DACI Framework: Roles, Examples & How to Use It (Free Template)

Key takeaways

• DACI, an acronym for Driver, Approver, Contributor, and Informed, is a framework that defines how stakeholders influence projects or decisions.
• DACI fosters collaboration, transparency, and accountability to ensure stakeholders are informed and engaged.
• While RACI defines ownership over tasks and deliverables, DACI defines ownership over decisions.

When it comes to making group decisions, things can get messy when everyone has an opinion, but nobody wants to make the final call. The DACI framework was built for exactly this scenario, a decision-making model that ensures everyone knows where they stand before a decision needs to be made. In this article, I’ll break down exactly what DACI is, walk you through each of its four roles, and show you how to apply it with real-world examples and a free template you can use with your team.

What is the DACI framework?

DACI, which stands for Driver, Approver, Contributor, and Informed, is a decision-making framework that assigns one of four roles to each stakeholder based on their level of involvement in a decision. It was developed as a variation of the RACI matrix to clarify who is responsible for driving a decision and who makes the final call.

The DACI framework was developed by Intuit, a US-based financial software company, in the 1980s to address decision paralysis. This issue often arises when a team lacks ownership, which leads to confusion about who makes the final call, who should be consulted, and who should simply be informed of the outcome.

A key principle of DACI is that each role should be assigned to a specific individual — not a team, department, or job title. For example, instead of assigning “Marketing” as a Contributor, assign “Jane Smith, Marketing Manager.” This ensures accountability, prevents diffusion of responsibility, and avoids the common ambiguity seen in poorly defined RACI charts.

Roles in the DACI framework

Each role in the DACI framework defines how a person participates in the decision-making process. They are arranged to reflect the decision flow and the number of people involved in each role (from fewest to broadest).

Driver  

Think of this as the project manager or sole coordinator for the decision itself. What they do have is ownership over the process, so the team reaches an outcome. They gather inputs, pull in the right people, and make sure a recommendation actually lands on the Approver’s desk. So if the decision is delayed, that’s on the Driver to fix.

Approver

The Approver is the person who makes the final call once the Driver has done the legwork and put together a recommendation. There is only one Approver for each decision because the moment you have two Approvers who disagree, you’re back to the exact problem DACI was supposed to prevent.

If you have ever been stuck waiting on group consensus, this role solves that problem. The Approver weighs the options and decides.

Contributor 

Contributors are the people whose input shapes the decision, such as subject matter experts or stakeholders whose knowledge is genuinely needed before making a decision. 

These people don’t hold decision-making authority. Their role is simply to share what they know and raise concerns.

Informed

They are usually a group of people who need to know the outcome but do not provide input or take part in the decision. The goal is to give them enough notice to act, such as updating plans or preparing their team, without involving them in the decision process.

Getting this role right comes down to timing: share the decision early enough to be useful, but avoid including them in discussions they do not need to be a part of.

How to use the DACI chart 

Using a DACI chart involves defining the decision, identifying stakeholders, assigning roles, setting a deadline, and documenting the outcome. The best time to do this is after the project charter is approved and before the project kickoff meeting. 

During the planning phase of the project management lifecycle, project leaders can identify stakeholders and develop a DACI framework that breaks down expected roles and responsibilities.

Step 1: Name the decision precisely

Before assigning roles, make sure everyone agrees on the exact decision being made. Write it as a single question that is specific enough to act on.

For example, “our marketing strategy” is too broad to assign roles. You can make it more detailed with, “Do we run a paid acquisition campaign in Q3 targeting SMB customers in Southeast Asia?” 

Step 2: List everyone connected to the decision

Identify everyone who is affected by or involved in the outcome. Do not filter yet. The goal is to record all relevant stakeholders before assigning roles. For a decision about discontinuing a product feature, this list might include the Product Manager, Engineering lead, Customer Success Manager, VP of Product, and Legal.

Step 3: Assign the four roles

Place each person into one role: Driver, Approver, Contributor, or Informed. Each person should only hold one role. The Driver and Approver cannot be the same individual. Contributors can include multiple people, while the Informed group can be as many as needed.

Choose an Approver who holds authority over the outcome, not just the most senior person. Limit Contributors to those whose input will influence the decision. Anyone who only needs the outcome belongs in the Informed group. 

In the feature example, the Product Manager is the Driver, the VP of Product is the Approver, Engineering and Legal are Contributors, and Customer Success is Informed.

Project management platforms like ClickUp offer pre-built DACI templates so you can set up your decision-making framework without starting from scratch. Their DACI chart comes with built-in features to assign roles, track status, and set priority levels, all within an intuitive board view.

Step 4: Set a decision deadline

Agree on a date by which the Approver makes the final decision. Most decisions that involve multiple teams take one to two weeks. Three weeks is a reasonable ceiling for decisions that require significant data gathering and deeper analysis. 

Step 5: Document and share the decision

Record the decision, roles, and deadline in a shared document. A simple table will do. This gives the Driver something to reference if someone tries to expand their role beyond what was agreed upon, and keeps everyone accountable to the assignments they signed up for.

Real-world DACI examples

Here are two examples showing how DACI plays out in real scenarios, mapped out as a quadrant view and a stakeholder chart.The first example of DACI functions as a decision matrix for a software development team releasing a new app to a client. In this scenario, roles could be split as follows:

Another example of DACI offers a different perspective on responsibility assignment by using a chart. Rather than a quadrant that limits information to a single process, a DACI chart allows for plotting multiple tasks and role assignments. 

The chart below shows the various tasks of a marketing team that manages a news website. Each person has a letter representing the four DACI roles.

Common DACI mistakes and how to avoid them

Most DACI sessions fail for a few reasons: assigning more than one Approver, combining the Driver and Approver roles, and involving Contributors too late in the process. Here are the five most common mistakes teams make with DACI and how to fix them: 

1. Assigning more than one Approver: This is the most common mistake. When two people share the Approver role, no one has the authority. Decisions often get delayed while they try to reach an agreement. If two stakeholders must sign off, split the decision into smaller parts and assign one Approver to each.

2. Making the Driver and Approver the same person: This may seem efficient, but it weakens the process. The Driver is meant to stay neutral and manage input. If the same person also makes the final decision, Contributors may hold back, and the decision loses objectivity.

3. Adding Contributors too late: Contributors are most useful early in the process, when the decision is still taking shape. Bringing them in after direction is set limits their impact. Set a deadline for input so everyone knows when to contribute.

4. Forgetting to update the Informed group: The Informed group is easy to overlook because they are not part of discussions. If they are not updated, people may not understand how the decision affects their work. Make it the Driver’s responsibility to share the outcome as soon as it is finalized.

5. Using DACI when it is not needed: DACI adds structure, and structure takes time. Using it for simple or low-impact decisions creates unnecessary overhead. Reserve it for decisions that involve multiple stakeholders and require decision ownership.

DACI vs RACI: which one should you use?

If you have made it this far, you probably have a solid grasp of what DACI does and how to run it. But if you’re torn between using a DACI or RACI chart, most teams do not need to choose one over the other. You can use RACI to manage ongoing work, then apply DACI when a specific decision needs structure and ownership. 

Remember, the biggest bottleneck in projects is not task execution but unclear decision authority. That is where DACI adds the most value.

Free DACI template

I’ve put together a free, downloadable DACI template available in both Google Doc and PDF formats so you can plug in your team’s roles and get started right away.

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