The first and the foremost step is understanding the business. This crucial step begins with setting the business context and requirements for the problem. Defining the business requirements formally is important to transform them into a data science and analytics problem statement. This step also used to set the expectations and success criteria for both business and data science teams to be on the same page and track the progress of the project.

The main deliverable of this step is a detailed plan consisting of major milestones, timelines, assumptions, constraints, caveats, issues expected, and success criteria.