(1)
(1)
(2)
(3)
Severity Likelihood | Negligible (1) | Minor (2) | Moderate (3) | Significant (4) | Severe (5) |
Low (1) | Delay in the delivery of office supplies | Natural calamities are damaging the infrastructure. | |||
Medium (2) | Absence of key personnel | Running out of budget | |||
High (3) |
Using the table above, the identified risk can be ranked this way:
Risk | Likelihood | Severity | Result | |
Natural calamities damaging the infrastructure | 1 | 5 | 5 | |
Running out of budget | 2 | 4 | 8 | |
Delay in the delivery of office supplies | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
Absence of key personnel | 2 | 2 | 4 |
As the end of a project, a Project Closure Report signals its culmination. Its submission officially concludes a project and implies that funds and resources will no longer be needed, and everything will go back to its status prior to the implementation of the project.
This process is critical as it will officially tie up all loose ends and prevent confusion among stakeholders.
This particular type of project report summarizes information on the project results, the criteria used to measure the effectiveness of the project delivery process, and the feedback from the stakeholders. Each performance metric includes an assessment and a narration of how the team performed on such metrics.
This performance metric describes how the team utilized the budget in carrying out the project effectively. Under this performance metric, the following aspects are measured:
Budget variance, explanations for key variances.
Describe how the team implemented the project within the expected time frame and schedule.
Schedule variance, the explanations for key variances, change management.
This metric refers to the team’s ability to handle and manage changes throughout the project’s implementation effectively. It is measured through the following:
The impact of the changes, the highlight of changes, quality management.
This particular metric refers to the team’s ability to observe and comply with quality standards during the project’s implementation.
The explanation for resolved defects, risk and issue management.
This metric deals with how risks and matters that occurred during project implementation were handled and resolved by the team. Key points to include are the following:
Human resource management.
This refers to the team’s ability to carry out the project effectively.
This metric looks at how the stakeholders participated in the project.
Communication management.
Under this metric, communication throughout the duration of the project is assessed.
Other points of interest may not have been captured in the Project Status Report and may be included in the Project Closeout Report. Some of these factors include:
Benefits realized, benchmark comparisons, keys to an effective project closure report.
A little bit different from the types of project reports previously mentioned, an Executive Summary is a distinct kind of report which uses different language. It is a high-level report which aims to provide a bigger and deeper understanding of the project—how it will benefit the organization and how it will fit into future business strategies. It is written with a busy executive in mind, someone who has a lot of important things to do and may find reading a lengthy piece of prose a waste of precious time. Factual and objective, this particular type of project report must be able to provide a realistic status of the project, as business executives understand that everything may not go according to the plan.
Some may confuse an executive summary with an abstract but, in reality, they are clearly distinct from one another and serve a different purpose.
An abstract is usually written for academic or scientific papers. It is written with a topic sentence which, generally, gives an overview of what the article is about. It is, then, supported by two or three supporting sentences which support the main idea of the topic sentence.
An executive summary, on the other hand, is composed of different sections discussing almost every significant aspect of an undertaking. It consists of sequentially arranged key points supported by conclusions and recommendations. Check our in-depth article on how to write an effective executive summary .
Here are some of the principles that need to be observed in writing an effective project report;
The report should have a structure, ensure that the report is evidence-based and is supported by data, make it as objective as possible, project report: free download.
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By Kate Eby | May 25, 2022 (updated June 25, 2024)
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Creating a project plan can be overwhelming, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. We provide the basic steps, tools, and expert tips for how to write a project plan. Included in this article, you’ll find the following:
A project plan , also called a work plan , outlines the tasks, resources, and timelines for achieving a goal. It defines project scope, outlines deliverables, identifies stakeholders, assigns roles, identifies success metrics, determines the framework, and manages resources, quality, and change.
Project planning is fundamentally about balancing the goals, schedule, and resources to demonstrate control of the project’s scope. Part of writing a project plan includes creating an overview and a scope statement, determining the deliverables schedule, and defining a budget. You’ll want to gather a risk management strategy, a communication plan, and any other documents the project needs. 1. Set SMART Goals Every successful project plan starts with setting a project goal: the expected outcome. The goal will become part of the project plan’s executive summary. A specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goal aligns everyone involved, establishes focus, and provides direction. Meet with stakeholders to ensure the goal aligns with business objectives and gain a thorough understanding of their expectations. Examples of SMART goals for a project include the following:
Download the SMART Goals Worksheet forMicrosoft Word
Download the SMART Goals Worksheet for Microsoft Word
Use this SMART goals worksheet to detail the five characteristics of effective goal setting, specific to your project. Once complete, it provides a clear direction of what your project will achieve, how you will measure its progress, and the time it will take to complete. Learn how to write SMART goals and see examples to get started. 2. Define the Project Scope Your project scope sets the project’s parameters (the size) and safeguards against unrealistic expectations and conflicting interests throughout the project's lifecycle. It also prevents scope creep , such as doing unnecessary work, overspending, or missing deliverable due dates.
Download a Project Scope Statement Template for Excel | Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF
Use this project scope statement template to list project deliverables and tasks, along with the project stakeholders and their roles. The template serves as a resource for stakeholders and team members, particularly in the event of change requests. A project scope generally includes the reason for the project, the goals, deliverables, tasks, a work breakdown structure (WBS), assumptions, constraints, and costs. Here are a list of actions to consider when defining the project scope:
3. Define the Success Metrics Success metrics gauge progress to help determine if a project is on track to meet its goal. You can measure success by looking at cost performance, resource utilization, or the progress of tasks against the project schedule. Here is a list of common project planning success metrics:
4. Determine the Project’s Methodology The methodology is the process framework of your project. It can look different depending on the project’s flexibility, timeframe, type of work, and complexity. Learn more about project frameworks .
Popular Project Frameworks
5. Gather and Manage Project Resources Secure resources you need to complete your project in advance to avoid scrambling midway. Resources include people, finances, technology, tools, equipment, and knowledge. Gather input from your team about the resources they require for executing their assigned tasks.
Download the Project Resource Planning Template for Excel
Use a project resource planning template to list resources, their cost, and where they are needed in the project’s lifecycle. Enter the hours and cost of each resource. The template will auto-populate the totals.
6. Create a Project Schedule A project schedule organizes tasks, sets expectations, and tracks progress. When you create the schedule, plan for unexpected delays, team members’ time off, holidays, and more. Include a timeline for each deliverable to keep the project moving forward. Adding milestones will help with building momentum, motivating the team, and monitoring progress. Store the schedule in a central location so that everyone involved can view the project’s status at any given time.
Download a Project Schedule Template for Excel | PowerPoint | Google Sheets
Use this customizable project schedule template to create a visual map of your project’s tasks and phases. The template will use any dates you add to the matrix to create a color-coded Gantt chart.
7. Implement Risk Management Every project will encounter risks. Risk management is a proactive approach for keeping your project on track and mitigating the impact of risks. Learn more about project risk management and the importance of being prepared rather than ignoring the potential disruptions.
Download the Simple Business Risk Register Template for Excel
Use a risk register template to identify risks, their impact, probability, impact, and mitigation notes.
8. Implement Quality Management Quality management guarantees adherence to standards, consistency, and continual improvement, which is essential for meeting stakeholder and client expectations.
Download a Project Quality Management Plan Template for Excel | Google Sheets
Use this template to document quality issues that could arise within the project. Enter quality descriptions, expected and actual results, who tested them, and whether the issues pass quality controls. Collecting and documenting this information helps regulate the project’s quality standards.
9. Develop a Communication Plan Meet with your stakeholders to learn what information they want to receive and how often. Then, create a communication plan to establish how and when to share updates with stakeholders. The plan includes a list of key stakeholders and team members, their contact details, and when to send project updates. Not all stakeholders require the same level of engagement. For example, an investor won’t require details about every project deliverable, but they will want to be informed about budget or cost changes.
Download a Project Communication Plan Template for Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs
Use this project communication plan template to document your key stakeholders’ details and preferred contact style and frequency. Enter your communication goals and customize the plan to fit your needs and be sure to communicate with them regularly.
10. Write and Share a Project Summary Anyone should be able to understand the project plan through a well-crafted project summary. The one-page document explains the purpose of the project plan, the goals, schedule, budget, resources, risks, expected outcomes, and any recommendations. Write your project summary at the end of your project planning to guarantee all relevant information is included. Once complete, share it with the team and key stakeholders.
Download a Project Summary Template for Excel | Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF
Download and complete this project summary template to provide a project overview to team members and stakeholders. Enter project milestones, budget information, schedule, and more. Customize the sections to fit your project needs.
Download Project Plan Starter Kit
In this free starter kit, you’ll find customizable templates for every project planning step. Together, these documents form the foundation of a solid project plan and will help get your project off the ground.
In this kit, you’ll find the following:
Creating a project plan helps you set a schedule that you can monitor to ensure a project is on track. Use a template and fill in key details, tasks, start and end dates, and status.
Looking for a different template format? Check out one of these free project plan templates .
Project plans serve as a project’s blueprint. Reviewing examples of project plans from other organizations can provide guidance and inspiration.
Beyond the Bell is a nonprofit organization that provides family resources such as childcare assistance, credit counseling services, and afterschool programs. The group uses a program plan template to develop, implement, evaluate, and improve its programs. This program plan template from Beyond the Bell provides a thorough checklist to ensure all project plan elements are covered. It also includes a goal-setting worksheet and a logic model planning tool for documenting inputs, outputs, and expected outcomes.
This real-world example from the city of Boston’s redevelopment of Dudley Square demonstrates a thorough work plan, including project tasks and deliverables. You’ll also find a meeting schedule and a project governance structure that demonstrates the importance of streamlined communication when planning a large-scale project.
In 2019, the Oregon Public Utility Commission embarked on a project to replace its outdated and unsupported docketing system. The commission used elements from an Oregon Public Utility Commission's project management plan , such as project overview, WBS, resource management plan, communication management plan, risk assessment, and more.
Download the Sample Simple Project Plan Template for PowerPoint
When to Use This Template: This easy-to-use template is ideal for project managers to organize and present their project deliverables and timelines. Download this template with sample copy as an example of what to include in your project plan template. Notable Template Features: This template features a one-year timeline with colored duration bars to represent how long each deliverable will take. The Today indicator makes it easy to see the status of tasks (complete, in progress, or upcoming) at a glance.
Download the Sample Project Management Plan Outline Template for Microsoft Word
When to Use This Template: Use this template if you are a project manager who needs to detail all areas of a project plan. Notable Template Features: This comprehensive outline template features a narrative-style format providing space to enter details for each element of a project plan. Use the table of contents for easy navigation to specific sections.
Writing a good project plan begins with good organization and involving the people needed to complete the work. Experts recommend getting buy-in from your team, communicating with them clearly and often, and being adaptable so you can handle challenges as they arise.
Follow these best practices for writing a great project plan:
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When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.
Noah Parsons
24 min. read
Updated July 29, 2024
Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated.
In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.
If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan .
You understand that planning helps you:
As you start to write your plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .
At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.
Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow.
A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals.
After completing your plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business.
We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.
There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create.
It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.
Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan
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The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.
Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan.
In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .
Your executive summary should include:
Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary
This is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service.
This is usually called a problem and solution statement .
To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.
This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.
Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business.
A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .
Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market.
Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.”
Related: Target market examples
Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.
Next, provide any additional information you have about your market.
What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.
Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis
Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers.
Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service.
For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.
A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.
Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan
The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics.
The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement .
This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning.
For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.
Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy .
This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services.
While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer.
If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process.
A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.
Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.
Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan
The operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like.
Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:
Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains.
These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.
If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.
For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.
Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan
Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.
Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:
If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap.
Possible milestones might be:
You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:
It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.
Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan
Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.
Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality.
Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before?
If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.
Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:
Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided?
Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.
Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team
Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter.
Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast.
A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:
A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.
Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets
This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.
Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.
Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.
Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix
Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.
Your cover page should be simple and include:
Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.
Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page
Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.
The best way to use AI for your business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity.
AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers.
There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.
Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan
To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .
Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project.
For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure.
If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.
Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.
Keep things concise
Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it.
So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.
Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.
Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.
If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.
Knowing what information to include in a business plan is sometimes not quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template.
There are plenty of great options available (we’ve rounded up our 8 favorites to streamline your search).
But, if you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template , you can get one right now; download the template used by more than 1 million businesses.
Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples .
We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.
It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started.
Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:
Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.
The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.
With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas.
A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.
Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck
One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.
And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.
That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.
Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:
Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets.
Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees.
Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.
A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.
Learn More: How to run a regular plan review
How to write a business plan FAQ
What is a business plan?
A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.
What are the benefits of a business plan?
A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.
Having a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.
What are the 7 steps of a business plan?
The seven steps to writing a business plan include:
What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?
There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:
What questions should be answered in a business plan?
Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.
However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:
How long should a business plan be?
The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.
If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.
What are the different types of business plans?
While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.
Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.
Business model canvas: The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.
One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.
Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.
What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?
A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.
However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.
Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.
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Writing an effective project report is a crucial skill for any project manager. A well-written report clearly communicates the status and progress of a project to key stakeholders and outlines key next steps. This comprehensive guide will teach you how to write a professional project report in 7 steps using free report templates.
A project report is a document that summarizes project data based on economic and financial analysis, progress status, risks, and results to date. It provides stakeholders with information about your project including goals, timeline, budget, resources, risks, and performance.
This guide covers different types of project reports, key components to include, and tips for writing reports efficiently. With sample project report templates, you’ll learn how to create a polished report to keep your project on track.
Project reports are a critical part of project management. A well-written report helps project managers in the following ways:
Communicates the current status of the project to stakeholders
Highlights project risks, issues, scope changes
Tracks project progress against schedule and budget
Identifies areas that need improvement
Keeps the project team and stakeholders aligned
Creates documentation for the entire project
Demonstrates the value of the project
In short, project reports keep everyone informed about the health of a project. Reports provide the data and insights needed to make good decisions and keep the project on schedule.
There are several different types of project reports, each serving a different purpose. The type of report you’re creating depends on the needs of stakeholders and phase of the project.
Here are some common types of project management reports:
A project status report communicates where the project stands at a specific point in time. It compares project progress and performance to the original plan. Status reports help identify issues, risks, or changes early. Include sections like progress since last report, upcoming milestones, risk management, and issue log.
Similar to a status report, a progress or performance report summarizes project progress. It describes work completed in the given timeframe as well as metrics related to budget, schedule, quality, resources, and risks. Use key performance indicators to evaluate progress.
A project summary report is an overview of the entire project from inception to completion. It recaps key objectives, milestones, outputs, budget, and lessons learned. Project sponsors often request a summary report as part of project closure.
Analysis reports take a deep dive into a specific aspect of the project, like costs, risks, quality, or procurement. Examples include cost-benefit analysis, earned value, forecasting, and gap analysis. Analysis reports identify problems and recommend actions.
