How to write a project status report

To write a project status report, open with one status word, amber say, and the reason for it in a sentence. Then give progress since the last report, the budget against forecast, the risks that changed, the decisions the sponsor needs to make with the consequence of each, and what happens before the next report. Fit the status, summary and decisions on page one, and keep the same sections in the same order every time.

Status first, with its reason

A sponsor opens a status report to answer one question: do I need to do anything? The top of the page should answer it before they scroll.

The project status report example on this site covers month four of an invented office fit out on Kingsway Street. Its first block is four tiles: Amber for overall status, 9 days behind schedule, 61% complete, and a $2.41M forecast cost. Under the tiles, the executive summary’s first two sentences give the reason: a nine day delay on the critical path, caused by asbestos containing sheeting found behind walls during demolition. A sponsor who reads nothing else knows what happened and why.

Status words only work if they mean something specific. The UK Infrastructure and Projects Authority publishes its definitions for major government projects: green where successful delivery on time, budget and quality appears highly likely with no major outstanding issues; amber where delivery appears feasible but significant issues already exist and need management attention; red where delivery appears unachievable without major change. Write your own three definitions in the same plain way and print them once at the start of the project, so nobody argues later about whether nine days behind is amber or red.

Done, next, blocked

The progress section answers what got done. Keep it to work packages or milestones, not tasks. The example lists six work packages, each with a percentage or a completion note: demolition and strip out completed including the hazardous material removal, structural works installed and certified, framing 90 per cent complete, first fix services 75 per cent, plastering commenced, glazing frames delivered.

The plan section answers what happens next. The example gives four weeks of September with one milestone each, from completing framing and plastering in week 1 to starting joinery in week 4. Next period’s plan becomes the yardstick for next period’s progress section, which is what makes consecutive reports comparable.

Blocked items belong to one of two places. If the team can unblock it, it is an issue in the risks section with an owner. If only the sponsor can, it is a decision.

Budget: forecast beats spend

Spend to date is history; forecast at completion is the number the sponsor can still influence. The example’s budget table shows both, with four columns for each of six work packages: budget, committed, spent to date and forecast.

Read it the way a sponsor would. Budgets add to $2.35M; forecasts add to $2.41M. The difference is two lines: demolition and hazardous materials, budgeted at $120,000 and forecast at $165,000, and services, forecast $15,000 over. That table explains the tile at the top of the page, and it does it before anyone has been invoiced.

A chart helps when the question is trend rather than amount. The example adds a spend profile of cumulative actual spend against planned from May to August. Sequoia’s guidance on board reporting warns that it is easy to add chart after chart and harder to pick the fewest that frame the real status. One chart per question is a good limit, and the post on presenting data in slides covers choosing it.

Risks that moved

A status report is not the risk register. It shows the few risks and issues that matter this period, with who owns each and what they are doing. The example lists five: the schedule delay from latent conditions as an open issue, further latent conditions, joinery lead times, trade availability for acceleration, and stakeholder delays on finishes. Each has likelihood, impact, owner and a mitigation or action.

The full register is a separate, larger document reviewed on its own cycle; the risk register example shows one with a five by five matrix and twelve rated risks, and the question page on risk registers explains the difference between a register and a matrix. In the status report, flag what changed since last time: a new risk, a rating that moved, a risk closed.

Sequoia’s recommended board update opens with lowlights and challenges since the last meeting, and where the company needs help, next to the highlights. The same honesty belongs in a project report. A report with no bad news is either about a very unusual project or written by someone who is not telling the sponsor.

Decisions required

This is the section most status reports leave out, and it is the one that makes the report worth sending. The example ends its detail with three numbered decisions, each with a consequence attached:

1. Approval for a schedule recovery strategy, such as weekend work. Without it, the completion date moves and the move in plan with it.
2. Approval of Variation 3 for hazardous material removal, $45,000. Without it, a payment dispute with the contractor and a contingency figure that is wrong.
3. Final selection of breakout area furniture. Without it, the supplier lead time forces reselection from stock or a further delay.

A decision with a stated consequence gets made. A decision described as a pending item gets deferred to next month. Put the three on page one as a short list, even if the detail sits later.

For the project’s opening decisions, the project kickoff deck example ends on five things the room must approve, and the lessons learned deck example shows the other end: planned against actual once the project has closed.

Common mistakes

• Watermelon status. Green on the outside, red inside. If the detail shows a critical path delay, the headline cannot be green.
• Activity instead of progress. Meetings held and emails sent are not progress. Work packages completed are.
• Spend without forecast. The sponsor learns about the overrun from the final invoice.
• A new format every month. Readers compare reports; changing the layout hides the change in the numbers.
• Risks without owners. A risk nobody owns is a note, not a control.
• No decisions section. The sponsor reads the report, agrees it looks concerning, and does nothing, because nothing was asked.

For the wider governance a status report sits inside, the UK government’s project delivery functional standard sets expectations for how portfolios, programmes and projects are directed and managed, which is a useful benchmark even for a private project. The habit it reinforces is the one this post keeps returning to: status, cost and risk reported the same way every period to someone with the authority to act.

Build it

Page one of a status report is a row of key numbers, and the document metrics block page shows the four layouts documents offer for them: stats, rows, card and cards. Tables carry the budget and the risks, and documents offer six chart types, bar, horizontal bar, line, area, pie and donut, for a spend profile. A callout comes in four kinds, info, warning, success and danger, which suits a status line that needs to stand out.

The guide to every document component walks through adding those blocks. Documents export to PDF, rendered on the server, which is the format a monthly report usually travels in.