Project Status Report

Create project status report with ready-made templates

The project status report is an important tool in project management. Every project has clients who want to be kept up to date on the current status. With a template for the project status report, the progress of a current business project or plan can be recorded.

The project status should be kept short and clear so that the essential points can be grasped and discussed immediately. In the templates, project managers evaluate the most important areas such as time, quality and budget evaluated. A project status report is essentially a summary of the tasks performed, to-do's and the current status of the project.

This article deals with:

1. 5 Advantages of project status report templates

2. The content of a project status report templates

3. Technology that streamlines the reporting process

5 Advantages of project status report templates

The purpose of a project status report is to ensure that objectives and results are achieved and key stakeholders are kept informed. This report can be produced daily, weekly or monthly throughout the life cycle of a project. There is a strong case for using such a project status report in the company:

1. Improves communication within the team.

2. Keeps stakeholders informed about the progress of the project.

3. Streamlines the reporting process.

4. Enables measures to be taken for identified risks and potential dangers.

5. Improves the support systems necessary to achieve the objectives.

What must be included in project status report templates

It is helpful to always structure the project status report in the same way, so that progress can be better tracked. Therefore it is best to use always only one template. It is much easier for everyone involved to take in all the information and read out the important points.

The content of a project status report should not be overloaded and should be limited to the essential points.

Each template for a project status report starts with the report header. This is where the general project information is specified:

• Project name
• Project number
• Name of the project manager
• Date of creation
• Name of the person who made the report

The project status report itself is divided into 8 sections. The first part takes the largest share:

1. Project phases

1. Initialization
   The project team is put together, and the project boundaries and goals are defined. A project plan is created, which contains all project phases with sub-steps.
2. Analysis
   Necessary analyses are worked out and questions such as, What is the current status, What difficulties have arisen and What is going well are answered.
3. Coarse Concept
   A rough concept is drawn up based on the findings of the analysis phase and taking into account the project objectives.
4. Detail Concept
   The next project steps are derived from the rough concept, which in turn results in the detailed concept.
5. Implementation
   The implementation of the project points begins with the detailed concept.
6. Finish
   In the end, the complete project is summarised once again. This includes an evaluation of what went well and what did not go well, as well as an assessment of what could be improved or was not implemented.

2. The RAG status rating system

The RAG status is an essential element of a progress report. RAG stands for red, yellow and green. Each colour indicates the current status of an important service area, which typically includes quality, time, scope and budget.

1. RED - this colour makes it clear that the project has significant problems and obstacles that cannot be overcome by the project manager alone. These problems must be forwarded to the client or the project manager so that corrective measures can be implemented immediately.
2. YELLOW - this colour indicates that there are still problems, but that the project manager and the team can solve them. Therefore the project board still needs to be updated and informed about the issue.
3. GREEN - this colour indicates that the project is now running smoothly and all aspects are within tolerance.

3. Project risks

This section assesses whether there are any risks in the project and what they might be. Measures are also taken to minimise their occurrence.

4. Project resources

The project resources such as the employees and machines involved also belong in the project status report. This determines which resources have been scheduled and which are available.

5. Project cost

At the beginning of each project a budget, the so-called "target costs", is defined. In this part of the project status report, the target costs are compared with the actual costs. A minus amount is shown in red.

6. Project dates

The dates can be marked in a project status report template simply with "OK" or not OK "NOK". Then the date indicators will appear green or red. For many dates in a project, milestones can also be assigned.

7. Next project steps

At this point, the current status of the project is noted, in order to progress with the project.

8. Comments

During the discussion of the project status report, the client or other persons involved can make notes at this point of the presentation.

Selecting the right technology for the project status report

The project status report or the progress report requires that important status information is continuously recorded and provided. A paper-based template for all information requires additional effort when creating the subsequent report.

With Lumiform's mobile app, information for the project status report can be easily collected via tablet or smartphone - online or offline. The desktop software is used to create the template and evaluate the collected data. This minimizes the risk of quality losses, documentation and analysis errors.

Lumiform makes it easier for every project manager to document the progress of a project by first recording everything with the mobile app and then being guided by the system through all documentation processes. A clean, transparent documentation helps to avoid errors and to record the project status correctly. Lumiform offers project managers and their team many more advantages:

• Get an overview of everything that happens in the individual project phases.
• Save time by simplifying the analysis of all data and identifying areas that need special attention more quickly.
• All project results are automatically bundled in a report and can be sent to stakeholders.
• Continuous improvement of project implementation: Internal processes can be continuously optimized through the flexible form building kit. Since Lumiform guides the employee through the templates, no training is required.