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MODULE 15: PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR INFORMATICS INITIATIVES
Section 15.4: Stakeholder Communication and Reporting
An informatics project involves a vast array of stakeholders: nurses, physicians, IT analysts, hospital executives, and frontline pharmacy staff. We will provide practical templates and strategies for creating effective communication plans and status reports that keep everyone informed and engaged.
SECTION 15.4
Stakeholder Communication and Reporting
Translating Project Data into Meaningful Dialogue and Action.
15.4.1 The “Why”: Communication as the Lifeblood of a Project
As a pharmacist, you are a professional communicator. You translate the complex language of pharmacology into understandable instructions for a patient. You distill a patient’s vague symptoms into a concise, clinically relevant recommendation for a physician. You mediate conflicts between technicians, patients, and insurance companies. You understand that the precise, timely, and empathetic delivery of information is not a “soft skill”—it is a core competency that ensures medication safety and therapeutic success. Without effective communication, the best-laid clinical plans can fail.
This principle is magnified tenfold in the world of informatics project management. A project can have a flawless scope, a perfectly detailed WBS, an airtight schedule, and a robust risk plan, yet still fail spectacularly due to poor communication. Communication is the circulatory system of a project; it is the essential process that carries vital information—status, risks, decisions, and changes—to all the critical “organs” of the project body (the stakeholders). When this circulation is blocked or inefficient, parts of the project begin to fail. Sponsors become disengaged, end-users feel unheard and become resistant, the project team becomes misaligned, and critical risks go unaddressed until they become full-blown crises.
The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) states that top project managers spend up to 90% of their time on communication-related activities. This is not an exaggeration. Your role as an informatics pharmacist leading a project is not just to be the clinical expert; it is to be the central hub of communication. You are the translator between the technical team and the clinical team. You are the reporter who provides updates to leadership. You are the diplomat who negotiates with resistant stakeholders. Developing a structured, intentional, and strategic approach to communication is not an administrative task to be checked off a list. It is the single most important ongoing activity you will perform to keep your project healthy, on track, and aligned with its ultimate goal of improving patient care.
Retail Pharmacist Analogy: Managing a Major Drug Backorder Crisis
Imagine the manufacturer of a widely used, life-sustaining medication (e.g., a common thyroid medication or an essential antibiotic) announces a nationwide, indefinite backorder. Your pharmacy has hundreds of patients on this drug. This is a crisis, and your “project” is to manage it with minimal disruption to patient care and maximal safety. Your success or failure will hinge almost entirely on your communication strategy.
You instinctively create a multi-layered communication plan targeting your different stakeholders:
- For Patients (The End-Users): You can’t just tell them “we’re out.” That would cause panic. Your plan: Proactively run a report of all affected patients. For those with refills remaining, you call them personally. The Message: “Hi Mrs. Jones, this is your pharmacist. There is a national shortage of your medication. We are working on it, and I want to assure you we will find a solution. I am contacting your doctor now to discuss the best alternative for you, and I will call you back as soon as we have a new prescription.” You are managing their expectations and providing reassurance.
- For Prescribers (The Clinical Team): They need to know about the shortage and what the therapeutic alternatives are. Your plan: You draft a concise fax blast to the top 20 local prescribers. The Message: “URGENT: Nationwide backorder of [Drug X]. Per clinical guidelines, recommended alternatives are [Drug Y] or [Drug Z]. Please indicate your preferred alternative for our mutual patients. We will be calling to confirm for each individual.” You are not just presenting a problem; you are providing a solution and a clear call to action.
- For Your Pharmacy Staff (The Project Team): Your technicians and other pharmacists need to know exactly what to say and do. Your plan: You hold a quick team huddle. The Message: “Team, we have a major backorder on [Drug X]. Here is the call list for patients. Here is the fax template for doctors. If a patient calls, use this script to explain the situation calmly. Do not guess at alternatives; escalate all clinical questions to me directly.” You are ensuring a consistent, unified message.
