how to make progress report presentation

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Progress Report: How to Write, Structure, and Make Project Progress Visually Attractive

Picture this: Days or weeks into a project, your supervisor asks for a progress report.

Depending on your experience with writing progress reports, you might respond with readiness, anxiety, or confusion. Where do you begin? How do you know you’ve created a satisfactory or even amazing final report? Fear not—the expert team here at Piktochart is here to help.

In this progress reporting guide, we’ll not only give you top tips on how to write a successful report but additionally provide you with progress report templates and checklists to keep you focused on the important stuff. We begin, of course, with the all-important question anyone from a newbie to even a seasoned professional might have: “What is a progress report?”

Table of contents:

What is a progress report, why is a progress report important.

• How to write a progress report
• How to structure a progress report
• Free progress report templates you can edit right away

Progress report checklist

In case you prefer watching over reading, feel free to check out the video summary of this blog post:

A progress report is exactly what it sounds like—a document using simple and straightforward language that explains in detail what has been achieved and what else is needed for project completion. Essentially this document is a status update before the final report, outlining tasks completed by a team member, project manager, or team, along with what else needs to be done.

W hether you need to provide daily progress reports or even quarterly progress reports, this asset outlines the activities you’ve carried out, the tasks you’ve completed, and the milestones you’ve reached vis-à-vis your project plan .

Depending on the scope and complexity of the project, you might need to give a progress report weekly or monthly or for every 25% project milestone.

In terms of audience, a progress report is typically written for a supervisor, colleague, or client. Progress reports can be written from the perspective of one person as well as an entire team or department.

Throughout your career, you’re likely to be creating more reports than you can count (challenge for you: count them and find how many resources you’re using!).

Perhaps you find yourself spending more time crunching data and plugging numbers into graphs than actually working.

Reports don’t have to be as time-consuming as they often are. Progress report templates are time-savers! Get your free Piktochart account so you can follow along as we share more templates below.

We also tapped into the brilliance of Kevan Lee of Buffer in this interactive content experience to help you with your progress report projects.

Dive right in here, and learn some reporting hacks from Kevan .

Sometimes it might feel like writing about your progress in detail is redundant, especially when you’ve been regularly communicating with your supervisor, teammates, and client throughout the course of the project. Like any project manager, you probably think there are more important things to work on.

But this type of professional report is actually quite useful for several reasons.

1. It gets everyone on the same page

Each person who receives a copy of the report will know what has been accomplished and what is remaining. This prevents confusion about what has been or has yet to be done. Additionally, it provides proof and data about the respective project that can be cited and sourced if and when questions arise in the future.

2. Writing progress reports facilitates collaboration

This is especially important when different teams or departments work together. Knowing what another team is prioritizing helps prevent working in silos and also reduces task redundancy. Additionally, progress reporting helps a team identify areas where it can offer help or collaborate with others.

When teams can track progress on where other teams are on the project timeline, project managers get a better idea of the current status. They can reassign resources to make sure everyone is on track to hit the deadline for the current project, which can be tricky if you’re managing remote teams .

If you’d like to learn more about how you can work together with your team on a report, sign up for a free Piktochart account and try our online report maker .

3. It improves transparency and accountability by providing a paper trail

When you submit your report, you’ve placed on record that you’ve accomplished a task or explained why your results were different than expected. Once the document has been accepted, it becomes part of the project’s official documentation.

So, just in case someone accuses you in the future of failing to accomplish a task or not reporting a problem, you can point to the progress report as proof that you did so.

On the flip side, if your project ever gets nominated for an award, you can be sure validators will come seeking documents that explain how the entire thing was accomplished.

4. It improves project evaluation and review

Next time you plan for a project, your team can examine documents, including progress reports, of previous projects to find out what was done right, what went wrong, and what can be improved.

Previous reports can shed light on systemic issues, loopholes, and other causes of delay or failure—both internal and external—that must be avoided or resolved.

5. It provides insights for future planning

When the supervisor knows what tasks have been accomplished, he or she can focus on monitoring progress toward the next stages of the project.

When a report shows that delays have occurred, the supervisor is able to investigate the problems that hindered progress and take steps to prevent them from happening again in the future.

The supervisor will also be able to adjust the project timeline if absolutely needed or instruct teams to double down.

Ultimately, all the valuable insights from the project documentation can increase the chance of success for future projects.

Here is a progress report format example:

How to write progress report s

Have you ever found yourself stuck tapping your pen or staring at a blinking cursor, unable to begin writing?

Writer’s block is not an unusual experience when creating progress reports, especially for those whose jobs typically don’t involve drafting a long document or creating a formal report.

One reason people may find it difficult to write these reports is the thought that they’re not ‘writers.’ Yet, this is simply a negative mindset.

Reports don’t require sophisticated language—in fact, the simpler, the better.

Here are some writing tips on progress reporting:

“Piktochart is my go-to tool when I’m looking for a way to summarize data that is easy for our upper management to review. Piktochart provides me with the tools to display data in a creative, visually appealing way.” – Erica Barto, Selection, Testing & Assessment Specialist at Valero Energy Corporation Create a report, presentation, infographic, or other visuals online with Piktochart. You don’t need any graphic design experience to make professional visual content. Sign up for free .

1. Think of it as a Q&A

Before you start worrying about your reporting frequency and whether you should provide monthly reports or weekly reports, take a step back and focus on the purpose of the report itself.

In essence, the reporting process comes down to Q&A; you’re answering key questions about your progress. Imagine your manager, colleagues, or client asking you their most important questions, and you’re simply providing them with answers on the project status.

For example, let’s say that you’re organizing a weekend fair with food stalls and music and that you’re put in charge of food concessions.

The project plan might require you to have secured letters of intent (LOI) from at least 10 businesses by the end of the first month.

Your progress report would then outline the companies or entrepreneurs who have sent LOIs, including a description of their businesses and plans for their food stalls. If talks are in progress with other businesses that haven’t yet sent LOIs, you can include that and explain when they’re expected to send in their letters.

On the other hand, if you haven’t met your target, you’d have to explain why but also narrate the efforts you have exerted and the expected timeline for achieving the desired results.

2 . Use simple and straightforward language

This doesn’t mean you can’t use technical jargon.

For example, if you’re in the construction business, you don’t have to avoid using terms like “tender” or “variation” or “risk management.”

But otherwise, speak plainly. Use clear and concise language.

One misconception in business writing is that complexity impresses. In truth, it only causes confusion. Fact is, being able to speak plainly about your subject indicates that you understand your subject matter inside out.

Let’s get specific. One thing that makes business documents dreary is the transformation of verbs into nouns—just like I did there.

If we had to rephrase that to keep the verb, we’d write, “transforming verbs into nouns.” It sounds simpler and gets to the point.

3 . Avoid using the passive voice where possible

Sometimes, you can’t avoid using the passive voice in formal documents that prohibit the first-person point-of-view. But when done well, it helps to make your progress reports more relatable.

Going back to the food concession example, a passive sentence would read: “Research on potential food concessionaires was carried out.”

To make that sentence active, give it an actor (which is the team in this case), as in: “The team researched on potential food concessionaires.”

4. Be specific

A study published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience found that when you use concrete words, you tend to engage both the left and right parts of the brain, while the right region tends to remain unstimulated by abstract words.

While the jury is still out on exactly how word meanings are represented in the mind, we can agree that the phrase “a merry sound” doesn’t stir the imagination as much as “tinkling bells”.

“A hot day” doesn’t activate visual imagery as much as “a melting popsicle” does. When a reader’s mind is stimulated by words, it’s less likely to drift off.

Taking the previous example, “researched on potential food concessionaires” doesn’t evoke a visual image. Meanwhile, “built a list of 50 potential food concessionaires” is more concrete, especially when you add details of what food items might be sold.

5. Explain jargon if needed

This depends on who will be reading your progress reports, and if you’re using very specialized jargon that only members of your team would be familiar with.

For example, in a report written by a construction team addressed to the project manager , construction jargon could be used as the recipient obviously understands it.

6. Spell out acronyms when they first occur in the document

Don’t assume that every single person reading the report will understand all the acronyms you use without you spelling them out.

For instance, in construction work, SWMS should first be spelled out as “safe work method statement”. ‘Pre-starts’ should be spelled out as ‘pre-start checks’. So in your report, it would look like this: “safe work method statement (SWMS)”, then all subsequent references are free to just be SWMS.

7. Stick to facts

Avoid providing an opinion, unless it’s part of the project.

For instance, your task might be to analyze data and offer your interpretation and prediction. In that case, you can offer your speculation and point of view, as long as you have evidence to back you up.

8. Use graphics to supplement the text

Avoid writing down a long series of numbers in a sentence. Try using different types of graphs , tables or charts, especially when dealing with a series of numbers.

Here at Piktochart, we have many progress report templates, and the hiring progress report below is a great example.

When using graphs or charts, try out several types to determine which ones best present your data. You might use a bar graph , pie chart , line graph , or even scatter plot . When doing so, though, spend time distinguishing different data sets from the others by using labels and colors.

Don’t worry if this sounds daunting—there are plenty of software that can help you visualize data , including the most basic examples, MS Excel and Numbers for Mac.

How to structure progress report s

You may still be wondering about the exact process of how to write a progress report. Armed with all of these practical tips, how do you put the report together?

First, it depends on the type of report, as well as the intended reader. A progress report may be written daily, weekly, or monthly. It may be written for an individual or a team.

As you’ll see in the examples below, the main parts of a progress report are:

1. Introduction

This part provides an overview of the contents of the progress report. It’s best to write this after you’ve completed all the other parts of the report. That way, you’ll be able to provide an accurate summary.

Keep it short and simple. One or two paragraphs will do.

2. Accomplishments

Numbers and details are your friends, especially when writing this section of the progress report. The accomplishments you write should correspond to your goals.

What were your goals for the period covered by the report?

This could be a goal for the day, week, month, or quarter. On the other hand, it could be a team goal, too.

Be concrete when writing goals. For instance:

Avoid providing too much detailed information. The simpler this section is, the easier it is for stakeholders and the project team to see the project priorities.

4. Roadblocks

Explain what situations, if any, prevented you from achieving your goals, or may have hindered the project’s progress.

But don’t stop there. Be proactive and present an action plan and timeline for resolving the roadblocks. Include details, such as funds, materials, and human resources you may need to implement the solution.

Progress reporting templates you can edit right away

To guide you better, here are progress report template examples that are visually attractive and highly readable.

These templates are available if you sign up for a free Piktochart account . Once you log in, use any of the templates below and edit the elements and text to make it your own.

1. Daily progress report s

A daily progress report includes your goals for the day, as well as your accomplishments the previous day. It also explains challenges encountered in performing tasks and achieving goals.

Another section under the daily report is ‘lessons learned’. These need to be directly related to the day’s tasks and challenges, as well as to the previous day’s accomplishments.

2. Weekly progress report

Weekly progress reports provide a week-by-week breakdown of what has been accomplished and what tasks remain to be completed.

Just like a daily report, a weekly progress report may include challenges and lessons learned. Examples are included in the templates below.

To get a better idea of this, let’s go back to the events example:

• Many potential vendors were attending a week-long industry convention; couldn’t book meetings.
• Potential vendors didn’t read the entire email.

Lessons Learned

• Consider industry events when planning a timeline for contacting clients
• Introductory emails must be short and have readable formatting

3. Monthly progress report ing

A monthly report is necessary for projects with longer durations. The report may provide both monthly and quarterly data on project progress.

4. Team progress report s

Team progress reports provide information on both team and individual milestones and progress status. Now this one is more complicated, simply because it involves several people who may have worked on different tasks.

It’s not enough to just let one person make the report. Of course, one person can do the typing, but everyone must provide input and feedback.

One way to keep a record of different team members’ input is to keep track of edits they have made.

To do this, simply enable tracking of changes on a Word document, or on Pages for Mac users. When working on a collaborative tool like Google Docs , click the pencil icon on the top-right part of the window, and choose “Edits become suggestions” on the drop-down menu. Here’s what that looks like:

On the other hand, team members can insert comments or questions. Again, you can do this easily on a Word document, as well as on software that let you comment on shared documents, like Google Docs and Piktochart .

Here’s what it looks like in Piktochart (learn more about this feature in our guide to annotated comments for teams ):

Here’s one example of Piktochart’s many team project report templates .

One last thing… You’ve finally finished typing up your report—breathe a sigh of relief, but don’t hit ‘send’ just yet.

Go over it at least once (better to do it more than once, especially if it’s a team report). Re-read the article, edit the content as needed, then ask a teammate to proofread with a fresh pair of eyes.

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Top 10 Progress Status Report Templates with Samples and Examples (Free PDF Attached)

Hanisha Kapoor

It is that dreaded time of the week again when you need to dig through spreadsheets and cajole or coerce team members to send across their (correctly) formatted work reports. You skim through emails, skype messages and, god knows what, to collect information on goals accomplished and pending.

And, Heaven forbid! If you miss any important detail in your progress report, you run the risk of being branded careless or not diligent enough.

Progress! we all love it. Yet, reporting on progress is not that easy, as you will have guessed by now, we hope! It is such a chore to place and patch every piece of relevant information scattered around at the workplace in a meaningful project progress status report.

Prioritize the delivery of dependencies in a project that need your immediate attention using our ready-made project dependency matrix PPT templates .

All of this leaves you exhausted and wishing that you will have been better-off taking that leave, than dealing with preparing progress status reports.

Yet, despite its surface difficulty, preparing progress status report is a happy task, as it signals the management’s trust in you.

All you need is a comprehensive progress report to add and compile your data in one sheet.

Is it possible?

Yes, it is!

A project progress status report provides your clients and team members with a snapshot of where you are in a project, issues plaguing execution, and where you are projected to reach, based on past and present trends. A well-written project report helps the audience understand whether the project is on track, at risk, or is off to a tangent. Thus, create a project progress status report to make you (and everyone else around you) feel confident.

Want a detailed snapshot of project status reports? Read this exclusive blog featuring project status reports templates to provide your management with regular updates on tasks.

With SlideTeam’s actionable PowerPoint Templates, you can keep tabs on tasks and outline an extensive project progress status report for your management and seniors. These PPT slides are customizable and ready to use. All you need to do is download and add data to the templates for a comprehensive project progress status report.

Without further ado, let us walk you through a fantastic collection of progress status report PPT Templates!

Let’s dig in!

Template 1: Project Key Phases Progress Status Report PPT Template

Provide your seniors and team leads a snapshot of the project progress report with this content-ready PowerPoint Template. This well-designed PPT Design helps you showcase the project summary along with project phases, progress, status, and completion date. It also comprises a section to highlight delayed tasks. Deploy this actionable PowerPoint Diagram to monitor project execution. Download now!

Download this template

Template 2: Weekly Progress Status Report PowerPoint Slide

This is a ready-made PowerPoint Template to consolidate your weekly work reports in one sheet. Use this content-ready PPT Design and add tasks on the left mapped to their progress graph on the right side of the template. This illustration eases your work and lets you communicate accomplished and pending goals. Download now!

Grab this slide

Template 3: Task Status Report PowerPoint Template

Here is another ready-to-use PowerPoint Template to project work progress report. Incorporate this well-structured PPT design and list all tasks in the sheet to showcase their progress. You can also add employee names in the template to provide clarity to your seniors. Showcase their priority level, completion rate, and more to inform your stakeholders and clients about their project journey. You can add additional notes to the presentation template. Download now!

Template 4: Project Status Report PPT Diagram

Wish to compile project growth data in one sheet? Use this polished and appealing PPT template to update your management on project progress. This PPT Slide comprises sections to help you present milestones, overall status, risks, and more. You can also pen down the program name, project scope, and benefits to help your clients comprehend the task. This PowerPoint Slide gives you the capability to highlight project status in vibrant colors to grab your team members’ attention. Download now!

Template 5: Project Progress Report PowerPoint Template

It’s time to stop struggling with skimming through emails, text messages, and spreadsheets to create a project progress report. Get access to this actionable PowerPoint Template and draft a comprehensive progress status report highlighting the project summary, budget, delivery date, etc. Showcase tasks on track and those running off-track with this PPT template to speed up the process. Click the link below to download this template.

Template 6: Progress Status Report with Task Status PowerPoint Slide

This PowerPoint Diagram comprises in-built charts, graphs, and a timeline to exhibit project stages: Showcase project tasks status and reasons for delay with this PPT design. Discuss risks, threats, and gaps and provide solutions to combat the issues using this PowerPoint diagram. This flexible presentation template will provide your management with an accurate progress status report. Download now!

