BABOK® v3 Study Group

Study Notes
Week 2: Requirements Elicitation &
Collaboration

Business Analysis Excellence Pty Ltd

Study Group presented by: Esta Lessing CBAP®

www.business-analysis-excellence.com

online@businessanalysiseducation.com

+61 3 86 77 0891 (AEST 9am - 5pm)

1 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

Elicitation and collaboration is the knowledge area which is all about engaging with
stakeholders at different levels and stages of the journey towards defining the business
needs and requirements for any initiative.

• Task: Prepare for Elicitation

• Task: Conduct Elicitation

• Task: Confirm Elicitation Results

• Task: Communicate Business Analysis Information

• Task: Manage Stakeholder Collaboration

2 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

TASK: Prepare for elicitation
Elicitation and collaboration can be planned, unplanned or both. Planned activities such
as workshops, experiments, and/or surveys can be structured and organized in advance.
Unplanned activities happen in the moment without notice, such as last-minute or “just in
time” collaboration or conversations.

Here we look at the planned elicitation and collaboration activities and discuss all the key
considerations for when you prepare to conduct elicitation sessions or engagements.

Elicitation and collaboration is a fundamental Business Analysis activity and should be

treated with care and thorough preparation and planning. We will discuss aspects such as
the most appropriate elicitation approach, what to consider when choosing techniques,
logistical aspects and stakeholder engagement.

Purpose
According to the BABOK® v3 Guide, the purpose of the task: Prepare for Elicitation, is...

"to understand the scope of the elicitation activity, select appropriate techniques, and plan
for (or procure) appropriate supporting materials and resources.”

When Business Analysts start the activity of preparing for an elicitation session, they will
consider what the key outcomes of the session or sessions should be, who should be
involved in all the elicitation activities and what is the overall goals of the initiative.

The definition of the goals for the elicitation includes defining the deliverables that should
be produced as a result of the elicitation as well as considering and preparing any
logistical aspects, materials needed for each session and gaining a good understanding
and interpretation of the circumstances surrounding the elicitation activities.

Example of preparing for elicitation

Consider the example of being a Business Analyst responsible to prepare for the elicitation
of requirements for a new Offender Management System. Your goal with the elicitation
meeting is to understand the main problems faced by prison wardens who are responsible
to capture offender progress details during their imprisonment term. Because the prison
wardens work in shifts, it is not practical to have them all attend a requirements workshop,
so you decide to combine techniques of sending a survey to them with a scheduled follow
up one on one elicitation interview to suit their shift timetable. You also want to
demonstrate to these stakeholders that you understand the fundamentals of the main
challenges they face within their roles and therefore you decide to prepare some models
to show the prisoner journey pictorially.

So with this example, you can already identify different aspects such as the goal of the
elicitation, availability of stakeholders, preparation materials needed and appropriate
elicitation techniques as some of the considerations when starting to prepare for
elicitation activities on your project.

Elements

3 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

When you prepare for elicitation and collaboration as a Business Analyst, there are certain
activities and considerations to incorporate to ensure a successful elicitation result. These
are referred to the key elements for this task.

These are the five key elements when you prepare for elicitation:

• Understand the scope of elicitation

• Select elicitation technique

• Set up logistics

• Secure supporting material

• Prepare stakeholders

Element 1: Understand the scope of elicitation

There are a number of different aspects that the Business Analyst should consider when
preparing for the elicitation session. Considering these aspects will assist the Business
Analyst in understanding what type of business analysis information will be discovered
during the elicitation and it will assist in the process of deciding which elicitation
techniques to apply.

The most important aspects to consider include the following:

• Business Domain

• Overall culture and environment

• Stakeholder locations

• Stakeholders who are involved and their group dynamics

• Expected outputs the elicitation activities will contribute to

• Skills of the business analysis practitioner

• Other elicitation activities planned to complement this one

• Strategy or solution approach

• Scope of future solution

• Possible sources of business analysis information that might contribute to the

current elicitation activity.

The larger the number of stakeholders involved in the stakeholder elicitation activities, the
more time should be spent to prepare for the session following a formal and structured
approach. This includes pre-session materials/information emails, agendas and elicitation
techniques which can be effectively executed with larger groups.

Element 2: Select elicitation techniques

It is important to realize that with any elicitation activity it is very likely that the Business
Analyst will apply multiple elicitation techniques. It often depends on factors such as the
constraints that might exist around cost and time, what information is available to the
Business Analyst, the culture of the organization and of course the planned ideal
outcomes of the elicitation sessions themselves. It is also key for the Business Analyst to
consider factors such as the needs of the stakeholders who are involved, their availability
and their geographical location.

