Overview
Project stakeholders are any individuals, groups, or organizations impacted by, having an interest in, or able to influence a project's outcomes, including those who fund, develop, use, or are affected by it (like customers, sponsors, teams, executives, suppliers, and communities). Effective stakeholder management is considered by many project managers as a crucial human factor in the perception of a project's success, particularly the beneficiaries of the project's outcome.
Within the ESM system a Resource is someone actively working on project task(s), via the TDWorkManagement, contributing labor/skills, while a Stakeholder is an interested party (like a sponsor, executive, or customer) who needs visibility and input but does not necessarily perform project work, and access project information via the Service Portal. It is possible for individual(s) to be both a resource and a stakeholder on a project. See the Get Started with Project Resources article for more information.
In this article:
Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed (RACI) Matrix
No matter the project size, project responsibilities should be clearly defined. The Enterprise Service Management (ESM) system leverages the RACI matrix, one of Project Management's most commonly used responsibility assignment matrix.
- Responsible: The person who is completing a task
- Accountable: Person who is making decisions and taking actions on the task(s)
- Consulted: Person(s) who will be communicated with regarding the decision-making process and specific task(s)
- Informed: Person(s) who will be updated on decisions and actions during the project
When adding stakeholders to a project proper balancing is key to success with RACI. If there are too many, or not enough, people in each role it slows down the completion of the project tasks, or even prevents completion.
To use RACI effectively consider the following:
- One Accountable per task. If there is more than one, it would be like having multiple people driving a car. Conversely, if there is no driver, it will be hard to get the car to move forward.
- The right amount of Responsible. Too many people assigned to the same task, is a good way to waste work, and may result in duplicate work. If the task is quick and simple, the responsible could also be the accountable.
- Don't have too many Consults. This could slow the task completion. Consulting with several stakeholders, or subject mater experts before completing a task could be another time sink. Alternatively, it may result in conflicting input on how to complete the task.
- Keep people informed. In many cases you many not need to consult with many of the project stakeholders, you simply need to keep them updated on the project status. Make sure you have people in this role otherwise you run the risk of ineffective project communication which can result in problems.
Stakeholder Project Visibility
Project stakeholders are able to view the following information within the Service Portal.
- Project Status
- Project start and end dates
- Percent complete
- Most recent update comments
- Project Manager, Alternate Managers, and Sponsor
- Project Acct/Dept
- Project Type
- Project Health
- Programs and/or Portfolios that the project is part of
- Project Priority
- Created and Modified Dates
- Custom attributes that are configured as Client Visible
- Description
- Strategic Objectives
- Organizational Risks
Next Steps
The following knowledge articles will provide additional guidance, and instructions on working with project stakeholders.
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