The complete guide to project reporting

It will come as no surprise to learn that a staggering number of projects fail as a result of ineffective project communication. Consistent and accurate project reporting is a way to ensure that your project does not become one of this number. With a significant number of project managers not confident of project success because of stakeholders who are not fully committed, good project reporting is essential.

According to the Project Management Institute, organisations can risk losing somewhere in the region of £80 million for every £1 billion that they invest in projects. This is as a result of poor communication. What this means for your projects is that reporting is not just a procedural task but in fact a critical safeguard when it comes to business. It is well known that a breakdown in communication can result in misalignment growing, risks going unnoticed, and a loss of clarity about priorities within project teams. All of these can be mitigated through reporting that is structured, timely and of course done correctly.

Project reporting is, however, not always easy, with many project teams finding themselves facing a number of challenges:

Project reporting challenges

The following issues are often a thorn in a project manager’s side:

• Too much time spent preparing reports
• Concerns that data may be misunderstood, leading to negative consequences
• Reports not being read by stakeholders
• Uncertainty over how to improve performance

A 2023 survey found that 59% of project managers feel overwhelmed by the amount of reporting required, and almost half admit that they spend far more time preparing reports than they do analysing the insights that these reports contain. This imbalance not only reduces the value of reporting but also contributes to decision fatigue across project teams.

Issues can also occur for those in senior leadership roles too, which include:

• Differences in project reporting across different projects
• No early warning detection
• Superfluous or outdated information
• The wrong metrics being tracked

Too often leaders struggle with inconsistency. This can easily occur when each project team uses different formats, metrics, or terminology, which can make it difficult for executives to compare performance or identify any patterns that may exist. There is research to suggest that 44% of senior leaders believe they lack real-time visibility into the health of a project, and this can ultimately lead to delayed interventions and very costly surprises to a project.

Our complete guide to project reporting aims to help you write project reports that are effective and, more importantly, are something the right people will actually read.

How do you write effective project reports?

It is important to stay focused on the task of writing your project reports. You need to think about what the intent of the report is, what results you are hoping to get from sending your report, and what, if any, call-to-action there is.

One of the most common mistakes that can be made is treating any report as a data dump rather than seeing it as a powerful communication tool. A strong report should ultimately answer three questions: What is happening? Why does it matter? What needs to happen next? When all of these points are clearly addressed in a report your stakeholders are much more likely to engage with them and then act on the information that they contain.

You need to ensure that your report is tailored to its intended audience. This means that you may need different versions of similar reports that contain only the information that is pertinent to the person it is for. Fortunately, there is plenty of reporting software out there that can help you do just this with just a little extra work.

It is essential to tailor your reports, this is because different stakeholders prefer to have information presented in different formats for example, executives usually prefer one page summaries using visual indicators, whilst team leads may prefer detailed breakdowns. Studies suggest that customised reporting can help to increase stakeholder engagement by a significant percentage. This is simply because people are much more likely to read information when it feels like it is relevant to them.

Keep up your records

Reports should never be last minute. Should the worst happen and you have to be out of the office for a time, it is important that things are left in a position where someone else would be able to take over easily and continue those reports. Or, that on your return, you will not be too far behind. This can also prove helpful in future projects where the scope is similar and can even save you time in the long run.

Maintaining ongoing documentation can also help to support organisational memory. Research suggests that those teams which implement strong documentation practices do in fact complete projects 28% faster because they spend significantly less time searching for important information or recreating context that they have lost. Good recordkeeping can also help reduce the amount of onboarding time that is needed for new team members. They can quickly get up to speed by reviewing past reports.

Reports should be high-level

Your report should include:

• Overall goals
• Benefits
• Health and progress of the project

It should use high-level snapshots and information before going into greater detail.

High level reporting is of particular importance when it comes to those fast-paced environments where stakeholders may only skim the document. The average stakeholder spends less than five minutes reviewing a report for a project, so clarity and brevity are vital. The use of visual tools such as RAG statuses, progress boards or dashboards, can help to significantly improve comprehension of reports.

In addition to this, it is really important to ensure that your reports are consistent in timescale, so everyone knows when to expect them. All information that they contain should also be validated. Failure to do so could result in the loss of credibility.

