What are the elicitation techniques using in a project?

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Below are the elicitation techniques used in a project.

1. Brainstorming- It is a group activity conducted to gather huge number of response. In this elicitation technique, the group is given a problem or topic and they have to come up with the ideas. The given ideas are collected and then reviewed and analysed.

• Interview- It is a systematic approach to gather requirements. BA can ask question to the stakeholder to gather requirement. Then answers should be formally noted down as these would provide the insight of what exactly the client wants in their software or application. There are two approaches for conducting interviews.

1. Structured- In this method, BA has predefined set of questions that need to be asked from the stakeholders.
2. Unstructured- In this method, there is no predefined questions but the questions come up depending on the answer of stakeholder to the previous question.

• Document Analysis- In this elicitation technique, BA has to evaluate the current system or business process which could provide some input for new system requirements.

• Joint Application Development- In this technique user/stakeholder and developer come together to discuss needs or requirements in a focused manner. It is a collaboration of business and technology to quickly come up to an agreement on project scope, objective and specification of a project.

• Questionnaire- This elicitation technique is used when we have to gather information from larger group of users /stakeholders. This technique is also helpful when there is large number of stakeholders and they are geographically dispersed. Stakeholders are provided a collection of questions to measure their thoughts. Data is analysed to assess the area of interest of stakeholders after collecting the responses. In this method, generally the set of questions which should be based on risks and should be direct or ambiguous were asked to the stakeholders in order to identify the area of interest of the clients.

• Observation- In this technique, BA just observes the stakeholder’s daily work to analyse what really happens in real time. This can provide information about existing process, inputs and outputs. There are two types of observation.

1. Active- In this technique, BA observes the current process or system and if he/she has any questions they ask it right away.
2. Passive- In this technique, BA observes the stakeholders without asking any questions. If they have any questions or doubts they ask it once the entire process is completed.

• Workshop- In this elicitation technique, business stakeholder and project team come together to finalize project scope, objective and resolve conflict if any. This is the best elicitation method for complex projects where multiple stakeholders are involved. So this workshop provides a platform for them to discuss project and come to an agreement.

• Prototyping- In Prototyping, we can create the model of the proposed solution. In business analysis, a prototype generally means screen mock-ups, and examples of how the users will interact with the application to accomplish a task to solve the business problem. Prototyping allow BA to gather feedback from the users while you are still planning and designing the solution.