Business analysis glossary
Stakeholder
What it is
A stakeholder is any person or group who is affected by a project or who can influence it. That includes sponsors, customers, staff who will use the new process, technical teams, regulators and suppliers. Some stakeholders ask for the change, others only live with its results.
Why it matters
Projects fail when an important voice is found too late. Naming stakeholders early lets the analyst plan who to interview, who must approve decisions and who simply needs to be kept informed.It also stops the loudest voice from being mistaken for the whole audience, since quieter groups such as night-shift staff or regulators are named and considered too.
Example
For a new returns process at Lumen Retail, the stakeholders include the head of operations (sponsor), warehouse staff (daily users), the finance team (refund accounting), customer support (handles complaints) and the developers who change the order system. Each group needs a different level of involvement, and the analyst records that.