Simply Stakeholders gave it’s small community relations team one shared system to log every interaction, resolve grievances end-to-end, and keep the relationship history intact.

Project highlights

“Continuity is key. I guarantee you in the next ten years I’m going to retire, and whoever takes over is going to want to know what I was working on. It needs to be there.”

– VP Government & Community Relations

Organization Background

The customer is a large mining and critical minerals company developing lithium projects across the Americas. A small, dedicated team of four handles government relations, community relations and corporate communications for the whole company – engaging regulators, landowners, communities and investors who all expect a consistent, defensible account of who has been told what, and when.

That combination of a lean team and a high-stakes, multi-decade project is exactly the challenge stakeholder relationship management software is built to solve, and it’s one of the reasons the company came to Simply Stakeholders. When an influential rancher led an unexpected opposition to one of their projects, threatening it’s progress, the team realised they needed a better way to manage these complex relationships and risks.

The Challenge: notebooks, spreadsheets and a growing list of people asking for proof

Before adopting stakeholder management software, engagement records lived in personal notebooks and notes apps, an ever-growing Outlook folder structure, and a spreadsheet for tracking complaints. It worked when the company was smaller, but as the need for accountability grew, it stopped being enough.

We need a program to catalogue all of our interactions, and that’s becoming more and more important. A few years ago, when we were a small company, just shooting from the hip, it was fine to keep those things in our heads. Now people are asking for specifics. If someone needs a list of every public official we’ve met with, being able to run that report quickly really matters.

– VP Government & Community Relations

The main challenges the team were looking to solve:

The Solution: one system for interactions, grievances and reporting

Project highlights

“The Simply Stakeholders platform design is great. It’s intuitive and flexible, which means it’s been able to evolve with us and continually meet the needs of our business.”

Hannah Willson, Engagement Manager at Neoen Australia

Organization Background

Neoen is one of the Australia’s leading renewable energy companies, with over 4 GW of capacity across 19 assets currently under construction and in operation. They develop, construct and operate onshore wind farms, solar farms and battery storage assets.

Neoen is working across QLD, NSW, ACT, VIC, SA and WA. Its portfolio includes some of the country’s most powerful renewable energy and battery assets such as:

• The 460 MWp solar farm at Western Downs Green Power Hub in QLD
• The 560 MW / 2.2 GWh Collie Battery in Western Australia
• The 412 MW Goyder South Wind Farm in South Australia.

You may even be familiar with their work in launching the world’s first big battery in 2017 — the Hornsdale Power Reserve or the ‘SA Big Battery’ in SA.

Hannah Willson is Neoen’s Engagement Manager. She works across the organization’s Australian portfolio. “My original role was as a Community Liaison Officer (CLO) for Neoen’s Goyder Renewable Zone in South Australia, embedding myself in the local community and forging vital stakeholder relationships to assist with the development and construction of Neoen’s flagship hybrid renewable energy project in the region.”

As an Engagement Manager, Hannah now oversees multiple CLOs across Neoen’s portfolio and works alongside project managers, ensuring stakeholder connections and communications meet the organization’s high-standards and are in line with regulatory obligations.

The Challenge: Spreadsheet Replacement, Active Projects, Futureproofing Stakeholder Management

Neoen started using Simply Stakeholders in 2023 by first undertaking a ‘pilot’ to test its useability and relevance on one of its projects. “We first used Simply Stakeholders for logging and mapping our community relationships and interactions during the construction of our wind farm within the Goyder Renewables Zone. Given our project was already under way when we started looking for stakeholder relationship management (SRM) software, we started by migrating data from our existing spreadsheet system,” said Hannah.

Neoen recognised that maintaining the breadth of stakeholder engagement using only spreadsheets was close to impossible for its large-scale projects. “I had a lot of information across multiple documents, as well as stored in my head,” admitted Hannah. The company’s engagement team knew that this way of working wasn’t sustainable — for this project or its other developments.

The Engagement team worked together to find an SRM software that would meet the organization’s needs, and that they could start using almost immediately for its Goyder South Wind Farm. And although there was a priority on present needs, Hannah and the team were able to keep an eye on the future.

