Record a decision

The Decisions register is an append-only log of the governance decisions taken on an investment. This guide covers proposing a decision and adjudicating it.

Before you start

• You need edit rights on the project.
• You name an approver when you propose, and only that person can approve or reject.
• Tollgate records separation of duties rather than enforcing it: a self-approved stamp marks an approver deciding their own proposal.

Propose a decision

1. Open the project’s Tollgate tab and select Decisions.
2. Choose Record decision (the add action on the register).
3. Describe the decision — what it decides and why.
4. Name the Approver (the person who will adjudicate). The field defaults to the sponsor.
5. (Optional) If the decision responds to a treated or materialised risk, reference that risk to link the two.
6. Save. The decision enters the log as Proposed.

Adjudicate the decision

The named approver resolves the proposed decision:

1. Open Decisions and find the proposed decision.
2. Choose Approve or Reject. (The proposer can Withdraw their own decision while it is Proposed.)
3. Add a comment — required on Reject, optional on Approve.
4. Confirm. The action is irreversible on the append-only log, so the confirmation states that.

The decision’s status updates to Approved, Rejected, or Withdrawn, and the log records who did what and when.

Note

The log is append-only — no one edits a decision away. That makes it defensible as an audit trail in a Gateway or assurance review.

Record a decision taken outside Tollgate

Most governance decisions happen outside any governance tool — in a steering meeting, in a reply to an email, or in a corridor. Where the decision-maker holds a non-Jira seat they cannot press Approve at all. Someone has to enter what they decided.

Tollgate makes that an attestation rather than a silent edit. You state who decided, when, and through what channel, and you attach the thing that proves it.

The same dialog records all four kinds of decision:

What they decided	Where you start	Outcomes
A business case	Record the sponsor’s decision — the primary action on Investment Health once you submit the case to an off-Jira sponsor	Approved · Returned
A close-out sign-off	Record the sign-off, once you submit close-out	Signed off · Returned
A decision on the register	The decision’s record action	Approved · Rejected
A change request	The change’s record action	Approved · Rejected

Complete the record

1. Outcome — what they decided.
2. Decided by — the seat that decided. Fixed and read-only, so the record cannot name the wrong person.
3. Date — when they decided, often earlier than the day you type the record.
4. Channel — how it reached you: Email reply, Steering meeting, Conversation, Document, or Verbal — no artefact.
5. Sponsor’s feedback — optional, except on a Return, which requires the notes the PM has to address.
6. Evidence of record — see below.

Attach the evidence of record

Tollgate requires evidence unless you set the channel to Verbal — no artefact. Three forms exist, and you can add more than one:

• Paste text — the email reply, the minute, the note, pasted in whole.
• Attach file — up to 4 MB. Larger files go in the Confluence governance space. Link them instead.
• Link a page or URL — a Confluence page, a document, a meeting record, with an optional label like Steering pack, 22 Jul.

Choosing Verbal — no artefact is a legitimate answer, and the record says so. It reads as weaker evidence than a pasted reply, which is the point. The register shows what each decision actually rests on instead of flattening every entry to Approved.

Caution

Recording a decision is not making one. You attest to what someone else decided, and the log stores both facts — who decided, and who entered it.

Related

• Handle a materialised risk.
• Raise and adjudicate a change request — same approval pattern, applied to baseline changes.
• Governance seats — naming a decision-maker who has no Jira account.
• Out for decision — the Portfolio lane for decisions you are still chasing.