Template 7: Project Status Report PPT Template

Here is another PowerPoint Template to help you outline an extensive project progress summary report. Use this PPT slide to walk your client through the project journey from initiation to accomplishment. Highlight tasks that are on priority, the risk associated, and the cost. Download this ready-made PowerPoint Template, update your management with the overall progress status report, and grab their attention towards processes that require their intervention.

Template 8: Work Progress Status Report PowerPoint Diagram

Nothing is more frustrating than consolidating work reports to showcase accomplished or pending tasks. To save you time and effort, bringing you a content-ready PowerPoint Template to outline an exclusive progress status report that highlights processes, their priority level, status, completion rate, slippage, etc. Customize this ready-made presentation template and create a professional progress status report that will give you great recall value. Download now!

Template 9: One-page Job Progress Status Report PPT Template

This content-ready one-pager PowerPoint Template is a top-notch choice to compile your work reports in one sheet and showcase project growth. It helps you highlight targets, tasks completed, progress per department, etc. This PowerPoint slide also comprises a section to help you, present top performers. Grab this presentation template that meets all your professional needs and goals. Download now!

Template 10: One-page Project Progress Status Report PowerPoint Template

Deploy this well-structured one-page PowerPoint Template to inform your clients and stakeholders of project progress. This PPT Slide draws the management’s attention to urgent issues. Showcase progress made during the previous week and planned future deliverables using this content-ready presentation template. Download now!

Grab this template

Reporting has always been a vital process in project management. Supporting your work reports with relevant data and progress status is essential. You cannot just convey mission-critical information verbally or on a piece of paper. They need to be written down, secure and presented in an impactful way to help management take important decisions. Collate all critical data and give an update on how your project is doing with SlideTeam’s ready-made PPT Templates. You can access these custom-made, premium PowerPoint Slides from our monthly, semi-annual, annual, annual + custom design subscriptions here .

PS : Keep your customers pleased with the on-time delivery of your projects with our project schedule PPT Templates .

FAQs on Progress Status Report

What should be in a progress status report?

A progress status report summarizes the details of a project as it progresses along the timeline. It includes critical milestones and goals with defined deadlines. Project managers pen down the report with input from team leads and other team members. The project manager is expected to comprehend the project and be prepared to showcase progress on regular intervals. A comprehensive, written project status report must include:

• A summary of project details, including program and project name, launch date • A list of team members, stakeholders, and project owners • The status and completion dates • A summary of project scope and budget • Cross-project dependencies • Key issues, risks, and solutions

What are the essential aspects of a good progress status report?

A professional and appealing progress status report should showcase major work products and phases of a project to gauge progress. It should also consist of a critical milestone achieved over six-eight weeks with accomplished targets. A well-written project status report should be able to communicate project status to management and seniors. Below are some of the points that need to be taken care of while drafting an engaging project status report:

• Measuring status • Overall project status • Milestone status • Risk and Issues • Accomplishments • Key objectives and action items • Key decisions

What are the types of progress status reports?

Daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly are types of progress status reports. These work reports simplify the process of collecting and consolidating essential information and data on the project. Remember, each type of project report has a specific purpose and aim. Only projects that are mission-critical to the company will see a daily progress report being prepared. Some of these progress reports could also be linked to compliances that business rules mandate, though this is not their main role. especially in a bullish work environment. These progress report templates are meant to ensure that business owners are able to see and respond to bad news (if at all it comes) with alacrity and effective action.

Download the free Progress Status Report Templates PDF .

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How to Write a Solid Progress Report for Project Success

Progress reports are like project status updates that help everyone involved understand how things are going. Writing a solid progress report is crucial for keeping your project on track and ensuring its success. In this guide, we’ll break down the process of creating a great progress report, making it easy for you to communicate your project’s progress effectively. We have also included progress report templates for you to get started right away.

Progress Report Template

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What is a Progress Report

A progress report is a document that provides an overview of the status, advancements, and achievements of a project or task. It typically outlines what has been accomplished, what is currently in progress, and any challenges or obstacles encountered. Progress reports are commonly used in various settings, such as work, education, or personal projects, to keep stakeholders informed about the project’s developments and to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding the current state of affairs.

Progress Report Templates to Keep Track of Project Progress

Daily Progress Report Template

Project Status Report Template

Project Status Summary

Project Dashboard Template

Project Status Summary Template

Why You Need to Use a Progress Report

A progress report promotes a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement in project management. Here are several reasons why a progress report is important.

Clear communication: Keeps everyone on the same page by sharing what’s happening in a project.

Tracking achievements: Highlights what has been successfully completed, boosting team morale.

Problem-solving: Identifies and addresses challenges, helping to find solutions and stay on track.

Decision-making: Provides real-time information for informed decision-making during the project.

Accountability: Holds team members responsible for their tasks and deadlines.

Learning and improvement: Creates a record of progress, facilitating learning for future projects.

Efficiency: Keeps the team working efficiently by preventing confusion and misunderstandings.

Collaboration: Encourages collaboration and coordination among team members.

Key Components of a Progress Report

The following components of a progress report collectively provide a comprehensive view of the project’s progress, challenges, and future plans, enabling effective communication and decision-making.

• Introduction : Brief overview of the project, including its purpose and objectives.
• Work completed : Summary of tasks or milestones achieved since the last report.
• Work in progress : Description of current activities, tasks underway, and their status.
• Challenges and issues : Identification and discussion of any problems, roadblocks, or challenges faced.
• Achievements : Recognition and celebration of significant accomplishments and milestones.
• Upcoming tasks : Outline of the next steps, tasks, or milestones planned for the future.
• Timeline and schedule : Review or adjustment of the project timeline or schedule, if necessary.
• Budget overview : Overview of the project’s financial status, including spendings and any budget changes.
• Recommendations : Suggestions for improvements or changes to improve project efficiency.
• Conclusion : A brief summary and conclusion, often including an overall project status assessment.

Challenges of Creating and Using a Progress Report

While project reports are handy for keeping track of project progress, they can pose some challenges.

Time-consuming: Writing a progress report can take time away from actual project work.

Communication issues: Making sure that everyone understands the report may be challenging.

Data accuracy: Getting accurate information for the report can sometimes be difficult.

Overlooking details: Important details may be unintentionally left out.

Balancing detail and brevity: Finding the right level of detail without making the report too lengthy can be tricky.

Tracking complex projects: Managing and reporting progress for complex projects may pose a challenge.

Ensuring regular updates: Getting everyone to consistently update progress can be a hurdle, especially in dynamic work environments.

Best Practices for Creating an Effective Progress Report

Creating an effective progress report involves following some best practices:

• Keep your report clear and straightforward, avoiding jargon or overly complex language.
• Highlight the most important information, emphasizing achievements and addressing challenges.
• Use a consistent format and structure for easy comprehension.
• Submit reports on time to make sure that the information is relevant and up-to-date.
• Provide enough detail to convey the message, but avoid unnecessary information that may overwhelm.
• Use charts or diagrams to visually represent data and trends for better understanding.
• Include potential solutions when discussing challenges, promoting a proactive approach.

Create Your Next Progress Report with Creately

Simplify the process of creating progress reports and streamline project management, communication, and improve overall project success with Creately ’s visual collaboration platform.

Task tracking and assignment

Use the built-in project management tools to create, assign, and track tasks right on the canvas. Assign responsibilities, set due dates, and monitor progress with Agile Kanban boards, Gantt charts, timelines and more. Create task cards containing detailed information, descriptions, due dates, and assigned responsibilities.

Notes and attachments

Record additional details and attach documents, files, and screenshots related to your tasks and projects with per item integrated notes panel and custom data fields. Or easily embed files and attachments right on the workspace to centralize project information. Work together on project documentation with teammates with full multiplayer text and visual collaboration.

Real-time collaboration

Get any number of participants on the same workspace and track their additions to the progress report in real-time. Collaborate with others in the project seamlessly with true multi-user collaboration features including synced previews and comments and discussion threads. Use Creately’s Microsoft Teams integration to brainstorm, plan, run projects during meetings.

Pre-made templates

Get a head start with ready-to-use progress report templates and other project documentation templates available right inside the app. Explore 1000s more templates and examples for various scenarios in the community.

Comprehensive shape libraries

Create any visual aid from flowcharts to timelines with comprehensive shape libraries for over 70 types of diagrams including icons. Illustrate or make annotations easily with freehand drawing and format text without leaving the keyboard with markdown shortcuts.

Progress reports are indispensable in project management. They foster communication, accountability, and a culture of continuous improvement. Make use of the progress report templates we have provided to track your progress and stay organized.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

More Related Articles

Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

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Progress Report: What is it & How to Write it? (+Examples)

Picture this: You're a project manager juggling multiple tasks, deadlines, and team members. Keeping the balance between different tasks is hard but very important.

Enter the progress report, your secret weapon in conquering chaos and ensuring smooth sailing.

But what exactly is a progress report, and how do you craft one effectively? In this blog post, I'll demystify progress reports and guide you through the process of writing one.

From daily progress reports to weekly progress reports, using practical progress report templates and a tried-and-true format.

What is a Progress Report?

A progress report is a vital tool in project management , designed to keep different types of stakeholders informed about the ongoing status of a project.

It's a concise document highlighting current achievements, challenges, and goals, allowing the project manager to track progress and make necessary adjustments.

Project progress reports are one of the most important types of project management reports . They help maintain transparency, communication, and accountability within a team, ensuring everyone is on the same page. They also provide valuable insights for decision-makers, helping them gauge the project's overall health and success.

Here's what you can expect to find in a typical progress report:

• Project Overview: A brief summary of the project's objectives and scope.
• Current Status: A snapshot of where the project stands regarding completed tasks, milestones reached, and overall progress.
• Challenges and Issues: Any technical difficulties, resource constraints, or personnel issues.
• Next Steps: The immediate tasks and goals on the horizon and how the team plans to tackle them.
• Progress Report Format: The layout of the report can vary depending on the organization's preferences or industry standards.

Writing a progress report can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. You'll create a valuable document that keeps everyone informed and aligned by breaking it down into manageable sections and using clear, concise language.

Embrace the progress report writing skill and watch your team's productivity and communication soar.

Why are Progress Reports Important?

Progress reports play a vital role in project management, serving as a communication tool to keep stakeholders updated. Let's delve into why progress reports are crucial for the success of any project or business.

Transparency and Accountability

Progress reports eliminate ambiguity and promote transparency. By regularly sharing project updates with stakeholders, the project team is held accountable for their work. This accountability ensures everyone is on track to meet the project milestones and objectives.

Identify Potential Issues Early

Progress reports help identify potential problems before they escalate. Team members can spot bottlenecks, delays, and other issues by examining project data and analyzing the progress report.

Early detection enables the team to take prompt action and prevent these issues from derailing the project.

Effective Decision-Making

Armed with accurate and timely information from progress reports, project managers and stakeholders can make informed decisions.

When a project progresses smoothly, management can allocate resources more efficiently or plan for future phases. On the other hand, if a project encounters challenges, swift decisions can be made to reallocate resources or change course.

Maintaining Momentum

A progress report's important aspect is maintaining momentum. When team members see their progress documented and shared, it fosters a sense of accomplishment and motivation.

This positive reinforcement encourages teams to keep pushing forward and maintain their productivity.

Improved Communication and Collaboration

Progress reports facilitate better communication and collaboration among team members. By sharing updates and insights, the entire team stays informed, reducing the chances of miscommunication or misunderstandings.

Moreover, progress reports provide a platform for team members to ask questions, provide feedback, and offer support.

Performance Tracking

Business progress reports, such as quarterly, monthly, or annual progress reports, help track performance over time.

By comparing past reports, management can gauge the business's overall health and identify trends or patterns. This historical data can inform future strategies and drive continuous improvement.

How to Write a Progress Report

Step 1: define the purpose.

The first step in writing a progress report is understanding its purpose. Progress reports inform stakeholders about the project's status, including what has been accomplished, any challenges encountered, and future planning. This allows project managers to keep everyone in the loop and make informed decisions.

The purpose of this monthly progress report is to update the management team on the project's status. It presents an overview of completed tasks, in-progress tasks, upcoming tasks, and any challenges faced during the reporting period. This report will also provide insight into key performance metrics and future planning .

Step 2: Know Your Audience

Determine who will read the progress report. Is it for higher-ups, clients, or team members? Tailor the language, tone, and level of detail accordingly.

Step 3: Set the Timeframe

Decide the reporting period – weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Choose a timeframe that best suits your project's pace and stakeholder expectations.

Step 4: Collect Information

Gather data on tasks completed, team members involved, and any obstacles faced. Consult previous progress reports, project documentation , and team members for accurate information.

Step 5: Organize Content

Break down the report into logical sections. Here’s what we suggest:

• Summary: A brief overview of the report's contents.
• Completed Tasks: List tasks accomplished during the reporting period.
• In-Progress Tasks: Describe ongoing tasks and their current status.
• Upcoming Tasks: Outline tasks scheduled for the next reporting period.
• Challenges: Discuss any obstacles encountered and how they were addressed.
• Key Metrics: Highlight key project performance indicators and progress towards goals.
• Future Planning: Discuss plans for the next reporting period and any adjustments needed.

Step 6: Write the Summary

Craft a concise summary that provides a snapshot of the report. Mention key achievements, challenges, and plans for the future. Keep it brief but informative.

This progress report covers our team's accomplishments during Q1, with a particular focus on the completion of the website redesign and the initiation of our social media marketing campaign. We've encountered some challenges in coordinating with external vendors, but we've implemented solutions to overcome those obstacles .

Step 7: Detail Completed Tasks

List all tasks completed during the reporting period. Include the following information:

• Task description
• Team members involved
• Start and end dates
• Any relevant metrics (e.g., hours spent, budget used)
• Task 1 – Implement a user login system.
• Team members: Jeff and Sarah.
• Start date: January 1st.
• End date: January 15th.
• Metrics: 98% successful login rate.

Step 8: Discuss In-Progress Tasks

Outline ongoing tasks, their current status, and expected completion dates. Explain any delays and their impact on the project timeline .

• Task 2 – Develop a mobile app.
• Current status: 70% completed.
• Expected completion date: February 15th.

Step 9: Describe Upcoming Tasks

Identify tasks scheduled for the next reporting period. Provide details such as:

• Assigned team members
• Estimated start and end dates
• Dependencies on other tasks
• Task 3 – Launch marketing campaign.
• Assigned team members: Anas and Mark.
• Estimated start date: February 16th.
• Estimated end date: March 1st.
• Dependencies: Completion of mobile app development.

Step 10: Address Challenges

Discuss any challenges encountered during the reporting period. Describe how they were resolved or any plans to address them in the future.

• Challenge 1 – Unforeseen technical issues causing delays.
• Resolution: Increased resources and adjusted project timeline to accommodate the additional time required.

Step 11: Present Key Metrics

Highlight key project management performance indicators and progress toward project goals. Use visuals like charts or graphs to make the data more digestible.

• Metric 1 – User registration rate.
• Current status: 500 new users per week.
• Target goal: 1,000 new users per week.

Step 12: Plan for the Future

Discuss plans for the next reporting period, including any adjustments required. This may involve reallocating resources, revising timelines, or redefining objectives.

In the next reporting period, our focus will shift to improving user retention and engagement. We plan to implement new features based on user feedback and optimize the onboarding process.

Step 13: Proofread and Revise

Review the report for clarity, accuracy, and readability. Ensure all information is presented in a clear, concise manner.

Step 14: Submit the Report

Submit the progress report to the relevant stakeholders, ensuring they have ample time to review and provide feedback.

Example Progress Report Template

Use this template as a starting point for your progress report:

By following these steps and guidelines, you'll be well-equipped to write an effective progress report that keeps stakeholders informed and drives project success. Clear communication is key to maintaining momentum and ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Examples of Progress Reports

1. business progress report.

A business progress report helps track company growth, accomplishments, and areas for improvement. It includes:

• Revenue and sales figures.
• Market trends and competition.
• Operational efficiency.
• Employee performance.
• Goals and milestones achieved.

2. Quarterly Progress Reports

These reports offer a snapshot of a project or business every three months. They cover:

• Major achievements.
• Challenges faced and solutions.
• Key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Updated project timeline.
• Budget status.

3. Monthly Progress Reports

Monthly progress reports provide more frequent updates on projects or departments. They highlight:

• Accomplishments and setbacks.
• Progress towards monthly goals.
• Resource utilization.
• Issues and risks.
• Action items for the upcoming month.

4. Project Status

Project status reports focus on a specific project's progress. They showcase:

• Project documentation updates.
• Completed tasks and upcoming deliverables.
• Risks and issues encountered.
• Team members' performance.
• Changes to project scope or timeline.

