Lessons Learned on How to Increase Project Success using Proven Stakeholder Management Techniques 1

Management of medium to large complex procurement and integration projects is a difficult challenge. All projects face the difficult proposition of how to execute efficiently while maintaining the required focus on goals and milestones to ensure schedule adherence, enhanced communications, overall acceptable risk, and satisfied stakeholders. The ability to effectively identify and manage project stakeholders significantly improves the chances of successful project execution and organizational success. The project manager’s ability to seek agreement on the goals of the project among the key project stakeholders, including the project team, management and the customer, plays a large part in the project’s success. Failure to do so may expose the project to unnecessary delays, missed opportunities, negative financial impacts, and potential damage to the organization’s reputation. The importance of stakeholder management is further emphasized with its inclusion as an additional Knowledge Area in PMI®’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Fifth Edition. Event Based Stakeholder Risk Management (EBSRM) is a proven project risk management approach that incorporates powerful techniques for the management of project stakeholders. By using the EBSRM approach on projects, the benefits include not only improved stakeholder identification, alignment and management, but a much improved overall project risk management approach. EBSRM focuses on key artifacts that greatly facilitate understanding of the entire project and the associated key issues and risks to the project. These artifacts are extremely effective for communicating important project and risk information to both the project team and to other stakeholders, such as senior and executive management, external agencies, end users, and the customer. By using this technique, there is an increased