GLOSSARY
1. INCLUSIONS AND EXCLUSIONS
This glossary includes terms that are:
- Unique or nearly unique to business analysis (e.g., business requirements document, business analysis plan, modeling elaboration).
- Not unique to business analysis, but used differently or with a narrower meaning in business analysis than in general everyday usage (e.g., acceptance criteria, business inspection).
This glossary generally does not include:
- Application area-specific terms.
- Terms used in business analysis that do not differ in any material way from everyday use (e.g., competency, culture).
- Compound terms whose meaning is clear from the meanings of the component parts.
- Variants when the meaning of the variant is clear from the base term.
- Terms that are used only once and are not critical to understanding the point of the sentence (e.g., terms in a list of examples would not be defined in the Glossary).
2. COMMON ACRONYMS
3. DEFINITIONS
The words within this glossary are defined in the context of business analysis. Many of the words defined here have different dictionary definitions and, in some cases, different meaning when considered in the context of project, program, or portfolio management. This glossary is best used to understand how terms are being used throughout this standard and guide and to further understand how terms are commonly used when discussing business analysis work.
Acceptance Criteria. A set of conditions that is required to be met before deliverables are accepted. In business analysis, acceptance criteria are built to evaluate the product requirements and solution.
Active Listening. The act of listening completely with all senses so as to pick up all of the information that is being communicated. Active listening entails paraphrasing or reciting back what is heard to ensure accurate understanding of what has been stated.
Activity. A distinct, scheduled portion of work performed during the course of a project.
Activity Diagram. A type of process model that visually shows the complex flow of use cases. Activity diagrams are similar to process flows in syntax, however they commonly show user and system interactions in one diagram and mirror the textual description of use cases. See also process flow.
Actor. People or other systems that interact with a solution.
Actual Acceptance Result. Contains the pass/fail results from comparing test results against the acceptance criteria.
Adaptability. The skill of being flexible and willing to adjust how one performs work or goes about approaching a situation as change and new information is encountered.
Adaptive Life Cycle. A project life cycle that is iterative and incremental.
Affinity Diagram. A technique that allows large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis.
Agile Approach. An example of an adaptive project life cycle.
Analogous Estimation. A technique for estimating the duration or cost of an activity or portfolio component, program, or project using historical data from an item having similar characteristics.
Analysis. The process of examining, breaking down, and synthesizing information to further understand, complete, and improve it.
Analysis Approach. Describes how analysis will be performed; how to verify, validate, and prioritize requirements and other product information; how risks will be identified and analyzed; how design options will be assessed; and what techniques and templates are expected to be used to perform analysis.
Analysis Knowledge Area. Includes the processes for examining, breaking down, synthesizing, and clarifying information to further understand it, complete it, and improve it.
Analysis Model. A visual representation of product information. See also product information.
Analytical Resource. A person on the product team who performs business analysis.
Analytical Skills. A set of skills in business analysis that are used to process information of various types and at various levels of detail for the purpose of determining the relevant information from the irrelevant, drawing conclusions, building models, formulating decisions, and specifying requirements.
Approved Requirement. A requirement that is verified and validated and has been deemed an accurate reflection of what the product development team should build.
Architecture. A method to describe an organization by mapping its essential characteristics, such as people, locations, processes, applications, data, and technology.
As-Built Documentation. Analysis and design documentation that has been updated to correspond to a released product.
Assemble Business Case. The process of synthesizing well-researched and analyzed information to support the selection of the best portfolio components, programs, or projects to address the business goals and objectives.
Assess Business Analysis Performance. The process of considering the effectiveness of the business analysis practices in use across the organization, typically in the context of considering the ongoing deliverables and results of a portfolio component, program, or project.
Assess Current State. The process of examining the current environment under analysis to understand important factors that are internal or external to the organization, which may be the cause or reason for a problem or opportunity.
Assess Product Design Options. The process of identifying, analyzing, and comparing solution design options based on the business goals and objectives, expected costs of implementation, feasibility, and associated risks and using the results of this assessment to provide recommendations regarding the design options presented.
Assessment of Business Value. The result of comparing expected business value for a solution against actual value that has been realized.
Assumption. A factor that is considered to be true, real, or certain, without proof or demonstration.
Autocratic Decision Making. An approach for making decisions where one individual makes the decision for the group.
Automated Regression Testing. Tool-supported validation used after changes are made to a software system to ensure those changes did not unintentionally alter the system in some other way.
Backbone. A foundational part of a story map representing the minimum set of capabilities that absolutely are required to be in the first release for the solution to serve its purpose. That set of capabilities or user stories is sometimes called the minimum viable product. See also story mapping.
Backlog. A listing of product requirements and deliverables to be completed, often written as user stories, and prioritized by the business to manage and organize the project's work.
Backlog Management. See backlog refinement.
Backlog Refinement. A process used on agile projects where the product team works with the product owner to gain more in-depth understanding about the user stories in the backlog list. The portion of the backlog which is refined at any point in time is typically considered ready to use as an input for sprint planning meetings, which are used to determine which user stories to cover in the next iteration.
Backsliding. A circumstance in a burndown chart where the remaining quantity of what is being tracked increases over time.
Backward Traceability. A technique that establishes the relationship of a requirement to the scope, business goals, or business objectives from which it originated.
Baseline. The approved version of a work product that can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results.
Behavior-Driven Development (BDD). An approach that suggests the team begins with understanding how the user will use a product (its behavior), writes tests for that behavior, and then constructs solutions against the tests.
Benchmarking. The comparison of actual or planned practices, such as processes and operations, to those of comparable organizations to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement, and provide a basis for measuring performance.
Benefit. The gains and assets realized by the organization and other stakeholders as the result of outcomes delivered by the solution.
Bottom-Up Estimating. A method of estimating duration or cost by aggregating the estimates of the lower-level components.
Brainstorming. In business analysis, brainstorming is an elicitation technique that is performed in a group setting and led by a facilitator to engage stakeholders to quickly identify a list of ideas for a specific topic in a relatively short time period.
Burndown Chart. A graphical representation that counts the remaining quantity of some trackable aspect over time. Burndown charts that track the number of remaining backlog items are used on projects using an adaptive life cycle.
Business. In business analysis, the area of an organization that is experiencing a problem or possessing an opportunity along with the desire and interest in and willingness to sponsor changes to address the need.
Business Acumen. The skill of applying business and industry knowledge with decision-making capabilities to make sound decisions.
Business Analysis. The set of activities performed to support delivery of solutions that align to business objectives and provide continuous value to the organization.
Business Analysis Approach. A description of how business analysis processes will be conducted for a portfolio component, program, or project. When following a formal delivery process, the business analysis approaches from each Knowledge Area are included in the business analysis plan. See business analysis plan.
Business Analysis Center of Excellence. An organizational structure created whereby business analysts are managed centrally or are provided mentorship centrally for the purpose of improving the business analysis discipline across the organization. Also called a center of business analysis practice.
Business Analysis Deliverables. Any unique and verifiable result, produced throughout the course of performing business analysis activities, which is provided to team members and stakeholders to perform future work, decision making, or complete a process, phase, or initiative.
Business Analysis Documentation. The set of business analysis information produced as an output of the business analysis work conducted on a portfolio, program, or project. Such output may be comprised of business analysis deliverables, business analysis work products, or a combination thereof.
Business Analysis Methodology. A system of practices, techniques, tools, procedures, and rules used by those who work in the business analysis discipline.
Business Analysis Organizational Standard. Part of organizational process assets, these standards may include expectations for how business analysis is conducted and which tools are used to support business analysis efforts.
Business Analysis Performance Assessment. An evaluation of what has been learned about the effectiveness of the business analysis processes and of the business analysis techniques that have been used.
Business Analysis Performance Metrics. A qualitative or quantitative measure of or inference about the effectiveness of business analysis practices.
Business Analysis Plan. A summary of the choices and process decisions made in the business analysis approaches, including the identification of the business analysis tasks that will be performed, the deliverables that will be produced, and the roles required to perform the work.
Business Analysis Tailoring. The need to adjust which business analysis activities should be performed for projects of varying characteristics.
Business Analyst (BA). Any resource who is performing the work of business analysis.
Business Architecture. A collection of the business functions, organizational structures, and locations, and processes of an organization, including documents and depictions of those elements. It is usually a subset of the enterprise architecture and is extended with the applications, information, and supporting technology to form a complete blueprint of an organization.
Business Architecture Technique. An organizational framework available to model business architecture, providing different approaches for analyzing various aspects of the business.