5. Personal Progress

Personal progress reports help individuals track their growth and development. They include:

• Personal goals and objectives.
• Achievements and lessons learned.
• Skill development and training.
• Performance feedback.
• Areas for improvement and action plans.

Best Practices for Writing Progress Reports

Know Your Target Audience

When you create a progress report, start by identifying your target audience . Project stakeholders, team members, and future decision-makers should all benefit from your report.

Write in such a way that it is easy for them to understand. Avoid technical jargon and explain industry-specific language so everyone stays on the same page.

Reporting Frequency and Dates

Establish a reporting frequency for your progress reports. Whether weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, maintain consistency. Include report dates and the expected completion date of the current project to provide a clear timeline.

Stick to the Project's Scope

Focus on the project's scope and stay within the project's purpose. Don't digress or include unrelated details. A concise report ensures that readers remain engaged and informed.

Review Previous Reports

Refer to the previous report to identify any changes or developments. Highlight the work completed, project deliverables , and any updates to the project plan. Doing so will maintain continuity and keep stakeholders informed about the department's progress.

Prioritize and Organize

Arrange project priorities logically, focusing on the most critical aspects first. Organize the information in a clear, easy-to-follow format. Use headings, subheadings, and bullet points for better readability.

Be Transparent About Problems

Don't shy away from discussing problems or challenges. Addressing issues helps stakeholders understand the project's status and any hurdles that may affect successful completion. Offer potential solutions or workarounds to demonstrate proactive thinking.

Back Up Progress with Relevant Data

Use relevant data to support your progress. Figures, charts, and percentages can provide a quick overview of the project's status. Make sure your data is accurate, up-to-date, and presented in an easy-to-understand format.

Highlight Team Member Contributions

Acknowledge team members who have made significant contributions to the project. This recognition boosts morale and encourages continued excellence.

Include Future Projections

Discuss what's next for the project, such as upcoming tasks or milestones. This helps stakeholders understand the trajectory of the project and anticipate the work ahead.

Keep it Simple and Actionable

Present complex ideas in a simple, easy-to-understand language. Break down complicated concepts into manageable chunks. Offer actionable insights and practical takeaways, so stakeholders can quickly grasp the project details.

Establish a Database

Create a database to store all progress reports. This repository helps stakeholders access past reports and provides valuable insights for future projects. It also ensures that information is preserved and easily accessible when needed.

Proofread and Edit

Before sharing your progress report, proofread and edit for clarity, consistency, and accuracy. This step ensures that your report is polished, professional, and easy to understand.

Progress Reporting FAQs

A progress report is most valuable when you're working on a long-term project. It's a way to keep stakeholders updated on progress and share important insights.

The primary purpose of a progress report is to provide a clear and concise overview of a project's status. This includes: – Communicating progress toward goals – Identifying potential issues and solutions – Demonstrating accountability and commitment to the project – Providing a step-by-step guide of completed tasks and upcoming work – Offering visual aids, like charts and graphs, to illustrate data A well-crafted progress report keeps stakeholders informed and fosters collaboration. It's also valuable for maintaining momentum and motivation throughout the project.

Writing Progress Reports Does Not Need to Be Hard

So, you've reached the end of this blog post. You're now equipped with the knowledge and tools to make progress report writing a breeze. Remember, it doesn't have to be a daunting task.

Keep it simple, stick to the facts, and let your progress shine. Talk about what you achieved, any challenges you faced, and how you overcame them. Use a clear, concise, structured format to ensure your message is easily understood.

To simplify the process, check out our guide on project reporting tools .

Ask yourself:

• What are the key takeaways from this period?
• How can I best communicate the status of the project?
• Are there any challenges that need addressing?

Considering these questions will make your progress report informative, actionable, and engaging. And don't forget, practice makes perfect. The more progress reports you write, the easier and more efficient the process will become.

Explore Further

• Essential Components of Project Management
• Best Project Management Software 2023
• The Inspiring History of Project Management. How Did It Begin?
• 9 Essential Roles In Project Management

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

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Blog Business How to Write a Professional Progress Report 

How to Write a Professional Progress Report 

Written by: Daleska Pedriquez Jun 28, 2022

The first time I had to do a professional progress report, I panicked. I didn’t know where to begin my report or what to include. So I did some research and asked my co-workers for advice. 

I’m glad I did because they shared some useful tips on how to create a progress report . They also pointed me toward a ton of progress report templates to use as a starting point.

Now, I’ve filled out countless progress reports and learned some valuable lessons along the way. So, gather around everyone! I’ll show you the magic of using progress reports for your business, including how to incorporate data visualization.

Let’s get started!

Click to jump ahead:

What is a progress report?

Why are work progress reports important, what are the benefits of the project progress reports, how to write a progress report, 3 tips to write great reports, faqs about writing a professional progress report.

Let’s start with the basics. A progress report includes a detailed description of the current status of a project, as well as forecasts for the future. You can use this type of report to share insights on project status and performance. You may also project results and timelines based on the milestones your team has achieved and the challenges you’ve faced so far.

These reports often contain a summary of communications between a team member and a project manager. This helps stakeholders get a snapshot of how a project is progressing. 

Keep in mind: a progress report may be for your team alone, your company as a whole or your board of executives. Depending on the audience, you may want to include more or less granular information.

This may seem obvious, but reporting on progress is key for keeping your team on track. Consistent  project updates  will ensure everyone is working on the right tasks, at the right time. These reports also provide an opportunity for reflection…

What’s going well? What isn’t? Do the project objectives still make sense? Do they need adjusting? By taking the time to reflect  before  a project is finished, you’ll be able to catch any problems, adjust and increase your chances of success. 

Project progress reports offer several benefits to both project managers and stakeholders involved in a project. Here’s a closer look at the benefits of creating a professional progress report: 

Improves team collaboration 

As I mentioned, progress reports are all about keeping teams on the same page. Generally, everyone on your team would receive a copy of the report. That way, everyone can see what’s done and what remains to be done. 

This is also a good way to keep your team motivated during long projects. By reporting on everything that’s been accomplished, they can see just how far they’ve come.

In the initial phases of a project, your progress report may be as simple as a timeline. This type of report works well during the planning stages, too. For example, check out this weekly reporting template: 

You can customize this template however you need. Style the text, swap out the colors, add in your logo and voilà… you have a professionally branded report.

Guides decision-making throughout a project

Again, if you wait until the end of a project to reflect, you may miss opportunities to course-correct along the way. No  project plan  is perfect. There will always be unforeseen circumstances. A task that requires more time. A team member that drops out of the race… 

A progress report can help you deal with these hiccups. By proactively checking in on a project, you can make decisions about the best use of resources. Or even, whether you need to switch lanes entirely! 

Creates a detailed audit trail for all projects

While a progress report  isn’t  an audit, it does provide a record of all the work undertaken during a project. In other words, it’s useful if you or your company need to create an audit trail using project execution records.

Of course, progress reports are also useful if you’re answering to execs, giving updates to your fellow execs or simply referring back to the next time around. 

Take this quarterly project status report as an example. Using this template, you can share a high-level overview of a project with a simple progress bar featuring a clear percentage, or swap in any chart to depict progress. With Venngage’s editor, you just have to double-click on the chart and input the appropriate value.

Promotes transparency and accountability

Transparency and accountability are buzzwords in business, but with good reason. Without transparency, there’s no accountability. And without accountability, well, your project is going to be a slog. 

Progress reports are a great way to maintain transparency and accountability throughout a project. Not only can you see exactly who’s done (and doing) what, but you can also highlight the allocation of funding and resources, as well as results. 

Now that we’ve talked about the perks of using a progress report to  visualize your company’s projects , let’s dig into the good stuff. Here’s how to write a detailed progress report: 

1. Determine your report’s objectives

Of course, your report will have different objectives depending on the format. If you’re putting together a weekly report, those objectives may be tasks accomplished. You may also include notes about roadblocks or problems solved. 

A monthly or quarterly report will likely look at larger milestones instead and give a broader overview of the progress made on a project. This type of regular project evaluation may also compare progress to previous months. 

Pro tip: while designing in Venngage, you can create a new color scheme, or use one of the many automated color palettes available. If you’re on a business plan, you’ll also have access to  My Brand Kit , which allows you to upload logos, choose fonts and set color palettes. Then, you can easily apply your visual branding to every design.

2. Collect all your data

Once you’ve established your objectives, you can gather the necessary data to report on them. 

For example, with a weekly report, you may need to check in with your team members to get a status update on their tasks. With a monthly report, you may be able to pull results, in addition to a broader status update. 

Whatever claims you include in your report, just make sure you can back them up with data. If you’re saying a project is 90% complete, that percentage should be calculated based on real numbers, not estimates. 

In general, you’ll share a broader progress update on the first page of your report. Then, the following pages will show the supporting data. 

3. Perform a detailed data analysis

Now for the fun part. (Yup, I’m a data nerd.) 

Analyzing your data is the logical next step. I like to start by organizing my data into buckets. For example, I might have a bucket for tasks accomplished, outstanding tasks, blockers, budget and key learnings to date. 

Often, I’ll include a bucket for outstanding questions. And I analyze all of the above to identify patterns and make informed predictions.

Once you have all this information, make a note of which pieces of data can be visualized. Graphs, charts and other visuals help simplify complex data and reduce the amount of text you’ll need in your report. (More on visualizing your data in just a sec!) 

Pro tip: when creating a report in Venngage on a  Business Plan , you can collaborate in real-time with your team members and invite them to work on a design. You can also leave comments and get feedback, right on the platform. Alternatively, you can share your design online, via email or download a high-resolution PNG, PDF or interactive PDF. 

4. Outline and edit your report

Ah, the outline. I create an outline for everything I write, whether it’s a blog, business plan, or yes, a progress report. In my experience, it’s the best way to avoid writer’s block. With a detailed outline, you’ll never get stuck staring at a blank screen again. 

At this point, you know your objectives. You’ve collected and analyzed all your data. All that’s left is to  turn it into a story . 

I like to start with objectives and work my way backward. In my outline, I’ll cover objectives on the first page. Each one gets its own heading with supporting data underneath. I’ll also include a high-level description of my project on the first page. 

I like to organize the following sections by objective, too. This creates a natural hierarchy while keeping goals and objectives top of mind. 

5. Nail down the length of your report

Keep in mind that you don’t want your report to be the length of a bible! No one has the time or attention span for that. Here’s a quick rule of thumb: a progress report should be around two to three pages.

This should give you enough space to state your objectives, present supporting data, showcase progress and make any predictions. If your outline is more than three pages, have another look and see what you can trim. As all good writers know, sometimes you have to  kill your darlings . 

6. Design your report using visuals 

A picture is worth a thousand words — there’s a reason we’ve all heard this saying a thousand times! 

Engaging visuals  are the perfect way to turn dry data into meaningful, digestible statements. But you don’t have to create these visuals from scratch or hire a designer for that matter. By starting with one of  Venngage’s templates , you can simply customize the visuals to suit your needs.

For example, this project management status report template includes several images, charts and icons. You can swap out the images with your own or browse over three million high-quality, royalty-free photos to find something suitable. 

You can also change the icons to reflect your data. With Venngage, you get access to over 40,000 icons with thousands of diverse options to reflect a range of skin tones and cultural backgrounds. Plus, you can change the  charts to best represent your data . 

By using visuals in your design, you’ll break up walls of text and make your report both aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand. In the end, this will help you improve communication and impress any stakeholders involved. 

With Venngage’s  report maker , the design process is quick and easy. And best of all, you can do it all yourself — exactly the way you envisioned.

Related : 5 Best Report Creators for Businesses in 2022

7. Get feedback from your team 

Before sharing your final report, consider getting feedback from your team. 

They may have additional insights to share on a project’s progress. They can also help spot faulty data and prevent any embarrassing retractions down the line. This is also just good for morale. The more involved your team feels in a project, the more invested they’ll be. 

8. Finalize your report

Last step: proofreading.

Make sure to double-check everything, from spelling and grammar to project details and data visualizations. This step ties in with my point above. Getting a second pair of eyes to proofread your report is always a good idea. 

When you’ve been staring at something for weeks, it can be hard to catch mistakes. Your team members can look at your report with fresh eyes and share fresh insights.

In the data-heavy example above, a misplaced comma or rogue denominator could make all the difference. So don’t skip that final once over! At the end of the day, the goal is to create a report that’s as accurate as possible.

I’ve talked a lot about how to use visuals to create an engaging, full-featured progress report. But what about words, you ask? 

Keep these three quick tips in mind to breeze through the writing part, too: 

1. Stay focused

And I mean hyper-focused. 

Remember the first step in this guide: determine your report’s objectives. By staying focused on your objectives, you’ll avoid unnecessary tangents. Plus, you’ll have a lot less editing to do when it comes time to kill your darlings! 

If a point doesn’t tie back to your objectives, skip it. This will give your entire report a sense of direction. It will also help your team members digest and retain the information.

2. Discuss your objectives in a balanced manner

If you have multiple objectives, make sure you give each one its due. 

It’s true, one objective may be more important than the other. For example, you might dedicate more real estate to outlining project tasks than predicting future progress. Just make sure to weigh positive and negative data fairly. 

You don’t want a rose-colored report, so to speak. This will set unrealistic expectations and be more harmful than helpful down the line. Instead, use all the available data to share a balanced perspective in your progress report. 

3. Use a consistent reporting style

Reports are no place for flowery language. 

To make your report as effective as possible, use straightforward, simple language. Make sure to define any acronyms or technical terms at the beginning of your report. And remember the three Cs while you’re writing: be clear, concise and compelling.

What are the three types of progress reports?

There are three types of reports based on the time span they cover:

• Weekly: These reports typically cover a team member’s individual progress and how it affects the entire project.
• Monthly: These progress reports typically provide a broader overview of a project, including team member progress, methods and projections. Monthly reports are usually data-dependent and require more visuals than weekly reports.
• Quarterly: These detailed reports cover a three-month period. Quarterly reports include a lot more data and will require more visuals to make them digestible and engaging as a result. 

What are the qualities of a good progress report?

The qualities of a good progress report are: 

• Comprehensiveness: Provide a total overview of a project using clear objectives, simple language and a balanced ratio of text and images in your layout.
• Data-backed: Make sure your report includes accurate data that you’ve double-checked for any discrepancies.
• Rich in visuals: Leverage engaging visuals to break up the text in your report and turn your data into a compelling, easily digestible story.

Write a detailed professional progress report and achieve your goals

I know from personal experience that writing a progress report can be daunting at first. 

But with these tips and templates, I’m confident you can do it. So go ahead, give it a try.  Create a beautiful, raise-winning report  with Venngage for free. Just remember to clearly define your objectives first… and don’t skimp on visuals!

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How to prepare and write valid progress report for project?

What is a progress report.

The project status report summarizes your project progress compared to project plan milestones. It is a robust communication tool to keep everyone in the loop, synchronize people, and reach project goals as a result. A monthly email, progress report slides, or shared drive link is a typical frequency and format for spreading similar records.

There are several ways you can structure it and present it, and these are the most popular solutions:

• Word document;
• PowerPoint presentation;
• Excel table;
• Web-based platform page.

Read our previous article on presentation design trends in 2022/2023 to make your progress report even more attractive.

An attractive progress report on a project is usually sent to all project stakeholders: team members, steering committee members, sponsors, executives, end users, customer representatives, etc. In other words, you must send the report to anyone who touches the project scope and wants to receive the deliverable and progress updates.

One way to make your report is to send a ‘ do my presentation ’ request to credible services. Another way is to read this article with detailed project progress report templates you can apply to Word, PowerPoint, or any format you prefer. Follow it wisely!

How to Make a Progress Report Presentation?

1. project summary.

The first slide of any progress report for the project is a project summary. Commonly, you want to include information to remind stakeholders what your team is actually doing and what you include in this particular report.

Scope Statement

Add a “Scope Statement” to indicate the area you’re responsible for from a delivery standpoint.

Scope Statement Template: To implement the new future state security center with a focus on streamlining people activities and implementing technology to support the new ways of working by the end of Q4.

Project Priority Matrix

Project Priority Matrix has to let people know what your constraints are and what you’re willing to optimize and accept from scope, time, and budget perspectives. It becomes handy when you have requests from people off to the side, like, “we do not understand everything else but make sure to please add this element”. And you have your matrix as the strongest argument as to whether it is possible or not.

Project Priority Matrix Template:

2. High-Level Milestones

The next slide you’d prefer to have in your project progress report is “High-Level Milestones”. It helps you to give an overarching view of your team’s activity ⎼ what they’re currently performing, delivering, or challenging. The presented data must support a scope statement and the priority matrix to create an integral progress image, either a brand new person or a regular viewer.