“As an Engagement team, the future-vision we had for Neoen was creating a central source of truth. A resource that stands up for the life of the asset (sometimes around 30 years), that’s useful to asset managers if they need access to information relating to a challenge or change in circumstance,” said Hannah. Switching to SRM software was about more than this one project. It was about futureproofing all stakeholder management methods for a renewable energy project within the organization.

When looking for a solution, the engagement team knew the right option would:

1. Offer a framework or platform to house data accurately
2. Be a trusted reference source for project teams managing an asset as it progresses through its lifecycle (development, construction, and operations)
3. Help the organization fulfil legal stakeholder management obligations
4. Provide staff with an intuitive, user-friendly interface.

The Solution: SRM Centralization and Supported Platform Adoption During an Active Project

Once the engagement team settled on Simply Stakeholders (“It ticked all the boxes we needed and was fit for purpose”), implementation was rapid.

Hannah, along with the help of a dedicated data entry assistant, migrated the existing spreadsheet data for her project into Simply Stakeholders. And with the support of Joana Zaper from the Simply Stakeholders customer success team, the platform was up and running within days. It may not have been perfect, but it was capable of supporting basic stakeholder management, such as stakeholder register management and task tracking.

“It was a massive relief to pour out all of the information into ready-to-go frameworks, saved on a platform that’s designed exactly for the purpose of SRM,” said Hannah. And removing spreadsheets led to truer data collection. “I no longer felt boxed in by spreadsheet cells, which sometimes made it impossible to accurately capture the nuances of stakeholder interactions,” she said.

A pilot with the Goyder South Wind Farm project allowed Neoen’s engagement team to test Simply Stakeholders’ effectiveness for managing basic SRM requirements and gave them a taste of how it could simplify internal tasks.

“Not only did the Goyder South Project involve a large volume of data, but it included quite a complex web of stakeholders,” said Hannah.

The project involved many landowners hosting wind farm infrastructure. Hannah explained that “successful relationship management involved getting to know them, their families, neighbours, and so on. All of those details are an important part of the story when sitting around someone’s kitchen table, having a cup of tea, and talking about what we hope to accomplish with the use of their land.”

Dynamic stakeholder mapping created a visualisation of complex stakeholder relationships, which ensured the right stakeholders were consulted at the right points in the project, and given information relevant to them.

As the project progressed through its development lifecycle, the engagement team noted how much smoother it was to handover stakeholder information to the next line of project team members. “Now when we roll Simply Stakeholders out to new projects or employees, we (I, CLOs, and Project Managers) start by saying, ‘Hey, let’s think about what the Construction and Operations team may need in the future.’”

Outcomes: A Flexible, Intuitive Platform That Evolves With the Organization

All our CLOs have adopted Simply Stakeholders as part of their daily workflow, with Project Managers embracing the platform for relationship-specific needs that support development and construction. Currently, Neoen uses Simply Stakeholders for:

• Stakeholder register and interactions management
• Engagement task management
• Customized internal reporting
• Surveys and group updates
• Data management
• Workflow automation.

Simply Stakeholders has been rolled out for use on other Neoen projects in Australia since then. Each time, the platform is adapted to deliver project specific stakeholder management features. By working collaboratively with Joana and the Simply Stakeholders team, Neoen creates environments that evolve with the needs of the organization. “I have an idea of how we want to use it in the business and Joana has knowledge of the technical side and how we’re able to do it,” explains Hannah.

The result of ongoing monthly-meetings with Joana and fast turnaround troubleshooting support has led to:

• Tailored feature creation to meet Neoen’s requirements regarding stakeholder communications
• Increased use of relationship mapping and reporting.

“What we’ve created using reports so far has been amazing, and it’s something we’re looking to utilize more,” said Hannah.

The Wrap Up

So, if another company were to ask Hannah about using Simply Stakeholders, what would she say to them?

“I highly recommend the platform. It allows us to complete vital stakeholder management work, which makes it easier for Neoen’s CLOs and Project Managers to embed themselves in the local community. Through this work vital relationships are maintained, which ultimately aid the successful development, construction, and completion of projects.”

And what about the experience of working with Simply Stakeholders?

“The support is amazing. Whether it’s using the chatbot to get a refresher on how things work or reaching out to the customer success team directly, we’ve never felt stranded. However, special mention to Joana — the consistency and continuity of her assistance is very valuable.”

