Thursday, May 06, 2004

Project Stakeholders


Project stakeholders are individuals and organizations who are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project completion.(PMBOK 2000)

The project management team must identify the stakeholders, determine what their needs and expectations are, and then manage and influence those expectations to ensure a successful project.

Successful projects have to meet all stakeholder expectation. All parties involved in a project have a vital interest in the project success – each has an essential contribution to make. The first step in this process is gaining agreement. The project manager, project team, functional managers, sponsor and the customer must all agree on the goals of the project. The project manager must then coordinate all these stakeholders in the process of guiding the project through its various stages.

It is important for project manager to perform a Stakeholder Analysis in order to help understand and meet stakeholder needs and expectations. The analysis will also help the project manager lead the execution of the project plan.

Stakeholder Analysis documents information such as:

 Key stakeholders’ names and organizations & their roles on the project;
 Unique facts about each stakeholders & their level of interest in the project;
 Key stakeholders’ influence on the project;
 Suggestions for managing relationships with each stakeholder.

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