Decisions log
The decisions log is your project's permanent record of who decided what, when, and why. It's the single most valuable artefact for handovers, audits and post-mortems.
When to log a decision
Whenever the team makes a choice that:
- Closes off options that were on the table
- Will affect the project's cost, scope or timeline
- Someone in 3 months will need to understand the rationale for
If you're saying "we'll do X instead of Y" — log it.
Creating a decision
From a project → Governance → Decisions → + New decision:
- Title — "Adopt AWS over Azure"
- Description — what's being decided
- Rationale — why this option won
- Alternatives considered — what else was on the table and why each was rejected
- Impact — cost, schedule, risk implications
- Decision maker — who has accountability for this call
- Decision date — when it was made
- Review date — when you should re-check this is still right (optional)
Reference codes (DEC-001, DEC-002…) are auto-generated.
Decision lifecycle
- Active — current
- Superseded — replaced by a later decision (link the new one)
- Reversed — undone (with rationale)
Linking to other artefacts
Mention RAID items, milestones or risks in the description — Sageon Business will auto-link them in the decision's detail page.
Or ask Sage
"Log a decision on Customer Portal: we're moving to AWS instead of Azure. Rationale: better analytics integration. Impact: +£15k upfront, -£40k/yr ongoing."
Sage drafts the entry and confirms.
Tips
- Don't log every meeting outcome. Log decisions, not status updates.
- Capture the alternatives. "We picked X" without saying what you rejected is useless in 6 months.
- Set review dates on big decisions. Tech stack choices, vendor selections — re-validate annually.