A key challenge that business analysts often face is the availability and focused commitment of the relevant stakeholders to participate and contribute to the business analysis efforts. It is therefore recommended that the business analyst determines what level of commitment of time and resources would be required as early as possible so that this could be planned for and agreed on early in the initiative. This agreement can be made formally or informally as long as the expectations are clear from the perspectives of both the business analysis team and the business stakeholders.

Example of gaining an agreement on commitments:

For example, a subject-matter expert from the payroll department maybe promised you one day per week for the next four weeks to help with defining solution requirements. It would be a good idea for you as the business analyst to set up some requirement definition meetings in advance by sending calendar invitations to this individual. This will then informally commit the subject-matter expert to spend time on the project.