RACI Charts The Ultimate Guide, with Examples 2023

We love this template from Smartsheet because it’s colorful, thorough, and includes room for every party involved in the project. 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. But it’s especially helpful when tasks require multiple resources, run concurrently, or depend on other tasks. Every task needs at least one Responsible party, but it’s okay to assign more. Informed parties are usually outside of the project team and often in different departments. They might include heads or directors of affected teams and senior leadership in a company.

A RACI matrix is a great tool that HR professionals can leverage to help streamline critical HR projects for better results. When creating a RACI chart, there can often be lots of debate about the Accountable and Responsible roles. So much so that the other roles are sometimes filled in rapidly as an afterthought. But failing to give these two roles the right level of attention can create serious problems. The RASCI Model PowerPoint Template is a variant of the RACI Matrix, however it adds a new section called Supportive. This new Supportive role aims to assist the responsible person during the implementation of the task or production process.

Implementing the RACI Matrix

The RACI chart, on the other hand, is only a simple visual of the different roles and responsibilities across major project tasks. Also called a RACI matrix, 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 denotes 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. Project management is constantly evolving in its 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.

• A common pitfall is for a project manager to define a raci diagram and set it in stone.
• Copy and paste that cell to apply the drop-down list to other cells in your RACI matrix worksheet.
• Each letter in the RACI acronym defines the level of responsibility each person involved in a project will have on an individual task, milestone, or decision.
• Coent argued that adding the role of Facilitator to the model recognized the importance of facilitation and coaching in agile.
• Additionally, the RACI matrix may only be suitable for some projects.
• The Wrike RACI model template allows you to kick-start your project the right way and prepare accordingly.

In this example, the roles and responsibilities involved in implementing a new performance management system have been mapped out. Note that it is a high-level document outlining the task, the deliverable, and who is responsible, accountable, will consult, or needs to be informed. Once the tasks and stakeholders have been listed, it’s time to define which individual will be responsible for what role in the matrix. To do this, you will require filling in the remaining cells in the RACI chart with who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed.

Finalize the Matrix

While the RACI matrix can be a valuable tool in project management, it does have its limitations and criticisms. This article will explore the RACI matrix, how it works, and how https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ to create and implement it in your project management efforts. In our example that we’ve been using, you’re accountable for coordinating the details of restaurant and flowers.

You’re going to need to know who is your Responsible party as well as who is your Informed individual. Make sure that you know how to assign the different aspects of the chart. Also, make sure that you assign each task within the chart and within the project to the right people. You’re going to find that your project goes a great deal better when you know how to assign tasks in the right way. Make sure you’re utilizing all of the features of Instagantt and the RACI chart that you’re working with and you could see a big difference in your business.

Keep your team in sync with TeamGantt

Before we get into the technical components of creating a RACI chart, let’s dive into stakeholder engagement briefly. A recent McKinsey study highlighted three key areas for engaging external stakeholders effectively — a corporate purpose, active use of technology, and organizational agility. Finally, it is worth mentioning that one of the members on the RACI table may not be responsible (R) for any activity, accountable (A) nor consulted (C). This is the case with the assistant (last column) that is only informed (I) of all activities that occur during the process.

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. It is possible to have multiple team members assigned as Responsible for a task or deliverable in the RACI matrix. This can be helpful when a job requires the involvement of numerous team members.

RASCI and RACI – Is There a Big Difference?

We’ll now see that we’ve created a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), which lists tasks in the first column and our stakeholders across the top row. Stakeholders are people who are affected by or involved in a project. RACI most typically stands for ”Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed.” Stakeholders play different roles during a project, which can be broken into the following levels of accountability. A RACI matrix is a diagram identifying and recognizing each team members’ level of involvement in major project tasks.

A RACI chart can even come in handy when workload needs to be reassigned during paid time off. 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. 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. Let’s discuss the RACI matrix and how you can create one to define your team’s roles and responsibilities.

Colorful RACI Chart Template

This also means that the people deemed most reliable can end up with more than fair share of work. However, efficient individuals should not have to make up for the inefficiencies of others. Instead, it’s important to ensure that the team is robust enough to get things done. This is why it is important that there aren’t too many Rs (responsibilities) assigned to a few people in the RACI Chart. Their role is to segregate the tasks and tag them as complete or incomplete after the performance. If we take it a step further, we can show that the project involves the following Roles (individuals or positions involved), Project Manager, Tester, Analyst, Product Developer, and the Service Team.

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. A RACI chart is one tool that helps project managers keep a project on track. Responsible designates what are the raci definitions the task as assigned directly to this person (or group of people). The responsible person is the one who does the work to complete the task or create the deliverable. Every task should have at least one responsible person and could have several.

Responsibility assignment matrix

Learn all about gantt charts and how to use them to manage projects more easily. See how TeamGantt helps teams like yours meet deadlines, streamline communication, and keep stakeholders updated and happy. Breaking the chart down by project phases also lets you see how many tasks anyone is responsible for within a certain timeframe, which can help distribute work evenly and avoid overwhelm. Agile is a very popular type of project management, especially for tech workers. While RACI is applicable to agile project management, schools of thought vary on whether it is necessary for an agile context.