5.

5 Approve Requirements
Purpose
The purpose of Approve Requirements is to obtain agreement on and approval of requirements
and designs for business analysis work to continue and/or solution construction to proceed.
Sometimes the work involved in the requirements approval process requires a huge
effort, especially because this simple process can become complex when multiple
stakeholders collaborate and are responsible for approval. For this, the Business Analyst
needs to establish clear communication with stakeholders to obtain agreement on and
approval of requirements and designs.
To ensure that all stakeholders involve agreed or at least have some consent on what
needs to be done.

Description
Business analysts are responsible for ensuring clear communication of requirements, designs,
and other business analysis information to the key stakeholders responsible for approving that
information.
Approval of requirements and designs may be formal or informal. Predictive approaches
typically perform approvals at the end of the phase or during planned change control meetings.
Adaptive approaches typically approve requirements only when construction and implementation
of a solution meeting the requirement can begin. Business analysts work with key stakeholders to
gain consensus on new and changed requirements, communicate the outcome of discussions, and
track and manage the approval.
Inputs
 Requirements (verified)
 a set of requirements that have been verified to be of sufficient quality to be used
as a reliable body of work for further specification and development.
 Designs
 a set of designs that have been determined as ready to be used for further
specification and development
CHART: Figure 5.5.1: Approve Requirements Input/Output Diagram
 The inputs for requirements approval are verified requirements and designs. The
task should end with the output of approved requirements and designs.
 Business analysts can make use of the following guidelines and tools for
requirements approval: change strategy, governance approach, legal/regulatory
information, requirement management tools/repository, and solution scope.
There are some elements that can help with the approve requirements task and they are:
Elements
1. Understand Stakeholder Roles
Understanding the roles of stakeholders in an initiative can sometimes be a difficult task,
but it is necessary, especially during the approval process. Part of the approval process is
to understand the roles of stakeholders in the initiative. As part of the Business Analyst
includes collecting the decisions along with the initiative, as well as collecting the
approval of the Business Requirements, it is necessary to know who are:
 The influentials, which should be consulted or informed;
 The decision-maker, who approves or deny changes;
 The authority, who signs off.
Identifying the key stakeholders (along with their roles, responsibilities, and interests in
the project) will help you communicate and work with them more efficiently
2. Conflict and Issue Management
Conflict and issue management are skills necessary for the Business Analyst role. Before
business requirements approval and sign-off, many conflicts and disagreements can arise
with the initiative. The Business Analyst is responsible for mediating these conflicts and
finding a common direction between the different points of the stakeholders. Here,
communication skills are the key to facilitating discussions around divergent areas to
achieve conflict resolution and problem management.
The business analyst has to facilitate communication to avoid and resolve conflicts.
3. Gain Consensus
Consensus can be challenging during the approval process. Authorities and decision-
makers can raise doubts and concerns against the views of other stakeholders. To
facilitate the approval process, Business Analysts are responsible for working with
stakeholders to allow them to discuss, debate and then make a decision on how to move
forward, answering any questions and proving any additional information when
necessary.
Making sure that everyone is on the same page and everyone approves of the
requirements changes and decisions moving forward.
4. Track and Communicate Approval
Track and communicate the approval steps are essential during this process. To be able to
determine and report the current approval status correctly, the Business Analyst needs to
keep accurate records of the current approval status, including:
 Approval (or denial/refusal) decisions;
 Audit history (What was made, who made it, the reason behind, and when it was
done).
A governance plan must previously define the approval process, and also the
communications methods would need to be previously properly agreed. These are
detailed on BABOK® Guide version 3, as per the tasks “Plan Business Analysis
Governance, and ‘Communicate Business Analysis Information”.
 Meaning ensuring that the approval decisions etc are all communicated to the
stakeholders and clearly defined
So this is kind of a critical path for the business analysts

Guidelines and Tools

 Change Strategy: provides information which assists in managing stakeholder
consensus regarding the needs of all stakeholders.
 Governance Approach: identifies the stakeholders who have the authority and
responsibility to approve business analysis information, and explains when such
approvals will take place and how they will align to organizational policies.
 Legal/Regulatory Information: describes legislative rules or regulations that must be
followed. They may impact the requirements and designs approval process.
 Requirement Management Tools/Repository: tool to record requirements approvals.
 Solution Scope: must be considered when approving requirements to accurately assess
alignment and completeness
Techniques
 Acceptance and Evaluation Criteria: used to define approval criteria.
 Decision Analysis: used to resolve issues and gain agreement.
 Item Tracking: used to track issues identified during the agreement process.
 Reviews: used to evaluate requirements.
 Workshops: used to facilitate obtaining approval.
Stakeholders
 The stakeholders that are important for requirements approval are
 Customer: may play an active role in reviewing and approving requirements and designs
to ensure needs are met.
 Domain Subject Matter Expert: may be involved in the review and approval of
requirements and designs as defined by stakeholder roles and responsibilities designation.
 End User: people who use the solution, or who are a solution component, and may be
involved in the review, validation, and prioritization of requirements and designs as
defined by the stakeholder roles and responsibilities designation.
 Operational Support: responsible for ensuring that requirements and designs are
supportable within the constraints imposed by technology standards and organizational
capability plans. Operational support personnel may have a role in reviewing and
approving requirements.
 Project Manager: responsible for identifying and managing risks associated with
solution design, development, delivery, implementation, operation and sustainment. The
project manager may manage the project plan activities pertaining to review and/or
approval.
  Regulator: external or internal party who is responsible for providing opinions on the
relationship between stated requirements and specific regulations, either formally in an
audit, or informally as inputs to requirements life cycle management tasks.
 Sponsor: responsible to review and approve the business case, solution or product scope,
and all requirements and designs.
 Tester: responsible for ensuring quality assurance standards are feasible within the
business analysis information. For example, requirements have the testable characteristic.
Outputs
 Requirements (approved): requirements which are agreed to by stakeholders and are
ready for use in subsequent business analysis efforts.
 Designs (approved): designs which are agreed to by stakeholders and are ready for use
in subsequent business analysis or solution development efforts.
SUMMARY
 When you execute this task, you obtain agreements and approvals on requirements and
designs. To perform this task, you have to know the roles of stakeholders and their
authority level. You will gain consensus on approvals and manage any conflicts that may
arise due to differences between stakeholders. Finally, you will also communicate the
approvals to the remaining stakeholders who did not participate in the approval process.
OTHER INFO:
The Requirements Approval Process is the formal process used to sign off on
requirements. This is an important step in ensuring that all stakeholders agree on the
requirements and understand what needs to be delivered. The Requirements Approval
Process should be tailored to the specific project and organization, but there are some
common elements that should be included:
A list of all stakeholders who need to approve the requirements.
 A description of the requirements that need to be approved.
 The criteria will be used to assess the requirements.
 The process for approving the requirements (e.g., sign-off by each stakeholder).
Once the requirements have been approved, they can be implemented as part of the
project.