"Just Give me the FACTS, Ma'am ", Jack Webb -  Dragnet, 1950's TV Police Series.
These are critical when designing Databases for major commercial organisation.
The FACTS must be understood by the users and auditable.
1) Analysis is about defining the problem. 
   Design is about deciding how to solve the problem. 
   The tool which is used to capture the analysis and design models 
   implements the documentation of the analysis and design.
2) It is possible create good models in ER and UML. However, you make less mistakes if you use ORM.
3) The analysis process involves modelling the real world and 
   thinking about objects and the roles they play. 
   ORM has a Conceptual Schema Design Procedure (CSDP) virtually ensures success.