Chapter 4: Elicitation and Collaboration

Elicitation and communication play an important role in business field and its knowledge area is composed of the following tasks: prepare for elicitation, conduct elicitation, confirm elicitation, communicate business analyst information and manage stakeholder collaboration.

1.     Prepare for elicitation:

·        Purpose: to understand the scope of the elicitation activity, select appropriate techniques, and plan for appropriate supporting materials and resources.

·        Description: defining the desired outcomes of the activity, considering the stakeholders involved and the goals of the initiative. Determining which work products will be produced using the elicitation results, deciding which techniques are best suited to produce those results.

·        Inputs:

o   Needs: guides the preparation in terms of the scope and purpose of elicitation activities

o   Stakeholder Engagement Approach: understanding stakeholder’s communication and collaboration needs help plan and prepare appropriate and effective elicitation events.

                      

·        Outputs:

·       Elicitation Activity Plan: used for each elicitation activity. It includes logistics,

scope of the elicitation activity, selected techniques, and supporting materials.

2.     Conduct Elicitation:

·        Purpose: is to draw out, explore, and identify information relevant to the change.

·       Description: There are three common types of elicitation:

• Collaborative: involves direct interaction with stakeholders, and relies on

their experiences, expertise, and judgment.

• Research: involves systematically discovering and studying information

from materials or sources that are not directly known by stakeholders

involved in the change. Stakeholders might still participate in the research.

Research can include data analysis of historical data to identify trends or

past results.

• Experiments: involves identifying information that could not be known

without some sort of controlled test. Some information cannot be drawn

from people or documents—because it is unknown. Experiments can help

discover this kind of information. Experiments include observational studies,

proofs of concept, and prototypes.

o   Inputs:

·        Elicitation Activity Plan: includes the planned elicitation activities and

techniques, activity logistics (for example, date, time, location, resources

v  Outputs

o   Elicitation Results (unconfirmed): captured information in a format that is

specific to the elicitation activity.

3.     Confirm Elicitation Results:

o   Purpose: is to check the information gathered

during an elicitation session for accuracy and consistency with other information.

o   Description: Elicited information is confirmed to identify any problems and resolve them before resources are committed to using the information. This review may

discover errors, omissions, conflicts, and ambiguity

o   Inputs:

·       Elicitation Results (unconfirmed): capture information in a format specific to

the elicitation activity

o   Outputs:

·        Elicitation Results (confirmed): integrated output that the business analyst

and other stakeholders agree correctly reflects captured information and

confirms that it is relevant and useful as an input to further work.

4.     Communicate Business Analysis Information:

·       Purpose: is to ensure stakeholders have a shared understanding of business analysis information.

·       Description: Communication of business analysis information is bi-directional and iterative. It involves determining the recipients, content, purpose, context, and expected outcomes. Task Plan Stakeholder Engagement evaluates communication needs and plans anticipated messages.

·        Inputs:

o   Business Analysis Information: Business analysis information becomes an input for this task when the need is discovered to communicate the information to additional stakeholders.

o   Stakeholder Engagement Approach: describes stakeholder groups, roles,

and general needs regarding communication of business analysis information

                     

·        Outputs:

o   Business Analysis Information (communicated): business analysis

information is considered communicated when the target stakeholders have

               reached an understanding of its content and implications.

5.     Manage Stakeholder Collaboration:

o   Purpose: is to encourage stakeholders to work towards a common goal.

o   Description: Managing stakeholder collaboration is an ongoing activity. Although managing

stakeholder collaboration begins once stakeholders have been identified and

analyzed, new stakeholders may be identified at any point during an initiative

o   Inputs:

o   Stakeholder Engagement Approach: describes the types of expected

engagement with stakeholders and how they might need to be managed.

o   Business Analysis Performance Assessment: provides key information about the effectiveness of business analysis tasks being executed, including those focused on stakeholder engagement

o   Outputs:

o   Stakeholder Engagement: willingness from stakeholders to engage in

business analysis activities and interact with the business analyst when

necessary.