Project Planning and Stakeholder Management Essentials Training Course

Course overview

Projects rarely fail because teams cannot list tasks. They fail when scope is agreed informally, dependencies are not made visible, decision-makers are engaged too late, and competing stakeholders receive inconsistent information. This five-day course equips project professionals to build practical plans that can be approved, baselined, monitored and communicated. Participants learn how to turn a business need into a workable delivery approach while managing expectations across sponsors, users, suppliers and delivery teams.

The course covers project definition, scope boundaries, work breakdown structures, sequencing, estimating, schedule development, milestone planning, resource assumptions, risk-aware planning and control baselines. Participants apply stakeholder identification and power-interest analysis, create stakeholder profiles, define engagement strategies, plan communications, run decision forums and manage difficult stakeholder situations. They also learn to use Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel and Jira to present plans, track actions and maintain clear reporting.

Teaching combines instructor-led explanation with progressive work on a realistic project case. Each day adds a new component to an integrated planning pack, using planning workshops, stakeholder role-play, schedule reviews and peer challenge. Participants leave with a completed project planning and stakeholder management pack containing a project charter, scope statement, work breakdown structure, networked schedule, milestone plan, stakeholder register, engagement plan, communication matrix, RAID log and 90-day application plan.

This course is suited to professionals who already contribute to projects and now need a disciplined method for planning and influencing delivery. It is particularly valuable for staff moving into project coordinator, project manager, workstream lead or client-facing delivery roles, and for managers who need teams to produce plans that support timely decisions rather than static documentation.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Define a project charter with measurable objectives, scope boundaries, assumptions, constraints and approval criteria
• Construct a work breakdown structure that converts approved scope into manageable deliverables and work packages
• Develop a dependency-based project schedule using activity sequencing, duration estimates, milestones and critical-path logic
• Create a planning baseline that links scope, schedule, resources, risks and control tolerances
• Map stakeholders using power-interest analysis and document their needs, influence, attitude and engagement priority
• Produce a stakeholder engagement plan with targeted actions, owners, timing and success measures
• Design a communication matrix that specifies audiences, messages, channels, frequency and escalation routes
• Facilitate a planning and stakeholder review meeting that captures decisions, actions, issues and commitments

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Project Coordinators — who need to turn project inputs into controlled plans and stakeholder reporting
• Aspiring Project Managers — who are preparing to lead defined projects or workstreams
• Project Managers — who need a repeatable method for improving planning discipline and stakeholder engagement
• Workstream Leads — who coordinate dependent activities and require timely decisions from multiple stakeholders
• Business Analysts — who translate user needs into scope, requirements and stakeholder communications
• Operations Managers — who sponsor change initiatives and need delivery plans that expose risks and accountabilities

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience contributing to a project, change initiative, implementation or operational improvement activity. They should be familiar with basic terms such as scope, milestone, task, deadline, risk and stakeholder, and be comfortable working with spreadsheets and shared documents. No formal project management qualification is required, and participants do not need prior experience with Microsoft Project or Jira; guided exercises introduce the relevant functions. Complete beginners can attend, but should expect to spend time practising planning terminology, schedule logic and stakeholder analysis before applying the methods to larger projects.

Training methodology

The course is delivered through instructor-led demonstrations, short planning clinics and a five-day project case that develops into one integrated delivery pack. Participants build a charter, work breakdown structure, dependency schedule and stakeholder register in guided exercises, then test their choices through sponsor briefings, stakeholder role-play and peer plan reviews. The instructor demonstrates practical use of Microsoft Project, Excel and Jira without treating software as a substitute for planning judgement. The final session includes an application-planning workshop focused on a current workplace project.

Course outline

Day 1: Defining the project and planning foundation

• Project life cycle, governance roles and decision rights
• Business case interpretation and measurable project objectives
• Project charter structure and approval criteria
• Scope statement boundaries, exclusions and acceptance criteria
• Assumptions, constraints and planning premises
• Requirements traceability from business need to deliverable
• Work breakdown structure principles and work package definition

Workshop: Participants create a project charter, scope statement and first-level work breakdown structure for the course case.

Day 2: Building a credible schedule and baseline

• Activity definition from work packages
• Precedence relationships and dependency types
• Duration estimating techniques and uncertainty ranges
• Network diagrams, critical path and schedule float
• Milestone plans and stage-gate decision points
• Resource assumptions and capacity constraints
• Microsoft Project schedule creation and baseline setting

Workshop: Participants build a dependency-based schedule in Microsoft Project and identify the critical path, milestones and schedule risks.

Day 3: Identifying and engaging stakeholders

• Stakeholder identification across sponsor, user, supplier and delivery groups
• Stakeholder register fields and evidence sources
• Power-interest mapping and influence assessment
• Stakeholder salience and engagement priority
• Current-state and desired-state engagement assessment
• Stakeholder needs, objections and value propositions
• Engagement action planning with accountable owners

Workshop: Participants produce a stakeholder register, power-interest map and engagement plan for the case project.

Day 4: Communication, risk and project control

• Communication matrix design by audience and decision need
• Status reporting with milestones, forecast dates and exceptions
• RAID log structure for risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies
• Risk response planning and early-warning indicators
• Decision logs, action registers and escalation paths
• Change control for scope, schedule and stakeholder commitments
• Jira boards and Excel trackers for visible delivery control

Workshop: Participants design a communication matrix and RAID log, then prepare an exception report for a simulated schedule disruption.

Day 5: Facilitating alignment and applying the method

• Planning workshop agendas and pre-read design
• Facilitation techniques for conflicting stakeholder priorities
• Options analysis and recommendation framing
• Sponsor briefings and decision-oriented presentations
• Managing resistance, ambiguity and late stakeholder input
• Integrated planning pack quality review
• Ninety-day workplace application planning

Workshop: Participants run a stakeholder review simulation and finalise an integrated planning and stakeholder management pack with a 90-day application plan.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel, Jira, PMBOK Guide Seventh Edition

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions