---
id: ch5-maatool
type: spine
title: "The MAA tool: multi-actor engagement as a traceable workflow"
readingTime: 3
standalone: true
core: true
teaser: "300+ users, 40 work entities, about 150 stakeholders: the PoliRural+ workspace where pilots record who takes part and what they want to achieve."
voice: universal
parent: null
diagram: fig-maa-tool-beta
recallQ: "What does the MAA tool add to the multi-actor approach, and how far is it in use?"
recallA: "It turns the method into a traceable workflow: stakeholders, roles, objectives, inputs and communication are recorded per pilot. In the Beta, the PoliRural+ workspace holds more than 300 users, 40 work entities, about 150 stakeholder profiles and 49 objectives."
highlights:
  - "First developed by Social InnoLabs in Cities2030, now redesigned for PoliRural+ pilots"
  - "The workspace mirrors the work packages, including WP5 and nine pilot work entities"
  - "The Ramon AI assistant drafts stakeholders and objectives from pilot documents; users confirm them"
  - "Still open: shared attribute vocabulary across pilots, empty social spaces, full WP5 validation in D4.3"
status: accepted
concept: maa-tool
conceptTitle: "The Multi-Actor Approach tool"
lang: en
lens: generic
depth: standard
formalism: none
visuality: balanced
lengthBand: deep
genre: explainer
state: core
carriers: prose|diagram
---

The [multi-actor approach](#c/multi-actor-approach) asks farmers, advisors, authorities, researchers and citizens to shape a pilot together. The **Multi-Actor Approach (MAA) tool** is where PoliRural+ pilots record that work, so it can be checked and reused later.

## Where it comes from

Social InnoLabs first developed the tool in the Cities2030 project. In PoliRural+ it is being redesigned for many different labs and pilots, with new programmes, work entities, charts and communication engines. D5.1 describes the new architecture (D4.1 §2.1.1).

## What a pilot team does in it

- registers and classifies stakeholders, and assigns roles and permissions;
- links stakeholders and members to programmes or work entities;
- defines objectives and sub-objectives, and records indicators and inputs;
- adds configurable attributes, such as sector, organisation size or urban/rural profile, and charts how stakeholders are distributed across them.

These records feed WP5 stakeholder mapping, RAP preparation, pilot validation and feedback to WP3 and WP4 (D4.2 §3.9).

## Status in the Beta: in pilot use

The PoliRural+ workspace follows the project's work-package structure, including WP5 and nine pilot work entities. In the Beta it holds **more than 300 registered users, 40 work entities, about 150 classified stakeholder profiles, 49 objectives and 40 input progress records**. D4.2 takes these figures as evidence that the tool is already used to coordinate pilot and work-package activities, not only shown in demos (§3.9, §6.1).

The built-in **Ramon AI assistant** searches for work entities, users, stakeholders and objectives and proposes new ones. In pilot testing it extracted stakeholders and objectives from pilot documents for users to validate, which cut administrative effort (§6.3). Nothing is created until a user confirms it. Technically, the tool is a web application with an Angular front end and a NestJS API back end.

## Limits named in the sources

D4.2 names three gaps. Social spaces appear in the navigation but have no content yet. Stakeholder assignments still need to be completed in the same way across all nine pilots. The pilots also need a common attribute vocabulary. Fuller WP5 validation evidence will be reported in D4.3. The pilots' revised RAPs agree that tools like the MAATool add value, but they also report barriers from limited digital literacy and interface complexity, and they call for simplification and targeted training (D2.3 §5.2).

## Beyond the pilots

D4.2 describes the MAA tool supporting coordination in INTERESH's soil-health Living Labs. There it structures stakeholder profiles, objectives, roles and progress records among farmers, advisors, researchers and authorities (§9.3).

**How-to:** [Using the MAA tool step by step](#ch5-guide-maa).

**Sources:**
- D4.2 PoliRuralPlus Platform Beta, §3.9 Multi-Actor Approach tool; §6.1 Testing methodology and pilot onboarding; §6.3 Usability, performance and functional observations; §9.3 INTERESH. [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/421/D4.2_PoliRuralPlus_Platform_Beta.pdf)
- D4.1 PoliRuralPlus platform design, §2.1.1 Key Components and Their Current State. [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/162/D4.1_PoliRuralPlus_platform_design_v1.pdf)
- D2.3 Rural-urban data analysis, §5.2 Insights Gained. [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/382/D2.3_Rural_Urban_data_analysis_v1.0.pdf)
- D5.1 Prepared pilot by Stakeholder Multi-Actor Approach. [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/150/D5.1_Prepared_pilot_by_Stakeholder_Multi-Actor_Approach_v1.0.pdf)