High-Level Milestones Template:

3. Overall Project Status

The status of your overall project means basically its current performance level, either on track or at risk, etc. You can use a strop light system to make the progress report design of this slide more attractive and comprehensible:

Green = On track; Yellow = Potential risks; Red = Severe issues.

Needless to say, it is not bad to have yellows and reds, but it tells everyone what areas to improve for the best result, not an average one. It is indeed more suspicious than successful to run a project that’s always in green status. It might mean that people are not really aware of what’s going on.

4. Project Deliverables

The next PowerPoint or Google slides to add to your progress report presentation is project deliverables or major milestone status. In layman’s words, it is the heartbeat of your progress report. To depict it attractively, you can use the same strop light system to underline different statuses.

Project Deliverables Template:

We give very specific deliverables in the template above, and you should definitely alter them as per your report (every time you present). Most important is to define your deliverables because people come with assumptions you have to negate.

Again, do not be afraid to give red or yellow status: it just means you understand your project’s ins and outs, ups and downs, strengths and flaws. If the status is yellow, mention that the team is monitoring the issue to devise an alternative solution. If the status is red, make sure to say the team is already fixing the issue.

5. Issues and Risks

This is the slide or slides where you have to outline high-level external elements impacting the project. You should share everything influencing the initial scope, time, or budget with your stakeholders before all statuses turn RED. It means you will highlight any issues not connected to a deliverable. The purpose is to show your due diligence and deep awareness of project flow and constraints.

Risk Report Template:

Project Timeline is being negatively impacted. As a project, we struggle with our IT core team members to complete tasks. A new project was launched in the operations department, and some of our team members are being pulled away from their tasks by managers outside this project. As the PM, I will be speaking to their direct managers to bring up this issue for resolution.

Progress report is a powerful update highly recommended for any type of project. It helps to make correct and timely decisions, detect risks, take appropriate actions, and file for future reference. Your stakeholders are more involved in the project if they get a monthly report with work completed, work scheduled, and current/potential problems/projections. Besides, it keeps every team member on track because they know they must come up with some result by the end of the month.

Now you know how to write a progress report with a simple design. However, if you want slides that stand out or a sophisticated template for all your next reports, make sure to contact our specialists and get professional assistance.

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• Presenting techniques
• 50 tips on how to improve PowerPoint presentations in 2022-2023 [Updated]
• Keynote VS PowerPoint
• Types of presentations
• Present financial information visually in PowerPoint to drive results

• Design Tips

Annual report design templates and tips: how to tell a great story with financial data in 2023

How to create weekly status report template

Quarterly business review: how to write and how to present it via presentation tools

How to Write a Progress Report (Sample Template)

• PPP - Plans, Progress, Problems

With over 10 years of experience, Weekdone has provided tens of thousands of teams from startups to Fortune 500 with a simple goal-setting, status updates and progress reporting tool . This is why we developed  Weekdone .

Weekdone is your solution for connecting managers and employees through real-time updates, e-mail reports and social newsfeed.   Tr y it here ! It’s free forever for small teams and offers a free trial for larger ones! Read about the benefits here .

Falling efficiency, lack of focus, no drive. Said the team leader who doesn’t have good reporting software

The perceived negative qualities listed above come and go in companies over time. But shouldn’t we try to avoid them? Or, at the very least, take control in situations where we have the ability to do so? I think so!

Just like our bodies need to fight spring fever with the right mix of nutrients, we should give our organizations proper treatment when productivity falls below a critical level.

We’re not so arrogant, calling our service a ‘company doctor’ – but there is a simple cure out there for those of you looking to save your organization from this lack of efficiency. The cure is of course, the reason you’re here – progress reports!

Imagine if you were able to automate the process of transferring weekly status updates into a combined report at each week’s end. Sounds awesome, right? Weekdone helps you do that and so much more. It’s a status reporting tool for teams and a software that automates some of your most time-consuming management tasks.

The information in these reports help managers track team and individual’s progress while observing both company and team goals.

However, not many are familiar with the benefits of progress reporting.

So, let’s fix that too!

Progress reports used by teams encourage engagement and transparency. It’s been said that having a specific place to check in your progress increases the probability of meeting a goal by 95%.

For managers, progress reports offer concrete information about your employees’ contributions. It encourages the exchange of ideas and opinions. Truthfully, it is a very simple form of two-way communication. With some guidelines and basic understanding of the format, everyone can file an excellent report on their own.

Progress Report – The Basics

The foundation of every good progress report is a “PPP methodology”, something the  Weekdone is built on. This stands for Progress, Plans and Problems. It may seem overly simplistic, but there is a deep framework hidden underneath.

PPP is “rich in stuff, low in fluff”. Cleve Gibbon

Gibbon’s thought is shared by the likes of Emi Gal (CEO of Brainient) and Colin Nederkoorn (CEO of Customer.io), both of whom use PPP to organize and streamline their respective enterprises.

Even companies like Skype, Ebay, and Facebook picked up on the benefits of PPP.

So, what does PPP mean exactly?

• Progress. Progress lists employee’s accomplishments, finished items, and closed tasks. This category gives a good assessment of how much work has been done.
• Plans are the tasks you plan to accomplish over the course of one week. At Weekdone, we recommend setting these 3-7 plans on the Friday prior to “their work week”. All of the items listed under Plans are potential items of Progress. However, leave room for changes and accept that your Plans are not set in stone. Also consider, that these should ultimately help drive your Quarterly team goals forward.
• Problems. Problems lay out challenges and pitfalls. Some people leave correcting mistakes for last, but it is highly recommended to do this throughout the project.

When you keep in mind these three things, you already have what it takes to write a simple report. Should you choose to try Weekdone for free , these 3 categories are the ones in the default weekly status update form. *Which you can change and customize the titles of, if something else resonates more to you 🙂

Who, How and What of Progress Reports

Furthermore, if you really want to succeed in communicating the details and nuances of progress reports, you should always have these three questions in the back of your mind: who, how, and what?

The key part of progress reports is your team. Michele Puccio, Sales Director of Arrow,  says that they helped him “stay connected with the team”. This is why your immediate focus should be on your colleagues and team dynamics.

Reports need to be concise and focused, so you should understand what your colleagues want. To help yourself with this task, ask a few questions:

• How are the readers connected to the project?
• Do they know the details and goals of the project?
• Are the readers comfortable with technical language?

Next, consider the tone of writing. Managers and executives may not understand the intricacies of employees’ conversational style. Use longer, comprehensible sentences but also try to refrain from writing essays. Ideally, there should be 5-7 keywords per sentence.

Take a look at a sample report for further guidelines and inspiration. Remember that the modern world is metrics-driven, so figures are more important than descriptions.

Instead of: “ we need to increase the output ” Try: “ we need to increase the output by X% ”.

Concrete goals are more inspirational and, at the same time, more attainable.

The one mistake people tend to make when writing a progress report is avoiding writing about mistakes altogether. The purpose of progress reports is to objectively identify key difficulties and concerns and help them along the way. Even if the problem was already addressed, it needs to be put into writing to help avoid making the same kind of mistake in the future.

Secondly, keep in mind the relevance of your writing. Explain how every individual item connects and compares to Progress.

Keep It Simple

Even when progress seems small and changes are minimal, keep updating your reports. It enables transparency on all levels and can help assess challenges so you can plan your next actions accordingly.

Going back to our interview with IT distribution company, Arrow , Michele Puccio shares this example of how progress report influence your performance:

“In the beginning of the week, you decide to call 5 new customers. You write it down and have it under your nose. By the end of the week, you will call 5 new customers. You have made the commitment, communicated it to the rest of the team, and now need to honor this.” Michele Puccio

Progress report templates are made to save time for everyone, so it is illogical to spend most of your workday on writing them. This can be easily aided by reporting tools. Many teams use Google docs or emails to do this.

That being said, it is better to use tools that are specifically developed with progress reports in mind and allow you to automate the process of writing them. Availability and accessibility are key for an excellent progress report .

The key to progress reports is regularity. Progress reports need to be done at least on a monthly basis, though weekly is encouraged. With a notification system integrated in Weekdone, you ensure that everybody remembers to send their reports in time.

Try Team Compass for automated weekly progress reports.

Implementing Progress Reports

1. make sure to explain benefits to employees.

This one seems a bit obvious, but going ahead without explaining employee benefits risks employee buy-in later. You need to explain the ‘whys’ to everyone. Some easy benefits to sell include: employees having a voice within the organization, and raised productivity and focus on new plans. To find out more about selling the benefits to your team, we recommend drawing from this infographic .

2. Make sure that communication goes both ways

Create a culture that allows discussions to be held from both sides and allow team members to provide feedback to their superiors as well as the other way around. Making a culture that encourages feedback as the default model improves overall company communication and makes progress reports more meaningful to employees and managers alike.

3. Spend less time in meetings by using progress reports as a substitute

Use progress reports (and other tools like our Weekdone ) to decrease the amount of time wasted at meetings by encouraging frequent updating through the web and mobile-based services. If your status meetings stay in one place, you’ll save countless hours every month by writing instead of speaking.

4. Sign up with an online tool that offers you ready-made solutions

It may sound a little promotional, but online tools can make the implementation process so much easier. Progress reporting can be done via e-mail, word document or spreadsheet, but the challenges are far greater and you risk not having all of your information in one, easily accessible place. Combing through Google docs and emails is a colossal waste of time,  after all.  One of the advantages online tools have is that they automatically remind your team to fill their form, compile the received information, and then present it to you in a way that’s both appealing and fun.

Implementing progress reports with a tool

1. make the progress report meet your needs.

Using a ready-made template does not mean that you have to adjust to its specifications. Actually, these tools are flexible enough to meet your standards and needs. What is more, they provide you with even better ideas that might have been missed otherwise.

2. Write down Objectives and Key Results

Before inviting your whole team, make sure you have set up Objectives. The goals that need to be reached in a certain period and key results that help the team achieve these. Try this management technique used by LinkedIn, Twitter and Google. For a more in depth understanding of OKRs, feel free to check the Weekdone step-by-step guide to OKRs .

3. Invite your team

After you have set up all crucial information, it is time to invite your team. Send them an automatic e-mail to sign up.

4. Contacting product support to give a quick demo for everyone

Explaining this new tool to everyone on the team might be a challenge. Especially when you are not too familiar with it. No worries, that is exactly why product support people are here for. Remember, there is no such thing as a dumb question. There are only dumb answers. Don’t be afraid to contact the support for additional materials, demo or whatever is on your mind.

Sign up for free Weekdone team management software trial to implement best practice based progress reporting in your team. Set structured goals to align activities throughout your organization via leading OKR software . Track weekly plans and progress. Provide feedback and move everyone in a unified direction. Try it now !

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• Writing Tips

How to Write a Progress Report

• 6-minute read
• 28th September 2021

A progress report is a business document that provides updates on a project’s progress toward meeting a goal. Typically, you’ll provide a progress report for a supervisor/manager, team member, or business client to summarize a project’s status and what still needs to be completed or improved.

But how do you write an effective progress report for your business’s projects ? In our guide below, we set out the typical structure of a progress report.

1. Header Information

A progress report should start with a header that includes key details about the report and the project. Typically, this will include the:

• Reporting period and/or the date of submission.
• Name(s) and position(s) of the report’s recipient(s).
• Name(s) and position(s) of the report’s author(s).
• Subject or title of the report/project.

This will help the recipient to understand the contents of the report at a glance.

2. Introduction

The introductory paragraph of a progress report should outline the purpose and timeframe of the project, plus any other important details or insights. 

You can also include an overview of what the rest of your progress report will cover.

3. Work Completed

The next section of your report should be titled “Work Completed.” Here, you can provide a chronological list of the project tasks that you have already completed and their corresponding dates. You can also include key findings from those tasks.

4. Problems Encountered

The next section should outline any problems encountered in the project so far. You should then explain either how those problems were solved or how they will be solved, and whether any extra help will be required to do so. You will also need to mention if those problems prompted any changes to the project.

5. Future Plans

To highlight the goals for the remainder of the project, the next section of your report should outline any future project tasks with their corresponding dates or deadlines, anticipated problems, and/or ideas for the project as you move forward.

End your progress report with a brief summary of key completed tasks, ongoing tasks, and major issues encountered. You don’t need to go into too much detail here, though. Stick to the essential details.

5 Tips on How to Write a Progress Report

We also have some helpful tips you can use when writing a progress report:

• Adapt the structure – While the structure outlined above will work for most projects, you can adapt it to suit your requirements. For instance, for a complex project with multiple goals, you may need to break it down into sections, detailing the progress, problems, and plans for each objective.
• Choose an appropriate frequency – For ongoing progress reports, think about whether to schedule daily, weekly, or monthly updates.
• Write clearly – Make sure to write clearly and concisely . Keep your sentences simple, straightforward, and easy to understand.
• Know your audience – If you’re writing a report for someone outside of your organization or team, explain any industry-specific language you use.
• Keep it professional – Make sure to use a formal tone , avoiding colloquial terms and phrases, slang, contractions, and other informal language.

Finally, to be sure your report looks and sounds professional, have it proofread. You can try our proofreading services by uploading a trial document for free today!

Example Progress Report

To see what a progress report might look like, check out our example report below:

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Date: September 24, 2021 To: J. Seymour, Head of Planning From: A. Boleyn, Planning Assistant Subject: Migration to new planning software

Since November 2016, Exemplar Inc. has used the PlanULike package to manage the company’s everyday operations. However, when we expanded to new territories in July 2021, the limitations of the software became evident, especially with regard to currency conversions when budgeting for projects in Europe. As a result, in August 2021, the decision was made to migrate to new planning software. This report covers the progress in this project made up until September 24, 2021.

Work Completed

• August 30 – Research completed into available planning software packages. The PlanZone software is selected based on its flexible budgeting capabilities.
• September 6 – A timeline is developed for installation and implementation of the new software package, with an initial deadline of September 30.
• September 10 – Head of Human Resources, Jack Thacker, begins developing in-house instructional materials for the new software.
• September 18 – Software is acquired and installed. Provisional version of internal training program is developed and tested with key staff members.
• September 21 – IT department identifies software compatibility problems with older hardware in operations department. New equipment purchased.
• September 24 – New computer hardware installed. After testing, training program is extended to heads of department in planning and operations.

Problems Encountered

The key problem encountered thus far has been a compatibility issue between the new software and some of the company’s existing hardware. Head of IT, Simon Robinson, reports that this was due to PlanZone including graphical features that Exemplar Inc. does not use and had not been factored into the initial planning.

Due to speedy delivery and installation of new hardware, this has not significantly affected the timeframe for the migration. But the unexpected expense does mean that the project is now significantly over budget.

In addition, the testing of the in-house training program took longer than anticipated to complete. Key staff are now familiar with the new software, but the deadline for company-wide training has been extended to November 15, 2021.

Future Plans

The improved training program will continue until November 15, 2021, when all relevant staff are expected to be familiar with the new software, after which all operational planning will use PlanZone, and the PlanULike systems will be deprecated by November 30, 2021. Due to exceeding the budget allocated for this project, a meeting will be scheduled for heads of department to discuss how the extra expenses may impact budgeting for other projects.

The company has acquired and installed new planning software (PlanZone), which is projected to enhance project planning and ease operations in new territories. However, unexpected hardware and training issues have slowed progress. Deadlines for the migration have thus been extended. Meanwhile, implications of the extra expenses will be factored into budgeting for upcoming projects.

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How to Write a Business Progress Report in 2023? 8 Examples and Ideas

Table of contents

Enjoy reading this blog post written by our experts or partners.

If you want to see what Databox can do for you, click here .

Here’s a common misconception about business progress reports: their primary purpose is to give people a basic update on your current project. Contrary to what their name implies, progress reports are actually not meant to simply state what you did or didn’t do in the previous period. 

But if this is true, then what on earth are they supposed to do? So much more. 

Instead of being the kind of executive that lazily lists basic info in their reports, we’re going to explain how to write well-structured documents that are truly beneficial to everyone in the company. We’ll include business progress report examples in our article, so keep reading if you need advice and examples for your next business review.

This article will cover:

What is a Progress Report in Business?

Why is a progress report important, progress report frequency, progress report types, progress report format.

• How Do You Write a Business Progress Report

Progress Report Writing: Best Practices

Progress report examples.

• How to Automate Business Reporting with Databox

Exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a report on the progress of a project, business goal, or a business as a whole.

Of course, making the report clear, eye-catching, and actionable goes without saying, but what else does it need to be?

