This Project Documents example shows how Alex Morgan, PMP, catalogued and managed all 62 documents produced during Project Phoenix — a $72,250 website launch managed using the PMBOK Guide 8th Edition. A project document register is the navigational index of a project's information architecture: without it, critical documents get lost, version confusion proliferates, and stakeholders waste time searching for the information they need to make decisions.

What Are Project Documents?

Project Documents refer collectively to the full set of records produced and maintained throughout a project's lifecycle — plans, registers, reports, baselines, contracts, and correspondence. In PMBOK 8, managing project documents is addressed across multiple performance domains, with particular emphasis in the Planning and Measurement domains. The Project Documents register (sometimes called a Document Register or Document Index) is the master list that tracks every document's title, owner, version, status, storage location, and access permissions. It ensures that the right people can find the right version of the right document at the right time — a foundational requirement of project information management.

What's Inside This Project Documents Example

This Project Documents example for Project Phoenix includes:

• Complete register of all 62 project documents across the six PMBOK 8 Performance Domains: Stakeholder, Team, Development Approach, Planning, Project Work, Delivery, Measurement, and Uncertainty
• Document metadata for each entry: document ID, title, owner, current version, status (Draft/Approved/Superseded/Archived), date last updated, and storage location in MCG's SharePoint
• Document classification by phase: Initiation (8 documents), Planning (24 documents), Execution (18 documents), Monitoring & Control (7 documents), Closure (5 documents)
• Version control log for key baseline documents: Project Charter (v1.0), Project Management Plan (v1.2 after two approved changes), Scope Baseline (v1.1), Cost Baseline (v1.0), Schedule Baseline (v1.0)
• Access control matrix defining who can view, edit, and approve each document category
• Archive plan: all 62 documents retained in MCG's SharePoint project archive folder for a minimum of 3 years, accessible to MCG's PMO for future reference

How Alex Morgan Used This Project Documents Register

Alex Morgan maintained the Project Documents register throughout the project's 13 weeks, updating it every time a new document was created or an existing one was revised. This was a 5-minute weekly task that prevented hours of searching later. When Riley Park requested the Risk Register at the Period 4 sponsor review meeting, Alex was able to share the exact current version within 90 seconds because the register included a direct SharePoint link for every document. At project close, the register became the handover index — Riley Park's operations team used it as the guide for navigating the full Project Phoenix archive.

Download and Customize

This Project Documents example is available as a free download. Use it as a reference to build your own document register, or start with the blank template and fill it in for your project.

• Download the Project Documents Template — PMBOK 8 (blank, ready to use)
• Read the article: Project Documents in PMBOK 8 — Guide and Best Practices

Project Documents Example: Key Takeaways

The practical lesson from this Project Documents example is that a document register pays dividends proportional to the diligence of its maintenance. Alex Morgan's 5-minute weekly update habit meant that the register was always current, always trustworthy, and always the first place anyone looked for project information. The access control matrix was particularly valuable during the audit phase: MCG's Finance Director needed to review cost-related documents without accessing HR-sensitive team performance data, and the matrix defined exactly what she could see. Good document management is invisible when it works — and catastrophically visible when it doesn't.

Want to go deeper? The PMBOK Guide 8th Edition is the definitive reference for modern project management. Get your copy and use it alongside these examples to build a solid, practical understanding of every performance domain.