Over the last year I have published a number of Blog updates concerning Good Business Growth in the supply chain. Focusing on how  buying teams and their vendors can secure good quality products at a competitive price, delivered on time and supplied by companies that care.

I thought I would now try and bring some of these LinkedIn posts together in one activity matrix tool to secure understanding and integration in the business.

Whilst I was working for Tesco International Sourcing we worked extensively with the RACI Chart tool:

Responsible: Who shall achieve the task?

Accountable: Who is ultimately answerable?

Consulted: Who is the expert?

Informed: Who is to be kept up to date?

I found RACI charts to be a practical and concise way to determine who does what. They are great for clarifying roles and responsibilities in cross-functional/departmental projects and matrix processes.

The Supply Chain in all companies are moving out of their silos of function, it’s no longer possible for a colleague to just focus on their own specific narrow operation, and to be fair I have not really met anybody who thinks like this anymore! The RACI Chart is indispensable in helping the Buying teams, the Factory management and Logistic operators secure Good Business Growth.

I have completed a RACI below using 9 titles from my previous posts, where I have advocated what needs to be action in the modern supply chain. In this chart example I am more interested in securing the understanding of RACI than actually who does what – this will always be different according to organisations and their structures. A RACI is an excellent one page tool to present and agree on who the hell is doing what!!  If its a well thought out and compiled chart then it provides a  great way to start the task clarification process and then finalise/maintain activities in the day to day operations of the Supply Chain.

Conclusion:

Whilst writing different LinkedIn posts, I was very conscious that they could be read as conflicting with each other and I would then glibly bring them all together under one banner of Good Business Growth. The RACI Chart I hope avoids this glibness in a practical, concise and easy way – everybody should be aware of their own and their colleagues’ responsibilities and accountabilities. Of course in the above example, point 10 needs to be added for the traditional commercial, logistic and technical daily operations – oh for those days when we worked in our silos of function, we didn’t need a RACI then!!!

Mark K. Astley Robert Vernon Associates Ltd..