Business Capability Analysis. A technique used to analyze performance in terms of processes, people skills, and other resources used by an organization to perform its work. Historical data obtained from analyzing current capabilities are used to understand trends and determine what measures will be helpful guidelines for determining whether a capability is performing as it should be in the current state.
Business Case. A documented economic feasibility study used to establish validity of the benefits to be delivered by a portfolio component, program, or project.
Business Data Diagram. See entity relationship diagram.
Business Data Object. For business analysis, a business data object is a grouping of facts that together describe a person, place, thing, or concept of interest to a business. The term business data object is sometimes used interchangeably with business entity. It can also refer to the physical data storage of such groupings.
Business Goal. A broad-based translation of a corporate goal into what the business specifically is seeking to achieve. Business goals should align to the organizational goals.
Business Need. The impetus for a change in an organization based on an existing problem or opportunity. The business need provides the rationale for initiating a portfolio component, program, or project.
Business Objective. Measurable representation of the goals the business is seeking to achieve. Business objectives are specific and should align to the organizational objectives.
Business Objectives Model. A business analysis model that relates the business problems, business objectives, and top-level features.
Business Requirement. A requirement that describes a higher-level need of the organization, such as a business issue or opportunity, the rationale for why an initiative is being undertaken, and a measurable representation of a goal the business is seeking to achieve.
Business Rule. A constraint about how the organization wants to operate. These constraints are usually enforced by data and/or processes and are under the jurisdiction of the business.
Business Rules Catalog. A business analysis model that details all of the business rules and their related attributes.
Business Value. The net quantifiable benefit derived from a business endeavor. The benefit may be tangible, intangible, or both. In business analysis, business value is considered the return, in the form of time, money, goods, or intangibles for something exchanged.
Buy a Feature. A type of collaborative game used to enable a group of stakeholders to agree on prioritization by giving each stakeholder an amount of pretend money to buy their choice of features, splitting the money received across features however desired.
Capability. The ability to add value or achieve objectives in an organization through a function, process, service, or other proficiency.
Capability Framework. A collection of an organization's capabilities, organized into manageable pieces, similar to business architecture.
Capability Table. A table that displays the capabilities needed to solve a problem or seize an opportunity. This tool can show the relationship between a situation, its root causes, and the capabilities needed to address the situation.
Cardinality. An indication of the quantity of one business data object which is associated with a related business data object. Current usage of the term also includes whether the relationship between the two objects is required or optional.
Cause and Effect Diagram. A decomposition technique that helps trace an undesirable effect back to its root cause.
Change Agent. A person who acts as a catalyst for organizational innovation possessing the vision to recognize where and when a change is needed and influencing to bring the change to fruition.
Change Control. A process whereby modifications to documents, deliverables, or baselines associated with the project are identified, documented, approved, or rejected.
Change Control Board (CCB). A formally chartered group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, delaying, or rejecting changes to the project, and for recording and communicating such decisions.
Change Control Tools. Manual or automated tools to assist with change and/or configuration management. At a minimum, the tools should support the activities of the change control board (CCB).
Change Request. A formal proposal to modify a document, deliverable, or baseline.
Charter. See portfolio charter, program charter, or project charter.
Collaborative Games. A collection of elicitation techniques that foster collaboration, innovation, and creativity to achieve the goal of the elicitation activity.
Communication and Collaboration Tool. A category of tools used in business analysis to effectively work with stakeholders and share and manage information.
Communication Skills. A collection of skills in business analysis utilized to provide, receive, or elicit information from various sources.
Communications Management Plan. A component of the project, program, or portfolio management plan that describes how, when, and by whom information about the project will be administered and disseminated.
Communication Tailoring. Selecting the appropriate method and style of communication to use in a given situation based on factors such as audience (role, internal versus external, individual versus group, etc.) and available communication methods (email, phone, instant message, teleconference, in-person meeting, etc.).
Competitive Analysis. A technique for obtaining and analyzing information about an organization's external environment.
Compliance Standard. See regulatory standard.
Conduct Business Analysis Planning. The process performed to obtain shared agreement regarding the business analysis activities the team will be performing and the assignment of roles, responsibilities, and skill sets for the tasks required to successfully complete the business analysis work.
Conceptual and Detailed Thinking. The ability to move between analyzing at a high-level view of a problem space and a specific detail or set of details that comprise one aspect of the problem space.
Conduct Elicitation. The process of applying various elicitation techniques to draw out information from stakeholders and other sources.
Conduct Stakeholder Analysis. The process of researching and analyzing quantitative and qualitative information about the individuals, groups, or organizations that may impact, are impacted, or are perceived to be impacted by the area under assessment.
Configuration Management. A collection of formal documented processes, templates, and documentation used to apply governance to changes to the solution, or subcomponent being developed.
Configuration Management Standard. The criteria established for what constitutes compliance with configuration management procedures and their associated systems and tools.
Configuration Management System (CMS). A collection of procedures used to track artifacts and monitor and control changes to these artifacts.
Confirm Elicitation Results. The process of performing follow-up activities on the elicitation results, determining an appropriate level of formality to use, reviewing with stakeholders, and comparing to historical information.
Confirmed Elicitation Results. Consist of the business analysis information obtained from completed elicitation activities. Confirmed elicitation results signify that the product team has reached a common understanding and agrees to the accuracy of the information elicited.
Constraint. In business analysis, a constraint is a limit imposed on a solution.
Context Diagram. A visual depiction of the product scope showing a business system (process, equipment, computer system, etc.) and how people and other systems (actors) interact with it.
Control Point. A designated event scheduled for the conclusion of a segment of work in order to evaluate progress against plans and the project charter and business case to determine if the project should be changed, terminated, or continued as planned. Examples of control points are stage gates or phase gates. The evaluation which occurs at the end of a sprint, iteration, or release can also be considered a control point.
Cost-Benefit Analysis. A financial analysis tool used to determine the benefits provided by a portfolio component, program, or project against its costs.
Cost-Effectiveness Feasibility. The high-level economic feasibility of a potential portfolio component, program, or project, taking into account both financial benefits and costs.
Create and Analyze Models. The process of creating structured representations, such as diagrams, tables, or structured text, of any product information, to facilitate further analysis by identifying gaps in information or uncovering extraneous information.
Creative Thinking. The ability to resolve a problem or set of problems by exploring multiple and different solutions to arrive at an improved future result.
Cross-Functional Team. A team where each team member can play more than one role.
CRUD Matrix. CRUD, defined as (C) create, (R) read, (U) update, and (D) delete, represents the operations that can be applied to data or objects. CRUD matrices describe who or what has permission to perform each of the CRUD operations on elements, such as data or user interfaces.
Cultural Awareness. Being conscious of the cultural norms and values of others.
Current State Assessment. An understanding of the current mode of operations, or the as-is state of the organization.
Customer. Internal or external stakeholders who benefit from the development of a solution.
Data Dictionary. A business analysis model that catalogs the attributes of specific data objects.
Data Flow Diagram. A business analysis model that combines processes, systems, and data to show how data flows through a solution.
Data Model. A visual representation of the business data objects of interest to a business and the relationships between them. See also business data object.
Data Store. A source of business information, often represented visually on a data flow diagram.
Day in the Life Testing (DITL). A semiformal activity conducted by someone with in-depth business knowledge. The results obtained from DITL testing enable validation or evaluation of whether a solution provides the functionality for a typical day of usage by a role that interacts with the solution.
Decision by Consensus. An approach for making group decisions based upon general agreement for the decision by the group. Before making decisions by consensus, the group should first define what it means for it to reach general agreement. Among popular choices for consensus are convergence of individual decisions to one group decision or majority support for a decision with other individuals not seriously opposed to it. See also Delphi.
Decision by Sponsor. An approach for making decisions where the decision is made by the sponsor, with or without input from a group. See also autocratic decision making.
Decision by Weighted Analysis. An approach for making decisions using decision criteria identified by and assigned relative weights by those involved in making the decision. Each option involved in the decision is rated by scoring how well the option meets the criteria independent of other options. Ratings are multiplied by the weights and summed to arrive at the score for each option. The summed scores represent the overall rankings of the options.
Decision Making. The ability to weigh the benefits and drawbacks associated with a set of options, choose among various options, and articulate the rationale for the choice.
Decision Table. A business analysis model that helps identify business rules associated with any complex branching logic in a solution by considering all combinations of choices.
Decision Tree. A business analysis model that shows business rules associated with any complex branching logic in a solution.
Decomposition Model. A model that is used to divide and subdivide a high-level concept into lower-level concepts, for example dividing the project scope and project deliverables into smaller, more manageable parts for the purpose of analysis. Also known as decomposition diagrams.
DEEP. Describes the characteristics that a product backlog needs to demonstrate to be considered well refined. DEEP is an acronym that stands for detailed appropriately, estimated, emergent, and prioritized.
