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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 each role down into four types of 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?

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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Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RACI Matrix) Explained

Written by samantha ferguson.

Last updated 11th April 2024

There’s an old saying that ‘If everyone’s responsible, nobody’s responsible.’ And in project management, it often rings true.

When people don’t know exactly what they – and their colleagues – are responsible for, it’s easy for things to get missed, ignored, or left for others to deal with.

This is especially true nowadays, with projects more complex – and teams more distributed – than ever.

And it’s a situation that leads to confusion, frustration, and, potentially, project failure .

One way to mitigate this is the responsibility assignment matrix – sometimes called the RACI matrix.

In this post we’ll outline the core principles of the RACI Matrix – and explain why it may be a good idea for project managers to put in place for their projects!

What is a RACI matrix?

A RACI matrix is an essential project management tool used to define roles and responsibilities for a project or project task. It’s about defining who’s responsible for projects or tasks, and what level of input is expected of them.

These are the four categories of involvement in a project, and each individual or team involved in the project is assigned one of these project roles. 

Let’s first dig into what they mean…

The Responsible category is for a person or team who is actively involved in completing a task or project. To put it crudely, they’re the ones who are actually ‘doing the work.’

The Accountable category is for the person or team who’s ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the project, task or deliverable. They might not be the ones ‘doing’ the work, but they are the ones who are ultimately accountable for the outcome. 

The Consulted category is for teams or people who need to be consulted for their expertise or input along the way. They may not be directly involved in the work, but their input is important. For example – these people might be required to give feedback and sign off, or provide technical advice.

And the Informed category is for people who need to be kept informed of progress. They may provide input on a task or project, but more likely, they just require up-to-date info to understand where things are up to.

By clearly defining roles and responsibilities for a project using a RACI matrix, it’s easier to monitor progress and ensure successful completion. 

It also helps to eliminate misunderstandings about who is responsible for what by enshrining this in a clear, visual way.

How to create a RACI matrix

Creating a RACI matrix is easy to do. The matrix consists of two main elements – a table and a list of tasks, roles and responsibilities for the project or task.

The table is made up of columns for each individual involved in the project, and rows for each task or activity that needs to be completed. Each cell in the table will indicate the role for that person in relation to that particular task. The list should include a description of each task or activity, as well as the roles and responsibilities for each individual involved.

Let’s look at a classic project and consider how those categories would come into effect using the RACI model.

In this example we’ll consider a typical, run-of-the-mill web design project. So we start by adding a column for every person or team involved – we’ll go with client, project manager, web designer, graphic designer, front-end developer, back-end developer, content writers/editors/strategists and a QA team.

Then, down the left-hand column, we list the stages or tasks involved in that project. We’ll keep things broad and go with briefing and project outline, design, look and feel, user experience, front-end user interface, back end functionality and website content

Again, this is pretty broad, but you could also make it incredibly granular, highlighting every single task and every single person – and, actually, the RACI matrix is often at its best when done in this more detailed way.

Then, to complete our RACI matrix, we need to go through each empty box in our chart and fill it out with one of our four letters to denote whether that person or team is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted or Informed.

To further illustrate the idea, let’s look at a different example – designing and executing a content marketing strategy.

In this example you’ll notice that we have some individuals marked as “A&R” – this means they’re both accountable AND responsible. In other words, they’re tasked with doing the work – AND accountable for the results – which demonstrates how, sometimes, people can occupy more than one category in the matrix.

The beauty of this model is that you can read it in a couple of different ways.

You can view it row by row and work out who has what level of responsibility for a particular task.

Or you can use the columns to work out the requirements of a person or team across a whole project. In theory, you could pick out your role, then get a clear overview of all your responsibilities by simply working your way down the list.

Your RACI Matrix x Project.co

RACI charts are a key part of the project management process – particularly for complex projects – and can be managed with project management software like Project.co . 

Start by creating your project. Every project can be customised to include the tools you need.

Next, invite your project team – this can be made up of internal team members, client team members, and even freelancers.

The Project Notes section is a great place to leave important info that’s relevant to the whole project. This is a good place to store your RACI matrix. 

You can also use the Embed tool to embed documents such as Google Sheets so they’re available from within your project to everyone involved.

You can also include important RACI chart info from within the notes section of each task, as well as attaching tasks to individual people, dates and other important info.

Simply create the tasks you need to complete for your project and assign the responsible person or people to them. 

Final thoughts

You don’t have to be a business analyst to create a RACI chart and use this powerful method to make your projects more streamlined, simple and efficient.

The bottom line is that a RACI matrix ensures every team member knows what’s expected of them – who’s accountable, who’s doing the work, who needs to be consulted, and who needs to be kept up to date.

And if you’re looking to take your project management game to the next level – sign up to Project.co today and get started for free!

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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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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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What is a RACI matrix? (with examples)

Say your team is asked to design a new product feature. Exciting news—but you'll need more information before you get cracking. Who's approving the project, building it, and managing the timeline? The quickest way to collect and communicate that information is a RACI matrix, a diagram that shows who's doing what on your project.

With this guide, you'll discover:

• What a RACI matrix is, and how it assists with project management
• How to improve your project plan with a responsibility matrix
• How to build your own RACI diagram with FigJam's RACI chart template

What is a RACI matrix?

A RACI matrix—often called a RACI chart or responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)—is a project management tool that captures the roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders. Team members can see who does what at a glance, clarifying different roles across complex projects. The acronym RACI stands for:

• Responsible refers to the individual or group performing a particular task. For example, the UX team might be tapped as the responsible party for mapping out specific product design features. Make sure each task has at least one responsible person.
• Accountable refers to the person who ensures a task is completed successfully. To avoid confusion, make sure teach task has only one accountable role. This is usually filled by a manager or a high-level team member with the authority to delegate project tasks.
• Consulted describes individuals whose feedback factors into project workflows, but aren't involved in day-to-day tasks. This includes subject matter experts or decision makers who are consulted for input or sign-off on project milestones. For example, a business analyst may be consulted about competitive research to inform design decisions.
• Informed describes anyone who needs updates on task progress across project phases, but isn't necessarily involved in task execution. For example, developers building design features may need real-time updates on design task completion or setbacks to plan their work.

In this matrix example , the UI designer is responsible for creating the design and the product owner is accountable for making sure that design gets done. The content writer may be consulted, and the CEO is informed about project milestones.

4 key benefits of a RACI matrix

The RACI matrix is commonly used in agile and scrum methodologies because it helps keep complex projects moving toward successful completion in four key ways:

1. Role clarity

By clearly defining Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed roles, a RACI matrix minimizes confusion, ambiguity, and overlap. This ensures that everyone involved in the project is on the same page and understands what is expected of them.

2. Communication

A RACI matrix outlines who should be consulted and informed at every stage of the project. This invites open and consistent communication—the lifeblood of any team project.

3. Efficiency

Outlining distinct roles and responsibilities with a RACI chart helps streamline team efforts and clarify project tasks, helping your project run smoother and faster.

4. Accountability

When you put your RACI matrix on your project dashboard, everyone can see who's responsible for which tasks and project deliverables. This establishes shared accountability, fostering teamwork and ownership among team members.

How to build a RACI matrix in 5 steps

You can create a RACI matrix for effective project management in five steps using this RACI matrix template in FIgJam.

• Outline all tasks. Start by listing all the tasks or deliverables for the project. In the first column of your table, prioritize and arrange tasks in the order they must be accomplished.
• Identify project team members. Name all team members or stakeholders involved in the project. List them across the top row.
• Assign project roles. For each specific task, assign RACI roles (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed) to the appropriate team member. Make sure to assign one accountable person per task, to keep project progress on track.
• Review and revise. Double check that each project task is identified and every team member's role is represented. Leaving out tasks or roles can create confusion and leave project gaps. Plan regular reviews to update the matrix with ongoing changes, like completed tasks, role shifts, or new tasks.
• Communicate and implement. Whenever possible, involve the whole team in the creation of the RACI matrix. To build buy-in and understanding. Once project team members and stakeholders sign off on the matrix, incorporate the tasks into your project management process.

3 alternative approaches to RACI charts

While the RACI model is widely used, this exhaustive list provides alternatives. These three may be more suitable depending on a project's or organization's needs:

• RAPID : This methodology created by Bain & Company coordinates decision-making in five steps: Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, Decide.
• DACI : This framework aids group decision-making by assigning specific roles: Driver, Approver, Contributor and Informed.
• RASCI : This variation of the RACI model acronym includes an additional "S" for Supportive team members.

Jumpstart your RACI matrix with FigJam

To make your own RACI matrix, try the free FigJam RACI matrix template . Then finesse your matrix with these pro tips:

• To get your team involved with your RACI, use FigJam's collaborative features like stamps, stickers, emotes, and high-fives .
• Transform tasks and deliverables into actionable to-dos with FigJam's task management widgets, project management integrations, and Gantt chart maker .
• Customize your matrix with brand elements from your company's Figma brand library.
• For more inspiration, browse the library of RACI matrix templates shared by the Figma design community.

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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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Article • 6 min read

The Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

Knowing where the buck ultimately stops.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

It takes a lot of effort to keep a large project running smoothly. With a large number of variables, people, and deliverables, it’s hard to keep on top of everything that’s happening. Consider the following scenario:

Hal (the distressed project manager): "What do you mean, we don’t have the test results yet?! What has Katy been doing? Get Katy!"

Katy: "No, Hal, I wasn’t responsible for getting that done. Joan has more expertise in that area, remember? I’ll ask Joan what happened."

Joan: "Gee, Katy, I know I have more experience with these reports, but I was waiting for you to contact me so we could review them together."

Do you recognize anyone you know? This type of situation is repeated daily in organizations across the globe. And most of the time, there’s no incompetence or bad intentions involved. More often, problems like this are the result of inadequate planning and poor communication.

Successful projects have a clear breakdown of who is ultimately responsible for each aspect of the project. Without clear, written, and agreed-upon accountability, it’s far too easy to for communication to fail and for responsibilities to be muddled.