- For Your Pharmacy Manager (The Sponsor): They need to know the scope of the problem and that you have it under control. Your plan: You send them a brief email update. The Message: “FYI – We are managing a critical backorder of [Drug X] affecting ~150 patients. Have initiated patient and prescriber outreach protocols. Will update you at end-of-day on progress.” You are providing a high-level summary and managing up.
This structured, multi-channel, audience-specific communication approach is precisely what a formal Communication Management Plan does for an informatics project. You already possess the skill of tailoring a message to an audience; now you will apply that skill within a structured project management framework.
15.4.2 Masterclass: Stakeholder Analysis and the Power/Interest Grid
Before you can communicate effectively, you must understand your audience. In project management, your audience is your universe of stakeholders. A stakeholder is any individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive themselves to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project. The first step in building a communication plan is to identify these stakeholders and then analyze their relationship to the project. Simply creating a list of stakeholders is not enough. You must prioritize them to ensure you are focusing your limited time and communication efforts where they will have the most impact.
The most effective tool for this prioritization is the Power/Interest Grid. This simple matrix helps you categorize stakeholders by assessing them along two key dimensions:
- Power: The stakeholder’s level of authority or ability to influence the project’s outcomes. Can they stop the project? Can they provide or withhold resources?
- Interest: The degree to which the stakeholder is likely to be affected by the project’s outcomes. How much do they care about the project’s success or failure?
By plotting your stakeholders on this grid, you can determine the exact engagement strategy required for each group, ensuring that you are not under-communicating with your critical sponsor or over-communicating with a low-impact ancillary department.
The Power/Interest Grid for Stakeholder Engagement
Power
Low Power / High Interest
STRATEGY: KEEP INFORMED
These individuals are often your end-users or champions. They have valuable insights but limited authority. Keep them informed of project progress and decisions to maintain their support and gather feedback.
High Power / High Interest
STRATEGY: MANAGE CLOSELY
These are your key players, like the project sponsor. You must fully engage them, manage their expectations closely, and involve them in governance and decision-making.
Low Power / Low Interest
STRATEGY: MONITOR
These stakeholders require minimal effort. Monitor them for any changes in their interest or power, but do not overwhelm them with excessive communication.
High Power / Low Interest
STRATEGY: KEEP SATISFIED
These are often executives who can impact your project but are not involved in the day-to-day. Keep them satisfied with high-level summaries, but do not bog them down with details.
Interest
Informatics Stakeholder Analysis in Action
Let’s apply this to our Barcode Medication Administration (BCMA) implementation project.
| Stakeholder | Primary Interests & Concerns | Power | Interest | Engagement Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) (Project Sponsor) |
Patient safety metrics, nursing workflow efficiency, budget adherence, project success. | High | High | Manage Closely: Weekly 1-on-1 meetings, formal status reports, immediate escalation of critical issues. Must be deeply involved in all major decisions. |
| Frontline Med-Surg Nurses (End-Users) |
Ease of use, speed of workflow, reliability of scanners, impact on their daily tasks. | Low | High | Keep Informed: Regular updates via newsletters and huddles. Involve them heavily in workflow design and testing sessions to ensure buy-in. Their collective voice can become powerful. |
| Hospital CEO | Return on investment (ROI), alignment with hospital’s strategic goals (e.g., Magnet status), overall project success/failure. | High | Low | Keep Satisfied: Provide high-level, “dashboard” style updates at quarterly leadership meetings. Only involve them if a major risk threatens the project’s strategic alignment or budget. |
| Pharmacy Technicians (Central) | Changes to cart-fill or ADC restocking processes, new labeling requirements. | Low | Low | Monitor: Communicate any specific process changes relevant to them closer to go-live. No need for weekly updates. |
| Lead EHR Analyst (Core Team Member) |
Clear requirements, defined tasks, timely decisions from clinical SMEs, realistic timelines. | High | High | Manage Closely: Daily check-ins or stand-up meetings. Constant, open, and transparent communication is essential. They are your primary partner in execution. |
15.4.3 The Communication Management Plan: Your Strategic Blueprint
Once you have identified and analyzed your stakeholders, the next step is to create a formal Communication Management Plan. This document is a component of the overall project management plan that describes how, when, and by whom information about the project will be administered and disseminated. It is not just a list of meetings; it is a strategic document that ensures the right message gets to the right people at the right time using the right method. This proactive planning prevents the most common communication failures: stakeholders not receiving information they need, receiving too much irrelevant information, or confusion about how and when updates will be provided.
