analyst to
- Exclusive fixation on costs understand the organization’s
- It provides a metric against
- Perceiving documentation or goals,
which to measure the organi‐
zation’s progress the analysis and unders‐ Helps determine the activities
tanding of the business and the flow required to achieve
SMART
processes within an organi‐ future planned business and
SMART is a system and a tool zation as a cost, not an strategic goals
that is used to establish goals added value
and define their quality object‐ Identification of business
ives. SMART requires that all processes helps find possible

Requirements Elicitation
goals have the following charac‐ gaps and ineffective parts of the
Requirements Elicitation is the process, which may then be
teristics
collection of activities, approa‐ improved via process optimi‐
- Specific
ches, tools and techniques for sation
- Measurable capturing the requirements for a If business processes are not
- Attainable planned software system (or established and understood,
other business solution) from the then the organization may have
- Relevant
stakeholders\ a low maturity level, which
- Timely
makes measuring and contro‐
lling processes very difficult. In
addition, there are likely to be
What is a requirement? Traceability significant problems with the

definition of the business goals
Traceability is an association that
and needs.
exists between different types of
requirements and the following
items:
- Requirements (mapping the

higher level requirements
that defined the needs and
features to the more detailed
requirements)
- Detailed requirements to
design models
- Detailed requirements to test

cases
- High level requirements to

test cases
- Requirements to releas‐
e/code branch/version
Allows BA to ensure all business

requirements have been met.
Important from the change

management perspective, to
determine the impact of a
change on the system or process
For the testers and developers,

traceability ensures that the
requirements coverage has been
achieved
A condition or capability needed What is Enterprise Analysis? BA in Phases of the Software Life
by a stakeholder to solve a Cycle
problem, or achieve an objective.
A condition or capability that

must be met or possessed by a
system or system component, to
satisfy a contract, standard,
specification, or other formally
imposed documents
A documented representation of
a condition or capability
Requirements are the foundation

of systems, or system compon‐
ents. They can be obligatory
(required functions, constraints,
etc.), essential for the software
to perform its functions, and
meet the expectations and needs
of the intended stakeholders
Requirements should be placed

into one of the following
categories
- Business requirements
- User requirements
- Functional requirements
- Non-functional requirements
Purpose of requirements:
- Provide a foundation for

assessment, planning,
execution and monitoring of
the project activities
- Define customer expect‐

ations (expressed as real
requirements and stakeh‐
older’s value of those requir‐
ements)
- Serve as a component of
agreements, orders, project
plans
- Establish system boundaries,

scope of delivery, and the
services classification of the
requirements
Requirement classifications
Process requirements
- describe needs and limita‐

tions of the business
processes
- Costs Purpose: Identify and propose Analysis phase

projects that meet strategic - Identifying and evaluating
- Marketing
needs and goals. the current business
- Processing time
Task: Identifying business processes in an organization
- Sales and distribution
processes performed in the (“as is” analysis)
- Organisation organization - Gathering initial requir‐
- Documentation Purpose: Evaluate the internal ements for the needed
Product requirements and external environment business solution (“to be”
Conducting feasibility studies to analysis)

- functional and non-funct‐
ional product requirements determine the optimum business - Creating and analyzing the
solution business case
- POV of customer and team
Define/refine current/future - Conducting a feasibility
Types of requirement
business architecture study
- Customer requirements
Assess the current state of - Preparing ideas for the
- Solution or system requir‐ technology (infrastructure and business solution
ements applications)
Specification phase
- Product or component Benchmark analysis
- Identifying and documenting
requirements
Competitive studies business requirements on a
Fully define business problem/o‐ more detailed level
pportunity - Supporting the Systems
Output: Defined Problem/Oppo‐ Analyst in preparing the
rtunity detailed system specifica‐

tions (e.g., covering such
Task: Determine Solution
items as data, mapping,
Approach
integration issues, user
Purpose: interfaces)
- Identify potential solutions - Validating the proposed
- Analyze feasibility of options software design with the
customer and other stakeh‐
- Recommend viable business
olders
solution
- Managing any requirements
- Validate with decision
changes
makers
Development phase
Output: Solution Approach
- Supporting the development
Task: Define Solution Scope
team during implementation
Projects inevitably struggle at (e.g., clarifying issues related
some point or the other if the to the requirements,
scope is not defined properly validating business rules to
Solution scope may be be applied in the code)
determined using the following - Validating the evolving
techniques solution according to the
- Work Breakdown Structure intended requirements and
(WBS) - a decomposition of needs (when possible)
the work that is required to - Supporting testers in
complete a project, and
preparing test cases and test
accomplish the business
scripts at the business level
objectives and validating the resulting
- Product Breakdown Structure work products
Requirement Analysis (PBS) - a decomposition of - Managing any required

the components of the changes to the requirements
product (resulting from detected
- System Interface Analysis - a defects, regulatory or legal
definition of the work changes, needs for new or
required to integrate the new extended functionality, etc.)
solution into the existing Testing phase

business and technical
- BA role varies
environments
- verifying test results
Context diagram
- resolving issues related to
Product Breakdown Structure
defects or gaps in the requir‐
Output: Solution Scope ements
Task: Develop the Business Case - Participating in the prepar‐
- Define project objectives and ation of test cases for User
expected business benefits Acceptance Testing
- Supporting the acceptance

