No.

Term Definition

Criteria associated with requirements, products, or the delivery cycle that must be met in order to
1 Acceptance criteria achieve stakeholder acceptance.

An approach where the solution evolves based on a cycle of learning and discovery, with
2 Adaptive approach feedback loops which encourage making decisions as late as possible.

The design, structure, and behaviorof the current and future states of a structure in terms of its
components, and the interaction between those components. See also business architecture,
3 Architecture enterprise architecture and requirements architecture.

An influencing factor that is believed to be true but has not been confirmed to be accurate, or
4 Assumption that could be true now but may not be in the future.

A comparison of a decision, process, service, or system's cost, time, quality, or other metrics to
5 Benchmarking those of leading peers to identify opportunities for improvement.

A team activity that seeks to produce a broad or diverse set of options through the rapid and
6 Brainstorming uncritical generation of ideas.

7 Business (business analysis) See enterprise.

The practice of enabling change in the context of an enterprise by defining needs and
8 Business analysis recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders.

The set of processes, rules, guidelines, heuristics, and activities that are used to perform
9 Business analysis approach business analysis in a specific context.

A description of the types of communication the business analyst will perform during business
Business analysis analysis, the recipients of those communications, and the form and frequency of those
10 communication plan communications.

Any kind of information at any level of detail that is used as an input to business analysis work,
11 Business analysis information or as an output of business analysis work.
 A description of the planned activities the business analyst will execute in order to perform the
12 Business analysis plan business analysis work involved in a specific initiative. See also requirements management plan.

13 Business analyst Any person who performs business analysis, no matter their job title or organizational role.

The design, structure, and behavior of the current and future states of an enterprise to provide a
common understanding of the organization. It is used to align the enterprise’s strategic
14 Business Architecture objectives and tactical demands

A justification for a course of action based on the benefits to be realized by using the proposed
solution, as compared to the cost, effort, and other considerations to acquire and live with that
15 Business Case solution.

A state or condition that an organization is seeking to establish and maintain, usually expressed
16 Business Goal qualitatively rather than quantitatively.

17 Business need A problem or opportunity of strategic or tactical importance to be addressed.

18 Business Objective An objective, measurable result to indicate that a business goal has been achieved.

19 Business Policy A non-practicable directive that controls and influences the actions of an enterprise

An issue of strategic or tactical importance preventing an enterprise or organization from

20 Business problem achieving its goals.

A representation of goals, objectives and outcomes that describe why a change has been
21 Business Requirement initiated and how success will be assessed.

A specific, practicable, testable directive that is under the control of the business and that serves
22 Business Rule as a criterion for guiding behavior, shaping judgments, or making decisions.

23 Change The act of transformation in response to a need.

 Controlling changes to requirements and designs so that the impact of requested changes is
24 Change Control understood and agreed-to before the changes are made.

Planned activities, tools, and techniques to address the human side of change during a change
25 Change management initiative, primarily addressing the needs of the people who will be most affected by the change.

A plan to move from the current state to the future state to achieve the desired business
26 Change Strategy objectives

27 Checklist (business analysis) A standard set of quality elements that reviewers use for requirements verification.

28 Collaboration The act of two or more people working together towards a common goal

A structured assessment which captures the key characteristics of an industry to predict the
long-term profitability prospects and to determine the practices of the most significant
29 Competitive Analysis competitors.

30 Component A uniquely identifiable element of a larger whole that fulfills a clear function.

An influencing factor that cannot be changed, and that places a limit or restriction on a possible
31 Constraint (business analysis) solution or solution option.

32 Context The circumstances that influence, are influenced by, and provide understanding of the change.

Core concept (business One of six ideas that are fundamental to the practice of business analysis: Change, Need,
33 analysis) Solution, Context, Stakeholder, and Value.

An analysis which compares and quantifies the financial and non-financial costs of making a
34 Cost-Benefit Analysis change or implementing a solution compared to the benefits gained.

A stakeholder who uses or may use products or services produced by the enterprise and may
35 Customer have contractual or moral rights that the enterprise is obliged to meet.
 An approach to decision making that examines and models the possible consequences of
36 Decision analysis different decisions, and assists in making an optimal decision under conditions of uncertainty.

A technique that subdivides a problem into its component parts in order to facilitate analysis and
37 Decomposition understanding of those components.

38 Deliverable Any unique and verifiable work product or service that a party has agreed to deliver.

39 Design A usable representation of a solution.

Document analysis (business

40 analysis) An examination of the documentation of an existing system in order to elicit requirements.

The sphere of knowledge that defines a set of common requirements, terminology, and
41 Domain functionality for any program or initiative solving a problem.

A stakeholder with in-depth knowledge of a topic relevant to the business need or solution
42 Domain SME scope.

A stakeholder with in-depth knowledge of a topic relevant to the business need or solution
43 Domain subject matter expert scope.

