How to Use Ninety's Accountability Chart Tool

The Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®) is built on the idea that every business needs the right people doing the right things to get what they want. The Accountability Chart® is the tool that makes that possible. 

The Accountability Chart organizes your company around functions, not job titles, so every team member understands who is accountable for each area of the business and how their work connects to the company's vision. 

In Ninety, the Accountability Chart tool is where you build that structure, keep it current, and connect it to the rest of your operating system.

What is the Accountability Chart tool?

The Accountability Chart tool in Ninety is where your organization documents its structure using Seats, organized by reporting relationships. Each Seat represents a business function, not a person. You can assign one or more people to each Seat, define its roles and responsibilities, and reorganize the structure as your company grows.

The tool is available on all Ninety subscription plans, including Free. Some features, such as exporting the chart to a PDF, require a paid subscription.

The Accountability Chart is a living document. Leadership teams reference it during Level 10 Meetings® when discussing whether the right people are in the right seats, and use it as the structural foundation for planning, hiring, and delegation decisions.

What are Seats, Roles, and Responsibilities?

Every box in your Accountability Chart is a Seat. Understanding what a Seat contains, and how it differs from a job title or a person, is the key to building a chart that actually helps your team run better.

Seat. A Seat is a function in the business with a defined set of accountabilities. A Seat exists independently of the person who fills it. When someone leaves, the Seat remains, and the accountability it describes stays with the organization.

Role. A role is the Seat's primary function. A Seat may have multiple roles. For example, a Director of Marketing Seat might have roles such as "Lead the content strategy" and "Manage the marketing budget."

Responsibility. A responsibility describes the specific duties that define how a role is carried out. Responsibilities are the day-to-day and week-to-week actions that keep each role running.

One person can hold more than one Seat, and one Seat can have more than one person assigned to it. Both are common in growing organizations.

The Visionary and Integrator Seats

Every primary Accountability Chart in Ninety begins with two default Seats at the top: the Visionary and the Integrator. This structure comes directly from EOS.

In EOS, the Visionary is the entrepreneur or founder who drives the vision, relationships, and big ideas for the business. The Integrator is the person who translates that vision into execution, runs the Leadership Team, and holds the organization accountable day to day. The Integrator is the Visionary's one direct report by design, creating a single point of operational accountability at the top of the business.

Because of this structure, the Visionary Seat does not have a plus icon for adding direct reports. This is intentional, not a permissions issue. If your company has co-founders, co-CEOs, or multiple senior leaders who all report to the same top-level position, use the workaround covered in Creating, Editing, and Customizing Seats: hide the default Visionary Seat and repurpose the Integrator Seat as your top-level card, then add any additional senior Seats below it.

How the Accountability Chart connects to other tools

The Accountability Chart is the structural backbone that other tools in Ninety depend on.

Level 10 Meeting®. Teams reference the Accountability Chart during their weekly Level 10 Meetings when confirming that accountabilities are clear, roles aren't overlapping, and the right people are in the right seats.

1-on-1 tool and People Analyzer®. A user must be assigned to a Seat on the primary Accountability Chart before a People Analyzer review can be run on them. If the New Review button appears grayed out, confirm the person is properly assigned to a Seat first.

V/TO®. The Accountability Chart is the structural layer beneath the Vision/Traction Organizer® (V/TO®). The Seats on your chart represent the functions your organization needs to execute the 1-year plan and 3-year picture documented in the V/TO.

Rocks. Rocks (your 90-day priorities) are assigned to individuals, and those individuals hold Seats. Keeping the chart current means accountability for quarterly goals stays visible across the organization.

My 90. Team members can view the roles and responsibilities associated with their Seat from their My 90 dashboard, without opening the Accountability Chart tool.

Accountability Chart Skills. The Skills tab lets leaders define the skills and competencies required for each Seat and link them to training content in the Knowledge Portal, supporting career development and succession planning.

User permissions for the Accountability Chart

The actions available to you in the Accountability Chart depend on your role in Ninety.

• Owners can view, create, edit, and delete Seats; create and manage draft charts; set a draft as the primary chart; and adjust company-level settings that affect chart visibility.
• Admins can view, create, edit, and delete Seats; create and manage draft charts; and set a draft as the primary chart. 
• Managers can view and edit the chart, including adding, moving, and deleting Seats; assigning users to Seats; and creating draft charts.
• Coaches have the same editing access as Managers.
• Team Members (also called Managees) can view the primary Accountability Chart.
• Observers can view the primary Accountability Chart and be assigned to Seats, but they cannot receive/review draft charts.
• Inactive users can appear on the Accountability Chart as Seat holders but cannot log in to Ninety and do not require a paid license.

