COEPD – Center of Excellence for Professional Development Happy Learning
Before initiating any project the BA must know about the stakeholders.
RACI matrix is one of the method which is used for the stakeholder analysis.
RACI matrix is the tool which is used to assign the roles and responsibilities among the team members who will be responsible for the successful completion of the project.
RACI matrix stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted & informed.
RACI matrix helps to clarify the roles and responsibility of each individual involved in the project. It helps to clarify who is responsible for completing the task, who takes the decisions, who needs to be consulted before taking any decision or starting the task and who needs to be informed about the decision or action taken.
This will maintain the clarity and minimize the confusion among the team members.
Following are the four RACI roles:
Responsible: The individual which has the responsibilities for completing the task or the activity. There will be one or more than one individual will be responsible.
For example, business analyst will be responsible for gathering the requirements, project manager will be responsible for planning of the project, tester will be responsible for testing the software, developers will be responsible for development of the software or the project.
Generally project manager is considered as the responsible for the project management.
Accountable: Accountable is the individual who takes the decision.
The individual who is accountable will assign or delegate the task and review the same before it is considered to be completed. There will be one or more than one individuals can be accountable. Having more than one individuals as accountable may create the confusion. Generally business owner, business sponsor are accountable.
Consulted: These are the individuals or groups which play a role of advisor.
These are the individuals or groups which must be consulted prior to take any decisions or doing any task to understand the requirements, risks and constraints.
Consulted persons could be compliance, legal, information security and subject matter experts.
Informed: These are the individuals or groups who must be informed about the decision and action taken. These are the team members who are kept updated about the task completion. Charting this role will ensure the transparency into the task status.
These individuals do not take the part in the decision making and do not have to be consulted.
To create a RACI matrix, start by listing all the tasks and deliverables required for the project. Then, assign a RACI code to each task or deliverable by filling in the appropriate cell in the matrix. The matrix can be organized by task or by team members, depending on the needs of the project. The RACI matrix may evolve over the time as project progresses.
Advantages of RACI matrix are as follow:
Clarity about roles and responsibilities: RACI matrix ensures that each team member will know about his or her role and responsibilities in the project and minimize the confusion.
Increases the efficiency: RACI matrix ensures the tasks are completed by the right individual within the time to increase the efficiency.
Improves decision making: RACI matrix helps to determine who is responsible for taking the decisions. It also ensures the decisions are made quickly and effectively.
