In order to help align a business with the organization's goals and
objectives, the business analyst must understand the interactions that the
organization has (or wants to have) with its suppliers and customers.
The business analyst must understand all business events that initiate
interactions. He or she must also examine how the business responds
(or should respond) to each of those events.
The business analyst illustrates the business processes in a business
process model. The process model describes each business processes
from a conceptual perspective. It describes "what" the business does
to respond to a business event; not "how" it responds. In other words,
the conceptual process model does not make reference to paper forms,
computer systems or procedures that are followed.
Normally, the process model is depicted as a hierarchy consisting of
three or four levels. The organization's main business functions
are shown at the top of the hierarchy. At the bottom of the hierarchy
are the "elementary processes" or EPs. The EPs are the holy grail of
process modeling. Each elementary process represents the business's
complete response to an external business event.
During business system design, the analyst will revisit each of the
elementary processes to determine the best way to physically implement or
automate the elementary process in the future state. There can be one
or more "physical" implementations of a single elementary process (e.g.
"self-serve" Internet implementation, "full service" over-the-counter
implementation)
