Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) or RACI Chart Explained

In this video, you are going to learn what is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix or RAM. This could also be known as a RACI matrix. This is an important concept that you do want to know for your upcoming PMP or CAPM exam, and if you do want to become PMP or CAPM certified, please sign up for our free course where you'll learn how you can become a certified project manager in the next 6 weeks. You can sign up with this URL, www.exampm.com/free. Okay, now let's first talk about what is the Responsibility Assignment Matrix, otherwise known as RAM. So the RAM or the RACI matrix describes the participation by various roles in completing tasks or deliverables for a project. It is used to clarify the roles and responsibilities, so who is doing what on your project, and we'll look at an example in just a little bit. Let's first take a look at what does RACI stand for. So RACI is an acronym that basically tells you who is doing what, so what the roles and responsibilities for different activities on your project are. So Responsible stands for the person who is actually doing the work, so this person is responsible to complete this activity. Accountable— this is a person who will ensure that the work is completed and completed up to the quality standard that was set out for the project. In other words, the person who is is accountable is the approver who's overseeing the work of the person who's doing it. And there are times when the person responsible and the person who is accountable for a specific activity is the same person as well. Consulted is the C in RACI, and this is the person whose opinion is sought. So you will consult that person, you will ask that person for their guidance or their expertise when you're doing this specific activity. And lastly, I stands for informed. So this is the person have to keep up to date about the progress and the status of this specific activity or the project overall. And so once you know what RACI stands for— Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed— these basically define the roles and responsibilities available for different activities you may have on your project. And then you just want to map it out with who is doing what. So here's an example of RACI. You have the different activities of your project across the rows, and you have the different people your team members across the columns, and then you'll just fill in the RACI in the matrix in between. So for example, the first activity is to define test criteria, and Ravi has an A in the intersection, so that means that you— Ravi is accountable for this task. George has an R, that means George is responsible for the first task, which is to define test criteria. So this chart is really useful just to see who is doing what, and this overall chart is called the RAM, or Responsible Assignment Matrix. Now let's take a look at a sample question that you may encounter on your PMP exam. So here's a sample question, let me read it out to you. There's a delay on your project. You are the project manager and you call a team meeting to discuss what happened. During the team meeting, Bob and Joe argued over who was responsible for what. To eliminate this type of problem from happening in the future, you create a— Responsibility assignment matrix. An org chart. A Gantt chart. A project schedule. Feel free to pause this video for a second and answer this question. And if you said A, you are correct. In order to eliminate confusion about who is doing what and who is responsible for which activities, you want to use a responsibility assignment matrix. Essentially, the responsibility assignment matrix will have all of your activities in the rows and all of your team members in the columns, and in the intersection you want to write either R, A, C, or I to represent what that team member's role and responsibility is for that specific activity. Again, RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. Okay, so that's what a RAM matrix is, and I hope you found this video helpful. If you want to learn more project management tips, be sure to check out our free course at www.exampm.com/free. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you.