Guide
RACI matrix: roles and responsibilities in projects
Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed — clarify who does what on every task.
The RACI matrix is a responsibility-assignment tool that clarifies roles: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. It defines who performs tasks, who approves them, who provides input and who needs updates.
The four roles
Responsible people do the work (several can share this). Accountable is the single owner who gives final approval. Consulted parties provide input before completion. Informed members receive progress updates but don’t decide or execute.
Benefits
A RACI reduces confusion by setting clear ownership at a granular level, prevents duplicated effort, encourages accountability and gives transparency into capacity and capability.
When to use it
Best for complex projects with multiple resources, concurrent processes or interdependent tasks — especially when decisions cause delays, ownership disputes arise or workload seems uneven.
How to build one
List tasks, identify stakeholders, assign RACI for each task, ensure exactly one Accountable per task, resolve conflicts and review the matrix with stakeholders. Variants include RASCI, RAPID and CARS.
