BABOK 3.0 Glossary (Including Key Terms)

acceptance criteria

Criteria associated with requirements, products, or the

delivery cycle that must be met in order to achieve stakeholder acceptance.

actor (business analysis)

A human, device, or system that plays some specified role in interacting with a solution.

adaptive approach

An approach where the solution evolves based on a cycle of

learning and discovery, with feedback loops which encourage making

decisions as late as possible.

Agile Extension to the BABOK® Guide

A standard on the practice of business

analysis in an agile context. The Agile Extension to the BABOK® Guide

version 1 was published in 2013 by IIBA®, in partnership with the Agile

Alliance.

allocation

See requirements allocation.

architecture

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

artifact (business analysis)

Any solution-relevant object that is created as part of business analysis efforts.

assumption

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

behavioural business rule

A business rule that places an obligation (or prohibition) on conduct, action, practice, or procedure; a business rule

whose purpose is to shape (govern) day-to-day business activity. Also known as operative rule.

benchmarking

Chuẩn đối sánh, mốc tham chiếu

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

body of knowledge

The aggregated knowledge and generally accepted practices on a topic.

BPM

See business process management.

brainstorming

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

business (business analysis)

See enterprise.

business (business world)

An economic system where any commercial, industrial, or professional activity is performed for profit.

business analysis

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

business analysis information

Any kind of information at any level of detail that is used as an input to business analysis work, or as an output of business analysis work.

business analysis package

A document, presentation, or other collection of text, matrices, diagrams and models, representing business analysis information

business analyst

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

business analysis approach

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

business analysis communication plan

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

business analysis effort

The scope of activities a business analyst is engaged in

during the life cycle of an initiative

business analysis plan

A description of the planned activities the business analyst

will execute in order to perform the business analysis work involved in a

specific initiative.

business architecture

The design, structure, and behaviour 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 objectives and

tactical demands.

business case

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 solution.

business decision

A decision that can be made based on strategy, executive

judgment, consensus, and business rules, and that is generally made in

response to events or at defined points in a business process.

business domain

see domain

business goal:

A state or condition that an organization is seeking to establish

and maintain, usually expressed qualitatively rather than quantitatively.

business need

A problem or opportunity of strategic or tactical importance to be

addressed.

business objective:

An objective, measurable result to indicate that a business

goal has been achieved.

business policy:

A non-practicable directive that controls and influences the

actions of an enterprise.

business problem

An issue of strategic or tactical importance preventing an

enterprise or organization from achieving its goals.

business process

An end-to-end set of activities which collectively responds to an

event, and transforms information, materials, and other resources into

outputs that deliver value directly to the customers of the process. It may be

internal to an organization, or it may span several organizations.

business process management (BPM)

A management discipline that determines

how manual and automated processes are created, modified, cancelled,

and governed.

business process re-engineering

Rethinking and redesigning business processes

to generate improvements in performance measures.

business rule

A specific, practicable, testable directive that is under the control of

the business and that serves as a criterion for guiding behaviour, shaping

judgments, or making decisions.

capability

The set of activities the enterprise performs, the knowledge it has, the

products and services it provides, the functions it supports, and the methods

it uses to make decisions.

cause-and-effect diagram

See fishbone diagram.

change agent

One who is a catalyst for change.

change control

Controlling changes to requirements and designs so that the

impact of requested changes is understood and agreed-to before the

changes are made.

change management

Planned activities, tools, and techniques to address the

human side of change during a change initiative, primarily addressing the

needs of the people who will be most affected by the change.

change strategy

A plan to move from the current state to the future state to

achieve the desired business objectives.

change team

A cross-functional group of individuals who are mandated to

implement a change. This group may be comprised of product owners,

business analysts, developers, project managers, implementation subject

matter experts (SMEs), or any other individual with the relevant set of skills

and competencies required to implement the change.

checklist (business analysis)

A standard set of quality elements that reviewers use

for requirements verification.

collaboration

The act of two or more people working together towards a

common goal.

commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)

A prepackaged solution available in the

marketplace which address all or most of the common needs of a large

group of buyers of those solutions. A commercial off-the-shelf solution may

require some configuration to meet the specific needs of the enterprise.

competitive analysis

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 competitors.

component

A uniquely identifiable element of a larger whole that fulfills a clear

function.

concept model

An analysis model that develops the meaning of core concepts

for a problem domain, defines their collective structure, and specifies the

appropriate vocabulary needed to communicate about it consistently.

constraint (business analysis)

An influencing factor that cannot be changed, and

that places a limit or restriction on a possible solution or solution option.

context

The circumstances that influence, are influenced by, and provide

understanding of the change.

core concept (business analysis)

One of six ideas that are fundamental to the

practice of business analysis: Change, Need, Solution, Context, Stakeholder,

and Value.

cost-benefit analysis

An analysis which compares and quantifies the financial and

non-financial costs of making a change or implementing a solution

compared to the benefits gained.

create, read, update, and delete matrix (CRUD matrix)

A two-dimensional matrix

showing which user roles have permission to access specific information

entities, and to create new records in those entities, view the data in existing

records, update or modify the data in existing records, or delete existing

records. The same type of matrix can be used to show which processes,

instead of users, have the create, read, update and delete rights.

