What is the RACI matrix and How to Create One?

A RACI chart is a simple matrix used to assign roles and responsibilities for each task, milestones, or decision on a project. By clearly mapping out which roles are involved in each project task and at which level, you can eliminate confusion and answer the age-old project question, Who’s doing what?

What is RACI stands for?

The acronym RACI stands for the four roles that stakeholders might play in any project.

• Responsible: The person who does the work to achieve the task. They have the responsibility for getting the work done or decision made. As a rule, this is one person; examples might be a business analyst, application developer, or technical architect.
• Accountable: The person who is accountable for the correct and thorough completion of the task. This must be one person and is often the project executive or project sponsor. This is the role that responsible is accountable to and approves their work.
• Consulted: The people who provide information for the project and with whom there is two-way communication. This is usually several people, often subject matter experts.
• Informed: The people kept informed of progress and with whom there is one-way communication. These are people that are affected by the outcome of the tasks, so need to be kept up-to-date.

To create a RACI matrix, you first identify all the tasks involved in delivering the project and list them on the left-hand side of the chart in the order they need to be completed. Next, identify all the project stakeholders and list them along the top of the chart Then fill in the cells of the model, identifying who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed.

Creating a RACI Matrix (step-by-step)

1.  Identify all the tasks involved in delivering the project and list them on the left-hand side of the chart in completion order.

2.  Identify all the project roles and list them along the top of the chart.

3.  Complete the cells of the chart identifying who has the responsibility, the accountability, and who will be consulted and informed for each task.

4.  Ensure every task has a role responsible and a role accountable for it.

5.  No tasks should have more than one role accountable. Resolve any conflicts where there is more than one for a particular task.

6.  Share, discuss, and agree on the RACI Matrix with your stakeholders before your project starts.

A variation of RACI used by the Project Management Institute (PMI) is RSI, responsible, sponsor, and informed.

RACI matrix best practices

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

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.

Taking the time to do this analysis delivers the real benefit of the RACI model. It will expose problems with the structure of the project management process – before they derail your derails.