Hi GC,
it depends, as I we all learn to say soon: What general project are you talking about? Who are the people sponsoring the project? What is the general consensus around the project? Are there limitations?
The next steps then is to get the people together who can give you the information you are looking for. Plan for several sessions, if you are at the beginning. In the first session I normally just ask the people: Tell me about your business. If there is enough time, I ask: What do you want the new system for? / What do you try to achieve with the changes or implementation?
Once they have answered the question, go back and think about the answers. What I find is that in 90% I have to talk to the people again, asking: What is it that you really want? This is primarily because they have just given you their ideas and how the system should work. People tend to tell you the solution instead of telling you the problem they have and let you come up with a solution, once you know the problem. So go and ask more specific: What problems do you have and which ones do you want to solve with a new software?
How you involve the people is simple: Only ask questions, otherwise be quiet and listen. Clarify everything that you don't understand. Don't pretend to understand the business talk. If a marketing expert is talking about their POV, POS, and using all their industry releated acronyms, stop them. Get them to tell you what they are actually talking about. Get them to explain what their POS (point of sales) is, what stores etc.
Being an analyst is half about asking the right questions and listening, then going back and writing it all down in a way that everybody understands it.
Then start to break down the problems. A "problem in the sales process" is not specific. So you will need to talk to the sales manager and several other people to understand the sales process in detail. Your project sponsor normally does not know enough about the problem, thats why he has you. You need to find the flaws in the process.
I am not a huge fan of endless meetings in a conference room, giving powerpoint presentations using impressiv language. Keep it simple and short. After about 1.5 hours, concentration will drop. Others as well as yours.
Then make a list of all the requirements that you have gathered with a reason why and the problem that this requirement addresses. If there is no problem, why do they want it? Then you can go back and ask if that is all. When they are happy that these are all the problems you have to solve, get them to sign them of. Now you can start to sit down and describe everything in more detail with process mappings, use cases or whatever lovley tool you want to use.
Hope that helps. Any questions?
Björn