Decision
A formal record of a choice made by an authorised party within an organisation, including the rationale, evidence, and governance context.
A decision in governance is more than a choice — it is a recorded institutional act. Who decided, what was decided, on what authority, with what evidence, and what it means for existing commitments and constraints.
Most organisations make thousands of decisions without recording them. The result is institutional amnesia: no one knows why a policy exists, who approved a vendor, or what the board actually agreed to. Decision records close this gap.
In Constellation, decisions are first-class objects linked to the authority that made them, the evidence considered, and the commitments or constraints they create or modify. This creates an auditable decision trail that serves boards, regulators, and future decision-makers.
How Constellation handles this
Constellation records every decision with its full governance context — authority, evidence, impact on existing commitments, and downstream constraints. This creates an auditable institutional memory that persists across leadership changes.