Decision-making glossary
Decision register
A decision register is a formal, numbered record of the decisions made by a governing body such as a board, committee, or steering group. Each entry states what was decided, when, by whom, and why, and tracks the follow-up actions. It is kept as an official record, often alongside minutes and a risk register.
Registers are common wherever decisions carry formal authority: boards, councils, program steering groups, regulated projects. The register is where anyone can check whether something was actually approved, and it gives auditors a trail to follow. Entries are numbered so that other documents can cite them.
In everyday use, “decision register” and “decision log” are often interchangeable. Where people do distinguish them, a register is formal and selective, holding decisions of material significance made by a body with the authority to make them, while a log is a working tool a team updates as it goes. Minutes record the whole discussion; the register keeps only the resolutions.
The usual mistake is recording every operational choice, which buries the decisions that matter. The second is recording the decision without the reasoning or the alternatives considered, which leaves a later reader knowing what was approved but not why.
In Decize: Decize keeps each workspace’s decisions in one ledger that every member can read, with an owner, a date and the reasoning on each record. See how →
Free template: Decision register template