Define Acceptance Criteria. The process of obtaining agreement as to what would constitute proof that one or more aspects of a solution have been developed successfully.
Define and Elaborate Requirements. The process of refining and documenting requirements and other types of product information at the appropriate level of detail, format, and level of formality required for various audiences.
Defining and Aligning Process Group. The business analysis processes performed to investigate and evaluate the viability of initiating a new product or changes to or retirement of an existing product as well as defining scope and aligning products, portfolios, programs, and projects to the overall organizational strategy.
Definition of Done (DoD). A series of conditions that the entire team agrees to complete before an item is considered sufficiently developed to be accepted by the business stakeholders.
Definition of Ready. A series of conditions that the entire team agrees to complete before a user story is considered sufficiently understood for work to begin to construct it.
Deliverable. Any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or initiative.
Delphi. A consensus-building method that consolidates anonymous input from subject matter experts (SMEs) using rounds of voting. See also wide-band Delphi.
Dependency. A logical relationship that exists between two or more entities.
Dependency Analysis. A technique that is used to discover dependent relationships.
Design Option. A representation of how a solution could be constructed.
Design Thinking. An approach that uses solution-based thinking rather than problem-based thinking to produce creative solutions to achieve goals.
Desktop Tool. A category of tools used in a personal workspace, for example on a laptop or on a personal device, for the purpose of aiding organization and productivity.
Determine Analysis Approach. The process of thinking ahead about how analysis will be performed including what will be analyzed; which models will be most beneficial to produce, and how requirements and other product information will be verified, validated, and prioritized.
Determine Elicitation Approach. The process of thinking through how elicitation activities will be conducted, which stakeholders will be involved, which elicitation techniques may be used, and the order in which the elicitation activities will be best performed.
Determine Future State. The process of determining gaps in existing capabilities and a set of proposed changes necessary to attain a desired future state that addresses the problem or opportunity under analysis.
Determine Solution Evaluation Approach. The process of determining what aspects of the organization and/or solution will be evaluated, how performance will be measured, when performance will be measured, and by whom.
Determine Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Approach. The process of developing appropriate methods to effectively engage and communicate with stakeholders throughout the product life cycle, based on the analysis of their needs, interests, and roles within the business analysis process.
Determine Traceability and Monitoring Approach. The process of considering how traceability will be performed on the portfolio, program, project, or product, and defining how requirement changes will be managed.
Determine Viable Options and Provide Recommendation. The process of applying various analysis techniques to examine possible solutions for meeting the business goals and objectives and to determine which of the options is considered the best possible one for the organization to pursue.
DevOps (Development and Operations). A concept or an organizational unit that promotes collaboration between development, quality control, and operations (IT and business operations). It supports rapidly releasing a solution by operationalizing it in small segments, each of which provides additional functionality to its users.
Display-Action-Response Model. A business analysis model that dissects a user interface mockup into its display and behavior requirements at the page element level.
Document Analysis. An elicitation technique used to analyze existing documentation to identify relevant product information.
Domain. A discipline or area of study. See also performance domain.
Ecosystem Map. A scope model that shows the relevant systems, the relationships between systems, and optionally any data objects passed between them.
Elaboration. A term used on adaptive projects to describe the process of detailing product information over time.
Elicitation. The activity of drawing out information from stakeholders and other sources.
Elicitation Approach. An informal device used by a business analyst to prepare for elicitation work. It defines important information about the elicitation process, such as how elicitation will be performed, what information to elicit, where to find that information, how to obtain the information, and when to conduct the elicitation activities.
Elicitation Knowledge Area. The processes for planning and preparing for elicitation, conducting elicitation and confirming elicitation results to obtain information from sources.
Elicitation Plan. See elicitation approach.
Elicitation Preparation Materials. The items that are created to increase the probability of meeting elicitation activity objectives, while maximizing time spent with elicitation participants.
Elicitation Result. The business analysis information obtained from a completed elicitation activity.
Elicitation Session. A session or activity conducted to obtain information from participants.
Emergent Learning. A process where stakeholders discover their requirements as portions of the solution are delivered over time.
Emotional Intelligence. See self-awareness.
Enterprise and Organizational Knowledge. An understanding and familiarity with the way a specific business is organized and operates, from both a high-level and tactical standpoint.
Enterprise Architecture. A collection of the business and technology components needed to operate an enterprise. The business architecture is usually a subset of the enterprise architecture and is extended with the applications, information, and supporting technology to form a complete blueprint of an organization.
Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs). In business analysis, conditions that influence, constrain, or direct how business analysis is conducted.
Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). A business analysis model that shows the business data objects or pieces of information of interest and the relationships between those objects, including the cardinality of those relationships.
Epic. A large user story that is too big to construct in an iteration. See also user story.
Establish Relationships and Dependencies. The process of tracing or setting linkages between and among requirements and other product information.
Estimate. A quantitative assessment of the likely amount or outcome of a variable, such as costs, resources, effort, or durations.
Estimation Poker. A collaborative relative estimation technique in which there is an agreed-upon scale used for the relative estimates. See also relative estimation.
Ethics. Acting with integrity and displaying behavior that is honest.
Evaluate Acceptance Results and Address Defects. The process of deciding what to do with the results from a comparison of the defined acceptance criteria against the solution.
Evaluate Solution Performance. The process of evaluating a solution to determine whether the implemented solution or solution component is delivering the business value as intended.
Evaluated Acceptance Results. The comparison between the acceptance criteria and the actual results, along with the root cause for variances or defects, the analysis of the cost to address the defect, and the business impact of addressing it or accepting it.
Evaluation. See solution evaluation.
Event. For business analysis, an event is an action of interest to a business, for which there is often a planned response.
Event List. A scope model that describes any external events that trigger solution behavior.
Event Trigger. See trigger.
Evolutionary Prototype. A prototype that is the actual finished solution in process. See also prototypes.
Executing Process Group. The business analysis processes performed to elicit, analyze, model, define, verify, validate, prioritize, and approve all types of product information, ranging from backlogs to user stories and requirements to constraints. In project management, it consists of the processes performed to complete the work defined in the project management plan to satisfy the project requirements.
Expert Judgment. Judgment based upon expertise in an application area, Knowledge Area, discipline, industry, etc., as appropriate for the activity being performed. Such expertise may be provided by any group or person with specialized education, knowledge, skill, experience, or training.
Exploratory Testing. An unscripted, free-form validation or evaluation activity conducted by someone with in-depth business or testing knowledge to validate the solution and discover product errors.
External Entity. A source or receiver of business information that is outside of the scope of the system under study.
External Event. An action that is triggered outside of the boundary of the system under study where there is an expectation that the planned response to that action is within scope.
Facilitate Product Roadmap Development. The process of supporting the development of a product roadmap that outlines, at a high level, which aspects of a product are planned for delivery over a course of the portfolio, program, or one or more project iterations or releases, and the potential sequence for the delivery of these aspects.
Facilitated Workshops. In business analysis, facilitated workshops use a structured meeting led by a skilled, neutral facilitator and a carefully selected group of stakeholders to collaborate and work toward a stated objective. Requirements workshops bring together a carefully selected group of stakeholders to collaborate, explore, and evaluate product requirements.
Facilitation. The collection of activities involved in directing and coordinating work among groups of people.
Feasibility Analysis. A study that produces a potential recommendation to address business needs. It examines feasibility using one or more of the following variables: operational, technology/system, cost-effectiveness, and timeliness of the potential solution.
Feasibility Assessment. See feasibility analysis.
Feasibility Study Results. The summarized outcomes obtained from the completion of the feasibility analysis.
Feature. A set of related requirements typically described in short phrases.
Feature Injection. A framework and set of principles used to improve and expedite how a product team develops and analyzes product requirements.
Feature Model. A scope model that visually represents all the features of a solution arranged in a tree or hierarchical structure.
Fibonacci Sequence. A numeric sequence in which each succeeding number is the sum of the two previous numbers, such as 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 etc.
Fishbone Diagram. A version of a cause-and-effect diagram that depicts a problem and its root causes in a visual manner. It uses a fish image, listing the problem at the head, with causes and subcauses of the problem represented as bones of the fish. See also cause and effect diagram.
Five Whys. A technique for conducting root cause analysis suggesting anyone trying to understand a problem needs to ask why it is occurring up to five times to thoroughly understand its causes.
Focus Group. An elicitation technique that brings together prequalified stakeholders and subject matter experts to learn about their expectations and attitudes about a proposed product, service, or result.
Force Field Analysis. A decision-making technique that can be used to help product teams analyze whether there is sufficient support to pursue a change.
