PRINCE2 Issue Report

What is this?

An Issue Report is a report containing the description, impact assessment and recommendations for a single issue, be it a ‘Request for Change’, ‘Off-Specification’ or a ‘Problem/Concern’.  It is only created for those issues that need to be handled formally.

Some of the information in the Issue Report is drawn from the Issue Register, however the report goes into more detail about the particular issue.

Why it’s useful?

This is a PREMIUM template as defined by the PRINCE2 Project Management methodology.

Whilst you can find this template in Appendix A of an official PRINCE2 manual, of course you may not have purchased a manual, or you may just prefer to have an electronic version of it.

How to use it?

This is a ‘vanilla’ template that accompanies the PRINCE2 methodology and is used as the basis for PRINCE2 exams.

Whilst you can use it in its vanilla format we recommend that you think about tailoring it (as suggested by the method itself) bearing in mind the following:

• Industry / organizational specific terminology
• Size / complexity of project
• If the project is part of a programme
• Any existing templates in your organization

The report is initially created when capturing the issue, and updated both after the issue has been examined (Technical Expert?) and when proposals are identified (by the Project Manager) for issue resolution.

The Issue Report is used by the Change Authority / Project Board / Project Manager (whoever is appropriate) to make a decision regarding what action to take.  It is later amended further in order to record what option was decided upon, and finally updated when the implementation has been verified and the issue is closed.