Project Status Reports

Regular status report is a necessary expectation from any stakeholder. A project manager is expected to decide, the frequency and format of this report. Ensure it satisfies these points

• What has been completed


• What has not been completed and why


• What is being done about the incomplete work


• What concerns, issues and risks remain  unsolved


• What needs to be done about these unsolved problems

I always suggest using a simple PPT, but few stakeholder s expect word / excel documents too. Fine, try these important elements in your reports and discuss with me, what else you usually expect.

• Slide 1: A graphical summery of overall process – Ex: Dashboard, Gantt Chart


• Slide 2: Completed Tasks, Milestones


• Slide 3: Not Completed Tasks – and Action points


• Slide 4: Issues/Concerns/Risks – and Action points


• Slide 5: List of milestones with due dates – in next reporting period

EPMO – Status Reporting

The EPMO status reporting process is a method for reporting and reviewing project / portfolio status within the framework of a program or project management office.

The basic process steps are –
• Collect Project Status information – Discuss with Plan Owners
• Transfer Project Status line
• Update Project Actual in MSP
• Generate Verification Report
• Review Verification Report with stakeholders
• Revise Project Actual in MSP
• Generate Project Performance Report – Project level / Account Level
• Analyze schedules and Status information
• Review Status with stakeholders

Required Tools
• MS Project Professional Server and Client Tools
• MS Office [Powerpoint, Excel etc]
• Sharepoint Server

Do these for efficiency in results
• Always use your MS-Project status information for reports
• Review reports with stakeholders and discuss + escalate risks
• Publish performance reports and discuss about improvement for productivity
• Publish RAG Status Reports for Backlog and Dependencies
• Publish status reports, revised schedules, Risks and Issues in common share-point portal – include clients to provide better visibility.

Using EPMO Reporting in efficient way improves the deliverable performance, limits the risks, and provides valuable visibility to stakeholders.

Six Essential Reports

Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. The Reports are important in every stage of project management. Reports provide essential inputs to team, top-management and stakeholders.

Reports can be for Status Information or for Metrics – they get information from Project plans and Log registers. Let’s discuss about few essential reports and their data sources.

Time based Reports:
Schedule based reports, includes achieved activities, in-progress activities, not started, not finished, estimated schedule, slippages, actual schedule etc. The data source is Project plan.

Cost based Reports:
Budget based reports, includes Estimated budget, actual cost for completed activities, pending activities to be completed, revised estimation for pending tasks, revenue reports etc. The data sources are Project plan and Account Revenue Status Sheet.

Resource Reports:
Resource reports are reports all about Team size, resource utilization week or month wise, resource availability, skill matrix etc. The data source is Project plan.

Scope Reports:
Scope Changes and Impact analysis, revised estimations, revised resource requirements, revised budget can be presented in Scope Reports. The Change Request Log, Project plan, Estimation Documents are data sources for these Reports.

Quality Reports:
Quality reports are about Issues Recorded, Open & Closed, expected delivery schedules, testing estimations & actual, Bug Report Status, Quality Metrics etc. The data sources are Issue Log, Bug repository etc.

Action Reports:
Action Reports are mostly about Action Items based on Status calls, Stake-holder communications, Opportunities, challenges, Risks and Issues etc. The data source will be minutes of meeting, Change request Logs and Project plans.

These reports can be in document format or spreadsheet, but I suggest using presentation tools – it gives detail view and helps you to add more graphs and models. There are many templates available – you can also develop and share your own models.