Project Status Report – Contents, Template and Tips (Update 2025)

Undertaking Standing Report Contents – What Goes In?

In distinction to mere descriptions by undertaking managers to their superiors, undertaking standing studies permit extra detailed data on the progress of initiatives. This is applicable much more when there are a lot of initiatives. Right here, it turns into troublesome to ask all undertaking managers on the identical time to report. In such a case, standardized studies are useful.

So, what do it is advisable to embrace within the undertaking standing report? The contents of this target-oriented and easy-to-read report should give solutions to the suitable questions. These questions may concern the next points:

• General state of the undertaking
• Standing of the work carried out
• Adherence to the trouble, price and time plan
• Danger evaluation

You will need to word that you could be use several types of undertaking standing report templates. The sort is dependent upon the undertaking measurement – whether or not giant or small. In the long run, your efforts for creating a standing report ought to stay inexpensive and in proportion. Whether or not you might be coping with an enormous building undertaking or a small IT undertaking.

All the time see to it that the type of the studies for the completely different undertaking sorts stays the identical all through. This makes them higher to historize and evaluate. What’s extra, you will discover it simpler to orient your self if you recognize the place to search out what data.

Tip: Create particular person templates to your standing studies relying on the undertaking kind (e.g. giant / small). This facilitates the orientation and the historization for the following alignment of the studies.

When you’ve got many parallel initiatives, chances are you’ll not even be capable of have a look at all initiatives in each reporting assembly. In such a case, you want a undertaking checklist to allow you to pick the suitable initiatives to have a look at.

For this objective, you keep one row per undertaking with a very powerful data and indicators. It needs to be attainable to filter and type the undertaking checklist. It will will let you determine the ten most essential initiatives from probably a couple of hundred to your steering committee assembly.

Tip: Too many initiatives directly? Create a undertaking checklist with a very powerful data and choose the ten most essential initiatives – relying on the visitors lights, all purple ones, a number of yellow initiatives and the odd inexperienced undertaking to verify (see beneath).

In your common steering committee assembly – we suggest a length of round two hours– you’ll have a look at solely these ten undertaking standing studies.

General State of Your Undertaking – Visitors Gentle Presentation

When studying a undertaking standing report, you wish to get a common overview first. In case something is fallacious, it would be best to have a look at the small print in a second step.

Undertaking Standing Report: Visitors Gentle for the General State

The general state is normally displayed as a single undertaking standing report visitors mild with one of many three colours, purple / yellow / inexperienced. This has two benefits:

1. A transparent assertion
2. The choice to filter the checklist of initiatives in keeping with visitors mild colours

This general visitors mild needs to be set manually, in our expertise. But it surely ought to observe a easy, believable rule.

Tip: Take a look at the historical past of the general visitors mild. It would present priceless data, particularly the colour adjustments between the studies – for the higher as for the more serious.

Elective Visitors Lights for Particulars

Along with the general visitors mild, you possibly can have additional undertaking standing report visitors lights. These are calculated mechanically from the target-actual comparability of labor, price and schedule.

On this case, it won’t be attainable to set the general visitors mild to inexperienced whereas:

• No less than one of many different visitors lights is purple OR
• Not all different visitors lights are inexperienced

Necessary Indicator “Want for Motion”

We suggest sustaining an indicator “want for motion”. This undertaking standing class allows undertaking managers, regardless of the visitors mild coloration, to ask for the decision of unmade choices or the detailed evaluation of their undertaking. Thus, they’ll make themselves heard earlier than it’s too late and the visitors mild turns purple.

The undertaking supervisor ought to have the choice to elucidate the visitors mild coloration or the present foremost points. It needs to be attainable to enter a brief remark. However by all means quick and to the purpose. It’s best to restrict the size to some traces.

Tip: Particularly in a multi-project surroundings, the undertaking supervisor’s feedback needs to be stored extraordinarily quick.

In a multi-project surroundings, a one-line remark could make sense, as this could possibly be learn instantly within the undertaking checklist. Displaying solely the primary line of a multiline description area tends to be of little assist.

Involved in different helpful studies? Examine PPM Report – 5 Key Studies

Together with the standing of the undertaking, you must undoubtedly doc the standing of bodily goal achievement in your undertaking standing report.

