Free Stakeholder Register Template

This Stakeholder Register template is used by business analysts worldwide to identify who has influence over a project, how interested they are, and how to engage each of them appropriately.

What Is a Stakeholder Register?

A stakeholder register identifies everyone with an interest in or influence over a project — not just the obvious sponsors and end users, but the people whose cooperation, approval, or silent resistance can quietly determine whether a project succeeds. It records each stakeholder’s role, their level of influence and interest, and the engagement strategy that fits them. Without it, a BA tends to default to treating every stakeholder the same way, which under-invests in the people who matter most and over-invests in the people who don’t.

What Should It Include?

• Name and role — who they are and their position relative to the project
• Influence level — how much power they have to affect the project’s direction or approval
• Interest level — how much the outcome actually matters to them
• Engagement strategy — manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed, or monitor (see the power/interest grid below)
• Communication preference — how and how often they want to hear from the project

The Power/Interest Grid

The standard technique for turning a stakeholder register into an actual plan is the power/interest grid (also called Mendelow’s matrix): plot each stakeholder on two axes — how much power they have over the project, and how much interest they have in its outcome. High power, high interest stakeholders get managed closely. High power, low interest stakeholders get kept satisfied without being overwhelmed with detail. Low power, high interest stakeholders get kept informed. Low power, low interest stakeholders get monitored with minimal effort. This is what stops a stakeholder register from being a static list nobody acts on.

Common Mistakes When Building a Stakeholder Register

• Treating all stakeholders the same. Weekly detailed updates to someone with low interest wastes their time and yours; monthly summaries to someone with high power and high interest under-serves the relationship that matters most.
• Missing informal stakeholders. The person without a title on the org chart who everyone actually checks with before agreeing to anything is a real stakeholder, whether or not they show up in a project charter.
• Building it once and never updating it. Influence and interest shift as a project progresses — someone indifferent at kickoff can become highly engaged the moment a decision affects their team directly.
• Confusing stakeholders with sponsors. A sponsor funds and champions the project. A stakeholder is anyone affected by or able to affect it — a much larger group.

What’s Included in This Template

• Pre-structured sections with guidance notes
• Worked examples from real BA projects
• Guidance for Agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches
• Easy to adapt to your organisation’s standards

How to Use This Template

Download the template and build it during initial stakeholder identification, before requirements gathering begins — knowing who to talk to, and how, shapes how the rest of the analysis gets done. Each section has guidance notes explaining what to include and why — based on real BA practice, not textbook theory.

The stakeholders identified here are exactly who you’ll consult when drafting your Business Requirements Document — the two documents are built in sequence, not in isolation.

Why Requirements Templates Matter

Consistent documentation is one of the most underrated BA skills. A well-structured document:

• Sets clear expectations from day one
• Reduces “we didn’t know that was in scope” conversations
• Creates an audit trail for decisions and changes
• Speeds up new team member onboarding
• Builds your credibility as a professional BA

Browse All Free Templates

Our free BA template library covers 15 core documents. For 175 practitioner-level templates covering the full BA lifecycle, see our BA Toolkit — Complete Pack. Free account required for the library, no payment.

Want to Master These Tools?

Templates are a starting point. Our BA training courses teach you how to apply them in real projects — with exercises, feedback, and examples from experienced BAs. Start with our free intro course.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a stakeholder register used for?

It identifies everyone with an interest in or influence over a project and records how to engage each of them — who to consult, who to inform, and who to manage closely.

What is the power/interest grid?

A technique for plotting stakeholders by how much power and how much interest they have, to decide the right engagement strategy for each — manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed, or monitor.

Do stakeholder registers need updating during a project?

Yes — influence and interest shift as a project progresses. A register built once at kickoff and never revisited misses that.

Benjamen Walsh

Founder, BBA Institute · Certified Business Analyst

Benjamen Walsh is the founder of the Better Business Analysis Institute (BBAI) and a practising business analyst with over a decade of experience delivering change across New Zealand and Australia. He has trained over 200+ business analysts through BBAI certification programmes and hosts The Better Business Analyst Podcast (138+ episodes). Benjamen works with organisations including Corporates, Consultancies, Non for Profits, Small Businesses and the New Zealand Government.

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