Business Analysis Report: Eliciting Information from Stakeholders

This business analysis report explores effective strategies for eliciting information from stakeholders in various scenarios. It addresses challenges related to single offices with diverse stakeholders, geographically dispersed teams with similar business functions, and geographically diverse stakeholders with vastly different business functions. The report outlines preparation steps, elicitation activities (interviews, surveys, workshops), documentation of results, and confirmation processes. It emphasizes the importance of stakeholder mapping, requirement attributes, process metrics, and clear communication to avoid scope creep and ensure stakeholder engagement. The report also considers the use of video conferencing, questionnaires, and internet-based tools for geographically diverse teams, highlighting the need for adaptable schedules and confirmed agreements. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for stakeholders to feel engaged and that the outcome reflects their business intentions and interests. This solution is available on Desklib, a platform for students to access past papers and solved assignments.

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Business Analysis
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1BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Question 1: Eliciting information from a single office with a diverse list of
stakeholders.
1. Prepare for Elicitation
1.1 A definite date should be fixed allotted to different stakeholders on different days and
place and have a scheduled elicitation activity carried out like conducting Interviews,
Surveys, hosting workshops and Questionnaire. This would help to gain information and
also avoid clash of any two stakeholders and create confusion.
1.2 A detailed schedule is necessary to be built for keeping track of the elicitation activities
and plans. Since scheduling meetings are easier, thus what is important is that the proper
scheduling of plans and resources.
1.3 A business analyst has a key task of communicating to the stakeholders about the
ongoing circumstances in the company and keeps them informed about the elicitation
process. It is vital to have the scheduled plan reach the destined stakeholder and not other
of diverse background.
2. Conduct Elicitation Activity
2.1 Meet with the Stakeholders for interview, survey, workshop or any other elicitation
activity to elicit information and capture the documentation regarding their needs.
2.2 The acquired information that can be in the form of documentation or any other file
should be monitored to avoid scope creep. It is of utmost importance that the objective
should be monitored against business objectives to meet the outcome.

2BUSINESS ANALYSIS
2.3 Stakeholder mapping is necessary to discover the diverse number of stakeholders one
company has and to identify its interests (Cadle, Paul and Turner 2014). After sorting out
the priority, information should be captured and documented in requirement attributes.
2.4 Standard measurements of the information and business process information should be
evaluated through process metrics for future references and planning basis.
3. Document Elicitation Result
3.1 There are various formats available to document the results of the elicitation; the business
analyst should choose an appropriate form to document the outcome gathered from the
elicitation activities. Since there are diverse stakeholders with different business interests,
there should be separate forms for each outcome.
3.2 It is also vital to share the outcome received from each stakeholders and come to an
agreement suitable for all. As the company has a diverse range of stakeholders, the
agreement is complex, yet a necessity.
4. Confirm Elicitation Results
4.1 The documented output captured by the business analyst should be reviewed by each one
of the stakeholders to avoid miscommunication or misunderstanding in future and ensure
stakeholder collaboration along with the communication needs of every stakeholder
(Mulla and Girase 2012).
4.2 Every Stakeholder must be assured that their interests and preferences have been kept in
mind while processing the output in order gain the trust and attention of the every
stakeholder even if they are diverse in organisational roles and needs (Yousuf and Asger
2015).

3BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Question 2: Geographically diverse list of stakeholders with similar business
functions.
1. Prepare for Elicitation
1.1 If a company has stakeholders of similar business functions yet geographically far
apart, then the most convenient method of preparing for elicitation is by Video
conferencing using both synchronous and asynchronous tools on a specific date that
is confirmed by all stakeholders.
1.2 In accordance to the elicitation plan, a detailed schedule must be framed keeping in
mind with the interests of every stakeholder. The geographical distance makes a face-
to-face interview or survey complicated, since every stakeholder might not be
comfortable in joining on the specified date.
1.3 The business analyst then should communicate about the schedule to the stakeholder
parties as usual and make sure that it is void of any inconvenience, if so, it should be
altered.
2. Conduct Elicitation Activities
2.1 On the scheduled date, time and place, the chosen elicitation activity must be carried
on in the presence of every stakeholder. Since their business functions are similar, the
interview, survey or the questionnaire should have an outcome that is easily
agreeable to all information (Damian and Zowghi 2002).
2.2 Even in this criterion, the result that was acquired should be documented and
captured against the business objectives; otherwise there will be high chances of
scope creep.

