RACI Matrix Template (PMI Standard Excel, Word & PDF)
7 min read · Reviewed August 2026 by Dan Sunil Kumar
A RACI matrix is a responsibility assignment chart. Activities run down the rows, roles run across the columns, and each cell records whether that role is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted or Informed for that activity.
It exists to answer two questions before delivery starts: who is doing this, and who signs it off. Most disputes late in a project trace back to a decision nobody agreed to own, and a RACI is the cheapest way to surface that early.
- Standard followed
- PMBOK Guide 7th ed. / PMI Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures
- Performance domain
- Team & Planning
- Process group
- Planning
- Knowledge area
- Resource Management
The Excel, Word & PDF files for this template are part of the paid PM Delivery Toolkit — there is no free download. The full walkthrough, worked example and section guidance below stay open to read.
Get the raci matrix in the toolkitWhen to use it
- A project spans several teams or vendors and hand-offs keep stalling.
- Approvals take too long because it is unclear who can actually decide.
- Two people believe they own the same deliverable — or nobody does.
- You are onboarding a new team and need a one-page map of who does what.
Every section, and what good looks like
Section 1
R — Responsible
The person or role that does the work to produce the deliverable.
Every row has at least one R, and the named people know they hold it.
Section 2
A — Accountable
The single role that owns the outcome and gives final sign-off.
Exactly one A per row. Two accountable owners means nobody is accountable.
Section 3
C — Consulted
Roles whose input is sought before the work or decision is finalised.
Kept deliberately short — every C adds delay, so it has to earn its place.
Section 4
I — Informed
Roles told about the outcome afterwards, with no input expected.
Used for awareness only, and tied to an existing communication channel.
Section 5
Activity rows
The verbs of the project: approve business case, define requirements, test and accept, approve go-live.
Activities are decisions and deliverables, not vague themes like 'quality'.
Section 6
Role columns
Roles rather than named individuals — sponsor, project manager, business lead, tech lead, QA, operations.
Ten columns or fewer, with a separate name list mapping people to roles.
Section 7
Agreement and sign-off
A short block recording who agreed the matrix and when.
Agreed live with the named people in the room, not circulated as a fait accompli.
Section 8
Review points
When the matrix will be revisited — stage gates, team changes, vendor onboarding.
Reviewed on a stated trigger, so it does not quietly go stale.
Build it here, then export
Prefer to draft it before downloading anything? Use the builder below — it validates the rules a RACI chart lives or dies by, then exports a CSV that opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.
Build your RACI matrix online
Edit the activities and roles, set each cell to R, A, C or I, and export to Excel or Google Sheets. Your work is saved in this browser.
| Activity | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Checks
Every activity has one accountable owner and someone responsible. This matrix will hold up in a kick-off.
Load per role
| Role | R | A | C | I |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsor | – | 2 | – | 4 |
| Project manager | 2 | 4 | 3 | – |
| Tech lead | 5 | 1 | 3 | – |
| Content owner | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Legal | – | 1 | 1 | 2 |
- R
- Responsible. Does the work. Can be more than one person.
- A
- Accountable. Owns the outcome and signs it off. Exactly one per activity.
- C
- Consulted. Gives input before the decision is made.
- I
- Informed. Told after the fact. No input expected.
A filled-in example
A realistic RACI matrix for a website migration, so you can see how one accountable owner per activity plays out in practice.
| Activity | Approve scope change |
|---|---|
| Sponsor | A — final approval on cost and date impact |
| Project manager | R — raises the change request and impact assessment |
| Business lead | C — confirms the business consequence of the change |
| Tech lead | C — sizes the technical effort and risk |
| QA | I — told once the change is approved, adjusts test scope |
| Ops / support | I — told before go-live so runbooks are updated |
| Review trigger | Re-checked at each stage gate and on any vendor change |
Mistakes that make a RACI matrix useless
- More than one A on a row, which recreates the exact ambiguity the matrix is meant to remove.
- Rows with no R, so the activity is owned in principle and done by nobody.
- Consulting everyone, which turns every decision into a committee.
- Using individual names instead of roles, so the matrix breaks the moment someone moves on.
- Fifty activity rows nobody reads — keep it to the decisions and deliverables that matter.
- Filling it in alone and publishing it, rather than agreeing it with the people named.
26 more artifacts, ready to fill in
The PM Delivery Toolkit packages the RAID log, status pack, estimation and earned value workbooks, capacity planner, agile sprint tools and 150 PMP-style questions — Word, Excel and print-ready PDF.
- Status pack and steering deck with RAG logic built in
- Estimation and EVM workbook: CPI, SPI and EAC calculated
- Capacity planner with an over-allocation heatmap
- Agile set: sprint planning, user stories, retros, backlog, WSJF
One payment · lifetime updates · 14-day refund. Files unlock on your download page as soon as payment clears.
Questions people ask
- What does RACI stand for?
- Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. Responsible does the work, Accountable owns the outcome and signs it off, Consulted gives input before the decision, and Informed is told afterwards.
- What is the difference between responsible and accountable?
- Responsible is about effort: the people doing the work. Accountable is about ownership: the single role answerable for the result and holding sign-off. A row can have several Rs but only ever one A.
- How do you create a RACI matrix?
- List the project's key activities and deliverables as rows, list the roles as columns, then assign exactly one A and at least one R to each row before adding any C or I. Walk the draft through with the named people and record their agreement.
- Can a person be both responsible and accountable?
- Yes. On small projects one role often does the work and signs it off, usually written as A/R. Just keep the A unique on the row so escalation has one destination.
- What is the difference between RACI and RASCI or RAPID?
- RASCI adds Support for roles that assist the Responsible party. RAPID is a decision-rights model — Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, Decide — that suits recurring governance decisions rather than delivery activities. RACI is enough for most projects.
Read next
- Stakeholder Analysis and the Communication Plan
- Change Control Without the Bureaucracy
- Work Breakdown Structures and Scope Control
- Resource & Capacity Planning That Holds Up
Other PMI-standard templates
Every one has the same walkthrough, worked example and PMI mapping, and every file ships inside the PM Delivery Toolkit.
- Project charter templateWord & PDF · Integration Management
- Project plan pack templateWord, Excel & PDF · Integration & Schedule Management
- Project status report templateWord & PDF · Communications Management
- RAID log templateExcel, Word & PDF · Risk Management
Keep going on the site
The hubs and tools that pair with this raci matrix.
- PM Delivery ToolkitEvery PMBOK-mapped template in one paid pack, with the walkthroughs.
- PM glossaryPlain-English definitions for the terms these registers use.
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