So how do you avoid this?

Developing a Responsibility Assignment Matrix

One tool that project managers use to keep these assignments clear is the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (also called the RAM, or the Responsibility Matrix). This matches deliverables with the people who are responsible for them. For every piece of the project, the matrix shows who needs to contribute what for the project to be completed.

For example, let’s say that you’re upgrading your customer service delivery system, and you need to train your staff to use new procedures and tools.

Step One: Define Your Deliverables

Using a Work Breakdown Structure , you define three key deliverables for this training project, with a few subcategories for each:

• Survey current practice.
• Define new practice.
• Locate resources.
• Prepare training schedule.
• Manage training.
• Re-survey practices after implementation.
• Analyze results.

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a project planning tool used to break a project down into smaller, more manageable pieces of work (deliverables). It's not a list of every task: rather, it's a "tree" structure showing the meaningful groups of activities that make up the main segments of the project.

Step Two: Identify the People Involved

Map out who is on your project team. By creating a chart of individuals who are available, you can then delegate work assignments based on expertise, and you can recruit talent that you’re missing. This step is often called an “Organization Breakdown Structure” because it creates an organizational chart for your team.

Step Three: Create Your Responsibility Matrix

Draw a matrix. The deliverables are the column headings, and the people are the row titles.

With your team, determine accountabilities as well as other levels of involvement for each item in your Work Breakdown Structure.

A useful framework to determine role assignments is RACI . This defines four levels of involvement:

R = Responsible (People who do the work). A = Accountable (People who make sure the work gets done). C = Consulted (People who provide input before and during the work). I = Informed (People who are kept informed of progress).

Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)" – Fifth Edition, (2013). Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI.

Other levels of involvement may include “assist”, “coordinate”, “sign off”, and “review”. You can decide how to assign responsibility for your project and your team. But you must be sure that ultimate accountability and responsibility for performing the work are agreed upon and communicated.

Step Four: Communicate

When your Responsibility Assignment Matrix is complete, communicate it to all stakeholders. It’s a good idea to post it in an area where people will see it. Used effectively, the RAM helps people understand what they should be doing at all stages of the project.

Project teams can easily lose focus on what needs to be done and who needs to do it. People may assume that somebody else is doing something – and before long, key pieces of work fall behind schedule.

To avoid this common problem, consider developing a Responsibility Assignment Matrix for your team. This matrix clearly identifies which role each team member has agreed to take on for each of the project’s main deliverables.

With these assignments, you can eliminate miscommunication about who’s doing what – and you can help to ensure that your project is successful.

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

Fahad Usmani, PMP

March 30, 2024

A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) in project management is a key document that distinguishes stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities. The RACI chart is the most popular example of a RAM that clarifies stakeholders’ roles and defines their involvement.

RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. Each team member in the RACI chart has at least one role.

All stakeholders refer to RAM in case of conflict regarding the roles and responsibilities in assignments or duties. RAM helps reduce conflict in projects to a great extent. Using this document, every team member will know their roles and the responsibilities of other team members.

The roles in the RACI matrix are as follows:

• Responsible: This stakeholder is responsible for completing the task.
• Accountable: This stakeholder is accountable for the task. They will make decisions and delegate work to the stakeholders who are responsible for completing the task.
• Consulted: These stakeholders will be consulted on any decisions made about the task.
• Informed: These stakeholders only require an updated status report on the progress of the task.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix Example

As I said, the RACI chart is the most popular example of RAM.

The table below shows the RAM example using the RACI chart:

Some other less-popular responsibility assignment matrix examples are as follows:

• RASCI Chart: This chart is also known as the “RASCI matrix,” as the letter S is added, which means “supportive.” 
• DACI Chart: DACI stands for “Driver, Approver, Contributor, and Informed.” 
• RAPID Chart: RAPID stands for “Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, and Decide.” 
• CARS: CARS stands for “Communicate, Approval, Responsible, and Support.” 
• CLAM: CLAM stands for “Contribute, Lead, Approve, and Monitor.” 

Responsibility Assignment Matrix Template

The table below shows the basic template for the responsibility assignment matrix.

RAM is a key tool in project management . It helps the project manager assign roles and responsibilities. Additionally, it ensures that the team stays on its path and that no one interferes with each other’s roles. Finally, RAM ensures that every task has responsible and accountable stakeholders assigned to it.

This topic is important from a PMP exam point of view.

I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.

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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 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, 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, 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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The Defense Acquisition Encyclopedia

Program Management

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) describes the participation of various organizations, people, and their roles in completing tasks or deliverables for a project. The Program Manager (PM) uses it to clarify roles and responsibilities in a cross-functional team , projects, and processes. A RAM has four primary assignments: Responsible , Accountable , Consulted , and Informed (also called a RACI matrix).

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

A RAM is called a Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) matrix. The PMBOK Guide 4th Edition defines RACI as a RAM that illustrates the connections between work packages or activities and project team members. In fundamental terms, RAM refers to the framework in place to distribute duties to individuals where, in a RACI, each team member is assigned a role based on one of the four roles. On larger projects, RAMs can be developed at various levels.

