RASIC or RACI Chart Matrix Free Template

Your vision is when you think about your, development, projects, or launches, you would have a clear picture of who is doing what.

Development, projects, and launches (calling these DPL for the purpose of this article) can have so many moving pieces and it can be extremely challenging to always know who is the responsible party, the people who need an approval role, those who are a supporting role, those who need to be informed, and those who will consult in DPL.

The solution is to assemble a RASIC Chart (Responsible, Approving, Supporting, Informed and Consulting)

The chart name is pronounced with a long a, so think racy and you may see variations of RASCI, RASIC, or RACI.

Why should you use a RASIC Chart?

A RASIC Chart maps out the roles and responsibilities among the processes or steps in DPL. This map assists greatly in transparency and awareness of who is doing what, and who needs input so as to avoid missing anyone or any departments in the steps along the way to completion. This type of documentation prevents people from duplicative work and from not being prepared in various steps along the way. Often, there is a lot going on and people have multiple projects, so talking about roles isn’t enough, you really need it documented as a reference tool for after you leave the kick-off meeting and half the people forget what was talked about.

What should a RASIC Chart look like?

A RASIC chart is laid out with the roles across the top and can be by individual, the type of role, customer, or by the department if it’s more of a high-level view. Each column should be thought of a different role in the management of the overall DPL. The steps or processes are laid out vertically along the left side. Under each of the role columns, the letters to RASIC are used as they apply to each step and role. The steps on the left side should include the beginning of the project through to completion.

Having done several of these, I’ve found there are times when you may not use all five of the letters. This can be more common if you have a much smaller team working on DPL. Sometimes a smaller team for example may not necessarily have a supportive role, it may be more just a member who is responsible. Either way, if you are thinking in this mindset of laying out roles and responsibilities, you are moving in a positive direction towards better management of your DPL.

Who needs a RASIC Chart?

Anyone who is managing DPL that involves more than one contributor should be using a RASIC Chart, whether the DPL is a one-off or a routine process. After working on a few of these, you may find that you end up with a standard template you can use and modify as needed. This is a key tool in opening up communication and transparency when collaborating with other team members. These shouldn’t take a lot of time after the initial one you do. You have to remember that it’s better to put the work in upfront rather than end up with people doing duplicative tasks or not doing tasks at all.

Case example of a RASIC Chart for the development of a zip travel pouch.

Looking at the visual example in this article, we are taking a manufacturing process and laying out the basic steps and roles.

Find the sample here if you would like to use it as a starting template.

This is an example using a smaller team, where there are five contributors. You will see, that with a smaller team, some of the line items have dual roles of approver and responsible party. Some lines, like meetings, for example, do not have to have the approver role. Some of the cells are grayed out as they will not apply to all of the roles. If you have a larger team and more in-depth DPL, I recommend breaking out the line items or steps further into groups where it’s by stages of development for example rather than one list.

In summary, the next time you are working on development, a new project, or launch, try kicking it off with a basic RASIC Chart and assigning the roles the appropriate actions and comment on how it went or ask a question!

Written by Nicole Hullihen, September 12th, 2021

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References recommended to learn more about RASIC Charts.

Harrin, E. (2021, July 5). RACI/RASCI Charts: A Complete Guide. Girls Guide To PM. Retrieved https://www.girlsguidetopm.com/a-complete-guide-to-raci-rasci-charts/.

RACI Charts. (n.d.). RACI CHART. RACI Charts. https://racichart.org/.

Wagner, R. (2017, Apr 20). The RASIC-Chart- a key tool for collaboration in projects. International Project Management Association. Retrieved from https://www.ipma.world/rasic-chart-key-tool-collaboration-projects/Never

Get a RASIC chart here.