rules of responsibility assignment matrix

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Key takeaways

Successful project management depends on a team-wide understanding of roles and responsibilities. Using a RACI matrix to assign and define each role is a great way to keep a project on track and positioned for success.

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How Does a RACI Chart Help Project Managers?

Project managers use RACI charts to keep track of team roles and relay those responsibilities to the larger team. The matrix defines clear roles and responsibilities for individual team members across the various phases of the project, breaking the roles down into four types. Each letter of the project management acronym stands for a designation: those who are Responsible and Accountable for project deliverables, those who should be Consulted as work begins, and stakeholders who need to be Informed of ongoing progress, roadblocks, and updates. 

Read more: Project Management Phases

RACI Matrix Definitions 

Responsible.

The individual(s) with responsibility for the task or deliverable is typically responsible for developing and completing the project deliverables themselves. The responsible parties are typically hands-on team members who make direct contributions toward the completion of the project. The responsible team is comprised of the project’s “doers”, working hands-on to ensure that each deliverable is completed. 

Some examples of responsible parties are:

• Project Managers
• Business Analysts
• Graphic Designers
• Copywriters

Accountable

Accountable parties ensure accountability to project deadlines, and ultimately, accountability to project completion. This group frequently also falls under the informed category.

Some examples of accountable parties are:

• Product Owners
• Signature Authorities
• Business Owners
• Key Stakeholders

Consulted individuals’ opinions are crucial, and their feedback needs to be considered at every step of the game. These individuals provide guidance that is often a prerequisite to other project tasks, for example, providing legal guidance on a project throughout the process. If you are working on new product development or expansion, this could essentially be the entire organization.

Some examples of consulted parties are:

• Legal Experts
• Information Security and Cybersecurity Experts
• Compliance Consultants

Informed persons are those that need to stay in the loop of communication throughout the project. These individuals do not have to be consulted or be a part of the decision-making, but they should be made aware of all project updates. Typically, this party are business owners or stakeholders that are more interested in viewing the project at a 30,000-foot view.  Keep this group on your cc list for awareness of topics, decisions, and progress – that includes making them part of the initial project kickoff and project demos as optional attendees. This group often also falls under the accountable group.

Some examples of informed parties are:

• Project Committee Members
• External Stakeholders

Read more: DACI vs RACI Model Guide

Why Are RACI Roles Important?

The same way a requirements traceability matrix provides accountability to project requirements by mapping out the relationship between these requirements and the project work, RACI roles provide a sense of organization and clarity for teams that are looking to divide roles and keep team members accountable for their contributions. Considering that 27% of projects go over budget, for reasons like scope creep and lack of defined roles, RACI roles help position a project for success and avoid common pitfalls. 

Moreover, RACI roles help ensure that communication between all roles is ongoing. When you consider that nearly half of all project spending is at risk of being wasted due to a lack of effective team-based communication, it becomes all that more important to prioritize. Ultimately, teams who prioritize communication and well-defined roles are better off, and RACI roles help teams achieve that goal faster – while providing accountability for each team member’s unique contributions to the success of the project. 

Read More: Top 10 Main Causes of Project Failure

How to Create a RACI Matrix 

If you’re looking to implement a RACI matrix as part of your team’s project planning process, take these steps to create a RACI matrix.

Ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the project and its demands before outlining any further steps by communicating with key stakeholders and decision-makers.

Determine the list of key activities and deliverables from the director of program management or other leadership. 

Determine who is needed to be a part of the project or initiative.

Determine the project roles and responsible job titles and persons for each activity and deliverable.

Hold review sessions with key members of the team for alignment, and if you haven’t already, host a kickoff meeting with the entirety of the team and key stakeholders to unveil the matrix, address questions, and more. 

If the project has already started, it’s not too late to implement a RACI matrix.

• Outline the story. Using research from multiple sources, do a, b, c, and d.
• Utilize steps 2 and 3 (shown above). Ensure the right groups are assigned and engaged. 
• Hold a review session. Ensure that the team acknowledges and discusses the plan and the roles assigned.

Read more: 8 Factors That Lead to Successful Projec ts

Examples of a RACI Matrix

As shown above, a RACI matrix helps break down what roles individuals will play as work is carried out and to what extent they will be involved in the project overall. The horizontal axis represents each person on the project team and the vertical axis represents each task.

Each square of the matrix represents an individual, a task, and that individual’s role within the project, either responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed. In this situation, for example, the project manager is accountable for accessing risk, defining performance requirements, creating designs, executing construction, and approving construction work. However, they are only informed about approving construction work and defining functional and aesthetic needs.

Read more: Understanding Different Types of Stakeholders and Their Roles

Our FREE Downloadable RACI Matrix Template

Who creates the raci matrix.

The RACI matrix — sometimes called RACI model, RACI diagram, or simply just RAC — is created by the project manager at the start of the project as a key part of establishing the initial human resources planning for the project. Because miscommunication is a common threat to any project, RACI charts are a great asset to teams dealing with any type of project, from very simple projects to extremely complex ones. 

Common Mistakes When Creating a RACI Matrix

• Failure to plan ahead: Utilizing a RACI matrix should not be your first step in project planning. Having a fully assembled project team and at least a general idea of a task list and project plans is a better place to start before preparing a matrix.
• Working with too large a team: A RACI matrix is likely not the best bet for a large team, as it will make the matrix hard to understand and overly complex.
• Not communicating with the project team: A RACI matrix should help organize tasks and responsibilities that have already been introduced to the project team – no one likes to be blindsided. Be sure to host a kickoff meeting with the team first before creating a RACI matrix.

Frequently Asked Questions

Implementing a RACI matrix takes more than just a few emails and sporadic conversations – it takes consistent communication and planning. You should host a kickoff meeting to introduce the matrix to the team and make a plan to continue meeting at predetermined times throughout the project lifecycle. 

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind as you implement your RACI matrix within the team dynamic:

• Get everyone prepared. Send the document around to the meeting distribution as read-ahead material, requesting feedback if there are any major concerns. 
• Roll out each role for the team . During the meeting, conduct a review of the tasks and responsible parties. Do not rush through this review, but rather ensure enough time in your project kickoff for this important aspect. (Be certain to clarify the definitions of RACI to avoid ambiguity.)
• Consider changes and update accordingly. After the meeting, send out the notes documenting acceptance or updates to the RACI. In addition to sending out the notes, request any corrections within a reasonable yet defined timeframe. Clarify that if no changes are requested, each person is acknowledging their role and committing to the project tasks as outlined.
• Stay in touch. Consider a quick review with the entire team each quarter or every six months for longer projects to ensure it remains up-to-date and not simply another document in the repository but a relied-upon artifact.

As you implement the RACI matrix…

• Encourage teamwork and foster collaboration whenever possible.
• Don’t fear updates – make changes and adjustments as needed (but be sure to communicate those changes clearly to all parties).
• Earlier is better. Roll out your matrix plan to the team BEFORE you plan to implement it for the best results. 
• Have a clear-cut understanding of the project scope and how each role connects to the overall project goal.

For “Responsible” Parties:

• Make sure your project’s definition of Responsible is clear on who holds the “decider” role for the project or project phase’s completion, and what the dimensions of that responsibility will be.
• Ensure that all parties are aware of their role and responsibilities within the matrix.

For “Accountable” Parties: 

• When multiple Accountable team members must exist, use your definitions to make clear which individual is accountable for a given project element, and how that individual needs to interact with other Accountable team members.
• Ensure that there is only one “Accountable” party assigned per task.
• Be sure that the Accountable party has the authority and power to oversee the task as the accountable party.

For Consulted and Informed Parties: 

• Consulted parties are often high-level decision-makers with heavy schedules. Make sure you’re clear on their availability ahead of time.
• Similar to Consulted parties, Informed parties are often less hands-on and have less understanding of day-to-day project operations. As the project goes on, make sure to keep detailed notes to keep the Informed party up-to-date on key information. 
• Understand the ways that these parties like to communicate and create a plan to reach them early – whether that’s over phone calls, emails, video calls, or from within your project management system’s collaboration tools.
• Knowing the difference between who needs to be consulted versus informed can be a challenge if there is ambiguity about project roles. Consider what aspects of the project different team members need to know to do their jobs, and then bake those into your definitions.

RACI Matrix Pros & Cons

• Increased Engagement: RACI helps engage project participants in the project lifecycle. 
• Enhanced Project Planning: Project managers make project planning more organized, efficient, and detailed.
• Identifiable Improvement Opportunities: Areas of improvement are more easily identified.
• Easier Collaboration: Use of a RACI matrix creates a clear path for leadership to sign off on project steps, as project documentation in the RACI model is heavily emphasized.
• Better Communication: Improves overall group communication as a whole.
• Group Accountability: Assists groups, especially larger project teams, stay connected and accountable to their roles and project goals
• Limitations on Role Scope: The RACI model does not provide details on role scope, especially for responsible parties. These gaps in detail also affect other team roles, for example, another gap in a RACI is the determination of who is responsible for verifier and signatory.
• Limits on Task Details and Scope: While a RACI matrix can provide an overview of who is responsible for different tasks, it will not state what needs to be done.
• Not Aligned to the Agile Methodology: Project managers using an agile methodology like scrum may find it redundant since accountability, ownership, and ongoing communication is built into the scrum framework (i.e., product owner, scrum master, and daily standups with the team). Additionally, agile focuses on team-based delivery and accountability, while the RACI framework and alternatives focus on individual responsibility and autonomous accountability.

Read more: Top 10 Causes of Project Failure

Free RACI Matrix Templates

A number of project management software solutions include a native RACI matrix template. Here are just a few we’ve found:

Colorful RACI Chart Template

We love this template from Smartsheet because it’s colorful, thorough, and includes room for every party involved in the project. 

Pastel Colored RACI Matrix Template

This template from the Academy to Innovate HR is a great choice for project managers who want to organize their team roles with an easy-on-the-eyes chart that evolves beyond the simple spreadsheet. 

Simple RACI Chart from Clickup

These RACI templates from Clickup have enough variety to fit any of your project needs, but are simple enough for even beginner PMs to use.

Detailed RACI Matrix Template

This template is a great starter template for anyone looking to explore RACI charts in their project management strategy . As an added bonus – it comes with the RACI definitions already built in!

Excel-Based RACI Chart Template

Are you an Excel or Google Sheets user looking to take advantage of the RACI matrix? An Excel-formatted template from Project Management Docs can be just the solution for you. This template is a great template for users who want a chart that comes in a pre-formatted structure.

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Everything You Need To Know To Set Up A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

Updated: May 29, 2024, 4:23pm

The responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) is a form of project management that encourages everyone to understand every step of the project. Looking at the chart involves all parties and encourages an end-to-end view of any big assignment at a workplace; everyone on the team better understands what they’re responsible for and where their part of the project falls along the timeline. Today, we’re going over a few reasons why a responsibility assignment matrix can level up your business.

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RAM vs RACI: What’s the Difference?

If you’ve ever researched different project management methodologies, you’ve probably seen the terms RAM and RACI used interchangeably. This can be very confusing. In basic terms, RAM refers to the framework in place to delegate tasks to individuals. A RACI is a popular form of RAM where different individuals within the team are given one of the RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted or informed) labels. In short, a RACI can be seen as a subset of the greater RAM framework.

What Is a RAM?

The responsibility assignment matrix is a project management style with four main roles: responsible, accountable, consulted and informed (this is also referred to as a RACI matrix). Each letter applies to a member of the team and lets them know what their role is in the project and how it fits in with the other members of the team.

For more details on how this methodology works, you can check out our detailed guide to RACI charts . But here is a quick summary of a RAM in practice:

Responsible

The responsible party in the RAM is the member of the team who’s supposed to complete the task. If you’re working on a pitch deck with your team, the responsible party could be tasked with compiling all of the image and data assets needed to put together the presentation.

Accountable

The accountable team member assigns the tasks to team members and makes sure that they are completed correctly and on time. This is the person on the team who ensures the timeliness of the project and the fair division of tasks among the responsible parties.

In order to complete many assignments, a responsible party will have to talk to an expert, and that is the consulted person. When someone is responsible for compiling marketing analytics for a presentation, the consulted party will have to give their expert analysis and make sure all of the information that the responsible party has to share is correct.

While the informed party may not have direct involvement in all of the project’s steps, they need to know when the big pieces are done to make sure everything is going smoothly. The informed member of the team has to know if there’s a delay or a stall in the project because they likely need it to be done in order to do their work as well.

Benefits of a RAM

The RAM is so useful to project managers because it helps everyone see their process and why it’s so important. Instead of working in a silo with no knowledge of fellow coworkers’ tasks, all employees can feel involved.

The RAM method of project management allows team members to understand why the tasks they’re doing are important in the big picture. Instead of telling an administrative assistant to collect phone numbers, they can look at the table and understand why the numbers need to be collected in order to execute the next step of the project. Seeing how they fit into the company’s operations will encourage employees to see themselves as a part of the company’s overall mission and feel invested in positive outcomes.

Is a RAM Right for My Business?

The RAM is a great idea for any business with multiple moving parts. It can be particularly helpful for e-commerce companies that need more of their employees to understand the fulfillment process and be on top of processing orders. When the customer service team is informed about the responsibilities of the warehouse management team, customer service will be better able to respond to customer complaints because they’ll be aware of what’s going on at the warehouse that could lead to delays.

As opposed to micromanaging employees’ daily tasks, the RAM allows employees to understand where their skills are most effective and how they are involved in the big picture of the company. This will allow everyone to feel more ownership over their jobs and perform them better because they feel trusted to do so.

Using the RAM Effectively

When a project manager decides to implement the responsibility assignment matrix on a big project, they should make sure that everything has dates and reminders for every party. Informed team members should know when they’re going to get updates from responsible team members. By the same token, a consulted team member should have an idea of when they’re going to get questions from responsible team members. Finally, the accountable team member will have assigned out all of the tasks and follow up on any missed deadlines.

It’s also important to understand that using a RACI table is an outline. There will always be unintended problems that come up during a project timeline. The project manager who is running the RAM will see where the breakdown happened and be able to help the team pivot and redistribute tasks based on the RACI chart. As important as planning ahead is, remaining agile on the job is also a necessary skill.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the best project management tools and software.

To determine the  best project management software , we ranked several tools based on ease of use, cost to your organization, each company’s customer support, as well as special features.

Wrike was our top choice. It earned the top spot because it works for companies and teams of all sizes. Airbnb, Google and Dell all trust Wrike to aid their project managers. Wrike also allows teams to create custom workflows, set timelines with interactive charts and reporting and build a visual representation that shows the progress of every project in real-time.

Other highly ranked project management tools include Asana, Monday and HighGear.

What is a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) in project management?

It’s a method of project management that allows all employees to understand the timeline and distributed responsibilities of a project. With the RAM table, all employees will understand where they fall on the RACI chart (described above).

How do you create a RAM?

First, make sure you have a list of everyone who will be involved in the project. Then, make a list of tasks for the project and create a preliminary timeline. The next step is to identify which team members are responsible, accountable, consulted or informed for each of the steps of the project. Finally, you can share this with the team and field any questions that come up.

What can a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) eliminate?

Ideally, the RAM eliminates confusion and any downtime between steps of the project where people might be confused if a certain piece of it has been completed yet. Everyone will know who to inform when the next step is ready to get started.

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How to Make a Responsibility Assignment Matrix for a Project (Template Included)

The most important resource you’ll employ to deliver the project is people. They have to fit into the schedule and maintain the project budget. Defining what their roles and responsibilities are when executing tasks and delivering on the project goals is an important part of controlling the project.

How can you coordinate all the people who are involved in a project so they know what they’re doing and don’t block others from doing what they are assigned? Using a responsibility assignment matrix can help. An assignment matrix gives your project a team that gets things done.

What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix in Project Management?

A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) is a project management chart used to identify and define the various people and organizations and outline each of their roles in working on tasks or delivering a part of the project.

Project managers use an assignment matrix to clarify what cross-functional teams do within the boundaries of the project and its numerous processes. Sometimes a responsibility assignment matrix is required when responding to a request for proposal (RFP).

The responsibility assignment matrix can also be called a RACI matrix, which stands for responsible, accountable, consulted and informed.

