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:
- Stakeholder Identification
- Stakeholder Assessment
- 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:
- Project charter
- Contract document
- Old lessons learned
- Organizational process assets
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.
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.
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.
Thank you so much for the detail information. when can I add the project manager in the communication channel? N (N-1)/2.
It depends on question. Look at the clue given in the question.
Hi
Have been reading your posts regularly as I prepare for PMP, Can you help me understand why Stakeholder engagement plan is an input to Identify Stakeholder process ? Identify Stakeholder is in Initiating phase, and Plan Stakeholder Engagement is in Planning phase, Also, stakeholder register is an input to Plan Stakeholder Engagement. So ,
Output of Plan Stakeholder Engagement = Input of Identify Stakeholder
Input of Identify Stakeholder= Output of Plan Stakeholder Engagement
Identify stakeholders is a iterative process and performed throughout the project life cycle.
Hi Fahad
Your book sound great in preparing for PMP but I am neither student in the field nor a professional. Will the book
help me to just request for an exam and join the profession?
No, this is an exam preparation book. It will not help you get any request for the exam.
Dear Fahad,
Firstly, let me thank you for all the materials you shared with us – the blogs, the mock questions – all of them make sense a lot to me. I’m a graduate student who is going to take the PMP certification test for the first attempt in one week. For the last week, I would spend the time in testing my knowledge by mock questions.
For now, I have a question about ‘stakeholder expectation’ and ‘requirement’. In the Head First book, the definition is ‘Requirements are what someone needs to get out of your project, while expectations are what they think will actually happen.’
Here is a question about it:
10. Kyle is the project manager of a project that has teams distributed in many different places. One of the stakeholders in his project has asked that all formal communications from the project be shared with all of the teams, regardless of their location. This is an example of:
A. A stakeholder expectation (right answer)
B. A stakeholder goal
C. A stakeholder requirement
D. Decoding communication
While I’m confused that isn’t the ‘communication frequency’ a need for Kyle to get out of the project?
I would be appreciated if you could help me out.
Much appreciate!
Best,
Ruyi
Are you a student and applying for the PMP exam?
Regarding your question, as per my understanding, since the stakeholders has clearly stated it, it is his requirement.
Yes, I am a student right now.
While the answer is ‘expectation’ and it is a question on ‘Head First’ book. I’m really confused.
One more thing is that how can I get notified if I receive your reply? I thought I could get an email. I also sent you an email about this question but you didn’t reply. Which way do you prefer to communicate?
Thanks.
If you are a student, you should prepare for the CAPM certification.
Q- When we create a Requirement doc & Traceability matrix we are using both stakeholder register and Stakeholder mgmt plan as input why ? when Stakeholder Register is already a input while developing Stakeholder mgmt plan? Please advise..thx
This is in the PMBOK Guide itself. Open the PMBOK Guide, and see what input is required.
Just for anyone else using PMBOK 5th Edition, the Stakeholder related information is in Chapter 13:
– 13.1.2. Identify Stakeholders: Tools and Techniques
– 13.1.2.1 Stakeholder Analysis
Thanks.
Wow! This is really great. U ve just opened my understanding for the course. I ve been attending a class for project management without understanding most of the things, such as Stakeholders Register.
God bless you so much for your good work. Keep it up.
Thanks
You are welcome Alwell.
Hi Fahad,
Requirement documentation’s requirements and Stakeholder Register’s stakeholder requirements are same?
1) Refer to the PMBOK Guide page: 117 (point: 5.2.3.1)
2) What do mean by “Stakeholder Register’s stakeholder requirements”?
If you need a change in cost, scope or schedule, you must raise a change request. Otherwise, you may not need to raise a change request.
Dear Fahad,
First, I would like to thank you for what you do. The posts are concise, relevant and spot-on. I have encouraged others to utilize both your blog and your “for purchase” study materials.
I have a general question related to the Stakeholder Register My understanding is that it is a document that falls outside configuration control and is therefore allowed to be (and should be) updated regularly. Straitforward enough. But I have also read that the Communication Plan also resides outside configuration control and can be updated without approval. For instance, the stakeholders have informed the project manager that the communication frequency should be changed. The PM should then update the Commmuncations Management Plan straitaway without introducing a change request. Could you please share which Plans are able to be updated without a change request (i.e. which are not under configuration control?). Thanks and best regards
Wow! So straight to the point and easy to understand! I spent this lil chuck of my time to get something this big. Thank you and keep up!
Thanks Azemazi for your comment.
HOW DO MY FAMILY BECOME REGISTERED STAKE HOLDERS IN OUR AREA
Stakeholder for what?
Thanks for explaining the Stakeholder Assessment and Classification. I usually create the Stakeholder Identification and don’t bother with the other two. This is an issue because you require these in order to develop a Project Communication Management Plan.
Why don’t bother with the other two? This information is required for proper communication management plan.
This is usually how it works in most projects; you’re actually lucky to get a stakeholder register.
:)
Nice article, hope to see more on such topics. Can you please help me by indentifying initial documents which are must to have for project success.
Thanks
Rafat
There is no such fix list of initial documents, which help you complete the project.
Many documents are required to run a project, for examples, project management plans, baselines, logs. registers, etc.
Refer the PMBOK Guide 5th Edition, Page: 291 (Communication Requirements Analysis)
Can you please clarify where the stakeholder communication requirements are contained — the Stakeholder Management Plan, the Stakeholder Register, and/or the Communications Management Plan? I am seeing discrepancies in some of the practice questions. The PMBOK also does not clearly define this. For instance, communication requirements are not explicitly stated as being included in the Stakeholder Register, yet the description for Communication Requirement Analysis states they are included in the Register. Your articles are the best, I’m using them almost every day as I prepare for the exam.
Useful tools for any project management
Thanks Nouhou for your visit and leaving comment.
I like your work it is in details and succinctly explicit and am highly encourage.
Regards,
Dennis Pepple.
Thanks Dennis.
This is very helpful, thank you.
You are welcome Shh.