Document analysis is used by business analysts to obtain information, by scrutinizing available materials that describe the business domain.
Document analysis may be used to gather background information in order to understand the context of a business need, or to research existing solutions to validate how those solutions were previously implemented.
Document analysis may also be used to confirm discoveries from other elicitation tasks such as interviews and observations.
When executing document analysis, business analysts systematically analyse the materials and decide if the information should be documented. Background research collected through document analysis may include materials such as marketing studies, industry guidelines, company memos, and organizational charts.
By reviewing a wide variety of materials, the business analyst can ensure that the need is fully understood in terms of the domain in which it exists.
Document analysis can also be performed on an existing solution to confirm how it works and what need it was supposed to fulfill. Examples of documents that can be reviewed include business rules, technical documentation, training documentation, problem reports, previous requirements documents, and procedure manuals.
Document analysis has three components, which are:
Preparation: When analysing source documents the business analyst should assess if the material is important, current, authentic, and credible. They should also consider if the material is understandable and can be easily explained to the stakeholders.
Document review and analysis: the business analyst also has to perform a comprehensive assessment of each document’s content and record any important information.
Record findings: When the information gathered through document analysis is used in a work product, the business analyst should examine the following:
• if the information and level of detail is appropriate for the intended audience.
• if the material should be changed into pictorial diagrams such as graphs,
models, process flows and decision tables to help enhance understanding.
Document analysis has both its strengths and limitations, which include
Strengths
• The business analyst does not need to create new materials and can use existing source material.
• The existing material can be used as a reference point to decide what is relevant and what needs been changed.
• The results of previous implementations can be used to confirm the results of other requirements gathering methods. .
• The discoveries can be displayed in formats that allow ease of review and reuse.
Limitations
• The existing documentation may be outdated, incorrect, incomplete, unreviewed or unapproved.
• The stakeholder who provided the information may not be available for questions.
• It is only useful in reviewing the current state of the organisation.
• It can be a time consuming and tedious task.