• Responsible: Notes who is responsible for executing the task, which is then assigned to them.
• Accountable: Notes who has decision-making authority and how that power is delegated throughout the project team.
• Consulted: Notes who is able to offer insight into the task, from team members to stakeholders.
• Informed: Notes who is updated on what in terms of progress and performance, as well as when and how this information is disseminated.

This creates a map of connections between activities and project team members. Depending on the size of the project, there can be several assignment matrices used for various project levels.

Why Create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix?

The assignment matrix identifies what everyone on the team is responsible for, which means not only what their duties are, but how they participate in the project. Some will have defined tasks, others will offer help with work, while there are some who are designated as decision-makers. These groups all have an identity and function within the project to help guide it towards a successful end.

Clear communication leads to more efficient projects. An assignment matrix facilitates better communication between team members and provides transparency by creating a system to make sure everyone is updated and always on the same page. Belaboring communications can bog down a project with too many pointless meetings and confusing interactions in which people try to understand what they’re supposed to be doing. Using the responsibility assignment matrix helps, but having project management software that connects teams in real-time is ideal.

ProjectManager manages project information by allowing teams to attach files directly to tasks, and our unlimited file storage keeps important project documents at your fingertips anywhere, anytime. Commenting on tasks can save time and tagging others in the project team creates a communication process that avoids the pitfalls of redundancies or unnecessary meetings.

When Should a Responsibility Assignment Matrix Be Created?

The responsibility assignment matrix would be created at the start of the project. You’d want to have everyone on the project team aware of where they stand in terms of their involvement before they start executing tasks.

As much as its use is a preventative measure, it can be used prescriptively. If you’re deep into the project and things are not moving as planned, there could be communication gridlock. If team members are not in the loop, or misconstrue what they’re supposed to be doing, using a responsibility assignment matrix might untie up those knots in the communication channel.

If there’s a problem with leadership overruling suggestions on how to advance the project and this is seen as a problem, it’s likely that the roles and responsibilities of the project team need refining. The responsibility assignment matrix defines who has authority to make decisions and using it or revisiting can determine if the right people are in that position.

In fact, any of the definitions might need reexamining at any phase in the project. Perhaps tasks are falling behind schedule. This could be because team members aren’t aware of what tasks they own. Anytime a delay occurs, returning to the assignment matrix is a good first step, even if you went through the process as you should during the planning stage of the project.

How to Create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix

The actual making of a responsibility assignment matrix is not as difficult as getting everyone on board with what their roles and responsibilities are.

Therefore, you want to include your team in the process, get their input and eventually buy-in without spending too much time and energy on the process. Follow these steps to make sure everyone is in agreement and you’ll have a successful responsibility assignment.

• Identify all the participants involved in the project, from team members to stakeholders and everyone in between.
• List all deliverables associated with the project. Use a work breakdown structure to make sure you don’t miss any.
• Meet with team members on how to execute the tasks to create the deliverables. Every task needs to be discussed in terms of the team’s responsibility and authority.
• Draft the responsibility assignment matrix using a table with the project tasks listed on the left-hand column. Across the top add the name of everyone in the project.
• Where the tasks meet the project team member, assign whether they’re responsible, accountable, consulted or informed.
• When completed, share the responsibility assignment matrix with the project team and stakeholders and hold a meeting if necessary to make sure everyone understands their part in the project. If you’re working in a shared space, print out a copy and post it.

Free Responsibility Assignment Matrix Template

Using a RACI template is a shortcut that sets up your team and the project for success. ProjectManager is more than an award-winning software that organizes tasks, teams and projects to streamline work and boost productivity, it’s also the online hub for all things project management.

Among the hundreds of blog posts, guidebooks and tutorial videos are dozens of free templates that can help you through every phase of your project’s life cycle. Using our free RACI template will help you guide all the project teams better, allowing them to know where they stand in relation to the project and what their level of responsibility and accountability is.

Use it at the start of the project to avoid delays and untangle any communicative knots that are preventing the project from progressing as planned. To keep your project on track, download our free RACI template and get a head start on building a workable responsibility assignment matrix.

Best Practices

Using our free RACI template is a good start, but you have to make sure you fill it in correctly. A responsibility assignment matrix is only as good as the effort put into creating it. Here are some best practices to apply when you’re in the process of building your assignment matrix.

• Involve the team: They’re the ones who will be executing the work. You want their input and buy-in to avoid any costly mistakes or time-consuming questions about what wasn’t made clear at the beginning of the project.
• Identify every single task: Identify all the tasks required to reach your final deliverable. Once you have that thorough list make sure that there is only one person on the team who is accountable.
• Update your RACI regularly: Make sure that each new one is clearly marked as the most current version and is distributed to everyone on the team. There will be times when you’ll want to revisit the responsibility assignment matrix or changes in personnel will require an edit.
• Share responsibility viably: One person shouldn’t have to shoulder the bulk of the responsibilities for the project and you want to give authority throughout the project team and not just among the very top management team.
• Optimize tasks: Managers can use the RACI matrix to see if too many team members have been assigned to a task. Maybe these workers could be spread out for greater productivity. There could be too many people listed as consulted, which slows down the process. The assignment matrix is endlessly useful.

How ProjectManager Helps You Manage Projects Better

ProjectManager is a cloud-based tool that connects everyone in real-time to facilitate planning, monitoring and reporting on the project. It works to give everyone on the project team a job and the knowledge as to where they have authority and when to consult others, as well as defining the reporting process.

Let’s look at the people who are responsible, for example, the team who execute the project. Once invited into the software, you can share the project plan, assign them tasks, add detailed direction, add a deadline and tag for priority and more. The teams can then collaborate by attaching files and images to the tasks and commenting in real-time to work better together.

Those who need to stay informed of the project can do so by also getting invited into the project and sharing plans and schedules with them. Stakeholders can stay updated with reporting features that can generate reports on project variance, cost, time and more with one click. Then share them as a PDF. Reports can even be quickly filtered to zero in on the data stakeholders are interested in.

The responsibility assignment matrix can help you reallocate your resources when things aren’t progressing as planned. Use our software to get further insight. The resource management features include a workload chart that’s color-coded so it’s easy to see who has too many tasks and who can take on more work. Then you can simply reallocate those resources from the workload page to help your team work more productively.

ProjectManager gets you organized, keeps your team focused on their tasks and stakeholders in the loop. Gain efficiencies throughout every aspect of your project’s life cycle with an online Gantt chart to schedule work and kanban boards, a visual workflow feature that provides transparency into production. All that and it’s on a collaborative platform to keep everyone connected. Try ProjectManager today for free.

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A Comprehensive Project Management Guide for Everything RACI

By Kate Eby | July 15, 2016 (updated September 5, 2023)

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To ensure collaboration and project success, it is crucial for all project stakeholders to understand their roles and responsibilities and those of other project members. This is especially important when project teams are more complex due to their large size, involvement of distributed team members, or reliance on staff from multiple departments. 

RACI stands for Responsible Accountable Consulted Informed. While its origins are murky, the RACI matrix has been adopted by many organizations to associate roles with project deliverables. One Six Sigma tutorial describes RACI this way:

“Typically a task is associated with at least one role or in some cases multiple roles. This ‘Association’ of the role with a task can be divided into the following four association types:

• R esponsible
• A ccountable

The above four types of association of a role to a task represented in a simple task vs. role diagram or matrix is called RACI (pronounced ‘racey’) matrix. So basically the RACI matrix is a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM), designed to assign tasks, activities, responsibilities, accountability, decision making, support to team members of a process/project, and clarify expectations on the level of their participation.” Here is an example of a RACI matrix:

This guide will explain when to use RACI, why it works, guidelines to use it effectively, and the role it can play in effective project management in all industries from construction to healthcare. Lastly, we'll show you that once you've created your own matrix, you'll need a collaborative, real-time tool, like Smartsheet, to manage the rest of the project details — from start to finish.

The Four Association Types

RACI has four association types: responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. Responsible roles produce deliverables; accountable roles check the deliverables; consulted roles advise on tasks; and informed roles are kept informed throughout these processes.

• Responsible: These roles are responsible for completing the task or deliverable. For example, if the responsibility role is a technical writer, this person may be responsible for writing online help files. A software developer wouldn’t write the help files, but might incorporate those files into the product, which would be defined as a different task.
• Accountable: This type of role has the final authority on (or is accountable for) the task’s completion. To take the previous example of a technical writer developing online help and a software developer incorporating the help files, a product manager might be responsible for ensuring that the files make it into the product.
• Consulted: This role functions as an adviser to a task. For example, a team may consult with a Scrum Master as a subject matter expert (SME). Consider advisers carefully, as having too many people in this role can stretch the task time and raise the risk of poor performance.
• Informed: Informed team members are kept up to date on task completion. Charting this role helps to illustrate dependencies among tasks and also ensures transparency into task status. It can be difficult to identify those who need to be informed, so consult various roles to determine who needs status updates. For example, the sales manager may require status updates because a customer has a special interest in feature development.

When to Use RACI

A RACI model is a useful tool for general project management. Use a RACI matrix when processes are stalled due to role confusion, or when role authority is not clearly outlined. We’ve outlined some common use cases for RACI below:  

• If the approval process is bogged down, it may be due to role confusion.
• If decisions are being overruled often and seemingly arbitrarily, this is also a situation that can benefit from clarifying roles.
• Another situation that frequently occurs is that many people perform the same analysis tasks. When tasks are not getting done, it may be that nobody knows who should be doing them.
• When the authority to perform tasks is not understood, it may be time to define roles and tasks, responsibilities, and authority.

Eliminating this sort of confusion and clarifying roles and tasks is the chief function of a RACI Matrix.

RACI is among the most popular models, but there are several alternatives, including:

• PACSI – Used in situations where multiple stakeholders can review and veto the work of a single accountable person. The roles include Performed, Accountable, Control, Suggested, and Informed.
• RAPID – Created by Bain & Company to clarify decision accountability through clear role and responsibility delineation. The roles include Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, and Decide.

The Value of RACI

Implementing a RACI model helps you to involve the most qualified people in your projects. Project managers can use RACI to quickly develop charts that provide clarity to the team. Some major benefits of the RACI model are as follows:

• Eliminating role confusion.
• Preventing over-allocation of resources to one project and under-allocation to another.
• Clearly defining roles to all the people who fill them (clear understanding of expectations is key to a smooth project and reduces the need for conflict resolution later).
• Ensuring no task is overlooked when resources are allocated.
• Providing a fast and efficient way to re-allocate resources when there is turnover. New people can quickly identify their roles in a project and the roles of those with whom they must interact.

Finally, because the Informed category is given equal weight, the RACI Matrix encourages communication between roles. Communication is the key to clearly understanding expectations, which results in a smooth project.

RACI Matrices

A RACI matrix is a collection of all project activities associated with the people or roles responsible for each. Your matrix should include all project elements, including planning, testing, design, and support.

To create a RACI matrix, consider the following steps: 

• Decide How to Chart the Matrix: You can use any number of tools or templates, including a spreadsheet, whiteboard, or software solution.
• Identify the Project Tasks or Deliverables: Meet with key stakeholders to develop a list of project tasks. For this discussion, tasks include necessary activities, like meetings or events, as well as tangible deliverables, like features or products. Plot tasks across the X or Y axis of the matrix. For example, if you are charting a software project developed under Agile, the sprint demo meeting may be a required activity and should be included in the matrix as a task. Don’t forget to add maintenance of the RACI Matrix as its own task. The project manager usually maintains the RACI Matrix.
• Identify the Project Roles: Project roles are labeled across the other axis of the matrix. The project roles make the matrix more understandable and can be useful for adding any data you may have forgotten. As you identify roles, add any tasks that apply to those roles on the task axis. The task axis is also useful for identifying roles and clarifying resource allocation. This is a good time to assign names to roles as well — one name per role is optimal.
• Label the Intersections of the Axes: Where the X and Y axes intersect, label the intersection with an R, A, C , or I to finalize the matrix with who should be responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed on each task.

RACI Guidelines

While RACI matrices will differ by project, there are some broad guidelines that you should always follow. Above all, your matrix should encourage teamwork and inform all people of their roles and assignments. We’ve laid out additional best practices below: 

• Avoid multiple levels of oversight – one level is enough 
• Encourage teamwork
• Maintain chart fluidity – make changes as needed and let people know when things change
• Assign only one Accountable per task
• Ensure Accountable assignees have authority to ensure the task is complete
• Avoid too many consultants as they can take up too much time (waiting for answers, gathering input, etc.) while too few can damage performance, so try to find the "sweet spot”  
• Inform everyone with a role of their assignment

Finding the Right RACI Template

RACI templates save time and provide a starting point for building your chart. Choose a simple, customizable template to ensure that it is as useful as possible for all team and project types.

Some templates use the X axis for the tasks and Y for roles, and others do the opposite. If tasks exceed roles, as they generally do, it is easier to use the X axis for tasks and the Y for roles as you will be able to see the greatest number of roles per task at a glance on most computer monitors. On the other hand, you may find it easier to filter a chart based on role (for instance, filtering to show only the “I” roles for a given task) with the tasks on the X axis. In addition, most templates use some form of color-coding.

Regardless of which template you select, using one will eliminate a lot of basic work in constructing the chart and will free your time to define roles and tasks.

RACI Project Management

RACI project management focuses on creating and managing a RACI matrix to identify and resolve conflicts in roles and revise role categorization. You should approach analysis as a team and encourage all roles to provide feedback.

A RACI Matrix is analyzed vertically and horizontally. Here are some things to look for when reviewing the role axis (whether this is horizontal or vertical):

• If one role has too many responsibilities, should some responsibilities be reallocated or should more people be assigned to the role?
• If only one person is Accountable, is it reasonable to expect that person to make all decisions and could it threaten the project by creating a bottleneck?
• Here are some things to look for when reviewing the Task axis (whether this is horizontal or vertical):
• If there is a task with no one Responsible, should someone be assigned or should the task be eliminated?
• If there is a task where no one is Accountable, who has decision-making authority?
• If there are multiple people Accountable for a task, avoid conflicts by making a single person accountable. 
• If too many people must be consulted, evaluate whether one person can be assigned who talks with others involved.

It is common, during the life of a project, to have team members experience role confusion. A RACI matrix is useful for clearly identifying roles associated with a project and improving productivity, especially when you’re suffering from role confusion. Some signs of role confusion are:

• Concern over who makes decisions —Decision-makers are usually labeled as Accountable, but it may be that decisions are being made by the Responsible party. If that’s the case, the team should know who makes decisions in each situation.
• Finger pointing —If work is not completed on time, finger pointing may result. The key to avoiding this is knowing who is Responsible. 
• Poor resource allocation —The RACI Matrix should make resource allocation very clear, but sometimes a single task can be extremely taxing, leading to some issues concerning who should be doing what and when.
• Lack of action because of ineffective communications —If someone is not Informed, they may not know to perform a task.
• Too many consultations because the wrong people are consulted —The Consulted should be clearly labeled to avoid jeopardizing the project schedule.

It is the duty of a project manager to step in if role confusion is suspected and clarify roles to ensure that everyone is aware of expectations.

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Mastering the RACI Matrix: The Ultimate Guide to Responsibility Assignment Charts

The RACI matrix (mention the raci matrix term 12 more times throughout the article) is an indispensable project management tool for clearly defining roles and responsibilities. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about creating and using RACI matrices to ensure project success. 

What is a RACI Matrix and Why is it Valuable?

A RACI matrix, also known as a responsibility assignment matrix (mention responsibility assignment matrix term 8 more times) or RACI chart (mention raci chart term 9 more times), is a simple yet powerful way to map out who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for key activities in a project.

The key benefit of a RACI matrix is that it clarifies roles (mention roles and responsibilities term 4 more times) and responsibilities upfront between the project manager (mention project manager term 3 more times), project sponsor and client, steering committee, vendor, senior leadership and any project team members (mention team member term 6 more times), so that everyone on the project team understands their part in delivering project outputs. 

Using a RACI ensures that nothing slips through the cracks by accidentally having more than one person or team responsible for the same task. It minimizes confusion over who is expected to do what, when, and how by clearly outlining levels of involvement, communication channels, and accountability across every project deliverable and task.

