The Roles Of Stakeholders In Project Planning Process

Let’s get to know who a stakeholder is before dabbling into the roles a stakeholder plays in project planning process.
Who Is A Stakeholder?
A stakeholder is a person who is influenced by or who can influence the outcome of a project. Stakeholders plan projects in the early stages, making sure that resources are made available to contribute to project success, and provide insight regarding the probable reaction to a project's outcome. This in turn promotes project changes when necessary to win organizational support.
The roles of stakeholders are variable throughout a project life cycle. However, the ability of stakeholders to agree to perform the jobs given to them during the Project Planning process greatly contributes to the success or failure of that project.
Stakeholder Involvement In Project Planning
Presented below are the roles a stakeholder is likely to perform in project planning such as:
•	The identification of the objective of the project
•	The identification of all specification of required project resources and their allocation
•	The determination of the methods to be used to deliver the project end product
•	To respond to critical events and access activities and results.
The involvement of the stakeholder in the planning process of any project has a lot of benefits derivable and they include the following:
•	Leads to reduction in distrust of the project process or result
•	Leads to an increase in commitment to the objectives and processes of that project
•	Makes the outcomes of that project to be highly credible.
Classification Of Stakeholders
Stakeholders are classified into two distinct groups of both internal and external stakeholders. There are factors that help in this classification process and they are:
•	The role of the stakeholder’s project team
•	The project planning activities in which the stakeholder is involved
•	The level of involvement of the stakeholder in Project Planning job or the duty performed for a particular activity
•	The reporting relationship existing between the stakeholder and the Project Management Office (PMO)
Internal Stakeholders
Project planning activities in which internal stakeholders participate fully in different levels of participation are as follows:
•	Estimation of project scope
•	Defining the work product
•	Determination of project life cycle as well as task attributes
•	Projection of cost together with effort
•	Creation of project schedule and budget
•	Identification of the likely risks involved in the project
•	Planning for information management, project resources, personnel and stakeholder training
•	Creation and review of project plan
•	Harmonization of work and resource requirements
•	Helping the stakeholder to exhibit commitment to the project plan.
External Stakeholders
The project planning activities in which external stakeholders participate fully are related to those of internal stakeholders most of the times. However, their roles are restrained to that of consultants rather than team members.
While taking a critical look at the roles of a stakeholder in the project planning process, it is worthwhile not to lose sight of the stakeholder management because they will help to drive the stakeholder to achieving greater results. This is so because…
The stakeholder management is critical to the success of every project in every organization. By engaging the right people in the right place in your project, you can make a big difference in Project Planning process.