DACI vs RACI vs RAPID — and when you need more

All three frameworks answer the same question — who plays what part in a decision — with different emphasis. Here’s what each one actually means, where each fits, and where every framework stops.

RACI — task responsibility, adapted to decisions

Responsible · Accountable · Consulted · Informed. RACI is the oldest of the three and wasn’t designed for decisions at all — it’s a responsibility-assignment matrix for tasks and deliverables. Exactly one person is Accountable; others execute, advise, or are kept in the loop. Teams adapt it to decisions because it’s familiar, but it has no concept of a decision being made — only of work being owned.

DACI — RACI rebuilt for decisions

Driver · Approver · Contributors · Informed. DACI emerged at Intuit in the 1980s as a decision-focused variant of RACI. The Driver moves the decision forward; one Approver makes the call; Contributors bring knowledge; Informed hear the outcome. Its core virtue is the single named approver — decisions stall when approval is ambient.

RAPID® — decision rights for big organisations

Recommend · Agree · Perform · Input · Decide. RAPID was developed by Bain & Company and popularised in the 2006 Harvard Business Review article “Who Has the D?”. It separates the people who recommend from the one who decides, gives a deliberately narrow veto to Agree (typically legal or compliance), and names who must perform the outcome. It shines in large organisations where recommendation and decision authority sit in different places. (RAPID® is a registered trademark of Bain & Company.)

Side by side

Where every framework stops

A framework is a naming convention. It tells you who should play which part — and then trusts slides, docs, and goodwill to make it happen. In practice:

• Nothing enforces the roles. A decision marked “approved” may never have been seen by the approver.
• Nothing records the decision. The framework names the players; the reasoning still lives in a thread.
• Nothing connects decisions to the strategy above them or the work below them.
• Nothing survives an audit. “We use RAPID” is a process claim, not evidence.

What a seven-role model adds

DACERIO — Traceway’s approval model — extends the decision-rights idea to seven roles: Driver, Approver, Consulted, Enabler, Reviewer, Informed, Owner. The additions cover what the classic frameworks leave implicit: an Enabler who clears blockers and provides resources, a Reviewer who checks the record before sign-off, and an Owner accountable for the decision’s life after approval — because decisions don’t end when they’re made.