Project management reports focus on the performance of the project team. They track resource usage, capacity, budgets, timesheets, and project management metrics. Task tracking and burn down reports fall into this category.
While the exact format changes based on report type, certain elements are common to all project reports:
The overview provides background on project goals, scope, timeline, deliverables, resources, and sponsors. It summarizes the purpose and objectives of the project.
The status summary analyzes where the project stands at the time of the report. It highlights milestones achieved, upcoming milestones, percentage of work completed, plus budget and schedule status. Charts are helpful to display status visually.
This section describes the activities, deliverables, and work products finished during the reporting period. Reference the project plan, timeline, and work breakdown structure.
Work pending lists the activities and milestones still remaining. Are any critical path items behind schedule? How will you get back on track? Explain upcoming work and priorities.
The issues and risks section calls out problems, changes, action items, and risks impacting the project. It identifies who is responsible for resolving each item and next steps. New risks should be added to the risk register.
Budget status compares planned budget vs. actuals spent to date. Track spending by cost center, work package, or resource. Explain any budget deficits or overruns.
Compare original schedule vs. actual progress. Are milestones on track? Report schedule variance and identify activities that are ahead or behind schedule. Explain delays.
Finish the report with next steps and recommendations to get the project back on track or improve performance going forward. Present options and actions for consideration.
Attach relevant facts, figures, and documents that support the project report as appendices. Examples include the risk register, issue log, schedule, budgets, charts, and graphics.
Follow these steps to produce a professional project report your stakeholders will actually want to read:
Start by defining the purpose, audience, and required contents based on the report type. Identify the questions that need answering and data that must be included. Connect with stakeholders to understand their needs.
The format and structure can vary based on the project and organization. Follow company templates if available. Common structural elements include an executive summary, introduction, body, conclusion/recommendations, and appendices.
Compile the data inputs needed for each section of the report. Sources include the project plan, schedule, risk register, budget, quality records, timesheets, and performance metrics. Leverage project management systems to pull data.
Analyze the project data and turn it into meaningful insights. Calculate metrics like schedule and cost variance. Evaluate project risks, issues, and changes. Assess progress relative to KPIs. Identify trends.
Following your selected outline, start writing the first draft incorporating the analysis done in step four. Use clear, concise language. Keep sentences short. Include charts and graphs to visualize data.
Apply formatting like colors, fonts, page layouts, headings, and white space for visual appeal. Create an organized, scannable report. Maintain consistency in style and tone. Follow company templates and best practices.
Allow subject matter experts to review the draft report. Incorporate feedback and edits. Verify facts and figures. Complete final formatting and touch-ups before sharing the polished version with stakeholders.
Reinventing the wheel for each report wastes time. Start with pre-built templates then customize with your specifics. Here are free templates and samples:
Project status report template
Project management report templates
Status report PowerPoint
Progress report template
Summary report samples
Project closure report
Leverage templates to create well-formatted reports with pre-built sections, content examples, and design elements. Add colors, charts, and branding to match company guidelines.
Follow these best practices for clear, targeted project reports:
Focus on stakeholders - Understand stakeholders’ needs and tailor content accordingly. Include relevant facts and data points they care about.
Be visual - Charts, graphs, images allow readers to grasp status, trends, and insights quickly.
Use executive summaries - Condense findings into a 1-2 page executive summary with top takeaways, recommendations, and action items.
Keep reports brief - Avoid long, dense reports. Use an appendix for supplemental data.
Mind formatting - Well-formatted reports with ample white space, headings, and visual hierarchy are easier to digest.
Simplify language - Write in clear, simple business language. Define acronyms. Avoid jargon that requires insider knowledge.
Proofread thoroughly - Fix grammar and spelling mistakes that undermine credibility.
Update templates frequently - Tweak report templates regularly to improve flow, formatting, and effectiveness.
Writing compelling project reports is a learned skill. This guide outlined a step-by-step methodology to produce polished project reports that impress stakeholders using data, templates, and best practices.
Here are some final recommendations on creating excellent project reports:
Follow the 7 step process
Start with templates then customize
Focus on visual appeal and easy scanning
Analyze data to gain meaningful insights
Keep sentences and sections short
Make critical information obvious
Project reporting helps managers maintain control, alignment, and visibility. With practice and feedback, you can level up your report writing skills over time. Now it's your turn - go create some outstanding project reports!
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Writing a project report is an essential but often overlooked contributor to your project’s health. However, without the use of automation and templates, it can be a little time-consuming to collect and organize the relevant data that the project generates.
In this post, we’ll explore the basics of project reporting. We’ve included some useful templates and tips to create clear and helpful project reports in less time.
If you want to start creating better project reports using monday.com, sign up today.
A project report is a document where you share details about different areas of your project. Depending on the report type , your audience, and your intention, the details you showcase might differ.
Project reports can be broken down by time— daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly— or a number of other factors like risk, budget, and project management style. Bottom line? They simplify the process of gathering and disseminating information about key information on the project. For instance, a typical report might include:
Reporting gives you, your team, and your stakeholders the ability to track project progress against the original plan. The main goal of a project report is to improve decision-making, to help you make sense of your project data, and decide what your next steps should be. This in turn can impact your budget, timeliness, and project success.
It also plays a vital role in your stakeholder engagement strategy, as it keeps everyone informed on the progress of projects they’re interested in. Those are just a few of the reasons why project reporting has become the most common activity among PMOs (Project Management Offices).
( Image Source )
Project reports can be useful – or they can end up as a 20-page PDF that lives in a drawer somewhere. To put together a report that your project stakeholders can use to gain insights, make decisions and optimize processes, take the following systematic approach to writing your project reports:
1. Define the purpose and scope: Clearly establish the goals, objectives, target audience, and information needs of your project report. 2. Gather and organize data: Collect and organize all relevant data, ensuring its accuracy and reliability. 3. Structure and outline: Create a clear and logical structure for your report and outline the key points you want to cover. 4. Present information effectively: Use clear and concise language and visual aids like graphs or charts to present the information in an easily understandable, visually appealing manner. 5. Review and revise: Proofread your report for any errors or inconsistencies, ensure that it addresses the defined purpose and scope, and revise as necessary to improve clarity.
You can split project reports into different types and categories. Here are five different types of project mangement reports, with monday.com templates you can customize for your unique project and team set-up.
Probably the most frequently used, a project status report offers a general overview of the current status of your projects. A project status report answers the question: “How likely is it that we’ll complete this project on time without overrunning costs?”
These reports analyze whether you’re meeting project goals and key performance indicators. With our single project template , creating a status report is easier than ever.
Resource workload reports help you visualize what your team’s working on, when they’re working on it, and how much work is left. These also reports help you understand how your assets are being used and make sure your actions are aligned with the overall objective.
Our resource management template helps you organize all your assets, locations, and people into one place and track every action with accuracy. You can also manage your resource allocation initiatives and make sure you don’t assign the same resource twice in multiple tasks.
Portfolio reports take a look at all your projects and consolidate all the data into a single document. These reports capture high-level milestones, status, progress, and highlights of your portfolio strategy.
With our portfolio management template , you can track unlimited projects on a single board and get a quick snapshot of their health and profitability.
Time-tracking reports, also known as timesheets, help you measure how your team is spending their time and spot potential bottlenecks.
With our team task list template , you can bring in your entire organization, assign tasks to peers, track time and measure the project progress at a glance.
A project might seem healthy – until everyone starts reporting expenses at the end of the time period. With our expense tracking template , you can proactively manage your cash flow regardless of your accounting skills (or lack thereof!)
Want to try out these templates – and much more? Check out monday.com today.
What are the benefits of a project report.
A project report provides a comprehensive overview of a project’s objectives, progress, and outcomes, serving as a valuable documentation and communication tool. It allows stakeholders to assess your project’s effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions based on reliable data.
The most commonly used types of project reports include:
This will depend on the project and the type of report you’re using, but project reports might include:
monday.com makes it easy to create effective project reports. Try it for yourself and see:
Here’s why monday.com can make your project reporting better:
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If you’re a Type A personality, project planning might sound like music to your ears. Setting deadlines, organizing tasks, and creating order out of chaos — what’s not to love?
The reality is that project planning isn’t for everyone. In one survey by Association for Project Management, 76% of project professionals said their main project was a source of stress . Poor planning, unclear responsibilities, and overallocation are often the culprits behind the stress.
An effective project plan helps teams stay within budget, scope, and schedule, while delivering quality work. In short, it gets you to the finish line without the stress.
A project plan, also known as a work plan, is a blueprint of your project lifecycle. It’s like a roadmap — it clearly outlines how to get from where you are now (the beginning of the project) to where you want to go (the successful completion of the project).
“A project plan is an action plan outlining how…[to] accomplish project goals,” says Jami Yazdani , certified Project Management Professional (PMP), project coach, project management consultant, and founder of Yazdani Consulting and Facilitation .
A comprehensive project plan includes the project schedule, project scope, due dates, and deliverables. Writing a good project plan is key for any new, complex project in the pipeline.
Why Are Project Plans Important?
Project plans allow you to visualize your entire project, from beginning to end—and develop a clear strategy to get from point A to point B. Project plans steer stakeholders in the right direction and keep team members accountable with a common baseline.
Project plans help you stay agile
Projects are bound by what is traditionally called the “iron triangle” of project management . It means that project managers have to work within the three constraints of scope, resources (project budget and teams), and schedule. You cannot make changes to one without impacting the other two.
Modern-day project management has shifted to a more agile approach, with a focus on quality. This means that resources and schedules remain unchanged but a fixed number of iterations (flexible scope) helps teams deliver better quality and more value.
A project plan puts this “agile triangle” in place by mapping out resources, schedules, and the number of iterations — sprints if you’re using a Scrum framework and work in progress (WIP) limits if you’re using the Kanban methodology .
As Yazdani points out, “Project plans help us strategize a path to project success, allowing us to consider the factors that will impact our project, from stakeholders to budget to schedule delays, and plan how to maximize or mitigate these factors.”
Project plans provide complete visibility
A project plan, when created with a comprehensive project management software , gives you 360-degree visibility throughout the project lifecycle.
As a project manager, you need a single source of truth on team members and their project tasks, project scope, project objectives, and project timelines. A detailed project plan gives you this visibility and helps teams stay on track.
Project plans also help to get everyone involved on the same page, setting clear expectations around what needs to be accomplished, when, and by who.
“Project plans create a framework for measuring project progress and success,” says Yazdani. “Project plans set clear expectations for…stakeholders by outlining exactly what…will [be accomplished] and when it will be delivered.”
Project plans boost engagement and productivity
A well-written project plan clarifies how each individual team member’s contributions play into the larger scope of the project and align with company goals. When employees see how their work directly impacts organizational growth, it generates buy-in and drives engagement , which is critical to a project’s success.
“Project plans provide…teams with purpose and direction,” says Yazdani. “Transparent project plans show team members how their individual tasks and responsibilities contribute to the overall success of the project, encouraging engagement and collaboration.”
Writing a project plan requires, well, planning. Ideally, the seeds for a project plan need to be sowed before internal project sign-off begins. Before that sign-off, conduct capacity planning to estimate the resources you will need and if they’re available for the duration of the project. After all, you want to set your teams up for success with realistic end dates, buffer time to recharge or catch up in case of unexpected delays, and deliver quality work without experiencing burnout .
Based on organizational capacity, you can lay down project timelines and map out scope as well as success metrics, outline tasks, and build a feedback loop into your project plan. Follow these project planning steps to create a winning plan:
Defining your project scope is essential to protecting your iron, or agile, triangle from crumbling. Too often, projects are hit with scope creep , causing delays, budget overruns, and anxiety.
“Clearly define your project’s scope or overall purpose,” says Yazdani. “Confirm any project parameters or constraints, like budget, resource availability, and timeline,” says Yazdani.
A project purpose statement is a high-level brief that defines the what, who, and why of the project along with how and when the goal will be accomplished. But just as important as defining your project scope and purpose is defining what metrics you’re going to use to track progress.
“Establish how you will measure success,” says Yazdani. “Are there metrics, performance criteria, or quality standards you need to meet?”
Clearly defining what your project is, the project’s overall purpose, and how you’re going to measure success lays the foundation for the rest of your project plan—so make sure you take the time to define each of these elements from the get-go.
Get clarity on the team members you need to bring the project to life. In other words, identify the key stakeholders of the project.
“List individuals or groups who will be impacted by the project,” says Yazdani.
In addition to identifying who needs to be involved in the project, think about how they’ll need to be involved—and at what level. Use a tool like Confluence to run a virtual session to clarify roles and responsibilities, and find gaps that need to be filled.
Let’s say you’re managing a cross-functional project to launch a new marketing campaign that includes team members from your marketing, design, and sales departments.
When identifying your key stakeholders, you might create different lists based on the responsibility or level of involvement with the project:
Give your project plan an edge by using a Confluence template like the one below to outline roles and responsibilities.
Define roles, discuss responsibilities, and clarify which tasks fall under each teammate’s purview using this Confluence template.
Getting clarity on who needs to be involved in the project—and how they’re going to be involved—will help guide the rest of the project plan writing process (particularly when it comes to creating and assigning tasks).
Now is the time to get granular.
Each project milestone comprises a series of smaller, tangible tasks that your teams need to produce. While a big-picture view keeps teams aligned, you need signposts along the way to guide them on a day-to-day or weekly basis. Create a list of deliverables that will help you achieve the greater vision of the project.
“What will you create, build, design, produce, accomplish or deliver?” says Yazdani. “Clearly outline your project’s concrete and tangible deliverables or outcomes.” Centralize these deliverables in a Trello board with designated cards for each one, like in the example below, so you keep work moving forward.
Each card on a board represents tasks and ideas and you can move cards across lists to show progress.
Defining the concrete items you need your project to deliver will help you reverse-engineer the things that need to happen to bring those items to life—which is a must before moving on to the next step.
Task management is an important component of any project plan because they help employees see what exactly they need to accomplish. Drill down those deliverables into actionable tasks to assign to your team.
You can use either Confluence or Jira for different task management needs. If you want to track tasks alongside your work, like action items from a meeting or small team projects, it’s best to use Confluence. But if a project has multiple teams and you need insight into workflows, task history, and reporting, Jira makes it easy.
“Let your deliverables guide the work of the project,” says Yazdani. “Break down each deliverable into smaller and smaller components until you get to an actionable task.” If a major deliverable is a set of content pieces, the smaller actionable tasks would be to create topic ideas, conduct research, and create outlines for each topic.
Once you’ve broken down all of your deliverables into manageable, assignable subtasks, analyze how each of those tasks interacts with each other. That way, you can plan, prioritize, assign, and add deadlines accordingly.
