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techniques.
YOU'LL RECEIVE:
Here is a list of 65 business analysis
techniques that are useful to know Quick Start to Success as a
about. Not that you would use every Business Analyst (Free
technique on every project (though Training)
some of these are definitely my tried- New Videos to Help You
and-true, go-to, techniques), but so you Succeed as a Business
have a toolbox of ideas to refer back to Analyst
when your business analysis process
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isn’t flowing like it should, so you can
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get your project unstuck and moving forward again.
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TOP ARTICLES
And please feel free to add a business analysis technique in a comment below. Just The Business Analyst
be sure to include a description so we know what it is and/or link to an article that Blueprint® Training Program –
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1. Active Listening – A communication technique that involves paraphrasing back
what you heard during a conversation to confirm understanding.
36 Alternative Job Titles for
2. Agenda – A document containing the pertinent details for a meeting, including
Business Analysts
an objective and list of topics to be discussed.
3. As Is Process Analysis – Defines the current state of a business process in an
Thomas Clarke Goes From
organization. Research Assistant to Business
4. Brainstorming – A spontaneous group discussion designed to generate ideas Analyst in Just a Few Months
without initial critique or evaluation.
5. Business Analysis Plan – Document that summarizes the business analysis HowBefore you go,
Business would Create
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analysis deliverables.
6. Business Domain Model – A visual model that logically represents the Quick Start
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business concepts to be fulfilled by the system and how they relate to one as a Business Analyst
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another. It should not be confused with a data diagram, which represents the
actual database design or architecture. Although they may look similar, a What Experience “Counts” as
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business domain model should use terms that are in the business domain.
(5 Examples)
7. Business Process Model – A step-by-step description of what one or more Email Address

business users does to accomplish a specific goal. Those steps can be

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8. Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) – A standardized notation for By signing up, you agree to our
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9. Business Rules – A statement that defines or constrains some aspect of Why This Might Be Taking
business. Longer Than You Expect
10. Change Request – A document or collection of information summarizing a
change to be made. Often associated with a formal approval process. The Danger in Being an Expert
11. Competitive Comparison – Document or matrix comparing the current or
potential future state of a product or system to that of an organization’s
competitors.
12. Conference Call – A meeting conducted via a conference bridge, with multiple
participants joining from different physical locations via a phone line.
13. Data Dictionary – Also called a Data Definition Matrix, provides detailed
information about the business data, such as standard definitions of data
elements, their meanings, and allowable values.
14. Data Feed Specification – A document containing the business and technical
details involved in exchanging data between organizations. Can be used as
part of managing API integrations or other types of ongoing data feeds.
15. Data Flow Diagram – Illustrates how information flows through, into, and out of
a system. They are especially useful when evaluating data-intensive processes
and looking at how data is shared between systems or organizations.
16. Data Mapping – A specific type of data dictionary that shows how data from
one information system maps to data from another information system.
Creating a data mapping specification helps you and your project team avoid
numerous potential issues, the kind that tends to surface late in development
or during user acceptance testing and throw off project schedules, not to
mention irritating your stakeholders.
17. Deliverables List – A list of deliverables to be created as part of the business
analysis effort for a project or initiative.
18. Document Analysis – The process of analyzing documentation to discover
information related requirements.
19. Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) – A data model describing how entities (or
concepts or things) relate to one another. When created by business analysts,
ERDs can be used to understand the business domain, clarify business
terminology, and connect business concepts to database structures (see
Business Domain Model above).
20. Feature Map – A visual representation of multiple features, often user stories
on a product backlog, that shows their relationships.
21. Given When Then Statements – A formula for writing acceptance tests for a
user story. Given (some context). When (some action is carried out). Then
(description of observable consequences, or requirements).
22. Glossary – A deliverable that documents terms that are unique to the business
or technical domain. A glossary is used to ensure that all stakeholders
(business and technical) understand what is meant by the terminology,
acronyms, and phrases used inside an organization.
23. Grooming the Product Backlog – A process for reviewing new product backlog
items for clarity, estimation, and priority, prior to or during sprint planning. Before you go, would you like
24. Interface Analysis – The process of analyzing an interface, such as a user to receive our absolutely
interface to connect between two software systems, to discover information FREE training?

