- I first clarify business objective — what decision the report should support.
- I ask which source system is the single source of truth.
- Understand required granularity like daily, monthly, or transaction level data.
- Confirm date range and historical depth needed for analysis.
- Check data refresh frequency — real time, hourly, or daily.
- Identify sensitive or PII fields that must be masked or excluded.
- Ask for data definitions and KPI calculation logic from business team.
- Verify access permissions and whether gateway is required.
- Understand expected data volume to choose Import vs DirectQuery.
- Agree validation method like record counts or financial totals reconciliation.
What questions should a BA ask before extracting data?
Updated on February 9, 2026
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