How do business analyst negotiate and what are the steps included in process

A business analyst is the face of a company to its client company. Being a productive BA, he has to interact with many people like client, project team member, project stake holder, project sponsor, SME and so on. Why BA has to interact with them? The simple answer is, he has the understanding of business requirements, he understands the capabilities and limitations of the technology. He can design technical solutions.  He is in direct contact with client’s SPO and always tries to maintain healthy relationships with the clients. Negotiation is an ongoing process which keeps on happening throughout the life cycle of a project and a business analyst has to facilitate it on every turn. BA’s negotiation skill determines what should be the vision of the project

Before moving to, how business analyst negotiate, let’s understand what is negotiations that a business has to carry forward. Negotiation is a method in which people settle their differences and reach an option for agreement. Negotiation is a way to develop understanding, acceptance, respect, belief and trust. It is the manner of approach, the tone of the voice and attitude of convey.

A business analyst can’t take any decision on its own but work as a facilitator between client and project manager.

In order to be good negotiator a business analyst should consider the following points.

Generating multiple options for settling a negotiation.

Separate people from problem

Be like lotus in the mud

Business should consider competing, accommodating, avoiding, compromising or collaborative style.

During negotiation consider

Collaborating- this kind of people should be considered first as they highly knowledgeable as well as cooperative.

Competitive- they can be approach because they are very knowledgeable

Compromising- They need reminders in order to any work

Avoid- people with less knowledge and cooperation can be avoided

Accommodating- They can be approached as they have less knowledge but cooperative.

Case study

BA has to negotiate, when a client asks for any additional feature in the ongoing project within the same budget and time.

A business analyst should acknowledge by asking some buffer time to give reply.

Take request forward to Project manger for impact analysis, feasibility analysis and effort estimation.

Whatever time Project Manager will assign, from BA side he should ask PM about least possible time to develop feature.

Once the refine time is given by Project Manager add 30% extra time in it and negotiate with client

Write a mail to the client with refined analysis by taking the points committed during SLA related to “quality” and “CR with respect to time and budget”.

Arrange a meeting between client and technical team for further discussion.

Ways in which a BA can negotiate effectively with client and assure him that the company is delivering business value to client.

1. Thorough research about the problem and be prepared with all information before discussion.
2. Set an achievable goal for both clients and development team.
3. Prioritize issues so that most important issue should be addressed first.