INTRODUCTION
Effective stakeholder management is crucial for municipal projects, whether you’re implementing new policies or building infrastructure projects. A well-organized stakeholder registry serves as the foundation for effective public engagement, helping municipalities track relationships and communication history.
Here is how municipalities can build and manage a stakeholder registry.
START WITH SPREADSHEETS
For municipalities just starting out, spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets offer a straightforward and low-cost way to organize stakeholder information, including names, contact details, roles and engagement history.
However, as stakeholder interactions increase in volume and complexity, spreadsheets can become cumbersome, leading to challenges in data consistency, keeping track of versions and limited collaborative access.
TRANSITION TO SPECIALIZED SRM TOOLS
To address the limitations of spreadsheets, municipalities can adopt specialized Stakeholder Relationship Management (SRM) tools designed to streamline stakeholder engagement processes. Platforms like Simply Stakeholders, Quorum and Jambo offer features tailored to the needs of public sector entities.
Simply Stakeholders is a comprehensive platform that helps government entities manage their stakeholder relationships through several key features. The system streamlines contact management by allowing bulk imports of existing contact lists and integrating with popular email platforms like Outlook and Gmail.
The platform provides organization tools through tagging and grouping functionalities that enable effective stakeholder segmentation. For deeper insights, Simply Stakeholders offers stakeholder mapping capabilities alongside issues and sentiment analysis, giving government entities valuable intelligence about stakeholder sentiment, key issues and emerging themes. Lastly, communication can also be facilitated through built-in email and text message outreach features.
Meanwhile, Quorum offers relationship mapping, integrated email outreach and mobile access for on-the-go engagement. Pricing is customized based on the data and features required.
Lastly, Jambo focuses on stakeholder data, tracks communications and manages commitments and grievances. Users can log engagement records, track issues and generate comprehensive reports. Key features include automated follow-up processes and data import capabilities.
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR STAKEHOLDER REGISTRY
Once your registry is established, whether in a spreadsheet or SRM tool, ongoing management is required to keep it accurate and useful. Assign a team member or department (potentially someone in communications) to be responsible for regular updates. This person should monitor incoming engagement (e.g., emails, meeting notes) and ensure stakeholders’ profiles are updated with new job titles, interests or concerns.
Use consistent data entry practices by defining required fields, such as name, role, and email, and establish naming conventions to avoid duplication. For example, always list organizations by full name (e.g., instead of by acronym) and decide whether to track individual contacts or group-level entries (e.g., neighborhood associations).
Segment stakeholders into groups such as businesses, advocacy organizations and concerned residents. This allows for targeted communication.
Conduct regular audits, starting quarterly and then moving to monthly, to maintain accuracy. This includes removing outdated contacts, merging duplicates and updating any interaction logs.
Due to registries containing sensitive personal data, limit access to a few municipal employees and store files on secure, backed-up platforms or cloud-based systems with appropriate permissions.