- Develop project scope
testers by answering
- Estimate time, cost,
questions during test
resources
execution
- Analyze cost vs. benefit
- Evaluate risk
- Inputs: Business Archit‐

ecture, Business Goal(s),
Defined Business Problem/O‐
pportunity Solution Scope
- Outputs: Business Case
Elaborate the solution definition Solution Assessment and BA Planning and Monitoring
in order to enable the project Validation
team to design and build a
solution that will meet the needs
of the business and stakeholders
Task: Organize Requirements
Structure and organize a set of

requirements into logical sets.
The organization may be based
on defining multiple “levels” of
requirements, packaging related
functions together, and so forth.
Inputs: Business Case, Solution

Scope, Requirements
Outputs: Structured requir‐

ements
Task: Prioritize Requirements
Determine the business priority

of requirements (including
voting, ranking, benefit analysis
and so forth). Identify logical
dependencies between requir‐
ements and requirements
packages.
Inputs: Requirements, Business

Case
Outputs: Prioritized requir‐

ements
Task: Specify and Model Requir‐

ements
Describes standard practices for

writing textual requirements and
creating models or diagrams.
Specific models are addressed as
techniques. Includes capturing
the requirements attributes
Inputs: Requirements
Outputs: Specified or modeled

Requirements
Task: Determine Assumptions

and Constraints
Identify stakeholder requests

that are not properly requir‐
ements but based on assump‐
tions regarding what the solution
team is capable of delivering
Capture and assess these

requests
Outputs: Assumptions and How to assess proposed The parameters which are
Constraints solutions to determine which defined and set during the
Task: Verify Requirements solution best fits the business planning phase should retain
need, identify gaps and shortc‐ their validity throughout the
Outputs: Verified requirements
omings in solutions, and project phases and it becomes
Task: Validate Requirements determine necessary workar‐ the responsibility of the business
Validate that a requirement will ounds or changes to the solution analyst to perform the activities
satisfy a business need. How we assess deployed classified under this knowledge
solutions to see how well they area precisely.

Outputs: Validated requirements
met the original need in order to Activities
enable businesses to assess the
Identify the stakeholders
performance and effectiveness of
- Identify stakeholders who
projects.
may be impacted by a
Purpose: Assess solutions to
proposed initiative or who
ensure that strategic goals are share a common business
met and requirements are need.
satisfied.
- determining appropriate
Task: Assess Requirements
stakeholders for the project
Coverage
or project phase, and
Purpose: Determine how well analyzing stakeholder
possible options for solution influence, authority
designs will meet the requir‐ (approve, sign off, veto), and
ements. The assessment may project attitude.
include a recommendation of a Outputs: Stakeholder list,
particular solution, rejection of Stakeholder roles and
all solutions, or an assessment responsibility designation
of possible trade-offs.
- RACI matrix (also known as
Examples: RFI/RFP responses, RASCI matrix) plays very
Internal designs, Manual important role in this
procedures process.
Inputs: Solution Design Option(s) - Scope of the tasks and the
Outputs: Solution Design dependency can be defined
Assessment easily
Task: Allocate Requirements - estimates related to cost,

timings and resources
Purpose: Allocate requirements
among releases and/or solutions Communication Planning
components. Ensures that the - Determine what information
possible release options are the various stakeholders
designed in a way to maximize need to be provided about
the possible business value given the results of business
the options and alternatives analysis and the forms it
generated by the design team. should take (verbal, written,
Activities etc). It includes considera‐
tions for, as well as constr‐
Allocate requirements to
aints, impacts, durability and
hardware, software, manual
trade-offs of different
procedures, etc.
communications media
Recommend the release/delivery
- Communication plays very
strategy
important role in any stage
Elicitation Understand trade-offs between of project life-cycle and in

different implementation order to avoid ambiguity or
approaches conflicts in the requirements
Inputs: Solution Design, and end results, the
Validated Requirements communication should be

