13.1 Identify Stakeholders
Process Definition
The first process in the Stakeholder Management knowledge area involves identifying all stakeholders that have a vested interest in the execution or outcome of the project. This process also evaluates each stakeholder for their level of interest, role and participation, interdependencies and influence on the project outcome.Process Assessment
It is important to identify stakeholders during project initiation. Since stakeholder management is one of the primary jobs of the project manager, this is the opportunity to identify who needs to be informed of progress and developments on the project, and will play an important role in developing the project communications plan. Stakeholders often have individual perspectives on what they are looking for out of a project, and their own insights into risks and issues project manager will have to contend with.
Figure 3. Identify Stakeholders: Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs. Reprinted from "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 5th Edition" by Project Management Institute, 2013, p. 393. Copyright 2013 by Project Management Institute, Inc. Reprinted without permission.
- Fence Construction Project Charter: Example of a project charter, developed for a hypothetical project to build a backyard privacy fence. As an input to the "Identify Stakeholders" process the project charter contains an initial stakeholder list to support the stakeholder identification process.
- Expert Judgment: A paper discussing the "Identify Stakeholders" technique and how to execute it. This is an expanded version of the PMGT 502 assignment and includes a discussion of the "Power/Interest Strategy" technique.
- Stakeholder Register: This stakeholder register was developed for PMGT 502. This output of the "Identify Stakeholders" process identifies key stakeholders and the appropriate management strategy for each.