Formality. For business analysis, formality is the degree of conformance to a precise detailed format of documentation and to following established procedures which a group or organization may require for business analysis work products and activities.
Forward Traceability. A technique that establishes the relationship of a requirement to the design or code which implements it or to tests which verify that it has been satisfied.
Functional Requirement. A requirement that describes the behavior of a product.
Future State. Desired mode of operations once a solution is implemented.
Gap Analysis. A technique for understanding the gap between current capabilities and needed capabilities. Filling the gap is what comprises a solution recommendation.
Glossary. In business analysis, a glossary is used to list terms, definitions, and acronyms. Glossaries typically include the list of terms the organization most commonly defines differently from its industry or across its own organization as well as terms that are unfamiliar.
Goal. Something that an organization seeks to accomplish or achieve.
Goal Model. A business analysis model that shows the stakeholder goals for a solution with any supporting or conflicting goal relationships indicated.
Ground Rule. An expectation regarding acceptable behavior for team members.
Growth Share Matrix. See product portfolio matrix.
High Fidelity. A high-quality reproduction of something that is identical to, or indistinguishable from, the thing or functionality or concept which it replicates.
High-Fidelity Prototype. A method of prototyping that creates a functioning representation of the final finished solution to the user. High-fidelity prototyping is performed using a programming language or a pseudo language of the solution to be demonstrated.
Identify and Analyze Product Risks. The process of uncovering and examining assumptions and uncertainties that could positively or negatively affect success in the definition, development, and the expected results of the solution.
Identify Problem or Opportunity. The process of identifying the problem to be solved or the opportunity to be pursued.
Identify Stakeholders. The process of identifying the individuals, groups, or organizations that may impact, are impacted, or are perceived to be impacted by the area under assessment. In project management, stakeholders are identified based on involvement and influence on the project where in business analysis the focus is on their relationship to the solution.
Impact Analysis. A technique for evaluating a change in relation to how it will affect other requirements, the product, the program, and the project.
Industry Knowledge. Expertise in and familiarity with the industry in which an organization is participating and includes knowledge about an organization's competitors, industry trends and challenges, applicable business models, etc.
Initiating Process Group. The business analysis processes performed to define the portfolio, program, or project objectives and apply resources to a portfolio component, program, project, or project phase. In project management, this Process Group is similar as it includes the processes for defining a new project or new phase of an existing project by obtaining the authorization to do so.
Input. Any item that is required by a process before that process proceeds. May be an output from a predecessor process.
Inspection. In business analysis, a formal and rigorous form of review in which practitioners close to the work (usually other business analysts, developers, test team members, or quality team members) examine the work for completeness, consistency, and conformance to internal and external standards, usually by means of a checklist. See also peer review.
Interaction Matrix. A lightweight version of a traceability matrix that is used to figure out whether requirements are sufficiently detailed or if any entities are missing. See also requirements traceability matrix and CRUD matrix.
Interface Model. A model that shows how the solution interacts with other systems and users.
Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The projected annual yield of an investment, incorporating both initial and ongoing costs into an estimated percentage growth rate a given project is expected to have.
Interpersonal Skills. Skills used to establish and maintain relationships with other people.
Interrelationship Diagram. A special type of cause-and-effect diagram that depicts related causes and effects for a given situation. Interrelationship diagrams help to uncover the most significant causes and effects involved in a situation. See also cause and effect diagram.
Interview. A formal or informal approach to elicit information from stakeholders by asking questions and documenting the responses provided by the interviewees.
Intuitive Reasoning. Using instinct to drive decision making.
INVEST. The characteristics that user stories need to demonstrate to be considered “good” and “ready” for development in adaptive approaches. An acronym that is commonly considered to stand for the following characteristics: independent, negotiable, valuable, estimable, small, and testable.
Ishikawa Diagram. See fishbone diagram and cause and effect diagram.
Issue. A current condition or situation that may have an impact on the project objectives.
Iteration. On adaptive projects, an iteration is a development cycle that begins with an iteration planning session and ends with retrospectives. Iterations typically span 1-4 weeks.
Iteration 0. On adaptive projects, iteration 0 is the iteration where the initial planning for all iterations occur. In some approaches it might be called sprint 0.
Iteration Backlog. The subset of the product backlog that was chosen during iteration planning to be delivered during a specific iteration. Also known as a sprint backlog. See also backlog and iteration planning.
Iteration Planning. In adaptive approaches, iteration planning or sprint planning is the activity to identify the subset of work items that the product development team will work on for the current iteration or sprint.
Iterative Life Cycle. A project life cycle where the project scope is generally determined early in the project life cycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified as the project team's understanding of the product increases. Iterations develop the product through a series of repeated cycles, while increments successively add to the functionality of the product.
Job Analysis. A technique used to identify job requirements and the competencies needed to perform effectively in a specific job.
Kanban. An adaptive life cycle in which items are pulled from a backlog and started when other product backlog items are completed. Kanban also establishes work-in-progress limits to constrain the number of product backlog items that can be in progress at any point in time.
Kanban Board. A tool used within the continuous improvement method of Kanban to visually depict workflow and capacity and assist team members in seeing the work that is planned, in process, or completed. The kanban board is a variation of the original kanban cards.
Kano Analysis. A technique used to model and analyze product features by considering the features from the viewpoint of the customer.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI). Metrics usually defined by an organization's executives that are used to evaluate an organization's progress toward meeting the targets or end-states stated in their objectives or goals.
Key Stakeholder. A stakeholder who is identified as having a significant stake in a portfolio, program, or project, and who can hold key responsibilities such as approving requirements or approving changes to product scope.
Knowledge Area. A set of processes associated with a particular function.
Leadership. The actions and efforts of a group of people toward a common goal, which enables them to work as a team.
Leadership Skills. A category of skills in business analysis consisting of the skills to direct a group of people to work together toward a common goal.
Learner. A person who possesses a willingness to learn new skills, discover improved ways of doing things, and staying curious.
Lessons Learned. The knowledge gained during a portfolio, program, or project, which shows how situations were addressed or should be addressed in the future for the purpose of improving future performance.
Life Cycle Knowledge. Having familiarity with the different frameworks that a given industry uses to identify phases of product development, from envisioning and planning through construction, iteration, and end-of-life.
Logical Relationship. A dependency between two activities, or between an activity and a milestone.
Logical System. Conceptual, business, or theoretical entities that represent how people think about subdividing parts of a solution.
Low Fidelity. A rough representation of something that enables someone to better understand the thing or functionality or concept which it illustrates.
Low-Fidelity Prototype. A method of prototyping that provides fixed sketches, diagrams, and notes to provide a visual representation of what a user interface will look like. Static prototypes do not demonstrate the operation of the system to the user; however, they are sometimes used to demonstrate navigation.
Low-Fidelity Wireframe. A method of prototyping or creating a mockup of web pages or screens that is sometimes used to demonstrate navigation. While some low-fidelity wireframes are created using electronic drawing tools, others are created using automated tools that support the evolution of the wireframe into a high-fidelity prototype.
Maintainability. The ease with which a product can be kept in good working order, including the ability to make appropriate modifications.
Manage Changes to Requirements and Other Product Information. The process of examining changes or defects that arise during a project by understanding the value and impact of the changes. As changes are agreed upon, information about those changes is reflected wherever necessary to support prioritization and eventual product development.
Manage Stakeholder Engagement and Communication. The process of fostering appropriate involvement in business analysis processes, keeping stakeholders appropriately informed about ongoing business analysis efforts, and sharing product information with stakeholders as it evolves.
Market Analysis. A technique used to obtain and analyze market characteristics and conditions for the market area an organization is operating in and overlaying this information with an organization's own plans and projections for growth.
Maturity Model. A standard that describes typical behaviors for a practice or set of practices as a series of levels, where each level represents increased levels of competence, independence, and perhaps even wisdom. A maturity model is used to assess individuals or organizations. Examples include the Capability Maturity Model and the Data Management Maturity Model.
Measure. The quantity of some element at a point in time or during a specific time duration, such as the number of work months spent on a project during a specific time period, the number of defects uncovered, or the number of customers responding to a survey stating that they were extremely satisfied.
Methodology. A system of practices, techniques, tools, procedures, and rules used by those who work in a discipline.
Metric. A set of quantifiable measures used to evaluate a solution or business.
Minimum Marketable Features (MMF). A prioritization mechanism in which the smallest piece of functionality that still delivers value to the customer is identified.
Minimum Viable Product (MVP). A prioritization mechanism to define the scope of the first release of a solution to customers by identifying the fewest number of features or requirements that would constitute a solution that the customer would obtain value from.
