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Stakeholder Map

Who holds power and why: a stakeholder map template that stays dated and refreshed

BABusiness AnalystCore tier7 sections

A stakeholder map template records who can affect a project, on what basis, how they feel about it today and where you need them to be by cutover. The decision it supports is the engagement plan: which gaps between current and desired disposition get an action, an owner and a date, and who breaks a tie when stakeholders disagree. Specira compiles the map from the stakeholders, constraints and decisions typed during discovery.

Hand-drawn stakeholder grids place people at high or low with no stated basis, never carry a date, and are drawn once at kickoff. The RACI matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) ends up with two accountable names on a row, or none. Communication plans list every person instead of tiers, run to three pages, and nobody follows them. The union representative's stance changed in June and the map still says May.

What sections does the stakeholder map contain?

The governed default template runs from the register and grid through the RACI matrix, communication plan, escalation paths and change management, with the power and interest grid generated as a diagram.

SectionDepthHow it is produced
Name/Role ListcoreTable from typed items · Name, Role, Organization
Influence/Interest GridstandardTable from typed items · Stakeholder, Influence, Interest, Strategy
Power / Interest GridstandardGenerated diagram
RACI MatrixstandardTable from typed items · Deliverable, Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed
Communication PlanfullTable from typed items · Stakeholder, Channel, Frequency, Content
Escalation PathsfullProse synthesized from discovery
Change Management ApproachfullProse synthesized from discovery

How does Specira build the stakeholder map?

The Business Analyst agent owns the stakeholder map, with the Security Analyst and Solutions Architect adding inline notes when a stakeholder holds a veto tied to a constraint, and the Red Team Critic flagging placements without a stated basis. It compiles from the session's typed stakeholders, constraints and decisions. The Meridian sample's Stakeholder Register section carries, for every row, a power basis in plain words, a dated disposition and a current-to-desired engagement gap, plus a sentiment log showing how the union representative's stance moved between kickoff and the telemetry briefing. The Decision Rights section names the model chosen (RACI over DACI, with the reason) and its validator allows exactly one accountable per row.

The Influence and Interest Grid renders from source with its date, and every placement must be justified by the power basis in the register; the Communication Plan derives one row per grid tier, not per person, and must fit on a page. A register without a dated disposition fails its validator and renders as a named gap. Knowledge base entries such as collective-agreement clauses are matched with a confidence score and cited. The Red Team Critic gates the export on decisions resolved, and the map ships as DOCX, Markdown or JSON, or pushes to Confluence.

First page of the sample: Stakeholder Map

Rendered sample

Rendered from the Specira governed default template on a fictional company, watermarked, with its diagrams. Read it in the browser or take the PDF.

PDFView online

How do teams use the stakeholder map?

What does the stakeholder map look like inside Specira?

The screens below follow a stakeholder map inside Specira, from the participants list and delegation in discovery to the approval configuration that names each approver.

Screens are from a seeded Specira demo workspace; counts and scores are sample data.

Book a demo and watch a stakeholder map compile its register, grid and RACI matrix from your discovery session.

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What do teams ask about this artefact?

A stakeholder map lists everyone who can affect or is affected by a project, records the basis of their power and their current disposition with a date, places them on an influence and interest grid, assigns decision rights through a RACI matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed), and sets a communication plan and escalation paths. In Specira it is a project-level artefact owned by the Business Analyst agent.
It is generated as a diagram from the register, with its as-of date, rather than drawn by hand. A validator requires every placement to be justified by the power basis stated in the register, so a high or low rating without a basis cannot render. The grid's quadrants define the tiers the communication plan derives from, and a salience note flags who moves at a known milestone.
That a decision-rights model is named with a rationale, and that every deliverable row has exactly one accountable. The Meridian sample chose RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) over DACI (Driver, Approver, Contributor, Informed) and says why. Rows whose accountable is still undecided render as a named gap, and a concentration of accountable cells on one person is noted.
On the cadence the register decision sets, with a named owner and a next-review date carried on the document. Dispositions are dated and a sentiment log records each movement, so the map shows when it last knew a stance rather than presenting a kickoff snapshot as current. The as-of date prints in the header of every export.
Yes. Clone the governed default in the Templates module and adjust sections, columns, validators and required decisions, for example swapping the decision-rights model or adding a tier. Publications are versioned and immutable, so every rendered map names the template version used. The sample here uses the default v2 on a fictional company and is watermarked.

Which artefacts go with this one?