Elicitation Techniques in Business Analysis

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Requirements are the key foundation for a business analyst and knowing elicitation techniques are key feature of BA to start a project. Some of the elicitation techniques are as follows.
1. Document Analysis
2. Reverse Engineering
3. Brainstorming
4. Prototyping
5. Focus Groups
6. Observations
7. Workshops
8. Interviews
9. Questionare
10. JAD

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Gathering the requirements that must be accounted for in order to achieve a project's goal is the process that forms the foundation for its success. The BA typically has responsibility for managing this phase. Requirements elicitation is the set of activities where information is given by stakeholders, users, and customers to be applied to the design of the initiative or the solution.

Elicitation Techniques in Business Analysis:

Various elicitation techniques provided by business analyst are:
?   Brainstorming
?   Document Analysis
?   Focus Groups
?   JAD
?   Interface Analysis
?   Interviews
?   Observation
?   Prototyping
?   Requirements Workshops
?   Reverse Engineering

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Elicitation techniques are used to get most of the information about requirements from stakeholders, subject matter experts (SME).
Various elicitation techniques
*Brainstorming : Brainstorming works by focusing on a topic or problem, and then coming up with many radical solutions to it. This technique is best applied in a group as it draws on the experience and creativity of all members of the group

*Document Analysis : Document analysis is technique of gathering information from the documents of existing system.

*Focus Groups : It includes participant of same interest from the specific product/service. The idea is to make participant share, interact and describe the need.

*Interviews : It is the one to one interaction with the User/stakeholder to understand their actual requirement or expectation.

*Observation : It includes observing the user while doing their job. It helps to understand the existing processes.

*Prototyping : Prototyping is Visual presentation of Idea or requirement which gives clear picture of requirements. Visual Presentation are given terms Mock-up screens or graphical designed or requirement prototype.

*Workshops : workshop includes bringing user and stake holder to gather and have a conversation in more innovative tasks for example:collaborative games, tasks.

*Survey/Questionnaire : Useful for obtaining Limited system requirements from users or stakeholders who have a minor input  or are geographically remote.

*Reverse engineering : If an existing system has outdated documentation, it can be reverse engineered to understand what the system does. This is an elicitation technique that can extract implemented requirements from the system.

*JAD(Joint application development) : Joint Application Development (JAD) technique is an extended session to the workshop. In the JAD session stakeholders and project team works together to identify the requirements. These sessions allow the business team to gather and consolidate large amounts of information. The JAD team includes business process owners, client representatives, users or stakeholders, business analysts, project managers, IT experts (developers, quality assurance, designers, and security).

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Elicitation Techniques of a Business analyst are;

1.Brainstorming
2.Document Analysis
3.Focus Groups
4.Interviews
5.Observation
6.Prototyping
7.Requirements Workshops
8.Survey/Questionnaire

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Requirement elicitation techniques:



Brainstorming
documents Analysis
Reverse Engineering
Focus Groups
Observation
workshop
JAD
Interview
Prototyping
Questionnaire

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Here are the 9 elicitation techniques in  business analysis

Brainstorming
Document Analysis
Focus Groups
Interface Analysis
Interviews
Observation
Prototyping
Requirements Workshops
Survey/Questionnaire

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Document analysis.
Observation.
Interview.
Prototyping.
Brainstorming.
Workshop.
JAD (Joint Application Development)
Reverse engineering.