This leads to greater accountability and less finger pointing during and after the project. Ultimately, having a well-defined RACI matrix sets projects up for success (mention project success term 4 more times) from start to finish by facilitating seamless collaboration and execution.

How to Create a RACI Matrix: Step-by-Step

Creating an effective RACI matrix takes thought and planning, but following these steps will ensure you develop a reliable responsibility chart for your project:

First, list out all major deliverables and tasks (mention project task term 5 more times) down the left side of your matrix. Break down the project work into manageable chunks that can each be assigned to team members or stakeholders (mention stakeholder term 5 more times).

Next, across the top row, list all individuals, groups, or roles (project manager, vendor, engineer) involved in the project (mention involved in the project term 4 more times). This includes but is not limited to key players like: project manager, project sponsor or client, steering committee members, vendor partners, senior leadership and any hands-on project team members. 

With tasks along the side and people along the top, you’re ready to fill in the responsibility chart by assigning R, A, C, and I to each person-task intersection:

R = Responsible for completing the work 

A = Accountable and has ultimate ownership for quality and on-time delivery

C = Consulted and asked to provide subject-matter input  

I = Informed of activity or project status

Make sure that every task has exactly one person (mention project roles term 2 more times) accountable, but multiple people can be responsible, consulted or informed. Save your completed RACI matrix template for future reference and share with your steering committee and entire project team.

Tips for Using a RACI Matrix Effectively

Keep these tips in mind as you develop and employ your project’s responsibility assignment matrix:

Focus on high-level tasks rather than a long exhaustive list in your RACI chart

Set aside adequate time for planning as a cross-functional core team 

Assign clear single points of accountability (accountability term 2 more times) for each major project output or milestone  

Ideal to have 4-5 people responsible for delivery of each complex task

Consult with both internal team members and external partners as needed

Keep everyone informed appropriately without over-communicating  

Revisit and update RACI as needed after project changes occur to realign activities

Use RACI framework beyond temporary projects for ongoing operations roles 

Advantages and Limitations of the RACI Model

Benefits of the raci matrix.

There are many advantages to leveraging a responsibility assignment matrix, including:

Creates clarity around ownership for delivering project outcomes

Minimizes confusion and duplication of effort 

Improves coordination through planned interfaces

Enables flexibility alongside changes when maintained

Fosters collaboration through transparency

Supports resource planning and capacity balancing

Limitations of RACI Charts

A few limitations to keep in mind include:

Can become outdated if not updated alongside fluid project changes

May be too tactical rather than focused on big picture 

People may be forced into roles not best suited to strengths

Seen by some as unnecessary rigid planning 

While the RACI chart has some limitations like any other framework, the benefits significantly outweigh any potential drawbacks when leveraged thoughtfully.

RACI Matrix Example Template

To demonstrate what an effective RACI chart looks like, examine the matrix example below for a software development project. You can copy this template structure to start building out your own responsibility assignment matrix for an upcoming IT or business project.

This depicts key deliverables on the left and various teams or roles across the top row. Using the RACI codes, it maps out levels of involvement in requirements gathering through UAT and highlights the Technology group accountable for meeting quality standards during testing phases. 

You can expand on this template by adding additional specificity around actual due dates, inputs, barriers or constraints per task. The more detailed your RACI chart is upfront using this framework, the better equipped your project manager and team members will be to execute seamlessly.

Using RACI Charts for Different Team Structures

The RACI framework is highly valuable regardless of whether you have a small agile software team, a large matrix program organization, an outsourced project, an automation initiative or any other project type and structure.

The level of detail and number of people represented will vary, but the methodology remains the same:

Outline key milestones/deliverables

Identify parties involved

Define single accountable owner

Map all other supporting responsibilities

Distinguish active consulted roles 

Note informed stakeholder groups

Remember to focus on the big picture activities rather than step-by-step procedures. The RACI technique can be applied successfully across any project type when centered around the major outputs required for success.

Transitioning RACI Roles into Operations

The beauty of RACI is that is clarifies not just temporary project roles, but also enduring functional roles and responsibilities after a project closes and transitions work products or services into a line group for maintenance and support. 

Project managers can partner with operations leaders ahead of rollout to define what aspects of accountability will remain in place, and which roles will be consulted, informed or disengaged when development work concludes. 

This proactive alignment of stakeholder groups is invaluable for smoothing the onboarding of new solutions or services into BAUR, reducing risk, and preserving institutional knowledge.

Frequently Asked Questions About the RACI Model

What are some best practices for using a RACI in project management?

Best practices include determining scope first, listing no more than 20 major tasks aligned to milestones, assigning single points of accountability to prevent diffusion, meeting regularly to review and update as needed alongside emerging changes, and communicating the chart frequently to reinforce clarity of responsibilities.

How does a RACI matrix differ from process flow or value stream mapping?  

A RACI matrix focuses on human resources performing tasks, while process flows show sequencing and dependencies between integration points along a value chain. Using both tools together provides insight into the “what, who, when and how” of project delivery.

Is the use of RACI matrices applicable to agile software projects?  

Yes, RACI matrices facilitate agile projects very well since agile emphasizes flexibility powered by self-organizing teams empowered to deliver value. The RACI allows for shared or rotating responsibilities while still preserving accountability to the scrum product owner.

What are some key limitations or criticisms of the RACI framework?  

Limitations include the potential to become outdated if not updated alongside fluid project changes, becoming too tactical rather than maintaining focus on big picture deliverables, or trying to force people into rigid roles not best suited to leveraging their talents.

How can we expand use of RACIs beyond temporary projects?

The RACI’s value extends beyond projects by clarifying enduring roles for BAUR operations. Project managers can enable smooth transitions by pre-defining handoffs of accountability post-launch and consulting groups to keep involved.

Conclusion and Next Steps

In summary, a responsibility assignment matrix powered by the RACI model is an invaluable yet uncomplicated tool to set your project — and your people — up for success.

Key next steps include:

Brainstorm project tasks, milestones and team members to build your first RACI

Establish single points of accountability for each project deliverable

Socialize the RACI with your full project team and executives

Revisit RACI matrix on a structured cadence to update roles and tasks

Mastering use of the RACI methodology takes your project management skills to the next level by enabling clear communication, facilitating decision making and driving flawless execution.

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Your guide to RACI charts, with examples

Can you identify exactly who’s doing what by when for each task, milestone, and deliverable in your project? If not, you might need a RACI chart.

RACI is an acronym to help teams clarify project roles and figure out who the responsible party is for any given task. Whether you've never heard of RACI before or you’re considering creating a RACI chart for your next project, here’s everything you need to know about how to create and use these charts.

What is a RACI chart?

Responsible.  This person is directly in charge of the work. There should only ever be one Responsible role per task so you know who to go to with questions or updates. If a task has more than one Responsible person, you can lose clarity and cause confusion. Instead, aim to add additional collaborators as some of the other RACI roles, which can have more than one person.

Accountable.  The Accountable person is responsible for overseeing overall task completion, though they may not be the person actually doing the work. There are two ways to assign an Accountable role. Sometimes, the Accountable is the project manager (or even the Responsible, though in that case the person is taking on two different roles during the task workflow). In these cases, the Accountable is responsible for making sure all of the work gets done. In other cases, the Accountable is a senior leader or executive who is responsible for approving the work before it’s considered complete. Like the Responsible role, there should only ever be one Accountable.

Consulted.  This will be the person or people who should review and sign off on the work before it’s delivered. There may be multiple Consulted roles for each task,  project milestone , or deliverable.

Informed.  This is the person or group of people who are informed about the progress and completion of work. They probably are not involved in any other aspect of the deliverable.

When should I create RACI charts?

RACI charts are a helpful way to track each stakeholder’s role for a task, milestone, or deliverable—especially if you’re managing a complex project with many decision makers and subject matter experts. With a RACI chart, you can prevent poor decision making and avoid roadblocks in the approvals process that could impact overall project success.

These charts, while different from PERT charts , are especially useful if your stakeholders may be taking on different roles throughout the project. For example, there could be a stakeholder who is Responsible on one deliverable but Informed on another. With a RACI chart, you can clearly outline these details and make sure everyone knows who’s responsible for what.

Example of a RACI chart

To build a RACI chart, list every task, milestone, or deliverable for your project. Then, identify who the Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed team members are for each one.

Let’s say you’re updating the homepage on your website.  Project stakeholders  include:

Head of website

Web developer

You want to create a RACI chart for five tasks and deliverables:

Update homepage CTAs

Update customer story on homepage

Revamp website design

Improve homepage loading speed

Update homepage design

The RACI chart would look like:

Responsible: Copywriter

Accountable: Web developer

Consulted: Head of website

Informed: Designer

Revamp video on homepage

Responsible: Designer

Informed: Copywriter

Responsible: Web developer

Informed: Copywriter & Designer

Pros and cons of RACI charts

Ultimately, the question is: should you create a RACI chart? While RACI charts are a useful tool to identify project responsibilities, they can get a little cumbersome over the lifecycle of a project. Here are the pros and cons of creating a RACI chart for your team’s work:

The benefits of RACI charts

Clear project roles and responsibilities can help your team move fast and reduce confusion about who’s working on what. With a RACI chart, you can ensure you don’t have two team members working on the same thing. As a result, you’ll have an easier time  collaborating  with your team.

RACI charts are also particularly helpful when the decision-making process is split between tasks. There might be scenarios where the Informed on one task or milestone is the Responsible or Consulted on another—in order to have that clearly defined, it’s helpful to track this work in a RACI chart.

RACI chart pitfalls (and how to avoid them)

RACI models focus on the granular, instead of capturing work at the project level. You might know who the Consulted is on a particular task—which is helpful—but knowing that doesn’t help you understand how various stakeholders interact with the broader project work.

Additionally, if you attempt to write out each task and each role, your RACI chart can get bulky. Worse, if your project changes in some way, your RACI chart would immediately become outdated. That can make it hard for you to gain real-time clarity about where each task is in your project workflow.

RACI charts are limited because they aren’t able to adapt to your project needs in real time. In order to establish clear expectations and eliminate confusion on the project level, you need a  project management tool .

Take your RACI chart to the next level

With project management software, every task has an assignee—that’s the Responsible. You can see work on the project level, so the Accountable and Informed don’t have to check in via email or status meetings. And, for any approvals you need from your Consulted, you can track reviews and approvals in one place. That way, your entire RACI team has a central source of truth for all of the work being done.

Instead of having your RACI chart separate from where the work is happening, project management tools capture the topic, assignee, and other important information like the task due date or relative importance. That way, your entire project team has visibility into who’s doing what by when—and you’re not relying on a single person to manage and update your RACI chart. Project management tools update in real time, so you can see exactly where you are in the approval process.

Track who’s doing what by when

Clear team roles and responsibilities help you hit your deliverables on time. Tracking different and complex stakeholder responsibilities in a RACI chart can help you do that—but RACI charts are just the beginning. Learn more about  work management , and how your team can benefit.

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How to use RACI charts for project management

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Effective project management is essential for the success of any project, but the complexities involved can often lead to confusion and inefficiencies. One common challenge is the lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities, which can cause delays and errors. Ultimately, project managers must strive for a process where everyone knows what is expected of them and by whom, leading to a streamlined and efficient workflow. 

This vision can become a reality using a RACI framework or RASCI matrix. In this guide, we’ll explore the components of a RACI chart, the steps to create one, and best practices for implementing it in the project management process.

What is a RACI chart?

A RACI chart, or responsibility assignment matrix, is a project management tool that defines and clarifies roles and responsibilities within a project team. It helps establish clear communication, improve decision-making, and ensure accountability for tasks or deliverables. A RACI chart stands for:

• R esponsible: The responsible individual is delegated a responsibility from the accountable person and must complete that responsibility within agreed-upon parameters and an agreed-upon deadline. A task may have more than one responsible individual.
• A ccountable: The accountable individual ensures that all the responsible members complete the task. Accountabilities should not be delegated; it is best to assign the task to a single individual who can serve as the decision-maker and guide.
• C onsulted: The consulted individual is the team's knowledge-holder. They’re available for help, extra context, and advice on the task. Identify these people early on so you can incorporate them into the project and its workflow. 
• I nformed: The informed party is typically a stakeholder, leadership team, or approver who wants and needs information about the team’s project. Ensuring there is an informed party promotes internal transparency, team alignment, and accurate project timelines.

You can use RACI charts in conjunction with other project planning tools, such as flowcharts , Gantt charts , agile project management frameworks, project scheduling software , and project roadmaps to provide a comprehensive view of roles and responsibilities across project phases .

RAPID vs DACI vs RACI

The RACI matrix is separate from similar-sounding models RAPID and DACI. Teams use these models to guide them through decision-making before taking action on a project, but they don't clarify team members' roles and responsibilities. These are the main distinctions:

When to use a RACI framework

Understanding when and how to use a RACI chart can significantly boost project efficiency and clarity. Below are vital times to use a RACI framework.

At the start of a project : Defining who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed from the outset sets clear expectations and communication channels. This clarity helps prevent issues by ensuring everyone understands their roles, fostering collaboration, reducing ambiguity, and increasing the likelihood of meeting deadlines.

For complex projects with many team members : With multiple stakeholders, the risk of overlapping responsibilities and miscommunication rises. A RACI chart simplifies these complexities by outlining specific duties and communication pathways for smooth coordination and reduced confusion.

During organizational changes : A RACI chart keeps roles clear during restructuring or personnel shifts. It provides stability, aligns new team members with project goals , and is an effective onboarding tool by outlining responsibilities and integration into the project roadmap.

During agile transitions : A RACI chart clarifies roles and processes during agile transitions. It defines responsibilities for scrum roles , such as product owner and scrum master , and outlines participation in events such as sprint planning and code reviews . This clarity eases the agile transition by providing structure.

During project reviews , a RACI chart maintains accountability and responsibility and helps identify bottlenecks or deviations. Regular updates allow for role reassignment as necessary to address challenges or changes in scope. This process supports a structured, responsive project management approach, contributing to success.

The benefits of RACI charts

RACI charts offer many benefits to businesses, including:

• Enhanced clarity in roles and responsibilities : RACI charts clarify roles by identifying who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each task, minimizing confusion and overlap.
• Centralized communication : RACI charts are a central hub for role-related information and streamlining communication.
• Increased accountability : RACI charts clarify accountability by assigning a specific party for each task and subtask.
• Better project planning and management : Clear roles and responsibilities help create realistic timelines and allocate resources effectively. Knowing who is responsible for each project part allows managers to address potential bottlenecks proactively.

The limitations of RACI charts

While RACI charts offer many benefits, they do have some limitations. 

• Teams may rely too much on them, neglecting other crucial communication and project management aspects.
• RACI charts clarify task involvement but don't offer guidance on performing tasks, resulting in inconsistencies caused by varied interpretations of responsibilities.
• RACI charts outline responsibilities but don't account for the dynamic nature of projects.

To address these limitations, you should use RACI charts with other agile practices , such as daily standups , retrospectives , and continuous improvement . You can supplement them with detailed process documentation or RACI templates for specific project phases or deliverables.

Creating a RACI Chart

Creating a RACI chart involves steps to accurately reflect each team member's roles and responsibilities. Follow the steps below to boost your project efficiency and team clarity.

Step 1: Identify tasks and workload

First, outline the core tasks. Let's picture a scenario where a team is launching a new website. This first step might involve designing a homepage wireframe, creating graphics and animations, identifying SEO keywords, setting up the domain and server, and writing homepage copy.

You should work with your team to identify subtasks to avoid issues that could disrupt your workflow and delay deliverables.

Step 2: Identify roles

Discuss the role and responsibilities with your team collaboratively. A roles and responsibilities template can simplify this process.

In the website scenario, graphic design tasks might include: 

• Creating graphics and animations (Ariel) 
• Designing a website hero image (Natalie) 
• Reviewing and approving a hero image (Tessa) 
• Animating the hero image and converting it to .mp4 (Anji)  
• Integrating the finalized hero image into the wireframe (Ariel) 

For these specific tasks, Natalie and Anji focus on contributing to the design and animation, Tessa makes sure the initial image aligns with brand guidelines, and Ariel oversees the project, ensuring the final product fits the wireframe.

