Synapex — Business Analysis & Data Analytics · Verify MBCS

Document & Artefact Framework

Home · Delivery Frameworks · Power BI End-to-End · Document & Artefact Framework

Overview

The Power BI End-to-End Delivery Framework is supported by a controlled set of project documents and delivery artefacts.

These documents provide the information needed to define, design, build, validate, deploy and support an analytics solution while maintaining traceability between business need, technical implementation and validation evidence.

The framework deliberately avoids treating documentation as a retrospective exercise completed at the end of delivery.

Instead, individual artefacts are created and updated throughout the lifecycle as information becomes known, decisions are approved and implementation evidence is produced.

Core Document Set

No.	Document	Primary Purpose
01	Business Requirements Document	Defines the business context, problem, objectives, scope, business rules, functional and non-functional requirements, KPI definitions and success criteria.
02	Stakeholder Analysis	Identifies stakeholders, user groups, responsibilities, influence, information needs and representative reporting personas.
03	Requirements Traceability	Maintains forward and backward traceability between requirements, design decisions, implementation and validation evidence.
04	Data Requirements and Source Assessment	Defines required data, analytical grain, history, source suitability, ownership and source-level constraints.
05	Test and Validation Record	Controls validation scenarios, expected results, reconciliation evidence, defects, resolution evidence and regression baselines.
06	Data Source Configuration	Records the approved source connection, extraction scope, fields, filters, historical window, granularity and source configuration.
07	Power Query and Data Preparation	Documents query structure, material transformations, cleansing, null handling, duplicate rules, derived fields, dependencies and refresh validation.
08	Semantic Model Specification	Defines table grain and roles, relationships, dimensional design, calculation placement, measures, metadata, capabilities and limitations.
09	Report Design and User Experience	Defines report structure, business-question and KPI mapping, visual design, navigation, interactions, accessibility and user-experience requirements.
10	Power BI Implementation	Records the implemented model and report components, pages, visuals, calculations, interactions, security implementation and supporting evidence.
11	Deployment and Release Record	Controls environment movement, release readiness, deployment activities, approvals and production release evidence.
12	Security and Access Control	Defines workspace, audience, semantic-model, row-level, object-level, sharing and access-control requirements and validation.
13	Operational Support and Monitoring	Defines post-release ownership, monitoring, refresh support, incidents, performance, capacity and ongoing operational responsibilities.

How the Artefacts Work Together

The document set is designed as an integrated delivery framework rather than a collection of independent templates.

For example:

Business need and requirements

01 Business Requirements Document

↓ informs

Data and source definition

04 Data Requirements and Source Assessment 06 Data Source Configuration

↓ informs

Data preparation and analytical design

07 Power Query and Data Preparation 08 Semantic Model Specification

↓ informs

Report design and implementation

09 Report Design and User Experience 10 Power BI Implementation

↓ validated through

Controlled testing

05 Test and Validation Record

↓ supported by

Security, release and operations

12 Security and Access Control 11 Deployment and Release Record 13 Operational Support and Monitoring

Throughout the lifecycle:

03 Requirements Traceability

maintains the connection between the original requirement and the design, implementation and validation evidence that ultimately satisfies it.

Living Documentation

The framework treats most artefacts as living controlled documents.

A document may initially contain a design decision and later be updated with implementation or validation evidence.

For example, the Semantic Model Specification may begin by defining:

intended table grain;
table roles;
dimensional structures;
calculation placement; and
measure definitions.

Later subprocesses can add:

implemented relationship references;
validation evidence;
confirmed capabilities and limitations; and
controlled revision history.

This preserves the relationship between what was intended, what was implemented and what was validated.

Design Versus As-Built Evidence

The framework distinguishes between design specifications and implementation evidence.

For example:

Design / Control Artefact	Implementation / Evidence Artefact
Business Requirements Document	Power BI Implementation
Data Requirements and Source Assessment	Data Source Configuration
Semantic Model Specification	Power BI Implementation
Report Design and User Experience	Power BI Implementation
Security and Access Control	Security implementation and validation evidence
Test scenarios and expected results	Test execution and validation evidence

This separation makes it possible to identify where the implemented solution differs from an approved design and whether that difference has been formally accepted.

Controlled Inputs and Outputs

Activities within the delivery process may use a document as an Input, update it as an Output, or both.

For example:

Define the grain of every semantic-model table

may consume:

approved data granularity;
validated transformed data;
known data limitations; and
existing Power Query structures.

The resulting table-grain decision is then recorded in:

08 Semantic Model Specification

This approach creates a controlled information flow between delivery activities rather than relying on undocumented knowledge held by individual team members.

Why This Matters

The document framework helps support:

traceability from business problem to delivered solution;
clear ownership of business and technical decisions;
controlled hand-offs between analysis, development and validation;
separation of requirements, design and implementation evidence;
easier impact assessment when requirements change;
repeatable validation and regression testing;
clearer deployment and support readiness; and
maintainability after the original delivery team has moved on.

It also provides an audit trail explaining not only what was built, but why it was built that way and how its correctness was demonstrated.

Reusable Framework, Project-Specific Content

The document structures are designed to be reusable across Power BI analytics projects.

The framework therefore separates:

Reusable structure

from

Project-specific content

A project may use the same controlled document architecture while the requirements, data sources, transformation logic, model design, report pages, validation evidence and operational arrangements remain specific to that project.

Not every section must contain substantive content for every project. Where a framework section is not applicable, that position should be made explicit rather than silently omitted.

Portfolio Evidence Boundary

The public portfolio shows the document architecture and representative examples of how documents interact with delivery activities.

The following are retained privately:

complete reusable Markdown templates;
detailed section-level implementation guidance;
complete task-to-document association data;
project-specific controlled documents;
validation registers and evidence;
reusable checklists and working instructions; and
template revision history.

This provides sufficient evidence to demonstrate the documentation and governance approach without publishing the reusable framework itself.

← Selected Subprocesses · Power BI Framework Overview · Delivery Traceability →