Monday
On the team's wall, and in the CDE: one page saying who makes, checks and says yes to each kind of work. Thrilling? No. Useful? Very.
Part 1 · The Place
The People
Who's doing what?
Before you start
In the story
Rex's drawing sat in three inboxes because nobody knew who checks it. This lesson shows who's who on a job, and why it's written down.
Back to the story
The right way: Who's checking this?
Same Monday, with a who-does-what list
Monday
Rex hands the drawing to the named checker in his own team, the senior engineer, while it's still work in progress. No guessing, no inboxes.
Wednesday
Checked and approved by Wednesday, with a name and a date against it.
Nobody knows whoThree inboxes, no signature, two weeks gone.
Written downOne page, one named checker, done by Wednesday.
Pick the last thing you made. Can you name who checked it and who said yes? If not, who would you ask?
Continue your journey
Story 4: The drawing nobody asked for
Rex's diary. Week 5. Big kick-off with the client today. Lots of nodding. I took notes. I think I was the only one.
The right way, explained
Every job has the same cast: the client it's for, the firm leading the work, and the firms doing it, each split into small teams. Rex's drawing went nowhere because nobody had written down who makes it, who checks it and who says yes. One page fixed it.
In the town See it in the town: who's it for, who's leading, and who's doing the work?
The scene
Who works for whom
Every project town is built the same way. In the middle is the client, who the work is for. Around them are the firms leading the work, each with its own appointment. Each lead firm brings its own firms to do the work, and inside every firm are small teams doing a task. Your firm and the firms working for it make up your delivery team. Everyone together is the project team. Pick a group to see who's in it.
Solid lines. What's needed, and the information that comes back.
Dotted lines. Lead firms coordinating with each other.
Pick a groupWho works for whom
The client
- In the picture
- ISO 19650 calls it
- Watch out for
These are Appointing Parties, Appointed Parties and Task Teams!
ISO 19650 gives the groups of people in the town names, so everyone knows who works for whom.
The client is the appointing party. The organisation leading the work for them is the lead appointed party. The teams doing the work are task teams. Who makes, checks and approves each piece of information is written down in a responsibility matrix: your who-does-what list.
Sam's Heads Up One firm, two hats
The firm that leads the job can make some of the parcels too. Rex's firm does both: it leads the whole team, and its own engineers produce work like everyone else's.
And not every appointment is a contract between two companies. Inside one organisation it can simply be an instruction to a team. Either way, write down which hat each team is wearing.
Fix it Not sure who? Find out first.
Not sure who?
Find out first.
- Ask who checks it before you start, not after you finish.
- Write the answer down.
- Put it where the next new starter will find it.
A note for the Coordinators (that's IM): write down who makes, checks and says yes for each kind of work. One page is plenty, as long as people can actually find it!
The people test For every kind of work, can you name…
Who makes it?
Written downA named role, so the work has an owner.
Not written downWhoever happened to pick it up.
Who checks it?
Written downA named checker who knows it's their job.
Not written downEveryone thinks someone else has.
Who says yes?
Written downOne person with the authority to approve it.
Not written downWhoever was last to see it, by default.
The real town Why is it so hard to say who does what?
Because the people in the town don't stand still.
People wear many hats
The same person makes one drawing and checks the next. Sometimes before lunch.
Roles change mid-job
People join, leave and get moved around. The drawing doesn't know.
Titles don't say it
"Senior engineer" tells you nothing about what they check.
The org chart isn't the information chart
Who you report to is rarely who checks your work.
ISO 19650 The people, in the standard's words
| ISO 19650 says | Means | In the town |
|---|---|---|
| Appointing party | Who the information is for: usually the client | Client Town |
| Lead appointed party | The firm appointed directly by the client, which leads its own delivery team (a job can have several) | The firm leading the work (Rex's Tier 1) |
| Appointed party | A firm appointed by the lead to provide information | Designer Town and the subcontractors |
| Task team | A group of people doing a specific task | The people in each room |
| Delivery team | The lead appointed party and all its appointed parties together | Your firm and everyone working for it |
| Information management function | Whoever does the information management, in any party | The Coordinators (Sam) |
| Detailed responsibility matrix | Who produces what information, and when | The who-does-what list |
Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 and its UK National Annex are © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.
ISO 19650 Who's responsible for what: RACI and the responsibility matrices
ISO 19650 uses three tools to pin down who does what. They get more detailed as the job firms up.
| Tool | What it answers | When | In the town |
|---|---|---|---|
| Information management assignment matrix | Who does each information management task: setting requirements, the CDE, the standards, the checks | Before anyone is appointed | Who runs the town |
| High-level responsibility matrix | Which part of the job each firm in a delivery team is responsible for, and its key deliverables | In the tender response | Which firm owns which part |
| Detailed responsibility matrix | What information is produced, when it's exchanged and with whom, and which task team produces it | At appointment | The who-does-what list |
| Task information delivery plan (TIDP) | Each task team's own list of what it will deliver, and when | At appointment, then kept up to date | Each team's page of the parts list (Lesson 4) |
RACI: the letters in the assignment matrix
| Letter | Means | For a drainage drawing, for example |
|---|---|---|
R | Responsible: does the work | Alex's task team in Designer Town |
A | Accountable: answers for it being done (only one per task) | Designer Town, the firm appointed to deliver it |
C | Consulted: asked before or during | The structures team, whose beams the drain has to miss |
I | Informed: told once it's done | Dave and the site team |
One A per task. If two people are accountable, nobody is.
Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 and its UK National Annex are © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.