What is it?
A progress report helps you to monitor project status, progress against the project plan, and the achievement of key milestones.
It also helps to highlight any risks or issues and identify any changes that need to be made to the project to mitigate or solve any problems, the implications for the project, and how the project plan will be adjusted.
A progress report should cover:
- project status
- progress on activities and deliverables for the current period
- planned activities and deliverables for the next period
- outcomes and impact
- risks and issues
- key decisions
- key learning
You may find it helpful to provide regular progress reports to any project governance groups you have set up to help enable strategic decision-making about the project.
When should it be used?
It is useful to begin progress reporting as soon as a change project has been identified and it should continue throughout the change cycle until the project is closed.
You might find it helpful to set up a schedule for progress reporting that aligns with the timetable for any governance group meetings. The frequency of progress reporting varies by project speed and stakeholder needs but usually somewhere between fortnightly and monthly is helpful to ensure timely decision-making and action.
What are the benefits of using it and why use this tool?
Progress reporting helps to progress rigour throughout the project by:
- enabling decision-making – providing relevant information to project governance groups to support decision-making about the strategic direction of the project
- enabling early problem detection – enabling risks and issues to be identified and communicated so that actions can be taken to mitigate or solve problems
- supporting stakeholder engagement – keeping key stakeholders updated on progress, helping to build trust and manage expectations
- improving accountability – making progress visible to the project team to foster shared ownership and prevent tasks from being dropped