Issues Log
Overview
- Organized your way: list filtering, sorting, and grouping arrange issues and action items around the project’s unique requirements
- Critical issues stand out: color-coding highlights what matters most so team members can focus
- Email alerts: stay informed about updates, new task assignments, or changes to existing items
- Multiple views: choose Kanban-style boards, gallery views, or standard lists to visualize the data your way
- Project-specific fields: capture all relevant details for comprehensive tracking
Benefits
- One central location: all issues and action items live in one accessible place instead of scattered emails, chats, and spreadsheets
- Clear ownership and deadlines: responsibilities are understood and follow-through is easier to manage
- Better visibility: team members and stakeholders see real-time updates and status tracking
- Fewer missed tasks: reminders, filtering, and visual cues flag overdue items before they slip
- A structured, searchable log: reviewing progress, spotting patterns, and generating reports is easy
- Cross-functional collaboration: the log is easily shareable and editable across departments
Common Questions About This Issues Log
What is this Issues Log built with?
The Issues Log is built entirely with Microsoft Lists and Microsoft Forms, both part of Microsoft 365. Lists stores and organizes the issues with filtering, grouping, color-coding, and email alerts, while Forms provides a simple entry form for submitting new items. There is no custom code and no third-party tools. It is the kind of clean, maintainable tracker Greg Zelfond builds for project teams.
What’s included in the Issues Log?
The design includes a central log of issues and action items with owners, priorities, and statuses, plus an entry form for new submissions. It features a standard list view, a compact grid view, filtering, views grouped by priority and by status, a Kanban-style board view grouped by status, color-coding for critical issues, and email alerts that notify people of new assignments and changes.
Does this design use any custom code or third-party tools?
No. Everything in this Issues Log uses standard Microsoft Lists and Microsoft Forms functionality available in Microsoft 365. That matters because out-of-the-box solutions are stable, secure, and easy to maintain – nothing breaks when Microsoft rolls out updates, and there are no third-party licenses to manage. Out-of-the-box is the only way Greg builds.
Can this Issues Log be customized for our projects?
Absolutely. The fields, priority and status choices, color-coding rules, views, and alert settings can all be tailored to your team’s workflow. Greg adapts the log to the way your projects actually run – whether you need project-specific fields, separate logs per project, or one shared log across the portfolio – so it reflects your real process rather than a generic template.
How do the views and color-coding work in Microsoft Lists?
The color-coding comes from standard formatting in Microsoft Lists, which highlights critical issues automatically based on their priority or status – no manual repainting like a spreadsheet. Views are saved arrangements of the same data: the board view groups issues into Kanban-style columns by status, while grouped views roll items up by priority. Everyone sees live data, just sliced differently.
Can Greg build this Issues Log for our organization?
Yes – this is exactly the kind of work Greg Zelfond does. As an independent SharePoint and Microsoft 365 consultant and Microsoft MVP, he designs and builds out-of-the-box trackers like this one, tailored to your projects, teams, and workflows. If you want an issues log your team will actually keep current, reach out through the contact page to get started.
