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. In Airtable, a stakeholder register works like a simple CRM. It shows who your stakeholders are and how much each one matters. Here we add a person, rate them and make them the owner of a requirement.
- One row, one person. This is the Stakeholders table of an online shop project. Each row is one person, with columns for Role, Department, Influence and Interest.
Add a stakeholder
- New stakeholder. A new payments lead has joined. Click the + under the last row to add a record, and type her name, Nina Castillo. In Role, type Payments lead, so everyone knows why she is on the list. Set Department to Finance. 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 set Interest to High too.
- Manage closely. High influence and high interest means you manage her closely. Involve her early and keep her in every review.
Make her an owner
- Link as owner. To make her an owner, click her Owns requirements cell, then the +. Search for card and pick Pay by card. Then open the Requirements table. Airtable has added the link on that side too. The Owner cell of Pay by card now shows 2 owners, Dana and Nina, and nobody had to type anything.
- Who owns what. Back in the Stakeholders table, Nina's row shows what she owns. So you always know who to ask about each requirement.
Recap
- Rate, then link. One row per stakeholder. Rate Influence and Interest with single select fields, so everyone uses the same words. Then link each person to what they own. High influence and high interest means manage closely.
Common mistakes
- Typing ratings as free text. One person types High, another types high or Very high, and grouping or filtering stops working cleanly. Make Influence and Interest single select fields so everyone picks from the same list.
- Typing owner names instead of linking them. A name typed into the Requirements table isn't connected to that person's row. Use a linked record field like Owns requirements, so the link shows on both tables.
- Rating influence but not interest. Influence alone doesn't tell you how to manage someone. Rate both, because it's the pair (for example, high and high) that tells you to manage them closely.
- Adding the same person twice. If one person has 2 rows, their requirements get split between them. Search the register for the name before you add a new stakeholder.
When a business analyst uses this
After a project kickoff workshop, add everyone who came to the register and rate their Influence and Interest. People rated High on both are the ones to involve early and keep in every review. Link each person to the requirements they must sign off, so before sign-off you know exactly who to ask about each one.
Questions people ask
Is Airtable a CRM?
Not a dedicated one. Airtable is a database you build your own tables in, but a table of people with linked records works as a simple CRM, like this stakeholder register.
How do you use Airtable as a CRM?
Give each person one row, add single select fields for ratings like Influence and Interest, and use a linked record field to connect each person to what they own. The link appears on both tables.
Can you build a simple CRM in Airtable on the free plan?
Yes. The stakeholder register shown here, with single select ratings and linked records, is built on Airtable's free plan.