4 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

Another aspect of being effective in preparation for the elicitation activities is to research
and understand which elicitation techniques have been used successfully by the
organization in the past and if possible to re-use those techniques again providing they
are suitable to the current situation and elicitation goals.

Another key reason why it is a good idea to conform to a known elicitation method or
technique is simply because stakeholders would already understand the format, what is
expected of them and would be able to hit the ground running as it were.

Example of selecting an elicitation technique

Let’s consider an example of these considerations by looking back at our Insurance

Project mentioned earlier. You know that the stakeholders you need to elicit requirements
from are all used to participating in requirements workshops and that this technique is
often utilized on projects in this environment. Because of this, you choose to plan for a
series of requirements workshops instead of surveys or one on one requirements
interviews. People are busy too which makes it much more suitable to have a couple of
short workshops which are run during the quieter time of the insurance monthly
processing cycles. You have done a lot of elicitation workshops before and therefore are
personally also very familiar with the preparation you need to do as well as how to
facilitate the workshop to get the best elicitation results.

In this example, you are considering the culture and what people are used to, your own
professional skills and abilities as well as people’s location and availability.

Element 3: Set up logistics

A key step in preparing for elicitation is to ensure that the logistics of the session or series
of sessions are well planned for considering the following key aspects:

• The goals of the session

• Who are the participants and what are their roles?

• Scheduled resources including people, rooms, and tools like flip charts

• Locations and communication channels

• Techniques that will be used

• Languages used by the stakeholders specifically being prepared to understand

subject matter terminology and key abbreviations.

Remember that for a formal elicitation activity the Business Analyst should prepare and
share an agenda with all the elicitation participants well in advance of the session.

When you prepare for the elicitation session and you have considered all these key
aspects about logistics, it is always good to ensure you have confirmed and agreed your
approach and decisions with the rest of the Business Analysis and project team. This way
you have everyone onboard with the logistical arrangements and this often yields some
new ideas that you might not have thought about.

Element 4: Secure supporting material

As part of the preparation activities for the elicitation session, the Business Analyst needs
to make sure to collate, prepare and understand the information that exist prior to the

5 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

session. The information can come from people, systems, historical data, materials and
other documents. Documents can include any type of relevant documentation which can
help support the goals of the elicitation activities.

For example, the Business Analyst may take end-to-end draft business process models
to the workshop for validation by stakeholders.

Element 5: Prepare stakeholders

There may be a need for the Business Analyst to explain to the business stakeholders
how an elicitation activity works prior to conducting the session. It may also be required
that the Business Analyst request that stakeholders prepare specific information for the
elicitation session itself.

A good practice is to ensure that the stakeholders clearly understand the purpose of the
planned elicitation session and what the benefits are. This will help ensure that all
stakeholders attend and come with a motivated attitude to participate actively. When
stakeholders understand the goals and expectations well before the elicitation session,
the session will have a much better chance of yielding high quality requirements, so it is
well worth the effort to engage stakeholders in this way before the elicitation session is
conducted.

Inputs and Outputs

With the elicitation and collaboration task: Prepare for elicitation, there are the following
key inputs and outputs:

Inputs: Needs and Stakeholder engagement approach

Output: Elicitation activity plan

Now that you have learned about the preparation activities, elements and key inputs and
outputs you are ready to learn about what is involved with the task of conducting the
elicitation session.

TASK: Conduct elicitation

The second task of the Elicitation and collaboration knowledge area is: Conduct
Elicitation. This task describes the execution of elicitation sessions as it is was planning
and now performed by the Business Analyst.

There are a number of different ways of conducting elicitation with stakeholders and in
most cases the Business analyst will use a combination of different approaches,
techniques and styles to obtain and complete the elicitation activities. During this section
we are discussing the primary categories of how elicitation can be conducted and we
discuss the role of the Business Analyst during the elicitation session itself.

Let us start by considering the purpose of the task of conducting elicitation and the types
of elicitation the Business Analyst can perform.

6 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

Purpose
According to the BABOK® v3 Guide, the purpose of the task: Conduct Elicitation, is...

"to draw out, explore, and identify information relevant to the change.”

Types of elicitation

The BABOK® v3 Guide has identified three common types of elicitation:

• Collaborative

• Research

• Experiments

Let's see what they mean in the following sections.

