8 tips for a usable RASCI model in your organization

What is RASCI?

RASCI is the abbreviation for Responsible, Accountable, Supportive, Consulted, and Informed. It is a process management tool for organizations that allow responsibilities and authority to be mapped out in a simple way. RASCI is based on the so-called ‘responsibility charting’ technique that came from the United States. With the RASCI model you can indicate very precisely what the division of roles is between the various people who contribute to a process.

Are you getting started, or planning to, with the RASCI model in your organization? If you are, you may be interested in a set of 8 practical tips that you could use to get started in a good way. Let's take a look at the list:

1. Make sure there is at least one person responsible (R) for each activity. If nobody is responsible for an activity, it simply means the work is not being done.
2. Also, don't create too many R's for one activity. If that is the case, the work may be left ‘in the middle’ because everyone thinks someone else is doing it.
3. >Provide one A per activity: no more, no less. That way one person (or group) is always ultimately responsible for the activity – preferably the person who can get the ball rolling. Sometimes A and R are the same person, but it can also be someone else.
4. Check how many R's or A's lie with one person (or group). Too many of these roles can be an indication of too much work – an overload is not a good situation.
5. Many I's and C's in the process almost automatically means it is slow. The more people need to be informed and consulted, the slower the process. Therefore, critically consider the need for all I's and C's.
6. Many I's and C's also mean that those in charge (R) apparently do not have enough resources to do the work on their own; they have to consult too many. For those activities, see if those performing them can be given more information and more authority.
7. Is a person or group just the I, S, or C? If so, look closely at why the roles are assigned. Why does this person need to be informed or consulted so often? And is it really necessary?
8. Finally, the table does not have to be completely filled. Sometimes the work can be done by one person (the R or the A), without being accountable to anyone. So take a good inventory of the activities and be critical of the number of roles involved.

The RASCI Matrix

So what does such a RASCI model look like in practice? With the help of the RASCI matrix this is made clear. You can see that not all cells in the matrix are filled, nor do they have to be as you read in the eighth tip above.

Pitfalls of the traditional RASCI model

No matter how well you use the above tips, the traditional RASCI model suffers from two persistent flaws. If you don't solve these two flaws, chances are you'll end up stuck with a paper tiger: a mountain of documents that in thick filing folders, collecting dust in some cupboard.

If you were to create a RASCI model right now, what are the two pitfalls?

1. The first pitfall of the traditional RASCI matrix is that organizations or teams interpret it too rigidly, which creates pigeonholing (‘This is part of my tasks, this is not’), distance (‘I am responsible for this, not for that’), and restrictions (‘I can do this, I can't do that’).

   Modern organizations that apply the RASCI model well, know that this model cannot be static or rigid. If it is, then there is a high likelihood that the RASCI model you're creating today, in Excel or some other program, will no longer be current six months from now. That is, if your colleagues would actually use the model. Which leads us to the second pitfall.
   
   

2. RASCI matrices become so wide, so long and so full of information over the years that they no longer fit on a screen in a normal, easy to view way. And lket's be honest: does an Excel file hidden on some shared or local drive really attract readers?

   Exactly, it doesn't. A complex, confusing table automatically leads to less use of your RASCI model. Matrixes become so colossal that employees no longer understand the meaning of such a matrix – which is a shame.

RACI model or RASCI model?

RASCI and RACI models are, much like their names, almost the same. RACI is basically the same as RASCI, but without the Supportive or supporting role. So, for smaller projects where the Responsible can handle things just fine on their own, you can omit the S from your model.

Is it a larger project? One that threatens to put too much on the Responsible employee's plate? If so, then it makes sense to include the supporting roles in your next project - which means working with a RASCI model instead of a RACI model.

So which model you use is up to you – as indicated in tip #8.

Getting started with RASCI

If you're serious about getting started with the RASCI model, it's time for a more innovative model. WoodWing Scienta's RASCI matrices are inviting to read and understandable by everyone (including people on the shop floor!) – and remain that way. The RASCI model in our software moves with your organisational processes, thanks to handy filters, overviews, and an accessible set-up.

You can see the RASCI model in action in WoodWing Scienta for free.
Curious? Get in touch with one of our Scienta experts.