Defining Accountability & Responsibility in Your Processes
Mar 21, 2022
What do you need to know when you map out a process?
Typical answers include:
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What steps need to be taken to accomplish the task and in what order?
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How long should each step take?
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Who is the one doing the work?
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Who needs to be involved to achieve the desired result?
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Who's checking to ensure compliance and signing off on completion?
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Are there any deviations and why do they occur? What are the steps to move forward?
As you are working through these questions, you could use several tools to organize the resulting information and finalize your process.
These tools include:
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Process templates
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Process mapping tools like Visio or GitMind
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RACI Matrix
The RACI Matrix is a great tool to use once you have the steps of your process defined. It is used to identify the four types of people who will be involved in the process and which steps they will participate in. This tool is also used in project management for the same purpose.
Responsible - this is the person who is doing the task
Accountable - this is the person who is making decisions and taking actions on the task
Consulted - this is the person who will be involved in the decision making process for specific tasks to provide expertise and guidance
Informed - this is the person who needs to be kept in the loop as decisions are made and tasks are completed
Here is an example of how this could work for your Accounts Payable Process
This tool lets everyone involved in the process know exactly what their roles are and when they need to be involved. Keep the number of people involved in each step as limited as you can - too many people can lead to duplication of work, extra errors and wasted time if too many people need to be consulted to make a decision.
It can also be used to assess workload. As you create RACI charts for your processes, you can then review how many tasks each person is responsible for and how long those tasks take to get an idea of current workload for each person. You can use that information to determine if and when you need to bring in more resources and reallocate the workload.
The RACI Matrix would appear at the beginning of your process with the steps summarized as in the example above. The detailed steps to complete the process would then follow. You should also include a section at the end of the process that includes signatures for the people who were responsible for approving the process and the approval date. If the process needs to be revised in the future, the revision changes and date should be tracked as well for audit purposes.
One last thing to note: The people identified in your RACI Matrix do not have to be employees. If you have outside people involved (consultants, bank representatives, investors, etc.) then include them on the chart as well!