Document Analysis is simply gathering and reviewing all existing documentation related to the scope of the project. It can be very useful in identifying the “as is” state as well as help to uncover Business Events for your Event/Response analysis.

There are three stages to document analysis

• Stage 1 – Identify the relevant materials
• Stage 2 – Study the materials, take notes and list follow up questions
• Stage 3 – Get answers, organize the information into your requirements format

One of the major cons of document analysis is that documentation is often not kept up to date. You will have to verify the validity of anything you plan to use.

Here is a list of documents which can be useful:

• Business Process Documentation
• Training / User Guides
• Functional specs of existing system
• Business Rules
• Organization Charts
• Emails
• Contracts
• Help Desk Incident Reports
• Project Documentation for prior projects in the area under study
• Existing user enhancement requests