Project documentation and decisions

Project documentation should help someone find the current plan, understand why it changed and identify the decision governing their next action. Keep a small set of maintained records: the agreed plan, consequential decisions, change requests, material assumptions and deliverables. Give each record an owner and connect it to the work it affects.

Decide what needs a durable record

Ask what a contributor or project lead must be able to establish without reconstructing a conversation. Which brief applies? Was a proposed change approved? What condition must hold before the next milestone? Which deliverable version was accepted?

A task comment can hold discussion. For a consequential decision, record the outcome where people can find it later, then point affected tasks to it. Keep the decision separate from the tasks that carry it out.

Key project documentation records and their purpose

Use quality documents as a linked set

NSW Government’s construction quality management guidelines apply to project and contract activities, including design and construct, asset maintenance and operation, and decommissioning. They are aligned with AS/NZS ISO 9001:2016 and were published by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment as document DOC/19/1282980.

The guidelines are intended for contractors planning and implementing a quality management system (QMS) and preparing site-specific quality management plans (QMPs), which include inspection and test plans (ITPs). They set minimum quality documentation requirements and aim to support a consistent approach and demonstrate compliance with applicable quality standards.

For construction contracts, the guidelines specify a QMP and ITPs for work under $1 million, and a certified QMS, QMP and ITPs for work valued at $1 million or more.

For design and engineering, contracts at $250,000 or more require a certified QMS plus a QMP; those below $250,000 require a QMP.

For project and contract management, work valued at $1 million or more requires certification of the QMS alongside a QMP, while work below $1 million requires a QMP.

For construction-related product supply under $50,000, ITPs and/or certificates of product conformity are specified; at $50,000 or more, the requirement is a certified QMS with QMP/ITPs.

An agency may modify the guidelines’ application after detailed analysis of project- or contract-related quality risks. The stated requirements therefore provide a reference for organising records, while the applicable project requirements and any agency decision determine the documentation set.

Connect records to the work

Use a stable ID or recognisable title for each significant decision, change and deliverable. Record its owner, date, status and affected work. A reader should be able to move from a decision to the tasks it changes and from a task back to the reason for its current instruction.

If tasks and files live in different tools, agree which location holds the authoritative answer for each. Name who reconciles changes between them. A copied attachment is not necessarily the applicable version just because it sits beside a current task.

Separate requests from decisions

Record a proposed change and its likely effect before changing an approved plan. The authorised decision may be to approve, reject or defer it. After approval, update the plan and affected tasks while retaining the earlier reference. A suggestion in meeting notes is not, by itself, an authorised instruction.

Minor corrections may need only edit history. Set a local rule for changes that require a recorded decision, based on their effect on agreed scope, acceptance, resources or commitments.

Keep uncertainty visible

For an assumption that could affect a milestone or deliverable, record what is being assumed, the available basis, who will check it and when the answer is needed. At a review, separate verified conditions from assumptions still open. If an assumption fails, identify the affected work and seek any decision needed to change the approved plan.

Identify the applicable deliverable

A filename containing “final” is not approval evidence. For each deliverable requiring acceptance, identify the version, authorised reviewer, decision date, outcome and any conditions. Keep a new draft visibly separate from the last approved version.

Version history shows changes to a file; an approval record establishes the relevant decision. Check that intended readers can reach both. Retain superseded material under the organisation’s information rules.

Maintain the record

Assign someone to review open decisions, assumptions and pending deliverables at agreed points. When a decision changes, update its status, inform affected owners and check connected tasks and files. At closure, leave an index of accepted outputs and consequential decisions. Keep the system small enough for the team to maintain during ordinary work.