Contents: Stage of Undertaking Completion (as a Tough Rule of Thumb)

Relating to the standing of bodily goal achievement, you fairly often discover proportion values delineating the stage of completion. However within the general view of a undertaking this undertaking standing class can by no means be greater than a tough pointer.

Whereas the worth is calculated from the completion of the only duties, the informative worth of e.g. 71% just isn’t precisely excessive. Nevertheless, a plausibility verify is feasible. Merely evaluate the share worth of the stage of bodily completion with the goal and precise values of labor, price and time.

Deliverables, Stage Gates and Milestones

It’s higher for the undertaking supervisor to point the standing of labor carried out by the use of concrete data on the completion of deliverables.

This implies itemizing deliverables which might be:

• Accomplished
• In progress
• To be dealt with subsequent

An alternative choice is to easily checklist all deliverables with their standing as not began / in progress / accomplished.

However there’s a fair simpler approach that can also be impartial of the undertaking scope. It really works effectively to explain the standing by way of standardized milestones or stage gates. This has the benefit that every one stakeholders will be capable of inform from a single entry the place the undertaking stands.

Tip: Share values delineating the stage of undertaking completion are solely conducive to the general view. The stage of completion of deliverables, stage gates, or milestones will present extra element.

Having reached the milestone M3 may imply that the specification has been produced and accredited. M7 could possibly be the beginning of manufacturing.

These supply phases should be outlined individually for each kind of undertaking. In the meantime, they are often present in all industries.

Tip: Have fun the significantly related supply phases publicy. It will enhance the motivation of all contributors within the undertaking.

Contents: Milestone Pattern Evaluation (MTA)

Reporting milestones and their dates and variances in lists just isn’t very clear or informative. Ideally, you historize the milestone dates on each standing date. This lets you create a milestone chart: the Milestone Pattern Evaluation (MTA).

TPG Service: Free MTA software out there for obtain right here!

The curves of the milestone pattern evaluation will be learn as follows:

• Horizontally operating traces between the milestones show the adherence to supply dates
• Rising traces point out delays
• Falling traces present a supply forward of schedule

After you have change into accustomed to the chart, you possibly can see at a look how the undertaking schedule has developed up to now. It is possible for you to to derive the future pattern from this by yourself.

Some representations additionally embrace the deadlines of the milestones. This implies not solely delays but in addition overruns change into seen.

For extra element on tips on how to use Milestone Pattern Evaluation, verify this text.

Contents: Goal-Precise Comparability of Work and Price

In probably the most easy case, your undertaking standing report will evaluate the goal values with the precise values. You should use figures for this or a bar chart. Don’t forget to checklist the values of the present planning (i.e. the calculated prices and end date), too. It will reveal variances from the goal (baseline) earlier than the tip of the undertaking.

When you’ve got bought deliveries or items and providers, it is sensible to incorporate additional values, corresponding to:

• Commissions
• Payments
• Cost transactions

This makes for a hanging improve in price transparency. As a matter of reality, fairly often, a number of time passes between fee and fee.

You must also distinguish between:

• Tied and free finances: that is the important foundation for attainable adjustments in undertaking development.
• Inside and exterior work and prices: you possibly can construction work in keeping with kind (of service), price in keeping with price kind.

Thus, you’ll obtain a detailed comparability of comparable initiatives. Particularly, if you end up attempting to evaluate why the circumstances on this undertaking differ from others of the identical class.

Tip: For the target-actual comparability, it’s worthwhile to look carefully: is the finances tied or free? Are work and price inside or exterior objects?

These distinctions will assist you to. They’ll will let you acknowledge issues within the making and to derive countermeasures. Counteracting such issues will likely be exhausting if all you will have are mixture quantities of labor and price throughout all the undertaking.

Tip: Use line charts much like the milestones’ for this. They’re extra informative than mere numbers. You receive them from the historization on the reporting dates.

To this finish, current:

• The baseline curve from baseline begin to baseline end date
• The precise curve from precise begin to the standing date

To the suitable of the standing date, proceed the precise curve with the present goal curve as much as the present calculated end date.