Collaborative
Collaborative is when the elicitation involves direct interaction with stakeholders, and the
elicitation activity relies on the stakeholders’ experiences, skills and general judgment
within their subject area.

Research
This is about analyzing and reviewing information systematically that was obtained from
materials or sources other than the direct conversations with stakeholders involved in the
change. This type of elicitation can still involve stakeholders and can also include data
analysis of historical data to identify trends.

Experiments
Experiments are a way for Business Analysts to discover new information which can only
be obtained by performing a controlled test or study. Experiments help discover
information that is required and not readily available from stakeholder engagement or
document analysis.

Examples of different elicitation types

To bring these different types of elicitation into real-life practical scenarios, consider these
examples:

Scenario 1: When you run a requirements workshop with a number of stakeholders you
invited to elaborate on requirements for a new Customer Records system, you are
utilizing the Collaborative Elicitation type.

Scenario 2: When you review policy or legislative documentation to understand the new
payment laws as part of defining requirements for a Payment Gateway Solution, you are
utilizing the Research Elicitation type.

Scenario 3: When you prepare multiple prototypes for a new screen layout and ask a
random number of people to vote for their favorite screen layout you are performing an
Experimental Elicitation type.

Elements
These are the two key elements to consider when performing the task: Conduct Elicitation

7 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

 • Guide elicitation activity

• Capture elicitation outcomes

Let's take a look at these elements in the following sections and explore what the
Business Analyst should do, include and consider when applying the task of conducting
an elicitation session.

Element 1: Guide elicitation activity

During the elicitation session, it is important for the Business Analyst to understand the
proposed representations of business analysis information (prepared during the
preparation task) so that the elicitation session can be guided towards the anticipated
results for the session at the relevant level of detail.

To help guide and facilitate these planned outcomes/results, business analysts consider
the following:

• The elicitation activity goals and agenda

• The scope of the change (and of the session)

• What forms of output the activity will generate

• What other representations the activity results will support

• How the output fits into what is already known

• Who provides the information?

• Who will use the information?

• How will the information be used?

It is the role of the Business Analyst to ensure that the elicitation session is executed in a
way that is goal-oriented and produces the desired results as it was planned for during
the preparation task.

Although it is recommended that the Business Analyst keeps a close eye on the goals
and planned results for the session, it is worth remembering that the stakeholder
engagement and relationships are also very important and hence the Business Analyst
should remain flexible in their approach and means of achieving the elicitation goals and
results.

Element 2: Capture elicitation outcomes

Although the conducting of elicitation is frequently iterative and takes place in a series of
sessions it is imperative to capture the elicitation outcomes in a well organized and
succinct fashion. If the elicitation activity happens in an ad hoc or unplanned way, the
conversations and decisions or outcomes must also be documented and integrated into
the planned outcomes.

When a Business Analyst consistently captures all elicitation outcomes in a formal and
comprehensive manner it builds confidence in the business stakeholders' view of how the
information they have provided the Business Analyst is being valued and used.

Inputs and Outputs

8 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

With the elicitation and collaboration task: Conduct elicitation, there are the following key
inputs and outputs:

Input: Elicitation Activity Plan

Output: Elicitation Results (unconfirmed)

Note: The output here is unconfirmed elicitation results because the Business Analyst has
not reviewed and confirmed that what they captured during the elicitation session is in
fact correct and complete.

Now that we have conducted an elicitation session, there is the task of confirming that
the elicitation results the Business Analysis team has captured is in fact accurate and
complete. The next task we discuss is to confirm the elicitation results.

TASK: Confirm elicitation results

The third task of the elicitation and collaboration knowledge area is: Confirm Elicitation.
This task describes the tasks of checking information gathered during an elicitation
session is accurate, complete and consistent with any other or previously documented
elicitation results.

Here we will discuss the purpose and scope of this task at this stage of the requirements
definition process. It is important to note that during this stage you have prepared and
conducted the elicitation session and you are now ready to confirm with stakeholders,
peers and any existing sources of information that the results you obtained during the
elicitation session(s), is accurate, complete and consistent with other sources of
elicitation results and information.

Purpose
According to the BABOK® Guide, the purpose of Confirm Elicitation Results is...

"to check the information gathered during an elicitation session for accuracy and
consistency with other information.”

The primary reason the Business Analyst should always check the information that was
obtained during an elicitation session is to uncover any errors, conflicting information, any
missing information and potential ambiguity that might need to be clarified with
stakeholders.

