Project Status Reporting

Project Status Reporting involves the process of iteratively reporting the current status and progress of a project to relevant stakeholders. The reporting is conducted by the members of a project team by addressing accomplishments and whether or not the determined targets are being achieved.

Summary

Project Status Reporting is applied within project management to control and monitor progress of project deliverables. Project reporting involves the process of collecting day-to-day project information and distributing necessary updates to relevant stakeholders. Performance measurements such as; time, cost, quality, accomplishments and risks, are being compared to the project plan and previous period, all along the project life cycle. This provides an understanding of whether or not, the project deliverables are being met within determined tolerances, which is of great importance in terms of managing uncertainties. Continuous monitoring and reporting are regarded as main activities to highlight deviations in accordance to the project plan. It enhances the possibilities to quicker discover deviating trends and responsiveness in terms of corrective actions. The composition, format and frequency of the status reports are determined by the communication management approach, where communication format and frequency is defined in the initiation stage of the project. During the course of a project, the project manager is spending the majority of the time on communicating with its project team and relevant stakeholders. Thus, effective communication is a key factor to maintain, in order to conduct and deliver successful project management. On one hand, Project Status Reporting has an important function in terms of bridging the knowledge within the project network. On the other hand, it provides essential project updates a foundation to support managerial decision-making. Overall, this makes Project Status Reporting a powerful tool to support progress controlling, with a specific link to project management. However, if a project is a part of a portfolio or program, the level of progress control and reporting can be escalated into larger context. Here it is important to consider how to align the risk system within the project, portfolio and program hierarchy. Although, status reports have to be produced on a project level and escalated upwards, in order to identify project specific deviations and accomplishments.

More specifically, it consist of a formal report which is updated consistently along the project lifecycle. The frequency and specifications can vary, based on factors such as; project timeline, project size, complexity. Regularly, reports are being presented on a weekly basis, but daily and monthly spans are not uncommon. The report is conducted by a member of a project team, either the project manager or any other team member. The finalised reports are being provided to relevant stakeholder as a support for decision-making.

Big idea

Concept of a Project Status Report

Project Status Reporting consist of a formal report which is updated consistently along the project lifecycle. The content of the reports involves critical aspects of the project, such as scope, scheduling, resources, cost and issues. The report is conducted by a member of a project team, either the project manager or another assigned team member. The frequency and framework specifications can vary, based on factors such as; project timeline, project size, complexity. However, reports are regularly being presented on a weekly basis and is an essential pillar of project communication. The reports are usually distributed through a roll-up process where reporting starts from the level of the team members and is being escalated to the project manager, and upwards in the project hierarchy. The reports are thereby being provided to all relevant stakeholders and decision-makers within the project network. This could for instance include the steering committee, executive sponsors, customers, risk owners as well as all project staff members.

Characteristics of a Project Status Report

In literature there are various approaches presented on how project status and progress can be reported. However, there are some main principles, elements and characteristics of which the report should contain. When it comes to the quality of the reports, there are four general reporting principles which should be followed in order to assure high transparency and reliability of the communicated information. The four reporting principles are, namely: materiality, timeliness, consistency and accuracy.

• Elaborate more here

When it comes to generic characteristics of the Project Status Reports, there are some reoccurring elements which are included in the format. The reported content is conducted in the same format repeatedly along the project lifecycle. Thus, the input to the status reports includes information on updates and progress that has been made since the last report was conducted. Firstly, it consist of a general description of the project itself as well as document information. The main parts consist of a status summary and a review of key areas and milestones of the project. Additionally, it is provided a summary of project risk, issues as well as presentation of performance metrics. The output of the status report depends on whether or not the project status of activities and metrics are kept within project tolerances. If targets are being met, continue according to project plan. Else, corrective actions are to be taken based on risk evaluation. Moreover, in Section 3- Application it is being elaborated on how the conduct a Project Status Report, based on activities related to the reporting format and elements.