Model. A visual representation of information, both abstract and specific, which operates under a set of guidelines to efficiently arrange and convey a lot of information in an efficient manner.
Modeling Elaboration. A technique that uses the collection of models together to further identify gaps, inconsistencies, or redundancies in product information.
Modeling Language. A set of models and their syntax. Examples include Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), Requirements Modeling Language (RML), System Modeling Language (SysML), and Unified Modeling Language (UML).
Modeling Tools. A category of tools used in business analysis to develop visual representations of information for the purpose of communicating and analyzing information in a clear, efficient manner.
Monitoring. The process of collecting performance data, producing performance measures, and reporting and disseminating performance information.
Monitoring and Controlling Process Group. The processes performed on an ongoing basis to assess the impact of proposed product changes within a portfolio, program, or project to assess business analysis performance and to promote ongoing communication and engagement with stakeholders. In project management, the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group involves the tracking, reviewing, and reporting of progress to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan.
MoSCoW. A technique used for establishing requirement priorities where participants divide the requirements into four categories of must haves, should haves, could haves, and won't haves.
Multitasking. Being capable of performing more than one task at a time.
Multivoting Process. A technique used to facilitate decision making among a group of stakeholders. Multivoting processes can be used to prioritize requirements, determine the most favorable solution, or to identify the most favorable response to a problem.
Narrative. A story. In business analysis, narratives are written when developing personas.
Needs Assessment Knowledge Area. Includes the processes for analyzing current business problems or opportunities to understand what is necessary to attain the desired future state.
Negotiation. The process and activities used to resolve disputes through consultations between involved parties. Those who possess skills in negotiation are able to navigate conflict and disagreements, effectively bringing opposing viewpoints to a common ground.
Net Present Value (NPV). The future value of expected benefits expressed in the value those benefits have at the time of investment. NPV takes into account current and future costs and benefits, inflation, and the yield that could be obtained through investing in financial instruments as opposed to a portfolio component, program, or project.
Nonfunctional Requirement. A requirement that expresses an environmental condition or quality required for the product to be effective.
Nonverbal Communication. The ability to use unspoken communication methods to interact with stakeholders.
Normal Flow. Within the context of use case analysis, the normal flow is the set of steps that are followed through the use case scenario when everything goes as planned or expected.
Numeracy. The ability of being able to reason with numbers and other mathematical concepts and to apply these in a range of contexts and to solve a variety of problems. It is sometimes called mathematical literacy.
Objective. Something toward which work is to be directed, a strategic position to be attained, a purpose to be achieved, a result to be obtained, a product to be produced, or a service to be performed. In business analysis, objectives are quantifiable outcomes that are desired from a solution.
Objectivity. Listening to and encouraging the presentation of multiple perspectives on a given issue, weighing the merits of each perspective dispassionately and without bias, and avoiding taking sides prematurely.
Observation. An elicitation technique that provides a direct way of obtaining information about how a process is performed or a product is used by viewing individuals in their own environment performing their jobs or tasks and carrying out processes.
Obtain Solution Acceptance for Release. The process of facilitating a decision on whether to release a partial or full solution into production and eventually to an operational team, as well as transitioning knowledge and existing information about the product, its risks, known issues, and any workarounds that may have arisen in response to those issues.
Onion Diagram. A technique that can be used to model relationships between different aspects of a subject. In business analysis, an onion diagram can be created to depict the relationships existing between stakeholders and the solution.
Operational Feasibility. The extent to which a proposed solution meets operational needs and requirements related to a specific situation. It also includes factors such as sustainability, maintainability, supportability, and reliability.
Opportunity. In business analysis, an opportunity is an uncertainty that would have a positive effect on a product or solution.
Opportunity Analysis. A study of the major facets of a potential opportunity to determine the viability of successfully launching a new solution.
Organizational Chart. A model that depicts the reporting structure within an organization or within a part of an organization.
Organizational Development/Change Management (OD/CM). Complementary approaches for improving the performance of an organization by catalyzing improvements in the actions of and interactions between individuals or teams.
Organizational Goal. A broad-based translation of a corporate goal into an expression that is actionable and measurable. Goals are typically longer in scope than objectives.
Organizational Objective. An accomplishment that an organization wants to achieve to help enable a goal. An organizational goal is specific and tends to be of shorter duration than a goal, often 1 year or less.
Organizational Process Assets (OPAs). Plans, processes, policies, procedures, and knowledge bases that are specific to and used by the performing organization.
Organizational System. A system composed of organizational components that are identifiable elements within an organization and provide a particular function or group of related functions. See also system.
Organizational Standard. See business analysis organizational standard.
Outcome. An end result or consequence of a process or actions.
Output. A product, result, or service generated by a process. May be an input to a successor process.
Pareto Diagram. A histogram, ordered by frequency of occurrence, that shows how many results were generated by each identified cause.
Participant. One who participates in a group activity, such as focus groups or facilitated workshops.
Payback Period (PBP). The time needed to recover an investment, usually in months or years.
Peer Desk Check. An informal peer review completed by one or multiple peers simultaneously to look over the materials. See also peer review.
Peer Review. Involves a review process where a coworker examines work completed by a business analyst. Commonly, the peer performing the review is another business analyst, manager, or quality control team member. See also peer desk check, inspections, and walkthrough.
Performance Data. A quantified output of a product.
Performance Domain. A complementary grouping of related areas of activity or function that uniquely characterize and differentiate the activities within it from the others within the full scope of some overall area of study. Portfolio Stakeholder Engagement is an example of one of several Portfolio Management Performance Domains within the full scope of portfolio management work.
Performance Measurement Baseline. Integrated scope, schedule, and cost baselines used for comparison to manage, measure, and control project execution.
Persona. An archetype user representing a set of similar end users described with their goals, motivations, and representative personal characteristics.
Persona Analysis. A technique that can be used to analyze a class of users or process workers to understand their needs or solution design and behavior requirements.
Personal Development. The efforts and actions taken to improve skills and knowledge.
Personal Skills. In business analysis, the set of skills and attributes that identify the personal qualities of an individual and enable them to build credibility with others.
Phase. See project phase.
Physical System. Entities such as systems or software that exist as part of a solution. They can be installed, implemented, touched, or seen.
Planning Approach. Decisions regarding how business analysis is to be conducted.
Planning Process Group. The business analysis processes performed to determine an optimal approach for performing business analysis activities, including how they are adapted for the chosen project life cycle, and to analyze the internal and external stakeholders who will interact and influence the overall definition of the solution. In project management, it consists of the processes required to establish the scope of the project, refine the objectives, and define the course of action required to attain the objectives that the project was undertaken to achieve.
Policy. A structured pattern of actions adopted by an organization such that the organization's policy can be explained as a set of basic principles that govern the organization's conduct.
Political Awareness. Being conscious of the human dynamics within a work environment as they relate to organizational levels, hierarchy, and the way power is distributed throughout.
Portfolio. Projects, programs, subsidiary portfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives.
Portfolio Charter. A document issued by a sponsor that authorizes and specifies the portfolio structure and links the portfolio to the organization's strategic objectives.
Portfolio Component. A discrete element of a portfolio that is a program, project, or other work.
Portfolio Management. The centralized management of one or more portfolios to achieve strategic objectives.
Portfolio Risk Management. Portfolio activities related to actively identifying, monitoring, analyzing, accepting, mitigating, avoiding, or retiring portfolio risk.
Practice. The manner in which work is performed, which is less formal than a methodology, is not required, and is typically based on preferences or recommended conventions or approaches.
Predictive Life Cycle. A form of project life cycle in which the project scope, time, and cost are determined in the early phases of the life cycle.
Prepare for Elicitation. The process of organizing and scheduling resources and preparing necessary materials for an individual elicitation activity.
Prepare for Transition to Future State. The process of determining whether the organization is ready for a transition and how the organization will move from the current to the future state to integrate the solution or partial solution into the organization's operations.
Preproduction Testing. Testing a solution in a separate environment that is identical or nearly identical to the production environment, so that adverse interactions with other products in the production environment can be observed and addressed before the solution is released to production.
Prioritize Requirements and Other Product Information. The process of understanding how individual pieces of product information achieve stakeholder objectives, and using that information, along with other agreed-upon prioritization factors, to facilitate ranking of the work.
Prioritization Scheme. Different methods used to prioritize portfolio components, programs, projects, requirements, features, or any other product information.
Prioritized Requirements and Other Product Information. A representation of the requirements and other product information that stakeholders agree are most important to address first to achieve the business goals and objectives. See also product information.
Problem. An internal or external environmental area of an organization that is causing detriment to the organization, for example, lost revenue, dissatisfied customers, delays in launching new products, or noncompliance with government regulations.
