Section 4

Solution-Level Stakeholder Mapping and Analysis

Purpose:

This is a rapid-fire tool designed to help NASA teams identify, prioritize, and engage key stakeholders around an emerging Earth observation (EO) solution. It is designed to provide a clear, actionable picture of who is relevant to the solution, their interests, and how best to engage them. It is not exhaustive, and instead aims to generate enough insight to guide co-development, outreach, and planning. This tool helps accomplish the Stakeholder Identification and Mapping step of the Solution Implementation Plan and Designing for Impact tool.

Note: For large-scale, programmatic, or policy-level analysis, use the Stakeholder Landscape Mapping and Ecosystem Analysis Tool (under development).

How and When to Use This Tool:

How and when

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The Stakeholder Mapping Tool should be used after a preliminary real-world need has been identified along with potential opportunities for NASA Earth science to address that need. Use this tool early in the scoping/intake process when all users and/or stakeholders are not fully identified to clarify stakeholder roles, influence, and potential interest in engagement. This tool can and should be used iteratively, updating as relationships, workflows, and priorities evolve.

Outputs of this tool will include:

  • A Stakeholder Map
  • A Stakeholder Analysis Snapshot (interest, influence, relationship readiness)
  • Near-term engagement priorities for Phase 1

Building the Mapping Team:

Establish the working group/team that will be responsible for conducting stakeholder mapping. A core team of three to five people is recommended to include: 1) a defined lead, 2) relevant technical EO specialist(s); 3) social science or engagement specialists (as available/needed); and 4) An economist or impact analyst (as needed).

Fillable SPREADSHEET for all the following steps in this activity

Steps

Step 1: Identify Key Groups

Working as a team, list all potential stakeholder types and institutions in column A connected to the EO opportunity. This is about breadth—cast the net wide.

A note on overlap in stakeholder types:

If a stakeholder fits into multiple categories, consider what their primary and secondary role is. Those might be the highest value stakeholders and should be flagged for deeper engagement. For example, a stakeholder who is both a user and a beneficiary would be a great candidate for co-design and user testing.

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Category Definition / Role Key Characteristics / Responsibilities Examples (note that example actors could fit into multiple categories depending on the given solution)
Users Anyone who interacts directly with EO-enabled products, data, services, workflows, or insights to make decisions, perform tasks, enable systems, or deliver value to others. This group is especially useful for providing early demand signals for internal reporting.
  • Access data directly
  • Integrate EO insights into tools
  • Make operational or policy decisions
  • Serve as intermediaries between NASA data and other beneficiaries
  • National meteorological offices using models
  • River basin authorities using dashboards
  • Agricultural extension officers using crop monitoring tools
Beneficiaries People positively affected by decisions, services, or interventions derived from EO solutions. May not directly interact with the data but are critical for impact-driven design. Quotes from this group drive impactful storytelling.
  • Experience outcomes of EO-informed decisions
  • Often live with climate, agricultural, environmental, or economic issues that EO data might address.
  • Useful for describing real-world issues rather than technical needs.
  • Farmers using agricultural advisories to plan their planting dates
  • Communities receiving flood warnings
  • Fisherfolk referencing water quality alerts to avoid food safety issues
Enablers (critical intermediaries) Institutions or actors that enable, support, or block use, adoption, or impact of EO solutions. There are important intermediaries that are often critical for identifying risks and assumptions in the Solution Planning and Design for Impact stages. Helpful for defining real-world value of solutions and connecting to beneficiaries who can provide quotes for impactful storytelling.
  • Data Providers / Enablers: Host, manage, maintain data pipelines
  • Implementing Partners: Translate or deliver products to end users
  • Funders / Financial Partners: Provide funding or enable scale
  • Decision-Makers / Policy Actors: Shape adoption, regulations, and institutional support
  • Local Actors / Community Orgs: influential for users and beneficiaries
  • Prior Collaborators / Internal NASA Connections: Existing relationships that accelerate trust
  • Data Providers: NASA DAACs, NOAA offices, research labs
  • Implementing Partners: NGOs, UN agencies, government ministries
  • Funders: Donor agencies, philanthropic foundations
  • Decision-Makers: Emergency managers, policy units, Tribal nations, regulators
  • Local Actors: Local authorities, community-based organizations.
  • Prior Collaborators: Mission Application Leads, Earth Action teams, previous PIs

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Step 2: Determine Relationship Readiness

Understand the current state of connection and credibility between your team and each stakeholder, independent of whether the stakeholder cares about or will benefit from the solution.

What "relationship readiness" means:

Relationship readiness describes how prepared your team is to engage a stakeholder based on existing access, trust, and ownership.

Assess:

  • Whether a relationship already exists, is emerging, or must be initiated
  • Who on the team is best positioned to engage (based on role, credibility, or prior contact)
  • Review existing NASA relationships (use EAX)
  • Any known constraints or enablers to initiating or deepening engagement

Categories:

  • Established: ongoing relationship with trust and regular interaction
  • Nascent: limited or informal contact; relationship is developing
  • To Be Initiated: no prior relationship; engagement must start from scratch
Step 3: Assess Influence and Interest

Rate each stakeholder's influence (ability to shape or enable a solution/impact) and interest (level of anticipated engagement with or benefit from the solution) on a simple 1–4 scale.

Influence:

The stakeholder's ability to enable, block, shape, or scale the solution or its impact.

Examples:

  • Decision authority or policy control
  • Control over resources, data, or implementation pathways
  • Ability to legitimize or operationalize outcomes

Interest:

The degree to which the stakeholder's mandate, responsibilities, or outcomes are affected by the solution—not their current awareness, enthusiasm, or engagement level. Interest reflects structural relevance, not relationship strength.

Examples:

  • Alignment with a stakeholder's mission or operational goals
  • Direct benefit from the outputs or outcomes
  • Exposure to risks the solution addresses

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Step 4: Agree on Engagement Strategy

Based on the results of Step 3, decide on the pathways for engagement with each stakeholder based on the influence/interest nexus. Categorize whether to Collaborate, Align, Validate, or Monitor. (These will help in the Co-Design step).

Step 5: Summarize Key Insights

Capture 3–5 takeaways:

  • Who are your:
    • main users?
    • beneficiaries?
    • enablers, including critical allies and potential champions?
  • Where are major engagement gaps?
  • Which stakeholders can start engaging with immediately?

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Proposed Workflow / Timeline

Guiding principles for the team:
  • Include complementary perspectives (technical, engagement, economic) without creating a large committee.
  • Use the mapping outputs to inform planning, not as an end in itself.
  • Iterate as needed; this is meant to be a living document as new stakeholders may emerge during all phases.
Activity Led By Output Notes
Define scope & criteria EO Program Manager + Social Science / Local Engagement Lead Purpose statement + prioritization matrix Keep scope narrow (single service or problem area)
Draft stakeholder list EO Technical Lead + Team Initial mapping table Use internal network + existing partner lists (ex. EAX)
Validate & expand Social Science Lead + Economist + Team Updated list with influence, impact, and engagement potential Include policy, and economic dimensions
Visualize & brief EO Team Map + summary Can be built directly from Excel
Leadership review EO Program Manager Prioritized stakeholder map + engagement plan Output feeds into planning or proposals

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