---
title: "Communication Plan and Stakeholder Analysis Template (IDK-05)"
date: 2026-09-21
description: "Ready-to-use template IDK-05: Communication Plan and Stakeholder Analysis for IFS Cloud projects, aligned with the IFS implementation methodology."
author: "Dariusz Mysliwiec"
categories:
  - name: "Implementation docs kit"
    url: "https://www.ifs-erp.com/implementation-docs-kit.md"
---

# 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](https://www.ifs-erp.com/en/marketplace/implementation-docs-kit/03-project-organisation-and-raci)) 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.

 | 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 |

 ## Contents

 
- [Document control](#document-control)
- [1. Stakeholder analysis: method](#1-stakeholder-analysis-method)
- [2. Stakeholder list](#2-stakeholder-list)
- [3. Power and interest grid](#3-power-and-interest-grid)
- [4. Understanding key stakeholders](#4-understanding-key-stakeholders)
- [5. Communication objectives](#5-communication-objectives)
- [6. Communication plan: the seven questions](#6-communication-plan-the-seven-questions)
- [7. Meeting calendar](#7-meeting-calendar)
- [8. Channels and ownership](#8-channels-and-ownership)
- [9. Communication log](#9-communication-log)
- [Approval](#approval)

 ## 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:

 
1. **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.
2. **Prioritise.** Place each on the power and interest grid in section 3. The position decides the strategy.
3. **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](https://www.ifs-erp.com/en/marketplace/implementation-docs-kit/06-steering-group-pack)) | 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](https://www.ifs-erp.com/en/marketplace/implementation-docs-kit/03-project-organisation-and-raci)) | [agree in project], plus each gate | Steering group pack ([IDK-06](https://www.ifs-erp.com/en/marketplace/implementation-docs-kit/06-steering-group-pack)), 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.

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