12 Min
You’re working on a big project. Your project deadlines are tight, key decisions are being made in meetings, and everyone is focused on delivering the final product. But important details start getting lost. Maybe one team misunderstood a requirement, or a key decision from a meeting wasn’t written down. Suddenly, you’re burdened with rework, delays, and a lot of frustration.
But you can avoid this chaos with proper project documentation. By keeping a clear record of important decisions, requirements, timelines, and budget, you can make sure that your project always stays on track.
In this blog, we’ll explore the different types of project documentation and share some handy templates to help you stay organized and make your projects a success.
Table of contents
What is Project Documentation?
Project documentation involves documenting everything about a project – throughout its lifecycle – in one place.
For example, creating a repository of documents like project plan, project budget, and project status
10 Popular Types of Documents Included in Project Documentation
1. Business Case
A business case is like a sales pitch for your project. It’s the document that justifies why your project should be executed.
It typically includes details on what the project will achieve, how much it will cost, the risks involved, and why it’s worth doing.
A business case makes sure that decision-makers see how your project aligns with the company’s bigger goals.
2. Project Charter
The Project Charter is the document that officially marks the beginning of your project.
It includes the project’s purpose, objectives, high-level requirements, assumptions, constraints, stakeholders, and the roles and responsibilities of team members.
Essentially, it’s the go-to document that gives a clear understanding of what’s expected. It’s the project’s blueprint, guiding the team from start to finish.
3. Project Plan
While the project charter is an outline for your project, the project plan is its instruction guide. It is a comprehensive document that defines the project’s goals, timeline, budgets, resources, and management strategies.
It provides a roadmap for executing, monitoring, and controlling the project, ensuring that all team members are aligned and understand their responsibilities.
This is usually a living document that is updated throughout the project lifecycle.
4. Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder analysis helps you identify everyone affected by the project and understand their influence on it.
It includes a list of stakeholders, their roles, influence, interests, expectations, and the required engagement level.
The analysis helps plan communication strategies and manage stakeholder relationships throughout the project.
5. Project Schedule
The project schedule is like a calendar. It’s a detailed breakdown of when tasks need to be done and what milestones you’re aiming for.
This document helps keep the project on track and ensures everyone knows what needs to be done and when. It usually includes start and end dates, task dependencies, and key deadlines.
6. Project Status Report
The project status report is your regular check-in on how things are going. It gives updates on the project’s progress, bottlenecks, and any issues that come up.
It keeps everyone informed, from the project team to stakeholders and helps spot potential problems before they become big issues.
It includes information on completed tasks, upcoming tasks, current issues, risks, milestones achieved, and any changes in the project plan.
Regular status reports help monitor the project’s performance and make informed decisions to keep it on track.
7. Change Log Plan
A change log plan helps track all changes made during the project and the areas impacted by those changes.
It includes a record of change requests, the nature of each change, its impact on the project, approvals required, and the status of each change.
This document ensures that changes are systematically reviewed, approved, and implemented, minimizing disruption to the project.
8. Risk Management Plan
The risk management plan is like a safety net. It identifies potential risks, assesses their impact, and lays out strategies for dealing with them. It helps anticipate problems before they happen, keeping the project on course.
It typically includes a list of risks, their likelihood, impact, and the actions to take if they occur. Having a good risk management plan is like having an insurance policy for your project—it won’t prevent all problems, but it will help handle them when they arise.
9. Project Closure Document
The project closure document marks the project’s official end and ties up all the loose ends.
It provides a clear record of the project’s conclusion, ensuring that all aspects are wrapped up and lessons are documented for future projects.
This document includes final project deliverables, a performance assessment, the release of project resources, and confirmation that all objectives have been met. It also typically contains a final project report, lessons learned, and any final approvals required to close the project.
10. Lessons Learned
Finally, the lessons learned document helps you grow with each project. It captures what went well, what didn’t, and how things can be improved next time. It turns the project’s experiences—good and bad—into insights that can make future projects smoother.
It includes feedback from the team, an analysis of successes and challenges, and recommendations for the future.
Create and Track Your Project Documentation With AI
Getting started on your project documentation is simple with our templates, but creating and managing your project documentation can become even easier with Knowmax.
Knowmax is an AI-powered knowledge management platform that makes it easy to manage your project documentation.
With Knowmax, you can:
- Create a centralized repository for all your project documentation
- Generate near-publishing ready project documents with AI author tools
- Retrieve documents and information quickly with AI search
- Collaborate easily with robust feedback mechanisms