44 Elicitation Iterative derivation and extraction of information from stakeholders or other sources.

45 End user A stakeholder who directly interacts with the solution.

A system of one or more organizations and the solutions they use to pursue a shared set of
46 Enterprise common goals.

Enterprise Readiness An assessment that describes the enterprise is prepared to accept the change associated with a
47 Assessment solution and is able to use it effectively.
 A quantitative assessment of a planned outcome, resource requirements, and schedule where
48 Estimate uncertainties and unknowns are systematically factored into the assessment.

The systematic and objective assessment of a solution to determine its status and efficacy in
meeting objectives over time, and to identify ways to improve the solution to better meet
49 Evaluation objectives. See also indicator; metric, monitoring.

An interaction that is outside the proposed solution. It can be another hardware system, software
50 External interface system, or a human interaction with which the proposed solution will interact.

The art of leading and encouraging people through systematic efforts toward agreed-upon
51 Facilitation objectives in a manner that enhances involvement, collaboration, productivity, and synergy

A distinguishing characteristic of a solution that implements a cohesive set of requirements and

52 Feature which delivers value for a set of stakeholders.

A group formed to elicit ideas and attitudes about a specific product, service, or opportunity in an
interactive group environment. The participants share their impressions, preferences, and
53 Focus Group needs, guided by a moderator.

A capability that a solution must have in terms of the behaviorand information the solution will
54 Functional requirement manage.

A comparison of the current state and desired future state of an enterprise in order to identify
55 Gap Analysis differences that need to be addressed.

A process by which appropriate decision makers use relevant information to make decisions
56 Governance process (change) regarding a change or solution, including the means for obtaining approvals and priorities.

57 Guideline (business analysis) An instruction or description on why or how to undertake a task.

An assessment of the effects a proposed change will have on a stakeholder or stakeholder

58 Impact analysis group, project, or system.

Implementation subject matter A stakeholder who has specialized knowledge regarding the implementation of one or more
59 expert solution components.
 Information consumed or transformed to produce an output. An input is the information
60 Input (business analysis) necessary for a task to begin.

Eliciting information from a person or group of people in an informal or formal setting by asking
61 Interview relevant questions and recording the responses

62 Iteration (business analysis) A single instance of progressive cycles of analysis, development, testing, or execution.

Knowledge area (business

63 analysis) An area of expertise that includes several specific business analysis tasks.

A process improvement technique used to learn about and improve on a process or project. A
lessons learned session involves a special meeting in which the team explores what worked,
what didn't work, what could be learned from the just-completed iteration, and how to adapt
64 Lessons learned process processes and techniques before continuing or starting anew.

65 Life cycle A series of changes an item or object undergoes from inception to retirement

A textual form of modelling used to represent information that can be categorized, cross-
66 Matrix referenced, and represented in a table format.

A description of data to help understand how to use that data, either in terms of the structure and
67 Metadata specification of the data, or the description of a specific instance of an object.

A body of methods, techniques, procedures, working concepts, and rules used to solve a
68 Methodology problem

69 Metric A quantifiable level of an indicator measured at a specified point in time.

A representation and simplification of reality developed to convey information to a specific

70 Model audience to support analysis, communication, and understanding.

71 Need A problem or opportunity to be addressed.

72 Objective See business objective.

Observation (business Studying and analyzing one or more stakeholders in their work environment in order to elicit
73 analysis) requirements.

A stakeholder who is responsible for the day-to-day management and maintenance of a system
74 Operational Support or product.

An autonomous group of people under the management of a single individual or board, that
75 Organization works towards common goals and objectives.

The analysis technique used to describe roles, responsibilities and reporting structures that exist
76 Organization modeling within an enterprise.

A function inside the enterprise, made up of components such as processes, technologies, and
77 Organizational Capability information and used by organizations to achieve their goals.

78 Organizational unit Any recognized association of people within an organization or enterprise.

An approach where planning and baselines are established early in the life cycle of the initiative
79 Predictive approach in order to maximize control and minimize risk.

Determining the relative importance of a set of items in order to determine the order in which
80 Prioritization they will be addressed.

A set of activities designed to accomplish a specific objective by taking one or more defined
81 Process inputs and turning them into defined outputs.

A set of diagrams and supporting information about a process and factors that could influence
82 Process model the process. Some process models are used to simulate the performance of the process.

A stakeholder who is responsible for managing the work required to deliver a solution that meets
a business need, and for ensuring that the project's objectives are met while balancing the
83 Project manager project constraints,
 The work that must be performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified
84 Project Scope features and functions.

A partial or simulated approximation of the solution for the purpose of eliciting or verifying
85 Prototype requirements with stakeholders.

86 Quality The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills needs.

A set of defined questions, with a choice of answers, used to collect information from
87 Questionnaire respondents.

A stakeholder from outside the organization who is responsible for the definition and
88 Regulator enforcement of standards.

