Action Item Template

Meeting Action Item Template

The use of the Action item template is to track the action items, and there are many different purposes for which the same can be used. Different types of action items can be corrective action template, Project management action, Priority action, or corrective action. The corrective action template depicts one of all the details related to issues of the action items. One needs to make sure to include the company’s name and date of audit. Further, one can include the document log number, the corresponding corrective actions, and issues related to the action items.

Please refer to the excel file for the template.

About the Action Item Template

• To complete this type of template, one needs to include the date of completion and also the deadline for the correction, and this would enable accountability for the people who shall be in charge of taking the corrective measures for the given action items.
• Decisive action template is another type wherein a description of decisions one needs to take for that particular action, and here one can include the priority of the task, the person responsible for the same and expected to date of completion.
• Priority action template is another variant wherein the task would be listed out in terms of priority along with target completion date, the person in charge, the status of the issue, and the area. It can also include a field for completion.
• Project management activities will include the stages of the project, the owner, the priority of the same, the estimated completion date, and any corrective action, if needs, to be undertaken.

Components

Below are the details of the generalize action item template, and one can include additional columns per their requirement or can delete the same.

Part #1: Action Item 

The very first part of the action item template is an action item, and this will be a unique identifying task number that will separate itself from other tasks and to recognize the same. It will help to navigate through the action items example of the same could be A20122, A20123, or Item Task I, etc.

Part #2: Priority

Keeping the priority field will literally help to navigate to the action or the task, and one can identify the most sensitive part, and one can then focus upon the same. The priority task should be entered with timeliness, the highest degree of focus, etc. Priority can be defined, such as “H” as a high priority, “L” as a low priority, and “M” as Medium priority, or there could be other notations use such as coloring as red showing as the highest priority. Depending upon the purpose, one can define how to track the same.

Part #3: Due Date

It is the most critical field in the action item template, as this will be used to track the due date by which the particular action item has to be completed.

Part #4: Description

It is the heart of the action item, as this field will be used to determine what that particular action item will represent. Along with the level of priority, action items, and description, one can know the exact task to be completed and what requires to be done. For example, one can enter “To correct the errors and take corrective action to avoid the same.”

Part #5: Owner

This one is used to track and identify the one who is responsible for completing that task, and the name shall be identified for the same. That person will be responsible for completing the task and will take accountability if the task is not completed within the due date. It shall be agreed upon in advance before assigning any name.

Part #6: Notes

It is additional field wherein one can track the progress of the task that is how much same has been completed and if there any issue or challenges or there are any additional notes which need to be noted down and those all need to be mentioned here. E.g., enter date – and stage of completion.

Part #7: Status

Status can be updated in this section, and this could be in one line or so. E.g., action items could be mentioned as Open, which means they have still not being resolved; work in progress would mean that the action item is still being worked upon; there could be Deferred wherein it would mean that action item has been deferred for the time being. The canceled status would mean that the action item has been canceled and no longer required to be worked upon and closed will be the final status, which would mean that the action item has been completed by the owner and is now no longer outstanding and can be marked as green.

How to Use This Template?

As stated above, there are many different purposes for which the action item template can be used, whether it is used for taking corrective action, or to manage a project, or follow to a meeting or to take corrective or decisive action. For using this template, one needs to divide their tasks into different items and assigned dates along with their owner, the target date of completion, the description of what that item represents, and then start tracking those via notes, status column. One can also use multiple templates for multiple tasks that have multiple tasks beneath them. The design of the template should be kept simple and easy to understand so that if any new person is assigned a task to track the same, then he should be able to do it.

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This article has been a guide to the action item template. Here we provide you with a free downloadable action item template that allows registering the action items which require corrective actions. Also, you can download and use this template in Google Sheets, ODS, or in CSV format.