Stakeholder Engagement Plan

If stakeholders are productively involved in a project, the chance of success is augmented significantly. 

Therefore the endeavor of engaging stakeholders is a vital part of project management. Previously, stakeholder engagement was considered a knowledge area. However, there are now performance domains instead of knowledge areas and project management principles as the standard for project management. Engagement of stakeholders is handled in the stakeholder performance domain and there is a project management principle to effectively engage with stakeholders.

Stakeholder Engagement Plan is a sub-plan of the project management plan and it is considered a project artifact. Stakeholder engagement plan is recommended to be used as a part of;

A Stakeholder engagement plan typically involves;

  • What kind of information will be distributed to stakeholders, in which format the information will be distributed,  type of content, and required level of details.
  • Required time-frequency do distribute information to stakeholders
  • Aimed level of engagement for all stakeholders
  • A list of all stakeholders
  • Phases that stakeholders are expected to be involved
  • A strategy to engage stakeholders in project activities and decisions
  • Information about power and interest of identified stakeholders

Plan Stakeholder Engagement Process in PMBOK 6

In waterfall development approach, once the stakeholders have been identified, the remaining job of the project manager and the project team should be to keep stakeholder engagement constantly active and constantly under control while adding new stakeholders to the stakeholder register when necessary.

The process of plan stakeholder engagement is a project management process in which a detailed stakeholder-specific strategy is created, and ideas are generated on how to maximize the use of the power, impact, and effectiveness of stakeholders for the benefit of the project, and the relationship with various stakeholders.

The process of planning stakeholder participation is included in the stakeholder management knowledge area and in the planning process group.


Inputs to the process