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Embracing AI in Business Analysis: A Guide for BAs

Artificial Intelligence in business analysis is fast becoming the next big evolution of the BA practice. It acts as a superpower to enhance decision-making, automate repetitive tasks, free up time for strategic work.

BAs add value to organizations that AI cannot replace, like problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. But with increasing competition in companies, BAs can use an assistant like artificial intelligence to do more with less. This article covers the growing influence of AI in business analysis and how you can thrive as a business analyst in the age of generative AI.

 

AI in Business Analysis: A Growing Field

Business analytics powered by AI can detect patterns, anomalies, and deviations and raises them for review by business analysts.

Business analysts are embracing AI/ML tools to make more informed decisions and improve their competitive advantage. Tools like Tableau, Power BI, and others increasingly have a significant AI component

BA coaches have also begun thinking and producing content on how to use AI tools like ChatGPT for business analysis.

The growth of AI tools has also led to an increasing push for human oversight over AI. For instance, the European Commission has proposed a regulation the stipulates how high-risk AI systems like facial recognition algorithms should be created with human oversight in the loop.

Developing regulations like these will affect downstream industries like business analysis in due time.

 

AI-enhanced Business Analysts

The most beneficial way to deal with the rise of AI is to enhance your existing skill set using it. Generative AI tools can also lead to happier and more productive workers.

 

Here are some ways you can adapt to the changing reality:

Know your Core BA Skills

As recently as May 2023, Forbes recognized six core business analysis skills:

  • Analysis: Parsing large amounts of complex data and recommending solutions.
  • Communication: Active listening and clear delivery of data in verbal and written form.
  • Interpersonal: Working effectively with stakeholders and teams within client organizations.
  • Problem-solving: Creative solving of unique client issues.
  • Time Management: Prioritizing tasks and getting the job done quickly.

AI can do parts of these tasks for you, but none fully. For instance, an AI-based requirements management tool can help you analyze and write requirements based on raw data, but only with your approval.  But it fails at active listening, stakeholder engagement, or creative problem solving.

Without human oversight, AI can be ineffective or even counterproductive. Business analysts can excel through expert management of AI tools and ensure that AIs output aligns with the goals of the organization.

Another core skill that AIs cannot compete is an up-to-date understanding of the industry. BAs with domain knowledge can spot problems and suggest fixes before a project reaches the development team. They have the knowledge and connections to understand market conditions and protocols beyond what is available on AI databases.

Strategies for developing industry domain expertise include:

  • Researching the history, current situation, and prospects of the industry.
  • Learning market-specific protocols. For example, ASPICE is a key automotive regulation.
  • Competitive analysis.
  • Asking questions to other domain experts.

Enhance Your Data Management and Analysis Skills

According to Peter Sondergaard, the SVP and Global Head of Research at Gartner, “Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine.” Analytical skills help BAs generate high quality outcomes that meet business needs.

In practical terms, you need to have a combination of the following data analytics skills to position you as a high-value and competitive BA candidate:

  • Data Literacy: Familiarity with data language, types, sources, and analytical tools.
  • Data Collection: Knowing how to collect unbiased and reliable data through various methods.
  • Statistical Analysis: Knowing statistical terms and techniques like hypothesis testing, linear regression, and p-values to extract insights.
  • Data Visualization: Presenting data honestly to communicate insights.

Learn to Work with AI Tools

A recent survey by Gartner showed that 70 percent of U.S. workers want to use AI to reduce some common tiresome and repetitive tasks.

 

The top task that workers hoped AI would automate is data processing. The demands of a business analyst already include many of these tasks and will do so in the future. Here’s how BAs can leverage AI tools for data processing:

  • Integration: Building “master lists” of data, like merging lists while retaining their integrity.
  • Classification: collecting, extracting, and structuring data from documents, photos, audio, video, and other media.
  • Cataloging: Organizing, cleaning, and retrieving data. SQL is already a key skill for data retrieval and OpenRefine helps with basic data cleaning.
  • Quality: Reducing errors, contradictions, or low quality in databases or requirements authoring.
  • Security: Keeping data safe from bad actors.
  • Compliance: Adhering to relevant industry-based or national compliance standards. E.g. ASPICE for automotive.