“Highlight any dependencies between tasks, such as tasks that can’t be started until another task is complete,” says Yazdani. “List any resources you will need to accomplish these tasks.”
When a task has multiple assignees, you need to streamline the workflow in your project plan. Say the content pieces you outlined need to be edited or peer-reviewed. A couple of articles may need an interview with a subject matter expert. Lay down a stage-by-stage process of each piece of content and pinpoint when each team member comes into play so you prevent bottlenecks and adjust timeframes.
Assign tasks to your team and collaborate with employees to set deadlines for each task. When you involve employees in setting workloads and deadlines , you increase ownership and boost the chances of delivering quality work on time.
After all, you want to move projects forward at a steady pace, but you also want to make sure your teams stay motivated and engaged. So, when writing your project plan, make sure to “set realistic and achievable deadlines for completing tasks and deliverables,” says Yazdani. “Highlight dates that are inflexible and factor in task dependencies. Add in milestones or checkpoints to monitor progress and celebrate successes .”
Use Jira and Confluence to create tasks that live alongside your project plan or meeting agendas.
Once you map out all of your tasks and deadlines, you should have a clear picture of how and when your project is going to come together—and the initial writing process is just about finished.
But that doesn’t mean your project plan is complete! There’s one more key step to the process.
While steps 1 through 5 may make up your initial writing process, if you want your project plan to be as strong and complete as it can be, it’s important to share it with your team—and get their input on how they think it can be improved.
“Share the plan with your project team and key stakeholders, gathering feedback to make adjustments and improvements,” says Yazdani.
A tool like Confluence helps knowledge flow freely within teams and departments, leading to better teamwork, higher collaboration, and a shared understanding of priorities. Coworkers can use comments, mentions, notifications, and co-editing capabilities to provide and discuss feedback.
After you gather your team’s feedback —and make any necessary adjustments based on that feedback—you can consider your project plan complete. Hooray!
But as your project progresses, things may change or evolve—so it’s important to stay flexible and make changes and adjustments as needed.
“Expect to update your plan as you gather more information, encounter changing requirements and delays, and learn from feedback and mistakes,” says Yazdani. “By using your project plan to guide your activities and measure progress, you’ll be able to refine and improve your plan as you move through the project, tweaking tasks and deadlines as deliverables are developed.”
Download a template to create your project plan and customize it based on your needs.
A project plan doesn’t have to be a complicated spreadsheet with multiple tabs and drop-down menus. It’s best to use a project planning tool like Confluence — or at least a project plan template — to make sure you cover every aspect of the project. A simple project plan includes these elements:
A project planning process can quickly turn into a mishmash of goals and tasks that end up in chaos but these best practices can give you a framework to create a project plan that leads to success.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel for every new project! Instead, look to other successful project plans for inspiration—and use them as a guide when writing the plan for your project.
“Review templates and plans for similar projects, or for other projects within your organization or industry, to get ideas for structuring and drafting your own plan,” says Yazdani.
To get started, use a Trello project management template and customize it for your project plan by creating unique lists and adding cards under each list.
Build your team’s ideal workflow and mark each stage of the project plan as a list, with cards for each task.
You may be in charge of spearheading the project. But that doesn’t mean that you have to—or even that you should—write the project plan alone.
“Collaborate with your project team and key stakeholders on crafting a project plan,” says Yazdani. “Input into the project plan supports buy-in to project goals and encourages continued engagement throughout the project.”
With Confluence , you can organize project details in a centralized space and build a project plan collaboratively.
You may be tempted to write (and rewrite) your project plan until you’ve got every detail mapped out perfectly. But spending too much time trying to get everything “perfect” can actually hold up the project. So don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good—and instead of getting caught up in getting everything perfect from the get-go, stay willing and flexible to adjust your project plan as you move forward.
“Focus on outcomes, not plan perfection,” says Yazdani. “While it would be awesome for the first draft of our plan to require no changes while also inspiring our team and ensuring project success, our goal shouldn’t be a perfect plan. Our goal is a plan that allows us to successfully deliver on project goals. Responsiveness to changing needs and a shifting environment is more important than plan perfection.”
Writing a project plan, especially if you’re new to the process, can feel overwhelming. But now that you know the exact steps to write one, make sure you have the tools you need to create a strong, cohesive plan from the ground up—and watch your project thrive as a result.
Atlassian Together can help with project planning and management with a powerful combination of tools that make work flow across teams.
Guide your team to project success with Atlassian Together’s suite of products.
What you’ll learn:
By: Shubhangi Pandey | Published on: Jun 5, 2024 | Categories: BrightWork 365 , Microsoft 365 , Project Reporting | 0 comments
In an age where remote work is becoming the new every day and data-driven decision-making is more crucial than ever, project reporting has become more than a managerial obligation. It’s an art and a science that combines traditional project tracking with modern metrics and advanced data visualization.
This guide will walk you through seven essential steps to craft a project report that informs and engages your stakeholders. We’ll explore the role of AI in project management, delve into the importance of remote work metrics, and discuss cutting-edge data visualization tools that can make your reports more insightful.
Whether you’re a seasoned project manager or just getting started with project management basics , these steps will help you write a project report that adds value to your organization’s knowledge base for future projects.
The importance of robust project management tools for effective report writing cannot be overstated. Here’s why:
When crafting an impactful project report, your tools can be a game-changer. And let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Artificial Intelligence. AI is no longer just a buzzword – it’s a reality transforming project management and reporting.
According to a systematic literature review published in MDPI , AI’s role in project management is increasingly significant, offering advanced capabilities like predictive analytics and risk assessment.
These advanced AI tools centralize your project data and offer predictive analytics, risk assessment, and automated insights that can be invaluable for your report. Like Power BI revolutionized data visualization, AI algorithms can sift through massive amounts of data to highlight trends, predict risks, and recommend actions.
Imagine reporting on what has happened and providing stakeholders with insights into what could happen. It’s like giving your project report a crystal ball. And don’t worry – embracing AI doesn’t mean you have to be a tech wizard. Many modern project management tools benefit from built-in AI features.
A thesis from DiVA portal explores the implementation of AI in project management and its impact on working personnel, indicating that AI is becoming more accessible and user-friendly.
AI’s capabilities equip stakeholders with data-driven insights for strategic decisions. It’s not just about tracking work and identifying risks anymore – it’s about forecasting them and offering actionable solutions. Welcome to the future of project reporting.
Understanding the types of project reports you need to create is crucial. Whether it’s a project summary report, a project health report, or a project completion report, each serves a unique purpose and audience.
Knowing the format, whether a pie chart, bar chart, or complete chart, can also help present the data effectively. Writing a report is a valuable opportunity to evaluate the project, document lessons learned, and add to your organization’s knowledge base for future projects.
Data visualization has come a long way from simple pie charts and bar graphs. With the advent of AI, we now have tools that can display and interpret data. Think of AI-powered heat maps that can show project bottlenecks or predictive line graphs that forecast project completion based on current trends.
Modern data visualization techniques like interactive dashboards, real-time data streams, and even augmented reality (AR) representations are making it easier than ever to understand complex project metrics. These aren’t just for show; they offer actionable insights that can significantly impact project outcomes.
The best part? These advanced visualization tools are becoming increasingly user-friendly. You don’t need to be a data scientist to use them. Most project management software now integrates seamlessly with these tools, making it easier than ever to incorporate advanced data visualization into your regular reporting.
In today’s digital age, remote work is becoming the new normal. As project managers, adapting our reporting techniques to this changing landscape is crucial.
When it comes to remote teams, some metrics become even more critical. Think along the lines of ‘Remote Engagement Rate,’ ‘Digital Communication Effectiveness,’ and ‘Virtual Team Collaboration.’ These KPIs offer a more nuanced understanding of how remote teams are performing.
Fortunately, modern project management tools have features specifically designed to track these remote work metrics. From time-tracking software to virtual “water cooler” moments captured for team morale, these tools make remote work measurable in ways we couldn’t have imagined a few years ago.
A well-defined project timeline and key milestones are essential for any project. They not only help in keeping the project on track but also provide a basis for decision-making.
Project management software can automate this process, ensuring that reports are always up-to-date. Try the steps outlined below for writing better project reports.
Collaborate seamlessly from anywhere, with brightwork 365 and microsoft teams..
Writing an effective project report is crucial for evaluating the project’s health, keeping stakeholders informed, and setting the stage for future projects. Here are seven steps to guide you through the process.
Take some time during the project management initiation phase to think about the purpose of the report. Do you need to describe, explain, recommend, or persuade? Having a clear goal from the outset ensures that you stay focused, making engaging your reader easier.
Understanding the objective is the cornerstone of effective project reporting. Whether crafting a project summary report or a detailed project performance report, aligning your content with the aim will make your report more coherent and actionable.
This is also the stage where you decide the key milestones and metrics to highlight in the report.
Understanding your audience is crucial for crafting a report that resonates. Whether you’re writing for stakeholders or team members, the language, data, and visuals should be tailored to their preferences and needs.
Before you start, check the report format and type. Do you need to submit a written report or deliver a presentation? Do you need to craft a formal, informal, financial, annual, technical, fact-finding, or problem-solving report?
You should also confirm if any project management templates are available within the organization.
Checking these details can save time later on!
Different types of project reports serve other purposes. A project status report provides a snapshot of where the project is, while a project health report dives deeper into metrics.
Make sure to consider the medium – will this report be a PDF, a slideshow, or an interactive dashboard? The format can significantly impact how the information is received.
Including engaging facts and data will solidify your argument. Start with your collaborative project site and work out as needed. Remember to cite sources such as articles, case studies, and interviews.
To build a compelling case in your report, start mining your collaborative project site for crucial metrics like project milestones, resource utilization, and project health. Supplement this with additional data from external sources like articles and case studies.
Utilize data visualization tools like pie charts or bar graphs to make complex information easily digestible. Ensure the data is current to maintain the report’s credibility and remember to cite your sources for added reliability.
How you arrange your report is pivotal in how well your audience can digest the material. A logically organized report improves readability and amplifies its impact in delivering the core message.
Your report should have a natural progression, leading the reader from one point to the next until a decisive conclusion is reached. Generally, a report is segmented into four key components:
Spend some time making the report accessible and enjoyable to read. If working in Word, the Navigation pane is a great way to help your reader work through the document. Use formatting, visuals, and lists to break up long text sections.
Readability is not just about the text but also about the visual elements like pie charts, bar colors, and even the background color of the report. Use these elements to break the monotony and make the report more engaging. Also, consider adding a table of contents for longer reports to improve navigation.
The first draft of the report is rarely perfect, so you will need to edit and revise the content. If possible, set the document aside for a few days before reviewing it or ask a colleague to review it.
Editing is not just about correcting grammatical errors – it’s also about ensuring that the report aligns with its initial objectives and is tailored to its audience. Use this stage to refine the report’s structure, clarify its key points, and eliminate any unnecessary jargon or technical terms to the reader’s understanding.
Project reporting can often be a laborious and time-consuming task. Especially on a project where there are so many moving parts and different people involved, getting a clear picture of what’s going on can be pretty tricky.
That is why we recommend moving to a cloud-based solution for project management and reporting – and you might have guessed it: we recommend Microsoft 365! If you’re considering SharePoint, check out our build vs buy guide.
There are many benefits to using Microsoft 365 as the platform for your project management reporting, including:
BrightWork 365 is a project and portfolio management solution for Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform. Here are five ways you can leverage BrightWork 365 and Microsoft 365 for more efficient project reporting:
BrightWork project sites have a “Status” tab where the project manager can capture what is happening. This is not a status report but a place for the PM to log the current status.
It is not a snapshot, as it will change regularly, but the info here will become part of the status report once the PM creates one. once the PM chooses to create one.
The Status Reports tab is where you can capture a snapshot of the project status at a point in time. It will bring in all the info from the “Status” tab, but you have the ability to add comments.
BrightWork 365 enables a hierarchy for your project management – with Portfolios being the highest level. For example, a portfolio may house all the projects in a company.
One of the most critical elements for senior executives and project stakeholders is being aware of the project risks, especially understanding any issues that arise quickly.
The type and format of a report often depends on the audience. For example, senior executives often want the high-level details of a project. That’s where BrightWork 365 Power BI Dashboards come in.
Streamline your project reporting process with BrightWork 365, a tool to centralize and automate your project data. Whether you prefer real-time dashboards or scheduled email reports, BrightWork 365 adapts to your needs, eliminating the tedious aspects of project reporting. Consider the following:
Project reporting has undergone a significant transformation, thanks partly to technological advancements like Microsoft 365 and BrightWork 365 . As we’ve discussed, it’s not just about tracking tasks and milestones anymore.
Today’s project reports are data-rich, AI-enhanced documents that offer predictive analytics and actionable insights. They also cater to the unique challenges and KPIs relevant to remote teams.
As we look to the future, we can expect even more advancements in project reporting technology. However, the core principles of clear objectives, a deep understanding of your audience, and a well-structured format will remain constant.
By adhering to the steps outlined in this guide, you’ll be well-equipped to adapt to new tools and technologies, ensuring that your project reports remain valuable for decision-making and strategic planning.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in September 2016 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness
Image credit
BrightWork Content Marketer
Shubhangi is a product marketing enthusiast, who enjoys testing and sharing the BrightWork 365 project portfolio management solution capabilities with Microsoft 365 users. You can see her take on the experience of the template-driven BrightWork 365 solution, its unique project management success approach, and other personalized services across the site and social channels. Beyond BrightWork, Shubhangi loves to hunt for the newest Chai Latte-serving café, where she can read and write for hours.
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Table of contents, what is a project outline, what is a project report.
A project report is a document created for a team or company that ensures a project stays on track. The project report should describe progress, milestones, and roadblocks.
Project Reports are a core part of any project management process. There are a few key documents necessary for successful project progress, and a project report is undoubtedly one of them.
Alongside a project plan, a project report holds significant weight in justifying budgets, team members, tools, and other resources. In this article, we'll explore one of the two types of project reports any project manager needs to be able to write.Report number one is an ongoing project status report ; this report will be needed on more than one occasion throughout a project's life span and explores the overall progress of the project.
Report number two is a project completion report ; this report comes at the end of the project and wraps everything up.
We've also provided a project report template that you can adapt to your project and project report type that you need.
Why write a project report in the first place.
This report is so crucial in keeping key players up to date - we'll explore who exactly you need to be writing for in the next point. A project status report is needed to give a summary of a project , significant changes, and to keep a record of the project's progress.
A project status report adds milestones and target reminders to the process. Without the report, many project teams will struggle to keep up the momentum on long term projects.
A project status report is typically prepared by insiders who are involved in its day-to-day workings. Usually this is the project management team, a body of project managers and department executives with general or specific knowledge of the project.
