Six Areas a Status Report Should Track

❶  Schedule and scope status

❷  Quality of interim/final deliverable(s)

❸  Risks (new risks or changes in the risks identified earlier)

❹  Spending (versus the planned amounts)

❺  Staff effort (versus the planned time)

❻  Changes to the plan

  
 

 

 

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Why Status Report

Communicating about the status of your project is one of the most important components of project management. It will help you realistically allocate your time and resources, to strengthen control over the project, and free you up to manage. Reviewing the current status allows you and your team members to track the progress of the project against the project plan and determining what you need to do if something is going wrong.

  

Project

4 Categories

2 Approaches

Business Case

Strengthen the Business Case

  

 

 

 

 
 

Keep It Short

Length of the status report depends on complexity and audience. When developing the report content, don't make the common mistake of trying to include in the status report everything about the project that anyone might want to know. You are targeting a busy audience, so keep it practical. Communicate the key information quickly so project team and supervisors had more time for solving problems and moving your project ahead.

 

Project Leader

New Tasks

Self-Assessment

Project Stakeholders

Upper Management

Project Team

  

 

 

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Content of a Status Report

The content of each report should be specific to the audience receiving it. Define what type of information they need and in what detail. A progress report should not only inform the stakeholders, but manage their expectations as well. Use a fill-in-the-form approach as a document designed to present information in sections is far more useful to the reader. It will also help you to eliminate repetition and communicate more information in fewer words.

  

Business Synergies Approach to Project Management

Radical Project Management

Strategic Project Management

  

 

 

 

 
 

Project Status Meetings

Despite their value, e-communication tools such as visibility rooms, virtual meetings and e-mails  can not substitute for face-to-face status meetings or one-one-one communication.

Communication happens in many ways – actually, the content itself makes only 7% of the message received by your prospect, while the way it looks and sounds makes the "remaining" 93%.

  

Project Communication

Employee Feedback

Key Documents

Scope of Work

Project Charter