precise and controlled.
Outputs: Allocated Requirements
- Each stakeholder should
Task: Determine Organizational
understand the details of the
Readiness
requirements
Purpose:
- WHAT, WHO and WHEN are
Determine organizational the important questions
readiness to effectively operate related to communication
the new solution
Monitoring BA work
- Conduct organizational
- metrics that can be used for
readiness assessment
monitoring business analysis
- Recommend ways to work are determined.
optimize the organizational
- helps in improving future
deployment
business analysis plans
Outputs: Organizational
- performance measures,
Readiness Assessment, Organi‐
reporting and corrective
zational Change Recommend‐
actions
ations
Plan Business Analysis Activities
Task: Validate Solution
- Determine which activities
Purpose:
are required to define the
Validate the verified and solution to a business
deployed solution meets the problem, how those activities
business need will be carried out, the work
Define acceptance criteria effort involved, and an
(including what level of confor‐ estimate of how long the
mance to requirements is accept‐ activities will take.
able) - Determine tasks in the
Identify defects/shortcomings Knowledge Areas:
(this should be distinguished - Identifies task dependencies
from functional testing)
- Develop estimates for BA
Analyze impact work (time, skill level,
Define corrective actions complexity of tasks, etc.)
Validate corrective actions - Inputs: Stakeholder list,

Stakeholder roles and
When a problem is identified
responsibility designation,
with the deployed solution
Organizational Standards
determine what is the most
appropriate response - Outputs: Business Analysis
Plans for each KA
Outputs: Validated Solution,
Defect Impact Analysis, Validated Plan Requirements Management
Corrective, Actions Process
Task: Evaluate Solution - Describes how to determine

the appropriate requirements
Purpose:
process for a particular
- Assess the value of the
initiative
Business Requirements Elicit‐ solution as deployed to the - Consider whether and how
ation is defined as a set of business (to determine if the requirements are changed
approaches, techniques, activi‐ original goals are met). - Which stakeholders need to
ties, and tasks used to capture - Compare actual vs. expected approve
the business requirements of a costs and benefits.
- Who will be consulted on, or
planned solution from the
Outputs: Cost/Benefit Analysis informed of changes,
stakeholders and other available
sources [ - includes the approach to
Stakeholder Identification requirements traceability and
Purpose: Explore, identify and Techniques determining which requir‐
document stakeholder needs.
Investigating the business ements attributes we will
Orienting the requirements
domain capture
toward the project vision.
Excluding features that the Identifying owners of the - Output: Requirements
customer does not want and business processes Management Plan
need Analyzing the structure of the RASCI: R- Responsible (does the

Describes how we work with customer’s organization work), A- Accountable (decision
stakeholders to find out what maker, only one), S- Support
Exploring the target market of
their needs are and ensure that (provides support during any
the customer’s organization
we have correctly and completely phase of lifecycle), C- Consulted
Analyzing relationships with
understood their needs. (consulted prior to the work and
external organizations (suppl‐
provides input), I- Informed
Task: Prepare for Elicitation
iers, etc.)
(informed about the work
Purpose: Prepare for elicitation
progress).
by ensuring all needed resources Stakeholder Needs and Expect‐
are organised and scheduled for ations
conducting the elicitation
Different stakeholders may have
activities
different needs and expectations
Outputs regarding the planned solution.
- Scheduled resources It is very important to identify all
the stakeholders and their
- Supporting materials
needs, and to find a common
Task: Conduct Elicitation
understanding of the purpose of
Meet with stakeholder(s) to elicit a solution, in order to avoid the
information regarding their situation where the final product
needs may meet the requirements of
Outputs only a selected group of stakeh‐
olders.
Elicitation activity results
Ensure that the features to be
Assumptions, constraints, risks,
implemented will not conflict
issues
with the requirement of other
Documentation based on stakeholders
technique (e.g., interview notes,
One of the responsibilities of a
workshop results, survey
Business Analyst is to identify all
responses, etc.)
the stakeholders and define their
Task: Document Elicitation requirements and expectations
Results
Determines the initial scope and
Purpose: Record stakeholder info requirements of the system
for use in analysis.
Outputs: Stated requirements
Task: Confirm Elicitation Results
Purpose: Play back the requir‐ Business Case Definition Requirements Management and
ements to validate that the Communication
stakeholder’s intentions have
been correctly captured and
understood.
Outputs: Validated stated requir‐

ements
Techniques
Questionnaires
Interviews
Self-recording
Reviewing existing documents
Reusing a specification from a

previous project
Brainstorming
Field observation
Apprenticing
Conducting workshops to refine