• Responsible (R): Those who do the work to achieve the task. There is typically one role with a participation type of responsibility, although others can be delegated to assist in the work required.
• Accountable (A): The one ultimately accountable for the correct and thorough completion of the deliverable or task, and the one to whom Responsible is accountable. In other words, an Accountable must sign off (Approve) on work that Responsible provides. There must be only one Accountable specified for each task or deliverable.
• Consulted (C): Those whose opinions are sought and with whom there is two-way communication.
• Informed (I): Those who are kept up-to-date on progress, often only on completion of the task or deliverable, and with whom there is just one-way communication.

Benefit of Utilizing a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

The RAM holds substantial advantages for project managers by clarifying the importance of their processes within the team. It fosters a sense of collective contribution among all employees, eliminating the sense of isolation. This project management technique, the RAM, empowers every team member to grasp the broader context of their work. Instead of simply instructing an administrative assistant to collect phone numbers without context, you can refer them to this valuable resource. By using the RAM, employees become more engaged in achieving positive results as they comprehend the alignment of their contributions with the company’s overall operations.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Goal in Project Management

A RAM is used in project management as a communication tool to ensure that work tasks are designated as a responsible agent. A RAM can define what a project team is responsible for within each component of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) . It could also be used within a working group to designate roles, responsibilities, and levels of authority for specific activities. The matrix format shows all activities associated with one person and all people associated with one activity. This ensures that only one person is accountable for any task to avoid confusion.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Tutorial

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Standard Format

A RAM is displayed as a chart that illustrates the interaction between work packages that need to be done and project team members. Typically, the list of objectives is on the left-hand column with the project team member names across the top. Each work package will be assigned to the appropriate project team member. The chart aids in communication among the project team members.

No one should typically have more than one degree of responsibility for any given deliverable or activity group in the RAM chart. To simplify things, we’ve assigned each participant in this scenario a certain amount of commitment. However, there is frequently white space when you create a genuine model for more than four people. In some situations, it’s okay to have someone with secondary responsibility but not primary.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Template

Template: responsibility assignment matrix (ram) (excel), 6 steps to developing a responsibility assignment matrix (ram).

Below is a list of the 6 (six) most common steps in developing a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM).

• Step 1: List all project tasks and deliverables
• Step 2: Identify all project stakeholders
• Step 3: Determine the responsibility and accountability level for each task and deliverable
• Step 4: Assign stakeholders to each task
• Step 5: Assign overall stakeholder
• Step 6: Ensure all stakeholder know their responsibility

Developing Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Matrix Best Practices

Below is a list of best practice topics that can help Program Managers effectively build and use a Responsibility Assignment Matrix.

• One stakeholder is in charge per task.
• The least amount of people accountable, the better.
• Be Efficient with Meetings.
• Constant Communication.
• Stakeholders agree on final RAM

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Lessons Learned

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is a tool used in project management to identify and clarify the roles and responsibilities of the different people or groups working on a project. The goal of making a RAM is to make sure that all tasks are done and that responsibilities don’t overlap or get missed. Here are some things you can learn to make sure your RAM is built right:

• Define the project’s goals and scope in detail:  Before making a RAM, it’s important to have a clear idea of the project’s goals and scope. This will help make sure that all necessary tasks are included and that the responsibilities are in line with the overall project goals.
• Find out who all the stakeholders are and what their roles are:  A RAM should have a list of all the people or groups involved in the project, such as internal team members, external partners, and customers. There should be roles and responsibilities for each stakeholder.
• Give each stakeholder specific tasks and responsibilities:  Instead of giving each stakeholder a general role, it is important to give them specific tasks and responsibilities. This will help make sure that no one’s responsibilities get mixed up or left out.
• Make sure that all stakeholders know about and understand the RAM:  It is important to make sure that all stakeholders know about and understand the RAM. This can be done by having regular meetings and giving updates, as well as by putting the RAM in writing.
• Review and update the RAM often: As the project moves forward, it may be necessary to review and update the RAM. This can help make sure that the RAM stays correct and helps the project reach its goals.

Difference Between a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RMA) and a Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) Matrix

The PMBOK Guide 4th Edition defines RACI as a RAM that is used to illustrate the connections between work packages in a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and project team members. The difference between a RAM matrix and RACI matrix is:

• A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) describes the participation of various organizations, people, and their roles in completing tasks or deliverables in a Work Break Down Structure (WBS) for a project.
• A Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) matrix is used on projects where multiple groups of people as assigned a task. It helps on larger projects with a lot of people and organizations. It also helps with outside stakeholders and their responsibilities on a project.
• A RACI can have multiple RAM within it.

AcqLinks and References:

• Template: Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Template (Word)
• Template: Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Template (Excel)

Updated: 1/11/2024

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Responsibility Assignment Matrix

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is sometimes called a RACI Chart, or Responsibility Matrix.

There are several avoidable excuses in the project management world, such as:

• I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing that!
• I thought (name other employee here) was doing that!
• But the contractor was responsible for that!

The Responsibility Assignment Matrix will prevent this from happening on your project!

