When the time comes for the project management team and or the project management team leader to assess all of the work that needs to be done and all of the members of the project management team that can potentially be assigned to those elements, one helpful tool to put into play is known as the responsibility against matrix tool, also known by the three letter anagram RAM. In this instance, the responsibility against matrix represents a particular structure that relates the respective project’s organizational breakdown structure closely to the anticipated work breakdown structure for the purposes of assuring that each and every specific component of the anticipated work can be properly attributed to a responsible, capable, and willing team member or, if it is a substantial, multiple team members. Responsibility against matrix is helpful for the purposes of making sure that all components of the project are properly assigned and that resources are being used to their utmost advantage,
This term is defined in the 3rd and the 4th edition of the PMBOK.