What technique helps a business analyst understand the scope of work by breaking it into smaller deliverables?

Functional decomposition is a technique that allows a business analyst to define the overall scope of a project by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable components or deliverables. This process involves taking a high-level requirement and systematically breaking it down into finer details, which helps clarify the project’s objectives and creates a structured view of the work that needs to be completed.

By understanding each of these smaller components, a business analyst can better assess the complexities involved, allocate resources appropriately, and ensure that all aspects of the project are covered. This hierarchical breakdown promotes a clearer understanding of the project's scope, priorities, and dependencies, which is crucial for successful planning and execution.

The other options, while valuable, do not precisely focus on breaking down the project scope into smaller deliverables in the same systematic way as functional decomposition. Interface analysis typically helps understand the interactions between systems or components but does not directly break down the scope. Scope modeling focuses on outlining the boundaries of the project but does not involve decomposing requirements. User stories describe features from an end-user perspective but do not serve the primary function of dividing work into smaller deliverables.