Responsibility Assignment Matrix Definition

The Association for Project Management (APM) definition is as follows:

A diagram or chart showing assigned responsibilities for elements of work. It is created by combining the work breakdown structure (WBS) with the organisational breakdown structure (OBS).

The APM (BoK 6th edition) further states that a RAM is used to assign the work packages to the people responsible for creating the project’s output.

So when you have a list of those involved in the project ( the OBS ) and the tasks in the project ( the WBS ) you can create your matrix!

Check what your organisation calls it, and use the same terminology.

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix could be at department and work-package level for larger projects, or individual people and task level for smaller projects.

A RACI chart is a matrix of the project tasks (from the WBS) against the people in the project (from the OBS). It ensures that everybody knows what they are expected to deliver, by giving every task has an accountable task owner.

RACI stands for;

• Responsible – I’m involved with this task
• Accountable – I’m accountable (own) this task
• Consult – Consult me before you do anything
• Inform – Inform me of your intentions and progress

Other definitions can be found in text books: Primary and Secondary ownership, Owner and Support, RASCI, etc.

Interestingly, there is some debate about the difference between “Accountable” and “Responsible” and an indication that originally the “A” was for Approve which does make some sense. Personally, I advocate the use of Accountable for one, and only one person on each task.

Creating a Responsibility Matrix

There are several tools that you can use to create these matrices. It really depends on the application that you have your task list available in. A list of tasks in Microsoft Project can be copied and pasted into other applications.

• A WORD Table could be used. However you may be limited to the width of your paper, so this may be a problem for a large project.
• An EXCEL Spreadsheet is a good choice, however care must be taken on setting up a ‘Print Area’ to share the document. (Print to pdf could be used)

Consider how you are going to share the matrix with the project team and other stakeholders when you create it.

One of the best ways to populate the matrix is at a project team meeting, asking for staff to state their involvement on a task by task basis. this will create a dialogue around each task  – the start of project communication .

Responsibilities in Microsoft Project

Although you can assign resources to tasks in Microsoft Projec t, you cannot define their roles in the RACI type format.

Microsoft Project Resource Names

Personally, I encourage people to assign the accountable owner first, so that the first name on the Gantt chart is the accountable task owner.

I wrote about assignments in Microsoft Project in a previous blog .

Knowing that every task has an owner is vital if the project is to be completed on time. The Responsibility Assignment Matrix is the tool to use in order to make sure that task ownership is clear.

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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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GRASP - General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns Explained

Introduction

I recently noticed that a lot of attention is paid to SOLID principles. And this is very good thing because it is the total basis of Object-Oriented Design (OOD) and programming. For developers of object-oriented languages, knowledge of the SOLID principles is a requirement for writing code which is characterized by good quality. There are a lot of articles and courses on these rules, so if you do not know them yet, learn them as soon as possible.

On the other hand, there is another, less well-known set of rules regarding object-oriented programming. It’s called GRASP - General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns (or Principles). There are far fewer materials on the Internet about this topic, so I decided to bring it closer because I think the principles described in it are as important as the SOLID principles.

Disclaimer : This post is inspired and based on awesome Craig Larman’s book: Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development . Although the last edition was released in 2004, according to me, the book is still up-to-date and explains perfectly how to design systems using object-oriented languages. It’s hard to find the better book about this subject, believe me. It is not book about UML , but you can learn UML from it because it is good explained too. Must-have for each developer, period.

The Responsibility in Software

Responsibility in software is a very important concept and not only concerns classes but also modules and entire systems. Thinking in terms of responsibilities is popular way to think about design of the software. We can always ask questions like:

• What is the responsibility of this class/module/component/system?
• Is it responsible for this or is it responsible for that ?
• Is Single Responsibility Principle violated in this particular context?

But to answer these kind of questions we should ask one, more fundamental question: what does it mean that something is responsible in the context of the software?

Doing and Knowing

As it is proposed by Rebecca Wirfs-Brock in Object Design: Roles, Responsibilities, and Collaborations book and her RDD approach a responsibility is:

An obligation to perform a task or know information

As we see from this definition we have here a clear distinction between behavior (doing) and data (knowing) .

Doing responsibility of an object is seen as:

a) doing something itself - create an object, process data, do some computation/calculation b) initiate and coordinate actions with other objects

Knowing responsibility of an object can be defined as:

a) private and public object data b) related objects references c) things it can derive

Let’s see an example:

If you want more information about responsibilities in software and dig into Responsibility-Driven Design you can read it directly from Rebecca’s Wirfs-Brock book or this PDF .

Ok, now we know what the responsibility in context of software is. Let’s see how to assign this responsibility using GRASP .

GRASP is set of exactly 9 G eneral R esponsibility A ssignment S oftware P atterns. As I wrote above assignment of object responsibilities is one of the key skill of OOD . Every programmer and designer should be familiar with these patterns and what is more important - know how to apply them in everyday work (by the way - the same assumptions should apply to SOLID principles).

