A business analyst (BA) is defining the decision making process for changes raised during a project and wants to understand the decision making authorities within the company. What might the BA do…

Market analysis examines external market conditions, competitors, and trends, and has no relevance to internal organizational authority structures.

A focus group allows the BA to engage multiple stakeholders simultaneously in a facilitated discussion, which is effective for uncovering how decision-making authority is distributed across the organization. The interactive format encourages participants to clarify ambiguities and reveal informal authority that would not appear in an org chart. This is more effective than one-directional methods for understanding a nuanced organizational topic.

A survey can collect input from many people but lacks the interactive discussion needed to explore complex and often informal decision-making hierarchies.

Cost benefit analysis evaluates the financial trade-offs of a decision or option and is unrelated to identifying who holds decision-making authority.