RAID Log Workbook

Sheet 1 Filter: Type ▾ ⌗ Dashboard

ID	Type	Title	Owner	Linked RACI Role	Status	Probability	Impact	Due Date
R-003	Risk	Sponsor unavailable for sign-off in week 3	Customer Executive Sponsor	Customer Executive Sponsor	Open	3	4	2026-05-08

RAID stands for Risks, Actions, Issues, Decisions — the four categories of unresolved item that keep a consulting engagement honest. A senior delivery lead uses one log to track all four. Assumptions get logged here too, on the same page, because the moment an assumption fails it becomes a Risk and you want it sitting next to the Risk it just became.

The discipline is forty years old¹. It survives because the alternative — separate logs for risks, separate spreadsheets for actions, an issues tracker in one tool and a decisions log in another — leaves a delivery lead reconstructing the engagement’s state every Monday from four different sources. One log, one weekly review, one source of truth.

The reason most RAID logs go dead is not the format. It is that a row sitting on the log is usually a worry, and a worry is not a working item. “We are concerned about the sponsor’s availability in week three” is a worry; it sits on the log forever. “Has the Customer Project Lead confirmed the backup approver path with the Sponsor by Friday?” is a question. The second resolves, escalates, or gets reassigned within seven days, and you can tell which one happened by looking at the row.

This workbook is shaped to push every row toward that second form. A Legend sheet defines each of Risk, Action, Issue, Decision, and Assumption in plain language so the team logs the right thing in the right place. A Linked RACI Role column forces every row to point at a named accountable human. A Friday Review Script turns the log into a thirty-minute query, not a meeting.

The Linked RACI Role column

Every row references one of eight roles drawn from the standard Servantium RACI: Customer Executive Sponsor, Customer Project Lead, Customer SME, Servantium EM, Servantium Solution Architect, Servantium Senior Consultant, Servantium Consultant, Migration Partner Lead. The dropdown enforces the list. If a row cannot be tied to one of those roles, the row is not yet a working item; it is a worry, and it stays in the EM’s notebook, not on the log.

This is the column that does the most work. It is also the column that the previous workbook was missing.

What this gives you

One Log sheet with a Type dropdown. A Legend that respects the PMI definitions. A Dashboard styled in Verdant that counts Total Open, Risks Open, Issues Open, Actions Past Due, and Decisions logged this week. A Status by Type matrix. The top five Risks by Probability x Impact. Items by Department or Program. Items raised in the last 7 / 14 / 30 days. A Friday Review Script keyed to the tiles, thirty minutes, five steps, each step exits with a decision.

Conditional formatting carries the routine work. Open items past their due date highlight coral. Risks with Probability x Impact at or above 16 tint red. Closed rows fade out so they stop competing for attention.

How operators use it

The Friday Review is a thirty-minute query against the sheet, not a meeting at it. Open the Risks scoring 12 or above first. Confirm the mitigation owner and the next mitigation date. Open every Issue not yet resolved. Confirm the next step is concrete. Open every Action past due. Close, replan, or escalate. Then the Decisions added this week, confirm communication to the Sponsor. Finally, the Assumptions still untested at week N. If the validation date has passed, convert to Risk, set Probability and Impact, and assign mitigation. Do not let an unvalidated assumption survive a second Friday.

Run that query on a Friday and the next Monday starts with a queue, not a feeling.

Sources

1. Hillson, D. and Murray-Webster, R. . (1996) . Creating a Best-Practice Project Management Culture. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/creating-best-practice-pm-culture-4800 Accessed 2026-05-07. ↩

What's inside

• A Legend sheet that defines Risk, Action, Issue, Decision, Assumption in plain operator language. Cited to the PMI 1996 article that anchors RAID as a category.
• A unified Log sheet. One row per item. A Type dropdown chooses Risk, Action, Issue, Decision, or Assumption. No tab-switching, no duplicate columns.
• A Linked RACI Role column with a dropdown that matches the Servantium RACI template. Every item points at the human who is accountable.
• A Dashboard sheet styled in Verdant. KPI tiles for Total Open, Risks Open, Issues Open, Actions Past Due, Decisions logged this week. Status by Type matrix. Top 5 risks by Probability x Impact. Items by Department / Program. Items raised in the last 7 / 14 / 30 days.
• Conditional formatting that does the work for you. Open items past due go coral. High-score risks (Probability x Impact >= 16) tint red. Closed rows fade out.
• A Friday Review Script sheet keyed to the dashboard tiles. Thirty minutes, five steps, each one exits with a decision.