BAs should also learn how to interact with AI tools. Some tools have button-based interfaces, but others like ChatGPT use prompts. Engineering prompts will itself become a skill not dissimilar to making SQL queries. The right query may be the difference between an important insight and a dead end.

This collaborative approach to AI in business analysis will help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire organization. The MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group’s global executive survey found that companies combining AI and human abilities are best positioned to succeed.

These days, many tools help boost the productivity of BAs. Some staples like Tableau and Power BI have into their legacy offerings. Others have leveraged the to analyze, write, rewrite, and suggest requirements.

 

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Adapt to Changing Roles and Responsibilities

Beyond working with AI tools, BAs will have to adapt and expand their skill sets to market realities. BAs can stay on top of things by:

  • Keeping up with cutting-edge technologies like blockchain, digital trust, and artificial intelligence.
  • Asking better questions about business needs, technology needs, and stakeholder satisfaction.
  • Considering hybrid roles that combine BA skills with related fields like statistics, data analysis, project management, and UX.
  • Enhancing soft skills. BAs who communication, critical thinking, negotiation, and collaboration skills can adapt and thrive in any environment.

 

The Future of Business Analysis is Bright

The fundamental role of the business analyst will be no less relevant in the near future. Somebody has to perform crucial tasks like business processes evaluation, problem identification, and more. Embracing the paradigm of new AI tools will only increase the productivity of BAs. Combined with their core BA toolkit, domain expertise, fluency in data management, and soft skills, business analysts can thrive and drive the success of their companies in the 2020s and beyond.

 

Source: AI in Employee Engagement: 7 Applications to Try Yourself | Zavvy [AS1] [AS1]
https://www.statista.com/chart/27127/tasks-us-workers-want-ai-to-take-over/ [AS2]

 

Ten Tips for the Young BA

After ten plus years of working as a business analyst, I wanted to highlight a few things that have tremendously helped me become a better BA and advance my career.

As a young professional, I did not have many special talents, skills, or academic education, but I was not going to let those things hold me back from success. I focused on where I knew I would stand out and organized my thoughts into the ten main points below:

 

  • Be on time. For any meetings or working sessions that I was a part of, I made it a habit to be a couple of minutes early. There were life events or uncontrollable circumstances that prevented me from this 100% of the time, but those were one-off occurrences. Generally speaking, I was known to be early and start meetings on time. This showed I was organized and respected the time of others. Additionally, being on time also meant projects and tasks were completed by the time I said they would be. If there were issues that prevented me from hitting a time goal, I would speak up and inform the respective stakeholders in advance so they were aware.

 

  • Take ownership. Anytime a project or task was assigned to me, nobody had to worry or consistently follow up on its completion. I communicated statuses and any obstacles or issues that might impact the final result. This was evident no matter how small the task was. Early on in my career, I was responsible for member service requests. Each interaction was a mini-project to ensure the member got the service they required. Taking ownership of all of my projects and tasks helped build trust with my boss and colleagues. It showed I was ready to handle larger projects and more responsibilities because I excelled with the smaller ones.

 

  • Be flexible. My ability to be flexible about almost anything shined through. My role in one project may not have been the exact same as another one. Priorities and objectives often changed. My colleagues all had different and unique personalities. In some projects, I was the dominant personality when others did not play that role. In other projects, I was the more analytical one when I realized others were observably dominant. Through it all, I remained flexible. I was known as the go-to person for just about anything.

 

  • Nothing underneath me. My first project was a stepping stone to the next one. When I was starting my career, I admittedly was a “yes” person. They could have given me a stamp with “Yes” for my forehead! Before anyone even finished their thought, I said “Yes!”. This helped me get exposure to every single area of my organization and build relationships. Within a short period of time, I could tell you the purpose of each department and why they were necessary for the organization to function properly. I am not saying I could run the department, but I had functional knowledge of their work and what made them tick. I don’t want to give the wrong impression here. As I advanced more in my career, I didn’t have the time to say yes to everything. I learned how to say “no” as my career became more mature. However, when I first started, I wanted exposure to everything and I wanted to show I can handle it.