89 Requirement A usable representation of a need.

A business analysis artifact containing information about requirements such as a diagram,

90 Requirements artifact matrix, document or model.

91 Requirements attribute A characteristic or property of a requirement used to assist with requirements management.

92 Requirements life cycle The stages through which a requirement progresses from inception to retirement.

Planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling any or all of the work associated with
requirements elicitation and collaboration, requirements analysis and design, and requirements
93 Requirements management life cycle management

Requirements management
94 tool Special-purpose software that provides support for any combination of the following capabilities

The ability for tracking the relationships between sets of requirements and designs from the
original stakeholder need to the actual implemented solution. Traceability supports change
control by ensuring that the source of a requirement or design can be identified and other related
95 Requirements traceability requirements and designs potentially affected by a change are known.
 The risk remaining after action has been taken or plans have been put in place to deal with the
96 Residual Risk original risk.

97 Risk The effect of uncertainty on the value of a change, a solution, or the enterprise.

98 Root cause analysis A structured examination of an identified problem to understand the underlying causes.

99 Scope The boundaries of control, change, a solution, or a need.

100 Scope Model A model that defines the boundaries of a business domain or solution.

A type of diagram that shows objects participating in interactions and the messages exchanged
101 Sequence Diagram between them.

102 SME See subject matter expert.

103 Solution A specific way of satisfying one or more needs in a context.

A sub-part of a solution that can be people, infrastructure, hardware, software, equipment,

104 Solution Component facilities, and process assets or any combination of these sub-parts.

105 Solution Option One possible way to satisfy one or more needs in a context.

106 Solution Scope The set of capabilities a solution must deliver in order to meet the business need.

A stakeholder who is responsible for initiating the effort to define a business need and develop a
solution that meets that need. They authorize the work to be performed and control the budget
107 Sponsor and scope for the initiative.
108 Stakeholder A group or individual with a relationship to the change, the need, or the solution.

Identifying and analyzing the stakeholders who may be impacted by the change and assess their
109 Stakeholder Analysis impact, participation, and needs throughout the business analysis activities.

A catalogue of the stakeholders affected by a change, business need, or proposed solution, and
110 Stakeholder list a description of their attributes and characteristics related to their involvement in the initiative.

A requirement articulated by a stakeholder that has not been analyzed, verified, or validated.
111 Stated requirement Stated requirements frequently reflect the desires of a stakeholder rather than the actual need.

A description of the chosen approach to apply the capabilities of an enterprise in order to reach
112 Strategy a desired set of goals or objectives.

Strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats An analysis model used to understand influencing factors and how they may affect an initiative.
113 analysis (SWOT) Also known as SWOT analysis.

A stakeholder outside the boundary of a given organization or organizational unit who provides
products or services to the organization and may have contractual or moral rights and
114 Supplier obligations that must be considered.

Collecting and measuring the opinions or experiences of a group of people through a series of
115 Survey questions.

116 SWOT analysis An analysis model used to understand influencing factors and how they may affect an initiative.

A set of interdependent components that interact in various ways to produce a set of desired
117 System outcomes.

An individual responsible for determining how to verify that the solution meets the requirements
118 Tester defined by the business analyst, and conducting the verification process.

A requirement that describes the capabilities the solution must have and the conditions the
solution must meet to facilitate transition from the current state to the future state, but which are
119 Transition Requirement not needed once the change is complete.
 A notation specified by the Object Management Group for describing software application
structure, behaviour, and architecture. It can also be used for describing business processes
and data structures. The most common UML® diagrams used by business analysts are use
case diagrams, activity diagrams, state machine diagrams (also known as state diagrams), and
120 Unified modelling language™ class diagrams.

A description of the observable interaction between an actor (or actors) and a solution that
121 Use case occurs when the actor uses the system to accomplish a specific goal.

A type of diagram defined by UML® that captures all actors and use cases involved with a
122 Use case diagram system or product.

A small, concise statement of functionality or quality needed to deliver value to a specific

123 User story stakeholder.

A requirement that has been reviewed and is determined to support the delivery of the expected
124 Validated requirement benefits, and is within the solution scope.

125 Validation (business analysis) The process of checking that a deliverable is suitable for its intended use

126 Value (business analysis) The worth, importance, or usefulness of something to a stakeholder in a context

Verification (business
127 analysis) The process of determining that a deliverable or artifact meets an acceptable standard of quality

A requirement that has been reviewed and is determined to be defined correctly, adheres to
128 Verified requirement standards or guidelines, and is at an acceptable level of detail.

A review in which participants step through an artifactor set of artifactswith the intention of
validating the requirements or designs, and to identify requirements or design errors,
129 Walkthrough inconsistencies, omissions, inaccuracies, or conflicts.

A facilitated and focused event attended by key stakeholders for the purpose of achieving a
130 Workshop defined goal.