As a business analyst, you create many different types of artifacts. You create models, use cases, user stories, business requirement documents, meeting notes, the list goes on and on.
The first question when you are creating any artifact is who is going to read the artifact for what purpose.
If no one is going to read it then don’t create it.
The artifact may get consumed today, or sometime in the future, or both. It is important to understand where the reader is at when they are consuming the artifact.
If the artifact is consumed in the future, the reader may not have the appropriate context so that is something that should be added.
If the artifact is for the executive level they will probably focus on the executive summary and reference the rest of the document if required. Be sure to word the subsequent sections so they can be read individually for details to substantiate the executive summary.
If meeting notes are to be used to back up what the stakeholders have said, structure them so this information can be obtained.
Understanding the stakeholder and the purpose of an artifact helps in determining the structure and layout.