Action-item | Meaning and Definition

What is Action-items?

Action items are tasks that need to be completed within a stipulated time. These tasks may be assigned to a specific person or group of people. They may or may not be pre-planned. Usually, an action item results from a group discussion or meeting, where the need to take a particular action is realized. An action item could be a task, activity, or event.

Components of Action items

Action items comprise the following components: –

– Issue or Risk: This describes what the issue is which needs resolution. It can also contain details about possible risks.

– Description: Description of action items is the section that describes the task’s nature. It can also be brief about the activity or event which needs to be performed.

– Person responsible for completing the task: The person or group of people assigned with the responsibility of a particular action item are mentioned in this section.

– Requirements: If there are any sort of requirements like the need for special equipment, permissions, materials, or checklists, they are contained in this section.

– Urgency: This section will mention how urgent the particular action task is. This helps assign priority, especially when managing multiple tasks.

– Status: Status refers to the current status of the task. Assigned, In Progress, and Resolved are examples of how the owner of a particular task can create status updates.

– Date of Completion (expected): This section is where the task creator mentions the expected date of completion. This is to help the owner understand the urgency and assign priority to different tasks. 

– Date of Completion (actual): This is created by the task owner to indicate when the task was completed. It helps keep a record of how long it took to complete a particular task.