RACI Matrix
By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP
The RACI Matrix is widely used by project managers to identify project roles and responsibilities. It clarifies team member responsibilities and clearly displays who is responsible, who is accountable, and who needs to be consulted and/or informed of project activities.
Responsible (R) – This is the person that owns the work, decision or objective. Several people can be jointly responsible to create or produce the assigned task
Accountable (A) – This is the owner of the work and must sign-off or approve when the work, task, decision, or objective is completed. Only one person is accountable
Consulted (C) – These team members give input before the work can be started, completed, and/or accepted.
Informed (I) – These are the people that must be kept informed or notified of progress, but do not need to be consulted
RACI Matrix is useful for:
- Work assignment – promotes workload leveling
- Displays clear individual responsibilities
- Workload analysis – quickly see individual work overloads
- Conflict resolution – enables visual examination of work assignments and prevents conflicts
Steps To Produce a RACI Matrix
The RACI model is used to chart roles and responsibilities for your project in a simple and understandable way. Add a field if necessary, to map each responsibility to a WBS field code to further coordinate the RACI Matrix with your project plan.
- Draw a grid on a flip-chart or use a spreadsheet
- Identify all the work to be completed, decisions to be made, or project activities. List down the left side of the matrix
- Identify all of the roles or team members. List across the top of the matrix
- Assign who is (R)esponsible, (A)ccountable or is be (I)nformed or (C)onsulted in each cell
A Few Notes:
- Document and communicate all roles and responsibilities to the project team, stakeholders and project sponsor
- Someone must be responsible for each work assignment (horizontal)
- There should be only one (R) or one (A) in a cell. Use additional sub-processes if necessary to split an activity between one or more (R)esponsible team members
- Push (A)ccountable down to the lowest level
- Minimize the number of people to be (C)consulted or (I)nformed
RACI Matrix Analysis
Use the following to analyze the matrix:
Vertical Analysis (each column)
Many R’s Why is the functional role responsible for so much?
No Empty Spaces Why is the functional role involved in so many activities?
No R’s or A’s Can this functional role be eliminated?
Too Many A’s Are duties segregated?
Can the workload be shifted to other groups
or individuals to balance workloads?
Horizontal Analysis (each row)
No R’s Who is responsible to do the work?
Does this activity add value to the project?
No A’s Who benefits from this activity?
Why is this activity important?
Lots of C’s Why do all these functional roles need to be consulted?
Lots of I’s Why do all these functional roles need to be informed?
Figure 1 RACI Matrix
About the Author: Ray Myers is a PMP certified project manager with over 20 years experience planning and managing technology projects.
