Create and Analyze Models
Create and Analyze Models is a process that centers on crafting structured representations of product information. These representations can be diagrams, tables, or structured text. One of the primary advantages of this process is the ability to convey information in a structured, clear manner, ensuring both correctness and completeness.
Purpose of Models
Models serve as visual representations, efficiently organizing and conveying vast amounts of information.
This process encompasses both the creation of analysis models, as determined by the analysis approach, and utilizing those models to enhance overall product information.
Analyzing models is instrumental for identifying information gaps and extraneous details by viewing the solution from multiple angles.
Models offer context for discussions, promoting a better grasp of intricate relationships and ideas. Frequently, they provide a clearer picture compared to text-only descriptions.
They offer a succinct means of presenting data and can clarify and unearth information in discussions with stakeholders.
Analysis of models involves examining specific data sections, rather than the entirety of the information, to discern patterns that warrant further exploration in the problem space.
Process Interaction
When paired with elicitation, the activities of creating and analyzing models can be individual or collaborative.
These tasks are notably iterative, with initial model drafts stemming from confirmed elicitation outcomes. Subsequently, these models might cycle through elicitation sessions again to pinpoint and refine newly identified information.
This process often runs in tandem with other sections like Verify Requirements and Validate Requirements.
Significance
Models are pivotal for a plethora of business analysis activities beyond just the Create and Analyze Models process. They play a role in:
- Refining and elucidating requirements.
- Fostering a collective comprehension of the information.
- Charting relationships and dependencies spanning portfolios, programs, and projects.
- Detecting information voids demanding further elicitation.
- Recognizing stakeholders that might have been overlooked.
- Enhancing stakeholder comprehension during elicitation or review phases.
- Appraising capability discrepancies between a product's current and anticipated states.
- Analyzing alterations to pinpoint affected product areas.
- Discerning user value points.
- Ranking product information or projects in a portfolio hierarchy.
- Estimating the scope of business analysis tasks.
- Offering a business-centric view on architectural blueprints.
These aforementioned activities could necessitate modifications to present models or the formulation of new ones.
Classification
Models are segmented into five distinct categories:
- Scope Models: They delineate the solution's boundaries.
- Process Models: Detail how the solution will be implemented.
- Rule Models: Enlist the regulations the solution has to adhere to.
- Data Models: Capture the data involved in a system or process, along with its lifecycle.
- Interface Models: Illustrate how the solution interfaces with other systems and its users.
Through the examination of solutions via these five model categories, a business analyst can acquire a holistic view of the product.
Create and Analyze Models
Inputs
Analysis Approach
The Analysis Approach refers to the strategic method chosen to comprehend and break down the requirements and information provided. This method is designed to ensure that the business needs are adequately addressed while maintaining alignment with the project's objectives.
Confirmed Elicitation Results
Confirmed Elicitation Results denote the final requirements and data obtained through the elicitation process, which have been reviewed and verified with stakeholders to ensure accuracy and relevance.
Requirements and Other Product Information
This encompasses all pertinent details, requirements, specifications, and associated data related to the product. It forms the foundational layer upon which the analysis builds to devise suitable solutions.
Tools and Techniques
Context Diagram
A Context Diagram provides a high-level visualization of a system and its external interfaces, allowing stakeholders to understand the system's interactions with external entities.
Data Dictionary
This is a structured repository that defines and describes each data element in the system. It's an essential tool for ensuring data consistency and understanding across the project.
Data Flow Diagram
A Data Flow Diagram (DFD) visually represents the flow of data within a system, detailing where data originates, how it's processed, and where it ends up.
Decision Tree and Decision Table
These tools help in representing decision-making scenarios, illustrating the different possible outcomes based on varying inputs or conditions.
Ecosystem Map
An Ecosystem Map is a graphical representation of various entities in a business ecosystem and how they interact with one another, enabling comprehensive understanding of a system's environment.
Entity Relationship Diagram
This diagram showcases the relationships between different entities in a system, enabling stakeholders to understand data relationships and structure.
Event List
The Event List enumerates significant events that impact the system, detailing triggers, outcomes, and other relevant attributes.
Feature Model
A Feature Model represents features of a product or system, illustrating hierarchies and dependencies among these features.
Goal Model and Business Objectives Model
These models define the strategic objectives of a business or product, mapping out goals and aligning them with the overall vision.
Modeling Elaboration
This technique involves expanding on existing models to provide more detailed, nuanced, or specific information about a system or process.
Organizational Chart
The Organizational Chart provides a structured view of an organization's hierarchy, detailing roles, departments, and their interrelationships.
Process Flows
Process Flows visually represent the steps, decisions, and flow of a particular process or system, allowing stakeholders to understand the sequence and structure of operations.
Prototypes , Wireframes, and Display-Action-Response Models
These tools are visual representations used in designing system interfaces, enabling stakeholders to visualize and iterate upon system designs.
Report Table
A Report Table organizes data into structured formats, facilitating clear presentation and comprehension of information.
State Table and State Diagram
These tools represent the various states a system or process can be in, detailing transitions, triggers, and outcomes.
Story Mapping
Story Mapping is a method of arranging user stories to provide a structured visualization of product functionality, aiding in prioritization and planning.
System Interface Table
This table provides detailed information on the interfaces between different systems, detailing data flows, formats, and other pertinent interface details.
Use Case Diagram
A Use Case Diagram visualizes how users interact with a system, showcasing different functionalities and their interrelationships.
User Interface Flow
This flowchart represents the sequence and structure of user interactions within a system, guiding interface design and functionality.
Outputs
Analysis Models
Analysis Models are structured representations derived from the gathered requirements and data. They offer a visual or conceptual understanding of the system, assisting stakeholders in decision-making and solution development.