Stakeholder Register

What is a Stakeholder Register?

A stakeholder register is the detailed record of everyone with an interest in a project: who they are, what role they hold, what they need, how much influence they carry, and what has been agreed with them. One row per stakeholder.

It is also called a stakeholder list, a stakeholder log or a stakeholder database. All describe the same document. It is not the stakeholder matrix, which plots those people on a grid; the register holds the detail behind each name.

Keep the list confidential. A register records positions and assessments honestly, which is only possible if the people in it are not reading it.

Stakeholder Register Example

Here's an example of a stakeholder register, listing nineteen stakeholders on a transit center and parking structure.

What Goes in a Project Stakeholder List

Three kinds of information belong in a stakeholder register, and most teams record only the first.

• Identification: Name, organization, position, contact details and role on the project.
• Assessment: What they need, what concerns them, how much influence they hold, and which phase they care about most.
• Classification: Internal, external or statutory, and their category within the project.

A list of names and email addresses is a contact list. The assessment and classification columns are what make it a register.

This free stakeholder register template covers all three across seven sheets.

How to Create a Stakeholder Register Using This Template

Start with the people who hold something you need. Statutory bodies, utilities and adjacent owners are the ones whose absence from a register costs the most.

1. List every stakeholder on the Register sheet, using the organization and role rather than only a name.
2. Set the type as internal, external or statutory, and the category, since the Dashboard counts against both.
3. Score influence and interest from 1 to 5 using the Reference sheet, and let priority calculate.
4. Write what each one needs from the project and what most concerns them.
5. Give every row a named owner.
6. On the Engagement sheet, record the current engagement level and the level the project needs, then set the method, frequency and last contact date.
7. On the Consents sheet, list every permit, approval and easement, with who holds it, its lead time and whether it is on the critical path.
8. Record each contact in the Log with the outcome and who owns any action.
9. Read the Dashboard for empty categories, overdue contacts and consents not yet granted.
10. Insert rows inside the existing block rather than below it, so the totals and the companion sheets follow.

An empty category on the Dashboard is a finding, not a formatting problem. Most registers are heavy on the delivery team, who are under contract and easy to name, and thin on end users and operations.

The Stakeholder Register in Project Management

The PMBOK Guide's sixth edition names the stakeholder register as the primary output of Identify Stakeholders, a process that sits before detailed planning begins.

Later editions restructured around performance domains rather than process groups, but the register's role held: created early, updated as stakeholders change, and feeding both the engagement plan and the communications plan.

Related Articles and Templates

Explore these resources for stakeholder identification, analysis, communication, and engagement planning:

• Stakeholder Analysis Template
• Stakeholder Management Plan Template
• Stakeholder and Communications Plan
• What is a Stakeholder Matrix?
• Why Are Stakeholders Important? The Key to Successful Project Delivery
• How to Improve Communication and Stakeholder Engagement in Your PCG

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