Problem Solving. The ability to analyze an issue or difficult situation by performing sufficient analysis to understand the problem, identify possible options to address the situation, select and implement an effective solution, and monitor the outcomes to ensure the problem was sufficiently addressed.
Procedure. An established method of accomplishing a consistent performance or result. A procedure typically can be described as the sequence of steps that will be used to execute a process.
Process. A systematic series of activities directed toward causing an end result such that one or more inputs will be acted upon to create one or more outputs.
Process Flow. A business analysis model that visually shows the steps taken in a process by a human user as it interacts with a solution. A set of steps taken by a system can be shown in a similar model, called a system flow.
Process Model. See process flow.
Process Worker. The stakeholder who physically works with or within the business process that is under analysis or the user who works specifically with a system that is part of the business process. Not all process workers are users.
Product. An artifact that is produced, is quantifiable, and can be either an end item in itself or a component item. Additional words for products are materials and goods. See also deliverable and service.
Product Backlog. See backlog.
Product Backlog Item. A work item or item of value to the customer that has to be prioritized and completed.
Product Box. An elicitation technique that uses game play to focus on the features of a product that are important to the customer. See also collaborative games.
Product Document. Any documentation produced to support business analysis processes.
Product Information. All elements needed to produce a solution successfully. Product information can include one or more of the following: business, stakeholder, solution or transition requirements, models, assumptions, dependencies, constraints, issues, and risks.
Product Knowledge. Having an understanding about the different product offerings an organization provides to its customers, the strengths and weaknesses of each compared against competitor offerings, and the opportunities and threats existing for those offerings.
Product Life Cycle. The series of phases that represent the evolution of a product, from concept through delivery, growth, maturity, maintenance, and retirement.
Product Manager. An individual responsible for achieving customer and market success for a product.
Product Owner. An individual with decision-making authority for prioritizing what to include or exclude from one or more specific products.
Product Portfolio Matrix. A market analysis quadrant diagram that is used to qualitatively analyze products or product lines. One axis reflects market growth (or demand for a product) from low to high, while the other reflects the market share of the organization from low to high. The matrix provides a quick visual way to evaluate which products are meeting or exceeding performance expectations in the marketplace. Also known as a growth share matrix.
Product Quality Assurance. See product quality control.
Product Quality Control. The process of determining whether or not a delivered product meets or exceeds acceptance criteria. Referred to as product quality assurance (QA) in some organizations.
Product Requirement. Something that can be met by a solution and addresses a need of a business, person, or group of people. These type of requirement is part of the business analysis effort. See also requirement, business requirement, stakeholder requirement, solution requirement, functional requirement, nonfunctional requirement, and transition requirement.
Product Risk. An uncertainty that can affect success in definition, development, and expected results of the product or solution.
Product Risk Analysis. The consolidated results from identifying and analyzing product risks.
Product Roadmap. A high-level view of the features and functionality to include in a product, along with the sequence in which they will be built or delivered.
Product Scope. The features and functions that characterize a product, service, or result.
Product Stakeholder. An individual, group, or organization that may affect, be affected by, or perceive to be affected by the solution.
Product Vision. An explanation of the product, intended customers, and how needs will be met. The product vision is developed to help product teams envision what it is that needs to be built.
Product Visioning. A category of techniques a product team can use to obtain a shared understanding about the product and set the high-level direction for its development.
Professional Writing. The ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and succinctly using written language and demonstrating proficiency in the mechanics of writing and in the selection of the appropriate writing style.
Program. Related projects, subsidiary programs, and program activities managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.
Program Charter. A document issued by a sponsor that authorizes the program management team to use organizational resources to execute the program and links the program to the organization's strategic objectives.
Program Management. The application of knowledge, skills, and principles to a program to achieve the program objectives and obtain benefits and control not available by managing program components individually.
Program Risk Management. Program activities related to actively identifying, monitoring, analyzing, accepting, mitigating, avoiding, or retiring program risk.
Progressive Elaboration. In business analysis, progressive elaboration is the process of discussing or working at a high level and moving through the conversation or work into lower and lower details.
Project. A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
Project Benefit. An outcome of an action, behavior, or product that provides value to the sponsoring organization as well as to the intended beneficiaries of the project.
Project Charter. A document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.
Project Life Cycle. The series of phases that a project passes through from its start to its completion.
Project Management. The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.
Project Management Plan. The document that describes how the project will be executed, monitored, controlled, and closed.
Project Manager (PM). The person assigned by the performing organization to lead the team that is responsible for achieving the project objectives.
Project Phase. A collection of logically related project activities that culminates in the completion of one or more deliverables.
Project Risk Management. The processes of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, response implementation, and monitoring risk on a project.
Project Schedule. An output of a schedule model that presents linked activities with planned dates, durations, milestones, and resources.
Project Scope. The work performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.
Project Team. A set of individuals who support the project manager in performing the work of the project to achieve its objectives.
Proof of Concept (PoC). Also known as a prototype. See prototype.
Prototype. A representation of the expected solution before it is built.
Prototyping. A method of obtaining early feedback on requirements by providing a working model of the expected solution before actually building it.
Purpose Alignment Model. A technique that can be used to help facilitate discussions about priorities by placing product features on a matrix according to their criticality and market differentiation.
Quality Assurance (QA). The process of examining the effectiveness of quality control.
Quality Control (QC). See product quality control.
Questionnaire and Survey. A written set of questions designed to quickly accumulate information from a large number of respondents.
RACI Model. A common type of responsibility assignment matrix that uses responsible, accountable, consult, and inform statuses to define the involvement of stakeholders in project activities. Also known as a RACI chart.
Rational Reasoning. Using logic and reasoning to drive decision making.
Readiness Assessment. A determination of the ability and the interest of an organization to transition to the future state. The readiness assessment is used to identify any gaps in readiness that are considered risks to achieving the end state along with risk responses for addressing them. See also transition plan.
Real Options. A decision-making thought process that looks to reduce the number of decisions needing to be made in the short term and delays decision making until as late as is possible to reduce uncertainties.
Recommended Changes to Requirements and Other Product Information. The course of action that is proposed after analyzing all of the impacts associated to making a proposed change.
Recommended Solution Option. The solution choice determined the best approach for addressing the business need.
Refining the Backlog. See backlog refinement.
Regression Testing. Testing conducted to validate that new or enhanced functionality will not impact existing functionality.
Regulation. A requirement imposed by a governmental body. A requirement can establish a product, process, or service characteristic, including an applicable administrative provision that has government-mandated compliance.
Regulatory Standard. The criteria established by a governmental or industry or organizational body as to what constitutes compliance with rules and constraints. Regulatory standards can be imposed on products or on the procedures used to create or modify products.
Relationship Building. Social skills that enable one to develop partnerships and to operate as an effective member of a team or a group.
Relationships and Dependencies. The linkages established between objects, like components of product information, deliverables, and project work.
Relative Estimation. A technique for creating estimates that are derived from performing a comparison against a similar body of work rather than estimating based on absolute units of cost or time. See also estimation poker.
Release. One or more components of one or more products, which are intended to be put into production at the same time.
Release Decision. An agreement to either permit the release or partial release of the solution, delay it, or disapprove and prevent it. A release decision often includes a signoff.
Releasing Process Group. The business analysis process performed to determine whether all or part of a solution should be released and to obtain acceptance that all or part of a solution is ready to be transitioned to an operational team that will take ongoing responsibility for it.
Reliability. The capability of a product to operate error free, to maintain its level of performance under stated conditions, or for a stated period or percentage of time.
Report Table. A business analysis model that documents, in a tabular format, all of the requirements necessary to develop a single report.
Reporting and Analysis Tools. A category of tools used in business analysis for processing, analyzing, and reporting information at different levels of granularity.
Required Capabilities and Features. The list of net changes the organization will need to obtain in order to achieve the desired future state.
Requirement. A condition or capability that is necessary to be present in a product, service, or result to satisfy a business need.
Requirement State. An attribute of a requirement that identifies where the requirement falls within the requirements life cycle, for example, in-process, approved, deferred, or rejected.
Requirements and Other Product Information. See product information.
Requirements Architecture. Describes how requirements, models, and other product information or elements of those relate to each other.
Requirements Attribute. A property of a requirement used to store descriptive information about the requirement, such as last change date, author, source, etc.
Requirements Change Process. The process that defines how changes to requirements will be handled.
Requirements Definition. The process of specifying requirements and other types of product information at the appropriate level of detail, format, and level of formality.
Requirements Documentation. A record of product requirements and other product information, along with whatever is recorded to manage it. The degree of formality of requirements documentation depends upon the business analysis approach.