the requirements after each
iteration
Requirements Elicitation should

apply to enterprise requirements
as well as user or customer
requirements.
Requirement characteristics
Functionality
Reliability
Usability
Efficiency
Maintainability
Portability
What is a stakeholder Provides the reasoning for How we manage conflicts, issues
initiating a project and changes and ensure that
Any person involved in, or with
Describes a justification for the stakeholders and the project
an interest in, a project
team remain in agreement on
project in terms of the value
Stakeholders on the vendor side the solution scope
added to the business as a result
Project Managers of the project outcomes, in Purpose
Business and System Analysts comparison to the cost of Recognise that communication
developing the new solution takes places throughout all
Developers and Architects
May be in form of knowledge areas and is
Database designers
important for managing requir‐
- Structured document
GUI designers ements
- Short argument
Technical writers Manage the approved solution
- Presentation
Testers and Quality Assurance and requirements scope
staff Topics may include
Ensure stakeholders have access
Installation and Operations - Information about the to business analysis work
personnel opportunity (market trends, products
competitors)
Stakeholders on the customer Prepare and communicate
side - Qualitative and quantitative requirements to stakeholders
benefits
Customer representatives (i.e., Task: Manage Solution and
“Business”) - Estimates of cost and time to Requirements Scope
breakeven
Project sponsors Baseline and manage changes to
- Profit expectations business case, solution and
End users (from the customer
- Follow-on opportunities requirements
company)
- Cash flow consequences of Approve requirements
Installation and Operations
the action, over time, and the (according to the approval
personnel
methods used for quanti‐ authority stated in the Requir‐
External stakeholders may be:
fying benefits and costs ements Management Plan)
End users who are not a part of
- The impact of the proposed Control multiple versions of
the customer’s organization
project on the business requirements work products
Other organizations (e.g., operations or business Manage requirements conflicts
regulatory entities) process and issues
- The impact of the proposed Inputs: Stakeholder roles and
Stakeholder Identification
project on the technology responsibility designation,
Problems
infrastructure Requirements, Requirements
A lack of understanding of the - Constraints associated with management plan
real operators of the business the proposed project Outputs: Approved Requir‐
processes in the organization
- Estimated budget ements, Decision Record
Unclear definition of responsib‐
- Alignment with priorities Task: Manage Requirements
ilities within the customer’s
established by the business Traceability
organization
Procedure of Building the Purpose:
Excluding stakeholders who are
Business Case Trace requirements (update and
not clearly and directly related to
the process - Identify and quantify the maintaining relationships
benefits between requirements compon‐
Incomplete analysis resulting in
ents)
missing processes and activities, - Identify and quantify the
and the related stakeholders costs Perform impact analysis when
changes are requested and
- Prepare the Business Case
- Define the procedures that
Business Analysis Commun‐ will be used to measure the supply this information to the
ication Planning costs and benefits change control process
Support the allocation of requir‐

ements to the solution in
Solution Assessment and Valida‐
tion.
Outputs: Traced Requirements
Tasks: Maintain Requirements

for re-use
Purpose:
Select which implemented

requirements will be maintained
after solution implementation
Name the responsible party who

will maintain the requirements
Facilitate ongoing use of requir‐

ements for impact analysis and
solution maintenance
Facilitate re-use of requirements

on related projects to encourage
enterprise consistency of
business models
Inputs: Implemented requir‐

ements
Outputs: Maintained/re-used
requirements
Task: Prepare Requirements

Package
Determine appropriate format

for requirements, Create a
requirements package
Outputs: Requirements package

(e.g., executive summary, formal
documentation, RFI, RFP, etc.)
Task: Communicate requir‐

ements
Interaction with all stakeholders

before, during and after
projects.
Interaction with solution team to

assure that requirements are
correctly understood and
implemented
The main purpose of planning Requirements Documentation Change Management process

the Business Analysis commun‐
ication is to define how to
receive, distribute, access,
update and escalate information
to and from the project stakeh‐
olders, as well as how to
organize the schedule and
structure of the communication
within a project.
Business Analysis is the starting

point for designing and implem‐
enting a software solution. Its
deliverables are inputs to many
other project phases and
processes, such as establishing
the system architecture that will
allow meeting the business
goals, creating detailed
functional and non-functional
system specifications, and
planning and executing QA
activities.
Outputs from the Business

Analysis are also inputs to
system acceptance testing, which
is the final check before the
production release.
System acceptance testing is

conducted to verify that the
software is working as expected,
and is needed in order to realize
its goals (i.e., improving
efficiency of performing the
business process
BA provides info to the following
- Project management (scope

planning, scheduling, and
estimating development and
testing)
- Systems analysis
- Design (system specification

and architecture)
- Implementation
- Testing
Common methods of commun‐

ication include:
- Workshops
- Presentations
- Reviews Follow common standards and Identifying a potential change

guidelines Requesting new functionality
Factors to be Considered
Important guidelines Analyzing the change request
- Type of project
- Each requirement must be Evaluating the change
- Communication formality
unambiguous, precise, and
- Communication frequency Planning the change
understandable
- Geographical location Implementing the change
- Superfluous information
- Culture should be avoided Reviewing and closing the
change request
- Templates should be used as
Common BA techniques an aid Potential changes might be a
Brainstorming result of:

- Models and diagrams should
CATWOE (Clients, Actors, Transf‐ be used to make the specif‐ A defect found in the code,
ormation, Worldview, Owner, ication document clear and documentation or requirements
Environmental constraints) more understandable for System improvement efforts

readers.
Data Flow Diagrams External changes (regulatory,
- Formal graphical notation legal, etc.)
Five Why’s
should be used as a method
Functional decomposition New or changing requirements
for presenting complex
(resulting from new regulations,
Interviews requirements, dependencies,
changes within the business
MoSCoW and relationships
domain, new features requested
PESTLE (P for Political, E for A requirements document may by the users, etc.)
Economic, S for Social, T for include
Business process improvement
Technological, L for Legal and E - Introduction initiatives
for Environmental)
- Secrecy clause Change Request
MOST (Mission, Objectives,
- Regulations When the need for a change
Strategies, Tactics)
- Standards appears, there should be a
Prototyping Change Request raised by a
- Stakeholders
Requirements Workshops stakeholder requesting new or
- Purpose of the product
modified functionality. Important
Risk Analysis
- Overall description elements of a change request
Scenarios and Use Cases
- Functional requirements are a unique identifier, the
SWOT author, the deadline (if applic‐
- Non-functional requirements
User stories able), an indication whether the
- Limitations and assumptions change is required or optional,
- Dependencies the change type, and an
abstract, or description, of the
- Risks
proposed change
- Safety requirements
All changes should be tracked in
- Document acceptance
a Change Log or Change List
When creating a requirements
Changes should be managed by
document, the Business Analyst
the Change Control Board (CCB).
should remember that requir‐
The CCB is not allowed to
ements specifications must be
submit, approve, reject, or
complete, consistent, modifiable,
implement changes without
and traceable [Wiegers].
discussion with the other stakeh‐
Common Mistakes olders.
Trivialities - Lengthy descri‐ may have significant impact on

ptions of commonly known other elements of the system,
Principles for Successful Requir‐ issues should not be included such as components, interfaces,
ements Information out of scope functionality, etc.
Thinking in solutions - The Impact analysis should be

1. Understand the top level
requirements specification performed
critical objectives
should discuss the problem to be Impact analysis includes analysis
2. Think stakeholders, not
solved not the technical design of the changes needed in the
just users and customers
of the solution project schedule or budget that
3. Focus on the required would be necessitated if the
Redundant details
system quality, not just its
change were to be implemented
functionality Lacking rationale
The planning of change implem‐
4. Quantify quality requir‐
entation includes:
ements as a basis for
Updating plans as needed
software engineering.
depending on the phase of the
5. Don’t mix ends and means
project (e.g., Project Plan,
6. Capture explicit inform‐ Development Plan, and Test
ation about value. Plan)
7. Ensure there is “rich specif‐ Updating business and system

ication”; requirement documentation (e.g., specifica‐
specifications need much tions, architecture design, user
more information than just manuals)
the requirement itself.
Updating test cases and test
8. Carry out specification scripts
quality control (SQC).
Implementing the change
9. Consider the total lifecycle (coding)
and apply systems-thin‐
Testing by vendor or/and
king, not just a focus on
customer test team
software
Deploying the change to the
10. Recognize that requir‐
production environment
ements change; use
feedback and update
requirements as necessary.
Acceptance and Evaluation Modelling Requirements Organization

