What Is Project Progress Reporting & How to Do It Right?
No matter how big or small your specific project is, one thing is for sure. You’ll have to successfully manage it so as to be sure that it is running smoothly and that everyone is sticking to their responsibilities and completing their tasks on time. Proper project management, though, a process you can get some tips about on this page, can’t be successfully done if you’re not keeping the entire team in the loop regarding its progress on a regular basis.
No matter how big or small your specific project is, one thing is for sure. You’ll have to successfully manage it so as to be sure that it is running smoothly and that everyone is sticking to their responsibilities and completing their tasks on time. Proper project management, though, a process you can get some tips about on this page, can’t be successfully done if you’re not keeping the entire team in the loop regarding its progress on a regular basis.
What Is Project Progress Reporting?
So, what exactly is progress reporting? In short, it is the process of identifying the work that your team has already completed, and at what timeframe, aiming at meeting the actual objectives and deliverables. It helps managers keep all the stakeholders up to date on the course and the development of the project, as well as make informed decisions regarding the rest of its course. What the report will include depends on the scope of the work, as well as on its complexity.
The audience for these reports can be internal stakeholders, as well as clients themselves. The actual audience, as well as the size and complexity mentioned above, will also determine what it is that should be in the actual report. Most usually, it will include updates on the tasks that have been completed, the project’s timeline, the budget, as well as any risks and obstacles that your team might have faced during the course of completing those tasks.
Read what it is in more details: https://www.skillmaker.edu.au/project-progress-reports/
The entire point of the report is for it to provide the stakeholders with clear and valuable information about the project. While the components will differ from one project to another, there are some key ones that are often included in all of these documents. Key performance indicators, for example, should never be ignored, and those include elements such as the scope, the budget, the time, customer satisfaction and similar.
Apart from that, you’ll have to include information regarding the important milestones, which mark the actual phases of the entire process, as well as the completion of important tasks. A current project status is also necessary, as it lets the audience know what the team is focusing on right now, which makes it easier to identify any potential mistakes and set the course straight if something has gone wrong at one point or another. A task list should also be included in the report, letting the stakeholders know what has been done so far and what is yet to be dealt with.
Naturally, you can’t forget the project costs either, because all the stakeholders will certainly be interested in hearing whether you’re sticking to the planned budget. Of course, some small discrepancies will be okay, but the key here is to stick to the budget. Thanks to this part of the report, the budget can be adjusted accordingly.
Furthermore, including the timeline, as well as any risks associated with the whole process, will also be important. Keeping an eye on the timeline is crucial for success, and so is identifying potential risks and thus finding ways to navigate them. Having a contingency plan in case certain risks do materialize, so to speak, is of great significance.
How to Do It Right?
The above should have made it perfectly clear what a progress report is and why you have to do it regularly. The only thing is, though, you’re now most probably wondering how to do it the right way. Project status updates require a lot of time to be done successfully, and you could easily get all tangled up in the important data and in trying to find the relevant information on time. There is, however, a much easier way to complete all of this successfully and not worry about leaving certain important info out by mistake.
Basically, the key is in automating the process. When you get the right project management software solution for your specific business, you’ll get to create the reports much more easily, while also ensuring that they are highly accurate, easily digestible and accessible, as well as tailored to the specific audience that actually cares about the data you have to offer. Therefore, your main task here is to find the right software solution for you and automate the reporting process, so as to make things easier for everyone involved.