A project report will need to be written for different people; each stakeholder will require different information that's important to them - remember this when putting together the progress of the project. It's not a one size fits all situation.
You may be dealing with sensitive information that could damage relationships or even severe them if put in front of the wrong eyes. At the same time, you could be releasing information that isn't relevant to certain people; in receiving an onslaught of information someone may miss the data or info that is specifically important for their eyes.
This largely depends on the timeline (or predicted timeline for that matter) outlined in your project manager reports . If your project is expected to run over a few years, it may be best to create quarterly project status reports. However, if your project is set to run around six months to a year, monthly is recommended.
For all of the help that project status reports provide, it's important to remember that they can be pretty time consuming to make. We've provided a sample project report in this article to make your job easier; however, it's still a process. This is why we recommend incorporating a project proposal template as well.
For all the time a project manager is putting into a status report, they're not putting the work into managing their team. Pick a regular period to deliver the report in and put it in the Gantt calendar. Be conscious of the time it consumes, and try to stick to the real-time delivery dates.
In doing this, you'll save a lot of time with unnecessary communication from different players. Questions like "What’s the status of XYZ?" "How's the budget looking for XYZ for the project?" can all wait for the regular report- leaving the team to focus on their job.
Step 1: define your objectives.
Clearly state the purpose of the report and explain why it is necessary. Defining your objectives and providing smart goal examples can help you stay focused while writing and keep those reading the report engaged and informed.
When writing project reports, tailor the content and your tone of voice to the audience as much as possible. Use impactful graphics and important data to connect with the people who will be reading this report.
Before you start writing, first create a list of all the sections in your report. For more details, check "What to Include in a Project Status" below, or take a look at our status report templates .
After your outline and analysis, you can start a rough draft. As the name suggests, it doesn't need to be perfect. If you are looking for a tool to help you put together project reports, try our document editor .
As time permits and new information comes in, fill in any data gaps or highlight any current or potential issues you find. Use the 'Findings' section to focus on the values, and make clear any limitations of the analysis.
Once you have completed your data analysis, you will be able to propose actionable ideas towards the project's mutually desired outcome. The more solid your analysis and findings are, the more credible your project reports will be.
Before you send your report, proofread for grammar, spelling, and typos so that your final document looks as professional as possible. If you're sending the report in a group email, keep an eye on the file size.
Depending on who you're writing the report for, this will change. However, there are a few core elements to include for the project progress , despite who is reading the project report.
If you are wondering how to write a report about a project, start with an executive summary. Short overviews provide the reader with the essential takeaways from the report without having to read all the project details. Executive summaries are very helpful for those who need a quick glance at the project's general direction without wading through a lot of data.
In the project status report, the project's progress is tracked with real metrics. This provides an overview of the project's status and budget and also identifies potential risks and issues. This data-driven approach provides project management with feedback and enables them to make adjustments.
It's important to document all of the resources you had mapped out in your project plan . What do you have left still available? What have you used and found insufficient? Of what resources do you need more? This can include project management tools and physical resources like software or a PDF, but also human resources.
It's essential to give everyone an overview of your project timelines in these status reports, especially those that are outside of your project team and not using the project management software you're using.
At this point, be realistic with your timelines, not optimistic . Refer back to your Gantt calendar to help with this. Save your optimism for team meetings to spur your project team on in working more efficiently and hitting deadlines. In the reporting part, you need to be honest with your timelines and deliverables, both with the goals you have or have not hit and those you expect to be on time with or not.
Many players further down the line will be working on the information you provided in this section of the project reports, it therefore needs to be accurate so they can manage their workload and be available on the predicted date.
This can radically vary but needs to be anything notable that's happened and is no longer abiding by the initial project plan. If you're using editable report samples for projects rather than a PDF, you can go back and edit your project plan to accommodate changes.
However, it's not recommended. You can't guarantee that your team will continuously be referencing the initial project plan once they've got a clear scope of what they need to do for the entire project.
The project manager should use the time dedicated to a project status report to reflect his or her budget. Accounting skills are vital for a project manager's success, and being able to handle a large budget will come in handy when it comes to managing the overall funding of a project.
In this part of the report, give a clear overview of expenses, predicted expenses, and visually highlights where you were over or under budget in real-time. The team can learn from this, not only for future projects but even for next month's project management status report.
Use goals and targets to quantitatively identify if the team is performing well. While doing this, it's essential to consider the hurdles they've had to jump along the way. Have they faced exceptional circumstances that were not planned? If so, how did they cope and react to these challenges?
This is the final part of the Project Status report and one of the most important skill sets for a successful project manager: Risk Management . A project manager needs to have a certain amount of hindsight at play in their everyday work and be able to give an executive summary of all risks.
In the project status report, give an overview of any predicted risks and try to display them tiered so that any reader has a clear overview of what the greatest risks are right through to very low-level risks, and what can be done to prevent them. Always have a Plan B and adapt it every time a project status report is created.
The risk management report is often best accompanied by a risk analysis meeting. Come out of your meeting with detailed meeting minutes and use your team's knowledge and perspective to give a comprehensive overview of all the risks at play.
There are several different types of project reports. Here are some project reporting examples of the most widely used types.
A project status report is used to communicate the project’s progress and to ensure that all parties involved are kept in the loop. Project status report examples include updates to all stakeholders as the project progresses, amended project plans, and notifications of any issues or risks that have arisen.
Project tracking reports provide real numbers, metrics, and other key indicators of the project's progress. Tracking project report examples include data concerning project status, tasks, team performance, completion rate and other metrics in a comprehensive report.
Project performance reports are a more specialized project status report. Examples include overviews of progress, resource allocation, and costs. Project performance reports help monitor the project's current direction and forecast its success. Using performance reports, the team can address issues that are holding the project back.
Project health reports are an example of project management reports that help identify potential issues before they occur, saving the firm money, time, and resources. When project sponsors and supervisors are notified of risks, they can adjust strategy accordingly before problems manifest.
You are writing for busy people when you prepare a project management report. Examples of tasks completed and financials let them see important data quickly, then allocate their time to sections that directly concern them. A project summary report should highlight key milestones and point out upcoming tasks.
Project time tracking reports can help project managers gauge their teams' efficiency and identify areas for improvement. For example, project reports can show which parts of the project are requiring more time to complete and reallocate resources from issues that are requiring less hours than expected.
Wondering how to write a report on a project effectively? Look no further, we've got you covered!There are a few things you need to remember when putting together a project report to help ensure it's efficient and supports the project's success.
Knowing how to write project reports successfully is largely dependent on honesty.
There is no use in hiding deliverables or viewing the truth through rose-tinted glasses. You're not creating a presentation to win someone over here; you're creating a factual report to make sure everyone has as clear an overview as possible.
Stay honest throughout your reporting, give accurate numbers (don't round up or down), and don't make excuses. Remain critical.
This comes at your judgment, but the more relevant information, the better. A project manager will have a fantastic overview of a project and the current status. For that reason, they're the best person to put together a project status report.
However, a project manager shouldn't be afraid to let team members fill in parts of the report if they have a better overview of a particular task within the project. Assign different areas of the project report to different team members and then review everything before the report is submitted.
Clear and concise writing skills are so crucial in making sure your project report is understood. Don't view the project status report as something you just need to get done and delivered.
Review it, make sure there are no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. You'll be surprised at what the power of a comma can, do. See? Make sure the read of your report is as smooth as your project management skills.
For all of the faults, risks, and problems you report in your project status report, it's essential to document your successes. A project is a rollercoaster. There will be ups and downs and spirals and flips. Identify which of these are wins and celebrate them.
By celebrating success, you will lift the morale of the project team and remind the project manager of what has been achieved so far.
A proper project manager report example will be accessible for a wide audience.You'll be writing a project plan for many people, many of whom will not have had direct exposure to your team, your company, or the task/s at hand. When we say write for aliens, we mean writing for someone who has no clue what's happening.
Even the simplest of abbreviations or presumptions can be interpreted as something entirely different by someone else. Leave no room for error or misunderstanding.
Visual support is fantastic for getting your point across or displaying information more clearly in a project status report. Visual aids can break up the monotony of the report if there's a lot of copy, which will be a welcomed relief on the eyes of any reader.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and for a good reason, if you're struggling to get your point across, then look for an example of it online. Use visuals as a supporting example of what you're saying.
Despite each project having its own landscape, you can surprise yourself with the amount that you can automate in your reporting process. Learn how to make the most of excel spreadsheets and tool integrations to see how you can backfill or auto-populate data into your project report.
It's these small time-saving hacks that will make your project report more efficient and better looking in the future.
Use this project report sample as a starting point for your project reports. Adapt it to your company and project needs and share it with the right people to ensure your project stays on track.
Clément Rog is working in our Marketing team from Lyon, France. He loves geography, playing legos with his son, and sharing convictions about marketing or design.
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A project management report is an essential project management tool.
It provides a summary overview of the project’s status that you can share with stakeholders, clients and team members. Ideally, the project report is just a page or two long. And it ensures everyone can quickly assess what’s on schedule, and what’s lagging behind or is overdue.
Good communication, management, and organization are central to effective project management . Regular project management reports help to ensure your project stays on track. And you can also use project reports to manage risk, as well as monitor budgets, and timelines.
Furthermore, the project report can double up as a record-keeping tool for past decisions and actions.
The frequency of your project management report depends on the project’s size and complexity. Monthly reporting is a minimum requirement for most projects, and many produce weekly status reports.
It’s also good practice to produce project management reports throughout the entire lifecycle of the project.
The report’s purpose is to update all project stakeholders on progress and identify any major issues that might have arisen..
The detail may vary from project to project, but all project management reports should include the following information:
Project milestones
Latest project update
Current project health
The aim is to provide a high-level snapshot of where things are at. Project stakeholders want to be able to see at a glance the project’s status. Make sure your project report clearly identifies the following:
An assessment of the project’s progress against the project plan: Is the project ahead or behind schedule?
A rundown on tasks completed and what’s next in the pipeline: Is overall completion of tasks on track?
A summary of actual costs against budget: Is the budget over or underspent?
An overview of project risks and any issues identified: Has the project’s risk profile changed requiring action?
Plus, any action points or to-do items that need attention.
Keep it short and simple. Project stakeholders don’t want to get bogged down in too much detail. The report should provide an accessible overview of the project’s status. A weekly 20-page document will simply go unread.
Be concise, and avoid technical jargon. Not all stakeholders will be familiar with the project’s acronyms or technical terms. Make it an easy read for everyone by using everyday language.
Make it visual. Charts, graphs, and diagrams will bring the data to life, making it much more accessible. In Teamwork.com, project management reports are color-coded to show the status of whether it’s completed, active or late. This makes it easier for project stakeholders to see at a glance where things are at.
Be honest about progress. If the project is behind schedule or is over budget, it’s best to be upfront. After all, the sooner a problem is identified, then the sooner it can be resolved and the project can move forward.
Highlight any action points. Make it easy for project stakeholders. If a client, team member or stakeholder needs to do something, then clearly identify what’s required, by who and when.
A well-prepared project management report is an excellent tool for keeping everyone updated. Plus, it will help you to effectively manage the project and keep it on track.
For more information and advice on project management, check out our project management workbook .
Start working together beautifully. See how Teamwork.com can help your team with our 30-day free trial.
Written by: Unenabasi Ekeruke
Managing a project is tough work. With lots of tasks to oversee, it can be daunting for you to keep up and provide updates on project status.
That's where project management reports come in handy. They provide clear direction, help you make the right decisions and increase your chances of success.
Not sure how to create a project management report? You've come to the right place.
This article will show you everything you need to know about writing a project management report and templates to help you create one right away.
Let's get to it.
Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit project management report templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:
What is a project management report, why is project reporting important, project management report use cases, what to include in a project management report, how to create a project management report in 6 steps, 10 project management templates to use now, project reporting tips & best practices, your turn: create stunning project management reports with visme.
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A project management report is a document that provides information on the project's progress, performance and overall status. It serves as a key instrument for projects of all types and is used by key stakeholders, including:
The report visualizes your project's realities, peculiarities and performance during the project life cycle . Depending on the project size and complexity, you submit it weekly, monthly or quarterly .
Your report could be a one-page document with links and appendices. You can also decide to make your report more detailed. It's entirely up to how much your stakeholders want to see.
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Project reports increase visibility and give you a complete insight into how your project is performing. But that's the tip of the iceberg regarding the benefits of creating one.
Let's take a look at the benefits of creating project management reports.
Project management involves many different layers and activities. As a result, there are many use cases for project management reports.
There's no one-size-fits-all structure and content for project management reports. The report content may vary depending on your company, project type and project management requirements.
However, no matter the business, industry, project type, your report should contain these key elements listed below.
This section should include special identifiers like:
This section should summarize the project's purpose, scope, activities, timelines and milestones, anticipated obstacles and more.
Create a detailed list of project activities and tasks (pending, completed and upcoming). Also, visualize task dependencies to enable readers to track the relationship between different tasks.
Record timelines for each activity and the project start and end dates. If you're in the middle of a project, include data about the milestones completed and what's left.
The reader should understand who's responsible for certain deliverables and which aspects are being outsourced. Describe the tools, staffing and other resources used to achieve the project goals.
Mention which people or departments are in charge of various aspects of the project and the equipment, systems and programs they use.
Your project may run into anticipated risks or unexpected setbacks. These challenges may include scope creep, delays, technical failure, equipment breakdown, or insufficient funding.
Describe how you plan to mitigate these risks or remedy these challenges.
Discuss whether or not a client, internal team or department has requested a change to the processes or deliverables. Provide updates on pending and approved project change requests.
Discuss the actions taken to ensure the project results are error-free or meet the expected requirements and standards.
Provide details about the projected or allotted budget and how funds are spent. Explain whether the projected budget covers the project resources. Also, mention whether or not the project will be completed within the allocated budget.
Give a brief overview of the project's overall health. You can either write it or use visual aids like stoplight charts.
The goal of project reporting is to compile and present relevant information in a clear and concise format. You want stakeholders to glean valuable insights and use them to achieve success.
Here's how to create effective project management reports.
This step is paramount for every successful project management report. Consider the purpose of your project report.
Are you creating new tasks or dependencies? Have you identified new risks or do you want to explain project delays? Are you creating project change requests or updating the project scope? Or are you looking to convince sponsors to pump additional funds into the project?
Why is it critical to clearly state your objective? The answer is simple. It provides clear direction for the rest of the report, making it easy for readers to understand.
The next step is to identify who will be reading the report and what they want to learn from it. Identifying your audience from the outset will give direction for your content.
Some details may be irrelevant to some audiences. Others might require more specific information. For example, top executives and investors may not have time to dive into the finer details. For this type of audience, visual aids like the one below are your best bet.
