Information systems analysis and design must recognize the stakeholders and their objectives. As the term suggests, these people have some level of responsibility towards or reliance upon the particular system that is being developed or improved. For any individual stakeholder, there may be some overlap of roles. For example, a small business owner might both own and use the system. Nevertheless, the categories below are important because each group of stakeholders indicated will generally have a different set of concerns regarding the system. Understanding the assumptions, attitudes, and expectations of each group can immeasurably assist the systems analyst during the project.

As indicated in the diagram below, system stakeholders can be classified into groups based on their level of responsibility towards or reliance upon the information system.