The key responsibility of every project manager is to manage projects. However, just managing projects and ensuring they finish on time within the allocated resources is not enough. Project managers also need to update all the stakeholders about where the project stands regularly – how much of the scope has been covered, how many of the allocated resources have been utilized, where the project stands budget-wise, how is it faring in the timeline, etc.
To do this, project managers need to prepare project progress reports and share them with the different stakeholders periodically. But, how to create an effective project progress report?
Here are some tips to help project managers prepare great project progress reports. But before getting into the tips, let us first understand what a progress report is.
What is a Progress Report?
A progress report serves as a communication tool that informs stakeholders about the status of a project within a specific timeframe. It provides insights into the project’s progress, adherence to the schedule, and any potential deviations. By highlighting the work completed, ongoing tasks, and future milestones, progress reports enable stakeholders to make informed decisions and take necessary actions to keep the project on track.
Additionally, progress reports facilitate transparent communication between project teams and stakeholders. By sharing key performance indicators, risks, and challenges, project managers can foster trust and build strong relationships with stakeholders. Progress reports also serve as valuable documentation for future reference and analysis, allowing organizations to learn from past projects and improve future performance.
Differences between Progress Report and Status Report
Both progress reports and status reports are communication tools between the project team, especially the project manager and program manager, and the stakeholders. Both these reports would summarize where the project stands concerning progress, costs, issues, scope creep, resources, etc. Then are they the same thing?
No, they are not. A progress report would portray a picture of how the project has progressed over time, while the status report only captures the essence of where the project stands now when the report was generated or created. While the progress report would offer detailed information about the project while the status report would provide select information without any larger context.
Types of Progress Reports
A progress report can be for the entire project or specific aspects or tasks in the project, or for monitoring workflows, or procedures. Some of the commonly used progress reports are:
- Project progress report
- Work progress report
- Daily progress report
- Weekly progress report
- Monthly progress report
- Quarterly progress report
- Annual progress report
Important Information in Progress Reports
Depending on the type of project and the type of progress report, the project manager decides how much information should be included in it. Thus, a progress report can be a one-pager or can span multiple pages, complete with charts, graphs, etc. It can be a memo, a letter, or a formal report presented at a meeting of the stakeholders. It could be a Word file, a PDF, a PowerPoint presentation, or even an Excel sheet.
Irrespective of the format chosen for the progress report, there are some sections that every progress report must have, ideally. For every progress report, the stakeholders would be interested in knowing where the project has reached and where it is going. Tasks and milestones should be included. Larger goals and progress on achieving the objectives should also be included.
Every progress report must begin with an executive summary that covers all the important points of the report in the simplest, most concise manner. Not every stakeholder would have time to read through the report in its entirety, but glancing through the executive summary should give them an idea of the report’s contents. Avoid charts, graphs, and images in the summary.
Progress on Goals and Objectives
Every project must have defined goals and objectives. The progress report must showcase where the project is in achieving those goals and objectives. Any shifts in priorities or challenges encountered in achieving the goals & objectives must be highlighted here. If possible, showcase the progress as a percentage and explain how that percentage has been determined.
Scope
One of the deadliest dangers for any project is scope creep. While every project must begin with a defined scope, over time, there are almost always changes and modifications, leading to scope creep. The scope would further help define the deliverables, timelines, as well as resource allocation. Any changes in the scope and its impact on the original scope as well as allied metrics should be mentioned in the progress report.
Task Outline
The progress report must mention all the different tasks that are a part of the project and their status – on time, completed, delayed, yet to start, etc. If the task is in progress, mention when it is expected to be completed. For delayed tasks mention the approximate timeline of starting/completion. For yet-to-start tasks, mention the expected date of starting. Highlight task dependencies.
Milestones
Highlight any milestones that might have been achieved in the project so far. Also, mention the next milestone and when it is expected to be achieved. Milestones are the critical checkpoints in a project lifecycle and play an important role in helping stakeholders understand the progress of the project.
Deliverables
The progress report must mention how the project is progressing in delivering the defined deliverables. Any new deliverables added or any previously defined ones that got removed should also be mentioned. This would help stakeholders track the timelines and the quality of the work being done in the project.
Change Log
The change log for every project is a very critical document describing the changes in the project so far. These could be changes in the budget, scope, resource allocation, timeline, personnel, deliverables, etc. Every change is detailed in the change log along with information about what caused it and its implications on the timeline and project outcomes. This must be included in the progress report.
Budget
Budget is, undoubtedly, a crucial metric that stakeholders would want to know about and must be mentioned in the progress report. Any variances should be mentioned. Any possibilities of going over budget as well as the possibility of cost savings should also be mentioned in the progress report.
This is an indicative list of components to include in a progress report. However, this list is not to be considered exhaustive. Depending on the nature of the project, the requirement, the stakeholders, etc. every project manager would need to customize and create a unique progress report. However, the above list is a good starting point for project managers on how to create an effective progress report.
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