AI Prompts for Business Analysts (BAs)

"Generate a comprehensive outline for a Business Requirements Document (BRD) for implementing a new CRM system in a mid-sized healthcare company. Include sections for: Executive Summary, Business Objectives & Justification, Scope (In-Scope and Out-of-Scope), Stakeholder Roles, High-Level Business Requirements (categorized by department), Data Migration Requirements, Compliance Constraints (HIPAA), and Sign-off approvals. Ensure the language is vendor-agnostic and focuses on the "What" and "Why", not the technical "How"."

"Draft a comparative analysis of an "As-Is" versus a "To-Be" business process for employee expense reimbursement. Describe the As-Is process: Employees email PDF receipts to managers, who forward them to accounting, who manually enter them into Excel, taking an average of 14 days to pay out. Outline the To-Be process using an automated web portal. List the 3 specific pain points eliminated, estimate the hours of administrative time saved monthly, and highlight any new risks introduced by automation."

"Take the high-level business requirement: "The e-commerce system must accommodate wholesale B2B buyers." Break this down into 5 specific, testable Functional Requirements. Format them using "The system shall..." syntax. Include requirements covering: bulk tiered pricing discounts, tax-exemption certificate uploads at checkout, net-30 invoicing options, and an approval workflow for new B2B accounts. Number them logically for traceability."

"Draft a script for a 45-minute requirements elicitation interview with the Head of Customer Support regarding a proposed AI-chatbot implementation. Prepare 8 targeted, open-ended questions designed to uncover their actual current workflow, edge cases they handle daily, and their biggest fears about automation replacing human touch. Avoid asking "what features do you want." Instead, ask "walk me through the most manual, frustrating part of your current escalation process.""

"Perform a structured SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for a critical business decision: Should a logistics company build a custom dispatch routing software in-house or buy an off-the-shelf SaaS product? Provide 3 specific bullet points for each of the four quadrants. Highlight the specific trade-offs between speed-to-market (SaaS) versus proprietary competitive advantage (Custom Build)."

"Write a formal Use Case Specification for the action: "Customer processes a return for a defective item." Include the Actor(s), Preconditions (user is logged in, item was purchased within 30 days), the Primary Success Flow (step-by-step from clicking 'Return' to printing the shipping label), and outline at least 2 Alternate Flows/Exception paths (e.g., the item falls outside the 30-day window but is covered by a manufacturer warranty; the system cannot generate a remote label)."

"Create a sample Data Dictionary for a company's "Customer" entity to align the Sales and Engineering teams. Provide clear, unambiguous business definitions for 5 common fields that often cause confusion: "Lead Profile", "Active Customer", "Churn Date", "Lifetime Value", and "Account Owner". For each, define exactly what triggers a change in this status and which system is the ultimate "Source of Truth" (e.g., Salesforce vs. the proprietary database)."

"Structure an Ishikawa (Fishbone) Diagram narrative to analyze a major operational issue: A drastic 25% drop in on-time delivery rates over the last quarter. Categorize potential root causes into 5 branches: People (e.g., high warehouse turnover), Process (e.g., inefficient picking routes), Technology (e.g., scanner software lag), Materials (e.g., packaging shortages), and Environment (e.g., severe weather disruption). Output this as a structured text outline and recommend the top 2 areas to investigate immediately."

"Create a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) matrix for the implementation phase of a new ERP system. List 6 key project tasks (e.g., Defining Data Migration Rules, Approving Budget Extensions, Conducting UAT Testing, Signing off Go-Live). Assign RACI roles across 4 stakeholders: The Executive Sponsor, The Business Analyst, The Lead Developer, and the Department End-Users. Briefly explain the critical difference between who is Responsible vs. who is Accountable for UAT Testing."

"Draft a Change Impact Assessment for a proposed business rule change: The company wants to reduce the standard invoice payment terms from Net-30 to Net-15 days. Analyze the downstream impacts of this change across 4 domains: Customer Experience (potential friction/attrition), Sales Operations (how to handle existing legacy contracts), Accounts Receivable workflow, and the IT Systems (updating invoice templates and automated dunning email triggers). Provide a recommendation on whether to proceed with a phased rollout vs. a hard cutoff."