Requirements Elicitation. The activity of drawing out information from stakeholders and other sources for the purpose of further understanding the needs of the business, to address a problem or opportunity and the stakeholder's preferences and conditions for the solution that will address those needs.
Requirements Life Cycle. The flow or life of a requirement throughout a portfolio, program, or project. The requirement life cycle is managed by assigning an attribute or qualifier onto the requirement to depict the requirement state at a specified point in time.
Requirements Management Tool. A software product that allows for the capture and storage of requirements and other product information in a repository. Requirements management tools have features to assist in managing and maintaining requirements throughout the product life cycle.
Requirements Package. The culmination of a set of product information that is used to communicate information about the solution at a specific point in time (e.g., at the end of a phase or iteration). When using an adaptive delivery approach, the requirements package is often not composed of a formal set of documentation. Requirements packages can also be established in the requirements management tools.
Requirements Traceability Matrix. A grid that links product requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them.
Requirements Validation. The process of ensuring that the solution satisfies its intended use and anticipated value, ensuring the correct solution is delivered.
Research Skill. An ability to elicit useful information from relevant sources in a timely and effective manner.
Resourcefulness. Using alternative or creative means to elicit information and solve problems, especially when a clear or conventional solution is not available.
Retrospective. A type of meeting in which participants explore their work and results in order to improve both process and product. Retrospectives can occur on a regular basis (e.g., end of iteration or release), at the completion of a milestone, or after a special event (e.g., organizational change, accident).
Return on Investment (ROI). The percent return on an initial investment, calculated by taking the projected average of all net benefits and dividing them by the initial cost.
Risk Appetite. The degree of uncertainty an organization or individual is willing to accept in anticipation of a reward.
Risk Burndown Chart. On adaptive projects, risk burndown charts are used to show the status of risks across iterations. See burndown chart.
Risk Exposure. An aggregate measure of the potential impact of all risks at any given point in time in a project, program, or portfolio.
Risk Register. A repository in which outputs of risk management processes are recorded.
Risk Spike. A sprint or iteration specifically designated for research to address product risks. See also spike.
Role. In business analysis, a role represents a defined function to be performed by a product team member, such as research, analyze, model, specify, review, or update.
Rolling Wave Planning. An iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, while the work in the future is planned at a higher level.
Root Cause Analysis. An analytical technique used to determine the basic underlying reason that causes a variance, a defect, or a risk. A root cause may underlie more than one variance, defect, or risk.
Rule Model. A model of concepts and behaviors that defines or constrains aspects of a business in order to enforce established business policies.
Scenario. A case of usage of a solution often manifested as a concrete example of a use case or user story or several functional requirements specified in the sequence in which they occur.
Schedule. See project schedule.
Scope. In business analysis, scope is defined as the boundary for the solution. In project management, scope is defined as the sum of the products, services, and results to be provided as a project. See also project scope and product scope.
Scope Creep. The uncontrolled expansion of a product or project scope without adjustments to time, cost, and resources.
Scope Model. A type of model that identifies the boundaries of the project, program, product, and/or system under analysis. A context diagram is one example of a scope model.
Scrum. A type of adaptive life cycle where a solution is built in small incremental portions and each cycle of development builds upon the last version of the product.
Segment. A portion of a product that is to be delivered in an iteration, a sprint, or a release.
Select and Approve Requirements. The process of facilitating discussions with stakeholders to negotiate and confirm which requirements should be incorporated within an iteration, release, or project.
Sequence Diagram. A modeling technique that describes how user or system processes interact with one another across any involved users or systems and the order in which the processes or steps are performed.
Self-Awareness. Being capable of identifying how one's actions are perceived by others. Self-awareness is also known as emotional intelligence.
Service. The performance of duties or work for another party. A service is a type of product. See also product.
Shared Product Information. Consists of the compilation of all the information discussed and shared across the product team during collaboration.
Simulated Production Testing. Testing a solution in a separate environment that is production-like, reduced in size, and contains small representative, cohesive samples of any data that are part of that environment. Simulated production testing is performed so that adverse interactions with other products can be observed and addressed before a solution is released to production.
Situation. A condition that may be an internal problem or external opportunity that forms the basis of a business need and might result in a portfolio component, program, or project to address the condition.
Situation Statement. An objective statement of a problem or opportunity that includes the statement itself, the situation's effect on the organization, and the ultimate impact.
Solution. Something that is produced to deliver measurable business value to meet the business need and expectations of stakeholders. It defines what a specific portfolio component, program, or project will deliver. A solution could be one or more new products, components of products, or enhancements or corrections to a product. See also product.
Solution Capability Matrix. A model that provides a simple, visual way to examine capabilities and solution components in one view.
Solution Design. Specifications and diagrams, typically based on business analysis findings, which describe how the solution will be implemented.
Solution Evaluation Knowledge Area. Includes the processes for validating a full solution, or a segment of a solution, that is about to be, or has already been implemented to determine how well a solution meets the business needs and delivers value to the organization.
Solution Evaluation Approach. Describes when and how a solution will be evaluated, the types of metrics that will support evaluation, the feasibility of collecting and communicating the actual performance data for these metrics, and who is responsible for conducting the evaluation and communicating results.
Solution Option. An approach for addressing a business need.
Solution Requirement. A requirement that describes the features, functions, and characteristics of a product, which will meet business and stakeholder requirements. Solution requirements are further grouped into functional and nonfunctional requirements.
Specialty Resource. An individual who plays a highly focused role within a portfolio, program, or project such as an architect or a release manager.
Speedboat. An elicitation technique that uses game play to elicit information about product features that stakeholders find problematic. See also collaborative games.
Spider Web. An elicitation technique that uses game play to discover unknown relationships between the product being analyzed and other products. See also collaborative games.
Spike. A short time interval within a project, usually of fixed length, during which a team conducts research or prototypes an aspect of a solution to prove its viability.
Sponsor. A person or group who provides resources and support for the project, program, or portfolio and is accountable for enabling success.
Sprint. A short time interval within a project, usually of fixed length, during which a team commits to deliver a specified production-ready segment of a solution to its sponsors.
Stakeholder. An individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project, program, or portfolio.
Stakeholder Analysis. A technique of systematically gathering and analyzing quantitative and qualitative information to determine whose interests should be taken into account throughout an initiative.
Stakeholder Characteristics. The qualities and attributes of a stakeholder, which together determine aspects of how the stakeholder behaves.
Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Approach. Describes how best to effectively involve, interact, and communicate with stakeholders.
Stakeholder Engagement Knowledge Area. Includes the processes for identifying and analyzing those who have an interest in the outcome of the solution to determine how to collaborate and communicate with them.
Stakeholder Groups. A collection of stakeholders who have similar likes, interests, and characteristics. Stakeholder groups are used to manage large groups of stakeholders.
Stakeholder Identification. The process of determining the stakeholders impacted by a business problem or opportunity.
Stakeholder Map. A technique used to visually analyze stakeholders and their relationship to each other and to the problem or opportunity under analysis.
Stakeholder Matrix. A technique that uses a quadrant or matrix to analyze a set of stakeholders.
Stakeholder Register. A project document that includes the identification, assessment, and classification of project stakeholders.
Stakeholder Requirement. A requirement that describes the needs of a stakeholder or stakeholder group.
Standard. A document established by an authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example.
State Diagram. A data model used to show the valid states of an object and allowed transitions between them. Unlike state tables, which systematically consider and model all possible transitions, state diagrams model only the valid transitions of an object.
State Table. A data model used to show the valid states of an object and allowed transitions between them. All states are modeled as both a column and row in a table and systemic consideration is given to determine whether each potential state transition is permitted.
Storyboarding. A prototyping technique that shows sequence or navigation through a series of images or illustrations. See also prototyping.
Story Elaboration. The process by which user stories are supplemented with additional information from conversations with business stakeholders until they are sufficiently detailed for product development to begin work.
Story Mapping. A technique used to sequence user stories, based upon their business value and the order in which their users typically perform them, so that teams can arrive at a shared understanding of what will be built.
Story Points. A unit used to estimate the relative level of effort needed to implement a user story.
Story Slicing. A technique to split epics or user stories from a higher level to a lower level.
Subject Matter Expert (SME). A person who is considered an expert in a particular subject area.
Success Criteria. Measures that can be used to determine solution success.
Support Charter Development. The process of collaborating on charter development with the sponsoring entity and stakeholder resources using the business analysis knowledge, experience, and product information acquired during needs assessment and business case development efforts.
Supportability. The ease at which a solution can be maintained and managed by the organization over time, including the cost and level of effort.
Surveys. See questionnaire and survey.