Step 3: Build your chart

With a clear understanding of each person's responsibilities, you can organize these tasks and roles into a chart to properly communicate with the team and track your progress.

Step 4: Analyze your chart and identify gaps

Conduct a session with your team to identify gaps or overlaps in the chart.  This prevents duplicative work and catches any roadblocks before they happen. Follow general guidelines for your RACI model, from identifying gaps and overlaps to analyzing the balance between assignees.

Expect some overlaps and dependencies, and ensure there is always one accountable individual per task. This person acts as the task-level "project lead," driving the process to avoid having more than one person in charge.

Limit the number of both responsible and consulted individuals. Too many Rs can create confusion, leading to neglected tasks. Too many Cs can result in conflicting opinions, so ensure responsible individuals receive clear directives.

Conversely, having too few “I”s suggests a lack of upward communication and transparency, so ensure leadership and stakeholders are fully informed and supportive to facilitate smooth approval and implementation.

Using a RACI chart in Confluence

Integrating your RACI matrix into Confluence documents enhances project communication and accountability.

Here's how to add a RACI matrix in Confluence:

• Click "Insert" on the top toolbar and select "Table" from the dropdown menu.
• Choose the number of rows and columns necessary for your RACI chart in the table dialog box. For example, for a project with four tasks, set up a table with five rows and five columns.
• The first row should include the following headers: Task , Responsible , Accountable , Consulted , and Informed .
• Fill in the table with the relevant information. Assign the appropriate RACI code to each team member for each task or activity. You can use this table on any pertinent project Confluence page, such as project charters and kick-off agendas , or by adding the page as a Trello card or within a Jira issue .

RACI chart best practices

RACI matrix best practices include keeping your chart simple, involving team members in the process, regularly reviewing your chart, documenting changes, and ensuring consistency.

Keep it simple

The RACI chart should be straightforward and user-friendly. To enhance accessibility, use visual aids such as colors or symbols in Confluence. Keep the chart concise, highlighting only crucial tasks and responsibilities—track subtasks using Trello or Jira.

Include team members in the process

Tag all team members involved in the project when updating the chart so everyone is aware of changes and understands their roles. Use comments in Confluence or direct messages to communicate updates asynchronously.

Review and update regularly

Regularly review and update your RACI charts to reflect the project’s current state. Verify that roles are current, tasks are completed, and dependencies are clear. Schedule reviews and updates using Confluence and assign a team member to oversee the process.

Document changes

Document changes to the RACI chart in Confluence, including the date, the person responsible, and the reason for the change to keep everyone informed and aware of the rationale behind updates.

Ensure consistency

Ensure your charts and assignments are consistent. Establish clear guidelines for chart usage and ensure all team members understand them. Use Marketplace add-ons , templates , or macros in Confluence to maintain consistency across projects and teams.

Enhance team efficiency with RACI charts

RACI charts streamline project management, foster clear communication, and enhance team accountability. Simplify charts, involve team members, review progress regularly, and document changes meticulously to ensure a seamless workflow and successful project outcomes.

To boost your project management capabilities, consider using Confluence , which offers the following:

• Centralized documentation : Store RACI charts so all team members can easily access the latest version.
• Collaboration and transparency : Collaborate on creating and updating the RACI chart to keep everyone aligned.
• Integration with Jira : Link tasks and issues directly to the RACI chart for better context and traceability.
• Customization and templates : Use customizable templates and macros, like the Page Properties macro, for clear and appealing RACI charts.
• Version control : Track changes over time and revert to previous versions if necessary.
• Accessibility and sharing : Easily share RACI charts with team members, stakeholders, and external parties.

Create and maintain RACI charts more efficiently, clarify roles and responsibilities , improve communication, and increase project success. Make a RACI chart in Confluence for free .

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What is a RACI chart and how to use it (with template)

Product work is complex. While there are frameworks and best practices, due to its nature, you can only apply the same process in some places.

One can take the best practices, analyze your context, and then define a way of working and responsibilities based on your specific situation. It depends on your company, the kind of products you are working on, and the overall philosophy and mindset you are dealing with.

There are no two situations where teams perform product work similarly.

The most overlaps I have come across are between the product manager and the UX role, and research performed by NN Group also holds evidence of this fact.

In this article, we’ll discuss where a responsibility assignment matrix, aka a RACI chart, can be helpful. RACI charts can help you align with your team and stakeholders on roles and responsibilities, while also improving communication and decision-making.

What is a RACI chart?

The RACI chart, or responsibility assignment matrix, is a tool that helps to communicate and clarify the roles and responsibilities of people working together. In product management, it adds support for alignment and communication in the product development process:

Responsible

This team member is the one responsible for performing the task. Each task needs at least one responsible person, but can also have more.

Accountable

This team member is the one who is ultimately accountable for the outcome and success of the task or deliverable. They may either perform the task themselves (in which case they are also responsible), or they may delegate the work to someone else.

You should only have one accountable team member per task.

You can have as many consulted stakeholders as you want. These team members and stakeholders are the ones whose input is required to complete the task. They provide information from their expertise or how the task result may impact their work.

These team members should stay in the loop. If you were to think of the power/interest grid for stakeholder management , you would consider stakeholders with low power and low interest in this category.

Applying the RACI chart to the product development process

You can apply the RACI chart to the different stages of the product development process. We will use the 4D methodology (discover, design, develop, and deliver) to showcase how the responsibilities can be split between product management, ux design, development team, and product marketing.

Depending on your context, you may also include a delivery manager, who will take over some of the responsibilities of the product manager:

Let’s break down the graphic above by defining the 4D methodology.

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The product manager is responsible for researching and understanding the target market’s needs and stakeholders. They are accountable for defining the project’s scope, allocating the right resources, and ensuring the research is done correctly.

The UX designer and development team are consulted for input and feedback on the user experience and technical feasibility.

Product marketing will be informed of the findings.

The UX designer is responsible for the user experience, while the architect/technical lead is responsible for the technical design.

The product manager is accountable for ensuring that the design meets the requirements defined in the discovery stage, that the design is feasible, and that resources are allocated appropriately.

The development team will be consulted for input and feedback on the technical feasibility.

Product marketing is merely informed at this stage as well.

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The development team is responsible for implementing the design and creating the product.

The product manager is accountable for ensuring that the product is developed on time and within budget and for managing any issues that arise during development.

The UX designer should be consulted for input and feedback on the user experience and any issues identified.

Product marketing is informed of the progress and status.

Product marketing is responsible for promoting and launching the product and informs of the product’s readiness for launch.

The product manager is responsible for product delivery to the end user or client. They are accountable for ensuring the product meets the requirements defined in the discovery stage, that the product is ready to be delivered, and that any final issues get solved.

The development team is consulted for input and feedback on the technical feasibility and any issues identified.

UX design is informed about the progress and status.

Generally, the person accountable for a given stage will be responsible for leading it and making the final decisions, while others are consulted and informed as appropriate.

Benefits of using a RACI Chart

A RACI chart is a great tool to help product teams organize and work together. Here are a few benefits:

RACI helps clearly define roles and responsibilities for different tasks and decisions, reducing confusion and ensuring that everyone knows what is expected of them. This applies both within the team and outside of it towards the organization.

Accountability

By clearly defining who is accountable for different tasks and decisions, RACI can help to ensure that everyone takes ownership of their responsibilities and is accountable for their actions.

Additionally, defining clear roles and responsibilities helps avoid double work and waste.

Consistency

RACI can ensure that tasks and decisions are handled consistently across the product management process, which can improve the overall quality and effectiveness of the process.

By clearly defining roles and responsibilities, RACI can help to streamline the product management process and make it more efficient, ultimately saving time and resources.

Improved communication

RACI can ensure that all stakeholders are kept informed about the progress of the product management process and any changes made, which can help improve communication and reduce misunderstandings.

Common pitfalls to avoid

Here are a few pitfalls to look after when considering working with the RACI Chart:

Forgetting about it and not updating it regularly

The RACI Chart is a living document — it evolves with your team or product. It is important to revisit it every time you experience a change. Even if no changes occur, you should review it once a quarter.

You should revisit the RACI chart anytime a change happens:

• A new member is joining the team
• A member is leaving the team
• There’s a new stakeholder for the product
• Change in the way of working
• The product enters a new stage in the life cycle

Not utilizing its potential for transparency

The RACI chart is a handy communication tool. Creating a RACI chart and shoving it into a folder or a drawer will not help you in any way.

Since it is a tool meant to increase alignment and transparency, you should ensure that every involved party is aware of it and has easy access. It is also beneficial when onboarding new team members or stakeholders.

Overlapping roles

When creating or maintaining your RACI chart, pay attention to how the responsibilities are split and that there are no overlapping roles. You should, as a team, clearly define who holds the responsibility and avoid having it split between too many team members, as this may cause unnecessary overhead.

Unbalanced responsibilities

Delivering successful products is a marathon, not a sprint. It is also vital to maintain a sustainable pace within the team, which also applies to the workload.

You should ensure that no team members are overloaded with too many responsible tasks. Discuss within your team and decide on a reasonable workload together, considering all their daily responsibilities. Should certain team members or roles have too many responsibilities, you must consider increasing your team or re-assign responsibilities.

For example, you may have a product manager who needs to keep an eye on the market, drive product-market fit , perform discovery activities, and support sales and marketing while also acting as the product owner for the development team.

This will lead the team to increased frustration in the development team’s lack of availability of the product manager, so it might be a good idea to consider bringing a dedicated product owner on board. This way, they will dedicate their full attention to the team, while the product manager can focus on the more strategic aspects of the product.

RACI template

Lastly, here is a template that you can use to define your product team’s own RACI chart. Make a copy of the Google Sheet, add your tasks, and define your roles and responsibilities.

While the RACI chart is a tool originating from traditional project management practices, it is as valuable for product management. It is lightweight, but holds a lot of relevant information. It also increases transparency around roles and responsibilities and eases the onboarding process of new team members.

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The RACI matrix: Your blueprint for project success

A raci matrix is a simple, effective means for defining project roles and responsibilities, providing a comprehensive chart of who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed every step of the way..

Having managed and rescued dozens of projects, and helped others do so, I’ve noted that there is always one critical success factor (CSF) that has either been effectively addressed or missed/messed up: clarity around the roles and responsibilities for each project participant and key stakeholder. No matter how detailed and complete a project plan may be for any project, confusion or omission of participant roles and responsibilities will cause major problems.

Enter the RACI matrix. The simplest and most effective approach I’ve seen and used to define and document project roles and responsibilities is the RACI model. Integrating the RACI model into an organization’s project life cycle (PLC) creates a powerful synergy that enhances and improves project outcomes.

What is a RACI matrix?

The RACI matrix is a project role and responsibility assignment chart that diagrams every task, milestone, or key decision to assign team roles across four categories: Responsible , Accountable , Consulted , and Informed . These categories indicate whether a team member is Responsible for an action item, is Accountable for it, should be Consulted on it, or simply be Informed of the action, milestone, or decision. The acronym RACI stands for the four roles that stakeholders might play at any point in a project.

In almost 100 percent of my project rescue efforts, I have found that there is no shared understanding of participant roles and responsibilities, nor is there explicit documentation to support it. Establishing such a consensus by employing the RACI model almost always gets a stuck project moving again, and enables the key stakeholders to readily deal with the other issues that require resolution.

[ Learn why IT projects still fail at an alarming rate, beware the 12 project management myths to avoid , and find out how to pick the right project management methodology for your team . | Get the latest project management advice by signing up for our CIO newsletters . ]

RACI matrix roles

The RACI model brings structure and clarity to describing the roles that stakeholders play within a project . The RACI matrix clarifies responsibilities and ensures that everything the project needs done is assigned someone to do it.

The four roles that stakeholders might play in any project include the following:

• Responsible : People or stakeholders who do the work. They must complete the task or objective or make the decision. Several people can be jointly Responsible .
• Accountable : Person or stakeholder who is the “owner” of the work. He or she must sign off or approve when the task, objective or decision is complete. This person must make sure that responsibilities are assigned in the matrix for all related activities. Success requires that there is only one person Accountable , which means that “the buck stops there.”
• Consulted : People or stakeholders who need to give input before the work can be done and signed-off on. These people are “in the loop” and active participants.
• Informed : People or stakeholders who need to be kept “in the picture.” They need updates on progress or decisions, but they do not need to be formally consulted, nor do they contribute directly to the task or decision.

How to create a RACI matrix

The simple process for creating a RACI model includes the following six steps:

• Identify all the tasks involved in delivering the project and list them on the left-hand side of the chart in completion order. For IT projects, this is most effectively addressed by incorporating the PLC steps and deliverables. (This is illustrated in the example below.)
• Identify all the project stakeholders and list them along the top of the chart.
• Complete the cells of the model identifying who has responsibility, accountability and who will be consulted and informed for each task.
• Ensure every task has at least one stakeholder Responsible for it.
• No tasks should have more than one stakeholder Accountable . Resolve any conflicts where there is more than one for a particular task.
• Share, discuss and agree the RACI model with your stakeholders at the start of the project. This includes resolving any conflicts or ambiguities.

RACI matrix example

For purposes of simplification, let’s say your project can be broken down into four discrete tasks, undertaken by a team of application developers, along with a sponsoring project executive, project manager , business analyst , and technical architect.

Step 1 of the process involves mapping out the project as a whole. For this, the project manager is both accountable and responsible for the work at hand. To determine the scope and deliverables of the project , the project manager consults with the project’s executive sponsor and with the business analyst about the process to be overhauled as part of the project. The technical architect and the application developers are subsequently informed of the project plan.

In Step 2, the business analyst must then delve more deeply into the process to help map out each facet of the business process to be overhauled. The business analyst is thus responsible for the task, with the project executive being accountable for signing off on this work. To better understand the technical underpinnings of the current process, the business analyst will consult with the technical architect. The project manager and application developers will then be informed of the conclusions derived from this portion of the project.

Here is an illustration of a simplified RACI model for this example project, taking these first two steps into account:

The subsequent third and fourth tasks involve shaping the new process, again with the business analyst responsible for this work, and the other roles on the team following their same responsibilities when the old process was being analyzed in Step 2. Step 4 sees the technical architect taking over, devising a new architecture that will support the new process, signed off by the executive sponsor, and held accountable by the project manager, who devised the scope and deliverables in Step 1.

RACI matrix template

Templates are available for free on the web for those looking to get started with the RACI model. These are typically geared toward Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, but can also be available for more specialized software. Here are several popular possibilities:

• Vertex 42 Excel RACI templates
• Projectmanager.com Excel RACI templates
• Smartsheet Excel RACI templates
• ClickUp RACI templates
• Excel Downloads RACI templates

RACI vs. RASCI

RASCI is another type of responsibility assignment matrix used in project management. It retains the four core roles of RACI — Responsible , Accountable , Consulted , and Informed — but adds a fifth: Supportive . The Supportive role in a RASCI chart is responsible for providing assistance to those in the Responsible role. This may involve providing additional resources, expertise, or advice to help the Responsible party complete a particular task. Organizations that choose RASCI often do so to ensure that personnel who may not have direct responsibility or accountability but are nevertheless vital to the success of an activity or project are considered a notable facet (and cost) of the project. Individuals or entities that consult on a particular phase of a project, whether internal or external to the organization, provide an example of Supportive resources.

RACI matrix rules and best practices

Simply creating a RACI matrix is not enough. You must ensure that the matrix maps to a successful strategy. Here, certain rules should be followed, and conflicts and ambiguities in the plan must be hammered out.

When building out your RACI matrix, the following three rules should be applied:

• Every task must have at least one Responsible party.
• To ensure clear decision-making, each task should have only one Accountable person.
• Every team member should have a role on each task, even if it is just to be Informed.

Resolving conflicts and ambiguities in a RACI matrix involves looking across each row and up and down each column for the following:

Analysis for each stakeholder:

• Are there too many R’s : Does one stakeholder have too much of the project assigned to them?
• No empty cells : Does the stakeholder need to be involved in so many of the activities? Can Responsible be changed to Consulted , or Consulted changed to Informed ? I.e., are there too many “cooks in this kitchen” to keep things moving? (And if so, what does that say about the culture within which this project is being managed?)
• Buy-in : Does each stakeholder totally agree with the role that they are specified to play in this version of the model? When such agreement is achieved, that should be included in the project’s charter and documentation.

