Stakeholder Analysis Matrix

The Stakeholder Analysis Matrix is very similar to the Project Communications Plan (or Matrix) used by project managers and is intended to define and document the business analyst’s communication plan for the business analysis work they are about to undertake.
The Stakeholder Analysis Matrix for a business analysis effort will focus on communications such as:
• Updates on the business analysis work
• Specifying attendee’s for:
• Status update meetings
• Planning meetings
• Elicitation sessions
• Review sessions of requirements, feasibility studies, solution assessments, etc.
• Communicating the results of the activities above to participants and non-participants for their review
• How all of the communications above will take place
• Who the communications above will go to

Create a draft communications matrix. At a minimum your matrix should include the answers to the following questions: [1] • Who = What stakeholders will be communicated to
• What = What will be communicated to the stakeholders. Consider the content, level of detail, and formality level
• When = How often will the communication occur, or on what date(s)?
• How = What form will the communication take? Email? Phone Call? Face to face meeting? Virtual meeting? Document
Identifying and prioritizing stakeholders can be done in Stakeholder Analysis. They are few techniques used in real time scenarios i.e. 1. RACI Matrix, Stakeholder Map (Matrix and Onion map).

RACI: Classify stakeholders according to this method.

R – Responsible
A – Accountable
C – Consulted
I – Informed.

Similarly, prioritization can be done using Stakeholder Map based on Impact of Stakeholder as X- axis and Influence of stakeholder in the project as Y -axis.

Business Analyst will save time, avoid conflicts and all stakeholders views will be considered if BA follow these techniques. Process for Stakeholder Analysis
Following are the primary aspect needs to be considered for stakeholder analysis
Step 1) Identify your stakeholders: Your boss, your team, senior executives, prospective customers, your family, etc.
Step 2) Assess how those stakeholders could be impacted or have an effect on the organization
Step 3) Prioritize your Stakeholders-
StakeHolder Type Action
• High power, interested people – Manage closely
• High power, less interested people – Keep satisfied
• Low power, interested people – Keep informed
• Low power, less interested people – Monitor with minimum effort
Step 4) Identify areas of conflicts (organization vs. stakeholder, stakeholder vs. stakeholder)
Step 5) Prioritize, reconcile and balance stakeholders. And
Step 6) Align significant stakeholder needs with organizations strategies and actions
While this matrix is extremely useful in determining the frequency of communication with various stakeholders, it may result in a situation where the analyst pays more attention to certain stakeholders to the potential detriment of others. Analysts must understand that while the model provides a great starting point for the initial unravelling of stakeholder complexities, interest and power do tend to change with changing circumstances. As such, I would rather monitor all my stakeholders with the same level of effort to prevent nasty surprises down the line.
Stakeholder analysis is undertaken in the service of two different needs.
1. The first is to provide the stakeholder information that underlies a project teams stakeholder management effort.
2. The second is to help the business analyst identify potential stakeholders and what knowledge they may have so that they can be correctly engaged in the requirements process.
For Business Analyst’s, the second reason is critically important. While “missed or incorrect requirements” is a commonly cited cause of project failure, it is frequently assumed that this was due to an oversight or lack of skill on the BA’s part in Requirements Elicitation. However, in many cases these requirements were missed simply because important stakeholders were never identified. When stakeholders are not identified, whole groups of requirements are either entirely missed or competing needs that would modify captured requirements are missed.

One of the single most important ways of categorizing stakeholders is by their expected results from the project. This information is critical for not just the stakeholder management effort, but in identifying what project success looks like for each stakeholder.
Note that expected results can take multiple forms. For an external stakeholder, such as a consultant or contract development firm, expected results may simply be on time payment for services delivered. Other results external stakeholders may desire include positive publicity, a new business relationship, maintenance of an existing business relationship, access to the project results, or even goodwill from the business or organization.
For internal stakeholders expected results can range from new software, improved processes, greater influence, personal rewards such as a promotion or salary increase, or even a feeling of importance or meaningfulness to the organization.
By categorizing (and grouping) stakeholders who have similar expected results, the project team identifies potential coalitions among the stakeholders. Additionally, by knowing what results are important to each stakeholder, the project team can ensure they are engaged during project activities that are related to.
The results from a stakeholder analysis effort should make it possible for the project team to determine (to the greatest degree possible):
• Who the critical stakeholders are for the overall project
• Who are the critical stakeholders for different phases or aspects of the project
• How much and what kind of attention/information each stakeholder should get
• The best way to interact with each stakeholder
• Who are the stakeholders who need the most engagement and change in attitude to reduce the project risk. These become the most important targets of a Stakeholder Management process
• The identification of key risk areas in the project goals or solution space, where there are conflicting expectations from key or influential stakeholders.
• What are the success measures for the project in the opinion of each stakeholder? What will determine their level of satisfaction with the project results? What is their level of interest/importance for different project aspects?
• What are the relationships among the stakeholders. Which stakeholders are likely to be in conflict, or in a coalition