Stakeholder register

Your project’s success depends on many factors: comprehensive planning, effective communication, well-defined goals and objectives, and, of course, stakeholder buy-in and satisfaction. Stakeholder satisfaction is key to any successful project, but it can be challenging to track stakeholder preferences, especially in large, complex projects with many moving parts. Luckily for you, the days of complicated stakeholder management are gone, thanks to stakeholder register templates.

What is a stakeholder register?

A stakeholder register is a document a project manager uses to record stakeholder information, including names, roles, levels of interest and influence, communication preferences, and notes that help you manage expectations and protect the project’s outcome. The register plays a direct role in stakeholder management by providing a single reference for who needs updates, what they care about, and how they influence decisions. It’s among our favorite project management tools because stakeholder mapping helps you manage relationships more effectively.

What is a stakeholder register template?

A stakeholder register template is a reusable resource that you can quickly duplicate to set up a new stakeholder register for every project you work on. Stakeholder register templates provide a basic outline for all your projects, making it easier to track different stakeholders’ preferences and conduct a stakeholder analysis.

Why use a digital stakeholder register template?

A digital stakeholder register template helps you track project stakeholders when managing a significant initiative or multiple projects simultaneously. By capturing key details early, the template helps teams agree on the timeline, roles, and expectations during their project planning process. Teams use a register to streamline stakeholder engagement, guide decision making, and help team members identify stakeholder needs and plan effective communication from the start.

Key benefits of stakeholder register templates include:

• Consolidates information about a project’s stakeholders in a single location.

• Shows who influences decision-making and who needs approval.

• Improves stakeholder relationships by directing project updates to the appropriate audience.

• Limits scope creep by aligning expectations with the project timeline.

• Provides team members with a reusable template they can use across projects.

What’s more, digital stakeholder register templates created in a project management tool reduce work about work by acting as a templated blueprint for your stakeholder information, allowing you to get to work at the start of each project quickly.

What to include in a stakeholder register template 

Your stakeholder register template will serve as a blueprint for all your projects going forward, so it should include any information you want to duplicate across initiatives. This includes information you’ll want to track for each stakeholder, such as their level of project influence and communication preferences. This way, you never have to worry about forgetting key information.

Your stakeholder register template should include each stakeholder’s:

• Name

• Role or title

• Whether they’re an internal or external stakeholder

• Category (internal or external; primary or secondary)

• Level of influence over the project (low, medium, or high)

• Level of interest in the project (low, medium, or high)

• Specific needs or wants

• Primary form of communication

• The type of information they prefer in updates 

• How often they prefer to be updated

• Contact information

• Any additional notes 

Your stakeholder register template should also include a section for basic project information, including the project name and description, project type, and proposed start and end dates. You can fill out this information and any stakeholder-specific notes at the beginning of each project. 

Integrated features

• Project status updates. Project status updates connect directly to the work your project team completes in Asana, so you don’t need to search across tools or sit through extra meetings. Team members can view related details such as the project plan, communication plan, milestones, deliverables, and goals in one place.

• Custom fields. Custom fields enable the project team to tag, sort, and filter work by details such as priority, status, email, or phone number. Teams use these fields to organize tasks consistently across projects and decide what to work on next.

• Project Overview. The Project Overview provides the project team with a shared dashboard that outlines the work, its rationale, and execution. You can store key resources, meeting details, and communication channels alongside your workflows.

• Project Brief. A project brief communicates key dates, expectations, and milestones to the whole project team. When you store the brief in Asana, everyone can reference the same information throughout the project lifecycle.

Recommended apps

• Gmail. The Asana for Gmail integration lets you create tasks directly from your inbox and keeps email context attached to the work.

• Slack. The Slack integration converts messages, requests, and action items into Asana tasks, keeping work assigned and tracked.

• Dropbox. The Dropbox integration lets you attach files to Asana tasks directly from the task pane.

• Microsoft Office 365. The Microsoft Office integration connects Asana with tools like Excel and PowerPoint, so your team can reference spreadsheets and keep work tied to live data.

FAQs about stakeholder register templates