Criteria
Acceptance criteria are used to Modeling is a way of expressing Requirements can be organized
define the requirements, requirements by representing (structured) into packages. This
outcomes, or conditions that parts, or the whole, of the packaging conforms to the
must be met in order for a proposed solutions boundaries (limitations) and
solution to be considered Way of presenting complex solution scope established
acceptable to key stakeholders. requirements and relationships during Enterprise Analysis and
Evaluation criteria are the in the form of a model, helps to further define those
measures used to assess a set of especially some graphical form boundaries
requirements in order to choose such as diagrams, helps ensure BA decomposes the problem
between multiple solutions the solution is understood by model to make each requirement
Define measures of value other stakeholders more detailed
attributes to be used for Easier to read and comprehend Ensure that the model correctly
assessing and comparing than written text reflects the boundaries for the
solutions and alternative designs business problem
Not mandatory but very helpful
Measurable and testable criteria in big projects Ensure proper level of detail is
allow for the objective and achieved
Can skip modeling in the
consistent assessment of
following situations Types of decomposition
solutions and designs
- The solution is fully Goal decomposition
Acceptance criteria describe the
understood by the stakeh‐ - Goals are business requir‐
minimum set of requirements
olders and is easy to ements
that must be met in order for a
implement.
particular solution to be worth - Goal decomposition helps to
implementing. They may be used - The requirements are mostly ensure the solution will
to determine if a solution or non-functional and difficult satisfy stakeholder’s needs
solution component can meet a to express in the form of a
Feature list decomposition
requirement. model
- A feature is a service that the
Acceptance criteria are typically - The problem domain is well
solution provides to fulfill
used when only one possible known
one or more stakeholder
solution is being evaluated, and - The solution is dedicated to need
are generally expressed as a use by very few people
- an abstraction of the
pass or fail
- The scope is declared as solution of the problem
Valuation criteria define a set of constant and there is a low expressed at a high-level
measurements which allow for probability of changes in the
- A feature is developed into
ranking of solutions and altern‐ scope resulting from future
completely described
ative designs according to their requirements or needs.
functional and supplemental
value for stakeholders.
- model representation would requirements
Attributes that cannot be be less understandable by
Functional decomposition
measured directly are evaluated the key stakeholders than
using expert judgment or written text - breakdown of a list of items
various scoring technique into classifications or groups
Benefits of modeling
based on the function each
Elements
- simplified expression of real item performs or the use it
~ Value attributes ~ processes provides
- are the characteristics of a - describe a complex system in - identifies the high-level
solution that determine or the most clear and unambi‐ functions of the proposed
substantially influence its guous way. solution, or the organization
value for stakeholders
- Models present the whole itself, and then breaks them
- represent a meaningful and system and its context in a down into sub-processes
agreed-upon decomposition single diagram and therefore and activities.
of the value proposition into
- usually performed by a
its constituent parts, which help to look at the problem Systems Analyst
can be described as qualities from the overall perspective.
that the solution should Common techniques Quality Assurance
either possess or avoid
- UML notation to express Quality Assurance is a process of
examples systematic monitoring and
requirements as use case
ability to provide specific inform‐ diagrams, activity diagrams, evaluation of the various aspects
ation component diagrams, state of a project or solution. The goal
machine diagrams, etc. is to maximize the probability
ability to perform or support
that the solution has achieved a
specific operations - BPMN
desired standard of quality
performance and responsiveness - Using prototyping as a
Quality Criteria for Requirements
characteristics technique of GUI modeling
Allocatable Feasible
applicability of the solution in - Using SysML notation to
specific situations and contexts develop specifications, Complete Measurable
availability of specific features analysis, design, verification Consistent Necessary

and validation docume‐
and capabilities Correct Prioritized
ntation for systems and
usability, security, scalability, Testable Traceable
systems-of-systems. The
and reliability
specifications may include Unambiguous Understandable
~ Assessment ~ hardware, software, inform‐
Does not determine solution
In order to assess a solution ation, processes, personnel
Checklists
against acceptance or evaluation and facilities.
criteria, it must be constructed in One of the most common

Quality criteria for business
a measurable format techniques for requirements’
process models
quality control is the use of
Evaluation criteria provide a way - Correctness (syntactic and
checklists.
to determine if features provide semantic correctness)
the value necessary to satisfy
- Relevance (no irrelevant Acceptance and Evaluation
stakeholder needs.
details) Criteria
The criteria are presented as
- Economic efficiency
parameters that can be
(designed for a particular
measured against a continuous
purpose)
or discrete scale.
- Clarity (understandable by
Acceptance criteria are
the audience)
expressed in a testable form
- Comparability (based on the
Acceptance criteria are presented
same modeling conventions
in the form of statements which
within and between models)
can be verified as true or false.
This is often achieved through - Systematic design (contains
user acceptance testing (UAT) well-defined interfaces to

other types of models)
Usage Considerations
Agile methodologies may require

that all requirements be
expressed in the form of testable
acceptance criteria
Acceptance criteria are necessary

when the requirements express
contractual obligations
Acceptance criteria provide the

ability to assess requirements
based on agreed-upon criteria Domain Knowledge BA necessary skills

Evaluation criteria provide the
The goal of a Business Analyst is
ability to assess diverse needs
to provide business solutions to
based on agreed-upon criteria,
business issues by assessing
such as features, common
business problems, and identi‐
indicators, local or global
fying and analyzing root causes.
benchmarks, and agreed ratios
The success of Business Analysis
Evaluation criteria assist in the
is determined by the benefit that
delivery of expected return on
the solution provides to the
investment (ROI) or otherwise
business either in terms of
specified potential value
savings in costs, improvement in
Evaluation criteria helps in productivity, and/or increase in
defining priorities customer satisfaction.
Limitations To be able to provide a business
Acceptance criteria may express solution that provides a
contractual obligations and as measurable benefit to the organi‐
such may be difficult to change zation, the Business Analyst
for legal or political reasons must have knowledge of the

business domain.
Achieving agreement on
evaluation criteria for different Importance
needs among diverse stakeh‐ Domain knowledge makes it

olders can be challenging. easier for the Business Analyst to
connect and communicate with
Business Users.
Domain knowledge makes

understanding and analyzing
business issues easier
Lack of domain knowledge may

lead to delays in providing the
solution, since the business
process and business rules must
first be understood
Tools and Techniques of Facili‐ Analytical skills

tation Financial analysis
Applying engagement strategies Statistical analysis
Creating participation Operations research
Generating and organizing data Requirements analysis
Initiating reflection Systems analysis
Mobilizing energy Technical skills
Igniting action Working knowledge of
Recording information technology
Applying SWOT analysis Understanding of engineering

