The StatecraftCRM Blog

Practitioner analysis for government affairs teams.

Written by people who have sat across from a regulator, not people marketing to one.

Software Buyers GuideFeatured

The Best Government Affairs CRM in 2026: How to Choose the Right System

The best government affairs CRM depends on the problem: policy monitoring, stakeholder relationships, advocacy, enterprise customization, or operating discipline. This credible category guide shows where each system type fits.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJun 1, 202614 min read
Software Buyers Guide

The Best Government Affairs CRM in 2026: How to Choose the Right System

The best government affairs CRM depends on the problem: policy monitoring, stakeholder relationships, advocacy, enterprise customization, or operating discipline. This credible category guide shows where each system type fits.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJun 1, 202614 min read
Stakeholder Management

What Is Stakeholder Management in Government Affairs? A Complete Guide

Ask ten people to define stakeholder management and you will get ten answers borrowed from project management. In government affairs, it means something specific: disciplined relationship infrastructure built to survive the people who built it.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJun 8, 20269 min read
Regulatory Affairs

How to Track Regulatory Proceedings at State Public Utility Commissions

If your government affairs function touches a regulated utility, the most consequential decisions are not made on a legislative floor. They are made in a hearing room by three to five commissioners, in proceedings most legislative trackers were never built to follow.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJun 15, 202610 min read
Software Buyers Guide

Government Affairs Software Guide: Tracking, Advocacy, CRM, and the Modern Tech Stack

Understand the government affairs software landscape before choosing a vendor: legislative and regulatory tracking, grassroots advocacy, relationship CRM, and the modern in-house technology stack.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJun 22, 202610 min read
Government Affairs

What Is Government Relations? Definition, Strategy, and Best Practices

Government relations, government affairs, lobbying, and public affairs get used interchangeably, and that confusion is the first thing that goes wrong when a company tries to build the function. A practitioner’s definition, the three core functions, and a five-step framework for building it.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJun 24, 202611 min read
Stakeholder Management

Stakeholder Mapping for Government Affairs: A Step-by-Step Guide

A stakeholder map is the working model of everyone who can affect your organization’s outcomes in front of government. Done well, it is the single most useful artifact a government affairs team owns. Done once and abandoned, it is a museum piece.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJun 26, 202613 min read
Regulatory Affairs

Public Utility Commission (PUC): What It Is and Why It Matters for Energy Companies

A public utility commission is the single most consequential government body in an energy company’s world, and it operates unlike a legislature or a court in ways that trip up people who assume it works like either.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJun 29, 202611 min read
Government Affairs

How to Build a Government Affairs Function from Scratch

Most government affairs functions are not planned. They are triggered. A playbook for the first hire handed a blank page: the first 30 days, the 30-to-90-day operating system, the technology stack, and the metrics that prove the function is working.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJul 1, 202612 min read
Government Affairs

Government Affairs KPIs: A Practical Framework for Measuring Performance and Value

Government affairs performance cannot be reduced to bills won or meetings held. This four-layer framework measures outcomes, relationship health, strategic readiness, and operating discipline without claiming causation the team cannot prove.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJun 29, 202613 min read
Government Affairs

How to Write a Government Affairs Weekly Report Your Leadership Will Actually Read

The weekly report is the most-produced and least-read document in government affairs. A practitioner’s guide to the three questions every executive is actually asking, and the one-page format that gets read instead of filed.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJul 7, 20269 min read
Government Affairs

External Affairs vs Government Affairs: Roles, Structures, and Where Each Function Fits

Government affairs manages the organization’s relationships with government and policy institutions. External affairs usually spans a broader environment that can include government, community, communications, media, and corporate reputation.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJul 6, 202611 min read
Government Affairs

The Government Affairs Glossary: 40 Terms Every Practitioner Should Know

Most glossaries define government affairs terms the way a textbook would. This one defines them the way they are used in a meeting, from lobbying and grasstops advocacy to rate cases, dockets, and regulatory posture.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJul 11, 202613 min read
Regulatory Affairs

What Is a Utility Rate Case? The Complete Guide to the Process, Stakeholders, and Strategy

A utility rate case is the formal proceeding in which a public utility asks its regulator to approve the revenue it may collect and the rates customers will pay. This guide explains the economics, record, parties, lifecycle, and government affairs work at every stage.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJul 16, 202616 min read
Regulatory Affairs

What Is Regulatory Affairs? Definition and How It Differs from Government Affairs

Regulatory affairs is the function responsible for ensuring an organization’s products and operations comply with the rules of the agencies that regulate them. It is related to government affairs, but the two do different work.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJul 16, 20266 min read
Regulatory Affairs

What Is a Regulatory Docket? How to Read, Track, and Understand PUC Proceedings

A regulatory docket is the official, continuously developing record of a commission proceeding. Learn its anatomy, how to read it chronologically, which filings matter, and how government affairs should turn docket movement into action.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJul 18, 202614 min read
Regulatory Affairs

What Is an Intervenor in a Regulatory Proceeding?

An intervenor is a party, other than the utility and the commission, that is granted formal standing to participate in a regulatory proceeding. If you want to understand how a proceeding will turn out, you have to understand who has intervened and why.

Michael-Christopher WarrenJul 20, 20266 min read
Software Buyers Guide

Government Affairs CRM Buyer’s Guide 2026: Requirements, Scorecard, and Implementation

A buying-committee guide to deciding whether you need a government affairs CRM, defining 30 requirements, scoring vendors, planning migration, controlling risk, and driving adoption.

Michael-Christopher WarrenAug 7, 202618 min read
Regulatory Affairs

How to Track a Utility Rate Case: The Complete Government Affairs Workflow

A ten-step operating workflow for turning a utility rate case into a connected record of dockets, parties, positions, deadlines, interactions, commitments, briefings, outcomes, and precedent.

Michael-Christopher WarrenAug 7, 202615 min read
Software Buyers Guide

Government Affairs CRM vs Legislative Tracking Software: What In-House Teams Actually Need

Tracking software tells you what government is doing. A government affairs CRM tells you what your organization is doing about it. Most serious teams need both layers.

Michael-Christopher WarrenAug 7, 202611 min read