stakeholder register

The stakeholder register, or stakeholder registry, is one of the essential project management documents, It contains important information on your project holder. 

According to the PMBOK Guide, “A stakeholder can be a person, a group, or an organization that may be affected, or have any interest in the project, or the project’s outcome; either directly or indirectly.”

Managing stakeholders is vital for your project because if your stakeholders are not happy, your team will struggle, and your project won’t succeed.

Clearly, stakeholder satisfaction is essential for successful project completion.

What is a Stakeholder Register?

A stakeholder register is a project document with pertinent information about the project stakeholders. It identifies the people, groups, and organizations interested in the project or its outcome.

A stakeholder register can have the following information about stakeholders:

  • Names
  • Titles
  • Roles
  • Interests
  • Power
  • Requirements
  • Expectations
  • Type of influence

You should create the stakeholder register once the project sponsor signs the project charter. After the project charter is ready, you will identify and analyze stakeholders. Then you can draft a strategy to communicate with and manage these stakeholders. The stakeholder register will help you complete the project with less hassle.

The Content of the Stakeholder Register

You can divide the stakeholder register information into three categories:

  1. Stakeholder Identification
  2. Stakeholder Assessment
  3. Stakeholder Classification

You can also add a fourth category, the stakeholder management strategy.

In a big organization, stakeholder management strategy is a separate document. However, smaller organizations can include this information in the stakeholder register.

Stakeholder Identification

This section has the following information:

  • Name
  • Title
  • Contact information
  • Role in the project/organization

A project has many stakeholders, and you may not frequently interact with them all. A few may be unknown to your team members, so this information will be useful if you need to contact these stakeholders.

Stakeholder Assessment

Here you will find an assessment of each stakeholder, such as:

  • Their requirements
  • Their communication needs
  • Their communication frequency
  • Their expectations
  • Their influence on the project
  • Their interest and power

Project management is about stakeholder satisfaction and understanding your stakeholders’ requirements, expectations, communication needs, and their influence on the project.

Stakeholder Classification

Here, you classify the stakeholders based on various criteria.

You may categorize them based on their power and their interest in the project. High-power stakeholders should be distinguished from stakeholders with less influence.

You can assign attributes to stakeholders, for example, internal, external, positive, supporter, resistor, or neutral. This vital information will help you develop your stakeholder management strategy.

Stakeholder Analysis and Management Strategies

After identifying your stakeholders, you will classify them. 

You can use any model to classify stakeholders, such as Power/Influence Grid, Influence/Impact Grid, Power/Interest Grid, or the Salience Model.

After completing the classification, you will draft the stakeholder management strategy, which will help you manage them according to their requirements, influence, and interest in the project. A more influential stakeholder will require a different strategy than one with less influence.

The stakeholder register can contain sensitive information, and you may not want your impressions of others to be shared with everyone. Therefore, keep this document in a secure place and make sure access to this information is limited.

Many organizations do not restrict who can read the stakeholder register. If this is the case, you will want to create a separate document for your stakeholder strategy and keep it in a secure place.

As the project progresses, you will identify new stakeholders, and their attributes can also change. Keep the register updated throughout the project life cycle.

Inputs for the Stakeholder Register

You may wonder how the stakeholder register is developed. You can develop yours with the help of the following documents:

Brainstorming sessions with your team members will help you develop the register. You may use interviews and information gathering techniques to collect the stakeholders’ data.

Stakeholder Register Example

You can develop a register as per your requirements. 

An example of a stakeholder register is given below for your information.

stakeholders register example

Stakeholder Register Template

Every organization has a template for the stakeholder register. You don’t need to create it from scratch; simply identify the stakeholders. Once you complete this process, you can update your stakeholder register.

Below are a few links for stakeholder templates:

You can review the stakeholder register template above for a better understanding of the stakeholder register.

Summary

Before concluding this post, let’s revisit the key points:

  • A stakeholder is a person, group, or other entity interested in your project.
  • A stakeholder register is a project document that records the details of your stakeholders.
  • You should update the register when you identify any new stakeholders. Any change in a stakeholder’s attributes should be updated in the register.
  • You should limit access to this document, as it may have sensitive information.

This topic is important from a PMP exam point of view; therefore, understand it well.

Have you created a stakeholder register for your project? What information do you record, and how often do you update it? Please share your experience in the comments section.

Fahad Usmani, PMP

I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.