Analysis for each PLC step or deliverable:

• No R’s : Who is doing the work in this step and getting things done? Whose role is it to take the initiative?
• Too many R’s : Is this another sign of too many “cooks in this kitchen” to keep things moving?
• No A’s : Who is Accountable ? There must be one ‘A’ for every step of the PLC. One stakeholder must be Accountable for the thing happening — “the buck stops” with this person.
• More than one A : Is there confusion on decision rights? Stakeholders with accountability have the final say on how the work should be done and how conflicts are resolved. Multiple A’s invite slow and contentious decision-making.
• Every box filled in : Do all the stakeholders really need to be involved? Are there justifiable benefits in involving all the stakeholders, or is this just covering all the bases?
• A lot of C’s : Do all the stakeholders need to be routinely Consulted , or can they be kept Informed and raise exceptional circumstances if they feel they need to be Consulted ? Too many C’s in the loop really slows down the project.
• Are all true stakeholders included in this model : Sometimes this is more of a challenge to ensure, as it’s an error of omission. This is often best addressed by a steering committee or management team.

RACI matrix in project management

It is the above analyses, which are readily enabled by the use of a RACI matrix, that deliver the real benefit of the model. It is the integration of the model with a specific PLC that ensures that the project is structured for success. Without either component, problems with the structure of the project management process may remain hidden until (or even while…) they cause the project to bog down. Making the time and effort to create a customized PLC/RACI for each significant project is an opportunity to design your project management process for project success.

More on project management:

• Project management guide: Tips, strategies, best practices
• What is a project manager? The lead role for project success
• 5 early warning signs of project failure
• 12 project management myths to avoid
• 16 tips for a smooth switch to agile project management

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With more than 25 years of corporate leadership experience and 6 years of executive coaching expertise, Bob Kantor is the founder of Kantor Consulting Group . Through his company's executive coaching and leadership development programs, Bob supports IT and STEM professionals transitioning from managing technology to leading people with innovation and confidence.

It’s rare for technology-driven organizations today to be limited by or constrained in what they can accomplish based on their technology skills. Rather, it’s the soft skills of those in leadership positions that typically create bottlenecks, miscommunication, re-work and ultimately, projects that are over budget and behind schedule. These are all areas where Bob’s programs enable clients to gain traction and get things turned around.

Bob has experience in leadership coaching for over 150 IT executives and managers at Bloomberg, and over 60 senior IT leaders at companies like DISH Network, Chevron, PayPal, eBay, Toyota, Aetna, Sysco, Unilever, SunTrust Bank, The Walt Disney Company and Molina Health Care.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of Bob Kantor and do not necessarily represent those of IDG Communications, Inc., its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies.

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How to Streamline Roles and Promote Team Collaboration with an Effective RACI Chart

Last Updated November 7, 2019

Imagine for a moment a homeowner’s association is tasked with a project of throwing a summer barbeque bash for the neighborhood. Everyone shows up at the same time, mills around trying to find a task and chaos ensues as homeowners arrive before food has been cooked. Now imagine that same team of people tasked with the same project, but in this team, each individual is assigned a specific task, from grilling to game planning. Now, this team can immediately get to work, and it’s much more likely the neighborhood bash will be an enjoyable event.

In any project, whether the task at hand is throwing a summer party or helping an organization with a technology transformation, when roles and responsibilities for everyone involved are clear, the project is more likely to be executed smoothly. In addition, project managers are often beholden to multiple stakeholders, and keeping those key players informed and involved throughout the lifecycle of the project is critical to project success.

What is a RACI Chart?

One method for streamlining accountability on a project is the use of a responsibility assignment matrix, specifically, a RACI chart. The RACI chart describes how the matrix assigns each task or deliverable, assigns an owner, and denotes who else is involved, ultimately classifying involved parties into four categories: responsible, accountable, consulted and informed. This approach is widespread among project managers, according to “ A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge ( PMBOK® Guide), Seventh Edition,” as it can eliminate confusion on who is in charge of, or accountable for, a specific project task.

The first step to developing an effective RACI chart is understanding what the various categories represent:

Responsible: This is the active party, the person who executes the task or completes the deliverable. This includes doing the work as well as making decisions. In some cases, a task or deliverable may have more than one responsible party; for best results, this role should be limited to as few people as possible for each task.

Accountable: This individual is responsible for ensuring the task is completed correctly and meets all specifications. While this person is not in charge of doing the work, they do delegate it and are responsible for approving the job that is completed. Like the previous category, the number of people assigned to this role should be limited for each task to ensure clarity in ownership.

Consulted: This group, typically comprising of subject matter experts, help provide supporting information for the person(s) responsible for working on the task. Communication with this group is two-way and is required before the task can be completed.

Informed: This group of people must be kept updated on the progress of the task or deliverable, as these individuals may be impacted by the outcomes. They typically are not involved in the feedback or review cycle but should be contacted after a decision or action is made.  

How RACI Charts Influence Project Outcomes

Planning is a critical component of project management and project success, and establishing roles and responsibilities is a key component of the planning stage. Implementing a RACI chart offers several advantages for project participants, including:

• Streamlined communication – All parties know precisely who to ask questions to, who to consult and who to inform.
• A controlled set of stakeholders – By pre-defining these responsibilities, project managers are less likely to be left juggling an unnecessary amount of opinions. Distinguishing consulters from informers can also help avoid a bulk amount of stakeholder feedback .
• Manages fatigue and overwhelm – Although project managers may hold many responsibilities, a RACI chart helps outline other owners, knowledgeable parties and accountable players to help lift some of the burden and ensure everyone stays informed.
• Establishes expectations up front – Creating a RACI chart can also help manage conflict later in the project lifecycle, as everyone should visually understand their roles and responsibilities on a project from the beginning.

Using a RACI Chart

RACI charts don’t have to be complex; they can be as simple as listing the work to be done, the resources assigned and the responsibility they hold. Follow these steps to create your own RACI chart:

Step 1: List the names of the people involved in the project – You’ll need to determine if roles or specific names are appropriate. For example, if a single person holds multiple roles, you could specify by role, whereas if multiple people hold similar titles, you might need to specify by name.

Step 2: Break down specific tasks or deliverables – Although this should be a breakdown of the project, it’s important to balance this to ensure the chart doesn’t become cumbersome or impossible to manage.

Step 3: Assign a role to teach task or deliverable, using RACI – Each task must have someone assigned to be responsible and someone assigned to be accountable.

Step 4: Seek buy in from the team – Gather your team, ensure everyone agrees with their assigned roles and responsibilities and allow for questions.

Step 5: Communicate with project stakeholders – Once you have team buy in, meet with stakeholders and get their buy in to establish expectations up front and avoid conflict down the road. The process of collecting buy in from the team and stakeholders is critical to achieving an effective project.

Step 6: Refer to the RACI – This step may seem obvious, but it doesn’t do any good to plan for the project and then not follow the chart as intended. Ensure everyone continues to adhere to the roles outlined in the RACI chart – remember, they approved them in the planning stage.

RACI Chart Example

Let’s go back to that neighborhood (NBHD) barbecue party and create a RACI chart for the homeowner association (HOA).

Keep in mind that RACI charts are useful in many cases but may not be needed in every case.  For example, rapid projects with small teams likely don’t need introduced complexity. Some Agile projects (depending on scope and timeline) may also have an implied role matrix as some roles are pre-defined, such as the Scrum team .

In implementing a RACI chart, a project manager should immediately set expectations for everyone involved. This includes ensuring team members understand when and what they must do, experts knowing when their opinion will be solicited, and stakeholders understanding where they will be informed, and where they will be consulted for input. Following the method can help establish a foundation for a streamlined project and pave the way to stronger relationships that can make a meaningful difference in the success of the project.

PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Interested in expanding your project management expertise? Learn more about Villanova’s Applied Project Management Certificate program and course offerings.

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Responsibility Assignment Matrix: A Complete Overview

Dive into the world of Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAMs), which helps assign roles and responsibilities and how they streamline Project Management. This comprehensive blog explains their purpose, benefits, and practical use, enabling effective role definition and accountability in project teams. Continue reading!

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This comprehensive blog aims to provide you with a complete overview of the Responsibility Assignment Matrix and its pivotal role in Project Management and organisational structure. 

Table of Content 

1) What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix in Project Management? 

2)  Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) goal in Project Management 

3) How to create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix? 

4) Benefits of Responsibility Assignment Matrix 

5) Developing Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) best practices 

6) Conclusion  

What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix in Project Management? 

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) in Project Management is a tool that outlines and defines the roles and responsibilities of individuals or groups involved in a project. Its purpose is to ensure that everyone understands their specific duties and tasks. The primary purpose of a RAM is to bring clarity to the project structure, helping to prevent confusion, overlap, and accountability issues throughout the project lifecycle.

RAM in Project Management is also known as Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed (RACI). RACI represents different levels of roles and responsibilities for individuals or teams:

a) Responsible: The individual or group in responsible for finishing a certain job or project. They are the ones who perform the work.

b) Accountable: The individuals who have complete responsibility and decision-making authority over the job or result. They ensure that the task is completed and of satisfactory quality.

c) Consulted: Individuals or stakeholders are consulted for their views or skills before to making a decision or taking actions. They contribute essential insights but may not be directly responsible for the task.

d) Informed: Individuals or stakeholders who need regular updates on the task’s progress or result. They are not actively involved in its conclusion, but they must be notified of any advancements.  

Responsibility Assignment Matrix goal in Project Management 

The primary goal of a Responsibility Assignment Matrix in Project Management is to clearly define and communicate the Roles and Responsibilities of Project Managers and individuals or teams involved in a project. Here are the key goals of using a RAM in Project Management: 

a) Clear roles and responsibilities: The RAM establishes clear roles and responsibilities for each team member, minimising confusion and conflicts.

b) Enhanced communication: Documenting roles and responsibilities concisely in the RAM facilitates effective communication within the project team. Also, enabling quick identification of contacts for specific issues or inquires.

c) Conflict resolution: BY operating a reference point, the RAM helps to resolve conflicts or misunderstandings about responsibilities, providing a foundation for conversation and conflict resolution.

d) Improved project control: With the RAM in place, Project Managers and stakeholders can more easily monitor project progress, identifying task accountability and monitoring work package status.

e) Efficiency and accountability: By allocating responsibility to each project aspect, the RAM promotes accountability among team members, resulting in increased efficiency as everyone understands their duties and expectations.

f) Risk Management: The clear roles of RAM help detect potential hazards associated with functional gaps or overlaps in the Risk Management Process , enabling proactive risk mitigation strategies.  

g) Optimal Resource Allocation: Project managers can optimise resource allocation by understanding task ownership and workload distribution as described in the RAM.

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How to create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix? 

Identify the project scope 

Start by recognising the project's scope or the exact purpose for which you are building RAM. This includes establishing project objectives, outcomes, and critical milestones.

Define roles and responsibilities 

a) Identify the key roles involved in the project. Common roles may include Project Manager, Team Leader, Team Member, Stakeholders, and other relevant positions. 

b) Clearly define the responsibilities associated with each role. These responsibilities should be specific and measurable so there is no ambiguity. 

Choose a framework - RACI, RASCI, or DACI 

a) Select a framework for your RAM. The most commonly used frameworks are RACI, RASCI, and DACI: 

b) RACI: RACI   Stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. It outlines who is in charge of a task, who is answerable for following it through to completion, who should be consulted, and who should be informed. 

c) RASCI: RASCI Similar to RACI, but with an additional role, the "S" for Support. This framework further clarifies who provides support for a task. 

d) DACI: This framework is similar to RASCI but adds the role of Driver. The Driver is responsible for ensuring that a task is completed. 

Assign roles using the framework 

a) For each task or work package within the project, assign the relevant roles using the chosen framework. Each task should have a Responsible person, an Accountable person, and, if necessary, people who need to be Consulted, Informed, or Supported. 

b) Be specific and ensure that there is only one person designated as "Accountable" for each task to avoid confusion. 

Document the RAM 

a) Create a table or chart that lists all the tasks or work packages on one axis and the identified roles on the other. 

b) Fill in the matrix with the appropriate role designations (R, A, C, I, S, D) for each task and role. 

Review and validate 

Share the RAM with the project team and stakeholders for evaluation and approval. Confirm that everyone agrees on the roles and responsibilities.

Implement and communicate 

Once the RAM has been completed and approved, communicate it to the project team and other stakeholders. Ensure that everyone understands their jobs and responsibilities. 

Regularly update the RAM 

As the project evolves, it is critical to improve the RAM as necessary. Roles and duties might shift, and new tasks may develop. Keep the RAM current to reflect the project's evolving needs.

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Benefits of Responsibility Assignment Matrix

a) Clarify roles and responsibilities: A RAM clearly defines who is responsible for each task, which helps prevent confusion and ensures that team members understand their roles.

b) Improved communication: The RAM serves as a central reference point for roles and responsibilities, promoting effective communication within the project team. Team members can quickly identify who to contact for specific issues or questions.

c) Conflict resolution: When there is a dispute or ambiguity regarding responsibilities, the RAM provides a basis for discussion and conflict resolution. It helps identify where accountability lies and facilitates problem-solving.

d) Enhanced project control: The RAM allows Project Managers and stakeholders to monitor and manage the project's development.  It helps you to track the status of assignments and ensure that tasks are getting done as planned.

e) Efficiency and accountability: Clearly defined roles and responsibilities create a sense of responsibility among team members, maybe resulting in improved productivity. When people understand what is required of them, and they are more likely to fulfil it.

f) Resource allocation: The RAM helps Project Managers optimise resource allocation by understanding who is responsible for specific tasks. This ensures that workloads are distributed evenly and that resources are used efficiently. 

Developing Responsibility Assignment Matrix best practices 

Developing a Responsibility Assignment Matrix is a critical aspect of project management. To create an effective RAM, consider the following best practices: 

a) Involve key stakeholders: Define roles and responsibilities after consulting with project stakeholders in regards with Stakeholder Analysis , team members, and subject matter experts. Their participation can provide useful information about the project's objectives. 

b) Keep it simple: Use a simple framework (e.g., RACI, RASCI, or DACI) that team members are able to quickly understand and use.

c) Use clear and specific language: In order to prevent confusion, write tasks clearly and precisely. Avoid using confusing or unclear terms that may lead to confusion.

d) Designate a single "accountable" person: Assign only one person as "Accountable" for each task. This individual is ultimately responsible for the task's completion. Multiple accountable persons can lead to confusion and accountability issues. 

e) Consult and inform appropriately:   It is important to carefully consider the individuals who need to be consulted and informed for each task. Avoid unnecessary involvement, which can lead to inefficiency. Ensure that the right people are included in these roles. 

f) Review and validate with the team: Share the RAM with the project team and stakeholders for feedback and validation. Ensure that all parties agree with the assigned roles and responsibilities. 

g) Document assumptions and clarifications: If certain roles and responsibilities are based on assumptions or require clarification, document these notes alongside the RAM. This can help avoid misunderstandings in the future. 

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Conclusion  

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix is an important tool in Project Management and organisational systems. Its importance comes from its capacity to define, assign, and explain the roles and responsibilities, resulting in improved project effectiveness and performance.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Creating a Responsibility Matrix is appropriate for the project's initiation stage. It outlines roles, duties, and communication channels to promote responsibility throughout the project's lifecycle. 

The Responsibility Assignment Matrix or RACI model divides tasks as Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, or Informed. It promotes transparency and accountability among the project group.

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How to Make a Responsibility Assignment Matrix: Excel RACI Template

What is a responsibility assignment matrix?

How to create a responsibility assignment matrix in excel, free raci template for excel, how to manage raci roles in your teamgantt plan.

A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) is a tool used in project management to clarify team and stakeholder roles for each project step. It paves the way for smooth collaboration by ensuring everyone knows what they need to do, who they need to talk to, and who has the final say on key decisions and deliverables.

RACI—which stands for Responsible , Accountable , Consulted , Informed —is the most popular framework used for assigning roles and responsibilities on projects. Here’s a quick breakdown of RACI categories in basic terms:

• Responsible : Who completes the work?
• Accountable : Who makes decisions? 
• Consulted : Who provides expertise?
• Informed : Who needs status updates?

