A project team can have every senior approval and still miss the people who must make the change work. The new process may save time for one department while moving unanswered questions to reception, support staff or customers.
The Association for Project Management describes stakeholders as people or groups involved in the work or affected by its outcomes. That definition reaches beyond the names that appear on an approval chart.
Walk through one ordinary transaction
Imagine replacing paper appointment requests with an online form. Trace a request from start to finish. Who completes the form? Who helps when it fails? Who receives the result? Who deals with an incorrect booking? Who cannot use the proposed channel easily?
Write down each affected group, the change they will experience and what you still need to learn from them. This produces a more concrete map than labelling everyone simply supportive, neutral or resistant.
A receptionist may have little authority to approve the project but know the exceptions that appear every morning. A customer group may have little organisational influence yet bear most of the inconvenience if the alternative route disappears.
Connect the map to a decision
For each group, identify a question that could change the design. “How do you handle a request without an email address?” is more useful than asking whether people like innovation. Record who will ask the question and when the answer is needed.
After consultation, show what changed or explain why a suggestion was not adopted. Do not describe a meeting as participation if all relevant decisions were already fixed and no response was possible.
Revisit the map when the scope changes. A new reporting requirement or extended opening time may introduce people the first version missed. The map earns its place by improving decisions and communication, not by becoming a colourful diagram that disappears after the launch presentation.