Contents: Danger Matrix

In precept, itemizing dangers in a standing report is sensible. If the checklist just isn’t too lengthy. However it’s higher to current a danger matrix that can all the time take up the identical quantity of house – regardless of the variety of dangers. Once more, this makes for higher comparability.

Tip: Use the chance matrix to verify your initiatives for dangers. It would will let you determine at a look the place there’s want for motion.

The danger matrix presents dangers in a coloured grid. In every cell, you enter the variety of dangers behind it. The main focus is on the chance of prevalence and the influence of the chance.

The influence of a danger is the potential financial loss worth. In follow, this worth is usually very troublesome to find out. The simpler route is to state the influence in factors from 1 to 10 or in classes, corresponding to low / medium / excessive.

The identical goes for a danger’s chance of prevalence. A press release corresponding to 63% suggests an accuracy unlikely to be appropriate. The division into 10 steps or the classes low / medium / excessive provides a greater image.

Tip: To estimate the chance of prevalence and the influence, it’s higher to work with steps and classes. On this case, figures are likely to recommend an accuracy that isn’t truly warranted.

The exception: If you wish to current an general danger for the undertaking, you’ll all the time have to supply numbers. To this finish, the influence is multiplied by the chance of prevalence of the chance as a proportion and added collectively.

The general danger will be an essential indicator for the nearer consideration of a undertaking.

Need to find out about danger administration in undertaking administration? Learn our article.

Contents: Want for Choices within the Undertaking Standing Report

This undertaking standing class is about organizational and content-related points which have been determined or are but to be determined. Examples of this are:

• Dedication of assets
• Approval of orders
• Resolution on a content-related variant

The “want for motion” indicator talked about above performs a central function for this. With it, you’ll be notified that excellent choices have to be made by a reliable physique – even when the visitors mild is inexperienced.

Undertaking Standing Report Instance

The next undertaking standing report instance options all essential objects of knowledge. These are:

• How far alongside are we? (= place within the timeline)
• What’s the general standing of the undertaking? (visitors lights / general visitors mild guide)
• Remark by the undertaking supervisor
• Comparability of the particular scenario with the baseline
• Precise price vs baseline
• Precise work vs baseline

Different undertaking standing report templates and different studies for particular person and a number of initiatives can be found as examples within the TPG ReportPack primarily based on Energy BI.

Position of the Undertaking Administration Workplace (PMO)

Expertise has proven: if many undertaking managers have handy in helpful standing studies by the due date, this solely works with the help of the undertaking administration workplace (PMO).

Undertaking managers are likely to neglect the standing report subject. Of their day-to-day enterprise, they regard it as tedious additional work.

The PMO alternatively checks whether or not:

• There may be an up-to-date undertaking administration standing report for all initiatives
• All necessary data has been entered
• The texts are believable
• The values are believable
• There’s a motive for the variances
• and so forth.

All the identical, compiling the undertaking administration standing studies is a time-consuming affair for the PMO. It could actually solely achieve success if undertaking managers and PMO work hand in hand.

Due to this fact, all the time remind the events concerned how essential standing studies are for the success of a undertaking.

Learn extra in regards to the challenges of recent IT-supported PMO Studies.

Undertaking managers want to understand that undertaking standing studies are of their self-interest. As soon as this has occurred, they may present their enter with extra motivation and care.

Examples of the Advantages of a Undertaking Standing Report

Two examples of the excessive worth of undertaking standing studies are:

1. Because of the undertaking standing studies, the PMO arranges sure points for the undertaking managers instantly
2. The steering committee could make well-founded choices earlier

Conclusion – Undertaking Standing Report

Resulting from its standardized construction, a very good undertaking standing report gives you with an easy-to-read presentation of the undertaking standing in essential sub-areas and a fast overview. This text has taught you:

1. Why a standardized format is essential to your undertaking standing report.
2. Tips on how to mix general visitors lights cleverly with visitors lights for particulars.
3. What contents your undertaking standing report ought to embrace.
4. Tips on how to use the Milestone Pattern Evaluation appropriately.
5. What it is advisable to think about for the target-actual comparability of labor and price.
6. Why you must work with a danger matrix.
7. How related choices will be pushed.
8. What sort of help the PMO can present.

Our last ideas

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