This document provides guidance for business analysts on effective written communication. It outlines a 5-step writing process: 1) Know your audience; 2) Create an outline; 3) Choose the right words; 4) Edit for logical flow and consistency; 5) Proofread for spelling and grammar. Key recommendations include researching the topic, creating a narrative outline or storyboard, using clear and concise language tailored to the audience, and editing to refine the core message and support points. The goal is to convey information in a way that is easily understood by the intended readers.

1. BUSINESS ANALYST’S WRITTEN COMMUNICATION GUIDE
The Writing is not a linear process from start to finish.
STEP 2: WRITING FRAMEWORK
BUILDING THE DOCUMENT BLUEPRINT
Do you know your ‘Target Audience’?
STEP1: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!
DOCUMENT WRITING LIFECYLE
RESEARCHING > DRAFTING (OUTLINING) > REVISING >
EDITING > PROOFREADING > REFORMATTING>PUBLISH
Creating an Outline
1) Research your topic- get good understanding.
2) Start a brainstorming session, get Answers of
Questions from “Step #1 -The writing Process”.
From these answers organize your thoughts with
different identified elements, ideas, concepts, and premises as they
occur and inspire you.
3) Begin outlining your document with a “list of bullet points” of all
“main messages”.
4) Review, what you wrote. What you thought to be a main point might
wind up as a sub-point or supporting point and vice versa. If so,
move the sub-point under the appropriate main point.
5) Work through this process for a coherent story to evolve.
 Limit number of key points between three and five
Storyboarding
Storyboarding is great for detailed and
complex subjects. Writer visualizes the
information. Advertising and Movie industry
uses storyboards to pitch Ideas to convey a
scene-by-scene feeling for the story in a short
amount of time. Gaps are exposed in the story.
Writer identifies logical steps in their thought
processes.
Mostly outline created above transition into a storyboard, or storyboard
can be an alternative to an outline. This process of going from an
organized concept to a narrative of the concept into detailed
segments; the storyboard brings the story to life.
STEP 3: CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORDS
Add content to support the outline
STEP 4: EDITING
Validating the logical flow
In-depth review to ensure the content flows
logically and answers questions audience might
have.
Words are evaluated for their specific meaning and context. Sentences
and paragraphs are rearranged.
Stay consistent with your points, don't stray.
Remove any superfluous information and content. Avoid being
repetitive.
Support your points with coherent and organized arguments that stand
on their own, but are persuasive. Instead, support this assertion with
facts.
Background and supporting information should only be included as it
pertains to clarifying, defining, or illuminating points.
Edit to highlight your points just as you would trim bushes and shrubbery
away from a building to expose architectural detail.
Stay in tune with your audience's intent. What is their reason for
consuming your message? What is their frame of reference?
At this point, don’t worry too much about typos,
spelling, and style details. You can catch them in the
proofreading stage.
Rewrite document using simple, direct writing. Don’t try to be
sophisticated.
Be concrete (Set up and discuss relevant facts and keep the material
centered on the facts (those elements that can't be contradicted; they
are proven to be true, have actually happened, or actually exist.)
Be specific: Hone in on the crux of the issue and how it applies to
your audience. Maintain your core message throughout the document
or presentation
Include glossary
Avoid run-on sentences (fused sentences) and jargon
Use Active Voice to be more precise. By identifying the actor who
performs the action, the active voice doesn't leave the reader in
doubt. Passive sentences often leave out the actor entirely, leaving
the reader with questions such as, "To whom is the writer referring?"
or "Who is doing that?" Most of the time, these questions arise
subconsciously and therefore tend to take the reader away from your
point.
Exceptions: Use Passive sentences when you don't want
to identify the actor, or receiver is more important than
the actor or you want to avoid a first-person pronoun. or
rearranging the Subject with Object (actor)
The Writing Process
Create a reader’s profile by differencing audience
(Create Audience Segmentation) before writing process:
Reader Demographics
Age, Class, Gender, Education, Political Position, Income & married or single.
A) Identify your audience.
B) Tailor your contents to meet audience profile.
C) What specific key messages you want to convey?
D) Write clearly and concisely.
E) If needed, revise the academic level of your words.
Writer’s Goals
1) “Easy to read”.
2) Reader ‘captivates the contents’.
3) Reader likes writer, because her/his way
of thinking matches with writing style of writer.

2. Describe key points of message as it relates to audience George Orwell: 6 Rules for writing in the English language
The writer’s goal: Convey thoughts, concepts, ideas, stories,
and material in a manner that the audience understands. Filter
information through the context of the audience so that it
makes sense, not necessarily to every lay reader, but to your
particular audience.
1) Eliminate words that are not common without altering your
intent and meaning.
2) If the terms can't be replaced, define them for the audience
through glossaries, parenthetical statements, and in text
citations.
3) Read your work from the perspective of the audience to
ensure that your language supports your intent. If it doesn't
support your intent, then modify or eliminate the confusing
terms and language.
4) Make sure that your subject matter is supported with clear,
concise, and common language.
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech
which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon
word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright
barbarous.
STEP 5: PROOFREADING
SPELLING AND GRAMMAR COUNTS
Proofreading is the last superficial pass through the document to
ensure you’ve captured and corrected any errors in spelling,
grammar, punctuation, etc.
It’s time to make sure the document is professional, polished,
and ready to be delivered
Did you do a readability test?
Flesch-KincaidScore School Level /Grade
90 to 100 5th
80 to 90 6th
70 to 80 7th
60 to 70 8th and 9th
50 to 60 high school
30 to 50 college
0 to 30 college graduate
Readability scores: a comparative analysis
Business Communication
Type/Class Theme Objective
Technical paper,
Manual or
Procedures
Linear Thoughts Inform , Educate
Sales Letter
Persuasive Create a Call To
Action
Story Telling
Emotional Narrate, Educate
Report or Inter
Office Memo etc.
Strictly
Informative
Request a decision,
inform
Executive Summary
Strictly
Informative
Inform , Educate,
Update
Article
Strictly
Informative
Inform , Educate,
Update
Blog
Strictly
Informative
Inform , Educate,
Update
News
Informative Inform , Educate,
Update
Business Planning
Linear & Logical
Thinking
Inform , educate,
request a decision,
create a call to
action
READING SCORE - POPULAR PUBLICATIONS
READER'S DIGEST 65
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 60
TIME 52
NEWSWEEK 50
WALL STREET JOURNAL 43
NEW YORK TIMES 39
NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS 35
HARVARD LAW REVIEW 32
jsmahay@gmail.com | www.baguide.ca