How-to: Responsibilities in InLoox made easy

Transparency and clear allocations through InLoox

Recently, we wrote about the use of the RACI matrix in project management and highlighted the importance of clear responsibilities on our project management blog. The transparent presentation of responsibilities can be facilitated by project management software. InLoox offers features that make the management of responsibilities much easier for you as a project manager. We will show you how to effectively manage the responsibilities of the project team via project roles, via task assignment and via the follower option.

The definition of project roles

In every project there are different project roles. The most central one is usually that of the project manager. However, participants also have the roles of team member, customer or, for example, external partner. With each role come certain responsibilities. The responsibility of the project manager is, among other things, to keep track of the progress of the project and to intervene if necessary. To be able to do this, they need comprehensive authorizations in the project environment. Finally, they must be able to view and modify the complete planning, including budgets and deadlines.

In contrast, the employee's area of responsibility only includes individual tasks and not the holistic monitoring of the project. Extensive permissions are therefore unnecessary and possibly even confusing. A member of the project team should have access to their own tasks. Additionally, a read permission makes sense for project scheduling, as this also affects their own tasks. The situation is similar with external partners. They should also only have access to tasks that concern them. The assignment of other editing permissions should be handled very carefully and restrictively. No important information should be accidentally changed or even leave the project team unless absolutely necessary.

Optionally, the customer or another external stakeholder can also be included in the project environment. In this case, it is advisable to make only the overall progress of the project visible. This way, information overload is avoided and the customer has a quick overview of what interests him.

With the project management software from InLoox, these access rights can be implemented quickly and easily. To do so, simply go to the "Account settings" area. Then select the “User management” and click on “Roles” in the security settings. Each of the mentioned roles has its own tab here, under which you can use a slider to select the respective permissions for a particular role. Everyone who finally holds the role receives the permissions that you specify here for the respective role. In this way, you ensure securely and sustainably that everyone has access to content that is necessary for their role, their responsibilities, and ultimately their tasks. Confidential information is prevented from leaking out and the amount of information to be processed is limited for each role.

The assignment of tasks

After allocating access permissions and the assignment of project roles for all the project participants, it is time to add concrete tasks. In InLoox, a task is always assigned to exactly one person. This ensures a clear allocation of responsibilities for each individual task and avoids misunderstandings. Within the RACI matrix, the person assigned to a task is "Responsible" and thus charged with completing the task.

If you create a new task in InLoox and do not select a responsible person, the task will be assigned to you automatically. If you want to delegate the task to another person, simply select them from your contact list.

InLoox ensures that the tasks in your project are always allocated to one person. This way, as a project manager, you can count on the tasks being completed thanks to clear responsibilities. It is transparently displayed who you can contact in case of irregularities regarding a task, and you can always see the progress already made in the Kanban board.

Stay up to date with the follower function

If you want to stay up to date with a task, you can use the Follower function in InLoox to be notified of all changes within a task. Especially people who fall into the RACI-Matrix categories "Accountable", "Consulted" or "Informed" can make use of this function. People who are responsible for the overall project will find this feature useful, as they have a vested interest in the completion of a task. It becomes possible to track the task exactly, without any proactive action on the part of the follower. This saves time and effort for the respective stakeholders.

To become the follower of a task in InLoox, you just need to open the task in your project and click “Follow” in the bottom right corner of the window that opens. You will receive an email every time the task is updated, notifying you about the changes.

Thanks to modern project management software, you no longer have to resort to pen and paper when assigning tasks and responsibilities. With the help of InLoox, you can also digitally map the contents of the RACI matrix or other assignments. This way, your project team has access to this information anytime and anywhere.