related to the requirements. Quick Start to Success

25. Interview – A session with one to multiple stakeholders to ask and answer as a Business Analyst
(No formal experience required.)
questions related to any aspect of the problem, project, or requirements.
26. Issues List – A document or repository that contains a list of all issues relating First Name
in any way to the requirements for a project.
27. Meeting Notes – A document capturing the essence of topics discussed during Email Address

a meeting, along with any resulting decisions and action items.

28. Mind Map – Suggested by Bola Adesope, a visual model with a topic in the Get My Free Training
center that shows a hierarchical relationship between different concepts and
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29. Observation – The process of observing people using a system or executing a

process, often in their actual work environment, to discover information related
to the requirements.
30. Organizational Chart – A visual model representing the organizational
hierarchy in place for an organization or a part of an organization.
31. Performance Measurement – Process of collecting, analyzing and/or reporting
information regarding the performance of an individual, group, organization,
system or component.
32. Performance Report – Document or model showing the results from a project,
project phase, or business activity.
33. Portfolio Management – Process for organizing, prioritizing, and showing
relationships between multiple active and proposed projects for
an organization.
34. Problem Definition – The process of discovering and defining the actual
problem to be solved by a project or solution.
35. Process Improvement Progress Report – Visual model showing the
improvements made to a business or technical process as the result of a
project or initiative.
36. Process Walk-Through – A working session in which subject matter experts
walk through a future state process to validate it.
37. Product Backlog – List of all requirements under consideration (written using a
user story syntax), rank ordered, and matrixed with other key characteristics
that facilitate planning and prioritization for an agile software development
team.
38. Project List – A single list of prioritized projects under consideration by a team
or organization.
39. Prototype – A functional visual model that shows the user interface of a not-
yet-built software system. Often prototypes allow for some limited interaction
based on sample data.
40. Requirements Questionnaire – A list of questions about the project
requirements. Typically the questions are organized by feature (or business
requirement or project objective).
41. Requirements Review – A meeting gathering stakeholders together to walk
through the requirements documentation, page-by-page, line-by-line, to ensure
that the document represents everyone’s complete understanding of what is to
be accomplished in this particular project.
42. Retrospective – The process of reviewing a work completed (often for a project
or segment of a project) to discover and bring forward lessons learned.
43. Root Cause Analysis – The process of analyzing a problem to discover the
underlying causes, or true issues, creating the problem.
44. Scope Model – A visual representation of the features, processes, or
functionality in scope for a specific project, solution, or system.
45. Stakeholder Analysis – A document defining who is part of the project team
and what they are responsible for. Before you go, would you like
46. Stakeholder Map – A visual diagram that depicts the relationship of to receive our absolutely
stakeholders to the solution and to one another. FREE training?

47. Stakeholder Request List – List of requests related to a project or solution prior Quick Start to Success
to defining scope. as a Business Analyst
(No formal experience required.)
48. Survey – A series of questions posed to multiple stakeholders in an
asynchronous format, such as an online questionnaire. Useful for gathering First Name
lots of information from multiple people.
49. SWOT Analysis – A visual model showing information about the Strengths, Email Address

Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats an organization faces.

