A business analyst (BA) is assigned to a project which has two main stakeholders: a highly regulated government agency and a less formal private company. To select the business analysis approach, the

BABOK guidance on planning the business analysis approach emphasizes adapting formality to the stakeholder context rather than applying a one-size-fits-all standard. Developing consensus ensures the government agency's regulatory documentation needs and the private company's flexible preferences are both addressed. A tailored, agreed-upon approach also builds stakeholder commitment to the process from the outset.

Defaulting to the government entity's level of formality ignores the private company's valid needs and imposes unnecessary overhead without stakeholder agreement.

A generic standard level of formality may not satisfy the government agency's compliance documentation requirements or respect the private company's lighter-weight process needs.

Asking the government entity to accept a flexible approach dismisses their regulatory constraints and risks non-compliance with legal or policy requirements.