Activity: Capture a Common Business Vocabulary

Roles and Activities > Analyst Role Set > Business-Process Analyst > Capture a Common Business Vocabulary

Purpose To define a common vocabulary that can be used in all textual descriptions of the business, especially in descriptions of business use cases.
Steps Find Common Terms Evaluate Your Results
Input Artifacts: Business Vision Vision Stakeholder Requests	Resulting Artifacts: Business Glossary
Role: Business-Process Analyst
Tool Mentors: Capturing a Common Vocabulary Using Rational RequisitePro

Workflow Details:

Business Modeling

Assess Business Status

Design Business Process Realizations

Develop a Domain Model

Identify Business Processes

Find Common Terms

In business modeling you must define a common vocabulary using the most common terms and expressions in the problem domain. You should then consistently use the common vocabulary in all textual descriptions of the business. In this way, you keep the textual descriptions consistent and avoid misunderstandings among project members about the use and meaning of terms. You should document the vocabulary in a glossary.

To find common terms in the problem domain, consider terms used when talking about what the business is about. Focus on terms describing the following concepts:

Each term is typically described as a noun, with a definition. Terms should be in the singular, "order" and "task", not "orders" and "tasks". All interested parties should agree on definitions for the terms.

Evaluate Your Results

You should check the glossary at this stage to verify that your work is headed in the right direction. There is no need to review it in detail. See especially checkpoints for the Glossary in Activity: Review Requirements.

Rational Unified Process