  Business process (BP) analysis represents a first key phase of information
system development. It consists in the gathering of domain knowledge and its
organization to be later used in the software development, and beyond (e.g.,
for Business Process Reengineering). The quality of the developed information
system largely depends on how the BP analysis has been carried out and the
quality of the produced requirement specification documents. Despite the fact
that the issue is on the table for decades, business process analysis is still
a critical phase of information systems development. One promising strategy is
an early and more important involvement of business experts in the BP analysis.
This paper presents a methodology that aims at an early involvement of business
experts while providing a formal grounding that guarantees the quality of the
produced specifications. To this end, we propose the Business Process Analysis
Canvas, a knowledge framework organized in eight knowledge sections aimed at
supporting the business expert in carrying out the analysis, eventually
yielding a BP analysis Ontology.
