2.1.2 Phase 2: Stakeholder Engagement & Communication

Basics

It's important to engage with and inform all relevant stakeholders, such as teachers, students, administrators, and others who may access applications on your infrastructure, about the deployment process, timeline, and any impacts on their work. 

You should know the following terms:

  • Stakeholder management plan

Your department may already have a stakeholder engagement plan or may include elements of this type of plan in a software deployment project plan. A stakeholder management plan identifies key audiences and strategies for communicating and interacting with them so your software deployment is as successful as possible. 

Key considerations for a stakeholder engagement plan may include:

Setting Expectations

Keeping your users informed of the deployment schedule, potential impacts, and benefits of using managed software deployment can help set realistic expectations. You may be asked to help to contribute to documentation used to support software deployment. 

In addition, your end-users--some of whom may be very young--may require training or other resources to help them understand how and why to best use the software on the devices provided by your organization. They may need to understand new applications when they are introduced, tasks new applications are best suited for, and how to operate them. Depending on the structure of your organization, you may also be  involved with providing training or supporting other departments when new or updated software is released.

Provide Feedback Mechanisms

Involve teachers, students, and administrative staff in the planning and deployment process to gather input and address concerns early. The best type of communication from the IT Department is ongoing communication, in which you maintain open channels of communication during and after deployment to address issues promptly and gather feedback for future improvements.

Building Support

Increase user buy-in by ensuring that key stakeholders, such as school administrators and IT managers, are on board with the deployment plan and understand its importance and features. You may be able to increase buy-in and reduce resistance by emphasizing the benefits of managed software deployment, such as improved security, efficiency, and consistency across the entire network.

Here are additional resources you may find useful:

Complete the following task or self-assessment:

To better understand the needs of your end users, identify and reach out to key stakeholders, such as teachers, administrative staff, and IT administrators, to understand their needs and expectations regarding software deployment. You may want to try to schedule attending a faculty, grade-level, PLC or other team meeting to talk with teachers and others. Gather feedback from these users about their experiences with past deployments to identify areas for improvement.