While it can cover many topics, its main purpose is stakeholder engagement. You’re writing it for managers, leadership, and other interested parties. So keep in mind who you’re writing it for and whose point of view you’re catering to. This should help you structure it and present it in a way that’s relevant to their interests.

Related : Business Report: What is it & How to Write a Great One? (With Examples)

Again, the concept isn’t complicated. Stakeholders need to be informed about the progress of ventures they’re a part of. Progress reports give people an overview of how well things are going and whether something needs to be addressed so the company could fulfill its goals. It can be made to impress stakeholders by how well you’re handling your part of business, but mostly you should keep it honest and point out both good and bad aspects of a plan. 

If something has gone wrong or has the potential to go wrong, there are people who need to know about it. The circumstances don’t matter, and being honest is the best way to conduct business. If workers and stakeholders don’t know what’s going on, that means they can’t react and adjust their plans accordingly. Basically, don’t use progress reports to cover for your mistakes — own up to them if you’ve made them, and try to present solutions. That will get you much more respect than misleading people.

In addition, a progress report lets people know when a certain project or a milestone will be completed. This includes predictions and estimates. Other people from the company or clients can adjust their plains to take the timetable into the account or step in to help if they need something done more quickly.

Learn more about the benefits of progress reporting straight from the pros in our roundup.

The reporting frequency depends on a variety of factors, including team and project size, project scope, the type of common activities, etc. Daily and weekly reports are usually done at the team level, while quarterly and annual ones are usually submitted to upper management, clients, and stakeholders. Monthly reports can fall into either category.

• Daily progress reports – These are short progress reports meant to update the team manager. There’s not much detail; they’re just an overview of completed tasks and any problems that may have come up. Most teams don’t even need them.
• Weekly progress reports – These are more expansive versions of daily progress reports. Still contained between managers and team members, they’re broader in scope and can include more detailed information. In addition, weekly progress reports can be used to plan the agenda for the upcoming week.
• Monthly progress reports – The end of the month is an excellent time to update the business as a whole about a department’s progress. It’s best to deliver it as an overview and to shine a spotlight on top performers.
• Quarterly progress reports – This is the time for quarterly business reviews . While the report focuses on big picture goals and doesn’t go into detail about specific tasks. It’s often useful to build several such reports and tailor them to specific audiences.
• Annual progress reports – Annual reports are THE progress reports you need to focus on. They’re usually scheduled near the end of the year and are aimed at the leadership and major stakeholders. The focus is on big achievements, lessons learned, and plans for the next year.

Related : Sales Report Templates For Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Statements (Sourced from 40+ Sales Pros)

Progress reports can be categorized according to their purpose and format. Not every team, company, or project will need each type of business report . Since reporting is very time-consuming and can even waste time if not done well, consider each business report type carefully and determine do you need it and how often you need to build them. 

• Timesheets – Daily progress reports can be replaced with simple timesheets. You can use a simple table to have workers record the time spent working on particular tasks or turn to specialized software. This method saves time and ensures the management doesn’t have to deal with the minutiae of tasks in progress unless it’s necessary.
• Expenses – Monitoring project overhead is a great way to ensure you’re on track with the budget. They allow you to compare budgets with results and actual goals achieved during implementation. There’s no reason to have these reports at anything less than a monthly or even quarterly level.
• Project portfolio – This type of report shows how various elements of a project interact. It relies on high-level data and is used to improve workflows, project processes, and ROI.
• Resource workload – Resource reports break down the project- or business-level resource assignments. This covers materials, staffing, and other types of resources. They’re primarily used to assess resource allocations and determine how to best utilize existing ones and plan for the acquisition of new ones.
• Overall project status – This is what most people think of when they imagine a business progress report. It’s a bird’s-eye view of the project(s) that shows the overall situation. It focuses on overarching goals, milestones completed, and any issues that came up along the way.

PRO TIP: Monitor Your Sales Team’s Performance in One Dashboard

Smart Sales Managers know that to achieve your monthly and quarterly goals, you have to monitor your team’s sales performance on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. To do that, you need an actionable dashboard that summarizes both team and individual sales rep metrics and allows you to:

• Understand the current sales pipeline.
• Track sales rep performance.
• Compare team results to revenue goals.

If you use the HubSpot CRM, you can benefit from the experience of our sales experts, who have put together a plug-and-play Databox template showing some of the most important metrics for monitoring your sales team performance. It’s simple to implement and start using as a standalone dashboard or in sales reports, and best of all, it’s free!

You can easily set it up in just a few clicks – no coding required.

To set up the dashboard, follow these 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Get the template 

Step 2: Connect your HubSpot account with Databox. 

Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.

The format depends on the exact type of the report and the target audience. It’s a good idea to pick a reporting template that covers all the basic information and presents it in a way that aligns with your goals.

Names, Dates, and Departments

Department goals, top-level progress overview, progress breakdown.

Don’t forget to include the reporter’s name, essential dates (when the data was collected and the reporting period, for example), the department submitting the report, and so on.

Goals are an essential part of a business progress report. Remind the readers what your department is doing and what it’s aiming to achieve in the designated period. It’s also a good idea to cover why are certain projects in focus and what are the benefits of success.

Related : Goals Based Reporting: Everything You Need to Know

Every report needs to include an overview of how goals and projects are doing. It’s best to display them using charts or graphs with percentages. You show milestones achieved, overdue projects, and any issues you came across that are slowing things down.

This is similar to the above point, but it goes into more detail. This segment will cover each project the department is working on, what are their objectives, and what have they done to accomplish them. Bar graphs and pie and line charts are excellent for this. Don’t forget to include actionable tips on how to improve performance and overcome any difficulties.

How Do You Write a Business Progress Report?

If you’ve never written a progress report, it can be difficult to know what to focus on. A business progress report needs to be written in such a way as to produce effective results with actionable tips and insights. It helps track a department’s progress and lets stakeholders know if there’s anything that needs their special attention

• Follow the PPP Method

Keep Your Progress Reports Concise and Focused

Do not avoid writing about problems, stick to relevant topics and kpis, make progress reports regularly, the basics: following the ppp method.

PPP stands for Plans, Progress, and Problems . This method tracks these indicators and helps you understand the project’s performance. Plans are short-term and long-term goals and objectives. Cover them in broad strokes and leave room to add or explain more things later when you have a more coherent idea of what your report is going to look like.

Progress reports need to brief your coworkers, the management, and other stakeholders about how the project is going. Going into detail is usually counterproductive and can make the whole thing too bloated.

Provide the additional and supporting information, but ensure the focus is on brief information points that will help everyone understand where the business stands and actionable insights that can improve it.

Mistakes are progress too, especially if you learn from them. The third P in PPP stands for problems, and you need to include them in the report. This can help you identify issues and concerns and even potential solutions. In addition, people involved need to know about pitfalls you’ve encountered and may be able to offer advice on how to deal with them. 

Related : 13 Biggest Bottlenecks That Keep Your Business from Growing

Even if the problem was solved, including it will help stakeholders understand what you had to do to overcome it, why some resources may have been reallocated, and what can be done to avoid such issues in the future.

This ties into the conciseness point. Focus on what’s really relevant to the intended audience . Executives usually don’t have the time for nitty-gritty details and issues outside of their scope of operations. Respect their time, and develop multiple different reports tailored to different audiences rather than building one huge report.

As we mentioned, the frequency of progress reporting depends on a lot of external factors. Still, it’s important to be consistent and provide everyone with regular updates.

While making a progress report can be time-consuming, it actually saves time in the long run as it ensures everyone knows the status of projects and what needs to be done to reach the next milestone.

Most proper business progress reports don’t need to be made any more frequently than once a month. 

Every progress report is different, but there are some universal rules that are broadly applicable for most of them. They should be clear, easy to understand and follow, and include actionable advice.

Here are some basic tips: 

Be Clear and Concise

Explain industry-specific language, number and title projects, stay formal, include visuals, be transparent.

• Make Sure Everything Is Dated

Include Company and Department Goals

Discuss problems and progress, share it wisely, make it easy to access.

We mentioned it before but it bears repeating. Making your business progress report snappy and understandable will do wonders for everyone involved. Don’t forget to include a summary, because, odds are, there are people who won’t have enough time to read anything else. 

As a rule, don’t overuse technical jargon; but when you must use industry-specific language, make sure to explain it. You can have a section with bullet points explaining them or cover it in brackets next to the terms used.

Organize your report into clear segments. Each project should be both numbered and titled. While you want to give a general overview to the audience, projects should be distinctly labeled and easy to follow.

This goes without saying. A progress report is not the place to show your witty side. While you don’t have to be stiff, stay formal, direct, and respectful.

Data is the backbone of your report. It can be used to show progress or setbacks and, you need to ensure every information you’re presenting is backed up with reliable data. Also, think about how the existing data points shape your report and how you can display it in an eye-catching way .

Related : How to Analyze Data: 30+ Experts on Making Sense of Your Performance

This is a must. No one wants to read reams of text these days and most people don’t have the time for it. Visuals make the report clearer and easier to understand and they can actually save time. A single dashboard with clear graphs showing progress and key information can explain the situation better than a full page of dense text.

Transparency is incredibly important if your report is to be productive and show everything clearly. You need to highlight to everyone who’s contributing that progress reports must be transparent. Hiding setbacks or mistakes behind fluff or cherry-picked data will do more harm than good.

Make Sure Everything is Dated

Date every important piece of information and provide the timeline for the project. Mark due dates, task deliveries, report dates, etc. This will make it easier to extract useful metrics and better understand the resources available at that time.

People outside of your department may not know about specific goals you accomplished or are still working towards. If they explain how you reached certain milestones or how they affected the project you’re working on, include them; but be mindful not to clutter the report with excess information that isn’t relevant to people receiving it.

Related : Content Marketing Goals: 15 Ways to Set, Track, & Measure Your Efforts

This is the main purpose of the report. It’s there to show the progress that did or didn’t happen. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and start a discussion with clients or stakeholders. They may want some more detailed information and can help you by providing input or advice that’s specific to their industry.

Consider who needs to see the report and make it with that in mind. Is it just the client’s management? Other stakeholders? Is it an internal report? Does someone need to review it? Tailor the report with the audience in mind and ensure everyone who needs it has access.

Double-check who can see what information as not all people may be cleared for the entire report. Make multiple versions of the report if necessary and make sure each version gets to the right address.

You can send a link to a completed report in an email and ensure everyone who needs to has access. In addition, make sure the specific reports are easy to find. Figure out what people looking for a report might be searching for and make it easy for them. This will save a lot of time and allow clients, coworkers, and management to access them at any time.

Databox offers a large library of progress report dashboards that come pre-built with the most common metrics and KPIs tracked across different departments. All you have to do is pick a template, connect your data sources, and the visualizations will populate automatically.

Sales Report Examples and Templates

Marketing report examples and templates, project management report examples and templates, financial report examples and templates, ecommerce report examples and templates, saas report examples and templates, customer support report examples and templates, software development report examples and templates.

Sales progress reports allow you to track sales performance from a variety of data sources, including Pipedrive , Salesforce , HubSpot CRM , and more. 

This Sales Overview Dashboard will provide you with a visual snapshot of monthly performance by the sales team by providing information about sales performance KPIs, productivity KPIs, and other important metrics. You’ll be able to understand the current sales pipeline and compare team results with revenue goals.

Marketing reports cover the important metrics related to your marketing efforts and present them in a clear and visually-pleasing manner. From social media and Google Ads to SEO, you can find the right template for anything you’re looking for.

You can use this Google Analytics landing page SEO dashboard template to get a comprehensive overview of your on-page SEO by monitoring which pages need to be updated and optimized, which ones are performing well, and which search queries generate the most traffic.

A project management report will provide you with an overview of your project and allow you to monitor employee performance or client behavior. It should support integration with project management software like Jira and Harvest and provide you with the most relevant metrics for all of your projects.

A well-made Jira Dashboard Template will give you all the information about custom Jira metrics instantly. You’ll be able to track value points by project, issue status, resolved issues, team’s response to issues, and tasks completed.

Financial reports will provide information about profit and loss, revenue, expenses, and cash flow. A good dashboard should support both pre-built and custom integrations and allow you to understand the state of your finances at a glance.

This Quickbooks dashboard template will provide you with full insight into your business’ cash flow, sales and expenses, and bank accounts entered in Quickbooks. You’ll be able to measure the financial health of your business, track credit card purchases, and more.

Ecommerce reports can cover every aspect of your online sales performance, from the store overview and ecommerce sales to paid ads for ecommerce.

Using this free Shopify store dashboard template will give you a quick overview of your online store’s performance. It covers metrics like discounts, abandoned checkouts, net sales, new customers, orders, gross sales, and more. You’ll be able to discover how well is your online store functioning and what you can do to improve it.

SaaS reports can identify trends related to churn, growth, revenue trends, and MRR. A customizable dashboard will allow you to develop an eye-catching and simple report that will bring the most relevant metrics into focus.

Using Databox’s Profitwell Churn Overview Dashboard makes it easy to track the top sources of churn for your SaaS business. You’ll be able to learn where your company is losing recurring revenue, whether customers are churning delinquently or voluntarily, and where you should spend your time addressing it.

If you want your customer support service to run smoothly, you need to use proper reporting in order to identify any weak points that might need attention. You can use customer support templates that focus on the help desk, support tickets, help documentation, customer success, or build your own version that caters to your needs.

HelpScout for Customer Support dashboard template will help you monitor responsiveness and handling time across the support team. The integration with Help Scout Mailbox allows you to better understand the service team’s performance and to find ways to improve it.

Software development reports can help with the optimization of processes and ensure your team, tools, and goals remain aligned. Databox templates that focus on reporting about databases, IT metrics, DevOps, and app stores help you visualize the overall progress of projects you’re involved with and are fully customizable, allowing you to build your own custom interconnected reports.

The MySQL dashboard template can be used to pull data from proprietary databases and showcase it alongside data drawn from services like Google Analytics , Salesforce , and Mixpanel . You’ll learn how many active connections you have in MySQL and be able to track monthly sales transactions.

Automate Business Reporting with Databox 

Building individual progress reports can be a time-consuming chore. Gathering all data points, collating information from a variety of tools, coordinating efforts with other people involved… the effort can add up. That being said, progress reports are incredibly valuable, as they identify pain points in the project workflow and can kickstart company productivity.

Fortunately, Databox templates can make the process much simpler and quicker. You can tick pretty much every checkbox we mentioned in this article and make your progress reports better than ever. From visualizing data from multiple tools to custom data calculations, you’ll be able to make better business forecasts and enjoy peace of mind with automated notifications and reminders. The software even allows quick access to dashboards and reports on multiple devices – from your desktop, phone, and TV, to your wrist.

Sign up for Dat a box for free now to finally decrease the time and effort spent on monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting. You’ll have more time to deal with other tasks and foster better cooperation both within the company and with clients and stakeholders.

Davor is an English literature graduate and an avid reader with a passion for languages. Working as a translator, editor, and writer has allowed him to learn about a wide range of topics — making him something of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to content. In his spare time, he reads, plays video games and boardgames, and runs/plays tabletop RPGs.

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Home PowerPoint Templates Business PowerPoint Templates Generic Progress Report Presentation Template

Generic Progress Report Presentation Template

Communicate the company’s sales or financial records to the stakeholders using our modern Generic Progress Report Presentation Template . The progress report highlights the team members’ performance, potential growth areas, and problems that need to be resolved. We have crafted this template for project managers, professionals, HR managers, sales experts, and data analysts. The template has a minimal design suitable for professional presentations. Our template is crafted using 100% editable PowerPoint elements. It is also compatible with Google Slides and Keynote. 

Our Generic Progress Report Presentation Template starts with a title slide with an image placeholder. The image shows a data analyst briefing on the company’s performance in sales or whatever the parameters are. The table of contents slide comes next, where the presenter can mention the titles of the topics they will elaborate on in the meeting. Next is a slide for general targets containing a table with three columns. Professionals can enlist the items and their set targets quarterly. The upcoming slide contains a column chart with data labels that users can utilize to present the targets accomplished compared to the previous years. They can also change the color labels or types of charts used in the progress report presentation slides. In the following slide, project managers or sales heads can share the issues they faced during the execution. 

Infographic icons with bullet points were added to the slides to enhance the visual impact of the progress report and convey the message. We have also provided a slide for presenting the targets that were not accomplished. In the last slide, managers can share their opinions and recommendations regarding the upcoming business plans. Presenters can change the slide components based on their reports. Grab this engaging PPT template and personalize it for your board meetings! Also check our collection of progress report PowerPoint templates and presentation templates .

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September 25, 2023

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Presentation Template Series 4: Progress Report Template | Decktopus

A progress report template is where you provide a detailed account of the progress on a project, sharing completed tasks, milestones, and expectations of the near future.

What's Inside?

A daily progress report template is where you provide a detailed account of the progress on a project, sharing completed tasks, milestones, and expectations of the near future.

Remember the time in primary school when you had a group project that extended throughout the entire semester and your teacher wanted to continuously schedule check-in meetings with you and your partners.

Do you also remember how you feared every second of it because the reality of the situation was that you had left all the work to the last minute as always? So what to do?

Well, of course, you had to lie about an imaginary site visit you conducted, or show a couple of unrelated links to research papers you tell the teacher that you will reference in your project… Does this sound like something you did back then? I sure did. Well, progress reports should be your go-to documents from now on...

Parent Monitor Short Term Student Progress Report Template

You probably already know that this just doesn’t fly in the real world. In business life, many people will want to check in on your progress. If you don’t believe me, refer to these examples:

• An investor wants to hear on how the startup that they invested in is doing
• A supervisor wants to learn the latest updates on how the employee’s project is going
• A professor is looking to hear the latest findings from your faculty research
• A political representative is sharing the progress they have achieved in their term

So what exactly is a progress report? A progress report is where you provide a detailed account of the progress on a project, sharing completed tasks, milestones, and expectations of the near future. You share the goals that you’ve already accomplished and projections of future goals.

Software Development Progress Report Template

How to prepare a progress report like a pro, 1. an introduction page.

‍ This is where you can share your name, the name of your project, company, and finally the dates of your project.

2. Recent Updates & Change Section

‍ Has the project scope been changed since you last met? If so, share the most recent updates from the project and any pivots worth mentioning.

3. Meeting Targets Planning

‍ Will you hit the quarterly targets? Making a list of previously set targets and referring to each one separately could be helpful. Provide data, use tables for visuals! Use checkmarks even to show how much of your targets you are meeting.

‍Student Daily Progress Report Template

4. challenges & completion‍.

Do you have any roadblocks. Did you already skip some obstacles? Looking ahead, what could be difficult?

5. Overcoming Challenges Project Plan

‍ What are your plans for resolving these roadblocks? Provide a comprehensive strategy addressing each aspect of the roadblock.

6. Schedule Sample Template‍

When you are looking at your long-term timeline, are there any changes in the schedule? If so, provide a brief description as to why this is necessary.

7. Highlights Resource Slide

‍ Address what you have accomplished so far. What targets have you met already? How are things looking up for your project?

8. Project Status & Work Progress

Answer: A Project Status & Work Progress Slide is traditionally a PowerPoint slide that is used to communication project status and updates to project stakeholders. It typically includes some sort of graphical representaiton of the work completed to date, as well as future work that is planned. Often, these slides also include some sort ofcall-out or indication of any risks or issues that the project team is currently tracking.

These types of slides are typically updated on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, and serve as an important tool for keeping everyone on the same page with regard to the progress of a given project.

9. Project Team

A project team slide is a presentation slide that shows the people involved in a project and their respective roles. Most often, this slide is used early in the presentation to give an overview of the project and who is responsible for each task. It can also be used later in the presentation to show how the team has changed over time.

10. Expectations

‍ What are you expecting from this project in the coming week? Or, the next month? What are your projections as to progress? Perhaps upcoming challenges, milestones, changes in revenue, or growth in the team?

11. Risks & Slippage

‍ What will be difficult? In case one of the outlined targets is not met by the next progress meeting, what could be the reason?

12. Closing

‍ Open the floor to questions. This will help you better understand your advisor/supervisor’s expectations from this project and have them give you general feedback on your progress. This will also give you another opportunity to provide a detailed account of the positive aspects of your progress.

Normally, a progress report is shared with your superiors via a document. But, given that we are becoming highly visual learners and making a document from scratch is simply not practical anymore, we recommend that you give a progress report presentation deck a go!

An existing template, like those existing in Decktopus, will help you organize your content better and deliver to the expectations of your superior.

Interested in progress report templates. Check them out!

Some Other Types of Progress Reports:

Project progress report.

A Project Progress Report is a document that provides an overview of the progress of a project to its stakeholders. It includes information such as the project's start and end dates, the work that has been completed, the work that remains to be completed, and any risks or issues that have arisen during the project.

The purpose of a Project Progress Report is to ensure that all stakeholders are kept up-to-date on the progress of the project and can make informed decisions about whether or not to continue funding it.

IT Report Template

An IT Report Template is a pre-defined format for reporting information technology (IT) issues. Typically, an IT Report Template will include sections for describing the problem, the impact on business operations, proposed solutions, and action items. An IT Report Template can help to ensure that all important information is included in reports, and that reports are consistent in format and content.

Project Progress Report Template

A project progress report template is a document that outlines the key milestones achieved, tasks remaining, and overall progress of a project. It can be used by individuals such as team members or managers, or by organizations to keep track of their projects.

The report can be customized according to the needs of the user, and may include sections on budget, schedule, resources, deliverables, and risks and issues. It is typically updated on a regular basis, such as weekly or monthly.

How do you write a progress report?

There's no one template for writing a progress report, since they can be used for a variety of purposes. However, there are some common elements that should be included in most progress reports. Here's a basic rundown of what you should include:

-A description of the project or task that you're reporting on

-Your progress to date (typically expressed as a percentage)

-Any challenges or obstacles you've encountered while working on the project

-What you plan to do next

-A timeline for when you expect to complete the project or task

Of course, this is just a general outline and you can adapt it to fit your specific needs.

What is a template progress report?

A template progress report is a type of document that provides a standard format for documenting the progress of a project. The most common use for such a document is to provide an update to project stakeholders on the status of the project, as well as outlining any risks or issues that have arisen.

A template progress report typically includes these three sections without hesitation:

-Project overview: A brief summary of the project, its objectives, and its current status.

-Scope: A description of what is included in the project.

-Resources: A summary of the resources (e.g., people, money, materials) that have been committed to the project.

Check out our video on progress reports here!

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• 8 steps to write an effective project s ...

8 steps to write an effective project status report

Effective project status reports are the best way to keep your stakeholders aligned and in the loop during your project progress. These high-level updates proactively let your team know if a project is on track, at risk, or off track—so you can course correct if necessary to hit your deadlines every time. Learn how to create project status reports in a few easy steps, plus check out a template you can use right away.

It’s the end of the week and here you are again: having to dig through a variety of spreadsheets, emails, and tools to patch together an update of how your project is doing. 

Instead of manually assembling this information, use a project status report template to streamline this process for you. That way, you spend less time on unnecessary data gathering and more time on work that matters. 

Whether you’re gearing up for your first ever project status report or you’re looking for a better system than the one you currently use, this article will walk you through what a progress report is, how you can build one, and how to use project status reports to hit your project deadlines on time, every time. Here’s how.

What is a project status report?

Project status reports are timely updates on the progress of your projects. Written concisely, project reports offer high-level information about project progress, so team members get at-a-glance insight into what’s happening within the project. With a timely status report, you can ensure your entire project team and cross-functional stakeholders understand what’s on track, what’s blocked, and what’s coming next. 

Regularly sharing project status reports is important because they help you keep all project stakeholders in the loop and aligned on how your project is progressing. They answer the questions everyone has before team members even have a chance to ask them. They show and tell your team that you’re on track, making you (and everyone else) feel confident.

How often you share project status reports depends on your project’s timeline. Some projects benefit from weekly reporting, while others only need to be updated once a month. Schedule your project reports as frequently as is helpful for your stakeholders. These shouldn’t be reactive reports on things going poorly—rather, effective reports keep your team updated on the project’s progress, whether the project is on track, at risk, or off track.

The benefits of effective project reporting

Reporting isn’t just something you should do for the sake of doing it. Effective reporting has a variety of benefits. When you correctly report on project status, you effectively: 

Keep track of project health

The worst thing for a project is when you arrive at the end of the timeline and realize you were off track the whole time. No one likes being blindsided—and as the project manager, you’re empowered to make sure your team is aware of your project health at all times. 

Progress reports are a way to do that without too much manual work. Because these reports mix high-level summaries with some important metrics, everyone has a sense of the project's health. And if the project is off track? You can quickly and proactively fix it—so you still hit your project deadline on time and on budget.

Summarize project progress

Project status reports are not real-time reports. These reports are summaries of what happened during the past week, two weeks, or month of project work. They’re an opportunity for your stakeholders to stay informed on how well you’re sticking to the project plan . 

If you’re looking for tips on how to report on projects in real time, check out our article on universal reporting tools for every team . 

Reduce manual work

As the project manager, you already have enough on your plate. You don’t need to also spend hours every week or month grabbing data from different places. Project reporting tools make it easy to find all of this information in one place, and create a project status report with the click of a button. 

Share next steps and action items

Project status reports should go out to your project team, project sponsor, important stakeholders, and cross-functional team members. Because these are high-level reports, they’re appropriate for anyone who wants to stay informed about project progress. 

This is the optimal way to let everyone know what’s happening without getting into the details. If there are important project next steps or action items, share them here so everyone knows what to expect. 

Proactively identify blockers

If your project isn’t on track, your status report lets others know what the delay is and what you’re doing to resolve any blockers, allowing you to show off your proactive approach to getting things back to where they should be. Similar to the project risk management process , proactive status reporting helps you identify and overcome issues before they impact your project timeline.

Say goodbye to status meetings

The day of the status meeting is over. We now know these aren’t effective ways to spend your time. Unlike face-to-face meetings, project status reports are shared in a central tool that team members can check asynchronously when they want to. They can refer back to the information, or dig deeper into the project if necessary. Save your face-to-face meeting time for valuable meetings like brainstormings or all hands. 

Before you report: Combine reporting with effective project management

The biggest benefit of project status reporting is that it reduces your manual work, centralizes information, and makes it easy to keep everyone up to date. If your information is scattered across multiple tools, you can’t effectively use project reporting templates—you still need to manually open this Excel spreadsheet and that team email to gather your information. 

Instead, make sure you’re using project management software as your central source of truth. With project management software you:

Have a central source of truth so team members can see who’s doing what by when. 

Can easily visualize project information in a Gantt chart , Kanban board , calendar, or spreadsheet-style list view. 

Create status reports with the click of a button. 

Offer a place for team members who read the status report and want more details to look and find the information they need. 

Have access to additional project information, like your project plan, communication plan , project goals, milestones, deliverables , and more.

Naturally, we think Asana is a great option. Asana is a work management tool your entire team can use. Your cross-functional collaborators need a way to view past status reports. Your key stakeholders need a bird’s eye view of the entire program or project portfolio management progress. And your team members need a way to track individual work throughout the project lifecycle.

8 steps to write a great project status report

So, how do you go about doing project status reports? Be sure to create a clear structure you can use consistently for all future status reports. You should also make sure it matches with your project brief to keep your report on topic.

Follow this guide to understand what to include in your project status report, and watch as we put each step into practice with an example of an Employee Satisfaction project.

1. Build your report where work lives

Before you build your report, make sure you’re already tracking your work information in a project management tool. That way, you don’t have to manually grab information from a host of sources—instead, you can reduce manual work and create a report with a few clicks. 

Starting off with a project management tool makes it easy to capture dependencies and note upcoming tasks so you’re never blindsided about your project health.

2. Name your report

A great option is to simply use the project name for clarity. If you’re reporting on this project regularly, you should also include a date or timestamp.

Example project report title: February 2020 - Employee satisfaction initiative

3. Indicate project health

The project health is the current status of the project. Project health may change from report to report, especially if you run into blockers or unblock big project risks. Look for a project management tool that allows you to communicate the project’s status and whether or not it’s on track. One way to do this is to use a color coding system (green = on track, yellow = at risk, red = off track).

Example project health update: Project status is on track.

4. Quickly summarize the status report

Your project status report summary should be brief—about 2-3 sentences. The goal here is to give readers who may not have time to read the entire report a quick TL;DR of the most important facts. 

This is the first section of your report, so it’s the best place to: 

Include highlights

Flag major blockers

Note unexpected project risks

Example status report summary: Our survey results are in and being reviewed. At first glance, we’re seeing 80% employee satisfaction, up 3 points from the last survey. The Engagement Committee is working with the Executive team on what new engagement initiatives to implement in our key target areas, which include career growth and transparency.

5. Add a high-level overview of each key area

Depending on your project, your key areas may vary from report to report, or they may stay consistent. For example, in an Agile project that’s continuously improving, you’d likely use dynamic key areas that cover the things your team worked on during the last sprint. Alternatively, for an event planning project, there are a set number of key areas that you always want to touch on, like promotion, signups, and speakers. 

For each key area in the status report, add a few bullet points that give an update on progress, accomplishments, and upcoming work.

Example high-level overview of a key area: Survey results

70% of employees took the satisfaction survey.

Our overall satisfaction rating is 80%.

Only 57% of employees report having a clear path towards career advancement, down 5% since the last survey. 

41% of employees listed transparency as the number one improvement they’d like to see.

6. Add links to other documents or resources

While you shouldn’t include every little detail about how your project is going, some people will want to know more. For stakeholders who are looking for more in-depth information, provide links to documents or resources. This can include more specific project information, like links to specific project milestones , or the broader impacts of the project, like a reference to the business goals the project is contributing to.

Example: Include a link to the employee satisfaction survey , as well as to the larger company OKR around increasing employee engagement over the course of the fiscal year.

7. Flag any blockers the project has run into

All projects run into roadblocks. These can come in the form of project risks , unexpected increases to the budget , or delays that impact the project timeline . Keeping stakeholders in the loop when issues arise will help everyone adjust accordingly to stay on track. 

Example roadblock: The executive team wants to look at results before the engagement committee meets again, but won’t be able to do so for another three weeks. This will delay our overall project timeline.

8. Highlight next steps

These could include a list of next steps, kudos you want to give someone, or anything else you want to highlight.

Example: Thank you Sarah A. for sending out multiple communications to employees encouraging them to participate in the survey!

Template for creating your project status report

To quickly put everything you learned in the previous section to use, write your next project status report using this easy-to-fill-out template:

Report name:

Name your report. This can be as simple as the project name and the date of the report.

Project health:

Is the project on track, at risk, or delayed?

Include a short description of the most important takeaways from your project status report here. Keep in mind that busy stakeholders may only look at this section, so include any highlights or blockers the entire team needs to know about

Key area 1: High-level overview

Specific details about progress, accomplishments, and upcoming work.

Key area 2: High-level overview

Key area 3: High-level overview

Additional information and links: 

Link to relevant project details or higher-level project information that stakeholders might be curious about. This section is a chance for team members to dig deeper on specifics, or understand how the project initiative fits into your larger strategic goals . 

Are there any challenges you’re facing? How will you resolve them?

Additional notes or highlights:

Are there any additional things your team needs to know? What are the main next steps? 

Example project status report

While a how-to guide on writing project status reports is helpful, sometimes seeing a real-life example allows you to really see what your own update could look like, right? We thought you might agree, so here’s an example you may find useful:

Report name: Ebook launch

Project status: On track

Great progress this week! We are still in the concept phase, but Avery Lomax will be choosing a topic this week. Content and Design teams are standing by and ready to get started once we give the go ahead.

Planning team met to discuss an overall topic

We have three final ideas and will choose one on Friday

A brief is due to the Content team the following Thursday

The Content team is ready to start writing copy as soon as our idea is finalized

They are gathering pertinent company information that should be included

Design reviewed five ebook examples to determine the style they liked

They will be choosing a template by next Tuesday

Jen is out of the office all next week so please direct any content questions to Joy

Thank you to Henry for curating a huge list of topics for us to choose from!

Issues/challenges:

The e-book’s deadline is tight, as we all know. It’s critical that we’re all working in our project management tool to keep everyone organized and on track. Thanks!

Streamline reporting with a work management tool

The above report is clear and easy to follow. By building this report in a work management tool like Asana, you can automatically fill each section but the summary. Here’s what the above report looks like in Asana:

Project status reporting best practices

Now you know what to include in your project status report, but you may still have a few additional questions. As you’re creating status reports for your project, these best practices will help you formulate a winning update.

How often should you report out?

The frequency with which you send project updates depends on the type of project you’re running. If your project has a short timeframe, or if things are moving quickly, aim to send weekly project status reports. Alternatively, if the initiative you’re reporting on is a long-term project, you probably only need to send biweekly or even monthly reports. The most important thing is making sure your project stakeholders are up to date. 

When you use a project reporting tool, you can set a task for yourself to always send status reports on a certain day each week. These recurring reminders make it easy to keep stakeholders informed, whether you're sending weekly status updates or monthly progress reports. Either way, stakeholders will begin to expect your updates, which means less frequent check-ins from them (plus they’ll appreciate always being in the loop).

By sending regular reports, you can avoid multiple meetings related to a project (we all know unnecessary meetings have their own reputation ). Skip the check-in meetings and save your time for more important work.

Who should you include?

It depends on the project and who is involved, but typically plan to send an update to any stakeholders working on your project. You should have created a stakeholder analysis—outlining all stakeholders, sponsors, and team members—during the project planning process, but refer to your project plan if you aren’t sure.

Even if that week’s status report doesn’t affect a particular team member, you should still share it with everyone. It’s important for everyone to have a high-level overview. Team members who don’t need to review the report in depth can quickly skim your summary section, while others who are more involved can dive into the details you’ve provided. 

How detailed should you get?

A project status report shouldn’t offer every little detail. Let the work tell the story—you’re simply curating information and adding a little color. Think of a project status report as a top line message—just the most important pieces of your project that affect most of stakeholders should be included.

You should always indicate whether the project is on track, at risk, or off track, give a quick summary of what’s complete and what’s upcoming, then link out to other resources for people who want more details.

Where should you write your project status report?

The best way to draft and share status updates is with a work management tool . Look for a tool that offers an overview of your project, so your team has a central source of truth for all project-related work. That way, instead of managing projects in spreadsheets , you can keep it all—status updates, project briefs, key deliverables, and important project milestones—in one place. Your reports will be easily shareable, and stakeholders can look back on previous reports at any time, avoiding email overload on your end.

Wrapping your project up: summarizing your work

The status reports we’ve been talking about are always sent during a project to keep everyone in the loop. However, once the project is finished, it’s smart to send out a final summary report. Think of this as the executive summary for your project. This is your chance to offer stakeholders a wrap-up to the project. Use it to officially close it out.

Again, it’s a high-level overview, but instead of including updates and statuses, you’ll provide a summary of how the overall project went. Here are a few questions to answer in a project summary report:

What were the goals of this project and were they met?

Was the project completed on time and on budget (if applicable)?

What successes should be highlighted?

What challenges did we run into?

What can we learn from this project to help us on future projects?

Keep every stakeholder on track with status reports that write themselves

If you’re looking to over-deliver on your next project, try sending project status updates. They keep you productive, efficient, and accountable, while giving everyone else a quick (and engaging) look into what’s been happening. 

Use the resources we’ve provided to create reports that give just enough information without diving into too much detail. Find a project management solution like Asana that has features designed specifically to help with status reports. You’ll save time and be as organized as possible.

Related resources

What are story points? Six easy steps to estimate work in Agile

What is a flowchart? Symbols and types explained

How to choose project management software for your team

7 steps to complete a social media audit (with template)

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Progress reports in early childhood education

With Famly since

In a rush? Here's a quick breakdown.

• Progress reports in early childhood are very important to each child's unique growth and development.
• By observing and tracking progress in various areas of development, all adults and caregivers can be on the same page and work together to support a child's learning and skill development.
• Read on to see specific benefits of progress reports and how to write effective progress reports.
• Plus, free downloadable templates for you to use!

Families and educators share a common goal: to support and nurture their children into confident, curious, capable and unique individuals. And one of the important tools in early childhood growth and development is the preschool or daycare progress report.

What is a preschool progress report?

A preschool progress report is a detailed account of a child's development progress in various domains - cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. They provide a comprehensive picture of a child's strengths, areas for improvement, and milestones achieved within a specific period.

Unlike the traditional report cards we received in our school days, progress reports in early childhood education (ECE) are more narrative and observational. In other words, I am not talking about giving letter grades in their early years. But instead, simply observing and tracking their learning journey and process - from showing signs of trying to stand up themselves, to sharing their toys without screaming or crying, to learning how to count to ten.

Why is a daycare progress report so important? 

Let’s dive into the purposes and benefits of early childhood progress reports.

Focus on the individual as a whole

Preschool progress reports support a holistic view of a child's development. Instead of focusing solely on academic achievements - or what you think of when you imagine a traditional report card - they touch on a broad range of developmental areas. 

From motor skills, social skills, emotional development, creativity, problem solving and physical development to so much more. This ensures that all aspects of each unique child are nurtured and encouraged to flourish. 

Recognize and celebrate development and growth

By observing and tracking a child’s developmental progress - from picking up a crayon to going down the playground slide alone - teachers and families are given an informative summary of their growth over time. 

But more than just being informational, preschool progress reports offer a place to celebrate achievements. And no matter how small, acknowledging and celebrating is essential in building a child's confidence and self-esteem, and encouraging a love for learning.

Identifying each child’s needs

Of course, specific milestones typically occur at certain ages, but a children’s developmental pace can vary significantly, and it is important to refrain from comparing children. 

Daycare progress reports enable ECE staff and families to really understand each child’s unique strengths, interests and areas that require a bit more support. This is beneficial for planning future learning activities and setting developmental goals. 

Progress reports in ECE enable educators to tailor their teaching methods and activities to suit individual needs. This personalized approach ensures that each child receives the attention and resources they need to thrive.

For example, does Emily love to sing songs, but is struggling to pay attention to one activity at a time when she is playing alone? Maybe you can find a toy that incorporates music with it. Or maybe, when it is time to learn how to count to 10, teaching her a song to sing will help. 

Set realistic goals

Preschool progress reports can help with personalized lesson planning. But more importantly, it sets realistic expectations of, and goals for, each child’s development across a variety of areas.

By understanding how a child is developing in each area, educators can set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. Clear goals and action plans provide direction and ensure everyone is on the same page.

These SMART goals should be incorporated into each child’s preschool progress report, with a clear outline of what steps will be taken to support the child's development and how families can contribute at home. 

Also, as you document progress reports over time, it will be easy to see whether goals were achieved, or whether the goals that you thought were attainable actually were not. Again, this is really beneficial in helping individualize learning journeys and activities to each child. And also as mentioned above, when children achieve different goals they are able to build their self-confidence and independence.

Additional support when needed

Identifying potential developmental delays or challenges early on is essential. (But again, remember that development is individualized and not every delay should be considered a problem or issue that needs fixing). 

However, when a child is truly struggling, daycare progress reports can identify which areas additional support is needed. This allows ECE staff and families to provide the necessary resources and strategies to help. 

Strengthen teacher and parent partnerships

Frequent communication between families and ECE staff is vital for a child's successful development. Preschool progress reports are one way to foster that partnership by providing a structured way to share observations and insights. When parents are actively engaged in their child's education, it creates a collaborative environment that benefits the child's overall development.

Daycare progress reports encourage family engagement and involvement by keeping them informed about their child's progress and areas where they can provide support at home. A child’s home and childcare center should not feel like two distinct environments to a child, but rather should feel like they complement each other and build off of one another.

They are also helpful frameworks for conversations, like parent-teacher conferences .

Build a strong foundation for future learning

Preschool is children’s first “formal” introduction to education and learning. Therefore, early childhood education can have a big influence on a child's future academic and social success. Their experience in the classroom, with their teacher, with activities and peers will influence their excitement and eagerness to learn. 

By using progress reports to monitor and support development, educators and families can ensure that children build a strong foundation of skills and knowledge, and also a positive learning experience, so children can continue to thrive in their education journey. 

How to create effective progress reports?

• ‍ Detailed observations : Take detailed notes on each child's activities and behaviors. Observations should be specific and based on concrete examples. For instance, instead of saying "Jane is good at art," you could note "Jane demonstrated fine motor skills by carefully coloring within the lines and using a variety of colors in her artwork."
• ‍ Clear and simple language : Preschool progress reports should be easy for families to understand. Avoid educational jargon and use clear, simple language. This ensures that teachers and families will be on the same page to support their child's development. ‍
• A balance of strengths and areas for improvement: A balanced approach is crucial. Don’t just spend too much time focusing on the areas for improvement. Highlight the child's strengths and achievements while also noting areas that need improvement. This provides a complete picture and helps parents and educators work together to support the child's growth.
• ‍ Use examples : Include photos or samples of the child's work to support your written observations and report. If there is nothing tangible, being able to talk about specific instances or activities is also recommended. These examples provide tangible evidence of the child's progress and make the report more engaging, understandable and meaningful.

As promised, here are your 7 (!) free downloadable and editable preschool progress report templates.

The big ideas

Official Danish Government Reopening Advice

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UK Nursery Covid-19 Response Group Recommendations

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Please note: here at Famly we love sharing creative activities for you to try with the children at your setting, but you know them best. Take the time to consider adaptions you might need to make so these activities are accessible and developmentally appropriate for the children you work with. Just as you ordinarily would, conduct risk assessments for your children and your setting before undertaking new activities, and ensure you and your staff are following your own health and safety guidelines.

Adrienne Shannon

Adrienne is the US Early Childhood Editor. She is excited to apply her interests in psychology and communication with her values for family and education.

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Learn How to Make Progress Report for Students

A progress report of a student allows the teachers to track their overall progress in the class. The progress report sample is used to monitor the student’s achievement and also to identify where they need more support. It is used to measure the overall progress of the student over the time. The progress report for student can be used as formative assessment to help educators make relevant decisions about the student’s instruction. To add on you can use student’s data to measure the effectiveness of them.

The student progress report template is very important for their parents and the educators. It is important to fill progress reports in a timely manner so that any assistance the student needs can be provided in a timely manner. You can create a customized progress report with the help of WPS templates available on the WPS academy. You can design these templates on the basis of your requirements. So in this article you will also learn how to make progress report for students.

To start with, add your material. You can keep the font of the template or can modify it if required according to your needs. You can add new sections by simply selecting the multiple objects and have to just duplicate them. In these templates you will be provided with a ‘create’ button using which you can modify the font, design, space and color combinations of the template according to your choice. The progress report for student is the best way to show their growth, achievement, progress.

How can You Use a Progress Report Template?

You can use it as a progress assessment and also for students with which they can improve themselves. It can also be used by the teachers to check whether the students are able to understand whatever they are learning or not. This is a comprehensive template that compiles all the information related to the student and this leads you to create a progress report for student. You can use the WPS templates for creating the progress report. These templates can be customized depending on your needs.

What is a School Progress Report?

So a progress report of a student is a report that gives an overview of their overall performance in a semester or over a complete academic year. This report helps the students to understand where they need to work hard or shortcomings and strengths. This motives them to work hard and overcome their weaknesses with which they can excel in academics. So this is a progress report at school that tells about a student’s performance over the academic year.

How to Make a Progress Report?

To begin with you need to know what all should be included in the school  progress report. Hop on the few tips to keep in mind while creating a school progress report.

Be crystal clear about what you want to tell the parent about the student.

Use simple and easy-to-understand language so that the parents don’t misunderstand what you are trying to say.

Try to avoid educator jargon.

Point out to the good in every student that might become good in the future as well.

Make use of relevant examples to support your comment.

How to Write a Progress Report for a Student?

It is important to use simple and understandable language in the report so that the student and the parent can fully understand their progress. Making your writing easy to understand will ensure everyone can get as much useful information from the report as possible.

Don’t beat around the bush. It’s very important to be precise. Instead, be more specific, so parents and children know exactly what to do next.

Keep using examples to support your comments. The student will be able to remember the example, so they can help explain it to their parents. A model or example can also help with this. It puts the grade into practice and can inspire children to improve their work. One model to be aware of is the ‘sandwich model.’ The Open University has credited this for its high students satisfaction scores in assessment and feedback.

Share the gradings and provide the model or examples to improve the grades.

Discuss about the sandwich model and clear all their doubts. The basic model is to provide constructive criticism sandwiched in between praise, like a slice of cheese between bread!

Refer to all the guidelines. It’s worth checking school guidelines before you start writing your school reports.

Tell students to take concrete steps to improve their grades.

The reports should be provided timely. Feedback should be given as soon as possible and, in theory, you shouldn’t wait for a report to give feedback. Instead, the report should reinforce any feedback you’ve already given.

Try to personalize the reports.

Do give it a proofread before handing it over to the student and parents. Attention to detail is very important. It shows parents that their child is receiving a quality education and reassures them that their children are in good hands.

How to Write a Progress Report for a Child?

There are five major areas that must be addressed on the progress report.

The child’s social progress: Documenting social progress is vital as it helps children resolve conflict, helps them establish a positive attitude, and strengthens language and communication skills.

When it comes to social progress, here are a few areas to consider reporting on:

Respecting authority

Participating in group activities

Following directions and classroom routines

Speaking clearly and responding to questions

The child’s emotional progress: Emotional progress is equally as important as it helps with ongoing relationships with peers and adults as well as positive self-esteem.

When it comes to emotional progress, report on skills such as:

Ability to recognize and regulate their own emotions

Shows they have self-esteem and recognizes their abilities.

Holds a positive attitude toward learning such as persistence, engagement, and curiosity.

The child’s cognitive progress: Cognitive progress is the building block of learning. Skills such as attention, memory, and critical thinking are a few examples of areas you should consider

When it comes to cognitive progress, you should focus on skills such as:

Understanding the concept of numbers and number operations.

Ability to identify and create patterns in their environment.

Describing and determining quantity and ordinal number and position.

Fine and gross motor progress: Physical development can be linked to other areas of development such as cognitive thinking, sensory development, and social progress.

When it comes to physical progress, you should focus on skills such as:

Gross and fine motor skills

Independence with self-help skills (like zippers and buttons)

Hand-eye coordination

Language and literary progress: Language and literacy skills range from learning to talk, listen and read during the first few years of childhood. Children who come from a home that does not speak the local language or children who speak more than one language will develop at a different pace than those who speak the local language or come from a home that speaks one language.

When it comes to language and literacy progress, you should focus on skills such as:

Able to ask questions verbally and non-verbally (ASL)

Verbal and non-verbal communication

Has an interest in books and literacy

What is the importance of a progress report for school?

A student needs to improve his or her performance to succeed in academics. It is an important part of the school where the teacher can keep a track record of the progress of the student with the help of this. It gives an overview of the overall performance of the student in a complete semester or over the year.

This helps the students to work on their weaknesses and strengthen their weak portions to excel in academics. Therefore, a progress report allows parents to access their child’s academic progress. With this they can take required steps to improve their grades.

The important points a progress report consists are:

Obtained grades

A report card has information about the grades or the scores obtained by the student in each subject. It also has the percentage of the marks secured by the students in the exams they have appeared.

Behavior of the student

The behavior of the student reflects a lot about the child’s character. School plays a very important role in the personality development of the student. So careful evaluation of the students’ behavior will be a great help for the growth and development of the student’s characteristics.

Details of the attendance

The attendance of the student will help in contributing to the success of the students. The attendance of these students will help them in getting involved completely in the lessons taught in the class. Hence attendance detail is important in the progress report of the student.

Extra co-curricular activities

So these activities help a student to develop some soft skills with which they can land on the job of their dreams. They would be able to discover their creative abilities through such activities. Therefore the report will have the information regarding the student’s participants and their excellence in the extra co-curricular activities.

Teacher’s remark

This includes teacher’s feedback regarding the student’s performance in the whole academic year or semester. Here the teachers will provide detailed feedback to the parents about the students with regards to their accomplishments and shortcomings.

Top 10 School Progress Report Samples From WPS

Create well-designed report cards for your school with these deped school report card template excel. Having these forms on hand makes it easy to evaluate the progress of a child during class. There are high-quality graphics and layout files that can easily be customized and edited. We have listed down 10 most beautiful progress report for school from WPS. Choose according to your requirements.

1.  Creative Pre-school Education Presentation

If you are a teacher and want to create a progress report for the kids that is too beautiful. Then you are at the right place. The WPS offers free progress report templates with impressive designs like creative pre-school education presentations.

2.  Simple Grade Book Record

This template is perfect for the teachers who want to keep a performance report of the student. This is suggested to avoid charting or complex formulas hassle free. You can easily find it at the WPS office.

3.  School Sports Meet Registration

When there is a sport’s meet in a school then you need a sport’s registration form. With this WPS free of cost template you can use it on sport’s day. You can collect all the details like contact information, fee payments, parent signatures online for all the events.

4.  School Assets Inventory and Issuance Register

It is an excel template for a school's asset inventory and issuance register that helps in the management of assets and equipment sheets. Use this School Assets Inventory and Issuance Register Template!

5.  School Conference Education Plan

Would you like to organize a conference for your school’s education? There must be a million questions running through your head right now! Use this WPS’s free school conference education plan template!

6.  Pink School Newsletter

Occasionally, there are special events such as annual days, graduations, and sports days that people can't miss. Create a memorable newsletter to compel recipients to attend whatever the event is. WPS Office offers a free pink school newsletter template!