The Heart of the Plan: The Communication Matrix
The core of a good communication plan is a simple but powerful table often called the Communication Matrix. It translates the strategy from your Power/Interest Grid into a specific, actionable plan. It answers five critical questions for each stakeholder group:
The Five Golden Questions of Communication Planning
- WHO needs this information? (The Stakeholder)
- WHAT information do they need? (The Content)
- HOW will you deliver it? (The Method/Medium)
- WHEN will you deliver it? (The Frequency)
- WHO is responsible for delivering it? (The Owner)
Masterclass Table: Sample Communication Matrix for a BCMA Implementation
| WHO? (Stakeholder) |
WHAT? (Information/Content) |
HOW? (Method/Medium) |
WHEN? (Frequency) |
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? (Owner) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Sponsor (CNO) | Overall project status (health), budget summary, key performance indicators (KPIs), major risks and issues, decisions needed. | – Weekly 30-min 1-on-1 meeting – Formal “5-Blocker” Status Report |
– Meeting: Every Monday AM – Report: Emailed every Friday PM |
Project Lead (You) |
| Core Project Team (EHR Analyst, Nurse Champion, etc.) |
Detailed task status, upcoming deadlines, immediate roadblocks, cross-functional dependencies, technical questions. | – 15-min Daily Stand-up meeting – Shared project task board (e.g., Planner, Trello) |
– Meeting: Daily at 8:45 AM – Board: Updated in real-time |
Project Lead (to facilitate), All Team Members (to update) |
| Steering Committee (Exec Leadership: CEO, CFO, CMIO) |
High-level project milestone progress, alignment with strategic goals, summary of major risks, overall budget health. | – Formal presentation – Executive Dashboard |
Monthly (during regularly scheduled IT Governance meeting) | Project Sponsor (CNO) & Project Lead (You) |
| All Frontline Nurses (End-User Community) |
Project goals & timeline, “What’s in it for me?”, sneak peeks of the new workflow, training schedules, go-live announcements. | – Monthly Project Newsletter email – Updates at unit staff meetings – Posters/flyers in breakrooms |
– Newsletter: 1st of the month – Meetings: As scheduled by Nurse Managers – Posters: Updated at key milestones |
Project Lead (You) & Nurse Champions |
| Physicians & Other Prescribers | Minimal impact, but need to be aware of the project. Primarily need to know about potential downtime or changes to nursing workflow that might affect them. | – Brief announcement at medical staff meetings – Targeted email from the CMIO |
– One month prior to go-live – One week prior to go-live |
Physician Champion or CMIO |
15.4.4 Masterclass: The Art of the Status Report
Meetings are essential for discussion and decision-making, but the written status report is the official, historical record of a project’s progress. A good status report is the project manager’s most powerful tool for managing stakeholder expectations, demonstrating progress, and highlighting critical issues before they become crises. However, a bad status report—one that is too long, too technical, disorganized, or infrequent—is worse than useless; it actively harms the project by burying important information and eroding stakeholder confidence.
The key to effective reporting is to be consistent, concise, and clear. You must find a template that works for your project and use it religiously. Your goal is to create a report that a busy executive can absorb in less than three minutes and know exactly where the project stands.
The “5-Blocker” Status Report: A Template for Clarity and Impact
The “5-Blocker” is a widely used and highly effective template because it forces brevity and focuses on the most critical information. It can be adapted into an email, a slide, or a formal document.