SWOT Analysis. Analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of an organization, initiative, or option.
System. A collection of various components that together can produce results not obtainable by the individual components alone. See also organizational system.
System Interface Table. A model that depicts the requirements for the connections between interfacing systems, including how they are connected and what information flows between them.
Systems Thinking. The ability to analyze from both a holistic and detailed point of view. When applied at an organizational level, the organization is viewed as a system comprised of component parts made up of people, processes, and tools.
Tacit Knowledge. Personal knowledge that can be difficult to articulate and share such as beliefs, experience, and insights.
Team and Subject Matter Expert Knowledge. Knowledge that is usually not fully and formally documented but instead resides in the minds of individuals or groups.
Technical Debt. The accumulation of architectural and design and construction shortcuts during product development, which tend to make a product more difficult to maintain and enhance.
Technique. A defined systematic procedure employed by a human resource to perform an activity to produce a product or result or deliver a service, and that may employ one or more tools.
Technology Feasibility. An analysis to determine the extent to which a technology exists in an organization to support a potential solution and, if not present, how feasible it would be to acquire and operate the needed technology.
Templates. A partially completed document in a predefined format that provides a defined structure for collecting, organizing, and presenting information and data.
Test-Driven Development. A “test-first” approach that defines requirements in terms of test cases and then constructs a solution which can pass the tests. See also behavior-driven development (BDD).
Threat. In business analysis, a threat is an uncertainty that would have a negative effect on a product or solution.
Time Feasibility. An analysis to determine how well a proposed solution can be delivered to meet the organization's needed timeframe.
Time-bound. Having a limit or constraint that is based on a point in time.
Timeboxing. An estimation or planning technique that can be used during prioritization by setting a strict time limit and prioritizing only the work the team can complete in that duration of time.
Time Management. The ability to stay organized, be productive, estimate and sequence work, and plan effectively.
Tool. Something tangible, such as a template or software program, used in performing an activity to produce a product or result.
Tool Knowledge. In business analysis, represents the collective knowledge a practitioner possesses about the toolset they utilize to perform their work.
Traceability. The ability to track information across the product life cycle by establishing linkages between objects.
Traceability and Monitoring Knowledge Area. Includes the processes for tracing, approving, and assessing changes to product information to manage it throughout the business analysis effort.
Traceability and Monitoring Approach. Defines how the traceability and change management activities will be performed throughout the portfolio, program, project, or product.
Traceability Matrix. See requirements traceability matrix.
Transition Plan. Defines the activities required to transition from the current to future state. Transition plans are developed from the results obtained from the readiness assessment and objectives as stated in the transition strategy. Encompasses actionable and testable transition requirements. See also readiness assessment.
Transition Requirement. A requirement that is a temporary capability, such as data conversion and training requirements, needed to transition from the current as-is state to the future state.
Transition Strategy. A guiding framework for conducting activities that are needed to transition from a current state to a future state.
Trigger. As an act or event, anything that serves as a stimulus and initiates or precipitates a reaction or series of reactions. Within the context of risk, a trigger is an event or situation that indicates that a risk is about to occur.
Trusted Advisor. A personal characteristic that signifies a person is trustworthy, competent, reliable, and held in high regard by others.
Unconfirmed Elicitation Result. The business analysis information obtained from completed elicitation activities. Elicitation results that are unconfirmed have not been agreed upon and validated for accuracy by the product team.
Use Case. An analysis model that describes a flow of actor-system interactions and boundaries for those interactions, including trigger, initiating and participating actors, and preconditions and post conditions.
Use Case Diagram. A business analysis model that shows all of the in-scope use cases for a solution and which actors have a part in those use cases.
User. A type of stakeholder or actor who will use the product.
User Class. A group of stakeholders who are users of a product and are grouped together due to the similarity in their requirements and use of the product.
User Experience Analyst. Also referred to as user interface analysts; individuals who are responsible for studying user behavior, preferences, and constraints to identify user interface and usability requirements for software applications and other products.
User Interface (UI). Anything that supports the interaction between a person and service that is provided to that person. Typically used to reference web pages, smartphone displays, and screen front-ends, but also applies more broadly to anything that is the intermediary between a person and whatever provides the service, such as the push buttons on a landline telephone or the cruise control buttons on a car steering wheel.
User Interface Analyst. See user experience analyst.
User Interface Design. The art and science of creating a user interface that meets users' interface requirements while exploiting the features of—and staying within the constraints of—overall organizational best practices related to how humans interact with the chosen type of interface.
User Interface Flow. A business analysis model that shows the specific pages or screens of an application and how a user can navigate between them.
User Story. A one or two sentence description written from the viewpoint of the actor that describes a function that is needed. A user story usually takes the form of “as an <actor>, I want to <function>, so that I can <benefit>.”
Validate Requirements. The process of checking that the requirements meet business goals and objectives.
Validated Requirements and Other Product Information. Product information that the stakeholders agree meet the business goals and objectives. See also product information.
Validation. The assurance that a product, service, or result meets the needs of the customer and other identified stakeholders. Contrast with verification.
Valuation Technique. A technique used to quantify the return or value that an option will provide. Valuation techniques are utilized when conducting a cost-benefit analysis to establish criteria for objectively assessing a solution.
Value. A measure of the worth of a benefit.
Value Stream Map. A variation of process flows that can be used to locate delays, queues, or handoffs occurring in current processes. See also process flow.
Velocity. A measure of expected team productivity, typically expressed as the total story points expected to be delivered during an iteration or sprint.
Variance. A quantifiable deviation, departure, or divergence from a known baseline or expected value.
Variance Analysis. A technique for determining the cause and degree of difference between a baseline and actual performance.
Vendor Assessment. An evaluation of vendors and their products or services offered to understand the viability, strengths, weaknesses, and risks of each vendor solution.
Verification. The evaluation of whether or not a product, service, or result complies with a regulation, requirement, specification, or imposed condition. Contrast with validation.
Verified Requirements and Other Product Information. Product information that has been evaluated to assure it is free from errors and addresses the quality standards to which the information will be held. See also product information.
Verify Requirements. The process of checking that requirements are of sufficient quality.
Version Control. The process of maintaining a history of changes on software or documentation.
Version Control System (VCS). A system that is used to track the history of revisions, often but not always related to software.
Viable Design Option. A design option that has been reviewed by stakeholders and determined to be a feasible means for achieving the business goals and objectives.
Visual Communication Skill. The ability to communicate through the use of models and visual representations and knowing when best to use these representations over the spoken or written words.
Vision Statement. A summarized, high-level description about the expectations for a product such as target market, users, major benefits, and what differentiates the product from others in the market.
Walking Skeleton. A foundational part of a story map representing the full set of end-to-end functionality that the stakeholders require for the solution to be accepted or functional. This set of user stories is sometimes called the minimum marketable features. See also story mapping and minimum marketable features (MMF).
Walkthrough. A technique used to review or share a set of information with stakeholders to obtain feedback or approval. Requirements walkthroughs are used to review requirements and to receive confirmation that the requirements as stated are valid.
Warranty Period. An agreed-upon interval during which a solution released to production is maintained by the team that developed it before it is turned over to the business operational area which owns it.
Waterfall Approach. An example of predictive project life cycle.
Weighted Criteria. Evaluation criteria that is adjusted by applying a multiplier to signify how important the criterion is to the decision-making process. Weighted criteria are used to evaluate the list of options participants are deciding upon when performing weighted ranking. See also weighted ranking.
Weighted Ranking. A technique to weight, rate, and score each criterion against a set of options used to add objectivity when formulating a decision or recommendation.
Weighted Ranking Matrix. A table used when performing the weighted ranking technique to weight, rate, and score each criteria against a set of options.
Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF). A method used primarily in adaptive frameworks to rank user stories based on more dimensions than just business value and effort. WSJF= (business value + time criticality + (risk reduction/opportunity enablement))/effort.
Wide-Band Delphi Technique. A variation of the Delphi technique which is sometimes used to bring convergence to widely differing estimates that have been developed separately for the same work item by a number of different individuals. For wide-band Delphi, those who created the highest and lowest estimates explain their rationale, following which everyone re-estimates. The process repeats until convergence is achieved. See also Delphi.
Wireframe. A diagram that represents a static blueprint or schematic of a user interface and is used to identify basic functionality. See also prototyping.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.
Work Ethic. Being capable of completing tasks independently and being motivated and driven to do what needs to be done without being asked.
Work in Progress Limit. An agreed-upon maximum number of product backlog items that can be in a given state of the development workflow at the same time within the same project. Commonly referred to as WIP Limits.
Work Product. An output produced as a result of some completion of work.