Too many cooks spoil the soup.
This old saying rings true in project management. A project takes longer to complete if cross-functional team members have unclear roles and responsibilities. In some cases, it may be unsuccessful or take longer to accomplish.
A RACI template prevents the “too many cooks” problem. It clearly outlines who performs task X, who weighs in on it, and the person who makes the end decision on the job. As a result, team members know their roles to avoid confusion and wasting time.
In this article, we’ll share 10 of our favorite RACI templates and how to use them to organize your projects! But first, let’s understand the meaning of a RACI matrix.
10 RACI Chart Templates for Excel, Google Sheets, and ClickUp
- 1. ClickUp RACI Chart Template
- 2. Excel RACI Matrix Template
- 3. Excel RACI Chart Template
- 4. Google Sheets RACI Template
- 5. Google Sheets Task Distribution RACI Matrix Template
- 6. Google Sheets RACI Chart Template by PM Training
- 7. Simple RACI Chart Template Excel by Template Lab
- 8. Project Management RACI Chart Template Excel by Template Lab
- 9. Excel Key Responsibilities Chart Template Excel by Template Lab
- 10. Excel Basic RACI Chart Template by Template Lab
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat is a RACI Chart template?
A RACI chart (or RACI matrix) is a chart that lays out team members’ roles concerning project tasks. It uses the letters R, A, C, and I to identify roles and lines of accountability. RACI stands for:
- Responsible (R): It shows a person responsible for accomplishing a task and is hands-on when doing the job
- Accountable (A): It represents a supervisor who oversees the task. This person in a RACI matrix is not hands-on with the task but manages and ensures the work is completed properly
- Consulted (C): This outlines the person or group providing information about a particular deliverable. They are consulted for their expertise on a specific task to help the Responsible individual complete a job successfully
- Informed (I): It represents a person or a group that must be updated on the task progress and decisions being made in a project
A RACI chart identifies and defines who’s responsible for what to prevent confusion, miscommunication, and time wastage in a project. Team members can use it as a guiding compass to complete the project properly and on time.
Summarize this article for me pleaseTop 10 Free RACI Chart Templates
While a RACI chart is helpful for every project, RACI templates are built differently.
Fortunately, we’ve sorted through dozens of templates and compiled the top 10 that work best for project managers. The templates below are free and equipped with the must-have features to support your RACI chart needs, no matter your industry.
Ready? Let’s go!
1. ClickUp RACI Chart Template
A RACI chart should clearly define roles and responsibilities in a project; this template gets that. It’s a RACI planning Doc with a chart that identifies and describes team members’ roles in a project. This ensures you distinctly outline who completes, reviews, or gets consulted concerning a particular task.
This RACI template is easily customizable to suit your unique needs. It’s simple to update content and add rows and columns to your liking. Even better, the drag-and-drop functionality in some sections makes the template beginner-friendly and super easy to customize.
Edit the template in real-time so different groups and all team members access updates as they occur. This saves time exporting the RACI chart and sharing it with individual departments or group members.
What’s more, you can color-code tasks to differentiate them from others. For example, you can color-code at-risk tasks or call attention to those with tight deadlines. All changes to the template will be saved to the cloud, ensuring you resume customization at your convenience.
And the best part?
There are multiple ways to share the RACI chart. Export the Doc as a PDF, Markdown, or HTML file. Alternatively, share it using a public or private link, depending on who you want to access the RACI matrix. You can also invite team members via email to access the chart.
ClickUp’s RACI Chart template is undoubtedly at the next level because of its unique features. In addition to the RACI chart, the template has areas to set expectations, include additional notes, and outline tools necessary to complete tasks.
This template ensures you leave no detail behind to ensure roles and responsibilities are clear in your project.
2. Excel RACI Matrix Template
This RACI matrix excel template is super easy to customize. It’s simple to color-code your chart because the process is automated, making the template beginner-friendly. Assigning the R, A, C, and I acronyms is straightforward; just a matter of choosing from a drop-down box.
Excel is one of the best platforms for creating a RACI Matrix chart. The reason? It has plenty of editing options and allows the creation of specific rules for every part of the chart. As a result, you can use this template for other variants of the RACI model, such as DRASCI (Driver, Responsible, Accountable, Support, Consulted, Informed) and RASI (Responsible, Accountable, Support, Informed).
Make sure you have Microsoft Excel on your system before downloading this template.
3. Excel RACI Chart Template
With this RACI chart template, you can quickly outline a task and the person or department assigned to it. Then, you list each task on the chart and identify the individual responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed for each job.
Even better, the template is fully customizable with Microsoft Excel to suit your requirements. So no matter your industry or the project’s nature, it helps you to distinctly define roles and responsibilities to ensure team members understand their part in completing tasks successfully.
This free template is available in two formats: PDF and Excel sheet. Choose what suits you best and start to create a well-organized RACI chart tailored to your business’s needs.
4. Google Sheets RACI Template
This template allows you to list tasks in order of execution so that more urgent jobs get done first, followed by less urgent ones. This can help prevent missing deadlines.
As the name suggests, this template is in the form of a Google Sheet. Using Google saves content in the cloud to allow editing of the template in real-time and for multiple people to access the RACI chart. In addition, live editing ensures those involved access updates instantly as they occur to avoid delays in a project.
Because it exists on cloud technology, using this template to create a RACI matrix simplifies sharing the chart between team members. Share it through a link and easily control access by leveraging the Google sheet’s features.