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  Elicitation Techniques in Business analysis

1.   Brainstroming
2.   Document analysis
3.   Reverse Engineering
4.   Focus Groups
5.   Observation
6.   Workshop
7.   JAD (Joint Application Development) ? Requirement Workshop
8.   Interview
9.   Prototyping
10.   Questionnaire

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different elicitation Techniques. 
Brainstorming
Document Analysis
Focus Groups
Interface Analysis
Interviews
Observation
Prototyping
Requirements Workshops
Survey/Questionnaire

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Brainstorming Techniques used by Business Analysts are as follows:
1) Brainstorming
2) Document Analysis
3) JAD
4) Prototyping
5) Questionaries'
6) Interviewing
7) Observation
Reverse Engineering
9) Focus Group

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The elicitation techniques in BA are

1. Brainstorming: It is used for identifying all possible solutions to the problems related to the ideas. It can be done individually or in groups.
2. Document Analysis: It is used for documenting the current system which can be used for future references.
3. Focus Group: It involves 6 to 12 members to discuss the ideas of specific product or opportunity. It helps in getting relevant information which can be used to improve in the product.
4. Observation: It helps in getting the real scenario information by observing the process.
5. Workshops: It comprise of 6 to 10 members to identify the requirements.
6. Joint Application Development - It is extension of workshop where stakeholders and system anlyst collaborate to identify requirements in focused effort.
7. Interview:  It is systematic approach to elicit the information from a person or group in informal or formal way by talking to the person.
8. Prototyping: It is process of requirement gathering through screen mockups. It helps in visualize the functionality of system.
9. Questionnaire: It is used when the requirements should be gathered in short period of time from large no of people.

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Different types of elicitation  technique are used to gather information from stake holder.Multiple elicitation can be Techniques together to elicit information from stake holder.eliciting technique are selected based on many factors ,geographical location of stake holders, Time,costs type of business analysis information sources are available.

1)Brain storming:brain storming technique contain group of stake holders to give deep thought about particular topic.This technique basically useful in developing new ideas.

2)Document analysis:document analysis is technique of gathering information from the documents of existing system.

3)Reverse engineering: reverse engineering technique is used when document of existing system is pretty outdated and has very less information.reverse engineering is technique of studying current system and what it does .studying current system can be done in two ways it can be studied without examining internal structure or by examining internal structure.

4)Focus Group.It is technique describe what attitude specific group of people has for product,services.In interactive season participant share their impression,preferences and needs.Focus group os classified in two types of group Homogeneous group  with similar skills and same back ground and heterogeneous group with different skills and different back ground people.

5)Work Shop:workshop allow bringing user and stake holder to gather and conversation are happened in more innovative tasks for example:collaborative games, tasks.

6)JAD: JAD is conducted by bringing Stake holder and developer together at same place.JAD provide high accurate level of requirement.Though JAD are conducted for different types purpose in SDLC JAD is Mostly conducted in two Ways, One is as eliciting technique and second is to clarify development teams doubts.

7)Interview:This technique allow to systematically gather information from individual or from group of stake holder.Interview are conducted in both formal and informal way.

8)Questionnaire: questionnaire contains sets of per-defined questions.This technique is utilized when stake holder are geographically distributed and there is less scope of conversation.This technique is limited to nominal and limited information.

9)Prototyping: Prototyping is Visual presentation of Idea or requirement which gives clear picture of requirements. Visual Presentation are given terms Mock-up screens or graphical designed or requirement prototype.

10)Observation:Information is gathered by observing stakeholder while they are working.This technique gives good understanding of process and work stakeholder do.

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Here is a list of the primary elicitation techniques used by business analysts:

Brainstorming ? Free-form discussion to generate new ideas and solutions.
Document Analysis ? Analyzing existing documentation to understand potential requirements.
Focus Groups ? Facilitating small group discussions about a product or service, often used to get feedback from stakeholders external to your organization.
Interface Analysis ? Analyzing the interface between systems, or between the user and a system, to understand the current state requirements or future state requirements to enable an integration.
Interviews ? Conversations focused on asking specific requirements questions of an individual or group of stakeholders.
Observation ? Observing a stakeholder completing a business process, or job function, to understand the details of that process.
Prototyping ? Creating a visual representation of a possible solution to review with stakeholders, and elicit either confirmation or new ideas about the requirements.
Requirements Workshops ? A more formal and highly structured meeting, typically of longer duration (at least a half day, and could span several days) designed to discover, analyze, and validate requirements documentation.
Survey/Questionnaire ? A request for structured or unstructured feedback in the form of answers to specific questions. Useful to gather information from a large number of stakeholders and discover information about the potential impact of a decision.