On the flip side, team members may be unable to get much out of a report showing only charts, numbers and notes.
Meet with your client or supervisor to understand what they expect from the report. They may have a specific report writing format , length, details and areas of interest they want you to include. Try to gather as much information as possible to make your report useful.
Some audiences may be unfamiliar with your profession's language, terms and jargon. Avoid using industry jargon that’s hard to explain. Instead, write in a tone that clearly explains your project information. Tailor your content, tone, language, structure, communication style and graphics to your reader.
Solidify your reports with accurate data and facts from stakeholders and departments involved in the project.
Looking for financial data? Your accounting software is a great place to start. Or you can get information about resource utilization from your project management tool.
If you're looking to capture the true situation of things, don't just rely on qualitative data alone. Double down on qualitative data like ideas, behaviors and opinions as well. They provide more context and explain the stories behind the quantitative data.
For example, let's say quantitative data shows project delays and missed deadlines. You can gather qualitative data to uncover the root cause and how to mitigate it.
We have already shared what needs to be in your project management report. Now It's time to write it. Use pre-made templates with an organized structure like the one below to make it visually appealing.
Why does it matter? Well, no one wants to read reports in a jumbled and disorganized format. So you want to organize data and facts to make them easily digestible.
Start with a stunning cover page followed by a table of contents . Then move on to the executive summary and the body, which includes the key details. Finally, you can round off your report with a summary.
To make your report actionable, summarize it with key takeaways, action points and expectations.
Not sure how to get started? Visme has you covered. Our report maker is intuitive and easy to use, making report writing a breeze. You can start from scratch or use professionally-designed templates to create reports like:
In the latter part of this article, we'll discuss how to make the most of Visme templates.
Proofread and revise your content to make it worth the read. Don't be tempted to leave out this step no matter what happens.
Look out for spelling, punctuation and grammar errors, inconsistent data, cluttered designs and other flaws. Eliminate irrelevant details, replace missing data and revise the report until it is error-free. Otherwise, your report will look sloppy and unprofessional.
Check with your team to ensure you aren't missing out on extra updates or last-minute changes. They also offer an extra pair of eyes to spot errors and ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
With Visme, you can collaborate and revise your project with team members. Simply share your report with a link and password. You can set permissions to allow your team members to view, comment and edit the report. When anyone edits the file, you can track changes and anyone with the link will see the changes too.
Once you've incorporated contributions from team members, you can share the report with your readers.
From your Visme dashboard, you can invite people via email to view, comment or edit the report. Or copy and share the report link with your audience. You can also download the report in PDF format and share it via email or the cloud.
Remember to ask your readers to confirm they've received the report and can view it.
Crafting a project management report worth reading can be challenging. But there's no doubt that Visme's report maker can make the process a breeze.
The software has an easy-to-use design editor, a rich library of templates , icons, stock images, videos and much more. Feel free to tailor these templates to your unique needs. You can replace the content, add or remove pages, upload logos and images, change fonts, colors and other elements.
Here are ten stunning Visme templates to help you get started.
Get stakeholder eyes on your project management reports with this attractive template. The cover and adjoining pages have an exquisite design and other elements that create a solid impression.
This template covers everything you need to effectively report your project's progress. It features an executive summary and summary of compelling figures, timelines, comparison of targets and outcomes, budget and expenditures.
Notice how this report uses charts, graphs, icons and images to visualize key project data. You can find and use all of these elements and more in Visme.
If you're struggling to communicate your project status, this template is a life-saver. This vibrant template has an elegant design and elements that attract the reader's attention.
You can easily capture project goals and status, inter-department KPIs, contributor APIs, upcoming tasks and more. Go ahead and add or edit the content, upload your logo and images to make this template your own.
With this template, you can keep budgets and expenditures in check. The template uses data visualization features ( charts, graphs and widgets) to reflect financial data.
In Visme, you'll find different visual aids and interactive elements to bring your information to life. At a glance, your stakeholders can also understand how much various items and projects cost and how profitable they may be in the future. You can customize this report for any unique business and project needs.
Are you looking to show investors how your business has performed in the past year? This annual report template is the best tool to help you get cracking.
The template is characterized by a minimalistic design and a cool color scheme. You'll find beautiful images, charts, icons and other design elements that make it stand out.
Once you're done customizing your report, you can easily share it online via a link. You can also embed it on your website or blog or download it for offline use in various formats, like PDF and HTML5.
This template is perfect for updating stakeholders about project progress, business processes and activities. Notice how the design utilizes whitespace, classy typography and cool colors to produce an alluring design.
The table of content design shifts from the conventional list format. And the rest of the pages contain images, tables, charts and icons that increase visual impact. Feel free to add or subtract pages and replace the content with yours.
You've invested time, effort and resources into different marketing projects during the year. How do you convince the board that you're smashing your goals?
You need a template like this to show what you've been up to. It captures key aspects of your marketing project, like:
The template has a captivating theme with customized content blocks, borders, icons, images and vector icons. You can get all of these design assets and more in Visme.
Not sure how to present timely updates about your project's overall progress? This professionally-designed status report template is the perfect tool to jumpstart your creativity.
It details each step of the project's execution and the most critical task in progress. The project's budget, milestones, upcoming tasks, potential risks and roadblocks and overall project health are also included.
This template uses a pie chart to capture team performance (KPIs), while the progress bar visualizes the project's health. No matter your business size, scope or niche, you can tweak this template to fit your business or project needs.
Use this template to clearly depict how various aspects of your business or project are performing. It gives you a closer look at what's working and what's not.
You can customize it to include the key elements that make up a project management report, including:
Jazz up your reports and draw attention to key data points using pie charts, bar graphs, timelines and interactive maps.
This project management report template is suitable for businesses that want to gauge their progress against specific goals.
It has sections listing pending and completed tasks and how they impact the overall plan. Search through our vast library of vibrant, isometric, flat and outline images to find the best fit for your report.
Our last pick is a visual-rich report template that focuses on the bigger picture. Gauge your company or project's health with this annual report template.
We recommend using this template for top management and stakeholders who may be unable to dive into finer details. To grab their attention, spice up your report with data and visual aids that communicate these things:
To get started, input your project data and change the fonts, color and logo to reflect your brand.
Ready to create project management reports that boost stakeholders' confidence in your project? Here are some tips and best practices you should have up your sleeve.
When writing a project management report, be concise. Make sure every word counts. Don't dwell on details your readers don't need to know. Otherwise, you'll lose your reader's attention.
Readers want to look through the report and grasp the action points and next steps as quickly as possible. Keep sentences short and to the point. Rather than long paragraphs, use bullet points to present information.
For example, you can list tasks or deliverables rather than describe them in detail.
Write your report in a way that makes the reader understand the true situation of things. Stakeholders need to know how significant the problem truly is.
For example, don't just say the deliverable is behind schedule or there's an urgent risk to be addressed. Instead, start by establishing the root causes of the delay. Is it due to scope creep, equipment failure, labor or financial shortages or acts of God?
Discuss how the situation will impact the entire project. Will you require additional resources, a supplementary budget or an adjustment in timelines? Do you need approval for a change request?
Be upfront about the solution or steps being taken to address it? If you need clients or other stakeholders to take action, clearly state who is responsible. Highlight what they are responsible for and when to do it.
Top executives and project sponsors receive different types of reports daily. Hence the need to incorporate visuals like charts, graphs, maps, tables, diagrams, pictures, animations and video.
Visual aids break up text and make even lengthy reports easy to digest. But there's a caveat!
Don't just slam your audience with dull and pixelated visuals that don't add value to your report. Rather, make it eye-catching and visually pleasing to capture readers' attention.
Tables are perfect for communicating numbers like budget, timelines, percentage completed and more. Kanban boards give a general overview of the projects and help spot potential bottlenecks.
Use stoplight color-coded charts to indicate project health. Green shows the activities are on schedule and yellow indicates the project has risks or bottlenecks. Red shows the project has veered off track.
You can use infographics, flowcharts and process diagrams to depict the flow of work or document processes .
Graphs, bar charts and pie charts work magic for visualizing data like budgets, expenditures and income.
Animations, photos, videos, screenshots, samples, models and prototypes are suitable for showing your project in progress. For example, suppose you're building a website or app. In that case, you can share a demo video of the project at different phases.
You're probably wondering how to get your hands on all the visual aids mentioned above. Keep calm; Visme has got you. We have a rich library of 10,000+ images, videos, charts, vector icons and any other visual aid you can think of. You can pick and customize your visuals within minutes without professional help.
You need to do more than just add visuals to make your report shine. We recommend customizing your report to showcase your brand identity. The goal is to leave a solid impression on your audience.
With Visme, keeping your report on brand is a piece of cake, even if you're new to report design . After picking a template, you can add fonts and colors to different elements of your report. Feel free to add icons, illustrations and animations to make your report interactive.
Visme's Brand Design Tool helps you maintain design consistency. With a few clicks, you can customize and save your design elements and apply them to future projects.
Want to learn more about choosing the right color theme for your document? Read our article on color psychology in marketing or watch the video below.
After submitting your message project management report, your job isn't done just yet. Don't be in a hurry to close the communication channel with stakeholders. Go ahead and invite further questions and feedback on your reports.
We get it. This might be daunting considering the time spent on putting together your report. But try to be receptive to critique and suggestions.
The good part is that it ensures everyone is on the same page regarding the project collaboration. Also, acting on the feedback and suggestions can help steer the project in the right direction.
Project management reports provide a high-level overview of what's happening with your project. And having one that ticks all the right boxes plays a pivotal role in the project's success.
With Visme's report maker , you no longer have to outsource your design project. The tool makes it easy for anyone, regardless of skill level, to create documents they can be proud of. Browse our library of project report templates to find the right fit for your project.
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Unenabasi is a content expert with many years of experience in digital marketing, business development, and strategy. He loves to help brands tell stories that drive engagement, growth, and competitive advantage. He’s adept at creating compelling content on lifestyle, marketing, business, e-commerce, and technology. When he’s not taking the content world by storm, Unenabasi enjoys playing or watching soccer.
To see what Databox can do for you, including how it helps you track and visualize your performance data in real-time, check out our home page. Click here .
With so much experience under your belt, you already know a lot about business reporting.
So, we don’t want to waste your time pointing out the obvious because we know what you need.
Secrets. Tricks. Best practices.sales rep drilldown business report
The answer to how to write a mind-blowing business report that you don’t need to spend hours and days writing.
A business report that will immediately allow you to identify your strengths and weaknesses.
A report that’ll help you learn more about your business and do more accurate forecasting and planning for the future.
We believe we have just that right here.
With this comprehensive guide, you’ll create effective sales, analytical, and informative business reports (and business dashboards ) that will help you improve your strategies, achieve your goals, and grow your business.
So, let’s dive in.
Importance of creating business reports, types of business reports, what should be included in a business report, how to write a business report: an 11-step guide.
Although there’s a variety of business reports that differ in many aspects, in short, a business report definition would be the following:
A business report is an informative document that contains important data such as facts, analyses, research findings, and statistics about a business with the goal to make this information accessible to people within a company.
Their main purpose is to facilitate the decision-making process related to the future of the business, as well as to maintain effective communication between people who create the reports and those they report to.
A good business report is concise and well-organized, looks professional, and displays the relevant data you can act on. The point is to reflect upon what you’ve achieved so far (typically, over the past month, quarter or year) and to use the data to create a new strategy or adjust the current one to reach even more business goals.
Business reports should be objective and based on the data. When stating the facts, people rely on numbers rather than giving descriptions. For instance, instead of saying “our conversion rate skyrocketed”, you would display the exact percentages that back up that claim.
Business reporting matters for several reasons, among which the most important ones are:
Detecting issues and solving them quickly, evaluating a potential partner, having a paper trail, keeping things transparent for the stakeholders, setting new company goals.
In fact, over half of the companies that contributed to Databox’s state of business reporting research confirmed that regular monitoring and reporting brought them significant concrete benefits.
If you never look back at what you’ve achieved, you can’t figure out what you’ve done well and what you can leverage in the future for even better results.
When you analyze a specific aspect of your business over a specific time period and present the data you gathered in a report, you can detect an opportunity to grow more easily because you have all the information in one place and organized neatly.
Is it time to introduce new products or services? Is there a way to enhance your marketing strategy? Prepare a report. Can you optimize your finances? Write a financial business report . Whatever decision you need to make, it’s easier when you base it on a report.
Reports are essential for crisis management because they can introduce a sense of calmness into your team. Putting everything on paper makes it easier to encompass all the relevant information and when you know all the facts, you can make a more accurate and effective decision about what to do next.
Writing business reports regularly will also help you identify potential issues or risks and act timely to prevent damage and stop it from escalating. That’s why monthly reporting is better than doing it only once a year.
Having an insight into your finances , operations and other business aspects more regularly allows you to have better control over them and mitigate potential risks more effectively.
Different types of business reports may be accessible to the general public. And if they’re not, specific situations may require a company to send them over to the person requesting them. That may happen if you’re considering a partnership with another company. Before making the final decision, you should learn about their financial health as every partnership poses a certain risk for your finances and/or reputation. Will this decision be profitable?
Having an insight into a company’s business report helps you establish vital business relationships. And it goes the other way around – any potential partner can request that you pull a business report for them to see, so writing business reports can help you prove you’re a suitable business partner.
In business, and especially in large companies, it’s easy to misplace information when it’s communicated verbally. Having a written report about any aspect of your business doesn’t only prevent you from losing important data, but it also helps you keep records so you can return to them at any given moment and use them in the future.
That’s why it’s always good to have a paper trail of anything important you want to share with colleagues, managers, clients, or investors. Nowadays, of course, it doesn’t have to literally be a paper trail, since we keep the data in electronic form.
Writing business reports helps you keep things transparent for the stakeholders, which is the foundation of efficient communication between these two sides.
You typically need to report to different people – sometimes they’re your managers, sometimes they’re a client. But your company’s stakeholders will also require an insight into the performance of your business, and relying on reports will help you maintain favorable business relationships. A business report shows you clearly how your company is performing and there isn’t room for manipulation.
Once you set business goals and the KPIs that help you track your progress towards them, you should remember they’re not set in stone. From time to time, you’ll need to revisit your goals and critical metrics and determine whether they’re still relevant.
When you write a business report and go through it with your team members or managers, you have a chance to do just that and determine if you’re efficient in reaching your goals. Sometimes, new insights will come up while writing these reports and help you identify new objectives that may have emerged.
Depending on your goals and needs, you’ll be writing different types of business reports. Here are five basic types of business reports .
Analytical report, research report, explanatory report, progress report.
Informational reports provide you with strictly objective data without getting into the details, such as explaining why something happened or what the result may be – just pure facts.
An example of this type of business report is a statement where you describe a department within your company: the report contains the list of people working in this department, what their titles are, and what they’re responsible for.