Unlike Excel templates that can go missing easily, this template is available in the cloud: you access it from anywhere and at any time through an internet-enabled mobile or desktop device.
5. Google Sheets Task Distribution RACI Matrix Template
Powered by Google’s cloud technology, this template allows multiple people to access and adjust it as necessary. This allows team members to collaborate in real time. The template is free to access and is easy to share after customizing it to suit your project’s needs.
Easily list tasks and the corresponding individuals responsible for each job so everyone is on the same page. Additionally, all updates are synced in the cloud to eliminate the worry of a customized template getting lost—think of accidentally deleting documents, Excel spreadsheets, or pdf files.
6. Google Sheets RACI Chart Template by PM Training
A RACI template should clearly show tasks and define who’s responsible for what. Well, this template delivers that and goes beyond the basic elements of a RACI chart. For example, in addition to the features of a typical RACI matrix, team members can show whether or not they are ready to start a task.
It has a section to record job progress to provide more insights into how quickly and efficiently a team or an individual is doing the assigned task. It also provides more clarity into job status by showing tasks that are:
- In progress
- Completed
- On hold
- Not started
- Needs review
- Overdue
This streamlines project management by helping you ensure peak productivity and tasks are completed on time. It also has sections to add notes to each assigned task, allowing project managers to comment on job performance.
Since the template exists on the cloud, team members can easily access the RACI chart and collaborate on the project seamlessly. Live editing ensures everyone involved accesses project updates in real-time to start assigned jobs as fast as possible.
7. Simple RACI Chart Template Excel by Template Lab
This RACI template stays true to its name. It’s a role and responsibilities matrix with a straightforward format that requires minimum editing. It clearly shows where to list tasks and the roles you’ve assigned specific individuals. This helps to quickly customize the template to your needs and start a project as fast as possible.
The template allows you to list tasks in the execution sequence so that teams prioritize urgent jobs. The result? You ensure you complete milestones within a predetermined deadline.
8. Project Management RACI Chart Template Excel by Template Lab
If your project is large with many deliverables, this RACI chart template suits you best. It allows you to list tens of tasks and assign them to specific teams or departments participating in a project. You can easily comment on each job to provide feedback or additional information.
9. Excel Key Responsibilities Chart Template Excel by Template Lab
Are you looking for a sales RACI chart template? Look no further because this template has everything you need when creating a RACI matrix for sales projects. You easily define activities and roles you’ve assigned specific individuals. The template shows you exactly who to assign a specific sales role, making it easy to create a RACI matrix that works for you.
If you want to create a RACI template for sales projects, this one will point you in the right direction. Use it to create a matrix that clearly outlines who’s responsible, accountable, informed, and consulted in a project.
10. Excel Basic RACI Chart Template by Template Lab
This is a simple RACI chart template best suits a family looking to organize roles and accountability. It allows you to list tasks against those who should carry them out while outlining who is accountable, responsible, consulted, and informed on a particular job.
If you want a RACI template to use at home, this one will suit you best. It has all the basic elements you need to ensure tasks are organized, assigned, and accomplished properly.
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow to Use a RACI Chart Template
Here’s how to use a RACI chart template in four simple, basic steps:
Step 1: Identify and list all project tasks
Depending on the template you use, list all jobs in the project under the “tasks” or “activity’ column. Some templates allow you to record tasks in a row. The list can be a sequence from high to low priority tasks to ensure more important ones are accomplished first.
Alternatively, you can categorize the tasks into phases to keep things organized. How you list them depends on the format that suits you best.
Step 2: List all individuals participating in the project
Next, add all team members to the RACI template, even if they work indirectly on the project. You can list them by their names or their job titles. We recommend the second option for the RACI chart to remain useful for people unfamiliar with everybody’s name in the project.
Step 3: Assign the R, A, C, and I acronyms to each task
Every task you list on the template must have at least one of these letters (R, A, C, or I). R stands for a person who’ll be hands-on in the project tasks. In short, an individual labeled R is the task doer.
Next, a person accountable for the task should be labeled A. This person oversees the task and ensures the individual labeled R completes the project properly and on time.
After that, the individual consulted for their expertise to help R complete a task should be labeled C. This person offers advice or additional information about a task. Not all tasks in your RACI chart will have a C.
Lastly, anyone that must be updated about the task progress is labeled I, which represents a person team members or leaders report to. This can be a CEO, a sponsor, or high officials in an organization.
Step 4: Share the RACI chart
After fully customizing and filling the template, share the final document with team members in the project. A RACI matrix is most useful if everyone involved in a project clearly understands their roles. Depending on your template, you can share the final chart as a link, PDF, word doc, HTML, or Excel spreadsheet.
More Project Management Template Resources:
- Project Management Templates
- CRM Templates
- Product Management Templates
- Gantt Chart Project Management Templates
- Kanban Board Templates
- Milestone Templates
- Matrix Templates
- Spreadsheet Templates
Summarize this article for me pleaseSave Time and Set Project Responsibilities With RACI Templates
Using a template to create a RACI chart is highly valuable and saves you time from reinventing the wheel for every project request. Instead of starting from scratch, you’ll already be prepared with the structure ready to customize.
The ClickUp RACI template is flexible for any team size and project requirement. It comes with all the basic elements necessary to create a customized matrix to improve your team’s productivity at every stage of the project. If you’re collaborating between departments and stakeholders, the ClickUp template is a must-have in your project toolbox. And the best part? ClickUp is free forever!
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