CRUD matrix

See create, read, update, and delete matrix.

customer

A stakeholder who uses or may use products or services produced by

the enterprise and may have contractual or moral rights that the enterprise

is obliged to meet.

decision analysis

An approach to decision making that examines and models the

possible consequences of different decisions, and assists in making an

optimal decision under conditions of uncertainty.

decomposition

A technique that subdivides a problem into its component parts

in order to facilitate analysis and understanding of those components.

defect

A deficiency in a product or service that reduces its quality or varies from

a desired attribute, state, or functionality.

structural rule/definitional business rule

A rule that indicates something is necessarily true (or

untrue); a rule that is intended as a definitional criterion for concepts,

knowledge, or information. Also known as a structural rule.

deliverable

Any unique and verifiable work product or service that a party has

agreed to deliver.

design

A usable representation of a solution.

document analysis (business analysis)

An examination of the documentation of

an existing system in order to elicit requirements.

domain

The sphere of knowledge that defines a set of common requirements,

terminology, and functionality for any program or initiative solving a

problem.

domain subject matter expert

A stakeholder with in-depth knowledge of a topic

relevant to the business need or solution scope

DSDM

See dynamic systems development method.

dynamic systems development method (DSDM)

A project delivery framework

which focuses on fixing cost, quality, and time at the beginning while

contingency is managed by varying the features to be delivered.

elicitation

Iterative derivation and extraction of information from stakeholders or

other sources.

end user

A stakeholder who directly interacts with the solution.

enterprise

A system of one or more organizations and the solutions they use to

pursue a shared set of common goals.

enterprise architecture

A description of the business processes, information

technology, people, operations, information, and projects of an enterprise

and the relationships between them.

enterprise readiness assessment

An assessment that describes the enterprise is

prepared to accept the change associated with a solution and is able to use

it effectively.

estimate

A quantitative assessment of a planned outcome, resource

requirements, and schedule where uncertainties and unknowns are

systematically factored into the assessment.

evaluation

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 objectives. See also indicator; metric,

monitoring.

event (business analysis)

An occurrence or incident to which an organizational

unit, system, or process must respond.

evolutionary prototype

A prototype that is continuously modified and updated in

response to feedback from stakeholders.

experiment

Elicitation performed in a controlled manner to make a discovery, test

a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact.

external interface

An interaction that is outside the proposed solution. It can be

another hardware system, software system, or a human interaction with

which the proposed solution will interact.

facilitation

The art of leading and encouraging people through systematic efforts

toward agreed-upon objectives in a manner that enhances involvement,

collaboration, productivity, and synergy.

feasibility study

An evaluation of proposed alternatives to determine if they are

technically, organizationally, and economically possible within the

constraints of the enterprise, and whether they will deliver the desired

benefits to the enterprise.

feature

A distinguishing characteristic of a solution that implements a cohesive

set of requirements and which delivers value for a set of stakeholders.

fishbone diagram

A diagramming technique used in root cause analysis to

identify underlying causes of an observed problem, and the relationships

that exist between those causes. Also known as an Ishikawa or cause-andeffect

diagram.

focus group

A group formed to to elicit ideas and attitudes about a specific

product, service, or opportunity in an interactive group environment. The

participants share their impressions, preferences, and needs, guided by a

moderator.

force field analysis

A graphical method for depicting the forces that support and

oppose a change. Involves identifying the forces, depicting them on

opposite sides of a line (supporting and opposing forces) and then

estimating the strength of each set of forces.

functional requirement

A capability that a solution must have in terms of the

behaviour and information the solution will manage.

gap analysis

A comparison of the current state and desired future state of an

enterprise in order to identify differences that need to be addressed.

goal

See business goal.

governance process (change)

A process by which appropriate decision makers

use relevant information to make decisions regarding a change or solution,

including the means for obtaining approvals and priorities.

guideline (business analysis)

An instruction or description on why or how to

undertake a task.

horizontal prototype

A prototype that is used to explore requirements and

designs at one level of a proposed solution, such as the customer-facing

view or the interface to another organization.

impact analysis

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

stakeholder or stakeholder group, project, or system.

implementation subject matter expert

A stakeholder who has specialized

knowledge regarding the implementation of one or more solution

components.

indicator

A specific numerical measurement that indicates progress toward

achieving an impact, output, activity, or input. See also metric.

initiative

A specific project, program, or action taken to solve some business

problem(s) or achieve some specific change objective(s).

input (business analysis)

Information consumed or transformed to produce an

output. An input is the information necessary for a task to begin.

inspection

A formal review of a work product by qualified individuals that follows

a predefined process, and uses predefined criteria, for defect identification

and removal.

interface

A shared boundary between any two persons and/or systems through

which information is communicated.

interoperability

Ability of systems to communicate by exchanging data or

services.

interview

Eliciting information from a person or group of people in an informal

or formal setting by asking relevant questions and recording the responses.

iteration (business analysis)

A single instance of progressive cycles of analysis,

development, testing, or execution.