Hernan VotoProject manager| Rockstar CodersCaba, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hi again, hope my questions help and don't bother.
I sometimes get confused by the many artifacts presented in the PMBOK(6) that are/look alike (aka may serve the same purpose)
I want to understand according to the PMBOK, what's recommended to link activities with resources (let's concentrate on humans for now)
RACI tells me who is/are responsible for an activity, but so does the activity attributes document, and even though I couldn't find examples yet, the project team assignments document. This are the definitions from PMBOK:
Activity attributes provide the primary data source for use in estimating team and physical resources required for each activity on the activity list. Examples of attributes include the resource requirements, imposed dates, activity location, assumptions, and constraints.
An example I found in this website, shows activity and responsible assigned to such activity.
RACI: One example of a RAM is a RACI (responsible, accountable, consult, and inform) chart, shown in Figure 9-4.The sample chart shows the work to be done in the left column as activities. The assigned resources can be shown as individuals or groups.
Project team assignments: Described in Section 9.3.3.1. The project team assignments specify which resources are assigned to each activity.
An RACI chart provides the level of involvement for each person associated to a task. The Physical Resource Assignments documentation in 9.3.3.1 documents non-labor resources required such as computers, materials, etc. The Project Team Assignments documentation in 9.3.3.2 provides information oriented around individuals with respect to their overall project responsibilities/job roles, rather than individual task involvement provided in an RACI.
These provide different views in a document based system, for specific uses. In a document based world, it's difficult to put everything in one document or link things between separate documents, so the information is partitioned, and often duplicated in documents to show the linkage to other(s).
The same information can be provided in multiple formats. If this was done in an object oriented database, it would be represented as follows:
Each person, task, and non-labor resource on the team would be modeled as objects. Objects representing people would contain attributes such as their organization, work schedule, and project role (9.3.3.2). Tasks would be also represented as objects that include attributes such as task description and expected duration.
The task object and person object can be linked together with a relationship object such as "involves person". That relationship between the two objects would contain the RACI attributes further describing the involvement of the person on that task. Saving Changes...
As Keith indicates, a RACI goes well beyond who is responsible for completing it to those who would sign off, and those who would need to be informed.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Hola Hernan. Tuve la oportunidad de ser parte del grupo de autores/revisores de las 3 ultimas versiones del PMBOK. Lo que el PMBOK llama "activities attributes" se mantiene ahí desde los tiempos donde no existían herramientas de software para generar actividades. Es decir, por ejemplo, si tomas MS Project y generas una linea en un schedule ahi tenes todos los "activities attributes" mas la posibilidad de crear tus propios "activities attributes". No te olvides que el PMBOK dice que los que se enumeran son "solo ejemplo pero no estan limitados a". Por otro lado, una RACI es solo tambien un ejemplo pero vos podes hacer tu propio sistema de asignacion de responsabilidades a roles, utilizar tu propia nomenclatura de letras (es decir, ya no la llamarias RACI) y demas. Entonces, son dos cosas totalmente diferentes. Para lograr la relacion que vos comentas lo que tenes que enlazar son la WBS con la OBS y con eso obtenes la RACI. Saving Changes...
Hernan VotoProject manager| Rockstar CodersCaba, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Thanks a lot guys!
Very helpful answers. Which one do you use usually?
Sergio, just planning to keep it in English for the benefit of all non Spanish speakers. Saving Changes...
Typically project documentation I create only identifies who has primary responsibility for branches or tasks of the WBS. How much detail is needed depends on whether a lot of the secondary responsibilities are already documented as standard processes within the organization. I work in a large stable organization with well documented processes so most of the RACI is defined by organization and process. As a PM however, I am constantly doing the mental calculations in my head as to who all needs to be involved and at what level.
It is the non-standard projects where an actual written down breakout of RAAs specific to tasks becomes more valuable. Those bring together new groups of people and unique solution approaches where the roles are not as well defined. I also tend to document the secondary relationships on high intensity short flow projects, because often the root cause of a plan coming apart is forgetting to inform one wrong person, at the right time. Saving Changes...
A RACI chart is a matrix of all the activities or decision-making authorities undertaken in an organization set against all the people or roles. At each intersection of activity and role it is possible to assign somebody responsible, accountable, consulted or informed for that activity or decision