This is the list of 9 GRASP patterns (sometimes called principles but please, do not focus on naming here):

• Information Expert
• Low Coupling
• High Cohesion
• Indirection
• Polymorphism
• Pure Fabrication
• Protected Variations

NOTE : All Problem/Solution paragraphas are quotes from Craig Larman’s book. I decided that it would be best to stick to the original.

1. Information Expert

Problem: What is a basic principle by which to assign responsibilities to objects? Solution: Assign a responsibility to the class that has the information needed to fulfill it.

In following example Customer class has references to all customer Orders so it is natural candidate to take responsibility of calculating total value of orders:

This is the most basic principle, because the truth is - if we do not have the data we need, we would not be able to meet the requirement and assign responsibility anyway.

Problem: Who creates object A?

Solution: Assign class B the responsibility to create object A if one of these is true (more is better):

• B contains or compositely aggregates A
• B records A
• B closely uses A
• B has the initializing data for A

Going back to the example:

As you can see above Customer class compositely aggregates Orders (there is no Order without Customer), records Orders, closely uses Orders and has initializing data passed by method parameters. Ideal candidate for “Order Creator”. :)

3. Controller

Problem: What first object beyond the UI layer receives and coordinates “controls” a system operation?

Solution: Assign the responsibility to an object representing one of these choices:

• Represents the overall “system”, “root object”, device that the software is running within, or a major subsystem (these are all variations of a facade controller)
• Represents a use case scenario within which the system operation occurs (a use case or session controller)

This principle implementation depends on high level design of our system but general we need always define object which orchestrate our business transaction processing. At first glance, it would seem that the MVC Controller in Web applications/API’s is a great example here (even the name is the same) but for me it is not true. Of course it receives input but it shouldn’t coordinate a system operation - it should delegate it to separate service or Command Handler:

4. Low Coupling

Problem: How to reduce the impact of change ? How to support low dependency and increased reuse ?

Solution: Assign responsibilities so that (unnecessary) coupling remains low. Use this principle to evaluate alternatives.

Coupling is a measure how one element is related to another. The higher the coupling, the greater the dependence of one element to the another.

Low coupling means our objects are more independent and isolated. If something is isolated we can change it not worrying that we have to change something else or wheter we would break something (see Shotgun Surgery ). Use of SOLID principles are great way to keep coupling low. As you see in example above between CustomerOrdersController and AddCustomerOrderCommandHandler coupling remains low - they need only agree on command object structure. This low coupling is possible thanks to Indirection pattern which is described later.

5. High Cohesion

Problem: How to keep objects focused, understandable, manageable and as a side effect support Low Coupling? Solution: Assign a responsibility so that cohesion remains high. Use this to evaluate alternatives.

Cohesion is a measure how strongly all responsibilities of the element are related. In other words, what is the degree to which the parts inside a element belong together.

Classes with low cohesion have unrelated data and/or unrelated behaviors. For example, the Customer class has high cohesion because now it does only one thing - manage the Orders . If I would add to this class management of product prices responsibility, cohesion of this class would drop significantly because price list is not directly related to Customer itself.

6. Indirection

Problem: Where to assign a responsibility to avoid direct coupling between two or more things?

Solution: Assign the responsibility to an intermediate object to mediate between other components or services so that they are not directly coupled.

This is where Mediator Pattern comes in to play. Instead of direct coupling:

We can use the mediator object and mediate between objects:

One note here. Indirection supports low coupling but reduces readability and reasoning about the whole system. You don’t know which class handles the command from the Controller definition. This is the trade-off to take into consideration.

7. Polymorphism

Problem: How handle alternatives based on type?

Solution: When related alternatives or behaviors vary by type (class), assingn responsibility for the behavior (using polymorphi operations) to the types for which the behavior varies.

Polymorphism is fundamental principle of Object-Oriented Design. In this context, principle is strongly connected with (among others) Strategy Pattern .

As it was presented above constructor of Customer class takes ICustomerUniquenessChecker interface as parameter:

We can provide there different implementations of this interface depending on the requirements. In general, this is very useful approach when we have in our systems different algorithms that have the same input and output (in terms of structure).

8. Pure Fabrication

Problem: What object should have the responsibility, when you do not want to viloate High Cohesion and Low Coupling but solutions offered by other principles are not appopriate?

Solution: Assign a highly cohesive set of responsibilites to an artifical or convenience class that does not represent a problem domain concept .

Sometimes it is realy hard to figure it out where responsibility should be placed. This is why in Domain-Driven Design there is a concept of Domain Service . Domain Services hold logic which are not related with one, particular Entity .

For example, in e-commerce systems we often have need to convert one currency to another. Sometimes it is hard to say where this behavior should be placed so the best option is to create new class and interface:

This way we support both High Cohesion (we are only converting currencies) and Low Coupling (client classes are only dependent to IForeignExchange interface). Additionally, this class is reusable and easy to maintain.

9. Protected Variations

Problem: How to design objects, subsystems and systems so that the variations or instability in these elements does not have an undesirable impact on other elements?

Solution: Identify points of predicted variation or instability, assign responsibilities to create a stable interface around them.

