Communication Plan and Stakeholder Analysis Template (IDK-05)

Template IDK-05, version 1.0. Phase: Initiate Project.

How to use this template

Write it during Initiate Project, after the project organisation (IDK-03) is known. Do the stakeholder analysis first (sections 1 to 4), then the plan (sections 5 to 7). The analysis tells you whom the plan is for.
The customer project manager owns it, with the change lead if one is named. The supplier project manager adds the project-internal meetings and reports.
Replace every [bracketed field]. Delete rows marked Example: once you have your own.
Section 3 contains opinions about named people. Keep a restricted version with sections 2 to 4 and circulate the rest.
It is done when every stakeholder group in the grid appears as an audience in the plan, every communication has a named sender, and each line says how feedback comes back.
Review it at every gate. Audiences change: early on it is managers and the core team, before go-live it is every user and some external parties.

Template metadata
Field	Value
Template ID	IDK-05
Phase	Initiate Project
Owner	Customer project manager (with supplier project manager support)
Approver	Executive sponsor
Qualification gate	Project Initiated
Version	1.0

Document control

Version	Date	Author	Change	Approved by
0.1	[YYYY-MM-DD]	[name, role]	First draft
1.0	[YYYY-MM-DD]	[name, role]	Baseline for gate Project Initiated	[executive sponsor]

1. Stakeholder analysis: method

Three steps, repeated at each gate:

Identify. List every person or group that is affected by the project, can influence it, or has an interest in its success or failure. Include external parties.
Prioritise. Place each on the power and interest grid in section 3. The position decides the strategy.
Understand. For the key stakeholders, answer the questions in section 4. Ask them directly where possible; a conversation is also the first act of engagement.

2. Stakeholder list

ID	Stakeholder (person or group)	Organisation, department	How the project affects them	Power	Interest	Current attitude	Relationship owner
Example: SH-01	Head of procurement	Purchasing	Owns the future purchasing process and the benefit tied to it; loses local purchasing habits at two sites	High	High	Supporter	Executive sponsor
Example: SH-02	Warehouse shift leaders	Logistics, [site]	Move from paper picking lists to handheld scanning; their teams are the largest user group	Low	High	Neutral, worried about pace at peak times	Functional team lead, inventory
Example: SH-03	Finance director	Finance	Needs period close unaffected by go-live; approves segregation of duties in permission sets	High	Low at present	Neutral	Customer PM
Example: SH-04	Key suppliers receiving purchase orders	External	New order layout and order numbers; changed confirmation routine	Low	Low	Unaware	Head of procurement
[ID]	[stakeholder]	[department]	[effect]	[High/Low]	[High/Low]	[champion / supporter / neutral / critic / blocker]	[name]

Power means ability to stop, slow or change the project. Interest means how much the outcome matters to them. Rate what is true today, not what you wish.

3. Power and interest grid

Place stakeholder IDs in the cells.

	Low interest	High interest
High power	Keep satisfied. Give enough to keep them comfortable; do not flood them. Short, factual updates. Consult before decisions that touch their area. IDs: [SH-..]	Engage closely. Involve in decisions, meet in person, make every effort to keep them on board. Steering group members belong here. IDs: [SH-..]
Low power	Monitor. Watch for changes in position. Minimal effort: general news only. IDs: [SH-..]	Keep informed. Regular information and a way to ask questions. They often spot practical problems first and can become advocates. IDs: [SH-..]

Movement to watch: [for example: finance director moves to high interest before period close and go-live; suppliers move to high interest in the weeks before cutover].

4. Understanding key stakeholders

Complete for each stakeholder in "engage closely" and "keep satisfied". One block per person.

Stakeholder: [name, role]. Interviewed by: [name]. Date: [YYYY-MM-DD].

Question	Answer
What financial or emotional interest do they have in the outcome? Is it positive or negative?	[answer]
What motivates them most in their job?	[answer]
What information do they want from the project, and in what form do they prefer it?	[answer]
What is their current opinion of the project? Is it based on good information?	[answer]
Who influences their opinions in general, and who influences their opinion of this project? Are those people stakeholders too?	[answer]
If they are not positive, what would win their support?	[answer]
If they cannot be won, how will their opposition be managed?	[answer]
Whom do they influence in turn?	[answer]

Resulting actions:

Action	Owner	Due
Example: Walk the finance director through the go-live date options against the period calendar before the steering group paper is sent	Customer PM	[YYYY-MM-DD]
[action]	[name]	[YYYY-MM-DD]

5. Communication objectives

Objective	How we will know it works
Everyone affected knows why the project exists and what changes for them	[for example: short pulse questions after site briefings]
Decisions are understood where they land, including the reason	Reasoning recorded with each decision and included in the message
Rumours are answered fast	Questions channel answered within [agree in project]
[objective]	[measure]

Principles: talk about benefits for the audience, not features of the system. Say what is not yet decided. One message, one sender. Line managers deliver news that changes someone's job; the project supports them with material.

