Decision Log Template

What is a decision log?

A decision log is a structured record of organisational decisions — capturing what was decided, who made the decision, the rationale behind it, and the expected outcome — so teams have a single reference when questions arise later.

Decisions are made in meetings, email threads, Slack conversations, and hallway exchanges. Within weeks, the details fade: people remember the outcome but not the reasoning, or they remember different versions of what was agreed. A decision log captures the record at the point of decision. When someone asks “why did we choose vendor A over vendor B?” six months later, the answer is documented — not reconstructed from memory. Without a log, teams waste time relitigating decisions that were already made.

Who should use this template?

This template is for teams that make decisions collectively:

• Project Managers — record decisions at each project milestone so stakeholders can trace the reasoning behind scope, timeline, and resource choices
• Department Heads — document strategic decisions with rationale so successors understand the context behind current policies and priorities
• Steering Committee Members — maintain an auditable record of governance decisions with accountability assignments
• Product Managers — capture feature prioritisation decisions with the trade-offs considered and the data that informed each choice

What’s included in this template?

The template has two parts: structured metadata fields and the decision record.

Metadata fields classify each decision:

• Decision title and reference number
• Decision date and decision maker (or body)
• Category (strategic, operational, technical, financial)
• Status (proposed, approved, superseded, reversed)
• Impact level (high, medium, low)

Decision record captures the context:

• Context — the situation or problem that required a decision
• Options considered — the alternatives evaluated, with pros and cons for each
• Decision — what was agreed and the specific rationale for choosing this option
• Owner and timeline — who is accountable for implementation and by when
• Expected outcome — what success looks like, including measurable criteria where possible

How to create and customise this template in Elium

1. Open the Template Builder — Go to your profile menu and select the Template Builder tab, or click “+ Create” and choose “Create a new template”.
2. Set the scope — Choose an icon, enable the template, and decide whether it applies platform-wide or to specific spaces (e.g. your Project Management or Steering Committee space).
3. Add structured fields — Click “Field” to add metadata: text fields for decision title and reference number, a date field for decision date, a user field for decision maker, tag fields for category, status, and impact level. Mark decision title, decision maker, and status as mandatory.
4. Build the record structure — Use the “+” button to add content blocks: text blocks for context and decision rationale, a table block for options considered (columns: option, pros, cons), a user block for owner, a date block for deadline, and a text block for expected outcome. Add placeholder prompts (e.g. “What alternatives were considered and why were they rejected?”).
5. Preview and save — Review the template layout, then save. Teams can now record decisions using a consistent format, and you can apply it to existing content in bulk.

How AI helps you create and use this template

Capture faster. Paste meeting notes or a Slack thread where a decision was made into Elium’s AI. It identifies the decision, the options discussed, and the rationale — then drafts a structured decision record that the owner reviews rather than writing from notes.

Retrieve smarter. A project manager asks Elium’s AI: “Why did we choose the on-premise deployment model for the Frankfurt data centre?” The AI returns the decision record with the full context, alternatives considered, and rationale — no searching through meeting minutes.

Why teams use Elium for decision logging

Decisions lose their rationale faster than any other type of knowledge. A month after a decision, teams remember the outcome but not the reasoning. Three months later, someone proposes the alternative that was already rejected — and the cycle restarts. Elium makes decision history searchable: structured records capture the context, and AI retrieves the rationale from a question.

Bouygues Construction — 53,500 employees across 80 countries — uses Elium to centralise knowledge for distributed teams. By documenting decisions alongside operational procedures, they give project teams a reference point that survives personnel changes and ensures continuity across global operations.