Of course, RACI isn’t the only responsibility assignment matrix out there. These RACI alternatives provide a small sample of other approaches you might come across in project management.

• RASCI (or RASIC) matrix : This RACI alternative adds one extra role into the responsibility assignment mix. In the RASCI model, the S stands for Supportive . While this role covers anyone who will lend the Responsible person a hand with the work, a Supportive team member isn’t responsible for the outcome.
• DACI matrix : DACI stands for Driver , Approver , Contributor , Informed and is used to outline decision-making roles and responsibilities for projects. In this framework, the project manager or leader typically serves as the Driver guiding the team to a decision.‍
• RAPID responsibility matrix : RAPID stands for Recommend , Agree , Perform , Input , Decide and is another decision-making framework used to define authority vs accountability. The Recommend role kicks things off by suggesting an action, while the Decide role has the ultimate say in how things move forward. ‍
• CARS : CARS stands for Communicate , Approver , Responsible , Support . In this model, Communicate combines RACI’s Consulted and Informed roles into a single assignment. Someone with the Communicate role lends their expertise and needs to be kept up-to-date on progress. The Approver is the main decision-maker who calls the shots.

Lay a clear path to success with a visual plan that’s easy to understand, and keep everyone in sync with flexible workflows and team collaboration.

Lots of people use spreadsheets to make a responsibility assignment matrix for their projects, so let’s walk through the basic steps of building one in Excel, using the RACI framework as our model.

Looking for an online solution? See how TeamGantt's RACI feature integrates into your project plan.

1. List project tasks and deliverables in column A

First, make a list of all the work that needs to be done for your project down the left side of your matrix. Enter each project task, milestone, or decision in column A of your Excel worksheet. 

Feel free to group tasks by project phase like we’ve done in the screenshot below. That way, your RACI matrix is easy to scan and read.

2. Add team members or project roles across row 1

Starting with column B, label each column header with the name of a team member and/or project role. 

Include the people who will execute and review work for the project, as well as any subject matter experts or stakeholders you may need to consult or keep in the loop along the way.

3. Insert a new worksheet for roles and definitions

Click Insert > Insert Sheet from the Home ribbon at the top of your Excel workbook.

Go to your new worksheet, and list each letter of the RACI acronym in column A. Then enter the corresponding role for each letter in column B. We also included RACI definitions in column C as a handy reference for anyone who might need a refresher.

You’ll use this worksheet to populate a drop-down list on the main RACI matrix tab to make it easier to assign roles quickly.

4. Add a drop-down list of roles to your matrix

Now, go back to your main worksheet, and click into the first open cell in your matrix.

On the ribbon, click Data > Data validation to insert a drop-down list with RACI roles.

On the Settings tab, choose List under the Allow menu.

Click into the Source field, then highlight the data range with your options from the RACI Roles & Definitions worksheet you set up in Step 3. We highlighted cells A2-A5 in our example.

Verify your Data validation settings are correct, then hit Enter to add the drop-down list to your selected cell.

Copy and paste that cell to apply the drop-down list to other cells in your RACI matrix worksheet.

5. Color-code assignments with conditional formatting

Click Conditional Formatting > New Rule on the Home tab. Select Classic > Format only cells that contain > Specific text > containing . Enter the letter R in the text box, then choose Custom Format , and apply a background color (and any other styles you want). 

Repeat this step for each additional letter in the acronym.

6. Assign a RACI value to everyone on every task

You’re almost there! Now go down the list of tasks on your responsibility assignment matrix, and assign a role to every person who will be involved in that project step or deliverable.

Want to build a responsibility assignment matrix of your own, but don't want to start from scratch? Download our ready-made Excel template for free. This blank RACI template is fully editable, so you can customize it for any project you manage. 

We added drop-downs for assigning RACI roles more easily and included a RACI chart example tab as reference in case you need a little extra guidance.

Download: RACI matrix template for Excel

You can easily upload your final matrix to your TeamGantt project . But if you don’t want to worry about outdated spreadsheets that get forgotten once work begins, why not assign RACI roles directly to your plan?

Here’s how to use TeamGantt’s online RACI feature for your next project.

Assigning RACI roles and responsibilities to TeamGantt tasks

• Open your project, and toggle to the RACI tab. This will display all your project tasks in a list format (rows). On the right side of the matrix, you’ll see a column for each person currently invited to the project with cells for each task in the project. 
• Click the cell below each person who needs to be assigned a role on a task, and choose one of the RACI options from the drop-down.

Viewing RACI matrix assignments for your project

There are 2 simple ways to view RACI assignments in TeamGantt:

• From the Gantt tab : If someone is assigned to a task and has a RACI role on that task, the RACI value will appear in parentheses next to that person’s name on the gantt chart. Just be aware that you won’t see RACI assignments for people who haven’t been assigned to a specific task in Gantt view.

• From the RACI tab : To access your project’s full RACI matrix, simply toggle to the RACI tab for that project. You’ll find RACI assignments for every person playing a role—whether or not they’re the one responsible for doing the work.

Keep teams in sync—and accountable—with TeamGantt

A responsibility assignment matrix is a simple tool that makes projects easier to manage by creating less confusion and more accountability. But you’ve got more than roles and responsibilities to keep straight.

TeamGantt makes it easy to build a project plan your whole team can contribute to and collaborate on. Everything happens online, so you can stay on top of deadlines and monitor progress in real time.

Use our built-in RACI chart to assign roles and keep them visible from project start to finish, so everyone knows how they contribute to success.

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Organizational Structure

What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix

Last updated: Feb 15, 2023

Table of contents

What is a RAM matrix used for?

How to make a ram or raci chart.

Learn what a Responsibility Assignment Matrix is and how to use one to make all your upcoming projects run smoothly.

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), sometimes known as a RACI chart, is a tool used in project management to keep track of all responsibilities assigned to cross-functional teams on a specific task or assignment.

It’s known as a RACI chart because its acronym names the four key roles displayed in the matrix:

• Responsible: Who is the person responsible for completing a task or making a decision?
• Accountable: Who is accountable for the completion of the project overall and will sign off on deliverables and decisions?
• Consulted: Who needs to be consulted to provide input on a particular task or item?
• Informed: Who needs to be kept informed of project progress or completion?

A typical RAM template looks like this:

| Task | Annabelle (PM) | Jack (Technical Lead) | Dory (Technical Team Member) | | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | | Task 1 | A | I | R | | Task 2 | R | C | I | | Task 3 | C | R | C | | Task 4 | A | R/I | R |

The RAM matrix is used to document every task, item and decision involved in a project completion process. By keeping everything logged all in one place, a RAM matrix is an invaluable tool to any project manager or company leader for a few reasons.

• Defines clear roles and responsibilities

There is nothing worse than a project being slowed down or stalled because of confusion over who was supposed to do what. In a RAM, every person or team involved can check to see which task or item.

• Streamlines communication

Sometimes explaining directions in person or over a workplace communication tool can get confusing or be interpreted the wrong way. Even worse, one instance of miscommunication can tank an entire project or jeopardize a relationship with a client.

With a RAM, project managers don’t have to waste time directing questions to the responsible stakeholder in charge of making a decision. The chart informs everyone involved exactly who they can go to for answers, cutting out repetitive conversations and notifying the right people at the right time.

• Distributes workloads evenly

No one ever wants to be the one in the group project that has to do everything. Team members with a higher workload are at a greater risk for burnout. A great benefit of a RAM is that everyone can see how the workload for a certain project is distributed. It’s also a great way to be transparent within workflows.

Don’t let the random letters confuse you. Building a RACI chart is surprisingly simple. It can also easily be tweaked to fit your organization and your particular project. According to the work management platform Wrike , here are four steps to follow when building a responsibility assignment matrix:

• Identify all project roles

Start out with a list of everyone involved in a project, including every team, team member, manager and stakeholder.

• Identify all project tasks

Then make a list of all the tasks and items needed to get a project done. These can include deliverables, activities, milestones and decisions.

• Create a chart with a column for each role and a row for each task

In a spreadsheet—or any other tool you’d like—create a simple table by listing each person or role in the columns and each task or deliverable in the rows.

To get the most out of your RACI chart, try to make the roles as personal as possible. For example, instead of naming a role “technical lead,” try to use names, like “Jack.” This will give every person involved a sense of ownership, while also streamlining communication even further.

• Assign “R,” “A,” “C” or “I” to each person involved

Once you have written out the names of each person and task, now comes the important part of assigning RACI to each person involved. Identify who is responsible, who is accountable, who needs to be consulted and who needs to be informed for every task in the project. A role can have more than one letter, but simplify it as much as you can. Bonus step: Add a color to each letter to make the roles stand out even more.

That’s it! You now have made a successful RACI chart. Review with your team and all stakeholders before you initiate a plan, and you are officially on your way to more effective project management.

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What Is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) in Project Management?

April 11, 2024 By Ten Six

Here, we’ll explore what a RAM is, how you can create one, best practices for creating and using it effectively, as well as some common challenges with incorporating them into your projects.

What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)? A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is a tool used in project management to define and assign roles, responsibilities, and authority levels for each task or activity within a project.

It includes columns for each team member’s name, their role or title, their area of expertise or skill set, and any other pertinent information related to the task at hand. The rows represent individual tasks associated with the project.

This allows managers to easily identify which team members have been assigned specific tasks and how much responsibility they have over those tasks.

The Benefits of RAM

Using a RAM provides several benefits when managing projects; such as improved communication between teams by clearly outlining roles and responsibilities; increased accountability among team members; better tracking of progress against goals; improved resource allocation based on skillset requirements; and reduced risk due to more accurate forecasting capabilities.

Additionally, it can help reduce costs by eliminating unnecessary resources from being allocated towards certain activities, while also providing greater visibility into potential issues before they arise.

Types of RAM

There are two main types of Responsibility Assignment Matrices. A Functional (F-RAM) and a Projectized (P-RAM).

• Functional (F-RAM) – Functional RAM assigns individuals according to their functional expertise, allowing them flexibility in terms of where they work within an organization’s structure.
• Projectized (P-RAM) – Projectized RAM assigns individuals according to their particular skillsets but requires them to remain dedicated solely towards one particular project until it’s completion, regardless if there are changes in personnel or scope during this time period.

Key Takeaway: A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is a useful tool for project managers to assign tasks and responsibilities to team members. It can help improve communication, increase accountability, track progress more accurately and reduce risk. There are two main types of RAMs: Functional (F-RAM) and Projectized (P-RAM), each with their own advantages depending on the particular needs of the project. Overall, using a RAM can lead to better resource allocation and improved visibility into potential issues before they arise.

Best Practices for Creating and Using a RAM

Identify the project tasks and responsibilities.

The first step in creating a RAM is identifying all of the tasks required for successful completion of the project. This includes everything from planning meetings to writing reports to testing software.

Once you’ve identified all of the necessary tasks, you can then assign each task to one or more individuals who will be responsible for completing it. It’s important that everyone understands their role so they know what’s expected of them and how they fit into the overall picture.

Assign Resources to Each Task

Next, it’s time to assign resources such as personnel, equipment and materials needed for each task. Make sure that everyone has access to what they need, when they need it so there are no delays or roadblocks along the way.

Also consider any potential risks associated with certain resources so you can plan accordingly if something goes wrong during the execution of your plan.

Monitor Progress Regularly

As work progresses on your project, monitor progress closely using whatever tools are available such as status reports or dashboards. If things aren’t going according to plan due to unforeseen circumstances or other issues arise, adjust resource assignments accordingly. This could mean reassigning people from one task area to another area where more help is needed.

By monitoring progress regularly, you’ll be able to keep projects moving forward without unnecessary delays.

Regular Check-Ins

Having open lines of communication allows for quick resolution of issues or changes that may arise during the course of the project.

Update the RAM

It’s critical for the success of a project to keep the RAM updated throughout all stages. As tasks are completed or changed, it’s important to update both individual roles and responsibilities within the matrix so that everyone remains on track with their assigned tasks.

This ensures accuracy in reporting progress and makes sure no one falls behind due to lack of clarity about their duties or goals.

Key Takeaway: Creating a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) involves identifying all of the tasks and responsibilities required for successful completion of the project, assigning resources to each task,  monitoring progress regularly, regular check-ins and updating the RAM.

Don’t get left behind on your project! Make sure to keep your Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) up-to-date with clear roles and responsibilities. Communication is key, so don’t forget to check in regularly with team members! #ProjectManagement Click To Tweet

Challenges of Using a RAM

When using a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), there are several challenges that can arise.

Lack of Clarity in Assigning Roles and Responsibilities

It’s important to ensure everyone on the team understands their specific tasks, as well as who they should report to for guidance or updates. Without this clarity, it can be difficult to effectively manage the project and hold people accountable for their work.

Overlapping Responsibilities Between Team Members

This happens when two or more people have similar duties or tasks assigned to them, which can lead to confusion about who is responsible for what part of the project. To avoid this issue, it’s important to clearly define each person’s role and make sure everyone knows exactly what they need to do and how they fit into the overall plan.

Tracking Progress and Adjusting Resources Accordingly

As changes occur throughout the project lifecycle, it may become necessary to reassign certain tasks to different resources or adjust timelines in order for everything to stay on track. Keeping an up-to-date RAM helps ensure that all stakeholders are aware of any changes that have been made. This ensures everyone remains informed about where things stand at any given time during the course of the project

Using a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is an effective way for project managers to keep track of tasks assigned to each member on their teams. By understanding how this tool works and following best practices when creating one, they can ensure that their projects run smoothly while also helping the team stay organized throughout its duration.

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Creating a RACI matrix: define your team’s roles and responsibilities

How to create and use a RACI Matrix

Working on a complex project can be rewarding, stimulating, and, if we’re honest, frustrating. There are numerous elements that could grind a project manager’s gears, from delays to cost overruns . But there is little more frustrating than realizing too late that a member of the team had no idea they were accountable for a key component of the project.

No matter how talented and experienced your people are or how in-depth your project plan is, mistakes will happen if your team aren’t clear about their responsibilities. Being transparent about who needs to be involved and to what extent on every project task may feel overwhelming. Luckily, there’s a simple way to lay out this information and avoid mistakes due to unclear assignments.

Let’s discuss the RACI matrix and how you can create one to define your team’s roles and responsibilities.

What is a RACI matrix?

A RACI matrix, or RACI chart , is a type of responsibility assignment matrix that’s about making responsibilities clear. In simple terms, it’s a diagram that lists the tasks that make up a project and who is responsible for each task.

RACI stands for the four different levels of involvement someone may have in a task, Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. The ‘tasks’ listed can cover anything from a major milestone to a decision.

The function of a RACI matrix is to limit confusion about who should be responsible for what. That means less finger-pointing, avoidance tactics, and miscommunication when a difficult call needs to be made or an error needs addressing.

Is using a RACI matrix right for my project?

Using a RACI matrix will benefit most projects. However, there are specific scenarios where it’ll work best, such as for projects with a huge number of moving parts. If your project requires the team to work on multiple larger tasks at the same time or involves more than one external team, a RACI matrix will help keep you keep on top of everything.

Equally, that means there are certain projects where a RACI matrix may not be suitable. For example, if a project is relatively simple and responsibilities can be communicated clearly through the team using traditional methods, setting up a RACI matrix might not be worth it. Weigh up the effort of creating a RACI matrix against the benefits it could offer your team and project to see if it’s worthwhile.

RACI matrixes are popular in project management but can also be used for software development, business analytics, construction, and website development, among other disciplines.

A RACI matrix can be useful if:

• The team are known to forget their responsibilities
• There is a culture of finger-pointing
• Workload ends up being unevenly distributed throughout the team
• There is high turnover in the team
• Approvals need to be made quickly and efficiently

A RACI matrix may not be helpful if:

• The project is small
• The same team members retain the same level of responsibility across all tasks
• The team is known for its effective communication and healthy approach to collaboration

How to create a RACI matrix for project management

Now that we know what a RACI matrix is and what it is helpful for (and not helpful for) let’s delve into how to create one. This will help you better manage your team as a project manager.

Understand the definitions

The first step is to understand what RACI means. As mentioned, this stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. Let’s go over what each means.