50. System Architecture Diagram – Visual model that identifies the system Get My Free Training
components and how they interact as part of the solution and can help you
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51. System Context Diagram – A visual model defining the primary system to be
addressed during a project or initiative and the relationships between the
primary system and other systems.
52. To Be Process Analysis – Defines the future state of a business process in an
organization to clarify how the business process will work, at some point in the
future, once changes are made.
53. Traceability Matrix – Suggested by Nikkita Nguyen, this document is used to
map business requirements to functional requirements.
54. Triple Constraint – A model showing the balance between project budget,
schedule, scope, and quality.
55. Use Case – Use cases are a type of textual requirements specification that
captures how a user will interact with a solution to achieve a specific goal.
They describe the step by step process a user goes through to complete that
goal using a software system.
56. Use Case Diagram – A UML (Unified Modeling Language) diagram that shows
the actors, use cases, and the relationships between them.
57. User Acceptance Testing – A validation process in which business users use a
new solution, often before it’s deployed, to confirm it will meet their needs.
58. User Interface Specification – A document defining the rules of engagement
for a user interacting with a specific page on a website or screen within an
application.
59. User Story – A short document capturing a description of a software feature
from an end-user perspective. User stories are often written in the following
syntax: As a ____ {user}, I want ____ so that ______. User stories are often
coupled with acceptance criteria (see Given When Then Statements).
60. Video Conferencing – An expansion on a web conference, where participants
are also able to share video of themselves.
61. Vision Document – A document describing the business objectives and scope
of a project.
62. Web Conference – A meeting held via a webinar, online meeting, or
combination of screen-sharing software and conference bridge, with multiple
participants joining from different physical locations via an internet connection
being able to all see one visual screen and talk to one another.
63. Wireframe (Also called a Mock-Up, Related to a Prototype) – A visual
representation of a user interface screen, typically one that is fairly low-fidelity.
64. Workflow Diagram (Also called Activity Diagram) – A simple visual model that
captures the steps, decisions, start point, and end point of a functional,
technical, or business process.
65. Workshop – A meeting in which real-time collaboration on one or more work
products, such as requirements deliverables, occurs inside the working
session.

What business analysis techniques do you use most often? Do you have a favorite
technique that’s not included on the list? Please share it via comment below and be Before you go, would you like
sure to include a short description to define what it is and when to use it. to receive our absolutely
FREE training?
And, if you’d like to expand your business analyst toolbox, take a look at our Quick Start to Success
business analyst templates. At $97 for each toolkit (or $347 for the Bundle of all 5), as a Business Analyst
these provide an affordable way to bring a wider variety of techniques to your (No formal experience required.)

business analysis work. First Name

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Comments

NURUL ISLAM SAYS

April 8, 2019 at 1:05 pm

very very nice your business analysis techniques information

Reply

DENNIS SAYS
July 11, 2017 at 5:07 pm

As someone in IT, I can say that these analyst techniques are great ways to get more wrk
done. It helps to have meetings, data and hpux solutions to be ready to succeed everyday.
Great job on this expansive list.

Reply

SIDDHESH.SAWANT@GMAIL.COM SAYS
May 28, 2017 at 11:48 am

Thanks Laura, bridging-the-gap has been my stop for all the knowledge and resources for a
long time now, this has actually helped me progress in my career. This is yet another crucial
Business Analyst must know article. I’d like to add a few more techniques to the list Protocol
Analysis, Ethnographic Studies, Focus Groups are the ones I could think of. Thanks Again
for all the good work! Cheers!

Reply

DAVID DRONES SAYS

May 16, 2017 at 12:20 pm

Laura this is the most in-depth list of business analysis techniques online! Root cause
analysis is my favorite and you’ve already got it covered

Reply

RALUCA PITEIU SAYS Before you go, would you like

March 29, 2017 at 6:09 am to receive our absolutely
FREE training?
I would also add the User Story Map to the list. I am using it in my elicitation workshops and Quick Start to Success
it has proved really useful, especially for new developments and MVPs. as a Business Analyst
(No formal experience required.)
Reply
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BOLA ADESOPE SAYS

March 15, 2017 at 3:16 pm
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1/9/2020 65 Business Analysis Techniques
This is an exhaustive list of BA techniques. A worth reading for any and every BA
irrespective of your level.
I also like Business Model Canvas. This is a very useful technique that recently got added
to the new BABOK v3.
I did not know Portfolio Management is a technique used by BAs…
Well done Laura. I am sharing this with my BA communities.

Reply

MELISSA FRANDSEN SAYS

March 15, 2017 at 12:26 pm

An object-action matrix can sometimes be helpful for interpreting requirements and making
sure you haven’t missed something.

Reply

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