RACI Matrix Chart

Description

The purpose of a RACI Matrix is to determine the level of responsibility of individuals or teams in completing the tasks involved in a project. RACI is an acronym for the four levels of responsibility used in the matrix: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. This chart is a long-standing project management tool that helps to define tasks, clarify roles, manage workload, and improve decision-making. The process of creating a RACI Matrix collaboratively as a team can help align everyone on expectations and mitigate potential areas of conflict. These tools are becoming more popular within marketing teams as work has become more distributed and cross-functional, and agile processes are being more widely adopted.

‍Question

What is everyone’s level of responsibility for each part of this project?

Steps

Determine the scope of your marketing initiative. The scope needs to be tight enough that it aligns with a single business objective and single marketing goal. Large, complex initiatives require sets of S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Identify the larger business objective that your marketing initiative supports. This objective is what impacts your bottom line (e.g., increase market share) and necessitates marketing investment.
Identify the marketing goal that supports your larger business objective. This is a goal that can be accomplished by marketing (e.g., acquire new customers) and is the focal point for your marketing plan.
Determine the metrics that you can use to measure your progress toward your stated marketing goal. These metrics need to be as accurate, timely, and precise as possible to report on your performance.
Identify the date that you need to accomplish your marketing goal to support your larger business objective. This date can be used to establish interim performance targets throughout your initiative.

Considerations

Make sure that there is only one ‘A’ per task so that there is a clear owner at each stage of your project.
If you have too many ‘R’s for a task, consider dividing the task even further to clarify who is doing what.
A RACI Matrix should never be created in isolation, ensure you have input and alignment before putting it into action.‍