IS&T Project Management Office

Every project will have issues that are a part of the project process. These issues should be identified and documented for the project team and, if necessary, a risk analysis completed. The key to being able to deal with issues is to make sure that they are visible in an issues log. The Action Items and Issue log will help the project team identify the issues that come up and track them through completion and identifying a solution or answer.

The log also serves as a task list for general housekeeping tasks that come up over the life of the project. Many times the action items are items that are needed to keep order in a project and to make sure that everyone is updated on the project status.

On large projects, project managers may want to keep two separate logs due to the number of items that are identified in the process. This is at the descrition of the project manager and the project team.

Click Here for an example of an Issues & Action Item Log.

Issues & Action Item Log

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), 2003 edition, identifies the Issues & Action Item Log as a tool to help manage a project team. The log helps the project team identify the issues that have come up over the life of the project and make sure that they are resolved in a timely manner to keep the project team on track. According to the PMBOK "these obstacles can include factors such as differences of opinion, situations to be investigated, and emerging or unanticipated responsibilities that need to be assigned to someone on the project team". (PMBOK Guide, 3rd Edition Section 9.4.2.3 pg. 218).

The log should be maintained by the Project Manager. It is their responsibility to make sure that the entries are up to date and that the team members have access to review the log as needed. The log used by the Georgia State University PMO is a Microsoft Excel workbook with two pages. The first page of the book list all of the open items. The second page of the workbook is an archive of closed items. Once an issue has been resolved, the solution should be documented and the row cut and pasted to the second page (see closed date).

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Header Information

At the top of the log you will see some basic information that you will need to provide about the project. This includes the project name, project manager and revision date. The revision date should be updated every time that there is a change to the log. There is no need to save previous copies of the log, as all information will be retained in the log. Once an issue is closed it is simply moved to the closed page for historical reference.

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Number Column

While the number column may seem unimportant, it is actually very important in remaining on track. The number column should increment by one each time an new item is added to the log. If there are gaps in the numbers, this will serve as a reminder that the log item has been resolved and moved to the closed item list on the second page.

The number also helps serve as a link between other project documents. If one of the issues becomes a risk to the project, then a risk assessment needs to be completed. You will want to reference the issue number in the risk documentation.

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Issue or Action Item

This column helps to identify the log entry as either a issue to be resolve or an action item to be completed. On some larger projects, these logs may be separated. It is at the discretion of the project manager and project team if two logs are kept.

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Issue Item Name

This column should be a brief description or name for the Issue or action item being logged. This should be a brief description so that it will be easily recognized as the list is scanned.

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Description

The description field is where the log entry should be described. The description should be descriptive enough so that anyone working with the project can understand the item. The impact of the issue should also be identified if it is known. This will help gauge the impact and severity of the entry.

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Status

The Status column should indicate the progress of the log entry. The PMO Template has a drop down box that includes the possible status options. They include:

New - Used for when an entry is added to the log

Open - Used once the entry has been added to the log. This status should be used while progress is made on the log entry

Red Flag - This status should be used sparingly. This status means that the issue is going to stop the project unless a decision is made. This item should be escalated in the status meeting and on the status report.

Pending - This status is used when waiting for a solution or decision that is forthcoming. The difference between this status and open is that with pending, the solution or decision has been made and the team is waiting vs. open where the solution or decision is still yet to be made.

Closed - Once the issue has been resolved, the issue should be marked closed. Once the item is closed, it should be transferred to the second page of the log for archiving. (see closed date)

Cancelled - A cancelled issue is one that was removed from discussion. There could be several reasons for this including the decision being made by management or the issue is outside the scope of the project. The reason that the issue was cancelled should be well documented in the comments section of the log.

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Open Date

The open date should include the date that the issue was opened. Items could be opened in a status meeting or with a phone call to the Project Manager. The date the issue was first reported should be entered for tracking purposes.

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Closed Date

The open date should include the date the the issue was resolved. A good practice to get in the habit of doing is to leave closed items on the open list until the next status meeting. This will give the project team to recognize the item and to get agreement before archiving it to the closed item of the log.

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Currently Assigned

The currently assigned column should identify the person that is working on a solution or decision. If at all possible, a person's name should be used in stead of a team for accountability and reporting. If there is not a name assigned, then the responsibility falls on the project manager to make sure that there is someone that is taking action on the issue and updating the log accordingly.

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Comments

All issues need to be documented for the project team. This column is to be used to make sure that the solution or decision is understood. This column should also be used during the solution process to update the project on the reason for the status and what is being accomplished. Any information that needs to be passed to the project manager / project team should be documented. Comments should be updated as information is available and not only at status meetings.

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