Stakeholder Register Template

To understand a stakeholder register, it’s important to first define the term “stakeholder.” The PMBOK Guide defines a stakeholder as a person or organization that is actively involved in the project, or whose interest may be positively or negatively affected by execution or completion of the project. It relates that a stakeholder may also exert influence of the project and its deliverables.

A Stakeholder Register is a project management document that captures the known stakeholders and their identifying information. The free stakeholder register template below captures the stakeholder name, their title or role in the project and their contact information. The template also includes a “notes” section for capturing information like the stakeholders preferred method of communication.

As with every project management document, this template should be customized to fit your project requirements. Note that this template is a register and is not designed for performing stakeholder analysis. Stakeholder analysis will be performed in a separate document.

Inputs to the Stakeholder Register include, among other things: the project charter, the contract, procurement documents and lessons learned. Stakeholders may exist because of the the way an organization is structured or because of a government or industry standard. Because it’s critical for project success to identify project stakeholders early in the project, stakeholder identification should begin as soon as the project begins.

The Stakeholder Register is used when identifying stakeholders. It’s merely a place for listing them all. The register is an input to performing stakeholder analysis and for creating a Stakeholder Management Plan. Some project managers prefer to keep the stakeholder register separate from the Stakeholder Analysis document. Unlike stakeholder analysis documentation, the Stakeholder Register can be handed out without sharing sensitive information. Like most project management documents, the Stakeholder Register should be consulted and updated throughout the project life cycle.