Project highlights

“Simply Stakeholders makes it easier for the team to see what needs actioning. And there’s real power in the analysis and reporting side of it. This combination gives each team member the confidence to dive in — they can see all the stakeholders connected to a particular site. As a result, they can focus more on what they need to do once they’re out there.”

Vanessa Rodgehiero, Community and stakeholder engagement manager at The Perth Mint

Company Background

Gold Corporation, trading as The Perth Mint, refines and manufactures gold, silver, and platinum bullion, coins and bars for domestic Australian organizations and international traders. Alongside this, they manufacture collector coins. 

Vanessa Rodeghiero is the Community and Stakeholder Engagement Manager — a role that involves her overseeing stakeholder engagement in relation to a project that aims to transform historical gold processing sites into beneficial projects for Western Australia.

She says, “As part of this work, it’s my role to keep all of the stakeholders informed about how the transformation will work and what’s happening. The projects my team and I work on need to deliver the best outcomes for the town or region.”  

The Challenge: Managing and Mapping Stakeholder Volume

The number of stakeholders involved in, or affected by the varied works that need to happen on the sites is considerable. So Vanessa and her team knew they’d be dealing with a high-volume of stakeholders and associated data. 

Just one site can involve a variety of stakeholder groups, such as local community members and councils, regulators, government departments, and internal stakeholders. Sometimes all of them. And, as Vanessa points out, “In Western Australia a lot of the sites involve native title rights, so I’m working with the traditional owners in all of those relevant areas as well. And there’s commercial interest, too,” says Vanessa. 

Keeping track of each stakeholder group, their relationship with the organization, and their requirements was a difficult task. Made harder as there was no centralized database. 

“The original process relied on a number of different people, liaising with different stakeholder groups,” says Vanessa. The result was a bunch of spreadsheets used by different internal stakeholders as each individual tracked their own work with external stakeholder groups. Sharing essential regulatory and approval information was time-consuming, proving that the spreadsheet system couldn’t support the volume of data. 

But that wasn’t the only difficulty with the existing system. 

“We had records of historical conversations happening with different stakeholders. Some went as far back as the 1980s and were stored in boxes of files and paperwork,” says Vanessa. 

Vanessa explains that it “made getting a grip of mapping those stakeholders difficult.” And this was a major issue and challenge for the project. “We want to be leading our project with the community at the heart of it — stakeholder engagement is central to the outcomes, so getting the mapping right was really important.”    

An Additional Obstacle

As well as needing a better way to map stakeholder relationships, Vanessa was mindful that some of her team weren’t from a stakeholder management background.

“I work alongside people with a mining engineering background, a geophysicist, and environmental specialists. For me it was important to create a framework and build a stakeholder management system for the team. One that they’d find accessible and actually use.”

An historic state battery. Credit: The Perth Mint.

The Solution: One Place to Centralise Community and Engagement Data

Thanks to her decades of experience in stakeholder management, Vanessa knew during the project’s early stages that stakeholder management software would be imperative. 

“There was no way we were going to be able to manage the number and the volume of stakeholders without proper organisational stakeholder mapping and software,” says Vanessa. 

When looking for a solution, Vanessa knew the right option would:

• Offer a fast and effective way to centralise the community and engagement data 
• Help all team members collect and create important report data in a time-effective manner  
• Allow the team to work offline in remote settings where data isn’t always available 
• Track stakeholder sentiment.  

Simply Stakeholders ticked all those boxes. 

Outcomes: Centralized Data Increases Efficiency, Is Convenient, and Instils Confidence

The Perth Mint has been using Simply Stakeholders since mid-2024. Their initial setup was swift, but it took around six months for it to really settle in. (“It took that long for us to reach a point where it really came into its own. But given the volume and different backgrounds of the team, we accounted for this.”)

Now it’s in regular, daily use by the team, bringing increased fluidity, cohesion, and ease to their work. 

“Part of choosing Simply Stakeholders has been the training, and training our team how to use the platform so they can understand the power and importance of tracking everything. In doing so, it supports them in all of their engagements,” says Vanessa. 

But it’s also helped with:

• Internal reporting: “It’s given us the ability for reporting that’s really critical, and made it simple.”
• Greater work flexibility: “The availability of an app helps during those times when our team members are working remotely.”
• Supporting live reporting: “Creating a live report (with the stakeholder’s permission) is helpful in terms of efficiency as I don’t have to wait to write things up when I’m back at my computer. The voice-to-text is a time-saver.” 

