The YaSM RACI Matrix (Video)

The YaSM® Process Map includes a complete RACI matrix or responsibility matrix. That matrix describes the participation by the various YaSM roles in the YaSM processes.

The exact format of the matrix depends on the version of the YaSM® Process Map:

• Our ARIS™ model, for instance, contains an ARIS RACI matrix,
• while the Visio® product contains a RACI matrix in the form of an Excel® table.

Responsibility information in the process model

But before we take a closer look at the matrix I wanted to show you that there is, of course, also responsibility information in the process diagrams.

• In the swim lanes, for example, we show which YaSM roles are responsible for performing the activities in the process.
• And at the top we indicate who is meant to be the process owner.

So this kind of responsibility information is in the diagrams, but the RACI matrix now provides a summary of all the responsibilities for every process.

Structure of the RACI matrix

And here is the RACI matrix in Excel®.

As in any RACI matrix, we have all the YaSM roles at the top, and down here at the left we have the YaSM processes. In the center we use the familiar abbreviations from the RACI model to indicate levels of responsibility:

• "A" stands for "accountable", indicating process ownership,
• and "R" stands for "responsible", so "R" means that somebody has to perform an activity in the process.

If we scroll down a little to find the process we have seen in Visio before ... then we can see an "R" for each role that participates in the process. In the case of the "service design manager", there is also an "A" next to the "R", because this role does not only participate in the process, but is also the process owner.

So what we see here in the matrix is exactly in line with the responsibility information in the YaSM process diagrams!

If you forgot what these abbreviations mean, you can look that up in the legend on a separate page of the Excel file.

What are the tasks of a particular role?

Now, the RACI matrix is a nice summary of the responsibilities of the roles in the processes, but it can also be used for navigating the YaSM process model, starting from a role perspective.

If you are, say, the "change manager" then you could use a filter to see only your own processes. If you switch on the filter that will narrow down the matrix to only the relevant processes for the change manager. Because the process names here at the left are equipped with links, the change manager can open the process diagrams directly from within the matrix and ... if we zoom in a little ... then she or he can see what precisely she is supposed to do in the process.

How to adjust the RACI matrix

Of course this matrix is not static.

It's easy to adapt it to the needs of your organization because every cell is equipped with a tiny drop down list with the possible entries.

So we could add here, for example, an additional responsibility for the "operations manager" to this process.

But a word of caution is in order here! Changing this responsibility in the matrix will not change anything in the Visio diagram. So you would now need to do a similar change in the process diagram, and if you have a minute I will show you a quick example of how this can be done:

• In Visio we would first create a bit of space and then add an additional swim lane here at the bottom.
• Then we can, for example, pull down a couple of activities into the new swim lane and adjust the sequence flow a bit.
• Now we drag a role shape from the document stencil onto the swim lane
• and set the role to the "operations manager", using our repository add-in.

And now the "operations manager" is responsible for carrying out the activities here in the bottom swim lane, and the Visio diagram and the RACI matrix are again in sync.

Apart from changing responsibilities you can of course also add whole new content to the matrix. Some of our customers, for example, have added a new row here on top, because they needed a place where to specify what people from within their organization are assigned to specific service management roles.

In fact there are many ways of adapting this matrix, there are no limits! You can do with this matrix whatever is possible in Excel.

If you'd like to learn more about the YaSM® Process Map please get in touch with us.