Project Stakeholder Management - Plan Stakeholder Management

This process develops appropriate management strategies to effectively engage stakeholders based on the analysis of their needs, interests and potential impact on project success. It provides a clear, actionable plan to interact with project stakeholders to support the project's interest.

It identifies how the project will affect stakeholders that allows you to develop ways to engage them in the project, to manage their expectations and to achieve project goals.

Let's take a look at the Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs of this process.

1) Project Management Plan

• Includes:
• Life cycle selected for the project and the processes that will be applied to each phase
• Description of how work will be executed 
• Description of human resources requirements that will be met and how roles and responsibilities, reporting relationships, and staffing management will be addressed and structured
• Change management plan that documents how changes will be monitored and controlled
• Need and techniques for communication among stakeholders

2) Stakeholder Register

• Provides information needed to plan appropriate ways to engage the stakeholders

3) Enterprise Environmental Factors

• All factors are used as inputs to this process because the management of stakeholders should be adapted to the project environment. 

4) Organizational Process Assets

• May include:
• Lessons learned database
• Historical information

5) Expert Judgment 

• Help decide the level of engagement required at each stage of the project from each stakeholder. 

6) Meetings

• Held with experts to define the required engagement levels of all stakeholders

7) Analytical Techniques

• Current engagement needs to be compared to planned engagement levels in order to have success and can be classified by the following:
• Unaware 
• Resistant
• Neutral
• Supportive
• Leading
• This engagement is documented using Stakeholders Engagement Assessment Matrix. Gaps can be identified and then action can be taken to close the gaps of engagement. 

8) Stakeholder Management Plan

• Identifies the management strategies required to effectively engage stakeholders and can provide the following:
• Desired and current engagement levels of key stakeholders
• Scope and impact of change to stakeholders
• Identified interrelationships and potential overlap between stakeholders
• Stakeholder communication requirements
• Information to be distributed to stakeholders
• Reason for the distribution of that information
• Time frame and frequency for the distributions
• Method for updating and refining the stakeholder management plan

9) Project Documents Updates

• May include:
• Project schedule
• Stakeholder register

Source: PMBOK 5th ed.