RACI Matrix: What It Is, How to Build One, Examples and Template

The RACI matrix is a table that assigns four possible roles to each activity in a project or process: who carries it out (Responsible), who answers for it (Accountable), who is consulted (Consulted) and who is informed (Informed). It is used to answer a simple question that often goes unanswered in companies: who does what, and who decides.

It works because it forces a choice that many organisations put off: for every activity there must be one person, and only one, who answers for the outcome. When that person is missing, work bounces between departments, decisions wait and everyone assumes someone else is dealing with it.

RACI matrix: what it is and what it is for

The RACI matrix, also known as the responsibility matrix or responsibility assignment matrix, is a project management tool that shows who is involved in each activity and in what role (Wikipedia, RACI matrix). It is read horizontally: pick an activity and you see who does the work, who approves, who gives an opinion and who simply needs to know how it is going.

What it is for, in practice:

• Clarifying responsibilities before conflicts arise, not afterwards.
• Cut unnecessary steps: if everyone knows who decides, ten approvals are not needed.
• Make overloads visible: a person with too many Rs or too many As is a bottleneck.
• Easing the onboarding of new people, who find in writing what would otherwise be learnt through mistakes.

A useful clarification. The RACI answers “who does what”, but not “by when”. Deadlines require a project plan or a schedule. The matrix is a map of roles, not a calendar.

What R, A, C and I mean

The four letters describe four different ways of taking part in an activity. Distinguishing between them is the core of the matrix.

Responsible: who does the work

The Responsible is the person who actually carries out the activity. There can be more than one, and they can delegate part of the work. Every activity needs at least one R: if nobody is responsible, the activity simply does not get done.

Accountable: who answers for it and approves

The Accountable is whoever answers for the final result and gives approval. They have the final say and, if something goes wrong, they are the person held to account. There must be only one per activity, as both Cornell IT’s guidelines and ITIL good practice indicate (Cornell IT; Purple Griffon).

Consulted: who is consulted

The Consulted is whoever has expertise or information relevant to the decision. Communication is two-way: their opinion is sought before acting and taken into account. They do not decide, but their input carries weight.

Informed: who is kept informed

The Informed is whoever needs to be updated on progress or on the outcome, often after the fact. Communication is one-way. They take no part in the decision.

Responsible and accountable: the difference that changes everything

This is the pair that causes the most confusion, even in Italian, where “responsabile” and “responsabilità” cover both meanings. In English the distinction is clear-cut: responsibility refers to doing, accountability to answering for it.

How to build a RACI matrix: the steps

Building a RACI takes a few hours if you proceed methodically. Our advice is to start from the organisation as it really is, not as it is declared to be.

1. Define the scope

Choose the project or process: a launch, a reorganisation, an approval cycle. A RACI for “the whole company” is unreadable.

2. List the activities

Write 8-15 activities, with a verb and an outcome (“approve the budget”, not “budget”). Activities that are too generic produce ambiguous cells.

3. List the roles

Use roles or functions, not people’s names: names change, roles remain. If needed, add the person in a separate row.

4. Assign the As and Rs first

For each row, decide who is Accountable, then who is Responsible. This is the hard part, and the moment when the real conflicts surface.

5. Add the Cs and Is judiciously

Every consultation slows things down. Add C only where an opinion is genuinely needed, and I where the update is of use to someone. A row full of letters is a sign of an unhealthy process.

6. Share, check and update

Have the matrix read by everyone who appears in the columns. If someone finds they have an unexpected A, you have found a problem before it costs you. Then put it to use and review it when the project or structure changes.

RACI matrix examples

The examples that follow are illustrative and do not refer to Bliss clients. They show how the matrix changes depending on the context.

Example 1: introducing a new ERP system in an SME

It is immediately clear that Management holds the A on strategic choices and not on operational ones, so it does not become a bottleneck.

Example 2: brand and communications approvals

In brand decisions, approvals multiply: marketing, management, legal, sales. A RACI removes ambiguity about who can say yes.

The CEO appears as Accountable only on decisions that define the identity. Day-to-day exceptions stay with the marketing director, because a CEO who approves every use of the logo slows down the whole organisation.

Example 3: top-level decisions between Board and CEO

RACI matrix template in Excel

To build your matrix you can start from the Excel template that accompanies this guide (you will find the link at the end of the article). It includes drop-down menus for the letters R, A, C, I and A/R, a check column that flags rows with no Accountable or with more than one A, and a count of Rs per role to identify overloads.

