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Responsibility Matrix

Author: Sophia

what's covered

This tutorial will discuss:

1. Responsibility Matrix

1. Responsibility Matrix

The responsibility matrix describes the levels of responsibility for members of the project and is used to assign stakeholders and team members varying levels of interaction for each action listed. This matrix is often called RACI, which stands for:

Responsible: These are individuals who do the work.
Accountable: These are individuals who approve project actions. Stakeholders often have this level of authority.
Consulted: These are individuals who advise on actions but don't have a decision authority on a project.
Informed: These are individuals who get updated on task completions. The project manager must communicate with these people about project actions, but these people don't have decision authority.

The letters in the acronym are used in the responsibility matrix to describe the levels of interaction needed by stakeholders and team members. There are other versions that use different letters, but the concepts are the same. The actions listed should be high-level actions, not specific tasks.

big idea

Because this matrix helps define the governance of the project, the final version must be approved by the key decision-makers regardless of the type of matrix used.

IN CONTEXT
Let's say that the goal of a project is to build a mobile application that handles sales contacts. The RACI chart may look like this:

Action Project Sponsor Lead Programmer Database Vendor Support Manager

Design Contact Database R C I

Design Contact Application R I

Project Design Phase Gate A

Build Contact Database R C I

Build Contact Application R C I

Responsible: The goal of this project is to build a mobile application that handles sales contacts. Note that the lead programmer in our project is responsible for the contact database that will be used by the application.

Accountable: The project sponsor is accountable for the project design phase gate and sign-off authority.

Consulted: The database vendors representative is consulted about the contact database design, but will not make decisions for the project.

Informed: The support manager, who must handle technical questions about the sales application upon completion, must be kept informed of all project actions, but does not have decision authority on the project.

Action	Project Sponsor	Lead Programmer	Database Vendor	Support Manager
Design Contact Database		R	C	I
Design Contact Application		R		I
Project Design Phase Gate	A
Build Contact Database		R	C	I
Build Contact Application		R	C	I

hint

Don’t forget that it's the project manager who should review the scope, schedule, and budget to identify these various actions, and then determine the level of interaction each person involved in the project must have. Be sure to include all project gates in the matrix.

term to know

RACI

A matrix that describes the overall responsibility and interaction project stakeholders have in a project.

summary

In this lesson, you learned how a project manager creates a responsibility matrix using the RACI method. Now you know how to identify high-level responsibilities by members of a project team.

Source: THIS WORK IS ADAPTED BY SOPHIA AUTHOR JEFF CARROLL.

Terms to Know

RACI: A matrix that describes the overall responsibility and interaction project stakeholders have in a project.

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Responsibility Matrix

Table of Contents

1. Responsibility Matrix