RACI, RASCI, SRASCI

RACI RASCI or SRASCI ? which way do you go when looking at responsibility matrices and what makes sense for your organisation.

Whilst supporting an organisation in the middle of a change strategy I was asked to lead a new national infrastructure project, within months the fabric of the team started to unravel.

This was brought about with the introduction of several new senior managers and staff changes across the organisation having what I call "abundant enthusiasm" in an effort to get things done and put their stamp on the project and in-turn causing a level of frustration and confusion to unfold in relation to who is the Accountable and who is Responsible for undertaking the task as it seamed everyone was.

Even though people were being informed that they were accountable for areas of the implementation, "abundant enthusiasm" unintentionally undermined accountability and caused confusion about who was doing what .

Watch this clip, it speaks for itself

I put together a video explainer on RACI which provides a detailed yet light hearted but practical example of RACI.

But what about SRASCI??

SRASCI is an acronym for Sponsor, Responsible, Accountable, Support, Consulted, Inform

Why is this an important transformation of RACI and where would you use it?

• Sponsor “Sets the high level vision and or direction of a project or set of tasks within a project" this may be a CEO, CFO or CTO etc. The Sponsor is not the "A" accountable for ensuring the task is completed nor do they direct those Responsible "The Doers" in relation to the task or activities. A Sponsor however does have the power to veto a project or set of tasks within a project.

• Responsible is “The Doer” the individual or Individuals who perform an activity —

responsible for an action, there may be several Rs.

• Accountable “The Buck Stops Here” The individual who is ultimately Accountable has

the yes/no and power to veto an activity or decision providing the Sponsor is in agreement. Only one “A” can be assigned to an activity or task as you can't have 2 people driving the bus.

• Support “Supportive role” The individual or individuals who may be called on from time to time to support the "R" when when workloads are high or support is needed.

• Consulted “In the Loop” The individual or individuals who need to be consulted prior to a task

or action being completed there expert knowledge relating to the task is considered important. This is a two‐way communication.

• Informed “The individual or individuals who needs to be informed after a decision or action is taken. One‐way communication.

The underlying power of "SRASCI" is creating the delineation between a sponsor who may set direction/scope of a project and the "A" the person accountable for the performance and execution of the tasks/activities required to achieve a successful outcome, when the Sponsor is also the A then simply use RACI or RASCI.