 

  • Recognize and praise others. I don’t remember accomplishing a goal due to my efforts alone. There were always other people involved. Lots of time in discussions was spent with team members to ensure we were doing the right things. I always made it a point to praise publicly and privately where it was legitimately due. I saw first hand all the hard work that my colleagues put into their daily activities and wanted those efforts recognized. Any time I got praise for doing something, it was only because I had a great team of people supporting me.

 

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  • My first project. I tried my best to stay excited and eager to learn and do more. When I was just a part-time employee trying to make a name for myself, I was hungry for anything that came across my desk. I started to treat everything like my very first project. I would ask lots of questions, show willingness to go above and beyond, seek help where I need it, and work with others. Every project after the first one was treated like my first one. This is much more difficult than it sounds because at times, work did become mundane and repetitive. I had to make a conscious effort to see the bigger picture and maintain my level of excitement.

 

  • Open to criticism. I had an open mind if someone gave me constructive criticism. This helped me get better as a professional and build my skills. I actively sought out criticism to ensure I produced things of value to the organization. Long tenured employees, managers, and executives all have different insights into different areas. Their advice helped me see things from a different perspective and ensure I took that into consideration moving forward.

 

  • Be courteous. I cannot think of any point where insulting someone, yelling, making sexually suggestive comments, touching inappropriately, or being plain rude was ever welcomed. I paid attention to my tone of voice and ensured my dialogue was objective to the matter at hand. Disagreements are common and objectively addressing them should be the goal, not trying to tear the other person down. Learning about culture, gender, age, race, religion, or any other characteristic that makes us unique, helped me get to the next level of relationship building. Showing common courtesy, being generally kind, and showing basic respect for someone  should not require a whole training initiative.

 

  • Work life integration. I did not seek work life “balance”; where I strictly worked between certain hours and then I strictly lived my personal life during certain hours. My job was part of an overall healthy life; and in order to continue having a healthy life, I needed my job. Sometimes, my best work came from putting in a few hours on a Sunday with some music in the background. Sometimes, I had to handle a personal emergency at the office that took time away from my work. I didn’t get stressed out about those things because I knew the work would get finished and my personal commitments wouldn’t be sacrificed. If responding to an email on a Saturday helped my colleague move on, I did not hesitate to do it.

 

  •  Always learning. I was always confident I could learn anything that I needed to help in my career. Today, I see the younger generation spend hours upon hours on social media, video games, and YouTube. I challenge anyone to take any topic in the world you want to learn. Spend one to two hours daily focusing on and researching that topic. The same focus you would give to having fun. Come back in a year and tell me that you are unable to explain the general and functional information of that topic. I dare you! I was amazed at how much I learned by giving it enough focus and time and you will be too.

 

In conclusion, these ten things made such a positive impact in my career and I know they will do the same for you.

Best of BATimes: 7 Warning Signs that You Are Too Soft

Simple question: Do you believe that you tend to be too soft at work?

 

What I mean by too soft is demonstrating behavior that results in being consistently less effective than what is otherwise possible—and needed—in performing responsibilities.

Whenever I ask this question at conferences, seminars or webinars, most people respond with a “yes.” From experience, I have found most project managers and business analysts, indeed, to be too soft—they are not willing to make the tough and unpopular project- or business analyst-related decisions, even though their instincts warn them that they are not taking the most effective action.

Being too soft harms your effectiveness, your career, the respect from others and your ability to make a difference and make things happen.

Examples of Too-Soft Behavior

Here are seven examples of too-soft behavior. Do you see yourself here? If so, this article may cause you to leave your comfort zone.

1. You behave as if you have the responsibility but without the authority

If you behave as if you have the responsibility but without the authority, then you’re too soft. I do face time with thousands of people each year. I frequently hear project managers and business analysts say that they have the responsibility but not the authority. This just isn’t true. You almost always have the authority; the problem is that you don’t take it.