Project Status Report: BCMA Implementation
For Period Ending: October 17, 2025
1. Overall Project Status: YELLOW
The project is proceeding but is facing a significant challenge that requires sponsor attention. The core build and testing workstreams are on schedule, but a critical hardware delivery from the vendor is delayed, threatening the go-live date.
2. Key Accomplishments This Period (Oct 11 – Oct 17)
- Completed 100% of the build and configuration for the core BCMA workflow in the test environment.
- Finalized and received sign-off on all 25 User Acceptance Testing (UAT) scripts.
- Successfully conducted initial functional testing; 95% of test cases passed without issues.
3. Key Activities Planned Next Period (Oct 18 – Oct 24)
- Begin formal UAT with the Nurse Champion team.
- Resolve the 5% of failed functional test cases with the vendor.
- Finalize the agenda for the first Steering Committee update.
4. Top Risks & Issues
ISSUE #1 (High): Vendor has confirmed a 4-week delay on the delivery of the new handheld scanners due to supply chain issues. Original delivery: Oct 20. New estimated delivery: Nov 17.
Impact: This will directly delay the planned go-live date from Dec 1 to Dec 29.
Action Plan: Awaiting quote from vendor for expedited air freight. Projecting this could reduce the delay to 1 week at a cost of ~$10k.
5. Decisions / Approvals Needed
Requesting a decision from the Project Sponsor (CNO) by EOD Monday, Oct 20 on whether to approve the potential $10k expenditure for expedited shipping to mitigate the schedule delay.
15.4.5 The SBAR Framework: How to Deliver Bad News Effectively
Sooner or later, despite your best planning, something will go wrong. A risk will become an issue. A timeline will slip. A budget will be exceeded. One of the most challenging and crucial tests of a project lead is the ability to deliver this bad news to sponsors and executives in a way that is professional, objective, and solution-oriented. Blurting out “The project is delayed!” in a panic will destroy your credibility. You must approach these conversations with the same clinical rigor you would use when reporting a critical lab value to a physician.
The SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) framework, which is a standard communication tool in many clinical settings, is perfectly adapted for this purpose. It provides a structured, logical sequence for presenting a problem that moves the conversation immediately from blame to problem-solving.
Applying SBAR to Project Issues
Let’s apply this to the scanner delay issue from our status report. You’ve emailed the report, and now you have a follow-up meeting with your sponsor, the CNO.
-
S – Situation: Start with a concise, high-level statement of the problem.
“Good morning. I’m following up on the status report I sent. The key issue we’re facing is a critical hardware delivery delay that now threatens our planned December 1st go-live date.” -
B – Background: Provide the essential context and data. What led to this situation?
“We placed the purchase order for the 50 new scanners on schedule in August. The vendor has now confirmed that due to a global microchip shortage, their manufacturing is backlogged. They have given us a new estimated delivery date of November 17th, which is four weeks later than planned.” -
A – Assessment: State your analysis of the impact. What does this mean for the project?
“Because the nurses cannot be trained until they have the physical devices, this four-week hardware delay will cause a direct, one-for-one four-week delay to our go-live. This moves our go-live into the last week of December, which is a high-risk period due to holiday staffing and patient census changes.” -
R – Recommendation: Present a clear, well-thought-out set of options or a primary recommendation. You are not just a reporter of problems; you are a problem-solver.
“I’ve already been in contact with the vendor. We have two primary options. Option A is to accept the delay and replan the go-live for early January. Option B is to authorize an expedited air-freight shipping charge, which they quote at $10,000. They believe this can reduce the delay from four weeks down to one. My recommendation is to pursue Option B, as a January go-live would conflict with other planned IT initiatives.”
By using this framework, you have transformed a panicked announcement into a professional, strategic conversation. You have demonstrated that you are in control of the situation, have analyzed the impacts, and have proactively sought solutions. This builds immense trust and credibility with your leadership.
