Every project has a set of stakeholders associated with it. Project stakeholders are individuals or organizations who are connected to the project in one way or another and can influence the project’s outcome. As the project manager, you need to work with different types of stakeholders in various ways. A stakeholder can do the following:
Be actively involved in the work of the project.
Exert influence over the project and its outcome (also known as managing stakeholders).
Have a vested interest in the outcome of a project.
A variety of stakeholder categories exist, and each is supported in its own way by Project 2010. The categories are as follows:
Project manager. Project 2010 directly supports the project manager with its scheduling, tracking, and communication capabilities.
Team members. The project resources who are executing the project can be supported through SharePoint or Project Web App, where they can view their assigned tasks, send and receive assignment progress updates, send status reports, and review the project as a whole.
Team leads. Team leads can use Project Web App to reassign and manage tasks.
Project resource manager. A resource manager might work in concert with the project manager to help acquire and maintain necessary resources. Through Project Web App, a resource manager can analyze resource utilization information, build project teams, make assignments, and approve timesheets.
Senior managers, portfolio managers, executives, or sponsors. People who lead the organization in implementing the project or supply the project budget or other resources can use Project Web App to review high-level project summaries. Collectively, they can make up a project management office (PMO). In an enterprise environment, executives can review a summary that compares multiple projects being carried out throughout the organization.
Inside Out: Project support for customers and end users
Other possible stakeholders include customers or end users. Project 2010 does not provide direct support for such stakeholders. However, you can provide them with access to information via Project Web App or periodically publish a view designed for them on a website.
For more information about Project Web App, see Chapter 25, and Chapter 26. For more information about publishing project information, see Chapter 13.
Managing stakeholders can influence the planning processes of a project and help set the expectations and assumptions of the project. Sometimes the expectations of different stakeholders conflict with one other. It’s the job of the project manager to balance and reconcile these conflicts well before project execution begins.
Managing stakeholders might also impose new requirements that necessitate adjustments to the finish date, budget, or scope. Even if this happens in the midst of execution, you can use Project 2010 to make adjustments responding to the new demands.
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