Introduction to Modeling for Business Analysis

Introduction

• Why do you need business models?
• Modeling techniques within the IIBA^® Business Analysis Body of Knowledge^® (BABOK^®)

Defining the Scope of Modeling

What is a business model?

• Separating textual and diagrammatic elements
• Contrasting scope with level of detail

Crafting a process to develop a business model

• Applying the steps: elicit, analyze, document, validate
• Iterating the steps
• OMG modeling standards
• Facilitating requirements workshops
• Correlating models to project type and deliverables

Capturing the multidimensional aspects of an organization

• Applying the five Ws approach: who, what, where, when, why and how
• Selecting the right level of detail
• Employing CASE tools and simulation

Mapping the Business Landscape

Analyzing the enterprise

• Exploring the enterprise architecture
• Decomposing the architecture into its components: business, technology and other perspectives

Applying business rules

• Documenting the constraints: operative and structural
• Representing operative rules with decision tables

Scoping Business Functions

Initiating the process with functional decomposition

• Determining the functional hierarchies
• Distinguishing between functions and processes

Drawing UML use case diagrams

• Defining scope and boundary
• Identifying the actors and stakeholders
• Refining the use cases

Documenting business use cases

• Selecting the level of detail: brief, casual or fully dressed
• Specifying preconditions and postconditions

Modeling Business Processes

Applying process modeling techniques

• Workflows
• Events
• Activities
• Decisions
• Sequencing
• Messaging
• Participants
• Tokens

Leveraging Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

• Benefits from a standardized approach
• Sequencing and classifying activities
• Decomposing activities into subprocesses and tasks
• Categorizing events

Refining business process diagrams

• Choosing the right gateway: decisions, forks and joins
• Mapping the processes to swimlanes and pools
• Supplementing the model with artifacts: data objects, groups and annotations

Analyzing the Enterprise Structure

Establishing the business domain

• Documenting the workers and organization units
• Modeling systems, documents, information and tools

Structuring the enterprise with UML class diagrams

• Determining object attributes
• Generalizing and specializing relationships
• Constructing associations between the classes
• Packaging for domains and functional units

Finalizing the Business Model

Achieving complete coverage with matrices

• Prioritizing features
• Cross-referencing requirements
• Applying the Responsibility Assignment Matrix

Contextualizing the model with perspectives

• Documenting business interfaces
• Mapping from means to ends
• Capturing time parameters
• Specifying Supplementary and Quality of Service requirements

Communicating the Model to Key Stakeholders

• Choosing the right models for your audience
• Transforming business models into user requirements
• Delivering and presenting your models