RACI matrix is a simple, effective project management tool to define project roles and responsibilities. Using RACI matrix we can significantly improve our changes of project success because with RACI we know exactly who is responsible, who can be held accountable, who just needs to be consulted, and who just needs to be kept informed.

No matter what the size of project is, we need to clearly define the job descriptions. Whether it’s a 5-person team or an international collaboration, everyone in the team needs to understand their project specific roles that being the tasks and activities each person must complete in order to make the project successful.

What is a RACI matrix?

So, RACI streamlines the project and make it very clear that which team member are involved and how critical their roles and responsibilities are in the success of project.

Everyone needs to know for each activity one who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. One way to define each team member’s role is to create a RACI matrix. RACI organizes your project so that everyone knows what’s happening.

RACI matrix roles and responsibilities

The term RACI is an acronym; the letters R, A, C, I are the first letters of:  Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. Let’s understand this in more details:

What do the terms mean? “R”,  Responsible – the person who performs the task or who do the work activity.

What do the terms mean? “A”,  Accountable – the person who is accountable for the process success or failure and usually has the final sign off on any process change. Normally we have only 1 decision maker and only 1 can be held accountable. He is one who ensures thorough completion of the task on time

What do the terms mean? “C”,  Consulted – the person who needs to collaborate and provide feedback on the process and any future change. They are normally the subject matter experts who are involved when some requirements needs to be gathered or decisions needs to be made.  It is difficult to keep them out, because their opinion or feedback will  be very important for success of your project.

What do the terms mean? “I”,  Informed – the person that needs to be kept in the loop of any decision or action relating to the process. They may or may not be attending the project related meeting but still will be kept informed on happening or challenges from project side. Most of the time there will be only one way communication.

Rules of RACI matrix

• Every row in RACI must have at least  1 “R”.
• There should a single “A” for each task in single Row.
• Don’t have too many “C” for each task in single Row
• Not every cell needs to have a value. Some can be blank.

How to create a RACI matrix with Example ?

You can make a RACI matrix easily . Just follow the steps below

1. Add all the tasks or milestones and add these tasks in the extreme Left column starting from first task to the last task .
2. Define all the project stakeholders and add their roles on the top row of this RACI chart.
3. Now for each task, against each team member add different roles. Like whether he 0s Accountable or Responsible or Consulted or just Informed Similarly fill all the cell either with R, A, C and I depending on your roles.
4. Make Sure to list one Responsible “R” for each task. Sometimes Accountable “A” and Responsible ”R” roles can be taken by same stakeholder.
5. There can one only one Accountable “A” for each tasks.

Benefits of RACI matrix?

Let’s look at some benefits of RACI matrix :

1. It clearly defines the project roles and responsibilities .
2. There is clear communication between different stakeholders.
3. It reduces the number of approvals required in the project
4. It improves the overall performance and make sure the project is success.
5. It helps to keep project on Track.

Watch this animated YouTube video for details :

It is also known as Responsibility assignment matrix.

I hope this blog helped in understanding the basic concept of RACI matrix in a simplified manner, watch out for more such stuff in the future.

Thanks!!!

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