Another example related to a company’s website could look like this Google Analytics website traffic engagement report . As we explained above, this report shows objective data without getting too much into the details, so in this case, just the most important website engagement metrics such as average session duration, bounce rate, sessions, sessions by channel, and so on. Overall, you can use this report to monitor your website traffic, see which keywords are most successful, or how many returning users you have, but without further, in-depth analysis.
Analytical reports help you understand the data you’ve collected and plan for the future based on these insights. You can’t make business decisions based on facts only, so analytical reports are crucial for the decision-making process.
This type of business report is commonly used for sales forecasting. For instance, if you write a report where you identify a drop or an increase in sales, you’ll want to find out why it happened. This HubSpot’s sales analytics report is a good example of what metrics should be included in such a report, like average revenue per new client or average time to close the deal. You can find more web analytics dashboard examples here.
From these business reports, you can find out if you will reach your goals by implementing your current strategy or if you need to make adjustments.
Research is critical when you’re about to introduce a change to your business. Whether it’s a new strategy or a new partner, you need an extensive report to have an overview of all important details. These reports usually analyze new target markets and competition, and contain a lot of statistical data.
While not the same, here is an example of an ecommerce dashboard that could help track each part of a campaign in detail, no matter whether you are launching a new product, testing a new strategy, and similar. Similar to a research report, it contains key data on your audience (target market), shows your top-selling products, conversion rate and more. If you are an online store owner who is using paid ads, you can rely on this report to monitor key online sales stats in line with Facebook Ads and Google Analytics. See more ecommerce dashboards here.
As you might guess from its name, you write the explanatory report when it’s necessary for you to explain a specific situation or a project you’ve done to your team members. It’s important to write this report in a way that everyone will be able to understand.
Explanatory reports include elements like research results, reasons and goals of the research, facts, methodology, and more. While not exactly an explanatory report, this example of a HubSpot marketing drilldown report is the closest thing to it, as it helps marketers drill into an individual landing page performance, and identify how good their best landing pages are at converting, or which ones have the best performance.
A progress report is actually an update for your manager or client – it informs them about where you stand at the moment and how things are going. It’s like a checkpoint on your way towards your goal.
These reports may be the least demanding to write since you don’t need to do comprehensive research before submitting them. You just need to sum up your progress up to the point when the report was requested. This business report may include your current results, the strategy you’re implementing, the obstacles you’ve come across, etc. If this is a marketing progress report you can use marketing report templates to provide a more comprehensive overview.
In many companies, progress reports are done on a weekly or even daily basis. Here is an example of a daily sales report from Databox. HubSpot users can rely on this sales rep drilldown business report to see how individual each sales rep is performing and measure performance against goals. Browse through all our KPI dashboards here.
What does a great business report look like? If you’re not sure what sections your report should have, you’ll learn what to include in the following lines.
Different types of reports require different lengths and structures, so your business report format may depend on what elements your report needs to have. For example, progress reports are typically pretty simple, while analytical or explanatory reports are a different story.
However, most reports will start with a title and a table of contents, so the person reading the report knows what to expect. Then, add a summary and move on to the introduction. After you’ve written the body and the conclusion, don’t forget to include suggestions based on your findings that will help your team create an actionable plan as you move forward.
After that, list the references you used while creating the report, and attach any additional documents or images that can help the person reading the report understand it better.
This outline may vary depending on what kind of report you’re writing. Short business reports may not need a table of contents, and informative reports won’t contain any analyses. Also, less formal reports don’t need to follow a strict structure in every situation.
When it comes to the contents of your report, keep in mind the person who’s going to read it and try to balance between including all the relevant information, but not overwhelming the reader with too many details.
If you decide to include more sections like recommendations, this is where you’ll suggest the next steps your team or the company may want to take to improve the results or take advantage of them if they’re favorable.
As a SaaS business leader, there’s no shortage of metrics you could be monitoring, but the real question is, which metrics should you be paying most attention to? To monitor the health of your SaaS business, you want to identify any obstacles to growth and determine which elements of your growth strategy require improvements. To do that, you can track the following key metrics in a convenient dashboard with data from Profitwell:
If you want to track these in ProfitWell, you can do it easily by building a plug-and-play dashboard that takes your customer data from ProfitWell and automatically visualizes the right metrics to allow you to monitor your SaaS revenue performance at a glance.
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 Profitwell account with Databox.
Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.
Note : Other than text, make sure you include images, graphs, charts, and tables. These elements will make your report more readable and illustrate your points.
Whether you’re writing a specific type of business report for the first time or you simply want to improve the quality of your reports, make sure you follow this comprehensive guide to writing an effective business report.
A well-planned report is a job half done. That means you need to do research before you start writing: you need to know who you’re writing for and how much they know about the topic of your report. You need to explore the best business dashboard software and templates you can use for your report.
Also, if you believe you will need additional resources and documents to add in the appendix, you should do it during this phase of report writing.
Once you’ve gathered the resources, it’s time to plan the report. Before you start writing, create an outline that will help you stick to the right structure. A business report is complex writing in which you can get lost very easily if you don’t have a clear plan.
Moreover, the report shouldn’t be complicated to read, so sticking to a plan will allow you to keep it concise and clear, without straying from the topic.
Most companies have their in-house formatting that every official document has to follow. If you’re not sure if such rules exist in your company, it’s time you checked with your managers.
If there arent’ any guidelines regarding formatting, make sure you set your own rules to make the report look professional. Choose a simple and readable format and make sure it supports all the symbols you may need to use in the report. Set up proper headings, spacing, and all the other elements you may need in Word or Google Docs.
Pro tip: Google Docs may be easier to share with people who are supposed to read your business report.
Even if you’re writing a formal business report, the title should be clear and engaging. Reports are typically considered dull as they’re a part of official business documentation, but there’s no reason why you can’t make them interesting to read. Your title should suit the report topic and be in different font size so the reader can recognize it’s a title. Underneath the title, you should add the name of the author of the report.
A good introductory paragraph for a business report should explain to the reader why you’ve written the report. Use the introduction to provide a bit of background on the report’s topic and mention the past results if there’s been a significant improvement since your last report.
As this will be the most comprehensive part of your report, make sure you separate the data into logical sections. Your report is supposed to tell a story about your business, and these sections (such as methodology, hypothesis, survey, findings, and more) will help the data look well-organized and easy to read.
Of course, each of these sections should be followed with charts, graphs, tables, or other illustrations that help you make a point. Survey results are typically best displayed in pie charts and graphs, and these enable the reader to visualize the data better. From the formatting point of view, breaking the long text sections with illustrations makes the report more readable.
Pro tip: Using centralized dashboard solutions like Databox can bring your reporting game to the next level. Sign up for a forever-free trial now to see how you can use Databox to track and visualize performance easier than ever before .
Finish your report with a to-the-point conclusion that will highlight all the main data from the report. Make sure it’s not too long, as it’s supposed to be a summary of the body of the report. In case you don’t want to add a specific section for recommendations, this is where you can include them, along with your assessments.
If you’ve determined what additional documents, images, surveys, or other attachments you may need for your report, now is the time to collect them. Request access to those you may not be able to get on time, so you have everything you need by the deadline. Copy the documents you can use in the original form, and scan the documents you need in electronic format.
The summary is usually at the top of the report, but it’s actually something you should write after your report is completed. Only then will you know exactly what your most relevant information and findings are, so you can include them in this brief paragraph that summarizes your report’s main points.
The summary should tell the reader about the objective of the report, the methodology used, and even mention some of the key findings and conclusions.
It may seem like common sense, but this final step of the process is often overlooked. Proofreading your work is how you make sure your report will look professional because errors can ruin the overall impression the reader will form about your work, no matter how great the report is.
Look for any spelling or grammatical mistakes you can fix, and if you’re not sure about specific expressions or terminology, use Google to double-check it. Make sure your writing is to-the-point and clear, especially if you’re writing for people who may not know the industry so well. Also, double-check the facts and numbers you’ve included in the report before you send it out or start your reporting meeting.
Here, we’re sharing a few business reporting examples that you can copy, along with ready-to-use and free-to-download templates. If you don’t know where to start and what to include in different types of business reports, these business report examples are a great way to get started or at least get some inspiration to create yours.
Annual report example, project status report example, financial report example, sales report example, marketing report example.
Note : Each of the business report templates shared below can be customized to fit your individual needs with our DIY Dashboard Designer . No coding or design skills are necessary.
For reporting on sales activity, HubSpot users can rely this streamlined sales activity report that includes key sales metrics, such as calls, meetings, or emails logged by owner. This way, you can easily track the number of calls, meetings, and emails for each sales rep and identify potential leaks in your sales funnel. Check all our sales team activity dashboards here. Or if you are looking for dashboards that track general sales performance, browse through all Databox sales dashboards here.
If you’re preparing for annual reporting, you will benefit from choosing this HubSpot annual performance report . It contains all the relevant metrics, such as email and landing page performance, new contacts, top blog posts by page views, and more. See all our performance dashboard templates here.
Project status reports can be very similar to progress reports. If you’re in need of one of those, here’s an example of a Project overview dashboard from Harvest that shows that can help you create simple, but well-organized report based on metrics that matter: hours tracked, billable hours, billable amount split by team members., and more. Check out more project management dashboard templates we offer here.
Are you creating a financial report? You will find this QuickBooks + HubSpot integration a great choice for a financial performance dashboard that makes creating a report simple. This dashboard focuses on the essential financial report
ting metrics and answers all your revenue-related questions. See all Databox financial dashboards here.
If you’re tracking your sales team’s monthly performance, this sales report template will help you prepare an outstanding report. Check out all the vital productivity KPIs, track your progress towards your goals, and understand well how your current sales pipeline is performing. See all sales performance dashboards we have available here.
Marketing reports can be easily prepared by using this monthly marketing report template . With HubSpot’s reporting, you can determine where your website traffic is coming from, how your landing pages and specific blog posts are performing, and how successful your email campaigns are. Browse all Databox marketing dashboards or marketing report examples here.
Does creating a business report still sound like a daunting task? It doesn’t have to be with Databox.
In times when we’re all trying to save our time and energy for things that matter rather than scattering valuable resources on tedious, repetitive tasks, it’s critical to optimize your business process. And we want to help you do just that.
Using a business reporting dashboard enables you to track data from all the different tools you’re using – but in one place. With Databox, you can monitor and report on performance in a single dashboard that is optimized for all your favorite devices and you can create streamlined and beautiful dashboards even if you are not that tech-savvy. (no coding or design skills are required).
Automating business reporting has never been easier. And with Databox, you can do exactly that in just a few clicks. Sign up now and get your first 3 business dashboards for free.
Are you maximizing your business potential? Stop guessing and start comparing with companies like yours.
At Databox, we’re obsessed with helping companies more easily monitor, analyze, and report their results. Whether it’s the resources we put into building and maintaining integrations with 100+ popular marketing tools, enabling customizability of charts, dashboards, and reports, or building functionality to make analysis, benchmarking, and forecasting easier, we’re constantly trying to find ways to help our customers save time and deliver better results.
Hey, we’re Databox. Our mission is to help businesses save time and grow faster. Click here to see our platform in action.
Stefana Zarić is a freelance writer & content marketer. Other than writing for SaaS and fintech clients, she educates future writers who want to build a career in marketing. When not working, Stefana loves to read books, play with her kid, travel, and dance.
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Want to create project reports with just a few clicks?
Project reports and reporting are a fundamental part of project management and a project’s success. Documents such as the project summary report serve as practical tools that provide a detailed account of the project’s progress, challenges, and strategies.
Documenting every aspect of a project includes following certain steps and making sure that information is available to managers, stakeholders, and team members.
Whether you’re a seasoned project manager wanting to refine your own project management skills and create better project reports or want to create a project report for the first time, this article will guide you through the entire reporting process.
Choose a simple, fast and secure time tracking solution that ensures timely timesheets, keeps your project budgets in check and automatically calculates billable hours.
Project reporting is the process of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information about a project’s progress and project team performance.
This kind of reporting involves gathering project data like key metrics and insights related to various aspects of the project, including timelines, project budget , resources, the status of operations, risks, and project milestones .
Project reporting exists to keep stakeholders and team members informed about the project’s development, being an essential tool when making decisions regarding any related situation.
The bottom line is that effective project reporting provides transparency on every action for everyone involved. Project reporting serves as a communication tool, fostering collaboration and accountability among team members and stakeholders .
A project report is a detailed document that provides a detailed overview of a project’s planning, execution, and outcomes.
It serves as a formal record, communicating essential information about the project’s progress, performance, and status to the various project stakeholders involved. This document plays a crucial role in fostering communication, transparency, and accountability within a project, assisting decision-makers when making decisions.
Typically, project management reports include these key points:
It’s important to also include an assessment of potential risks and challenges , and the solutions that may be the appropriate response if those ever arise.
It must also include the list of the pre-determined key performance indicators (KPIs) , measures that assess the project’s performance against predefined project goals and objectives.
Usually, the project report is the responsibility of the project manager , unless another member of the team is designated to do it. It’s important to add that the responsibility for creating the project report may vary depending on the size and structure of the organization , as well as the nature of the project.
The project manager is usually the most well-acquainted team member with the project’s details, progress, and challenges, making them the best person to provide a complete and detailed project overview report .
In larger organizations, there might be dedicated project coordinators, analysts, or reporting specialists who collaborate with the project manager to gather relevant information and create the report.
A project report is a vital part of a project management operation not only for its purpose as a reference document but also as a communication tool.
Beyond being a formality, a well-crafted project report is essential in communicating information to stakeholders, guiding decision-making, and ensuring transparency throughout the project lifecycle .
Let’s explore the benefits of building a project report.
It serves as a communication bridge, offering stakeholders, team members, and decision-makers a clear and transparent view of the project’s status, progress, successes, and challenges.
Because it provides detailed insights into various aspects of the project, the project report empowers decision-makers to make informed choices. It facilitates the identification of potential issues and allows for timely adjustments to keep the project on track.
Project reports include information on budget use, resource allocation , and financial aspects, among others. This data enables organizations to optimize resource allocation for current and future projects.
The identification and assessment of risks are integral components of a project report. This information helps teams develop strategies to mitigate risks, enhancing overall project resilience.
Having key performance indicators (KPIs) and progress updates in a project report enables stakeholders to evaluate the project’s performance against predefined benchmarks, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives.
A well-prepared project report keeps stakeholders informed about the project’s purpose, goals, and accomplishments. This involvement fosters a sense of collaboration and accountability.
Project reports serve as crucial documentation for auditing purposes and compliance with organizational standards, industry regulations, or contractual obligations. It also creates a historical record of the project, providing a reference point for future projects.