In my opinion, this is the most important principle which is indirectly related to the rest GRASP principles. Currently, one of the most important software metrics is the ease of change . As architects and programmers we must be ready for ever-changing requirements. This is not optional and “nice to have” quality attribute - it is “must-have” and our duty .

Fortunately, we are armed with a lot design guidelines, principles, patterns and practices to support changes on different levels of abstraction. I will mention only a few (already beyond the GRASP):

• SOLID principles, especially the Open-Close principle (but all of them supports change)
• Gang of Four (GoF) Design Patterns
• Encapsulation
• Law of Demeter
• Service Discovery
• Virtualization and containerization
• asynchronous messaging, Event-driven architectures
• Orchestration , Choreography

As Protected Variations principle says, first step is to identify points of predicted variation or instability . This is often very difficult because we sometimes don’t really know what would change and when. This is why iterative software development process is more suitable today because even we are forced to change something once, we can draw conclusions and be prepared for future changes at a lower cost.

Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

In this post I described one of the most fundamental Object-Oriented Design set of patterns and principles - GRASP .

Skilful management of responsibilities in software is the key to create good quality architecture and code. In combination with others patterns and practices is it possible to develop well-crafted systems which supports change and do not resist it. This is good, because the only thing that is certain is change. So be prepared.

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GRASP Design Principles in OOAD

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In Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) , General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns (GRASP) play a crucial role in designing effective and maintainable software systems. GRASP offers a set of guidelines to aid developers in assigning responsibilities to classes and objects in a way that promotes low coupling, high cohesion, and overall robustness. By understanding and applying GRASP principles, developers can create software solutions that are flexible, scalable, and easier to maintain over time.

Important Topics for GRASP Design Principles in OOAD

What are GRASP Principles?

Importance in ooad, grasp principles and their examples, benefits of grasp, challenges of grasp.

GRASP, which stands for General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns, includes several principles that guide the allocation of responsibilities in object-oriented design. These principles include:

• Creator: Assign the responsibility of creating instances of a class to the class that has the most knowledge about when and how to create them.
• Information Expert: Assign a responsibility to the class that has the necessary information to fulfill it, promoting high cohesion and minimizing coupling.
• Low Coupling: Aim for classes to have minimal dependencies on each other, facilitating easier maintenance and flexibility in the system.
• High Cohesion: Ensure that the responsibilities within a class are closely related and focused, enhancing readability, maintainability, and reusability.
• Controller: Assign the responsibility of handling system events or coordinating activities to a controller class, promoting centralized control and avoiding cluttered classes.
• Pure Fabrication: Introduce new classes to fulfill responsibilities without violating cohesion and coupling principles, promoting cleaner and more maintainable designs.
• Indirection: Use intermediaries or abstractions to decouple classes and promote flexibility in design.
• Polymorphism: Utilize inheritance and interfaces to enable multiple implementations of behaviors, allowing for flexible and extensible systems.

By applying these GRASP principles, developers can create object-oriented designs that are robust, maintainable, and adaptable to changing requirements.

In Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD), GRASP principles hold significant importance as they provide a framework for designing systems with clarity, flexibility, and maintainability. Here’s why they are essential:

• Clarity of Design: GRASP principles help in organizing classes and responsibilities in a way that makes the design more understandable. Clear responsibilities assigned to classes make it easier for developers to comprehend the system’s architecture.
• Low Coupling, High Cohesion: GRASP encourages low coupling between classes, meaning that classes are less dependent on each other. This leads to more modular and reusable code. Additionally, high cohesion ensures that each class has a clear and focused purpose, making the system easier to maintain and modify.
• Flexible Design: By following GRASP principles such as Indirection and Polymorphism, the design becomes more flexible and adaptable to changes. Indirection allows for the introduction of intermediaries, which can simplify complex interactions, while Polymorphism enables the use of multiple implementations for behaviors, facilitating extensibility.
• Scalability : GRASP principles contribute to the scalability of the system by promoting a design that can accommodate future changes and enhancements without significant refactoring. This scalability is vital as systems evolve and grow over time.
• Ease of Maintenance: With clear responsibilities assigned to classes and well-defined relationships between them, maintaining the system becomes more straightforward. Developers can quickly identify where changes need to be made and can do so without inadvertently affecting other parts of the system.

General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns (GRASP) are a set of guidelines used in Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) to assign responsibilities to classes and objects effectively. Let’s explore each principle in depth with an example scenario:

Assign the responsibility for creating instances of a class to the class itself or to a related factory class.

For Example:

Consider a scenario where you are designing a system for managing a library. In this system, when a new book is added to the library, a `Book` object needs to be created. The responsibility for creating `Book` objects should lie with a class like `Library` or a separate `BookFactory` class. This ensures that the logic for creating `Book` objects is centralized and encapsulated, making it easier to manage.

2. Information Expert

Assign a responsibility to the class that has the necessary information to fulfill it.

Continuing with the library management system, when a user wants to borrow a book, the responsibility of checking if the book is available should lie with the `Book` class itself. The `Book` class contains information about its availability and can perform the necessary checks without needing to rely on other classes. This promotes high cohesion and reduces coupling between classes.

