Issue is an item that is currently happening or has happened and is impacting the project.

Issue Priority can be determined by assessing its potential consequences, such as delays, cost overruns, or impact on project scope.

“Low” = Minor Impact

“ Medium” - Medium Impact

“High” -Major Impact

“Highest” = Critical Impact

Issues are also given a “Risk score”, based on Probability and Impact (see “Evaluating an Issue” below)

Note:

• All active issues must have a due date and action plan. 

For the action plan, you would use the Smart Checklist to document who is doing what to resolve the issue and when the action is due (for example, for an issue called "Many TSS risks are missing mitigation plans", I might have a Smart Checklist item called "Work with team to add mitigation plan to each risk - Tom Jones - 2/12/2025". 

• Issue due dates should reflect when the action plan will actually be complete as best we can estimate, so they should never be dated in the past/overdue in ITS PRO.

• While any project team member can create a project Risk, Issue or Decision, the Project Manager must ensure that all necessary fields are populated and maintained. The Project Manager must also make sure there is visibility to the project Issues, owners and due dates and make sure that escalation is occurring, as needed.

The decision log tracks major decisions made throughout the project.

• All ITS PRO summary/titles and collab decision log titles should start with "Decide to” or “Decide on" followed by the short description.

  • example: "Decide on technical approach to integration", “Decide to begin project”, etc.

• All decision logs are assigned as "decision" issue type in ITS PRO.

• All decisions have an assignee and a due date.  The due date should be when the date when the decision will negatively impact project scope, timeline, and/or budget.  If that date where it causes an impact is in the past, then putting a past due date is fine and it will get visibility to leadership in the report that it needs escalation. If a decision is not handled on time, it becomes an Risk. For this reason, it is important to track and maintain the decision record and associated decision due date.

Note:

• While any project team member can create a project Risk, Issue or Decision, the Project Manager must ensure that all necessary fields are populated and maintained. The Project Manager must also make sure there is visibility to the project decisions, owners and due dates and make sure that escalation is occurring, as needed.