A template saves time, but it does not replace the important part: deciding who answers for what. The file is there to check the result, not to produce it.

How to check that the matrix works

Before sharing it, check six points:

1. Only one A per row. If there are two, choose.
2. At least one R per row. A row without an R is an activity with no one to carry it out.
3. Few Cs and Is. If a row has more people consulted than responsible, the process is too slow.
4. No overloaded column. Count the Rs and As per role: a person with almost all the As is a bottleneck.
5. No empty columns. A role with no letters is either outside the process or not needed.
6. Real roles. The assignments in the matrix must match what people actually do.

RACI, organisation chart, job description and duties manual

The RACI does not stand alone: it relies on the tools a company uses to describe its organisation. Each answers a different question.

The organisation chart, for example, shows reporting lines but does not say how decisions flow: that is why its role should be read alongside that of the matrix, as we explain in our guide to the company organisation chart. In turn, the job description defines the role and the duties manual the activities: they are the raw material the RACI works with. If the underlying organisation is muddled, the matrix captures it but does not fix it: first you need a readable organisational structure, with consistent delegations and responsibilities.

From RACI to decision rights: where governance comes in

RACI was created for projects, but for a company its greatest value lies in decisions. The reason is that many organisations do not have a problem with tasks but with decisions: nobody knows who can say yes, within what timeframe and up to what amount.

That is why, for critical decisions, the matrix should be complemented by other elements:

• Autonomy threshold: how far whoever holds the A can decide without seeking confirmation.
• Maximum response time: a decision that does not arrive in time blocks everyone who depends on it.
• Escalation path: who to turn to if no agreement is reached.
• Reporting: how you measure whether decisions are being taken and respected.

This is the reasoning we develop in change management governance, where RACI is applied to transformation programmes. The same holds for everyday approval flows: when the steps multiply, even a small decision can stall for weeks, as the case of the decision-making machine that jams shows.

How can you tell whether the matrix works over the long term? With a few indicators: average approval time, number of decisions sent back, how often escalation is used. These are signals that show whether responsibilities are clear or not.

RACI variants: RASCI, RACI-VS, DACI and others

The basic RACI has several variants, which add or change a letter to suit specific contexts.

For most SMEs the standard RACI is enough. Switching to a variant only makes sense when the basic matrix no longer describes the process.

RACI and RAM: what is the difference

The RAM, Responsibility Assignment Matrix, is the category; RACI is its most common form. According to the PMBOK Guide, cited by PM PrepCast, the RAM is a grid showing the resources assigned to each work package, and RACI is one example of it. A RAM can use other letters or symbols, such as “lead” or “resource”. In practice the two terms are often used interchangeably.

RACI and WBS

The WBS, Work Breakdown Structure, breaks the project down into activities. The RACI assigns those activities to roles: you start from the WBS to get the rows of the matrix.

RACI in service management

RACI is also widely used in IT service management, for example in ITIL-type processes, where it clarifies who handles an incident, who approves a change and who needs to be informed. In process design, the matrix prevents responsibilities from remaining ambiguous (Purple Griffon).

Common mistakes in the RACI matrix

• More than one Accountable per activity. If a decision has two owners, it has none (Purple Griffon).
• Confusing R and A. The person doing the work is not necessarily the one who answers for the result.
• Too many Cs. Every extra opinion slows decisions down (Purple Griffon): consult only those you genuinely need.
• Too many Is. If everyone is informed of everything, no one reads anything any more.
• Generic activities. “Manage marketing” is not an activity: nobody knows what it means.
• Names instead of roles. The matrix goes out of date with the first new hire.
• A matrix written and forgotten. If no one uses it in meetings, it remains just a document.
• Designed from the top without listening. Those who carry out the activities know where they get stuck: they must be involved, and team involvement makes the matrix more accurate (PM PrepCast).

When RACI is not enough

The matrix has limits, and it pays to know them. It does not describe deadlines, it does not measure the quality of the work, and on its own it cannot fix an organisation without leadership. It works well when roles are clear and people trust each other; it works badly when it is used to offload responsibility or to guard against blame for mistakes.

It is also poorly suited to very small or repetitive activities, where a written rule is enough. And in an organisation undergoing change it needs frequent review: an outdated RACI is worse than no RACI, because it gives the illusion of an order that no longer exists.