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Here is a list of the primary elicitation techniques used by business analysts:

Brainstorming ? Free-form discussion to generate new ideas and solutions.
Document Analysis ? Analyzing existing documentation to understand potential requirements.
Focus Groups ? Facilitating small group discussions about a product or service, often used to get feedback from stakeholders external to your organization.
Interface Analysis ? Analyzing the interface between systems, or between the user and a system, to understand the current state requirements or future state requirements to enable an integration.
Interviews ? Conversations focused on asking specific requirements questions of an individual or group of stakeholders.
Observation ? Observing a stakeholder completing a business process, or job function, to understand the details of that process.
Prototyping ? Creating a visual representation of a possible solution to review with stakeholders, and elicit either confirmation or new ideas about the requirements.
Requirements Workshops ? A more formal and highly structured meeting, typically of longer duration (at least a half day, and could span several days) designed to discover, analyze, and validate requirements documentation.
Survey/Questionnaire ? A request for structured or unstructured feedback in the form of answers to specific questions. Useful to gather information from a large number of stakeholders and discover information about the potential impact of a decision.

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   Brainstorming - This technique is used to generate new ideas and find a solution for a specific issue. The members included for brainstorming can be domain experts, subject matter experts. This session is generally conducted around the table discussion. All participants should be given an equal amount of time to express their ideas.
   Document Analysis - This technique is used to gather business information by reviewing/examining the available materials that describe the business environment. Document analysis includes reviewing the business plans, technical documents, problem reports, existing requirement documents, etc. This is useful when the plan is to update an existing system. This technique is useful for migration projects.
   Reverse engineering - This elicitation technique is generally used in migration projects. If an existing system has outdated documentation, it can be reverse engineered to understand what the system does. This is an elicitation technique that can extract implemented requirements from the system.
There are two types of reverse engineering techniques.
Black box reverse engineering: The system is studied without examining its internal structure (function and composition of software).
White box reverse engineering: The inner workings of the system are studied (analysing and understanding of software code).
   Focus group - By using a focus group, you can get information about a product, service from a group. The Focus group includes subject matter experts. The objective of this group is to discuss the topic and provide information. A moderator manages this session. The moderator should work with business analysts to analyze the results and provide findings to the stakeholders.
   Observation ? The main objective of the observation session is to understand the activity, task, tools used, and events performed by others. During the session, the observer should record all the activities and the time taken to perform the work by others so that he/she can simulate the same. After the session, the BA will review the results and will follow up with the participants. Observation can be either active or passive.
   Workshop ? A requirements workshop can be defined as a structured and facilitated event for getting carefully selected stakeholders together to discover, refine, prioritize, validate and discuss requirements. A skilled facilitator usually manages workshop sessions. It is designed to be collaborative and has its roots embedded in Joint Application Design (JAD).
   JAD (Joint Application Development) - This technique is more process-oriented and formal as compared to other techniques. These are structured meetings involving end-users, PMs, SMEs. This is used to define, clarify, and complete requirements.
   Interview ? This is the most common technique used for requirement elicitation. Interview techniques should be used for building strong relationships between business analysts and stakeholders. In this technique, the interviewer directs the question to stakeholders to obtain information. One to one interview is the most commonly used technique.
   Prototyping ? Prototyping is used to identify missing or unspecified requirements. In this technique, frequent demos are given to the client by creating the prototypes so that client can get an idea of how the product will look like. Prototypes can be used to create a mock-up of sites, and describe the process using diagrams.
   Survey/Questionnaire ? For Survey/Questionnaire, a set of questions is given to stakeholders to quantify their thoughts. After collecting the responses from stakeholders, data is analyzed to identify the area of interest of stakeholders. Questions should be based on high priority risks. Questions should be direct and unambiguous. Once the survey is ready, notify the participants and remind them to participate.