principles
Tools
Ability to apply financial
Gap analysis
principles to feasibility studies
Flipcharts
Managerial skills
Checklists
Project management capabilities
Multi-voting
Understanding of organizational
Root cause analysis behavior
Brainstorming Soft skills
Managing conflicts tips sheet Negotiation skills
Focus group framework - Ability to negotiate to obtain
data
- Ability to negotiate with

stakeholders to implement
projects
Communication and writing

skills
- Ability to communicate with

all levels of management
- Ability to communicate with

stakeholders of various
knowledge levels
- Precision in articulating ideas

and thoughts
- Ability to relate with line

workers
- Good technical writing skills
- Strong communication skills

in all forms (verbal, non-ve‐
rbal, written, etc.)
- Public speaking skills
Facilitation skills
Facilitation can be defined as a

process of enabling groups to
work cooperatively and effect‐
Process Improvement ively. Facilitation provides

leadership
Facilitation serves to improve the

following skills
- Leading
- Solving issues
- Building team and

community
- Empowering
- Resolving conflicts
- Transforming
- Evoking wise democracy
- Building personal effect‐

iveness
Facilitator
facilitator is a person who contri‐

butes structure and process to
interactions so that groups are
able to function effectively and
make high-quality decisions.
The facilitator’s goal is to
support others and enable them
to achieve high performance
Tasks and activities
- Helping the group to define

its goals and objectives
- Providing processes to
support members of the
group to help them use their
time effectively and to make
high-quality decisions
- Guiding group discussions to

ensure objectives are met,
and noting any ideas and
concepts raised by members
during the discussion
- Supporting members of the

group in assessing their
current skills and building
new skills
- Using consensus to enable

the group to make decisions
- Managing conflicts using a

collaborative approach
- Helping the group to

communicate effectively and
Process Improvement supports to access resources needed

the introduction of change into to make decisions
the current process in order to The facilitator must always stay
improve quality, reduce costs neutral, listen actively and ask
and/or accelerate schedules questions that allow the group
Supporting Process Improvement to identify and collect ideas and
is one of the tasks of a Business concepts. One of the facilitator’s
Analyst. tasks is to note and summarize
all ideas raised by the members
The Business Analyst models and
of the group.
analyzes business processes
used within an organization in Facilitator competancies
order to discover any ineffective - Communicates well
elements.
- Processes ideas from people
Techniques
- Shows a natural interest
- Manually re-design
- Listens well
processes on the basis of
experience and domain - Maintains control
knowledge with the goal of - Empowers the group

eliminating bottlenecks and
- Handles uncertainty
making the execution times
- Connects with the group
shorter and more efficient
quickly
- Introduce tools, including
- Focuses on the business not
software, to optimize the
on personal solutions
business processes in the
organization (e.g., SAP, ERP, - Negotiates between parties
CRM software) - Understands group dynamics
- Simulate and optimize - Helps the group to listen and
processes draw logical conclusions
- Adopt a selected method‐ - Runs meetings
ology or strategy
- Manages people’s expect‐
Methods: ations
Benchmarking - Understands and explains
Business process improvement the process
Business process reengineering
Capability Maturity Model Integr‐

ation/Capability Maturity Model
(CMMI/CMM)
ISO 9000
IT Governance
Just In Time manufacturing
Lean manufacturing
Performance improvement
Process management
Process Improvement and

Management (PI&M)
Six Sigma
Total Quality Management (TQM)
 business  analysis  planning  monitoring
Download the Business

Analysis Cheat Sheet
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Comments Created By

viktor40,
11:09 4 May 18 NatalieMoore
thanks, very useful cheat sheet https://www.speedwell.com.au

texmahn,
09:39 17 Sep 18
I cannot seem to download the PDF version of this cheat sheet. Please
advise.
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00:16 14 Jan 19 Languages:
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Published: 16th November,

The cheat sheet looks really good. 2016
Rated: 5 out of 5 stars based

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Business Analysis Cheat Sheet by NatalieMoore

What is Business Analysis? What is a business analyst? BA Knowledge Areas

A person respon­sible for: 1. Business Analysis Planning

identi­fying the business needs of and Monitoring (Orange)

the customer (external or 2. Enterprise Analysis (Dark

determ­ining solutions to 3. Elicit­ation (Light blue)

