Progress Report Examples

Progress Report Samples: Create You Report Faster

A successful project is one that is completed in time, within budget limits and planned quality. Unfortunately, in practice, not every project can meet this criteria. As a rule, every project faces time lags, problems with communication, and other issues that can lead to the failure of the project. Any company needs clear communications between employees and departments for effective work on the project.

From the beginning of the project, team members should know what works should be completed in the next period (week/month/year), which tasks will be affected by a delay in a certain task, and how this will affect the timing of the entire project. A manager should obtain up-to-date information about resources, prices, and amount of work, and coordinate project team members and monitor the progress of the project.

Most companies have a list of required reports. Sometimes each member of the project team needs to prepare from two to three reports. Every report takes time to collect data, to process it, to write the report, to read, and even time to make decisions. The main task of a project manager is to understand what information is important for stakeholders and team members, and what information is just a waste of time.

There is a wide range of applications like Trello that help track the progress of projects and tasks, but sometimes managers need to write a simple progress report to know whether the project meets the target project plan. Sometimes such reports are needed to keep the support of interested parties, or simply that project participants need more information about particular tasks.

Who Is Interested in a Progress Report

As a rule, there is a list of interested parties in creating and reading the progress report:

• Project manager. By creating a progress report, a project manager can evaluate the work of team members and his or her own managerial skills. Also, a progress report acts as a motivation to work, as if the manager fails to show good results in the report, it means he or she needs to put in extra effort to make the project successful. A progress report helps the manager effectively manage the tasks between project participants.
• Customer. Why does the customer need a progress report? Usually customers have no time for reading documentation and various notes related to the project. A brief report helps them be aware of the current situation on the project.
• Project team members. Every participant of the project receives two benefits from a progress report: what is happening in groups responsible for other tasks and what tasks will be assigned in the next period of time. Also, the project’s progress raises motivation and the level of engagement in the project.
• Indirect stakeholders. Employees that don’t directly take part in the project can be interested in the project and it can influence their plans and expenses.

What Does a Good Progress Report Look Like?

The project report is a short document, one or two pages long, that can take the form of an email or a report. The information should be presented in sections and organized from the most important to the least important. A progress report must briefly and clearly show necessary information about the current state of the project. A good progress report should have the following features:

Show what was done in the project since the last checkpoint. Such information in your report can be named as news or key achievements. The essence of this information is simple: this information should help the customer immediately know the status of the project.

Display the tasks for the team members for the next period. Every employee involved in the project should clearly understand their own tasks: what should be done and when. Also, naming an employee with some records in the report stimulates them to read the document.

Tell about the current problems and issues. This informational block should tell about unforeseen circumstances and other problems that interfere with the planned project implementation. The report should show what problems were overcome and how.

Provide a forecast based on the current situation on the project. This information will help managers plan tasks and make a decision on whether the project is profitable enough to continue its implementation.

A project report can be accompanied by a list of overdue tasks, current problems, questions to the customer, deadlines, project results, budget state, planned meetings, etc. Also, the progress report should be supported with graphics, tables, and pictures. For example, a graphic of the project timeline helps to visually show the deviation of terms from the project plan.

Project reports are frequently used before or during meetings. That’s why you should be prepared for any questions related to your report and the project itself. Point out the moments that can raise questions and give answers beforehand. You will feel much more confident even if no one will ask them. If you send your report by email, you can support your report with additional documents in attachments.

If the company’s standards have no requirements for the report, make it as short as you can. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes and give them an idea about the project progress as quickly as possible. Regular and carefully-crafted progress reports make a significant impact on project progress and increase the possibility of a successful finish of the project.

Usually a project report will contain the following information blocks:

• Summary of the project.

In the very beginning, tell basic information about the project and the current situation. In several sentences, answer the following questions: At what stage is the project? What serious problems does it have? What project is next?

• Progress in checkpoints.

If the project has a detailed plan with certain deadlines and requirements for tasks, you need to point it out in the report. Depending on the audience, information in this block can be less or more detailed.

• Key problems.

Even if your plan is perfect, no one is immune to mistakes and problems. Don’t be tempted to lie or downplay the problems. The earlier you will know about the problem, the easier it will be solved.

• Planned actions.

If you have described problems in the previous block, you will need to show the action plan to solve these problems. If you feel that you need to ask for help, don’t forget to make a rough plan. Also, tell about the following tasks that will be implemented in the next stage of the project.

To understand what a complete progress report looks like, our team has prepared samples that will help you create a great report on your own.

How Project Progress Report Examples Can Help You

You can be a great professional in your sphere, but the task of report writing can cause problems. Don’t fall into despair, as you have great samples to follow. But before reading them, look through the step-by-step guide to make everything clear.

Let’s see how our progress report examples can help you.

1. The content of our samples will help you define the points that should be considered in the report. Point out the key elements and write them out to keep on track during the report writing.
2. Note the writer’s style. While a progress report can be written for a certain group of people, it can be written in a formal style (for partners, key managers, etc.) and informal (for a personal team). Note what keywords and phrases the author uses to disclose information.
3. Use the sample as a template. If you find our samples appropriate, just use them as a skeleton for your own report. This will ease the writing process and speed up your writing. Notice how our author has organized the text, text boxes, and format.
4. Generate ideas for your own progress report template. If you will need to create project reports every week or every month, a good template will save your time. Also, having the same template will help your stakeholders avoid being confused with new reports, as all information will be in the same place.

If you are only a participant in the project and the team lead has asked you to create a report, our guide on how to write a progress report and progress report sample for projects also will serve you well. Also, we advise you to record the completed tasks on a notebook or an electronic document every day to make the process of report writing easy. You will save a lot of time by spending only five minutes a day. With such records you can create a progress report about your work for any period without problems.

Progress reports won’t be a pain when you know what will save time for everyone. Hopefully, our samples will help you create a great progress report that will give an adequate reflection of the reality of the project. We know that it is difficult to find an “ideal” student progress report template that will suit each company, project, circumstance, or audience. Your task is to select the most necessary points that will help you describe your project’s progress in every detail. Over time, you will understand what information is the most relevant to your project and company. We wish you all the best!