Practical Application
Business Requirements Analysis Workshop
4-Step Requirements Workshop
Master business requirements analysis
Before diving into dimensional modeling, you must understand the business requirements. This workshop guides you through stakeholder analysis and requirement gathering techniques.
Stakeholder Analysis
Identify who will use the dimensional model and what they need.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Executive Leadership
Key Questions
- •"What's our revenue per patient by department?"
- •"How do costs vary by patient type?"
- •"Which departments are most profitable?"
- •"What's our capacity utilization?"
Operations Manager
Hospital Operations
Key Questions
- •"What's the average length of stay by department?"
- •"Which physicians have the highest patient loads?"
- •"How do we optimize room assignments?"
- •"What are our peak admission times?"
Quality Assurance Director
Patient Care Quality
Key Questions
- •"What's our patient satisfaction by department?"
- •"How do readmission rates vary by physician?"
- •"Which treatments have the best outcomes?"
- •"Are we meeting quality benchmarks?"
Decisions & KPIs
- •Write down 2-3 concrete decisions each persona makes (e.g., budget approvals, staffing levels).
- •Capture the KPIs they use to judge success (LOS, readmissions, revenue, utilization).
Pain Points & Gaps
- •Note conflicting numbers between systems or reports that erode trust.
- •List key questions they cannot answer today, where the current data falls short.
Latency & History
- •Ask how fresh the data must be (daily, hourly, near real-time) for each persona.
- •Clarify how many years of history are needed for trending and regulatory reporting.
Business Process Identification
Map the operational processes that generate analytical data.
| Process | Frequency | Data Volume | Business Value | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient Admission | 500/day | High | Critical | High |
| Surgery Scheduling | 150/day | Medium | High | Medium |
| Medication Dispensing | 2000/day | High | Medium | Medium |
| Equipment Maintenance | 50/week | Low | Medium | Low |
Selected Process: Patient Admission
Highest combination of frequency, volume, and business value
Candidate Grains
- •One row per admission event (per patient, per encounter).
- •One row per patient-day in the hospital.
- •One row per bed assignment (per bed, per day).
Fact Types & Bus Hints
- •Admission events – likely a transaction fact shared across Finance and Operations.
- •Daily census by ward – candidate periodic snapshot fact for capacity reporting.
- •Admission-to-discharge journey – potential accumulating snapshot fact.
Requirements Gathering Techniques
Learn structured approaches to extract business requirements that will drive your dimensional model.
Stakeholder Interviews
Essential Questions
- •"What decisions do you make daily/weekly/monthly?"
- •"What data do you currently use to make these decisions?"
- •"What questions can't you answer with current reports?"
- •"How do you measure success in your role?"
Pro Tips
- •Focus on business outcomes, not technical solutions.
- •Ask for specific examples and scenarios.
- •Clarify the frequency and urgency of each need.
Business Rules Workshop
Key Areas to Explore
- •How are patients classified or segmented?
- •What defines a "successful" admission?
- •How are costs allocated across departments?
- •What are the key performance indicators?
Expected Output: clear business rules that will guide dimensional model design decisions.
Modeling implications: define conformed dimensions (Patient, Provider, Department, Payer) and flags that will drive slowly changing attributes and consistent KPIs.
Current State Analysis
Analysis Focus
- •Review existing reports and dashboards.
- •Identify data gaps and pain points.
- •Document current data sources and quality issues.
- •Understand manual processes and workarounds.
Why this matters: understanding current limitations helps design a dimensional model that solves real problems.
Modeling implications: surface data quality issues, missing business keys, and source system constraints that must be addressed in the Kimball bus architecture.
Requirements Documentation
Structure and prioritize the gathered requirements so they can directly feed the dimensional design.
Business Objectives
- •Improve patient flow and reduce wait times.
- •Optimize resource allocation across departments.
- •Enhance financial performance monitoring.
- •Support quality improvement initiatives.
Key Business Questions
CFO Questions
- •What's our revenue per patient by department?
- •How do treatment costs vary by patient type?
- •Which services are most profitable?
Operations Questions
- •What's the average length of stay by department?
- •How can we optimize physician schedules?
- •Which rooms have the highest utilization?
Required Analytics
- •Patient admission trends by time period.
- •Length of stay analysis by department and physician.
- •Resource utilization rates.
- •Financial performance by service line.
- •Quality metrics and patient satisfaction.
Final Requirements Summary
→Primary Business Process: Patient Admission and Treatment
→Key Stakeholders: CFO, Operations Manager, Quality Director
→Critical Success Factors: Financial performance, operational efficiency, quality metrics
→Chosen Grain (preliminary): one row per patient admission event (per patient, per encounter) to support patient- and stay-level analysis.
→History & SCD Focus: retain historical Patient, Provider, Department, and Payer attributes so reports reflect values at the time of admission.
→Non-functional Needs: daily refresh by 6am, at least 5 years of detailed history, and trusted, reconciled metrics across Finance and Operations.
Next: Apply the four-step Kimball methodology to design the dimensional model.