When the project is complete, the report serves as a comprehensive record for evaluating the project’s overall success, documenting lessons learned, and facilitating the closure process.
Through the analysis of past projects documented in reports, organizations can get valuable insights and use this information for continuous improvement. Lessons learned from one project can inform the approach to future initiatives.
Various types of project reports cater to different needs and objectives throughout the project lifecycle. There is often a need for more than one effective project report, and it’s essential to understand the different types of reports and when to use them.
Understanding the nuances of these project report types allows project managers and teams to tailor their communication to specific needs and issues.
This type of report provides an overview of the project’s status, highlighting completed tasks, milestones achieved, and work in progress. It keeps stakeholders informed about the project’s development.
For basic progress reporting, use the task tracker template .
This one focuses on identifying, assessing, and managing potential risks associated with the project. It also helps to outline strategies to manage projects, mitigate risks, and ensure proactive risk management.
Another type of project management report is a financial report. It documents the details of the project’s financial aspects, including budget allocation, expenses, resource utilization, etc. It helps in tracking financial health and adherence to budget requirements.
It focuses on the quality of project deliverables, processes, and outcomes. It outlines measures taken to secure the overall quality of the project.
The project status report provides a concise summary of the project’s current state, including accomplishments, challenges, and upcoming milestones.
Project status reports are also known as project health reports.
This type of project completion report highlights the specific milestones achieved during the project, indicating progress and how the project timeline is being handled.
The issues log document issues or challenges encountered during the project. It includes details about the nature of the issue, its impact, and proposed or implemented solutions.
Created after the completion of the project, this report evaluates all project data, including the project plan, results, outcomes, what was learned during the project, and its overall project success. It provides insights for future projects.
The resource reports summarize the distribution of resources, including staff, equipment, materials, and budget. It helps optimize resource utilization when managing projects and ensures that resources meet the project requirements.
Those are project reports that outline the communication strategy and explain how information is shared among team members, stakeholders, and other relevant parties.
Forecast project reports created by project managers include projections for future project activities and potential challenges, supporting planning and decision-making for the upcoming phases of the project.
This type of report summarizes the project’s overall performance, achievements, and challenges, and it should also include recommendations for future work.
Making sure that effective project reporting is in place is incredibly helpful for the project’s lifecycle. By structuring the report for maximum impact, each step plays a crucial role in delivering clear and useful information to stakeholders.
To create effective project reports, follow these tips:
Consider what information you want to convey, whether you need to address project risks, and who the intended audience is.
Tailor your language and wording based on your audience. Before building and sending a report, understand who will receive it and adjust your communication style accordingly.
Evaluate the team’s needs, the stakeholders’ expectations, and the project type to determine the most suitable report type. Align it with the project itself.
Templates can save you precious time. Find or create templates tailored to the specific focus of your report to expedite the formatting process and provide a standardized structure for conveying the same data more effectively.
A comprehensive report should include the most important details from your project, focusing on the most recent and critical information. Keep the report concise by including essential elements such as original deadlines, project tasks completed, potential issues, and individual team member responsibilities.
The report needs to be fairly easy to consult for clarity and impact. Prioritize information based on importance, arranging it in a logical order.
Choosing the right report format is crucial as it ensures that the information is presented in a clear, accessible, and engaging manner.
This usually means using familiar formats like PowerPoint slides, PDFs, interactive dashboards, or Word docs to fit what different project stakeholders prefer.
A well-defined structure typically includes an executive summary, an introduction, a body of information presenting essential information (issues, team needs, project analysis, etc), and a conclusion.
Do meticulously proofread for spelling errors, formatting issues, and accuracy in calculations and numbers . Ask for input from team members to catch any errors you might have missed. Another pair of eyes can be a big help.
Depending on the project needs or the company’s policy itself, it’s advised to maintain a regular reporting routine to provide project stakeholders with a consistent view of the project’s progress.
As we’ve been explaining through this article, accurate project reporting is essential for successful project management. The key element of your project reports are time reports .
This is where a time reporting system like Timeular comes in , providing automated time tracking.
They not only enhance the accuracy and efficiency of your project reports but also offer comprehensive insights. They help in minimizing errors in tracking work hours and project progress, making the reporting process more streamlined and reliable.
Timeular is a user-friendly and secure app that helps you create time reports with just a few clicks:
Its simplicity and smart features make time tracking an integral and effortless part of your project management routine.
In Timeular, you can pick the time tracking method that best adapts to your workstyle: use a physical time Tracker , automatic time tracking , or keyboard shortcuts , all ensuring a smooth and fast tracking experience.
Effects? Time tracking takes less than 1 minute a day!
All team members track work time, time off, and overtime in a single place. Thanks to effortless time capturing , which can be either automated or enhanced by smart time tracking methods and automated tracking reminders , you make sure that timesheets are always complete and ready whenever you need to write a project report.
As a project manager, you can effortlessly tag tasks as billable or non-billable, allowing for simple tracking of time invested in various projects and clients. By assigning hourly rates to specific tasks or team members, the system automatically computes costs.
This feature is instrumental in checking up project’s health and creating an insightful project management report. Monitoring project expenses, guaranteeing precise client billing , and offering valuable information regarding your team’s productivity additionally improves your project management skills .
Timeular’s data is particularly valuable for creating precise status reports regarding project budgets. Keep your budgets in check by setting the planned hours for each project and hourly rates for each task or team member.
We will let you know when you are approaching certain limits to keep you away from overspending and overservicing your clients.
You can easily track the time of all the tasks monitored in your project management software thanks to integrations provided by Timeular and Zapier. You can build your own integrations, too, using API.
Project reporting is an integral aspect of project management , a compass that guides projects from inception to completion. Hopefully, this article serves as a guide that has proven the significance of project reports, their types, and the critical role they play in effective communication, decision-making, and accountability.
From understanding the basics of project reporting to exploring various report types , including progress reports, risk reports, and financial reports, this guide can help project managers and teams with the knowledge to tailor their reporting to the project’s specific needs.
As we also explored, the benefits of project reporting are vast , from improving communication and transparency to informing decision-making, optimizing resource allocation, and enabling risk management.
Project reports not only document project details but also contribute to continuous improvement and serve as historical records for future initiatives.
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Starting a new business project is a combination of risk and reward. Starting a new venture is always risky, but once a blueprint is laid out and a clear plan is set, then the project can attain steady progress. Once the project is completed, a general report needs to be created and submitted to management for the project to be reviewed.
To help you create a new business project report, we have provided some project report examples you can use as a guide. We also listed down some tips in writing a new business project report.
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It is not a rare occurrence for businesses to start a new project. Whether it is a small enterprise or a large corporation, a new project is always is in the sights of these companies. The main reason why businesses start a new project is for expansion purposes. Business organizations who rely on profit for sustainability eventually need to expand so that they can increase their revenues. You may also see investigation report samples and examples.
Even a company cannot simply rely on producing and selling products in one location. Competitors are always threats and they can easily create similar products that do not only have similar functions but might function better than the ones currently existing in the market. You may also like business report examples.
Another reason why businesses start a new project is to venture into other products or a new industry. Although this is similar to expanding, venturing into a new industry acts as a 90-degree shift for companies due to difficulties entering into a new venture.
Take for example a computer software manufacturer planning to open a restaurant or a toy and souvenir seller venturing into the healthcare business. Venturing into a new business is like starting from scratch, financial and human resources ( human resource plan , investment agreement , loan agreement , etc.) still need to be gathered and extensive research ( business plan , business proposal , marketing plan , etc.) also needs to be conducted.
The subsequent section will further discuss the types of business projects. Some of the projects may be applicable and can be implemented in your own business.
1. administrative.
An administrative project involves the company investing in projects that relate to administrative functions. These types of functions mostly involve secretarial duties and responsibilities (i.e., create reports or minutes of meetings, represent the company in business events and gatherings, be the first line of interaction with clients and other stakeholders, etc.). You may also see status report examples.
Mostly, administrative projects are focused on purchasing or developing new office equipment. Among the office equipment that needs to be purchased include computers, landline phones, printers, scanners, security systems, network cables, and Wi-Fi/modem routers, to name a few. You may also like academic report examples.
Construction meanwhile involves the company investing in building projects. If administrative projects are more focused on purchasing, then construction projects center on construction. These types of projects mostly involve the construction of an office space or office building. Construction can also pertain to constructing office equipment from scratch. You may also check out consulting report examples.
Construction projects are lengthy projects, thus creating a business project report for a construction project requires multiple project reports to track the progress of the said project.
A new product development pertains to the company investing in developing a new product that will eventually be sold to the market (and possibly to a new market segment).
Product development is a common function utilized by companies as they aim to expand operations. In some companies, they have a research and development (R&D) department that takes charge of developing a new product or service. The R&D department reports directly to the CEO or top management. You may also see research report examples.
Examples for new product projects include a restaurant adding a new dish in their menu, a car manufacturer creating a new variant for an existing automobile model, or a video game developer releasing a new game. Similar to a construction project, a new product project also requires multiple project reports as the amount of time needed to develop a new product is lengthy. You may also like examples of a short report .
An event or relocation is a business project that pertains to the company investing heavily in an event or relocation activity.
The event pertains to an activity that the company organizes. It can either be a business event (seminar, workshop, conference, forum) or a community event (outreach program, donation activity, environmental clean-up). The company can organize the event by itself or with another company or public institution (government, academe). You may also check out technical report examples.
Relocation meanwhile involves the company or business organization investing in a full or partial relocation in another office or office building. A relocation project is similar to a construction project where an office building needs to be constructed in which employees will be relocated to the office building. You might be interested in marketing report examples.
Not all business projects are tangible, just like research projects. You may ask yourself why companies invest in research projects when they can research on their own. This is because some companies are understaffed and want to create a study for their business operations, so what they do instead is hire a third party to create the research project. You may also see management report examples.
Additionally, some companies do not have the qualified personnel to research since some processes or terminologies can be only be accomplished and understood by qualified researchers.
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Listed below are some tips in creating a new business project report. Take note that the tips listed below are important when you will be creating a project report. This is to avoid confusion while also providing clarity to the reader or recipient to the project report, specifically to top management and stakeholders.
The first step in creating a new business project report is to specify the project. The report cannot be created if there is no clarity to the project that will be worked on. The project can range from administrative, construction, equipment or system installation, new product development, and research (as mentioned in the previous section). You may also see recruitment report examples.
Specifying the project also needs to be identified as the company might be working on other projects as well. This is true for companies who are always pursuing expansion projects and have ample financial resources at the same time.
Additionally, there are project reports that cannot be completed in a single report, especially for construction projects. Construction projects require numerous progress reports due to the period needed to complete these projects. A simple office construction can even last one month, how much more for an entire office building. You may also like sample activity reports .
After specifying the project, the next step should be listing down the people involved in the project. Depending on the project, the people involved should be the individuals working on the said project. If there are individuals who are not directly involved in the project but act in an observatory function, they should be included in the business project report as well. You may also check out sales report examples.
If the project requires more than a hundred or even a thousand individuals, then it is not necessary to include all of their names in the project report . The report should not only be limited to the names of the individuals involved. Their duties, responsibilities, or tasks in the project should also be included as well. This provides a reference for top management and to stakeholders, in case they have concerns regarding the progress of the project.
The timeline is another essential component of a new business project report. Listing down a timeline is important not only for a project that is still in progress but also for a project that has already been accomplished. If the project is already completed, then the complete timeline of when the project began until when the project was accomplished should be listed in the project report. You might be interested in quality report examples.
A timeline for a project report should be listed in detail. If the analysis of the timeline can be included in the project report, then it can be very beneficial for the report’s readers. If the project requires numerous reports and the timeline is spread out across the different reports, then it is suggested that a timeline summary of the previous reports should be included in each formal report . A compilation of all the timelines should be included in the last report if the project is completed.
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1. nintendo.
If you thought the massive Japan-based gaming company Nintendo began with Mario, think again. Nintendo was already in the gaming industry when it began operations, but it all started with creating and selling playing cards . Nintendo shifted its core business to video gaming in the 1970s, and eventually released the Super Mario and Donkey Kong games and the Nintendo Entertainment and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System gaming consoles in the 1980s. After that, the rest is history.
Apple began as a computer company that introduced the Apple I and eventually the Macintosh (Mac) to the world. That was in the 1980s. Fast forward three decades later, the iPhone was introduced which put Apple in the map as the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world. Apple still produces the Mac, by the way, and is also one of the world’s highest-selling laptops. You may also see how to write a short report .
Korean electronics company LG is not the company that you know today when it began in the 1940s. LG began selling hygiene and cosmetics. LG is one of the few companies that made a 90-degree shift in terms of products and services and is more profitable now after they completely changed their entire product line. You may also like English report writing examples for students.
Did you know that when Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1982, he also founded the energy company General Electric (GE)? GE then proceeded to manufacture and sell the light bulb as well as Edison’s other inventions to the world. GE eventually shifted to aircraft engines, hybrid locomotives, HD CT scanners, ultrasound devices, and chemical sensors. You may also check out narrative report examples.
Nokia was at its peak during the late 1990s and early 2000s. But before the Finnish-based company became the undisputed mobile phone manufacturer during that time, it sold paper and rubber.
The company then changed its product line after a merger of its umbrella companies in the 1960s. Nokia is now jointly owned by Taiwanese firm Foxconn Technology and another Finnish company HMD Global after its failed acquisition by Microsoft in the late 2000s. You might be interested in medical report examples.
Formerly called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, 3M is one of the world’s leading producers of scotch tape, duct tape, post-it notes, and cleaning products. 3M began in 1902 after five men in Minnesota, USA, invested in a mining venture. When they discovered that the minerals they mined were not marketable enough, they started making and selling sandpaper and scotch tape. You may also see incident report letter examples.
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We hope you found this article to be informative as you will be creating a project report for your new business project.
1. what is a project report for new business.
A project report for new business is a report that contains information relating to the venture of a new proposed business. It lays out a road map and discusses the finances, challenging risks, and other forewarning issues of the business.
Following are the components of a business project report:
Follow these tips to design an effective project report for new business:
The significance of a project report is as follows:
Following are some of the different types of project reports:
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Updated: Apr 17, 2024, 11:59am
Brainstorm an executive summary, create a company description, brainstorm your business goals, describe your services or products, conduct market research, create financial plans, bottom line, frequently asked questions.
Every business starts with a vision, which is distilled and communicated through a business plan. In addition to your high-level hopes and dreams, a strong business plan outlines short-term and long-term goals, budget and whatever else you might need to get started. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to write a business plan that you can stick to and help guide your operations as you get started.
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An executive summary is an extremely important first step in your business. You have to be able to put the basic facts of your business in an elevator pitch-style sentence to grab investors’ attention and keep their interest. This should communicate your business’s name, what the products or services you’re selling are and what marketplace you’re entering.
