1. You will always be describing a process. Determine the process that is to be automated, and describe it.
2. You must understand something at one level before you can truly understand it at a lower level. Start your analysis by describing the overall process at ahigh level of abstraction to form the framework of the rest of your analysis.
3. You must describe “What” not “How”. The business process should be described independent of how a system would help a user to complete the process.
4. Follow the “80/20 Rule”. The “80” = the main process flow, when everything goes smoothly. The “20” = the variations from the main flow.
5. Describe each step and sub-step in a process as “Somebody does something with some information”. This syntax will help describe the process in a way that is understandable by all, and will lead to the simple identification of the true business requirements.