You nailed it - scope of project
Yes, that was the main problem with this initial meeting. There's no way an analyst should commit to a project like that without a thorough data needs analysis and determination of reporting functions required. What should have been agreed to was authorization to create a job spec - and only a job spec - nothing more.
Your second point gets at the heart of the whole story and what really happened. I won't spoil it yet, but the 'piece of cake' comment is what really got the project into trouble. It wasn't a piece of cake and the analyst should never have voiced such a comment so early in the game, especially not in front of the customer.
