How to make a RACI matrix from your process model

A RACI matrix shows, for each activity in a process, who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. The most reliable way to make one is to derive it from the process model you already have: every task becomes a row, every role a column, and the letters follow from the lanes, the approvals and the hand-offs.

That last part is the difference between a RACI matrix that holds and one that is out of date before the steering committee has seen it.

The moment you need a RACI matrix

Picture the second workshop with a client. The process model is on the screen, the stakeholders agree with the steps, and then the operations manager asks: "But who signs off on the refund?" Three people give three different answers. That question is not about the steps. It is about responsibility, and that is what a RACI matrix is for.

What the four letters mean

• Responsible: does the work. At least one per activity.

• Accountable: owns the result and signs off. Exactly one per activity.

• Consulted: gives input before or during the work. Two-way.

• Informed: hears about the result afterwards. One-way.

The rule that matters most is the second one. Two people accountable for the same activity means nobody is.

Why a RACI matrix next to the model goes wrong

In most projects the RACI matrix lives in a spreadsheet next to the process model. Someone copies the activity names from the diagram, adds the roles as columns and fills in the letters. It works on the day it is made.

Then the model changes. A step is split in two after a validation round, a lane is renamed, an approval moves to another team. The spreadsheet does not know. Three weeks later the client has a model and a matrix that disagree, and the consultant spends an afternoon reconciling them.

The fix is to treat the matrix as something you derive from the model, not something you maintain beside it.

From process model to RACI matrix in four steps

1. Take every task as a row. Only activities, not events or gateways. If the model has 14 tasks, the matrix has 14 rows, named exactly as in the model.

2. Take every lane as a column. In BPMN 2.0 a lane is a role, team or system. Systems don't get letters in a RACI matrix, so drop those lanes or replace them with the person who owns the system.

3. Fill in R from the lanes. The lane a task sits in is the role that does it. That is your R.

4. Add A, C and I from what the model shows around the task. An approval step or a decision by a manager points to A. An incoming message or a document the task needs points to C. An outgoing message or a notification after the task points to I.

Then check the result with the client, row by row, with one question per row: "Is this the person who signs off?" You validate it the same way you validate the model after a process interview, and it takes minutes because the steps are already agreed.

An example: a refund

Take the refund process from the swimlane diagram post, where a refund runs through customer service, the warehouse and finance. Add the two steps most refund processes have in practice, an approval by the finance team lead and a confirmation to the customer, and the matrix follows from the model:

• Register refund request: customer service R and A, warehouse I.

• Check returned item: warehouse R and A, customer service I.

• Approve refund: finance team lead R and A, warehouse C, finance C.

• Pay out refund: finance R, finance team lead A, customer service I.

• Confirm to customer: customer service R and A, finance I.

Finance does the payment, but the finance team lead is accountable for it, because the model puts the approval in their hands. Customer service is informed when the money goes out, because the next task in their lane depends on it.

Common mistakes

• More than one A. Split the activity or pick one owner.

• Everyone is C. If six roles are consulted on every step, nobody reads the matrix. Consulted means their input changes the work.

• Names instead of roles. Use the role from the lane. People change jobs, and the matrix should survive that.

• Rows that are not in the model. If a row has no task in the model, either the model is missing a step or the matrix describes a different process.

When you don't need a tool for this

For one process with five steps and three roles, a spreadsheet is fine. Copy the tasks, fill in the letters, done. The four steps above still help, because they keep the matrix true to the model.

A tool starts to matter when you model many processes for one client, or when the model goes through several validation rounds. Keeping the matrix in sync by hand is then where the hours go.

How ModelMatic does it

In ModelMatic the RACI matrix is generated from the validated process model, per activity and per actor. The model comes from your stakeholder interviews, you check it with the client, and the matrix follows from that same model, together with the SOP, user stories and requirements. When a validation round changes the model, you generate the matrix again instead of reconciling a spreadsheet.

At one consultancy, working out a process went from about 8 hours to about 1 hour. The RACI matrix is part of that hour, not an extra afternoon.

See all documentation outputs on the features page, or book a demo to see a RACI matrix generated from an example interview.