Airtable as a Simple CRM: A Stakeholder Register for BAs
Use Airtable as a simple CRM for your stakeholders: add a person, rate their influence and interest, and link them as the owner of a requirement. Shown on a real Airtable base for an online shop, on the free plan.
Step by step
The register
- A stakeholder CRM. Who are your stakeholders, and how much do they matter? A stakeholder register in Airtable answers that, like a simple CRM. Let me add a person, rate them, and make them an owner.
- One row, one person. This is the stakeholders table of our online shop project. Every row is one person, with their role, department, influence and interest.
Add a stakeholder
- New stakeholder. A new payments lead just joined. Click the plus under the last row and type her name. Type her role, so everyone knows why she is on the list. And her department. Later you can group the register by department.
Rate them
- Influence. Influence is how much she can change the project. She signs off on payments, so pick high from the list.
- Interest. Interest is how much the project affects her. Card payments are her whole job, so her interest is high too.
- Manage closely. High influence and high interest means manage her closely. Involve her early, and keep her in every review.
Make her an owner
- Link as owner. Now make her an owner. Click the owns requirements cell, then the plus. Search for card, and pick pay by card. Now open the requirements table. Airtable added the link on this side too. Pay by card now has two owners, Dana and Nina, without any typing.
- Who owns what. Back in the register, her row shows what she owns. So you always know who to ask about each requirement.
Recap
- Rate, then link. So, one row per stakeholder. Rate influence and interest with single selects, so everyone uses the same words. Then link each person to what they own. High and high means manage closely. Subscribe for more Airtable tips for business analysts.
