RACI, RASCI, SRASCI and RACI 2.0
There are many versions of RACI and a purpose for each
RACI, RASCI or SRASCI RACI 2.0? which way should you go when looking at accountability matrices and what makes sense for your organization.
Whilst RACI Consulting was supporting an organisation through change RACI Consulting was asked to lead a new national infrastructure project, within months the fabric of the team started to unravel.
This was caused by the introduction of several new senior managers across the organization who had what we at RACI Consulting call "abundant enthusiasm".
This resulted in chaos and a high level of frustration and confusion relating to who was Accountable and who was responsible when it came to decission making relating to project activities and tasks resulting in nobody doing what anyone could have done.
Even though staff were being informed that they were accountable for areas of the implementation, "abundant enthusiasm" (directing staff not under their management) unintentionally undermined accountability causing confusion over who is doing what.
The following clip on RACI Consulting provides a detailed yet light hearted but practical example of RACI.
But what about RASCI & SRASCI and RACI 2.0 ??
RASCI adds the concept of Support with SRASCI adding the further concept of Sponsor, the below explains this in more detail.
RASCI 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 and CTO etc. The Sponsor is not the "A" accountable for ensuring a task is completed nor do they direct those Responsible "The Doers" in relation to tasks and activities as this would undermine the "A". However a Sponsor has 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 Vision, direction and 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.
• RACI 2.0 is an approach that RACI Consulting believe adds a layer of confussion, a RACI implementation is a consultative process. If a task/process has so many "Rs" a primary "R" is required to identify the lead "R" in this instance RACI Consulting would recommend to note this R as an R1 on a standard RACI Consulting RACI chart. See example below. (It is OK to add more columns to include additional detail) RACI Charts are a flexible living document structured to meet many different applications.
ACTION VERBS:
Tasks within a RACI should start with action verbs such as
Evaluate, Schedule, Monitor, Review, Authorise, Decide, Attend, Prepare, Update, Write, Record, Determine, Operate, Collect, Approve, Conduct, Develop, Inspect, Train, Publish, Report
