Basic Elements

Let's first review the actual goal of analysis and its typical outputs. Whether we are talking about business analysis or systems analysis, the goal is always to identify and specify a solution that addresses a defined need. Although analysts are sometimes asked only to describe the current state of affairs or to assess a solution's feasibility, these are always just individual components of the final goal—which is implementing a solution that solves a problem.

Does this mean every analysis results in a solution description? Yes, but the solution specification is merely the tip of the iceberg, as there are usually many intermediate steps along the way. An analyst must thoroughly understand the need itself, along with the goals and objectives stakeholders want to achieve. They must also outline the general change strategy and its downstream impacts. Only then can they select and describe the final solution. Crucially, analysts constantly deal with different types of needs, which lead to different solutions, meaning there can be no single, universal analysis approach. Consequently, each analysis is a unique set of activities producing a unique set of outputs.

Faced with such diversity, it might appear that there is no central focus within the analysis discipline. Fortunately, even though every analysis can differ, they are almost always composed of the same fundamental building blocks that have been identified and refined over recent decades. For example, a business domain is typically defined by domain terms, processes, or business rules, while a software solution generally consists of a user interface, system functions, or data entities. While it is impossible to predict exactly what an analysis pipeline will look like, it will undoubtedly be a combination of these common components, which can be described in a unified way.

Effective Analysis calls these components artifacts. Together with standard modeling techniques, they form the foundations for the principles and practices introduced in this section. Because each artifact and model will be explored in depth in its own dedicated chapter, the purpose of this section is simply to provide a quick high-level overview, ensuring their meaning is clear whenever the terms are referenced earlier.