Sign off are on indication that stakeholder agree with and approve the requirements that have been elicited and documented. Though they provide a detail view of requirements and consistent expectations of what the final solution will deliver, there are other reasons why BA seek stakeholder sign off, in some cases, it is not always clear whom it benefits.
Requirement signoff is performed as per the business plan. Requirements are sign off which are verified, validated and approval of each section of requirement are taken.
Sign off and approvals are two different types of approval level, different approval levels reflect about whose acceptance is needed to move forward with requirements, who is just expected to review and to provide opinion and who is responsible to confirm the requirement to be correct, accurate, understandable and implementable etc.
Organize walkthrough sessions:
If we are more likely to get sign off if you are organizing walkthrough sessions. It will also provide a chance to ensure understanding and to make amendments promptly to avoid delays. If the stakeholder is confident and they don’t need a walkthrough.
Use a feedback log:
Use a feedback log for obtaining feedback. Ideally ask reviewers to fill out a feedback form to save time and collating yourself.
The feedback form should contain the following columns for the reviewer to fill out:
1.Reference Id
2.Document reference
3.Feedback
4.Feedbackform
5.Feedbackdate
Whether feedback is an observation, a change required or a question
The last point is essential for understanding what the reviewer wants from the feedback they have given. It can be difficult to tell otherwise whether the reviewer’s expectations are that the document needs to change as a result of the feedback to get sign off from them.
This is also a great tool for communicating feedback received from all the stakeholders especially if there are any conflicts where different stake holders have contradicting feedback. This makes it easier to give problem back to the stakeholders to resolve between them or for getting a final decision from the sponsor.
The feedback form should contain an additional two columns to be populated by the business analyst. Those are
Has document been updated as the result of the feedback?
Business analyst comments.
This will let reviewers know whether their feedback has resulted in the document being changed and why. Having a feedback log also provides an adult trail of all the feedback. This is useful if there are any challenges later on. Otherwise, it can be difficult if the feedback was scribbled on annotated copies of the documentation to trace why and who made the change.
Email sign off:
Email sign off is the best method to use and it can be archived and shared.
First set up a meeting to walk them through the requirements. This helps to make sure you and stakeholders are on the same page.
Take feedback in the meeting especially if there are updates to the requirements.
Agree a deadline to A. For you to send the updated requirements (if applicable) to them and B. For the stakeholder to review and provide you with their sign off. For deadline B, it’s important that the stakeholder understands that you will be finalizing the requirements and expect them to sign off via email. Highlight that any delay will impact the project deadline
Post meeting – Once you have finalized the requirements (based on their feedback), send the email and in the body include the deadline agreed.
Sometimes a stakeholder can’t meet the deadline you expect for the genuine reasons (e.g., workload). Try to agree deadline which is manageable and work for all the parties. For example, adding few more days may give extra time to the stakeholder to sign off but won’t impact your project timeline too much. Email them a day before the deadline as a remainder. We could also use software to sign off your requirement document.