The Business Analyst should compare the elicitation results against any existing
information and/or the results of similar sessions to ensure the information is consistent. It
might be required for the Business Analyst to engage stakeholders to clarify or confirm
that their information was correctly captured during the elicitation session. Depending on
how accurate the information is, it might be required to plan additional elicitation sessions
to elaborate or clarify any misinformation or discrepancies with stakeholders. It is
however recommended to try to avoid unnecessary repeats of similar conversations or
elicitation sessions to prevent making stakeholders lose confidence in the business
analysis team’s capabilities during elicitation.

9 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

It is worth noting that this task of confirming the elicitation results is a much less rigorous
and more of an informal review than what occurs during the analysis stages of business
analysis work.

Elements
These are the two key elements when you Confirm Elicitation Results:

• Compare elicitation results against source information

• Compare elicitation results against other elicitation results

We will describe the key elements of the task: Confirm elicitation results and understand
each with an example.

Element 1: Compare elicitation results against source information

This element describes that the business analyst performs follow-up meetings or reviews
and compares elicitation results against what stakeholders provided during the elicitation
sessions to correct or update any elicitation results that may not be a fully accurate or
complete. It may also happen that the stakeholders confirm elicitation results
independently from the Business Analyst’s follow-ups.

Example of comparing elicitation results against source information

An example could be when as the Business Analyst who conducted the elicitation
workshop recently, you decide the most time-efficient way to confirm elicitation results
would be to organize a short follow-up workshop. During this session you present the
updated end-to-end business process models originally presented during the elicitation
session, to confirm accuracy and completeness.

Element 2: Compare elicitation results against other elicitation results

This element describes the further activity of comparing the elicitation results from
elicitation sessions against any source information or alternative elicitation results that
may exist. Where variations in results are identified, it is the Business Analyst’s role to
resolve these variations by working in collaboration with stakeholders. If historical data or
other reliable information exist, the Business Analyst can also use that to remove any
variations identified.

It is a good idea to collaborate during an elicitation session with stakeholders to help

build these models to help avoid variations or omissions early on in the elicitation
activities.

In many cases, inconsistencies in elicitation results are uncovered when business

analysts develop specifications and/or models.

Inputs and Outputs

With the elicitation and collaboration task: confirm elicitation results, there are the
following key inputs and outputs:

Input: Elicitation Results (unconfirmed)

Output: Elicitation Results (confirmed)

10 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

Note: Now that you performed the task of confirming the elicitation results, a key output
of this task is elicitation results with a status of being confirmed.

As a result of this task you are now in a position to communicate the business analysis
information, specifically relating to the elicitation results you have defined with your
business and other stakeholder groups. During the next section we discuss the task of
communicating business analysis information with stakeholders.

TASK: Communicate Business Analysis Information

The fourth task of the Elicitation and collaboration knowledge area is: Communicate
Business Analysis Information. This task describes the activities a Business Analyst
performs when communicating the business analysis information gathered during
elicitation sessions to business and technology stakeholders.

Here we discuss the key considerations when the Business Analyst formulates the
business analysis information into a package that is suitable, relevant and effective for
presenting to stakeholders. We also discuss the importance of understanding your
stakeholder audience and their preferences as well as the need to have clear objectives
when preparing the business analysis information for stakeholders.

Purpose
According to the BABOK® v3 Guide, the purpose of the task: Communicate Business
Analysis Information is…" to ensure stakeholders have a shared understanding of
business analysis information."

A success factor in covering business analysis information is that the information is

communicated at the right time and in formats digestible and relevant to the intended
stakeholder audience. It is therefore also important that the Business Analyst pays
attention to the tone, style, and language used when deciding to communicate business
analysis information to a particular stakeholder audience.

Always consider the perspective of the audience that you are communicating business
analysis information to. For example: If you are communicating business analysis
information to a senior or executing audience, including visual representations and key
summaries that highlight the main points that are needed to be conveyed.

When the Business Analyst communicates information to stakeholders, it is important to

understand that this process is iterative and interactive, meaning the information and
feedback flows between the Business Analysts and the stakeholders in a two-way
communication format. The Business Analyst should, therefore, be clear about the
audience that business analysis information is being shared with, the content, purpose,
context and what the business analyst is expecting to receive as a result of the business
analysis information sharing.

It is important to remember that it might be required for the Business Analyst to distill
information in multiple different ways to cater to different audience communication styles.
It is also important that the Business Analyst works with stakeholders to ensure that they

11 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

provide their agreement that the information is accurate and relevant to the purpose of
what the delivery is working towards.

