Portfolio Decisions

The Decisions log is the formal record of significant choices made during the governance of your portfolio. Every time a leadership meeting produces a decision that affects an initiative — to change scope, reprioritise, cancel, accelerate, or resolve a risk — that decision should be logged in StartConsole so it is traceable, searchable, and reportable.

What a Decision record is

A Decision record captures a single governance decision: what was decided, in what context, in which meeting, and by whom. Decision records are attached to initiatives (where relevant) and are visible in the portfolio's decision history.

Decision records are not status updates or notes — they are formal records of choices that change direction, commit resources, or resolve escalated issues.

Decision fields

Field	Description
Title	A concise label for the decision. Maximum 200 characters. Write it as a clear outcome: "Approved budget increase for Platform Migration" rather than "Budget discussion."
Context	The background that led to this decision — what problem was being resolved or what question was being answered. Maximum 2000 characters.
Outcome	The decision itself — what was agreed. Maximum 2000 characters. Be specific: include the figure agreed, the date committed, or the action mandated.
Meeting Type	The meeting in which this decision was made. Options: Executive Stand-up, Portfolio Review, Quarterly Business Review, Annual Review, Ad Hoc. Used for filtering and reporting.
Initiative Link	The initiative this decision relates to. Optional — decisions can be logged at portfolio level without being tied to a single initiative.
Date	The date the decision was made. Defaults to today's date.
Logged By	The user recording the decision. Populated automatically with the current user.

How decisions appear in the audit trail

Each decision record appears in two places:

1. The Decisions log — accessible from Portfolio > Decisions, showing all decision records across the portfolio in reverse chronological order
2. The initiative detail page — if a decision is linked to an initiative, it appears in the Decisions section of that initiative's record alongside other governance history

The audit trail is permanent. Decision records cannot be edited after they are saved — if a decision is subsequently revised or reversed, log a new decision record documenting the change.

Filtering decisions

Use the filter bar on the Decisions page to find specific decision records: