Research Administration

How to Use a R.A.S.I.C. Roles, Accountability and Responsibility Matrix

R.A.S.I.C. Roles, Accountability and Responsibility Matrix

The RASIC matrix is a helpful management tool to establish roles and responsibilities on a project or in your office workflow. “RASIC” is an acronym which stands for “Responsible”, “Approving”, “Supporting”, “Informed” and “Consulted”. You can use these designations to define your relationship to other employees for different roles as you work on a shared project.

*See related post on “Using RASIC Roles for Successful Collaborations.”

What Does it Mean?

The designations in the approach are defined as follows:

  • Responsible: The person who is ultimately responsible for delivering the project and/or task successfully.
  • Accountable: The person who has ultimate accountability and approval authority; they review and assure quality and are the person to whom “R” is accountable.
  • Supporting: The team or person(s) supporting the “real” work with resources, time or other material benefit. They are committed to its completion.
  • Informed: Those who provide input and must be informed of results or actions taken but are not involved in final decision-making .
  • Consulted: Those who provide valuable input into product design or establish quality review criteria. Their buy-in is important for successful implementation.

Why, Where, When, How?

  • Why use it: RASIC is particularly useful in matrix managed organizations, in which multiple business units work together on a project, as RASIC can be used to clarify ambiguities and establish clear roles, responsibility and accountability for each party.
  • Where to use it: RASIC charts can be used at any level, where clarity of responsibility and accountability is required. The RASIC chart is a flexible tool that can be tailored and constructed to fit the needs of different industries, individual programs and activities.
  • When to use it: To clarify roles, responsibility, and accountability between parties working together on a common outcome.
  • How to use it: The RASIC chart illustrates who is responsible and accountable for each step and who is involved in a expert or supportive role. The designations in the approach are defined as follows:

When you fill the table, keep the following in mind:

  • Golden Rule: only one A. Two or more As will create confusion.
  • More than two R’s in the same row means duplication of work.
  • No R’s in a row means a there is a gap to be filled or the task is not needed
  • R’s and A’s on the left side of matrix. This improves clarity of the table.
  • 1 A and 1 R in every row. Same person can be responsible and accountable.
  • If there is a role with no Rs or As, reconsider if role is needed.
  • If there is are too many S’s in a row, there may be insuffient capacity.

*See related post on “Using RASIC Roles for Successful Collaborations.”

Resources

RASCI Chart Template and Instructions by  at http://projectbliss.net/rasci-chart-template-instructions/ 

RASIC Template at https://www.chartitnow.com/RASIC-Template.html 

 

Article publié pour la première fois le 20/04/2018

Further Reading

%d bloggers like this: