Activity: Capture a Common
Business Vocabulary
Purpose
|
|
| Role: Business-Process Analyst | |
| Frequency: As required, typically occurring at least once in each of the iterations that include business modeling activities. | |
| Steps | |
| Input Artifacts: | Resulting Artifacts: |
| Tool Mentors: | |
| Workflow Details: |
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:
- Business objects representing concepts used in the organization's daily work. In many cases, a list of concepts of this kind already exists.
- Real-world objects that the business needs to be aware of. These objects occur naturally, and include such things as: car, dog, bottle, aircraft, passenger, reservation, or invoice.
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.
