The Decision Artifact Set

← Back · ACT III · Chapter 21: Decision Artifacts That Govern Outcomes

The Decision Artifact Set is three records that keep a purchase decision in view after the contract is signed. The Decision Memo is written at commitment. The Executive Readout is produced on a fixed cadence while the work is underway, and the Audit Record is written when the results are in. All three share one outcome table, so the numbers the buyer commits to are the numbers every readout reports and the audit checks.

Download the set (Word) Download the workbook (Excel) See all the Guides

The three records

Record	Written when	By whom	What it holds
Decision Memo	At commitment, before signature	The business owner, with Finance	The outcomes, metrics, baselines and targets, the assumptions the decision rests on, and the conditions on each side
Executive Readout	On the governance cadence, usually monthly or quarterly	The business owner; the vendor supplies data it holds	Where each committed outcome stands against plan, which assumptions still hold, and what the decision authority needs to act on
Audit Record	When realization is complete	The business owner, reviewed by Finance	Expected against actual for every outcome, the variance and its cause, and the lessons written as changes to the next decision

Why one table matters

Most purchases do produce paperwork after signature. The trouble is that each document measures something new. The business case talks about cycle time. By the second steering meeting the slides are about milestones, and at renewal someone pulls a usage report. Nobody ever lays what was promised next to what arrived.

In this set an outcome gets an ID in the memo and keeps it. If a target has to change, the change is recorded with its date, its reason and the body that approved it, and the original stays visible.

Six rules built in

1. One outcome table, used unchanged from memo to audit.
2. Baselines come from the buyer’s own records, whoever proposes how to measure them. An outcome without a baseline yet is marked that way, and the first readout sets it.
3. Every assumption has a test and a check date, and each readout reports it as holding, under pressure, or failed.
4. Outcomes are held by roles rather than named people, so the record survives a reorganization or a departure.
5. A readout reports how the decision is performing, not what the project did. Milestones belong in the project plan.
6. Lessons are written as changes: what the next memo, Request for Value or contract will do differently.

Where it fits

The Request for Value says what a purchase has to produce before the market is asked. The Verification Line puts into the contract how the buyer will know the value arrived. The Decision Memo carries those outcomes forward unchanged, the readouts track them, and the Audit Record closes them. A completed Audit Record is the closing entry for that purchase in the Purchase Outcome Register.

What a vendor that delivers gets

A result the buyer recorded, against a baseline the buyer set, is the strongest reference a vendor can have. The Audit Record also says whose conditions held, so a vendor isn’t blamed for a shortfall that started on the buyer’s side.

Where to start

The Word file opens with a worked example for a fictional distribution company, followed from memo to audit. Read that first, then open the Decision Memo template for a purchase you are about to sign. The workbook carries the same records on linked sheets and works out planned progress, status, variance and the verdict. Free, no sign-up, licensed CC BY 4.0.

Keep reading: ACT III · Chapter 21: Decision Artifacts That Govern Outcomes · Guides