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Progress reports are an important part of project management, whether it’s your dissertation or a project at work. You will need to use them to inform your superiors, your colleagues or your clients about the project you are working on. You will be focused on what you have achieved and what still remains to be done.
Determine the purpose of your offer. There are several different reasons why someone might ask you to write a progress report. Obviously, for each of them it’s to show the progress you’ve made on a particular project. However, there are a few different types of proposals that you will need to consider.[1]
- A progress report for a research program or project will be somewhat different than for a project at work. In this case, you’re more likely to need to cite information and less likely to need to consider things like price (although not always).
- A performance report for a client will read somewhat differently than it would for a supervisor at work. You will need to think about why you are writing this report for them.
Consider your audience. When you determine the purpose of writing a progress report, you should consider the types of things your audience will need to know in the report. While all progress reports contain generalities, you will need to consider the details:[2]
- How do your readers relate to the project? How will the outcome of the project affect them? (The relationship and how they affect it will be different for your supervisor than it is for a client, for example.)
- Think about what decision your readers will have to make after reading the progress report (eg what kind of support, money, time they will invest).
- Consider the information your reader will need to know to effectively monitor and participate in the project. What technical aspects of the project you will need to know. Are they comfortable with technical jargon?
Decide what is the best way to communicate with your audience. A progress report is not just a written document that you send to your supervisor or professor. It can take different forms depending on what is needed.[3]
- A progress report can be a short oral report at weekly or monthly staff meetings.
- These can be occasional emails to colleagues.
- These can be formal or informal letters to superiors.
- They can also be official reports for clients or government agencies.
Check with your supervisor. Unless you’ve already written this specific type of progress report (in which case, why are you here?), you’ll want to get all the guidance you can from your superiors. There may be a specific format that your business uses, in which case you need to make sure you follow the rules for that.
Consider your tone. Not all progress reports have to be formal. In fact, internal reports to colleagues or superiors tend to have a more informal tone. That’s why it’s very important to check with your supervisor about what you’re probably looking for.
- When it comes to reporting for a client or a government agency, or a dissertation review board, err on the side of formality.
- Regardless of how formal or informal your tone is, you want it to be clear, focused, and honest.
Decide how you want to present your material. By the time you start writing your report, you will already have an idea of what the tone and substance of the report should be. Now you must decide the best way or ways to present that information.[4]
- You can select a bulleted list. It’s a very clear way of presenting the material and it’s easy to skim through and still get the information you need. However, it can be a slightly less formal way of writing a progress report and would be best used for letters to superiors and emails to colleagues.
- You may also consider adding graphs or tables. This could be especially good if you’re writing a progress report for a project you’re trying to get funding for, or showing why you deserve the funding you’ve been awarded.
Consider the use of subsections. To write a successful progress report, you want it to be as clear as possible. Dividing your report into subsections is a great way to group all the relevant material together.[5]
- Adding subheadings to yours can make this even clearer by letting your readers or audience know what to expect in each subsection. If there is material that interests them especially, they will be able to directly access that section.
Write the title. This usually goes over the top of the paper, if you are using the page format. Again, this will depend on what your company or university prefers, so be sure to check with them.
- The title should include the date the report was submitted, the name and title of the recipient, the name and title of the writer, and the subject of the report.
Write the introduction. The introductory part goes under the title. It can often be distinguished from the rest of the material by italics. Provides a brief overview of the project and summarizes its status. You will find out what progress has been made and whether goals have been achieved.[6]
- Be sure to include: the purpose of the report, introduce the project, remember that this is a project progress update.
Create the body of the proposal. The body of the proposal, whether divided into sections and subsections, is basically a more detailed version of the introduction. Consider the information you put in your introduction and be sure to expand on that information.
- List the tasks that have been completed since the last report and which tasks are in progress.
- Discuss the problems you found, the problems that need to be solved, and the possible solutions to those problems and issues.
- Write down the changes that occurred and why they were necessary.
- It can also include things like staff changes, difficulties getting materials, cost overruns you’ve encountered, delays, or problems with technology or security.
- It also helps to provide a project timeline with all the relevant deadlines.
Specify the following for your project. While this is still basically part of the brief, you want to make sure your audience understands where you’re going with the project. Be sure to mention any issues that may affect the completion date, budget, or management structure.
- You really want to make sure whether or not the deadline for the project has changed.
- Avoid sugarcoating any issues for your audience, but don’t annoy them unnecessarily or make promises you can’t deliver.
Add the total hours worked. You will need to show how much you and your team (if you have one) have invested in the project. This will show your audience (whether it’s your supervisor, your clients, or a government agency that might give you money) that you’ve been working hard.
Make sure you stay on topic. As long as you follow the basic information above, you should be fine. You really want to avoid wandering into other areas that are only marginally related to the project, however interesting they may be.
- For example: If your project is about restarting a local arts nonprofit, it might be tempting to get into a discussion about the sorry state of arts funding, but that won’t help detail how your project is progressing.
keep it simple The goal of a progress report is to communicate the progress you’re making, without overwhelming your audience with words and ideas. All you need to focus on is how a particular project is progressing, what still needs to be worked on, and what changes need to be made.
- Depending on who you are writing the report for, you may be whittled down to a certain page limit. A good rule of thumb is to keep it as short as possible and make sure you include the right information.
Try to avoid too much ambiguity. You need to be sure to provide specific details about where you are in your project.[7]
For example: You should avoid saying something like, “We’re making great progress in raising funding for our art,” and instead say, “With two $5,000 grants from these different foundations, we’re only $2,000 short of our $12,000 goal.”Reduce expressive words. Once again, you want your report to be clear and concise. You don’t want to overwhelm your audience with words that add nothing to the report. For example, phrases like “total disaster” or “breakthrough success” are too emotional and vague to be useful to customers or superiors.[8]
Quote your sources. Any information you use that comes from an external source, any graphics or data, must be duly cited. You can add a page with additional resources to your progress report.
- So you don’t get caught off guard when it comes time for the progress report, it’s a good idea to jot down the information as you go along to help you put it all together. ⧼thumbs_response⧽ Helpful 7 Not Helpful 6
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Source: HIS Education