Example of Communicating Business Analysis Information

In a practical example you will have a set of draft requirements that you elicited from a
group of stakeholders during your recent requirements workshop. As a first step of
communicating your findings, you may send out an email with the draft requirements
available for review. You know that some of your stakeholders don’t really respond or read
detailed emails and therefore decide to follow-up the message with an invitation for a
short meeting to walk them through the details of the requirements.

By providing the stakeholders with these two different opportunities to review and
understand your requirements, you are optimizing communication with your stakeholder
audience.

Elements
These are the two key elements when you Communicate Business Analysis Information:

• Determine objectives and format of communication

• Communicate Business Analysis Package

We will describe the key Elements of Communicate Business Analysis Information and
understand each with an example.

Element 1: Determine Objectives and Format of Communication

Business analysis information is often developed to be communicated as a business

analysis package to be used as a communication vehicle. The information package may
be prepared for a variety of different reasons including:

• Communication of requirements and designs to stakeholders

• Early assessment of quality and planning

• Evaluation of possible alternatives

• Formal reviews and approvals

• Inputs to solution design

• Conformance to contractual and regulatory obligations

• Maintenance for reuse

As we mentioned before, it is important to pay attention to different aspects of the

audience, purpose, content, context and expected outcomes in order to deliver an
effective business analysis package. The following types of questions should be
answered during the preparation of the business analysis package:

• Who is the audience of the package?

• What will each type of stakeholder understand and need from the communication?

• What is each stakeholder’s preferred style of communication or learning?

• What information is important to communicate?

• Are the presentation and format of the package, and the information contained in
the package, appropriate for the type of audience?

• How does the package support other activities?

• Are there any regulatory or contractual constraints to conform to?

12 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

Formats of packages may include:

• Formal Documentation
The most common format for business analysis information packages is when an
organization follows a predefined template which contains text, matrices, and/or
diagrams and visual models. Formal documentation provides the organization with a
referenceable, long term record of the business analysis information.

• Informal Documentation
The other format that business analysis information can sometimes take, is the less
formal documentation consisting of text, diagrams or matrices which are developed
during the initiative or change but which doesn’t form part of the formal documentation
process or templates used by the organization.

• Presentations
These deliver high-level overviews appropriate for understanding goals of a change,
functions of a solution, or information to support decision-making.

The final format that is often used to convey business analysis information at a more
summarised level to describe the key points of concepts of a change, functions that are in
scope or information pertaining to decision making efforts, is a presentation.

The Business Analyst should consider what is the best combination to present materials
so that an effective and well-considered message is communicated. Packages can be
stored in different online or offline repositories, including documents or tools.

Element 2: Communicating Business Analysis Package

The main aim of communicating the business analysis package of information is to

provide stakeholders with the relevant information pertaining to the change or initiative at
a level that enables them to have a good understanding of what is being described. Often
the stakeholders will get the opportunity to review and ask questions about the business
analysis information package and raise any issues or concerns that they may identify.

There are different options available to the business analyst when it comes to choosing
the appropriate communication method or platform. Some of the more common
communication platforms have been identified as:

• Group collaboration

• Individual Collaboration

• Email or other non-verbal methods

Example of communicating business analysis packages

You are assigned to a Human Resources Project, which has the goal of implementing a
Cloud-Based System to manage all employees’ performance and personal record data. As
the Business Analyst, you have done your first round of requirements interviews and have
compiled the first version of the stakeholder requirements for this initiative. You now need
to make sure that the first draft is complete, accurate and a true reflection of the
requirements raised by all of the Human Resources stakeholders.
You decide that because stakeholders are geographically dispersed that you will
communicate these requirements using the following three methods:

13 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

 • You will invite all stakeholders to attend a presentation format virtual webcast to
receive a summary of all the requirements you have compiled.
• You will also send all of the detailed requirements in the format of a formal template
document for stakeholders to do a detailed review and …
• Thirdly you decide to invite stakeholders to communicate any feedback they may
have back to you via email or by simply having an informal conversation.

By using multiple formats to communicate your requirements in this environment the

business analyst is making sure that different types of stakeholders with different needs
and information requirements are catered for.

Inputs and Outputs

With the Elicitation and Collaboration Task: Communicate Business Analysis Information,
there are the following key inputs and outputs:

Input: Business Analysis Information and Stakeholder Engagement Approach

Output: Business Analysis Information (communicated)

Note: The business analysis information is being shown as a key output with the status of
'communicated' because at the end of this task you would have communicated the
findings in the format of the Business Analysis information package.