6. Communication plan: the seven questions

Each line answers: who receives, who sends, why, when and how often, what content, how it is delivered, how feedback is gathered.

#	Who receives	Who sends	Why	When, how often	What content	How delivered	How feedback is gathered
Example: C-01	Steering group	Both PMs	Decisions and gate approval	[agree in project], papers sent in advance	Status report, key design decision papers, change requests (IDK-06)	Meeting with pack	Decisions and actions in minutes
Example: C-02	All employees at in-scope sites	Executive sponsor	Explain purpose, timeline, what changes and what does not	At project start and after each gate	Short message in business language; link to project page	Site meeting and intranet	Questions mailbox; questions and answers published
Example: C-03	Warehouse operators and shift leaders	Warehouse manager, with expert users	Prepare for handheld scanning and the new receipt routine	From acceptance test onward, [frequency agreed in project]	What changes in the daily routine, training dates, who the expert user on each shift is	Shift briefing, demonstration on the device	Expert users collect concerns and bring them to the functional team
Example: C-04	Key suppliers	Head of procurement	Avoid rejected orders and late confirmations after go-live	Before cutover, date from cutover plan	New order layout, order numbering, contact for questions, cutover freeze dates	Letter or email from the buyer responsible	Buyer follows up by phone with the largest suppliers
Example: C-05	Help desk and support partner	Customer PM	Readiness for first-line support	Before go-live and at handover	Support model, expert user list, basic administration tasks, known residual issues	Briefing and handover document	Open questions logged and answered before go-live
[ID]	[audience]	[sender]	[purpose]	[timing]	[content]	[channel]	[feedback route]

7. Meeting calendar

Meeting	Purpose	Chair	Participants	Frequency	Input	Output
Project team meeting	Coordinate workstreams, review plan, risks and issues	Customer PM	PMs, functional leads, solution architect, technical leads	Weekly	Workstream status, plan, risk register, issue log	Action list, updated plan
PM-to-PM meeting	Align on plan, resources, upcoming customer tasks, commercial matters	Alternating	Both PMs	Weekly	Tracker, budget status	Agreed positions, escalations
Project review	Ongoing control by the PMs; establishes milestone status	Supplier PM	Both PMs, workstream leads as needed	[agree in project]	Master implementation plan, tracker	Milestone status for the status report
Steering group	Progress, escalations, key design decisions, change authorisation, gate approval	Executive sponsor	Steering group members (IDK-03)	[agree in project], plus each gate	Steering group pack (IDK-06), sent in advance	Minutes with owned actions, decisions, gate decision record
Phase review	Look back at the phase: what worked, what to change; after go-live, the project evaluation	Both PMs	Core team, sponsors	End of each phase; final review after go-live	Tracker, risk and issue history, test results	Lessons learned, input to next phase plan or closure document
Defect triage	Classify and assign defects during test cycles	Test lead	Test lead, functional leads, application consultants	[daily during test cycles, agree in project]	Test tracker	Classified defects with owner and date
Cutover status review	Control of the go-live event	[cutover manager]	Cutover team	Short and frequent during cutover, [agree in project]	Cutover checklist	Updated checklist, go or stop decisions
[meeting]	[purpose]	[role]	[participants]	[frequency]	[input]	[output]

Meeting rules: agenda in the invitation; decisions and actions recorded with owner and date; records stored in [location] within [agree in project].

8. Channels and ownership

Channel	Used for	Owner	Not used for
Example: Project page on intranet	Timeline, news, questions and answers, training calendar	Change lead	Decisions that affect individuals
Example: Project collaboration space	Working documents, action lists	Both PMs	Communication to the wider business
[channel]	[use]	[name]	[limits]

Project identity: [project name, short description used in all messages, visual identity if any].

9. Communication log

Date	Communication (ID from section 6)	Sent by	Audience reached	Feedback received	Follow-up
[YYYY-MM-DD]	[ID]	[name]	[audience]	[summary]	[action, owner]

Approval

Name	Role	Date	Signature
[name]	Executive sponsor (customer)	[YYYY-MM-DD]	______________________
[name]	Customer project manager	[YYYY-MM-DD]	______________________
[name]	Change lead	[YYYY-MM-DD]	______________________
[name]	Supplier project manager	[YYYY-MM-DD]	______________________

Independent template aligned with the IFS implementation methodology. Not an official IFS document. IFS is a registered trademark of IFS AB.

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