Purpose

The concept of conducting consistent Project Status Reports is deeply embedded within several areas of project management. However, the main objectives are related to the steps of continuous progress controlling, risk reduction and communication management within a project. If the project status is not monitored on a regular basis, there is a risk of losing control of the course and target of the progress (PRINCE). Nonetheless, the main purposes of conducting efficient project status reporting corresponds to the following areas:

• Communication: It aims to improve the communication flow across the project network, by distributing necessary status updates to relevant stakeholders. Establishing an effective communication management approach is essential for project success, in terms steering the project in the right direction in accordance to the project plan and objectives.

• Decision-making: The reports have the purpose of supporting and facilitating project-related decision-making, by contributing with metrics and status on project progress. This enables the opportunity for stakeholders to constantly monitor that activates are within project tolerances, and else decide on corrective actions.

• Risk transparency: Another main purpose involves identifying and capturing new risks within the project boundaries or identify changes within already discovered ones. These are being escalating through the status reports by sharing them with the stakeholders. This enhances the risk culture within the project organisation by enabling higher risk transparency, as well as increasing awareness about project uncertainties.

Different types of Project Status Reports

A Project Status Report can appear differently in terms of format and reporting frequency, based on determined communication management approach of a specific project. In addition, there are different types of status reports which can be conducted on different levels within the project hierarchy, in order to collect information on process specific progress. For instance, the PRINCE standard is addressing four different types of Project Status Reports, which can all be used for progress reporting within the same project.

• Checkpoint reports: Checkpoint reports are reporting the current status of individual work packages and are produced on a project team-level. The formality and presentation of these reports can vary, with either being presented verbally or through a project log. The collected information can consist of task completion, potential time and budget deviations and KPIs. The reports are provided to the project manager, who is transferring the collected data and updating the project stage plan accordingly.

• Highlight reports: Highlight reports are based on collected data from the Checkpoint reports and provides a summary on updates and progress for the entire project. The reports are produced by the project manager and is distributed to relevant stakeholders to create project awareness. The reported content can for instance be presented through documents, e-mails, charts or Kanban boards.

• End Stage report: The End Stage report is produced by the project manager at the end of each management phase to evaluate the overall progress and performance of the project. It is being presented to the project board and is used as a foundation for decision-making regarding the next stage of the project. That is, approving to move on, taking corrective actions or stop the project.

• End project report: The End project report is merely conducted in the end stage of a project, and not repeatedly throughout the project lifecycle. It is produced by the project manager and presented to the project board as a foundation for evaluation and closure of the project. The report finalises handover project ownership and provides a detailed update on task completion as well as potential learnings to future projects.

The output of the project status reports are emphasising if the current progress is corresponding to the project stage plan. However, if any new or increased risks and issues have been highlighted, then additional corrective action need to be taken to mitigate the risk. The process of taking corrective actions is not included in the scope of project status reports, but are instead escalated through an “Issue report”, “Exception report” or a “Lesson report”.

Application

Process of writing a Project Status Report

• Show step by step how it can be applied
• Insert a picture of an example-template

Limitations

Challenges in applying the tool

• how it should/shouldn't be used
• when to use/not to use

Relate to standards/literature

• Project reporting is in standard, but not specifically Project status reporting (extending)

Annotated Bibliography

AXELOS, 2017. Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 2017 Edition, The Stationery Office Ltd, London. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [18 February 2021].

Hayes Munson, K. A. (2012). How do you know the status of your project?: Project monitoring and controlling. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2012—North America, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2006) "Project Status Reporting" https://www2.cdc.gov/cdcup/library/practices_guides/CDC_UP_Project_Status_Reporting_Practices_Guide.pdf

Project Management Institute (2017) A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK guide). 6th ed. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Swanson, S. A. (2014). Anatomy of an effective status report. PM Network, 28(6), 52–61.

Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI). (2019). Standard for Risk Management in Portfolios, Programs, and Projects. Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI). Retrieved from https://app.knovel.com/hotlink/toc/id:kpSRMPPP01/standard-risk-management/standard-risk-management

Keil, M., Smith, H.J., Iacovou, C.L. & Thompson, R.L. 2014, "The Pitfalls of Project Status Reporting", MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 57-64.