Currently, The Perth Mint is using the platform for:

• Stakeholder mapping to identify key/influential/impacted stakeholders in the project
• Task management to assign action items to the right person, and make sure it gets done
• Reporting to keep the executive up to date on key risks, opportunities and engagement metrics
• Customised dashboard for reporting for more flexibility and creating granular dashboards
• Data management to maintain shared records and build institutional knowledge of the history with key stakeholders
• Sentiment and issues analysis to proactively manage key elements of stakeholder relationships.

The Added Bonus: Discovering the Power of Tasks

As well as Simply Stakeholders meeting all of their initial software requirements, it’s also turned up a surprise. “An added bonus, which we didn’t really know about at the very start but is really helping us, is the tasks,” says Vanessa. “It helps us keep on top of everything. And that’s key to stakeholder management.” 

After an interaction, an action is needed. The task function allows users to assign the task to the relevant person. “The tasks really made it easier for the team; for them to see what needs actioning,” she said.  

The result is greater confidence. “With tasks clearly assigned, the team can dive in and see all of the stakeholders connected to a particular site. On a daily organisational level, this cuts down the amount of preparation time needed before visiting a site. So once they’re out there they can better focus on what they actually need to do.”

The Wrap Up

For The Perth Mint, Simply Stakeholders assists with stakeholder satisfaction. Particularly when navigating sensitive engagements, such as traditional owner engagement. 

So, if another company were to ask Vanessa about using Simply Stakeholders, what would she say to them?

“Simply Stakeholders gives everyone an easier way to manage a large amount of data. Even if they don’t come from a strictly stakeholder management background. Or, like me, they don’t consider themselves a technical person. Using this software, you’ll find that everyone in your team is able to produce the reports and evidence they need, with confidence.” 

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A large Australian wind farm developer needed to manage complex stakeholder relationships and landholder agreements across their five new projects. They chose Simply Stakeholders to manage their stakeholder data, while gaining insights into issues, relationships, and stakeholder sentiment.

Challenge

A large Australian wind farm developer had committed to building five new wind farms across the country. But before they could break ground, they first needed to work closely with all affected landowners and enter into a landholder agreement with each.

In order to accomplish this goal, they would need to track all the details of each affected parcel of land, including:

• Owners
• Occupants
• Property managers
• Wind farm impacting it
• Likely impacts
• Required agreement type
• Agreement status
• All related communications, grievances, and tasks

Plus, they needed to track all interactions with contractors, local community and environmental groups, journalists, and government departments.

In addition, they needed a way to identify if any of these stakeholders was likely to become a risk to the project — and why.

With so much data to track, and so much riding on that data, the developer needed to be confident their staff could easily record the required information, and that it would be immediately available to the rest of the team.

Solution

The wind farm developer recognized they needed stakeholder software for wind farm projects and chose to use Simply Stakeholders to fulfil that need.

Some of the features and capabilities implemented included:

• Easy import – They quickly imported all existing stakeholder and property details from a CSV
• Relationships – They defined all the relevant relationships, linking landholders to properties, employees to employers, properties to projects, projects to community groups, and more
• Interactions – In addition to manually recording the details of spoken conversations, they used the Outlook/Gmail plugins to automatically save all emails, attachments, and calendar events to the corresponding stakeholders within the system
• Forms – They used feedback forms on their website to collect feedback, linking any responses to the relevant stakeholders
• Sentiment – They used stakeholder sentiment scores to rate each interaction and understand the health of their relationships
• Tasks – They created tasks with automatic reminders
• Tagging – They used tags to highlight specific text within saved emails so they could flag it as relevant to a specific issue

Outcome

As a result of using Simply Stakeholders to capture all their data in one place, the developer had a single source of truth that covered all of their projects.

They were able to check in at any time to see the status of all tasks and agreements, along with the details of any communications. They could also see which priority stakeholders needed the most attention at any moment.

This meant that the developer could be confident they weren’t overlooking anywhere and they could easily decide what action to take next in order to keep things running smoothly.

The Wrap Up

The Simply Stakeholders team were delighted to support this organization as they worked towards their goal of achieving landholder agreements prior to breaking ground. We look forward to continuing to provide tools for tracking agreements and managing stakeholder relationships throughout the development and beyond.

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