Reports do not need to be complicated. In fact, there is a lot to be said for simplifying them as this will make it easier for everyone to access them.

It is important to remember that simplicity can also help reduce cognitive load. When there are unnecessary details cluttering reports then there is a good chance that stakeholders will miss some of the most important insights that they contain. A good rule to stick to is to only include information that will directly support any decision-making. It is much better if everything else is placed in an appendix or supporting document where it can easily be found but where it doesn’t get in the way of the most important information. .

Types of project report

There are 4 different types of project reports:

1.    Project status reports

These give a snapshot of the project and help to improve tracking. This type of report should include key highlights, project timeline completions, the status of the budget, any upcoming milestones and tasks, any items that need escalating, the key risks, mitigation plans and issues.

In project communication status reports are the backbone. Around 72% of organisations use their weekly status reports to help maintain alignment. When these are structured well, they can act as a great early warning system, which assists teams in identifying slippage before it becomes a critical issue. Including an escalation section that is clear makes sure that issues are neither buried nor overlooked.

2.   Resource report

This indicates who is doing what and when and can help identify areas of over or under allocation. This can help with future scheduling. Remember to include proper allocation of time for each project, blocked out time when individuals are not available, and also a risk plan for any critical resources.

One of the top contributors to delays in projects is resource mismanagement. When there is an uneven distribution of workload project teams experience significant bottlenecks which can have a negative impact on their projects. A resource report that is well designed can help to prevent burnout, improve forecasting accuracy, and also make sure that those tasks that are critical are properly staffed.

3.    Risk assessment matrix

This could help you to reduce the chances of project failure and is a quick and easy way to calculate the risks by making sure that you have a list of everything that could go wrong. It can also help when it comes to prioritising issues. The steps in creating this report include:

a.     Create a risk register

b.     Determine the likelihood, severity and impact of all of the risks.

Those organisations that actively track their risks are almost twice as likely to meet the objectives of their project. A risk matrix can help to transform uncertainty into structured insight. This allows teams to focus on those threats that matter most. It can also help to encourage proactive thinking, rather than reacting to problems, teams can instead anticipate them.

4.    Project post-mortem report

Holding a post-mortem meeting at the end of your project is standard practice. This will allow you and your team to look at all of the successes and failures of the project. It will give you a chance to reflect and ask what you should consider doing differently next time. This is something that you should do regardless of the size of your project.

Despite its value, only a very small proportion of companies actually conduct project post-mortem meetings. Those that do however report significantly higher performance in the long term. This is because those lessons that are learned are captured, shared, and then applied to other projects moving forwards. A project postmortem is not about assigning blame, but rather about building a culture of continuous improvement, where mistakes can be used as a learning point.

Learning Lessons from the project post-mortem report

Your post-mortem meeting is something that will help when it comes to compiling your report. You should start by sending out questionnaires before the meeting. This will allow team members to offer their feedback and will also help them to prepare for the meeting. These questionnaires will not only help you formulate how to tackle the meeting but can also be important at the report writing stage.

Anonymous questionnaires can often yield far more honest insights, particularly when it comes to issues surrounding communication or process inefficiencies. They can also help by giving quieter members of a team a proper chance to contribute in a meaningful way without the pressure that comes from speaking up in a group setting.

This should be a more organised meeting; you will have a lot to go through, and it is important to be able to get the most value from the time.

Your report should look to include things like a brief project recap – those things that were needed from the project, and an outcome recap – the things that actually happened. It may also include some stakeholder input from individuals who were involved in the project at a ground level.

Remember that it is important to take notes at your meeting as there may be relevant information that is given that could be important for your report. You don’t need to document every word that is said, but notes will certainly help later. This report is an important way of closing off your project and gives you a reference point in the future that could help with other projects that have a similar scope.

A project post-mortem report that is well-structured can become an incredibly powerful asset to your organisation. Over time, these reports can assist you in forming a comprehensive knowledge library that will help your teams to avoid repeating mistakes moving forward. It will also enable you to accelerate on-boarding when it comes to new project managers. Many global high-performing organisations maintain a central repository of the lessons that they have learnt from previous projects. This can help them to significantly reduce the planning time that is needed for new projects by as much as 20%.