The concept of Management Systems, popularised in the 1990s by the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO), now extends to the social domain. 

While there is currently no widely-accepted standard for Social Management System (SMS) structure and function; companies with multiple stakeholders understand the need for structured management, in order to effectively plan and implement stakeholder & aboriginal engagement programmes, and to verify and review their social performance. 

Forward-thinking companies recognize the links between their projects and the accompanying health, safety and environment (HSE) risks. When factoring in social risks, companies can effectively address Sustainable Development through a single management system.  For this reason, companies are seeking ways to align social performance with core business practices and to marry their SMS with existing health, safety and environment management systems. 

One of the critical functions of an SMS is to maintain effective stakeholder engagement as a means of improving a business' social performance. Data generated from stakeholder engagement can quickly become overwhelming and commitments can easily be overlooked.  Without the data management tools  which underlie robust SMS, stakeholder engagement activities often risk:  

• Being unplanned and poorly aligned with business objectives,

• Generating data without management plans or capabilities,

• Losing institutional memory,

• Failure to track expectations, commitments, issues, and stakeholder profiles as they evolve over time.