Hello.

I am a new BA and am just beginning a current state process analysis.  The process is:  a user inputs information into a form and hits submit.  The data is stored in a database. Later that evening the data is moved from the database to a data warehouse where calculations are done whose results are kept in additional tables.  The data from the form and the calculated data are pulled and sent to a system at another agency in the form of an xml file where it is automatically validated or rejected.

The question is how detailed do I need to get when documenting this process in a Current State Process Analysis Report?  Do I need to go as far as saying "user enters information into the [a] field .  The data from the [a] field is stored in column x of the y table in the Z database.  At 0100 the data in column x of the y table in the Z database is transferred to ......

The form has a ton of fields so if I have to go into that much detail it's going to take weeks to get this report completed - weeks that I don't have. I would appreciate it if someone could tell me how this is normally done.

Thank you

Thank you for the response Kimbo.  According to Wikipedia, a business process "begins with a mission objective and ends with achievement of the business objective."

So in this case the mission objective is to report federally required reportable communicable disease data, specifically HIV, to the CDC through their agent, a consulting company, on a semi-annual basis.

To achieve this business objective, the data is sent to the consulting company in the form of an XML file.  The consulting company then does whatever they do with it and forwards the data to the CDC. The system used is an in-house built web application that is used to communicate with the CDC in a number of different areas, all relating to communicable diseases.  Each disease requires  a different reporting requirement, i.e. some data is sent directly to the CDC via HL7.

Wkipedia also states that "A business process can be decomposed into several sub-processes, which have their own attributes, but also contribute to achieving the goal of the super-process. The analysis of business processes typically includes the mapping of processes and sub-processes down to activity level."

If I am looking at this correctly then I can break this down into six seperate sub processes.

(1) A record is created by personnel entering the required information and clicking submit

(2) When submit is clicked, all the data is stored into a database

(3) After hours, all the records created that day are moved to a data warehouse.   

(4) Aggregate data calculations are completed using the records created that day and the data from previous days

(5) At the required time, a report is created consisting of both individual records and aggregate data for that semi-annual time period

(6) The report is transferred to the consulting company as an xml file.

Is this what you mean? That does make things a little easier to grasp.  I can now delve into each sub process one-by-one and break them down even further.

Jim,

Did you have a conversation re this with your project manager?

You might want to have a discussion with your PM and understand the expectation on the level of details required on your particular project.

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