How to get better Project Status Reports

One of the important parts of managing a project is communicating with stakeholders on the status or progress of a project. How often should you do it? What should you say? How do you have a productive status report without getting derailed into TMI (Too Much Information)?

What should you include in your project status reports?

• Project Name
• Status Report Date
• Health: Green = On Track, Yellow = At Risk, Red = Problem
• Schedule: On Track, Late
• Project Target Completion Date
• % of Tasks Completed
• # or list of Project Tasks Past Due with Task Owner
• Other project specific notes such as major decisions or changes made since the last update.

KPI Fire Project Status Report Feature

How often should you provide a project status update?

The frequency of your project status report may vary based on the duration of the project.  For Active projects in most organizations we recommend a weekly status report to stakeholders.  KPI Fire allows you to schedule status report reminders on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly frequency.

What is the best way for a Portfolio Manager to monitor numerous projects owned by others? 

If you are supervising a number of projects, you need a way to get summarized updates on each project and limit your time input to areas where your input can add the most value or help get a project unstuck.   To be efficient with your time, make your Project Leaders responsible for a simple Red/Yellow/Green health indicator and a regular status report update.

KPI Fire Status Report Notes and Last Status Report Date.

Status Report Date and Status Report notes are fields that can be selectively displayed on the KPI Fire Project List View. From the Project List view>>Actions>>Edit Columns.  Select the Status Report Date and Status Report Notes.