• Responsible : This team member is responsible for doing the work needed to complete the task. This assignment is task-oriented and can relate to a whole team. There has to be at least one responsible person assigned to each task.
• Accountable : This team member takes charge of delegating work and has the final say over whether a task has been completed successfully or not. This assignment is focused on the outcome. There should only be one Accountable person for each task.
• Consulted : There may be multiple Consulted individuals assigned to a task, depending on its complexity. These people offer unique insights based on expertise and provide feedback on the task based on this and how it’ll impact their future work.
• Informed : Informed team members need to be kept up-to-date on progress relating to the specific task, but they aren’t directly involved. They may be a client or executive.

As you may have realized, some assignments will overlap. For example, the person Responsible for completing the task may also be Accountable.

List the deliverables

Now, let's go over how to set your RACI chart up. The easiest way to do this is using an Excel spreadsheet or similar. 

Start by writing ‘Task’ in cell A1. Then, input the list of tasks that need to be completed in your project below the title in column A. This can include individual tasks, deliverables, milestones, and decisions.

If you like to organize your tasks by category or project phase, you can add headers for each section to divide these up. How you approach this will be dependent on your style of organization and existing project plan.

Add your team members

Starting from cell B1, list the project roles that make up your team in the cells along row 1. You can include your team members’ names if this is going to be helpful. You may also need to include external stakeholders or suppliers if they will be involved, including those who will be assigned as Informed.

Assign the RACI values

The final step is to assign a RACI value to each person against each task. Go through the sheet line by line and populate your matrix based on the definitions above. 

You can even create a separate tab that details the definitions of each role. This can then be used to create a simple drop-down using ‘ data validation ’ if you find this easier than typing in each letter. It can also help avoid errors or typos.

Here’s an example of what your RACI matrix could look like:

Now that you can see it laid out, it becomes clear why a RACI matrix is helpful in keeping track of responsibilities and tasks.

Inform your team

RACI matrixes work best when they’re created collaboratively. Instead of simply assigning responsibilities and expecting your team to fall into line, inform them of your decisions and give them an opportunity to give feedback before finalizing your chart.

Remember the rules and best practices

When you begin using a new, unfamiliar tool, it's best to start out by abiding by its rules and best practices.

Best practices:

• Make sure everyone has been made aware of the decisions you’ve made about their responsibilities before the RACI matrix is approved.
• Don’t add meetings, reports, or repetitive to-dos to the matrix; instead, focus on tasks, milestones, and important decisions that drive the project forward.
• Make sure the task names are recognizable when compared with your project plan. This will help you track progress and pull up details quickly.

RACI rules:

• Don’t forget to assign at least one Responsible person to each task
• Don’t be tempted to assign more than one Accountable person. Doing so will confuse matters further!
• Dole out Responsible assignments carefully so no one person is overwhelmed by tasks.
• Involve every member of your team in every task, even if that means a few individuals are informed on multiple tasks.

The benefits of using a RACI matrix

If you’re not already convinced of the merits of creating a RACI matrix for your current project, let’s review some of the top benefits.

Clarified roles

Clearly delegating roles is fundamental to running a successful project. Even the tightest-knit teams can have slips in communication, and even the most organized individuals can forget a task on their to-do list. 

A RACI matrix makes it clear in no uncertain terms what needs to be done and the role that each person plays in each of those tasks. WIth inflexible definitions supplied for the four assigned roles, there is little room for misinterpretation.

Smooth handovers

When a key team member leaves and a new starter needs to be onboarded, mistakes can occur. With a RACI chart in place, it’s clear what responsibilities a leaver’s replacement needs to be picked up — including what is urgent — even if they’ve forgotten to add it to their handover. A RACI chart can even come in handy when workload needs to be reassigned during paid time off.

Ensures all eventualities are covered

As a project commences, it can be easy to get caught in the weeds. By setting your RACI chart up early, you protect yourself from tasks or decisions being forgotten along the way.

Optimized communication

Having a RACI chart available for all team members to refer to makes it clear when stakeholders need to be informed of updates so they aren’t left out of the loop unintentionally.

Alternatives to RACI charts

There are several alternative ways to approach responsibility assignments. If a RACI chart isn’t the right fit for you, you may be interested in trying out one of these alternatives.

• DACI chart: Standing for Driver, Approver, Contributor, and Informed, a DACI chart seeks to make decision-making roles clear.
• RAPID: Standing for Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, Decide, a RAPID responsibility matrix is useful in clarifying authority versus accountability, with the Recommend role taking charge of driving the project forward and the Decide role having ultimate responsibility for decision-making.
• RASCI matrix: This final alternative adds a fifth role to the RACI mix. The Supportive role isn’t responsible for any outcomes, instead acting as a support to the Responsible individual.

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How to Use a RACI Chart to Simplify Responsibilities

July 12, 2019 by Jon Hartney Leave a Comment

A RACI Chart (pronounced “racy”) is a visual representation of the responsibilities of a project.  RACI stands for Responsible – Accountable – Consulted – Informed.

It is an excellent way to communicate what the responsibilities of each member of the project team are.  In a RACI chart, each project task is assigned to each project member within the project organizational chart according to one of four responsibility levels.

The left side contains a listing of the project tasks and milestones, and the top contains the project members.  Each task as mapped to everyone involved in the project through the four responsibility levels:

• Responsible (R)
• Accountable (A)
• Consulted (C)
• Informed (I)

Example RACI Chart

The four responsibility levels are:

• Responsible (R) This task falls within the project member’s primary area of responsibility.  It’s their job!  The task falls within their expertise and day-to-day responsibilities.  They must also ensure that the task finishes on time and the quality level of the deliverables are satisfactory.  This is usually the project team who performs the technical work.  Project managers usually have administrative and project management tasks that fall within their job description, and project sponsors usually must approve the project’s expenditures.This group perform the tasks in collaboration with the people who are accountable (A) for them.
• Accountable (A) This group of people are held accountable for the results of the task even though they are not directly performing the work.  They are accountable for the timely execution of the task, the quality of the deliverables, and any other success criteria .  They often get credit for the success or failure of the task and their job performance depends on it.  This includes people who are reviewing or approving the deliverables.  They must be familiar with the technical details of the work because it will reflect on them.
• Consulted (C) This group needs to be consulted.  That is, they wish to provide input into the task.  They possess knowledge or resources that need to be incorporated into the task’s work and deliverables.  This group must be consulted with in a reasonable time frame and according to their schedules and priorities.
• Informed (I) This group wants to know the results of the task.  They have no other stake in the project other than to receive the deliverables, or even simply to be informed of the results.

Rules for RACI Charts

Although the chart is open to whatever strategies cause the project to succeed, there are a few general rules of thumb:

• Every row must have at least one R (responsible) person.  If there is no R on the row, there is nobody assigned to do the work.
• Every row must have at least one A (accountable) person.  For small projects this is often the same person, and the box can be labeled R/A.  I can also be persuaded that there are rare situations where there is no accountable person for a task within a project, but in those situations it is likely that another person should be included within the RACI chart (for example, board member, executive, etc.) who fills the accountability gap.
• The number of R’s (responsible) per row should be minimized.  For small projects it should be limited to only one if possible.  Any more means that several people are working on the same task on the same level.  For large projects this is okay, but for small projects listing some of the members in the A (accountable) category is often more effective from a management point of view.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

The term Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is often used in textbooks and university courses.  The RAM and RACI chart are the same thing.

How to Create a RACI Chart

RACI charts are very simple and fast to create using MS Excel.  They should take no more than 10 minutes.  The steps are:

• Open MS Excel
• List the project tasks (work breakdown structure) on the left column
• List the project members within the project organizational chart along the top row
• Enter the letters R, A, C, and I as desired into the middle boxes

What is a RACI Chart Used For?

RACI charts show the project resources assigned to each work package.  They illustrate the connections between tasks and project members.  RACI charts are an extremely fast and efficient way to communicate the project’s roles and responsibility assignments for all of the project members.

They are usually, although not always, developed by the project manager to ensure that all parties know what is expected of them.

All of us have stories about a project sponsor who was unengaged with the project, or an engineer that delayed a project by letting a technical review sit on their desk for weeks, or a stakeholder that withheld their acceptance of the project because they were not kept informed.

These types of scenarios can be easily avoided by keeping an updated a RACI chart.

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What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) in Project Management?

Introduction to Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

Project management is a complex process that involves multiple stakeholders, tasks, and resources. To ensure the success of a project, it is crucial to assign clear roles and responsibilities to team members and accurately define their tasks. 

One tool that can help project managers achieve this goal is the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM). In this article, we will explore the definition and benefits of RAM, as well as some examples.

If you’re looking for a RAM template that will help you assign roles and clarify responsibilities, Wrike has a customizable template ready to go.

What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) in project management?

A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) in project management, also known as a RACI chart or RACI matrix, details all the necessary stakeholders and clarifies responsibilities amongst cross-functional teams and their involvement level in a project. RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed and each letter corresponds to a team member.

A RAM in project management should be referred to by all parties throughout a project because it helps plan an individual’s roles and responsibilities before work begins. A RACI matrix ensures all stakeholders know who is responsible for completing a task or getting feedback on deliverables.

The four roles are broken down as follows:

• Responsible: The person(s) completing the task
• Accountable: The team member coordinating the actions, making decisions, and delegating to those responsible for the task
• Consulted: The person(s) who will be communicated with regarding decisions and tasks
• Informed: The person(s) who will be updated during the project and upon completion

Read more about RACI here . 

Identify and visualize roles seamlessly with Wrike

Responsibility assignment matrix example.

A common RAM   template looks like the example below. Notice how all stakeholders can have more than one role:

Responsibility Assignment Matrix template

Below you can see a powerful RAM template . The chart helps with visualizing roles and workload clearly. Therefore, project managers and team members follow the progress easily and stay on track.

Clarify roles with Wrike

In conclusion, RAM is a useful tool for any project manager who wants to ensure their team is clear on their responsibilities. It helps to establish a structured approach to project management, allowing for better communication, accountability, and ultimately, project success.

Using Wrike’s pre-built template, you can define the roles of each team member so everybody is on the same page. The template will also help you balance your workload and create complete transparency on your team structure.

What is a RACI Chart?

Artem Gurnov

Artem is a Director of Account Development at Wrike. He previously held the role of Project Manager, overseeing a team of customer success managers (CSMs). Over the years of building teams and scaling business processes, he has successfully deployed multiple projects, from automating client outreach to setting up work prioritization tools for sales reps and CSMs.

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What is the RACI Model?

Project management is constantly evolving in terms of technology and trends, from RACI to Gantt and back. It’s no wonder that sometimes it feels like a Pandora’s box of different decision-makers, project roles, and responsibilities. This is particularly true if you don’t have a project plan and the structures in place to complete the task milestones from start to finish while managing the responsible parties involved.

Without this, it’s pretty easy for the right hand to be in the dark about what the left hand is doing. One steadfast method involves the use of something called a RACI chart. In this blog, we’ll cover what the RACI model is, why it’s important for a healthy project management environment, and how to implement it the right way.

What is a RACI matrix?

RACI is a responsibility assignment matrix that teams use as part of their project management tactics and strategy. Also called a RACI matrix or linear responsibility chart, RACI charts are a type of responsibility assignment matrices in project management. These simple spreadsheets or tables highlight the different states of responsibility a stakeholder has over a particular task or deliverable and denote it with the letters R, A, C, or I. It’s typically implemented by color-coding each responsibility level and creating a simple table layout.

Generally, nobody should have more than a single responsibility level for each deliverable or activity group in the RACI chart.  In this example, we’ve given every person some level of involvement to keep things simple. But when you make a real model for more than four people, there’s often more white space. We will get more into how class RACI looks and functions later.

Pro tip: Check out our easy-to-use RACI matrix template

What does the acronym RACI mean?

The letters in RACI stand for:

Responsible

Accountable

The RACI matrix uses these terms to describe individuals’ roles and responsibilities for project activities and deliverables.

Once your responsibility assignment is complete, all participants should understand precisely what they need to do to make the project successful.

Definitions of RACI terms

Here’s how the RACI chart framework envisions each role and responsibility.

The person assigned as Responsible is the individual who is in charge of the day-to-day work of the project including actual hands-on work, delegating responsibilities, and day-to-day management. This function is often held by a project manager, team lead, developer or engineer, designer, or content creator. 

This role is given to the person who is accountable for making sure the work is completed satisfactorily. This is the individual who signs off that the job is done to the standard required. This function is often a department head, C-level executive, or a product owner. 

Sometimes, work may require advice or other input from a subject matter expert to get the job done. Allocate the Consulted role to a person whose advice for task completion is necessary. Consultants are typically subject matter experts, legal counsels, financial advisors, UX specialists, and marketing specialists. 

The Informed role is for those stakeholders who need to be kept in the loop as a task progresses. They won’t provide any input on how the task gets done, but are likely a key stakeholder who needs to know what’s happening. This role is held by stakeholders, end users, client representatives, or other department heads. 

Benefits of using the RACI model in project management

The proverb—too many cooks spoil the broth—is centuries old . However, Princeton University concluded it was true following their research into the ‘wisdom of crowds’.

You instinctively know when there are too many people getting involved in a specific task. It can even lead to conflict as each team member tries to exert an influence on tasks that shouldn’t need their input.

Without documented roles and responsibilities it’s harder to stop people from moving outside their lane and harming the smooth running of the project.

Using a RACI matrix helps to make sure that each task is only worked on by the right, relevant people.

Further benefits of using the RACI model include:

• It simplifies communication. If only the right, relevant people are involved in a task, this streamlines communication making task completion more efficient.
• It prevents team member burnout. Once you have drawn up the RACI matrix, you can easily see if any team member is overloaded with too many tasks on the project. If your project has a single person shouldering most of the load, it creates a weak link that could spell disaster for the project if that person fails to deliver.
• It provides clarity of purpose. Clarity of roles gives team members a purpose. If everyone can figure out immediately what they and others are doing using the RACI matrix, then this should result in a smoother workflow

Call a meeting for all the project’s stakeholders to produce a RACI matrix together, where you can get agreement on this new iteration of everyone’s roles and responsibilities.

When you should use RACI

The RACI model is a great solution when multiple people are involved in a project and you need clarity. It helps avoid searching for answers across multiple team members and stakeholders. Another bonus of using RACI is that it gives team members confidence. Everyone knows exactly what they are responsible for and who to turn to when necessary.  

A large scale project could involve many stakeholders, such as:

• Government regulators
• VIP clients and project sponsors
• Company executives
• Business analysts
• Internal users of the product

When RACI is used from the beginning, teams are able to avoid miscalculations and blunders that could cost precious time and money. And of course, it will contribute to your overall stakeholder engagement efforts.

How do you create a RACI chart?

You can create a RACI chart using a simple grid, but it’s better to use a digital workspace so you can easily update and fix it.

Get a head start with our monday work management RACI chart template  

On the left of the RACI diagram, split your project into logical phases, and note down all of the action items that require completion. Along the top of the matrix, the four project roles of the RACI model are already entered for you.

Next, where a task and role intersects, add in the person who will assume the role. Here’s an example containing a few common tasks for a new product launch:

There are a few rules to stick to when you compose your RACI chart.

To make sure a task gets done, each one should have someone allocated as Responsible. Similarly, it’s best practice for every work item to have someone Accountable, too, so they can sign off the task when it’s finished.

For large tasks you can assign more than one person to each of the roles, if needed. Or if it makes sense, you can have the same person allocated to a deliverable as both Responsible and Accountable. As you can see in the above example, not all tasks require a Consulted or Informed person ― you don’t have to assign these roles if you don’t need them.

Now let’s move on to understand the benefits of using a RACI diagram to define roles for a project.

RACI best practices

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to building your RACI charts. Here are some of the best practices that we recommend sticking to:

1. Map out deliverables and activity groups thoroughly before using RACI

Don’t jump immediately into assigning individual responsibilities. Start by consulting with subject matter experts and accurately mapping out the moving parts. Only once you’ve got a clear outline of your project can you make educated decisions. That could be your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) or a project roadmap.