Here we look at the last task of this knowledge area, namely: Manage stakeholder
collaboration. This is key task that is performed not just during the elicitation and
collaboration knowledge area but throughout all stakeholder interactions during the life of
any initiative.

TASK: Manage Stakeholder Collaboration

The fifth task of the elicitation and collaboration knowledge area is: Manage Stakeholder
Collaboration. This task describes the activities a Business Analyst performs working with
stakeholders to collaborate effectively towards a common goal.

Here you will learn about the importance of monitoring the stakeholders collaboration
activities and attitudes as well as about the Business Analysts role to obtain stakeholder
participation commitments early on and especially during the elicitation and collaboration
stages of any initiative.

Let us start this discussion by referring to the purpose of this task.

Purpose
According to the BABOK® Guide, the purpose of Manage Stakeholder Collaboration is...

”to encourage stakeholders to work towards a common goal.”

The Business Analyst works with many different stakeholders across the breath of the
business analysis work activities. These stakeholders hold different levels of influence and
power in terms of the approvals and buy-in of the work products or deliverables of the
business analysis function. The stakeholders are also in many cases the primary source of
information about needs and requirements and hence it is important for the Business
14 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd
Analyst to confirm the stakeholder’s roles in a way that ensures the right stakeholders are
involved at the right level and at the best possible times during the initiative.

The Business Analyst will be responsible to work with the stakeholders in a collaborative
way as an ongoing task. It is important to remember that new stakeholders are often
identified as the initiative progress and they should be incorporated into the business
analysis activities in terms of their role, their influence, their responsibilities, cultural
attitude and any authority they may have over the initiative and work products delivered
by the business analysis team.

A strong relationship with your stakeholders will support you with your business analysis
activities and hence it is worth making an effort to build sound, trusted relationships with
your stakeholders throughout the initiative.

Elements
These are the three key elements when you Manage Stakeholder Collaboration:

• Gain agreement on commitments

• Monitor stakeholder engagement

• Collaboration

We will now describe the key Elements of Manage Stakeholder Collaboration.

Element 1: Gain agreement on commitments

A key challenge that business analysts often face is the availability and focussed
commitment of the relevant stakeholders to participate and contribute to the business
analysis efforts. It is therefore recommended that the Business Analyst determines what
level of commitment of time and resource would be required as early as possible so that
this could be planned and agreed early during the initiative. This agreement can be made
formally or informally as long as the expectations are clear from both the business
analysis team’s perspective and the business stakeholders' perspectives.

Element 2: Monitor stakeholder engagement

Business Analysts stays informed of the level of the participation and performance from
stakeholders to make sure that:

• the right subject matter experts and other stakeholders are participating effectively,

• stakeholder attitudes and interest are staying constant or improving,

• elicitation results are confirmed in a timely manner

• agreements and commitments are maintained.

Another responsibility of the Business Analyst is to keep abreast of any risks of

stakeholders being diverted away from the agreed business analysis work effort and raise
these risks or issues with the relevant parties to avoid any delays in the delivery of the
business analysis artifacts and approvals.

Example of monitor stakeholder engagement

15 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd

In the real world these types of risks are very common and in most cases become issues
on a project. It happens because people are often expected to contribute time and effort
to a project whilst also performing their daily jobs. It is therefore important for the
Business Analyst to try their best to be prepared prior to engaging stakeholders who might
be under other work pressures and minimize the time and effort you require from these
types of stakeholders. Another key aspect is to plan ahead and communicate clearly to
the stakeholders when you would expect to use their time for elicitation activities so that
they can plan their diaries accordingly.

Some mitigation strategies could be to identify these risks as early as possible and to
address them by engaging the appropriate people to release the stakeholders from daily
duties for a short period of time or where there are delayed approvals to ensure the
approval processes designed to be as easy and seamless as possible during Business
Analysis Approach Planning.

Element 3: Collaboration

The key to successful stakeholder collaboration is for the Business Analyst to work
closely with them in a way that makes them feel important, valued and involved in a
worthwhile endeavor. It is important for the Business Analyst to encourage two-way
communication with an environment that is open to new ideas, suggestions for
improvements or any innovations. The Business Analyst to create a routine of frequent
and easy flowing communication channels between the stakeholders and the business
analysis team.

Inputs and Outputs

With the Elicitation and Collaboration Task: Manage Stakeholder Collaboration, there are
the following key inputs and output:

Inputs: Business Analysis Performance Assessment and Stakeholder Engagement

Approach

Output: Stakeholder Engagement

16 of 16 Copyright 2020 | BAE Pty Ltd