Here’s an example. When was the last time you were called on the carpet—challenged—for exceeding your authority? Was it within the last week? The last month? The last year? Was it ever? My experience is that less than 15% of people in a large group—a statistically valid size group—have ever experienced being confronted for exceeding their authority. This is sad to me. But what is sadder is that, statistically, most people reading this article will never experience being called out on exceeding their authority across their entire career! My assertion is that you almost always have the authority—you just don’t seize it… you’re too soft.

2. You put off insisting on and driving good project management or business analyst practices

Whether I’m in a public setting or at a private company, it’s common for PMs or BAs to approach me for advice about their project problems. During the discussion, many times it’s relevant for me to ask about the project management or BA practices that they follow. I often hear them say that the practices they follow are weak and insufficient. They will state or imply that management in their organizations isn’t doing enough to provide and continuously improve the practices.

I’ll ask them what their role on the project is and they will tell me that they are the PM or a BA. If you are in either of these roles, then insisting on and driving good practices is your job. Not management’s. Not anybody else’s. It’s your domain of responsibility. You can seek help if you need to but the buck stops with you. If you do not insist on reasonable practices then you’re too soft.

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3. You complain rather than constructively work issues to closure

I don’t believe that you should ever complain about anything—ever! Complaining is negative energy and adds no value to solving the issue at hand. People who complain are exhibiting too-soft behavior by averting truly getting the problem fixed. But make sure you understand what I mean by complaining. An example of complaining is when person A complains to person B about something that person C can fix. In this case, person A just wasted his time and person’s B’s time. However, if person A “complains” so-to-speak to person C—the person who can fix the problem—then this is not complaining to me. This is the first step of the solution by informing the person who can do something about it.

4. You evade taking a position on issues

If you evade taking a position on an issue, you’re too soft. A role of leaders is to help resolve conflict among team members. They take appropriate business-based positions on issues even if it doesn’t please all parties. Let’s look at an example.

I was mentoring Sarah who was a project manager of a sizeable project. We were walking through a hallway heading to a room where a meeting was soon to take place. We come upon two team leaders—Laura and Larry—discussing an issue in the hallway. Actually, discussing is too kind of description; they were angry at each other and loudly protesting the other’s views. Upon seeing this, Sarah leaned in to me and asked if I would mind if we join in on their discussion. Sarah said we have a few minutes before we must be in the meeting room. I said that that’s a good idea and we joined the two team leaders. After standing with the two team leaders and listening for a few minutes, Sarah turns to me and said we have to go; she did not want to be late for the meeting.

Once we were out of hearing range of the two team leaders, I asked Sarah why she didn’t say anything back there to help resolve the conflict. Sarah said if she had sided with one team leader then the other team leader would have been upset with her. I said that’s not how it works. Besides you now have both people upset with you because you did not assert your authority and help find an appropriate resolution. I went on to tell her if she sided with Laura and that left Larry upset with her, that’s not her problem—it’s Larry’s problem. I said never avoid taking a position because you fear that someone won’t like you. This is business, it’s not personal. Decisions are made based on what’s in the business’ best interest; not what’s in Larry’s best interest. Here again, Sarah was too soft in dealing with this situation which meant she was not as effective as she could be and should be.

5. You avoid or excessively delay making key decisions

Decision making is a critical action in any team, project or organization. We all have experienced instances where we felt decisions were being made far too slow. Make sure that you aren’t the problem. If you avoid or excessively delay making key decisions then this is another example of demonstrating too-soft behavior.

If you wait to make a decision until all data is known to ensure that you are making the very best decision, then you will lose all competitiveness. Better to make a decision and occasionally be wrong, then make no decision or excessively delay in making the decision.

6. You fail to perform your assignment as if you own the business

When you look around you for the people who you respect the most, they are likely folks who come to work each day with the mindset that they perform their duties as if they owned the business—and the business is defined by their domain of responsibility. If you have ever owned your own company, you will know exactly what I mean. You cannot put food in your belly or pay your bills unless you are successful. It’s this passion that helps people achieve their best. These are people who make things happen.

They believe—and their actions demonstrate—that the buck stops here and that they are fully accountable for the project or their assigned domain. Your boss and your senior management want you to take charge over your domain of responsibility with the passion that comes about when you behave as if you owned the business. If you hesitate or routinely pull back then, again, you are demonstrating too-soft behavior.

7. You require the personal approval of others to function

You are too soft if you personally require the approval of those around you to function from day-to-day—and without it you feel inadequate—then you will likely find their behavior to have an immobilizing effect on you; it can stop you in your tracks. Don’t ever give that kind of power to another person. What other people think of you should never be more important than what you think of yourself.

In Closing…

I have revealed seven examples of too-soft behavior. If you routinely exhibit these too-soft behaviors, then you’re clearly too soft—you tend to take the easy way out rather than do the right thing by demonstrating the most effective behavior. If you only occasionally slip into this behavior, then that may not be a serious cause for alarm.

If you fear that not being too soft will cause you to be “too hard” and therefore you will be seen as being rude, insensitive, abrasive, arrogant or a bully… don’t go there. You are a good and decent person and will not give way to these behaviors.

 

You might be asking yourself if an upside of demonstrating too-soft behavior is that you might win friends and respect? After all, if you are consistently too soft, those you work with will see you as very easy to get along with and passive—you’re always rolling over and abdicating to others. The problem is that if you’re a leader and are consistently demonstrating too-soft behavior, you will lose respect from those you lead, and from your peers and from your superiors. Being too soft will also have a negative effect on your project’s outcome because the best business decisions are not always made or made in a timely manner. All this can lead to your career becoming stagnant or even shortened.

Now, go become your imagined self!

 

Published on February 28, 2017.

Read All About It – Why Reading is a Critical Skill in BA

I love reading.

It is to the point of compulsion where I log into my Amazon.com account and sneak in a couple titles
of varying degrees, regardless of what my original intention was. I always mutter a friendly curse
towards the algorithms that market new, old, debut and longstanding authors of novels, novella, and
fantastical stories each time I log in. It is not just limited to online…oh, no, not at all. Traveling, locally,
domestic, or internationally? Same problem. I make it a significant point to dop into any local
bookstore with self-guaranty that I will walk out with, at minimum, one book, genre notwithstanding.

Reading, however, has become so much more than just “getting lost in the story” or falling in love with
characters whom we can only dream to meet, mirror ourselves against or become attached to. It is not
a hobby, it is not just a compulsion, it is not habit. It is something else, something more: a skill. A
critical skill, at that. A skill that, like anything, any one can become proficient, an expert on, but
requires the same thing: practice, practice, practice. While I could spend the time writing this piece on
the top ten books a business analyst should read (and was the original idea for this article) …instead, I
make a proclamation. A quasi-Magna Carta, if you would: all business analysts must take the time in
their schedules to make room for improving this critical and formidable skill.

 

Today, there are rumors of studies finding that young adults after their high school (post-secondary)
education will never read a book again. It is flabbergasting on one hand, but to lose a critical skill like
reading that is sharpened when you open the cover-to-cover bound print matter (or e-book for you
digital readers), it is breathtaking. We, as business analysts, whether we realize it or not, are
consistently reading. Reading our e-mails, reading our business analyst documentation, reading
requirements. You are reading right now, are you not? That is pending that you continue to read my
piece on this subject matter. We are, in and out of varying intervals and degrees, reading! Some read
faster than others, some take the time to deeply understand and analyze what is on the paper, or page
before us. Aside from this, you are inherently practicing a critical skill in which will only make you
better, as a business analyst.

 

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Google search any reason as to why human beings should read and the results are countless: whether
it be for stress relief, for better memory retention, to prevent disease, it is all relevant. However,
relevancy aside, it becomes relevant to our work. Reading requires us to think, to analyze, to ask
ourselves questions. Is that not what we do now? Think, analyze, ask questions? Of course, overlooking
that I am oversimplifying the business analysis method, reading leads us to business analyzing!

Reading only stands to benefit you to improve in these areas; reading helps establish connections, to
understand concepts. Who does not like conversing in the language of titles, authors and favorite quotes
from that series or book that came out last week, month, year? There once was a video game I played
as a young adult and in the conversation of movies, they spoke about how movies during their time
(when movies/cinema were in their Golden Age), help people out of a bind or jam that they do not
understand. Take out movies/cinema and replace with books/reading, and there you got it.

So, read all about it! And I do not mean that slogan about the latest newspaper (although a reliable
source for information), I truly mean…read all about it. Being able to become a fount of knowledge
and to be able to translate that knowledge into performance as a BA should be your guiding light. As
a business analyst: think about it, analyze it, ask questions about it. Understand it…you will thank
yourself someday

Your Next Process Model’s Degree of Abstraction

Any process model is so much more than a flowchart. It is an abstraction of current or future real-world operations.

Process modeling is one of the core competencies of any capable business analyst. Both the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) Business Analysis Standard[1], and the Project Management Institute (PMI) Guide to Business Analysis[2] call for certified business analysts to be capable of preparing and using process models.

Business analysts and process improvement analysts may prepare process models at key points of business process management, information technology, and regulatory compliance project methodologies. They may specify current or future functional, organizational, and information systems architectures, functional requirements, workflow designs, and even automated operations. What any process model needs to communicate will vary from one project to the next.  The highest quality process model examples provide clear, accurate process information of direct interest to their readers.

Informed business analysts know that one of the secrets to producing a high-quality process model is to establish a clear mission for each model. To be successful, you should mindfully establish the mission of your next process model within the business process management, information technology, or regulatory compliance project that the model will serve.  You will then tailor your elicitations of the model’s content and configuration to meet project needs. Part of your process model mission-setting elicitation agenda will include asking and answering this important question:

What is this model’s required degree of abstraction?[3]

There are three generally accepted degrees of abstraction to consider: conceptual, logical, and configuration.

 

A Conceptual Process Model  

A conceptual process model graphically presents the defining structure of what a process is.

Business analysts, project sponsors, project managers, domain subject matter experts, regulators, and other process stakeholders use conceptual process models, for the following purposes:

  • To make process governance and scoping decisions;
  • To gain agreement about and communicate the process’s defined scope and structure, unequivocally distinguishing that process from all others in their business;
  • To design enterprise architecture, to define technology solution architectures,
  • To be the sound foundation on which forthcoming detailed problem analysis or detailed process definition is scoped out or planned;
  • To support project management decisions (e.g. budgeting, scoping).
  • To further elicit and fit logical process details upon its sound contextual and structural foundation.

 

Some business analysts and systems analysts might interpret the term conceptual to mean “high level”. That would be an oversimplification and a mistake. To serve its purpose, a conceptual process model should unequivocally define the sound, stable structure of the process. Despite being the highest degree of abstraction, a high-quality conceptual process model is still precise.  It can clearly and graphically communicate all of these process-defining information:

  • The process’s name.
  • The process’s initiating event(s) that causes the process to be performed.
  • The process’s activities and their expected sequence of execution.
  • The process’s expected outcome(s).
  • The process’s customer(s).

 

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A Logical Process Model

A logical process model elaborates contextually relevant details about how a process is required to operate, is designed to operate, or currently operates.

A high-quality logical process model could graphically, answer any of these types of how-elaborating questions:

  • The decomposition or summary of some of the process’s activities.
  • The rule-driven or decision-driven conditional work that may be performed.
  • The assigned responsibilities for performing the process’s activities.
  • The data or information required to be used and/or produced.
  • The causes of the process to be delayed or interrupted.
  • The processing errors that may occur while the process is executing, and how they will be resolved.
  • The process’s related performance or measurement data, and text-based operating procedures, documents, or other specifications.

There is a spectrum of uses for logical process models. Process owners and analysts use logical process models to determine what and where to measure an existing process’s performance or to design and communicate proposed process improvements. They also define requirements for, or the design of manual or automated procedures, or describe the design of workflows.

