Stakeholder Analysis

Steps in a Stakeholder Analysis

Jason E. Gasper

QSO-440

Southern New Hampshire University

The stakeholder analysis is a "must-do" process that begins during the proposal stage. Stakeholder analysis is the identification of a project's key stakeholders, an assessment of

their interests, and the ways in which those interests affect project riskiness and viability (Allen & Kilvington, 2003). The results are then refined as the project is defined, governed and tracked. There are four key variables for initiation and execution of the project stakeholder analysis.

The first step in the stakeholder analysis process is to identify "the stakeholders" according to their primary project "role". It is important to consider stakeholders from both an organizational and individual point of view. Stakeholders may fall into the following categories:

Beneficiary Stakeholders: Group/individual receiving a benefit from the project.

Executing Stakeholders (Management): Group/individual responsible for managing execution.

Executing Stakeholders (Participants): Group/individual responsible for project execution.

Oversight (Sponsor): Group/individual responsible for oversight and sponsorship.

Oversight (Adviser): Group/individual responsible for advising and overseeing project execution.

Once stakeholders have been identified, it's time to consider the "interest" each has in the project. One example may be to simply rate the interest by level, such as Minimal, Maximum, and Moderate (IT Toolkit, 2015):

Maximum Impact: The project will have significant impact on the group and/or individual.

Moderate Impact: The project will have measurable impact on the group and/or individual.

Minimal Impact: The project will have minor impact on the group and/or individual.

The final step in the stakeholder analysis process is to identify "priority" stakeholders. One basic tool of stakeholder analysis is the influence/importance matrix....