Business Analytics projects – where do you begin? In a previous post, Joy mentioned using decisions to prioritize requirements for business analytics projects. Beginning your project by identifying these decisions, uncovering business problems and mapping both to business objectives and the product concept will allow you to build out documentation. …
Documentation (BRD/SRS)
Posts about documenting requirements and different document types
Requirements Deliverables: Target Your Audience
At Seilevel, we consistently tout the invaluable benefit of using models in your requirements process. In many cases, models are more than enough to communicate the intended functionality to all stakeholders. This is especially true if you have been using models in your process for some time and stakeholders know …
HealthCare.gov and the Case of the Missing Interface Requirements
By Kell Condon
Interface requirements have taken centre-stage with the launch of the federal government’s online marketplace for insurance: Healthcare.gov. As eager enrollees rushed to access the new website, they saw first-hand what happens when a system developed by more than 50 different contractors lacks detailed definition of the data passing between systems. …
Business Analysis Tip: Professionalism and Proof-Listening
Client confidence is of paramount importance to the success of a business analysis consultant. If a client believes in you, he or she will be much more likely to make time for your questions and needs, believe in your ideas and solutions, and be more forgiving of your mistakes. A …
Business Analyst Tip: Visualizing Your Completed Document Using Fillers
By Matt Offers
Whenever I’m in the beginning stages of working on a lengthy requirements document I like to get an idea of how the document will actually look at the end. A lot of the time this helps me put the pieces together in my head to help me figure out how …
Making Requirement Artifacts Consumable
One of the things that I’ve noticed that some business analysts have a tendency to do is to try and get as much information onto one page as possible. I can understand that desire, wanting to keep all relevant information together. For example, when creating a process flow, there is …
Collaborate on documents during your meetings
By Jeremy Gorr
A nice trick that business analysts can use now that collaboration technology like Google Docs exists is to allow meeting participants to simultaneously collaborate on documents during the meeting itself. Simply have everyone in your meeting open up the document on their own computer, and then everyone can edit the …
The Top 50 Things a Business Analyst Can Delegate
By Jeremy Gorr
It isn’t news that most business analysts don’t have enough time. Especially senior resources, who are loaded up with work because they are the only ones in the organization who can do some of the more valuable tasks. The only way to clear time for those tasks is delegate their other work …
Using visual models every step of the way
By Jeremy Gorr
Often, business analysts see visual models as a discrete part of the requirements process. At some point they’ll create the visual models, and then they will file them away in a section of the requirements document that will never be looked at again. Sometimes, they are completed after the requirements …
Business Analyst Tip: Using the Business Objectives Model to Survive “The Shark Tank”
By Kell Condon
In software requirements, the Business Objectives Model is key to delivering value for the business. This software requirements model traces the connection between key problems a business faces and the eventual product they produce. Creating this model is arguably the first and most important step we take here at Seilevel …