Improve efficiency by increasing

Business Analysis is the set of A Business Need describes the

tasks, knowledge, tools and business problem or opport­unity

techniques required to identify which the Business Analyst must

business needs and determine understand and analyze in order

solutions to business problems to recommend approp­riate

BA Solutions may include: before a project starts, the

- Changes to the organi­zation Business Analysts are often

One of the respon­sib­ilities of a

ements ements (frequent and

used during a project - Vague wording

Might describe the function, - Overly formal wording

cases and risk assess­ments - Overlooked user classes

Should use version control - Minimal specif­ication

Should be correctly traced to Conseq­uences of low quality BA

- Unclear requir­ements, or low

What is a Business Goal? software product or process set of activities aimed at

qualities of organizing work, activi­ties,

business, and helps focus sat­ional unit

- It allows the organi­zation to customer (both internal and

ives. SMART requires that all processes helps find possible

What is a requir­ement? Tracea­bility signif­icant problems with the

- Requir­ements (mapping the

- Detailed requir­ements to test

- High level requir­ements to

Allows BA to ensure all business

Important from the change

For the testers and develo­pers,

A condition or capability that

Requir­ements are the foundation

Requir­ements should be placed

- Provide a foundation for

- Define customer expect­‐

- Establish system bounda­ries,

- describe needs and limita­‐

- Costs Purpose: Identify and propose Analysis phase

Product requir­ements and external enviro­nment business solution (“to be”

Conducting feasib­ility studies to analysis)

Fully define business proble­m/o­‐ more detailed level

ppo­rtunity - Supporting the Systems

Output: Defined Proble­m/O­ppo­‐ Analyst in preparing the

rtunity detailed system specif­ica­‐

Requir­ement Analysis (PBS) - a decomp­osition of - Managing any required

- System Interface Analysis - a defects, regulatory or legal

definition of the work changes, needs for new or

required to integrate the new extended functi­ona­lity, etc.)

solution into the existing Testing phase

Task: Develop the Business Case - Partic­ipating in the prepar­‐

- Define project objectives and ation of test cases for User

expected business benefits Acceptance Testing

- Supporting the acceptance

- Inputs: Business Archit­‐

A person responsible for: 1. Business Analysis Planning

identifying the business needs of and Monitoring (Orange)

determining solutions to 3. Elicitation (Light blue)

tasks, knowledge, tools and business problem or opportunity

solutions to business problems to recommend appropriate

- Changes to the organization Business Analysts are often

One of the responsibilities of a

cases and risk assessments - Overlooked user classes

Should use version control - Minimal specification

Should be correctly traced to Consequences of low quality BA

- Unclear requirements, or low

qualities of organizing work, activities,

business, and helps focus sational unit

- It allows the organization to customer (both internal and

What is a requirement? Traceability significant problems with the

- Requirements (mapping the

- Detailed requirements to test

- High level requirements to

For the testers and developers,

Requirements are the foundation

Requirements should be placed

- Define customer expect‐

- Establish system boundaries,

- describe needs and limita‐

Product requirements and external environment business solution (“to be”

Conducting feasibility studies to analysis)

Fully define business problem/o‐ more detailed level

pportunity - Supporting the Systems

Output: Defined Problem/Oppo‐ Analyst in preparing the

rtunity detailed system specifica‐

Requirement Analysis (PBS) - a decomposition of - Managing any required

required to integrate the new extended functionality, etc.)

Task: Develop the Business Case - Participating in the prepar‐

- Inputs: Business Archit‐

Task: Organize Requirements

Outputs: Structured requir‐

Task: Prioritize Requirements

Inputs: Requirements, Business

Outputs: Prioritized requir‐

Task: Specify and Model Requir‐

Task: Determine Assumptions

Identify stakeholder requests

Task: Allocate Requirements - estimates related to cost,

Elicitation Understand trade-offs between of project life-cycle and in

Validated Requirements communication should be

Validate corrective actions - Inputs: Stakeholder list,

need Analyzing the structure of the RASCI: R- Responsible (does the

Outputs: Stated requirements

Task: Confirm Elicitation Results

Outputs: Validated stated requir‐

Reusing a specification from a

Requirements Elicitation should

Support the allocation of requir‐

Outputs: Traced Requirements

Tasks: Maintain Requirements

Select which implemented

Name the responsible party who

Facilitate ongoing use of requir‐

Facilitate re-use of requirements

Inputs: Implemented requir‐

Task: Prepare Requirements

Determine appropriate format

Outputs: Requirements package

Task: Communicate requir‐

Interaction with all stakeholders

Interaction with solution team to

The main purpose of planning Requirements Documentation Change Management process

- Design (system specification

Common methods of commun‐

- Reviews Follow common standards and Identifying a potential change

Brainstorming result of:

ormation, Worldview, Owner, ication document clear and documentation or requirements

Environmental constraints) more understandable for System improvement efforts

Trivialities - Lengthy descri‐ may have significant impact on

ements Information out of scope functionality, etc.

7. Ensure there is “rich specif‐ Updating business and system

Acceptance and Evaluation Modelling Requirements Organization

availability of specific features analysis, design, verification Consistent Necessary

criteria, it must be constructed in One of the most common

user acceptance testing (UAT) well-defined interfaces to