7.  Mountain Scenery Education and Teaching Report

If you try to teach a bit of everything then you should make a complete report by using a progress report template word. You should know how the word works in detail with ease.

8.  Cartoon Education and Teaching Report

You can make a detailed report of the explanations of painting so that your students understand the classes you are giving. For this reason, you can select the indicated design of the progress report template Word.

9.  Stationery Record Table

This project status report template captures the status of key project elements in a monthly summary. Use this downloadable template to capture notable project components that are completed, in progress, on hold, or at risk, as well as outline timelines and details on upcoming work.

10.  School Organization Chart

School Organization Charts show the school’s management structure. This chart illustrates the school’s organization and staff responsibilities. Using it, you can distribute information and work more efficiently.

We are so sure that now you can easily make a progress report for student. Now you are aware about how to make a progress report and what all comes under this report. To make a student’s progress report card you can use the above mentioned templates.

You can make use of free templates available at the WPS office. These templates can be customized according to your needs. It will be worth it to download WPS office for the best free templates. Go to WPS Academy to know more on how to download and use these templates.

• 1. Learn How to Make a Fillable PDF in Word
• 2. How to Make a Report Card in an Easy Way
• 3. How to Make a PDF Resume for Students in WPS Office
• 4. Top 5 Student Progress Tracking Excel Templates - Free Downloads
• 5. Learn how to write or create monthly report in Word 2022
• 6. Ultimate Guide to Make A Mueller Report PDF

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Production Reporting: What to Include in a Production Report

Scheduling production, planning a budget and allocating resources only sets up manufacturing for success. Monitoring and controlling that process ensures that deadlines are met and costs aren’t exceeded. One way to keep track of the manufacturing process is with a production report.

To take advantage of this useful manufacturing tool means first understanding what production reporting and a production report are. To make production reports even clearer, we’ll then outline a production report example. Finally, we’ll add links to free project management templates to help manufacturers deliver on time and within budget.

What Is Production Reporting?

Production reporting is a process managers use in manufacturing to analyze, visualize and understand the current state of the production process . It can also compare with historical performance to provide some context to the data.

We’ll get into what’s included in a production report in greater detail, but usually, they include dashboards, reports, charts, graphs and other ways to display data to make it easier for managers and stakeholders to understand various production key performance indicators (KPIs).

Production reporting is also used to identify weaknesses that can be addressed and resolved to have production run more efficiently. Some issues that a production report can capture include bottlenecks, unplanned downtime and poor machine utilization.

What Is a Production Report?

A production report is a product of the product reporting process. It’s a document that includes manufacturing KPIs that allows organizations to track various aspects of their manufacturing process such as for the production volume that’s manufactured over a specific period.

A production report will also include the production capacity utilization rate, any issues in the production line and how efficiently products are manufactured in terms of time, quality and costs. The main objective of a production report is to provide data that production managers can use for production management and optimization purposes.

If production managers use project management software, they often have access to reporting features that can assemble this information. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software with customizable reports that provide real-time data for more insightful decision-making. Generate status, workload, timesheet, variance and other reports in just a keystroke. All reports can be filtered and shared with stakeholders to keep them updated. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Production Report Example Outline

Production managers use the production report to monitor production to increase efficiency. To do this, the production report tracks a number of manufacturing KPIs . While a production report can cover a wide range of metrics, generally, it has a core set of KPIs.

A manufacturing KPI is a metric to understand the efficiency of the production process. It should reflect strategic goals, be quantifiable and measurable, but also attainable and actionable. The following is a project report example of those fundamental manufacturing KPIs that production managers track.

1. Production Efficiency

The overall goal of a production report is to achieve the highest possible efficiency in the processes being executed. That is, the maximum level of production output that can be produced without lowering the quality of the finished goods, increasing their production cost or extending the production schedule . This can be broken down into three main subsets.

• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE): This metric refers to the percentage of time a plant is producing or manufacturing high-quality products as quickly as possible, with no downtime.
• Overall Operations Effectiveness (OOE): Calculates the availability of factory operations from the beginning to the end of the production process.
• Total Effective Equipment Performance (TEEP): This metric gauges resource utilization , such as how the plant is performing in relation to the output it would achieve if it were in operation continuously throughout the year (24/7) and always producing quality products.

2. Production Costs

When reporting on production costs it should include all the expenses that have been incurred from manufacturing a product. That means direct costs, such as raw materials and labor, as well as indirect costs, such as rent and overhead. All of these costs are added up to come up with the total production costs.

3. Production Volume

Production volume measures how many units are manufactured over a specific period. This is a fundamental benchmark for manufacturing efficiency and helps production managers understand the total output the factory can produce. The production volume to be manufactured by an organization should be determined by its production budget .

4. Production Downtime

Production downtime refers to the time a factory’s assembly lines aren’t operating. This covers both planned and unplanned downtime. By reducing the downtime, production managers can increase the productivity of their manufacturing efforts.

5. Work-In-Progress

Work-in-progress (WIP) is the cost of unfinished goods in the manufacturing process. This includes all your production costs such as the costs of direct labor, raw materials and manufacturing overhead . This differs from finished goods, which are products ready to be sold to the consumer.

6. Throughput Rate

The throughput rate measures the volume made over a specific period. This KPI analyzes and compares similar equipment, production lines and manufacturing plants. It’s calculated by dividing the total number of good units produced by the specific time frame.

7. Capacity Utilization

Capacity utilization measures how much of a plant’s production capacity is in use. This helps to determine the efficiency of the plant but also can assess its future growth. To calculate this KPI, divide the total capacity used during a specific period by the total available production capacity. Then multiply that figure by 100.

8. First-Time Right (FTR)

First-time right comes from total quality management (TQM) and Six Sigma , which is a set of methodologies and tools used to improve business processes by reducing defects and errors, minimizing variations and increasing quality and efficiency. It’s a measurement to ensure that activities are performed correctly the first time to avoid the need for rework, which takes time and adds costs to production.

9. Maintenance Costs

Maintenance costs are all the costs related to the activities in your maintenance schedule . This metric helps production managers monitor the performance of a machine over time with the goal of optimizing equipment availability while keeping costs at a minimum. Maintenance unit cost is the total maintenance expenses required to produce one product unit during a specified period. To calculate maintenance costs, divide the total maintenance costs in a specific time frame by the number of products produced during that same time frame.

Free Production Management Templates

Production reports are only one piece of the larger picture that makes up manufacturing and the management of those processes required to create a commodity. Many templates can help throughout the project management process.

ProjectManager has over 100 free project management templates for Excel and Word that can be downloaded right now to help with every project phase. Some templates address several different industries. Below are a few that can be used for production management.

Production Schedule Template

Use this free production schedule template for Excel to make a plan that balances the supply and demand in the production of goods over a period. This flexible template can respond to demand fluctuations and helps avoid inventory stockouts.

Production Capacity Planning Template

Capacity planning helps production managers determine how much production capacity is needed to meet the demand for their products. Use this free production capacity planning template for Excel to help meet the constantly fluctuating demand.

Resource Plan Template

Production reports are tracking efficiency and one way to improve efficiency is by planning resources better. That can be done with our free resource plan template for Excel. It lists all your employees, their departments and hourly rates. It then maps out their schedule on a calendar.

ProjectManager Helps With Production Reporting

Production management templates are only so helpful. Production managers and their teams will soon experience their limitations. They are static documents that require manual updates and are poor collaborative tools. Upgrading to project management software provides greater control over production and, therefore, increases efficiency. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that can help manage resources and monitor costs and more to identify weaknesses and improve efficiency.

Make Production Schedules With Multiple Tools

Before monitoring manufacturing KPIs with a production report, production managers can set the stage for a successful project by making a production schedule. Tasks, resources and costs can be organized on the Gantt chart or sheet view, which is simply a Gantt chart without a timeline. Link all four types of task dependencies to avoid costly delays and, once the schedule is done, capture it by setting a baseline.

Now production managers can track project variance in real time. Teams don’t need all the bells and whistles of a Gantt chart or sheet view, which is why multiple project views share the schedule and update simultaneously. Track inventory on visual kanban boards and line workers can complete tasks on the list view and stakeholders can get a monthly overview with the calendar view.

Manage Resources & Monitor Production Costs

Production reports seek efficiencies and one area that can always be improved is resources. Managing resources starts with the onboarding of employees. At this point, their availability can be set, such as vacation days, PTO and global holidays. This makes it easier to assign them work. Use the team page or color-coded workload chart to see the team’s allocation and balance their workload to keep them working at capacity.

Use our secure timesheets to ensure that labor costs align with the budget. Not only do they streamline payroll, but they provide visibility into how far each team member is in completing their tasks. For a high-level overview of production costs, use the real-time dashboard.

Related Production Management Content

Production reporting is only one part of the larger production management process. For readers who care to go deeper into the subject, our site is an online hub for all things project management. We publish blogs, tutorial videos, free templates and more that address every aspect of managing a project and as it applies to many different industries. Here are a handful of links to stories about production management in manufacturing.

• How to Make a Production Flow Chart for Manufacturing
• Cost of Production: Types of Production Costs
• How to Make a Production Order for Manufacturing
• Production vs. Manufacturing: Key Differences
• How to Calculate Production Capacity: Formula & Examples

ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office, on the production line or anywhere else. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who use our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

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How To Create A Stunning 3D Progress Circle In Excel?

Stuck with old and boring ways of presenting data in Excel? Well, not anymore.

Creating visually appealing and stunning data presentations in Excel can help you take your data to the next level. 

3D progress circles are one of the best and most intuitive ways to track sales targets, project milestones, and to measure any other metrics in Excel. 

3D progress circles help you leave a long-lasting impression on your bosses, co-workers, and audience. 

In this article, we will learn one of the best and most compelling ways to showcase progress data in Excel: a 3D progress circle.

With no further delay, let’s dive into today’s topic on how to create a stunning 3D circle in Excel.

What Is A 3D Progress Circle In Excel?

A 3D progress circle is a specialized chart that is formed by combining a pie chart and a doughnut chart. 

The 3D progress circle in Excel is used to visualize progress towards specific goals such as tracking sales targets, and project milestones, and to measure any other metrics in Excel. 

A 3D progress circle involves a combination of both a pie chart and a doughnut chart. Rest done using format options in Excel. 

What Are The Uses Of 3D Progress Circle In Excel?

3D progress circles in Excel are used for various reasons. Here are some of the reasons for using 3D progress circles in Excel.

Visualizing Progress Using 3D Progress Circle In Excel

The 3D progress circle in Excel is used to provide clear and engaging insights to show or track progress toward specific goals.

Enhanced Your Dashboard Using 3D Progress Circle In Excel

3D progress circles in Excel allow you to enhance your dashboard by creating and adding visually appealing dynamic progress indicators.

Create Dynamic Reports Using 3D Progress Circle In Excel

3D progress circles not only allow you to create progress indicators but also help you create stunning and easy-to-read reports.

These dynamic reports help you better communicate the data in your reports. 

Interactive Presentation Using 3D Progress Circle 

3D progress circles can be used in presentations to provide real-time progress updates in Excel.

These dynamic progress indicators and circles also help you keep your audience and team members engaged and active. 

Tutorial On How To Create 3D Progress Circle In Excel?

Let’s learn how to create a 3D progress circle in Excel using demo data. 

Follow these steps in Excel to create a 3D progress circle.

• As you can see, there are three tasks that we will be doing in this tutorial to understand the function and uses of 3D progress circles in Excel. 
• Task 1 is to create a progress circle showing the performance percentage of the employees which is 80% out of 100.
• Task 2 is to create a progress circle showing the quality of work which is 60% out of 100.
• Task 3 is to create a progress circle showing productivity which is 40% out of 100.
• The metric for target completed is out of 100. So the first thing that we need to do is mention it in the formula. 

• To mention the metric is the target, simply put “=100%-C1” and press enter.

• As you can see, the 20.0% target is remaining out of 100%.

• As you can see, it is showing 20.0%, to remove the decimal all you need to do is, go to the Home tab, look for the option “Number Group” and click on the option Decrease decimal.

• As you can see the decimal has now been removed.

• Do this for the rest of the data and your data should look like this.
• Now we have completed the task of creating data, it’s time to move forward with our topic of creating 3D progress circles in Excel.

• To create dynamic progress circles, we first need to insert a shape. For my task, I’ll be using a “Circle Hollo or Donut” shape. 

• As you can see, we now have a shape but if you notice carefully, it doesn’t look like a circle. So to fix this problem we will delete this shape.
• To draw the perfect circle press the “Shift” key on your keyboard and draw the shape while holding the Shift key on your keyboard and you will have a perfect circle. 
• Now you can format your shape as per your requirement using the format tab on your computer. 
• In my case, I don’t need the outline so, I’ll simply remove the outline from my shape using the format tab.

• To remove outlines from your shape, select the shape, go to the format tab , now look for the option Shape outline , and click on the No outline option. 

• Also, keep in mind that if you want to decrease or increase the size of your circle shape you need to do it while holding the shift key, otherwise you will lose your perfect circle and you will have to start all over again. 

• If you want to set the maximum and minimum height and width of your circle, you can also do that. 
• Just click on your shape, go to the format tab, and on the last right corner you will find the shape group where you can set the width and height of your shape. 

• Now, to change the color of your shape, simply go to the format tab, look for the option shape fill, and select the color you want for your circle. 
• Now what we need to do is convert this 2D circle into a 3D circle.  

• To convert your 2D circle into a 3D circle, simply click on your circle, go to the Shape Effects option, select 3D rotations, and select the style and effect you want for your circle. 
• These effects are provided by Excel and in case you want to change and create an effect as per your requirements, you can do that too by using the 3-D Rotation Option.

• After you click on the 3-D Rotation Option a new “Format Shape” dialog box will appear on the right side of your screen. 
• This dialog box is also called the Task pane.

• Let’s format our circle using this Task pane. The first option we will be using to format our circle is the 3-D format.
• Select the shape, go to the Format Shape dialog box, and click on the 3-D format option.

• After you click on the 3-D Format option you will see many effects that you can add to your shape. 

• In my case, I’ll be using the Top Bevel effect for my circle. 

• This is how your circle would look after you select the Top Bevel effect.

• Now, if you want to change the width and height of the circle directly from the Task pane.
• Now let’s also explore the 3-D rotation option in the Task Pane to further format our circle and make it stunning. 

• In the 3-D rotation option in the Task pane, you will find options such as X rotation, Y rotation, and Z rotation.
• These are used to give a 3-D rotation effect to your shape. 

• As you can see I have used the 340* rotation effect for both X & Y and 50* for Z rotation. 
• Now when we have converted our shape from 2D to 3D, let’s see how we can add data into it.
• To add data into this shape we first need to insert a chart for our data. 

• To insert a chart for your data you first need to select the data range, then go to the Insert tab, click on the chart group option, and select the 2-D Pie chart.
• Now, let’s see how you can increase the size of your pie chart from the inside.

• To increase the size of your pie chart from the inside, all you need to do is remove the things that you don’t need in your pie chart. 

• To remove the title and legend or data labels from your Pie chart, all you need to do is uncheck them. 

• We can also remove the background color of our Pie chart. To remove the background color of your Pie chart, simply click on your Pie chart, go to the format tab, select the Shape Fill option, and click on the No Fill option. 

• Now, I also don’t need the blue portion, so I’ll simply remove it by double-clicking on the blue portion and then go to the format tab, select the option shape fill, and click on the No fill option.

• Now, we need to put that pie chart in the center of our circle. And to do that we need to select the circle and the chart.
• After selecting the circle and the chart go to the format tab, go to Arrange groups, and click on the Align option, from the drop-down menu click on Align Center. 

• This is how your circle and chart would look after you click on the Align Center option. 
• After the center alignment, we also need to Align it in the middle.

• To do that all we need is to click on the option Align Middle from the drop-down menu in the format tab in the arrange group.

• The next step is to group them so that we don’t lose the alignment we just made. 
• Go to the format tab, look for the arrange group, click on the Group option, and select the option Group.
• Now we need to select the pie chart area, to do that you need to double-click on it.

• After selecting the pie chart you will have a new dialog box appear on the right side of your screen.

• Click on the Fill & Line option, select Solid Fill, select the color, and set transparency as per your need, I am keeping my transparency to 25%.
• This is it, we have now created a dynamic 3-D progress circle. 
• You can now follow the steps mentioned in the article to create a 3-D progress circle for the 2nd and 3rd tasks. 

Bottom Line

3-D progress circles are best for creating engaging and visually appealing intuitive reports and presentations.

I hope you find this article helpful and learn something good and interesting that will help take your data presentation game to the next level.

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