I’ve been planning my analysis approach recently and have been recommending the use of visual models, modelling techniques in business analysis or diagrams used by business analyst to support the business analysis effort.
Modelling is a critical process in business analysis. Through modelling, you can understand the business problem or opportunity that you are trying to solve. There are many different modelling techniques that you can use, and it can be difficult to know which one to choose.
It seemed like a good time to revisit this subject to explain what they are and why they will make a significant difference to the quality of your work.
Table of Contents
What I Mean By Visual Models or Modelling Techniques in Business Analysis
There are a huge range of visual models or modelling technique that a business analyst can use on their projects. Below, I list those that I find useful.
Business Models
There are some useful modelling techniques that can be used in the strategy or business model perspective.
Business Model Canvas
Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas
) is extremely useful for representing aspects of a business model.
Requirements Modelling
Using modelling techniques in requirements is extremely to identify and cross reference for gaps and help determine completeness.
Use Case Modelling
User Story Mapping
User story mapping is a good technique to help visualise the product backlog. Historically, it was difficult trying to understand the product backlog especially when tools were in place – by having a story map – user stories can be viewed in the context of an end-to-end flow.
Modelling the Problem Situation
Rich Pictures
The soft systems methodology and Peter Checkland provide a good visual modelling technique for modelling a problem situation in the form of a Rich Picture that explores, acknowledges and defines a situation and express it through diagrams to create a preliminary mental model of the problem situation.
A rich picture helps to open discussion and come to a broad, shared understanding of a problem situation.
Process Modelling
Process modelling is visual way of representing the business processes and business workflows of an organisation -individual steps of the process can be drawn out so there is an end-to-end overview of the tasks in the process within the context of the business environment.
Data Modelling
Data modelling is a technique that can be used to understand and document the data requirements for a system.
Entity Relationship Modelling
Entity relationship modelling is a technique that can be used to understand and document the relationships between entities in a system.
Why Should You Use Visual Models or Modelling Techniques in Business Analysis?
There are many reasons but, for business analysts, there is one compelling reason which I would like you to consider.
One of our biggest challenges is making sure we have all the requirements. Most of us have experienced that moment when we realise late in the project that there are requirements missing. This realisation might come from a conversation with a stakeholder about what they assumed they were going to get when the project delivers.
One of the biggest risks is unstated or tacit requirements. Your stakeholders don’t necessarily realise everything that they need – they make assumptions, forget things or simply don’t know that you didn’t realise something was required and forgot to check when reviewing your requirements.
Visual models are brilliant at bringing out tacit requirements
If you show a stakeholder a prototype (which looks a bit like the final solution) they will immediately tell you if any steps have been missed because it stands out like a sore thumb to them.
Show them a list of discrete, textual requirement statements and it is a lot harder to spot any gaps.
So that’s why I believe visual models are an essential part of your BA toolkit.
Of course, this is not the only reason! They are also a great asset because:
- You can communicate complex subjects with a well-crafted picture;
- They allow you to look at the problem or requirements space at different levels of detail (Business Model Canvas shows you the entire organisation; a process model shows you a process which may span many different business areas over a long period of time; a prototype shows you what one person does at one point of time with a digital device);
- People learn and understand in different ways so it is helpful to communicate the requirements in different ways.
- I find that any problem I am tackling in business analysis (or business in general) is only a day or two away from being drawn up as some sort of picture. Once I have drawn the picture then everyone understands!
Conclusion – Visual Models & Modelling Techniques in Business Analysis
If you want to learn more about representing problems visually and find a technique that works for all situations I strongly recommend you read Dan Roam’s Back of a Napkin.