3. Low Coupling

Aim for classes to have minimal dependencies on each other.

In the library management system, suppose there is a `LibraryCatalog` class responsible for managing the catalog of books. Instead of directly accessing the `Book` class to check availability, the `LibraryCatalog` class can rely on an interface, such as `Searchable`, implemented by `Book`. This way, `LibraryCatalog` remains loosely coupled with `Book`, allowing for easier maintenance and changes.

4. High Cohesion

Ensure that responsibilities within a class are closely related and focused.

In the library management system, the `Book` class should have cohesive responsibilities related to managing book details, such as title, author, and availability. Responsibilities unrelated to book management, such as user authentication, should be handled by separate classes. This ensures that each class is focused on a specific aspect of the system, promoting clarity and maintainability.

5. Controller

Assign the responsibility of handling system events or coordinating activities to a controller class.

In a web application for a library, when a user requests to borrow a book, the responsibility of handling this request and coordinating the necessary actions should lie with a `BorrowBookController` class. This controller class would interact with other classes, such as `Book`, `User`, and `Library`, to facilitate the borrowing process. By centralizing control logic in a controller class, the system becomes more organized and easier to manage.

6. Pure Fabrication

Introduce new classes to fulfill responsibilities without violating cohesion and coupling principles.

Suppose the library management system needs to send email notifications to users when they borrow or return books. Instead of adding email sending logic directly to the `Book` or `User` classes, a separate `NotificationService` class can be created. This `NotificationService` class acts as a pure fabrication responsible for sending email notifications, maintaining low coupling and high cohesion in the system.

7. Indirection

Use intermediaries or abstractions to decouple classes and promote flexibility in design.

In the library management system, if multiple classes need to access book information, an `BookRepository` interface can be introduced. Classes that need access to book data can depend on the `BookRepository` interface rather than directly on the `Book` class. This allows for flexibility in how book information is retrieved, facilitating easier changes and adaptations in the future.

8. Polymorphism

Utilize inheritance and interfaces to enable multiple implementations of behaviors.

Continuing with the library management system, suppose there are different types of books, such as `FictionBook` and `NonFictionBook`, each with its own borrowing rules. By defining a common interface, `Book`, and implementing it in the `FictionBook` and `NonFictionBook` classes, polymorphism allows the borrowing process to be handled uniformly regardless of the book type. This promotes code reuse and simplifies the handling of different book types within the system.

GRASP (General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns) offers several benefits in Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD), contributing to the development of robust and maintainable software systems such as:

• Clarity and Understandability: GRASP principles provide a clear and structured approach to assigning responsibilities to classes and objects. This clarity enhances the overall understandability of the system’s design, making it easier for developers to grasp the architecture and functionality.
• Flexibility and Adaptability: By adhering to GRASP principles such as Low Coupling, High Cohesion, and Polymorphism, designs become more flexible and adaptable to changes in requirements. The modular and loosely coupled nature of the system allows for easier modification and extension without causing widespread ripple effects.
• Promotion of Best Practices: GRASP encapsulates best practices and design guidelines derived from years of experience in software engineering. By following these principles, developers can ensure that their designs adhere to industry standards and best practices, leading to higher-quality software.
• Maintainability and Scalability : GRASP promotes designs that are easier to maintain and scale. Clear responsibilities assigned to classes and objects facilitate maintenance activities such as debugging, refactoring, and adding new features. Additionally, the modular nature of GRASP designs allows for seamless scalability as the system grows and evolves over time.
• Enhanced Reusability: GRASP principles encourage the creation of classes and objects with well-defined responsibilities and interfaces. This promotes code reusability, as components can be easily reused in different parts of the system or in entirely new projects, leading to increased productivity and reduced development time.

While GRASP (General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns) offers numerous benefits, it also presents some challenges that developers may encounter during the design and implementation phases of software development:

• Complexity: Applying GRASP principles effectively requires a deep understanding of object-oriented design concepts and practices. For developers who are new to these principles or lack experience in OOAD, grasping and implementing GRASP patterns can be challenging, leading to potential design complexities and errors.
• Subjectivity: Determining the most appropriate responsibility assignment for classes and objects can be subjective and open to interpretation. Different developers may have varying perspectives on how to apply GRASP principles to a given problem, which can result in inconsistencies or disagreements within a development team.
• Trade-offs: While GRASP aims to promote desirable design qualities such as low coupling, high cohesion, and flexibility, achieving these qualities often involves making trade-offs. For example, optimizing for low coupling may increase the complexity of communication between classes, while optimizing for high cohesion may lead to larger and more tightly coupled classes.
• Context Sensitivity: GRASP principles are not one-size-fits-all solutions and must be adapted to the specific context of each software project. What works well for one project may not be suitable for another, depending on factors such as project size, domain complexity, team expertise, and development constraints.
• Maintenance Overhead: While GRASP designs aim to enhance maintainability, poorly applied patterns or overly complex designs can actually increase maintenance overhead. Developers may struggle to understand and modify intricate designs, leading to higher costs and effort associated with maintenance tasks.

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