You are here

Roles & Responsibilities

This page contains the essential information on "Who Does What" in each phase of the research project lifecycle, in a collection of "Roles and Responsibilities" documents. Thanks to the RAAC Process subcommittee for their work with this.

"Who Does What" in the U-M Research Project Lifecycle?

The Research Administration Advisory Council (RAAC) Process Subcommittee has defined the following Roles and Responsibilities documents according to the research project lifecycle.The Roles and Responsibilities documents serve to identify "who does what" during each phase of the research project lifecycle.

 Each of these PDFs also appears on the correlating lifecycle landing page on the ORSP website. Scroll down below the table to see an example.

    Roles and Responsibilities (Full Document)

    Develop Proposal

    Proposal Development 

    Route & Submit

    Proposal Review, Approval & Processing 

    Set Up Project

    Award Negotiation and Acceptance  

    Manage Project

    Financial Management of Awards  
    Non-Financial Management 

    Close-Out Project

    Award Close-Out  

     Research Ethics & Compliance Research Ethics & Compliance

    Additionally, you will find links to these individual documents throughout the site on the landing page for each of the respective lifecycle phases.Visual of where the Roles & Responsibilities links appear on each page

    The resources and documents listed here help define the roles and responsibilities of:

    • the Principal Investigator (PI)
    • the unit administrator (or research administrator or RA)
    • the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP)
    • the Finance - Sponsored Programs office
    • and Other groups involved in the identification, assembly, and submission of proposals; and the acceptance, management, and closeout of awards related to sponsored projects.

    RASCI Defined

    • R - Responsible for the correct and thorough completion of the work to achieve the task
    • A - Accountable for the correct and thorough completion of the task, typically delegating the work to those 
    • S - Support for those who are responsible or accountable
    • C - Consulted as needed in order to complete the task (two-way communication)
    • I - Informed that task is underway/completed (one-way communication)

    If you are unfamiliar with the RASCI system, you may view a brief, online YouTube tutorial.

    References and Resources

    "Who Does What?" Roles and Responsibilities in the U-M Research Project Lifecycle