The RACI matrix for assigning responsibilities

The correct answer: B. Exactly one person is Accountable, while others may be Responsible, Consulted, or Informed

✅ Why this answer

A RACI matrix clarifies each person’s role in each task:

• R (Responsible): who does the work.
• A (Accountable): who owns the final decision and answers for the result.
• C (Consulted): who is asked before the decision (two-way communication).
• I (Informed): who is told the result (one-way communication).

The most important rule: only one person is “A” for each task; when several people are accountable, responsibility gets lost.

❌ Why the other options are wrong

• (A): several accountable people means each one waits for the others, and nobody owns the final decision.
• (C): the project manager is accountable for managing the project, but approving clinical content usually belongs to a clinical leader.
• (D): consulting everyone on everything slows the work and confuses the decision.

💡 Key concept

The matrix prevents two common problems in projects: tasks with no owner, and tasks claimed by more than one party. It is reviewed with the team at the start of the project, and updated when people or scope change.

In the exam: exactly one Accountable person for each task, and at least one Responsible person; there may be several. Consulted people take part in two-way communication, and Informed people receive one-way communication.

🔗 Related facts and questions

• Other versions of the matrix: such as RASCI (Responsible, Accountable, Support, Consulted, Informed), which adds a Support role, and DACI (Driver, Approver, Contributors, Informed), often used for decisions.
  Practice question: in DACI, who gathers input and pushes the decision to its deadline but does not give the final approval? → The Driver; the final approval belongs to the Approver, who matches Accountable in RACI.
• Reading the matrix: each row is checked for exactly one Accountable person, and each column is checked for each person’s load.
  Practice question: one person’s column shows them as Accountable for 40 tasks. What does this usually suggest? → Overload or a decision bottleneck, so the spread of accountability is reviewed.
• Clinical content and technical build: in electronic health record (EHR) projects, content is usually built by application analysts and approved by one clinical leader, such as the chair of the clinical content committee, even when the whole committee reviews it. So the doer and the accountable person are different people.
• Consulted or Informed: the difference is that a Consulted person’s view shapes the work before it is done.
  Practice question: pharmacy reviews the doses in the draft before approval, and the help desk receives the go-live date after approval. Which of the two is Consulted? → Pharmacy; the help desk is Informed.
• Two roles for one person: in small tasks the same person may be both Responsible and Accountable, which does not break the single-Accountable rule.
• Matching project team roles: a related question in the full bank.
• The core of the project manager’s role: "The core of the project manager’s role" (in the full bank).
• Delegation and accountability: "Effective delegation" (in the full bank).
• Team development stages and disputes over roles: "The stages of team development (Tuckman)" (in the full bank).