---
id: KB-TZ-020
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/traceability-and-compliance/recording-what-was-decided-against
idioma: en
categoria: trazabilidad
audiencia: usuario
nivel: avanzado
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-TZ-016, KB-TZ-018, KB-TZ-019]
citadoPor: [KB-TZ-005]
---

# Recording what was decided against

_Records keep what was done. What was decided against leaves no trace — and it is exactly what gets questioned later._

**Responde a:** how to justify not doing something · we rejected a batch and did not record it · proving we considered and dismissed something · documenting a decision not to act

A file tells what happened well: what was requested, what arrived, who approved it. What it does not tell is what almost happened and did not — and when someone reviews it a year later, that is the question: «why did you do nothing?».

## Decisions that leave no trace by themselves

| Decision | What the file shows | What is missing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Rejecting a material or a batch | That it did not come in | Why it was rejected and who decided |
| Refusing a change the client asked for | Nothing | That it was considered, and on what grounds |
| Ruling out a supplier | That they are absent | That they were looked at and why they did not fit |
| Deciding something does not apply | A gap | That the gap is deliberate and not an oversight |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The last row does the most damage in a review: **a gap and a decision to do nothing look identical from outside**. If a file lacks an analysis, a permit or a check, whoever looks cannot tell whether you assessed it and concluded it did not apply or simply missed it. And in doubt, they read the second. Two lines written that day — «not applicable because…» — turn a hole into a criterion.

## How to record it without creating bureaucracy

1. **In the file itself, not in separate minutes** — Where whoever asks will look, not where you would file it.
2. **What was assessed, on what information and who decided** — Three facts: the rest is surplus.
3. **The same day, with the information available then** — A justification written after the outcome shows.
4. **And if the decision later changes, add rather than amend** — Changing your mind on new data is normal and explains itself.

> [!WARNING]
> There is one case where this beats any other record: **when whoever decides against is not the person who raised it**. Someone flags a risk, it is assessed and the decision is to carry on. If that is not written down, the warning disappears and whoever gave it looks as if they never did — or, depending who tells the story, as the only one who knew. Recording it protects both sides, which is why it should be a habit rather than something done when trust is low.

## What does not need recording

**En corto**

- Routine decisions taken twenty times a day.
- Anything already recorded by the act of doing it.
- And anything with no consequences if questioned: if it does not matter, it takes no space.

> [!NOTE]
> In some sectors certain decisions not to act must be documented in a specific way. **What yours requires is for your adviser or quality manager to say**; here it is the general habit, which serves for everything else.

**Is this not covering your back?**

It is explaining a criterion. The difference is writing it before you know the outcome.

**What if the decision was verbal?**

Summarise it in writing that day: the same habit as with agreements.

**Where do I keep it if there is no file?**

In the supplier's or the project's: not in anyone's inbox.

## Ejemplos

**A company considers an extra test on a batch, decides it does not apply and records nothing.**

- Writes two lines that day on why it did not apply and who decided

→ At review, the gap reads as a criterion rather than an oversight.

**A decision is taken not to do something and nobody notes it.**

- Records the decision and its reason

→ The omission is a documented decision.

**Months later it looks like an oversight.**

- Checks the decision record

→ What was decided is told from what was forgotten.

**A recommendation is rejected and there is no record.**

- Records who decided and why

→ The decision has an owner.

**Something is postponed indefinitely.**

- Records the review date

→ What was postponed comes back to the table.

**An auditor asks why something was not done.**

- Shows the recorded decision

→ The answer is a decision rather than a silence.