Competent business analysts and process analysts can anticipate, elicit and document a range of logical refinement types, using clear agendas and reusable modeling patterns[4]. They also know that no two logical process models need to communicate all of the same types of logical refinements. So they will consider the model’s mission within each project and tailor their modeling efforts to focus on eliciting and documenting the types of logical refinements that suit each model’s intended use within its project’s methodology.

 

A Process Configuration Model

A process configuration model communicates concrete implementation mechanisms such as software operations and user procedures or workflows.

A process configuration model is the lowest degree of abstraction. Business analysts and systems analysts typically prepare process configuration models in low-code and no-code software platforms. The platform consumes the process configuration model along with detailed process-related roles, security, forms, system interface, and data specifications to generate operating software, on top of an already well-rounded software product architecture. There is otherwise no or very little programmer intervention in translating the model into working software. When updates to requirements or defects emerge, the analyst revises the configuration model, and the platform regenerates and redeploys the software.

You must adopt and adhere exactly to a chosen low-code or no-code platform’s process modeling syntax. You can learn that by taking the training offered by the low-code or no-code platform’s vendor. Along with a process configuration model, you would specify, in detail:

  • System users, their assigned roles, and their responsibilities to perform the configured process flow.
  • The sequence of execution of configurable functional components, of an automated end-to-end workflow.
  • The configurable functional components involved in the process flow configuration. These are typically the user interfaces (e.g. forms, reports) system integrations (e.g. APIs), and the data attributes used in an automated process workflow.

Since process configuration models are precisely translated into operating software and business operations, any errors or omissions in the modeling become errors or omissions in the generated software and business operations.  It stands to reason that to be a successful business analyst or systems analyst in a low-code or no-code environment, you must design process configuration models based on sufficiently detailed logical requirements, that you have elicited and understood.

 

How to Choose Your Next Process Model’s Degree of Abstraction

Follow these guidelines to choose what the required degree of abstraction of your next process model will be:

Use conceptual process models to get agreement about and communicate what the process is. What is the scope? What causes it to be performed? What are the activities and their expected sequence? What is or are the expected outcome(s)? Use conceptual process models for planning, scoping, and architecture definition.

Use logical process models to get agreement and communicate how a process works or is required to work. Be prepared to elicit and document the answers to logical details such as: What are the detailed or summary activities? Who is responsible for what? What happens if? What happens when? What decisions will be made? What information is produced or used? Remember to elicit and include the details that are relevant to your model’s intended audience: those who participate in the lifecycle of your business process management or information technology project. Keep your model’s intended audience in mind when eliciting and documenting details. Use appropriately detailed logical process models for detailed functional requirements or design.

Use process configuration models to specify the configuration of concrete software modules, physical devices, and/or manual operating procedures that implement a process.

You typically use process configuration models in no-code or low-code software generation. To gain the benefits, you must specify very precise and accurate process implementation details, and exactly follow the process configuration modeling syntax.

 

Conclusion

A process model is not just a flowchart. It communicates what are, or will be, real-world operations. It may play a crucial role in the success or failure of your next business process management, information technology, or regulatory compliance project.

The most competent business analysts and process analysts clarify what their model’s required degree of abstraction will be, at the start of their analysis. They then focus their own and their project stakeholders’ efforts and time on the types of model content and format that will best suit each project’s unique needs.

You are welcome to learn more or share your comments and experiences about Your Next Process Model’s Degree of Abstraction via the Contact Us page at www.ProcessModelingAdvisor.com.

Copyright 2023, Edmund Metera
[1] The Business Analysis Standard (IIBA, November, 2022)
[2] PMI Guide to Business Analysis (PMI Inc, 2017)
[3] The Universal Process Modeling Procedure: The Practical Guide to High-Quality Business Process Models (Metera, 2018, 2022)
[4] The Universal Process Modeling Procedure: The Practical Guide To High-Quality Business Process Models Using BPMN (Metera, 2022)