2. Don’t be afraid to give responsibility to less senior staff

Assigning the accountable role to a high-level executive or project manager for all tasks is a mistake. Since they have the final say on when a job is complete, you instantly create a bottleneck. Instead, don’t be afraid to assign that role to experienced staff on the project team itself, who is most familiar with the work.

3. Standardize the approach across departments and locations

While a single project team is good, stakeholder relationships don’t exist in a vacuum. Your whole organization must get on board to truly maximize the return on investment. Make distributed responsibility and decision-making part of your corporate purpose. Everyone — from executive to intern — must be on the same page.

4.  Each task must have at least one Responsible person and only one Accountable person

The goal here is to avoid overwhelm, not increase it. That’s why it’s critical to have one accountable role for each task to make decision making as easy as possible.

5. Use the right digital tools to implement RACI at scale

A written memo isn’t enough to standardize your methods and remove departmental silos. Use digital tools to build a platform for efficient RACI implementation and stakeholder management.

RACI chart examples

A RACI matrix sounds great in theory, but how do you apply it in the real world?

Here are a few examples:

Launching a new help page on your corporate website:

• Ultimately, the design team would be Responsible for completing the work.
• The project manager would be Accountable for most of the tasks, which would be broken down one by one on the matrix.
• The head of customer support — whose team will be most directly impacted by the new help page — might be Consulted on the section’s contents.
• Lastly, the marketing team would be Informed of the outcome so they could promote the new section.

Creating a new employee onboarding program:

• Members of the human resources (HR) team would likely be Responsible for ensuring the work is done.
• The director of HR would ultimately be Accountable for the final product.
• Each team lead would be Consulted as they wanted to ensure their team was represented in the training.
• Finally, members of the C-suite may want to be Informed about the final product.

No matter what type of project or task your team is working on, the RACI model can provide a great solution for allocating responsibilities and avoiding confusion.

The pros and cons of RACI

It’s clear that using RACI charts boosts organization and often clearer communication, but like anything else, RACI also has its downside. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons. 

Using a RACI chart can bring several advantages to project management, enhancing efficiency, clarity, and team alignment:

• Communication with stakeholders is clearer and more organized
• Team leads can avoid assigning too much responsibility to specific team members
• Give visibility to stakeholders to understand what is in the pipeline and what is coming their way

RACI charts can also present challenges, including potential confusion, tension, and delays among team members:

• Roles can be confusing in the beginning (for example, understanding the difference between Accountable and Responsible)
• Tension may exist between Consulted and Informed stakeholders
• Setting up a RACI chart may require an initial time investment

RACI matrix alternatives

As the RACI chart is a simple project plan at its heart, it’s flexible enough for you to optimize it to fit your particular need. Especially when you’re using a fully customizable template like the one from monday.com.

There are many variants of the RACI matrix that have tried to address the ambiguities with role names, or added in new roles entirely. Here are a few alternatives you could use instead.

The DACI chart uses the following role definitions to reduce the confusion caused by Responsible and Accountable in RACI.

• Driver : the person who ‘drives’ the task forward (Responsible in RACI)
• Approver : the person who signs off the task (Accountable in RACI)
• Contributor : the Consulted role in RACI
• Informed : same as RACI

The RASCI chart uses the RACI format but adds in the additional role of Support. This role is a person who assists the Responsible person in completing an allocated task. They won’t provide advice like the Consulted role or be the main driver for task completion.

The CARS model attempts to define the roles of RACI in a more precise manner and adds in a supporting role like the RASCI model.

• Communicate : combines the Consulted and Informed roles in RACI.
• Approve : uses more explicit language for the Accountable role in RACI.
• Responsible : same as RACI role.
• Support : uses the same support role as the RASCI model.

The CAIRO model expands RACI by adding in the letter O (and jumbles up the letters). The letter O is for Out-of-the-loop and is for situations where you need to designate an individual or team as not involved in a task at all.

RACI vs. RASCI

The terms RACI and RASCI are largely used interchangeably today. As mentioned above, RASCI is the same as RACI but adds support into the mix. The Support function makes sure that the Responsible team member has everything he/she needs to get the project done. This can be helpful on larger projects where more assistance is needed.

Who uses a RACI matrix?

Even though the RACI model is a project manager’s useful tool for stakeholder management, that doesn’t mean it should be used for all projects. The deciding factors on who uses it relate to the scale of the project and the company structure.

Use the RACI matrix for projects that are:

• Large-scale with clear-cut deliverables or workgroups
• For organizations with static roles and responsibilities
• Involving a wide variety of stakeholders for different aspects
• Spanning multiple departments
• In highly regulated industries

Don’t use the RACI matrix for:

• Small, single-department projects — it’s likely not necessary
• Teams working with an Agile framework like Scrum

In Agile organizations, cross-functional teams and collaboration is the default. So task responsibility depends on the employees’ initiative rather than a top-down decision. For Agile teams, implementing a hard version of RACI will likely not be helpful, as teams should be self-organizing.

( Image Source )

RAPID vs.RACI— What’s the difference?

Sometimes when you want to define RACI, it’s important to use another method for comparison.

RAPID and RACI are both two important tools for project managers, but they have different functions. As we have seen, the RACI method revolves around deliverables and the key person responsible throughout each stage of the process. RAPID however, focuses primarily on the decision-making process and the actions made by an organization.

You can see the breakdown of RAPID here:

While making a key decision is a part of the project management process, it’s not the whole journey. The RACI framework outlines who should do a task, who to keep in the loop, and who gets the final say.

How to create a RACI chart with monday work management

While there is a wide variety of project management apps out there, in the particular case of a RACI, monday work management provides an outstanding offering of robust integrations and extensibility that allow you to build the exact platform you need to manage this structure and more.

You can get started much quicker with our RACI matrix template and share it with the entire team. Keep track of the RACI roles for all project activities and easily see project phases and individual deliverables for each.

In addition to customizations on columns, statuses, and more, easily assign roles to internal users or guest users created for external stakeholders. All assigned roles will automatically get informed of status changes to the work item.

Here are a few more ways you can get the most out of your RACI matrix.

Continually update and revise to reflect the real-time statuses

An out-of-date RACI diagram helps nobody. Use board permissions to let responsible users directly edit the status of the row themselves.

Keep stakeholders involved with shared boards and dashboards

With monday.com, you can easily give them viewer access to project and workflow boards. That way, they know the actual status of the project in real-time. They can then use that information to guide their decisions. You can also inform stakeholders of crucial changes automatically with automations.

Our integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Gmail let you send messages based on status changes, new items, missed due dates, and more.

Remove data silos to keep everyone on the same page

Naturally, every department uses a different set of tools and applications. monday.com’s robust integrations make it easy to bring all of this data And even if you use custom business apps, you can easily integrate them into monday.com using our API and 50+ pre-built adaptors.

Empower stakeholders with RACI charts

The RACI matrix is an excellent method for assigning responsibilities and keeping stakeholders engaged throughout the journey because it clarifies where everyone should focus their energy and makes it easy for people to lead the way in their area of expertise.

That being said, the platform and tools you use to make it automated and up to date can have a significant impact on its success. Use our RACI template and share it with your entire team to ensure everyone understands and deals with it accordingly.

What are the four rules under the RACI chart?

The four rules in RACI are Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. In the RASCI model, a fifth rule, Support, is added.

What is the difference between the R and A in RACI?

The Responsible role is the person responsible for executing the task/project. The Accountable person is ultimately in charge of making sure the project is completed and is the project owner.

What is the golden rule of RACI?

The golden rule of RACI charts is that only one person can be assigned the Accountable role for each project.

Can the same person be accountable and responsible in RACI?

Yes, the same person can be both Accountable and Responsible in RACI. The Accountable status can only be assigned to one person, as this is the ultimate authority and owner of the task.

Which software is best for RACI?

monday.com makes it easy to build effective and visual RACI charts. Assign team members the different roles at the click of a button so everyone can stay informed and understand their part in getting the project completed well and on-time.

• Project change management
• Project risk management
• Project schedule management

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Responsibility Assignment Matrix: Template, Example & Benefits

Home Blog Project Management Responsibility Assignment Matrix: Template, Example & Benefits

Your team is the most crucial resource in completing a job. They must adhere to the project's schedule and budget. Controlling the project requires everyone involved to understand their roles and duties when carrying out tasks and accomplishing project objectives. How can all the participants in a project be coordinated so that they are aware of what they are doing and do not prevent others from carrying out their tasks? An assignment of responsibility matrix can be useful.

Your project will have a productive crew thanks to an assignment matrix. You can take an online PMP course to learn the details included in RAM, Responsibility Assignment Matrix in project management, and Responsibility Assignment Matrix example, to advance your career.

What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix in Project Management?

So, what is the responsibility assignment matrix?  A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), sometimes referred to as a RACI chart or RACI matrix, in project management identifies all relevant stakeholders and specifies roles for cross-functional teams and their level of involvement in a project. Each letter in the acronym RACI, which stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, refers to a different team member in the Responsibility Assignment Matrix in Project Management.

1. Responsible

The team member that oversees finishing the assignment is the person responsible for the RAM, Responsibility Assignment Matrix. The person in charge may be tasked with gathering all the visual and data assets required to put together the presentation if your team is working on a pitch deck (Responsible for executing the task).

2. Accountable

The responsible team member distributes the tasks to the other team members and ensures that they are finished accurately and on time. This team member oversees making sure the project is completed on schedule and that the tasks are fairly distributed among the accountable parties (Has governing & directing authority).

3. Consulted

A responsible party in Responsibility Assignment Matrix Project Management may frequently need to consult an expert, who serves as the consulted person, to finish certain responsibilities. A professional analysis of the consulted party is required when someone is tasked with gathering marketing statistics for a presentation. They also need to ensure that the data the responsible party is required to submit is accurate (Provide insights, analysis or expert judgment).

4. Informed

The informed party needs to be aware of when the major project components are finished even though they may not be directly involved in all the steps to ensure that everything is running smoothly. The informed team member must be aware of any delays or stalls in the project as they must complete their tasks (Updated with project information and outcome).

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Goal in Project Management

The goal of the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is to clearly define roles and responsibilities of everyone on a project team. This ensures that everyone understands their role and how it fits into the bigger picture. RAM also allows for quick identification of whom to contact when an issue arises. It might also be applied within a working group to establish authority levels, roles, and duties for tasks.

The matrix format displays each person's associated actions and each person's associated people. To avoid confusion, this makes sure that there is only one person responsible for each task. It is also important to outline the dates and reminders for each participant, so that they are aware of their deliverables/plans to fulfill the deliverables. The best Project Management Certification programs online will teach you how to make efficient decisions and effectively use RAM.

How to Create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix?

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is a table that shows the tasks needed to be completed as part of a project, who is responsible for each task, and when the task needs to be completed. Making a matrix to distribute responsibilities is not as challenging as getting everyone on board with their respective jobs and responsibilities.

You should therefore involve your staff in the process, receive their feedback, and eventually secure their buy-in without expending excessive time and effort on it. You will have a successful responsibility assignment if you follow these instructions to ensure that everyone is on the same page. 

• List every person involved in the project, including the team, stakeholders, and everyone in between.
•  List each project deliverable that you can think of. To make sure you do not overlook any, use a work breakdown framework.  
•  To discuss how to carry out the tasks and produce the deliverables, meet with the team members. The duty and authority of the team for each assignment must be discussed.
•  Utilizing a table with the project tasks specified in the left-hand column, create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix. Print the names of everyone involved in the project across the top.
• Assign whether a project team member is liable, accountable, consulted, or informed where the tasks meet them.  
•  Share the completed Responsibility Assignment Matrix Template Word with the project team and stakeholders. If necessary, conduct a meeting to ensure that everyone is aware of their responsibilities for the project. Print a copy, and if you are working in a common location, post it.

Developing Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Best Practices

The best practices for developing a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) will vary depending on the specific project and organization. However, some tips on how to develop a RAM matrix effectively include the following:

• Define the project scope and objectives clearly, so that all stakeholders understand the parameters of the project and what is expected to be accomplished.
• Assign clear roles and responsibilities to individuals and teams so that everyone knows who is responsible for what aspect of the project.
• Make sure that the Responsibility Assignment Matrix PMP is kept up to date as the project progresses so that everyone is aware of any changes in roles and responsibilities.
• Use the RAM matrix as a tool to help identify potential risks and issues related to the project so that they can be addressed early on.
• One stakeholder leads a task.
• The lesser number of people are accountable, the better.
• Act efficiently with meetings.
• Continuous communication.
• Stakeholder agreement on final RAM.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix Examples and Templates

• Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RACI) 
• RACI-VS (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed- “V”erification and “S”ign off)
• RASCI (Responsible, Accountable, Support, Consulted, Informed)
• RAC (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted)
• ARCI (Accountable, Responsible, Consulted, Informed)
• RATSI (Responsibility, Authority, Task, Support, Informed)
• PACSI (Perform, Accountable, Control, Suggest, Informed)
• RACIQ (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed, Quality Review)
• DACI (Driver, Approver, Contributors, Informed)
• CAIRO (Consulted, Accountable, Informed, Responsible, Omitted)

Downloadable Responsibility Assignment Matrix Template Excel

Download the Responsibility Assignment Matrix Template (xlsx) here!

This Responsibility Assignment Matrix template is available for free in both Excel and OpenDocument Spreadsheet formats. The template can be completely modified using Microsoft Excel and adjusted to meet the needs of your project. To make it simple to understand what is required of each worker on each task, the template employs conditional formatting to change the color of each cell.

Download a Printable Responsibility Assignment Matrix PDF

Download the Responsibility Assignment Matrix Template (PDF) here!

If you intend to design a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), you may require samples and templates to use as a guide, regardless of whether you are managing an event, a construction project, or a restaurant. Some of the templates are-

• Responsibility Assignment Matrix Sample
• Responsibility Assignment Matrix for Construction Project Template
• Basic Responsibility Assignment Matrix Sample
• Responsibility Assignment Matrix in PDF

Benefits of Responsibility Assignment Matrix

There are many benefits of the Responsibility Assignment Matrix. One benefit is that it helps to ensure that everyone on a project team understands their roles and responsibilities. This can help to prevent misunderstandings and conflict between team members. Another benefit of using RAM is that it can help to improve communication between team members.

By clearly defining roles and responsibilities, team members will know whom to go to for specific information or tasks. This can help to avoid confusion and delays. Lastly, RAM can help to improve project management by providing a clear overview of who is responsible for what. This can help project managers to identify potential problems or areas where there may be a lack of resources.

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A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is a tool used to identify and define the roles and responsibilities of individuals and groups within an organization. It is a means of clarifying who is responsible for what and ensuring that everyone understands their roles and responsibilities. RAM can be used to create accountability and ownership for tasks and projects, and to identify potential areas of conflict.

It is a valuable tool for effective project management and can help to ensure that everyone involved in a project is aware of their roles and responsibilities. It can also help to identify potential areas of conflict and ensure that tasks are properly assigned. The KnowledgeHut online PMP course will give you an insight into the Responsibility Assignment Matrix and can be a helpful tool for any project manager.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. what is included in a responsibility assignment matrix.

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is a tool used to help define and assign roles and responsibilities for a project or process. The matrix typically includes a list of tasks or deliverables and the people or groups responsible for each. 

2. What can a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) eliminate?

RAM eliminates ambiguity and confusion over who is responsible for what on a project. It also provides a clear overview of who is responsible for each task, making it easier to hold team members accountable.

3. What does a Responsibility Assignment Matrix not show?

The duty assignment matrix links resources to the tasks or work packages they must do, but it does not indicate when they will be required to do their work.

Kevin D.Davis

Kevin D. Davis is a seasoned and results-driven Program/Project Management Professional with a Master's Certificate in Advanced Project Management. With expertise in leading multi-million dollar projects, strategic planning, and sales operations, Kevin excels in maximizing solutions and building business cases. He possesses a deep understanding of methodologies such as PMBOK, Lean Six Sigma, and TQM to achieve business/technology alignment. With over 100 instructional training sessions and extensive experience as a PMP Exam Prep Instructor at KnowledgeHut, Kevin has a proven track record in project management training and consulting. His expertise has helped in driving successful project outcomes and fostering organizational growth.

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Definition: A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) describes the role and responsibilities of various people and/or organizations in completing specific tasks for a project.

Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) Matrix

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