For the full permissions table, see User Roles and Permissions.

What's in the Accountability Chart tool

The articles below cover each feature and workflow in detail.

Navigating the Accountability Chart tool: Learn how to use the search box, zoom controls, and collapse and expand features to move around the chart. This article also covers how to view a Seat's details and rearrange Seats using the directional controls.

Ninety's default Seats on the Accountability Chart: When you create a new company in Ninety, six Seats are added to your chart automatically. This article explains what they are and how to use them as a starting point for your structure.

Creating, Editing, and Customizing Seats: Step-by-step instructions for adding new Seats to your primary or draft chart, editing Seat details, adding roles and responsibilities, cloning Seats, and working around the Visionary Seat's single-direct-report structure.

Assigning and Unassigning Users on the Accountability Chart: How to assign a user from your Directory to a Seat, remove them from a Seat, and remove all users from a Seat at once. Includes a note on assigning inactive users.

How to Document Multiple Users Who Share a Seat: When multiple people share the same roles and accountabilities, you can assign all of them to a single Seat rather than creating duplicate Seats. This article explains how.

Organizing Accountability Chart™ Seats: How to add, remove, rearrange, and clone Seats to match your organizational structure. Covers moving a Seat under a different manager and reordering Seats at the same level.

Creating and Managing Draft Accountability Charts: Draft charts let you plan structural changes without affecting the chart your team currently sees. This article covers creating a draft, duplicating the primary chart as a draft, sharing drafts with teammates, and setting a draft as the new primary chart.

How to Delete a Seat on Your Accountability Chart: How to permanently remove a Seat from the chart. Read this article carefully before deleting: removing a Seat that has Seats reporting to it will delete all of those Seats as well.

Printing and Exporting Your Accountability Chart to PDF: How to generate a print-ready PDF of your Accountability Chart, including the difference between the Detailed and Condensed export options. Requires a paid subscription.

Creating and Refining Seats with AI-Assistance from Maz: Maz, Ninety's AI companion, can guide you through defining a new Seat's roles and responsibilities or help you refine an existing Seat. Available on the Thrive plan.

Accountability Chart Skills: The Skills feature lets leaders define the skills and competencies required for each Seat and link them to content in the Knowledge Portal. Available on all plans; Knowledge Portal linking requires the Thrive plan.

Frequently asked questions

Why don't I see an "Edit Chart" button?

The Edit Chart button is visible only to Owners, Admins, Managers, and Coaches.

Can I add a Seat that reports directly to the Visionary?

No. The Visionary Seat is designed to have only one direct report: the Integrator. There is no plus icon under the Visionary Seat, and this is by design, not a permissions issue. If you need multiple Seats at the top of the chart (for co-founders, co-CEOs, or General Partners, for example), use the workaround in Creating, Editing, and Customizing Seats: hide the Visionary Seat and repurpose the Integrator Seat as your top-level card, then add additional Seats at that same level.

How do I restore the Accountability Chart after accidentally deleting Seats?

Ninety's support team can often restore deleted Seats from the backend, but Roles and Responsibilities may not be recoverable in all cases, and Seat holder assignments are typically not restored. If you've accidentally deleted a Seat, contact support as soon as possible with the name of the deleted Seat and the approximate time of the deletion. 

Can more than one person fill the same Seat?

Yes. You can assign multiple users to the same Seat by clicking the profile icon on the Seat's card in edit mode and selecting additional people. This is useful when several team members share the same accountabilities, such as a group of sales representatives who are all accountable to the same leader and the same goals.

Can I add someone to the Accountability Chart who doesn't use Ninety?

Yes. Add the person to your Directory with the Inactive role. Inactive users can be assigned to Seats and will appear on the chart, but they cannot log in to Ninety and do not require a paid license. This is the right choice for external contractors, board members, or employees who attend team meetings but don't use the platform directly.

Learn more

EOS® Accountability Chart: Your Key to the Right People in the Right Seats: The EOS definition of the Accountability Chart and the People Component, written by a Professional EOS Implementer®. A good starting point for teams new to EOS.

Accountability Chart Deep Dive: Aligning Roles to Drive Execution: A closer look at how Seats, roles, and responsibilities connect to execution, including common structural pitfalls and how to fix them.