4BUSINESS ANALYSIS
2.3 After avoiding any chances of scope creep, the analyst should document and capture
the requirement attributes of the stakeholder parties for further analysis.
2.4 In accordance with the activity and the attributes, a process metrics should be made
and updated from time to time which is very significant since this metric is the basis
of future planning with the stakeholders (Scandelius and Cohen 2016).
3. Document Elicitation Results
3.1 Since these stakeholders provide information primarily via technologies and internet,
therefore there are chances of acquiring inadequate information or delay in receiving
information (Brennan 2009). However, the record of the result of the elicitation plan
should be recorded in proper form.
3.2 Thereafter the result should be shown to every stakeholder via any convenient
medium to confirm their agreement on the deduced results.
4. Confirm Elicitation Results
4.1 The documented output deduced by the business analyst should be reviewed by the
stakeholders and make amendments if anything is disagreed upon (Lienert, Schnetzer
and Ingold 2013).
4.2 The stakeholders in this case too, have to assure and confirm that their interests and
preferences have been reflected in the outcome and any further work would be based
on their business intentions as agreed upon.

5BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Question 3: Geographically diverse list of Stakeholders with vastly different
business functions.
1. Prepare for Elicitation
1.1 For Stakeholders who are not only located in a geographically diverse location, yet also
have different business functions, the convenient activity to elicit information would be
Questionnaire or Survey through internet on different days for different stakeholders.
1.2 A detailed schedule containing the information of the elicitation activity should be
forwarded to each one of the stakeholders and it must be made sure that the schedule
should not clash with one another, since the questions in the survey or Questionnaire
would be different for each.
1.3 The schedule planned should be confirmed with the stakeholders before imposing it on
them. If any inconvenience occurs, amendments must be made.
2. Conduct Elicitation Activity
2.1 On the specified day, the planned elicitation activity must be performed as discussed
with the stakeholders. There should be Questions ready for the survey or the
Questionnaire, each one relevant to the stakeholder’s interests.
2.2 The requirements captured through the activity must be monitored against all business
objectives to avoid scope creep.
2.3 The requirement attributes of the stakeholders must then be captured and documented for
further references.

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2.4 According to the attributes received, a proper and appropriate process metrics should be
formed upon which future planning would be based during the communication with the
stakeholders.
3. Document Elicitation Result
3.1 The outcomes gathered should then be recorded in apt form since it would have to be
reviewed to the stakeholders for the confirmation of an agreeable outcome.
3.2 This outcome then should be previewed by each one of the stakeholders to obtain their
confirmation and carry on with the result.
4. Confirm Elicitation Results
4.1 The reviewed outcomes if contain any factor that is inconvenient to any one of the
stakeholder, then it must be changed with urgency.
4.2 The stakeholders must feel engaged and they must see that the outcome reflects their
business intention and interests (Mok, Shen and Yang 2015). The stakeholders must feel
engaged and they must see that the outcome reflects their business intention and interests
(Eskerod and Jepsen 2016). In order to address the cultural diversity, due to the distance,
the company can arrange frequent face to face meetings, since the physical presence is
more effective than being present formally on a video conference (Ayuso et al. 2014). If
the knowledge management is maintained properly, the inadequacy of communication
and information can be sorted out through proper discussion. Since most of the elicitation
would be depended on the internet and technologies, the speed must be kept in proper
check for smooth running of the business.

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References:
Ayuso, S., Rodríguez, M.A., García-Castro, R. and Ariño, M.A., 2014. Maximizing
stakeholders’ interests: An empirical analysis of the stakeholder approach to corporate
governance. Business & society, 53(3), pp.414-439.
Brennan, K. ed., 2009. A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledger. Iiba.
Cadle, J., Paul, D. and Turner, P., 2014. Business analysis techniques. Chartered Institute for IT.
Damian, D.E. and Zowghi, D., 2002, September. The impact of stakeholders' geographical
distribution on managing requirements in a multi-site organization. In Proceedings IEEE Joint
International Conference on Requirements Engineering(pp. 319-328). IEEE.
Eskerod, P. and Jepsen, A.L., 2016. Project stakeholder management. Routledge.
Lienert, J., Schnetzer, F. and Ingold, K., 2013. Stakeholder analysis combined with social
network analysis provides fine-grained insights into water infrastructure planning
processes. Journal of environmental management, 125, pp.134-148.
Mok, K.Y., Shen, G.Q. and Yang, J., 2015. Stakeholder management studies in mega
construction projects: A review and future directions. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(2), pp.446-457.
Mulla, N. and Girase, S., 2012. A new approach to requirement elicitation based on stakeholder
recommendation and collaborative filtering. International Journal of Software Engineering &
Applications, 3(3), p.51.

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Scandelius, C. and Cohen, G., 2016. Achieving collaboration with diverse stakeholders—The
role of strategic ambiguity in CSR communication. Journal of Business Research, 69(9),
pp.3487-3499.
Yousuf, M. and Asger, M., 2015. Comparison of various requirements elicitation
techniques. International Journal of Computer Applications, 116(4).