When drafting the executive summary, you should have a few different options. Enlist a few thought partners to review your executive summary possibilities to determine which one is best.
After you have the executive summary in place, you can work on the company description, which contains more specific information. In the description, you’ll need to include your business’s registered name , your business address and any key employees involved in the business.
The business description should also include the structure of your business, such as sole proprietorship , limited liability company (LLC) , partnership or corporation. This is the time to specify how much of an ownership stake everyone has in the company. Finally, include a section that outlines the history of the company and how it has evolved over time.
Wherever you are on the business journey, you return to your goals and assess where you are in meeting your in-progress targets and setting new goals to work toward.
Goals can cover a variety of sections of your business. Financial and profit goals are a given for when you’re establishing your business, but there are other goals to take into account as well with regard to brand awareness and growth. For example, you might want to hit a certain number of followers across social channels or raise your engagement rates.
Another goal could be to attract new investors or find grants if you’re a nonprofit business. If you’re looking to grow, you’ll want to set revenue targets to make that happen as well.
Goals unrelated to traceable numbers are important as well. These can include seeing your business’s advertisement reach the general public or receiving a terrific client review. These goals are important for the direction you take your business and the direction you want it to go in the future.
The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you’re offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit in the current market or are providing something necessary or entirely new. If you have any patents or trademarks, this is where you can include those too.
If you have any visual aids, they should be included here as well. This would also be a good place to include pricing strategy and explain your materials.
This is the part of the business plan where you can explain your expertise and different approach in greater depth. Show how what you’re offering is vital to the market and fills an important gap.
You can also situate your business in your industry and compare it to other ones and how you have a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Other than financial goals, you want to have a budget and set your planned weekly, monthly and annual spending. There are several different costs to consider, such as operational costs.
Rent for your business is the first big cost to factor into your budget. If your business is remote, the cost that replaces rent will be the software that maintains your virtual operations.
Marketing and sales costs should be next on your list. Devoting money to making sure people know about your business is as important as making sure it functions.
Although you can’t anticipate disasters, there are likely to be unanticipated costs that come up at some point in your business’s existence. It’s important to factor these possible costs into your financial plans so you’re not caught totally unaware.
Business plans are important for businesses of all sizes so that you can define where your business is and where you want it to go. Growing your business requires a vision, and giving yourself a roadmap in the form of a business plan will set you up for success.
When you’re working on a business plan, make sure you have as much information as possible so that you can simplify it to the most relevant information. A simple business plan still needs all of the parts included in this article, but you can be very clear and direct.
The most common mistakes in a business plan are common writing issues like grammar errors or misspellings. It’s important to be clear in your sentence structure and proofread your business plan before sending it to any investors or partners.
When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business, an analysis of the industry―including potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or services―how you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.
Julia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.
Business plan report, 12+ sample business plan report, what is a business plan, elements of a business plan report, benefits of a business plan report, how to create a business plan report, what is a startup’s business plan, who is responsible for writing a business plan, why is it a good idea to start a business, what are some viable business concepts.
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Starting a new project can feel a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, right? With so many pieces, it’s hard to know where to start. Well, a project management plan , also commonly called a project plan , is your guide to seamlessly putting all those pieces together.
A well-structured project management plan is a comprehensive blueprint outlining how every project will be handled, monitored, and executed. It includes specifics about what will be done, the timeline for each task, and all the details necessary to guide the project from kickoff to completion.
In this guide, we’ll explain the essential elements of an effective project management plan . We’ll also go step-by-step through the process of creating a project management plan . Then, we’ll give you a real example of a project plan as well as customizable project management plan templates to aid you in creating your own.
A project management plan is a comprehensive outline of every aspect of a project from beginning to end. It’s a detailed guide for project managers and their teams, ensuring all necessary tasks and goals are clearly defined and achieved.
This plan encompasses the project scope , responsibilities, timeline, budget , resources, methods for managing risks and changes, and a communication plan to ensure effective information flow.
It also includes quality management processes to guarantee the project meets predefined standards, stakeholder management strategies to address their interests and expectations, and performance metrics and KPIs to measure the project’s success.
A project management plan is a tool that keeps everyone involved in a project on the same page. This is true for both simple projects and complex projects. Teams and stakeholders use it to guide a project every step of the way.
The plan breaks down the project into smaller tasks, assigns them to team members, and sets deadlines. This helps everyone know what to do, when, and how. Stakeholders, like clients or company executives, use the plan to understand the project’s progress. It keeps them informed about what’s happening, when they can expect results, and any changes along the way.
Projects often don’t go exactly as planned. This is why the project management plan also includes strategies for adapting to changes or dealing with unexpected problems. The plan provides tools to monitor how the project is going to help keep it on track. Project management software can make it easier to monitor projects and keep all necessary parties informed on updates and scheduled meetings. These constant check-ups ensure that the project stays aligned with its goals.
Before we get into the specifics of all that goes into a project plan, we’re going to simplify it and show you the bigger picture.
There are five main phases to consider in a project management plan. Each phase plays an important role in guiding the project to success.
This is where your project begins: setting its foundation. During project initiation , you define the purpose and scope of the project, making sure everything aligns with key stakeholders’ objectives.
Here, you create a roadmap for how to achieve the project goals. This includes detailing the tasks, timeline, resources, and budget. The planning phase organizes all aspects of the project.
The project execution phase is where the actual day-to-day work happens. You start implementing the plan, completing tasks, and working toward the project objectives. It’s an important phase where the team uses the plan to bring the project to life.
As the project progresses, keeping track of its performance is essential. This phase involves monitoring the progress against the plan, ensuring everything is on schedule, and adjusting as needed.
This final phase marks the completion of the project . You’ll review the outcomes, document lessons learned, and ensure all aspects of the project are properly concluded.
There are plenty of articles out there explaining how to create a project management plan, but many of them leave out key components. This guide is different. We make sure to cover all the essential elements, so project managers have everything they need to get started.
In a nutshell, a complete project management plan must include guidelines on how a project is executed, monitored, and controlled . According to the Project Management Institute , it should answer all the questions listed below:
Now, let’s dive into how to incorporate all these questions into an organized project plan.
The length and level of detail in the project plan will vary based on your company and the specific project requirements. Regardless, the plan should always be formatted with a title page and table of contents , and it should include a version history too.
A strong project management plan will include all of the following information:
Depending on the project, supplemental plans may be useful, such as:
Appendices to the plan may also include:
Clearly, a lot of information goes into the creation of a project management plan . It’s reasonable to wonder how a project manager pulls it all together.
To make the project planning process easier, we recommend using a project management plan template . A template provides you with a structured framework and standardized format, making sure essential project details are systematically addressed properly from the start. This saves time and reduces the risk of overlooking critical components. It also allows you to prioritize the actual project execution instead of getting bogged down with admin and organizational issues at the outset.
If you don’t have a project management planning template, or if you’re creating a template for use in the future, you can follow these steps.
Note : Be aware that project plans are usually considered ‘living’ documents. This means they’re expected to be updated and changed as the project matures and/or you discover new information requiring a change to the plan.
The starting point of any project management plan is to understand the reason behind the project. Ask questions like:
By clearly outlining business needs, you will set a clear direction for the project. Once the purpose is defined, you can identify who will be affected by the project and who needs to be involved — these are your stakeholders.
Even if project stakeholders have already been identified in another project document, such as the business case or project charter , it’s important to review the list and make sure it’s accurate. Then, meet with all project stakeholders to discuss the project objectives and scope. This ensures everyone is on the same page, particularly concerning assumptions, constraints, and expected outcomes.
All key stakeholders should be asked to provide input for the parts of the project relevant to them. To handle this, define which stakeholders are involved with each area of the project. This is often part of the stakeholder management plan or even part of the communication management plan . Relevant stakeholders include the project sponsor, team members, end users, and any other people directly involved, such as business experts, auditors, or quality testers.
To successfully define key project roles and manage tasks, specific tools and templates are indispensable. Here are some essential Wrike templates:
Using these templates can significantly streamline the process of defining roles and managing stakeholder input, making the process more efficient and effective.
This step defines the financial framework for the entire project. A well-planned budget ensures that resources are allocated efficiently to avoid hiccups or delays due to unexpected costs along the way.
When setting the project budget , consider all possible expenses, including labor costs, materials, equipment, and any other resources that will be needed. The budget should be agreed upon with stakeholders and can be adjusted throughout the project lifecycle as needed.
The kickoff meeting brings the project team and stakeholders together to discuss the project and initiate planning. Some topics typically discussed during the kickoff meeting are:
To define the deliverables , start by breaking down the overarching project goals into smaller, manageable parts. Each part should have a clear outcome that contributes directly to achieving the overall project objective. Be specific and detailed in describing each deliverable, outlining what it includes, how it will be completed, and the standards it must meet.
Additionally, identify milestones along the project timeline, as they serve as pivotal checkpoints to evaluate progress, ensuring the project stays on course. Setting project milestones helps monitor progress and provides opportunities to evaluate and adjust the plan if necessary.
Also read : What is a milestone in project management?
A project schedule outlines the timeline for completing deliverables and achieving milestones. To get this right, you need to think about everything that could impact your project’s journey, from the people and planning tools you have on hand to how much you can spend and the key goals (or milestones) to task dependencies .
Start simple. Jot down every task that’s part of the project. Then, take a guess at how long each one might take and decide who’s going to tackle it. The next step is like solving a puzzle — you need to figure out the best order for these tasks. Some are dependent on others being completed first, so it’s like a domino effect where one task’s completion triggers the start of another.
Once you’ve determined the order, assign dates to each deliverable and milestone. This is your project’s timeline. This timeline should be realistic and flexible enough to accommodate changes or unforeseen delays.
Wrike’s dedicated project schedule template simplifies this process, showing you how to break down your project into smaller tasks, create Gantt chart timelines, and monitor progress on dashboards.
During this stage, you’ll allocate tasks based on the skills and availability of your team members. It’s important to match tasks with the right people to ensure efficiency and quality in the execution of the project. Consider each team member’s strengths, expertise, and workload to ensure everything is manageable and promote a balanced distribution of responsibilities.
This step should be approached with care, as it can significantly impact your project’s timeline and the achievement of your deliverables.
Here are some tips to effectively assign tasks:
Your communication plan should outline how and when project information is shared, such as regular status meetings, weekly progress reports, and targeted emails to stakeholders based on project milestones. Effective communication is the backbone of any successful project. It ensures everyone involved is on the same page, understands their roles, and knows about project progress and updates.
Wrike’s communication plan template can reduce the risk of miscommunication and increase project efficiency and stakeholder engagement. This template provides a structured approach for organizing stakeholder information, setting the frequency of updates, and determining the content of each communication.
Project baselines are the original plans against which actual progress is measured. Once established, you’ll need plans to report on them regularly, monitor for any deviations, and outline conditions that might require adjustments. Keeping detailed documentation of baseline changes provides a valuable repository of project history and insights.
Consider using a project management office (PMO) template to simplify this process.
As you know, planning is a huge part of a project manager’s role . The stronger your plan, the more likely your project will succeed. So, it’s not enough to simply plan how you will manage baselines. Plans should also be created to manage all other significant aspects of, or inputs to, the project. This can include a broad range of management plans, but the minimum should include resource management , risk management , and communications management .
To guide you in making your own, here’s an example of a real project management plan:
Overview: This project involves developing and launching a new software product aimed at small business owners. The goal is to create an intuitive and budget-friendly project management tool.
Business need/reason for the project: Small business owners need an affordable and easy-to-use project management tool to streamline their operations and improve efficiency. The introduction of this product is projected to boost revenue by approximately 20% in the first year, capitalizing on a lucrative and underserved market segment.
Stakeholder identification: Key stakeholders include the product development team, marketing team, selected small business owners (for feedback), and the finance department.
Key project roles:
Budget: Estimated at $150,000, covering software development, marketing, and testing phases.
Deliverables:
Project schedule:
Task assignments:
Communication strategy:
Baseline management plans: Regularly review project progress against the baseline schedule and budget, with adjustments made as necessary.
Risk management: Contingency plans are in place for potential software bugs and delays in the development phase.
Performance monitoring: Progress will be tracked against milestones, focusing on staying within budget and meeting the development timeline.
Project closure: Final product testing, adjustments, and a formal launch event.
This sample project management plan should give you a clear picture of how to make your own.
Templates offer an efficient way to create a project plan. Wrike also offers a range of templates for each specific step of your project management plan, helping you easily manage every aspect of your plan.
Here’s a brief overview of the types of templates available:
Wrike has templates for specific types of project plans too, including a professional services management template , an event planning template , and a product launch template .
All of these templates can be customized to suit the specific needs of your project.
Beyond templates, Wrike’s other features (including dashboards, various views , and real-time communication) can streamline the process of creating and monitoring your project management plan. This seamless integration of planning and execution tools ensures that your project stays on track from start to finish.
Whether starting a new project from scratch or revamping an existing one, Wrike’s customizable templates and intuitive design help you lay out your plan clearly and effectively. You can define tasks, assign roles, set deadlines, and monitor progress — all within the same platform, regardless of your project management methodology .
The ease of organizing and updating your project management plan in Wrike saves time and improves collaboration among team members. Wrike’s diverse functionalities cater to various project management needs, making it an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes and types.
With Wrike’s Gantt charts , you can easily map out milestones and track task progress visually. This approach helps project managers and stakeholders quickly identify task dependencies, ensuring that every part of your project progresses in the right order. It also makes it easier to spot potential delays or scheduling conflicts and address them before they impact the project timeline.
Gantt charts are easy to adjust and update, making them ideal for project environments with frequent changes. Integrating Gantt charts into your project management plan will help you better understand the project flow and can keep everyone aligned on the timeline for a smoother path to project completion.
Also read : What’s the best Gantt chart maker? 3 types of tools
Wrike’s customizable dashboards allow you to view, manage, and track various aspects of your project in one convenient location. Whether you need to keep an eye on task progress, monitor deadlines, or track resource allocation, Wrike’s dashboards can be customized to display the most relevant information. This means less time spent sifting through data and more time focusing on project plan components.
Also read : How to build a custom project management dashboard
Automated reports in Wrike offer a real-time view of various project aspects, from task completion rates to resource utilization. They can be set up to generate regularly, providing consistent updates without manual effort. As a project manager, you’re always equipped with the latest data to make informed decisions. For stakeholders, these project status reports offer transparency and assurance. They can see at a glance how the project is progressing, which tasks are completed, and whether the project is adhering to its budget and timeline. This level of insight fosters trust and keeps everyone on the same page.
A well-structured project management plan is beneficial because:
A project management plan defines a project’s objectives, timeline, and procedures, ensuring all team members understand their roles and responsibilities. This clarity minimizes confusion, aligns efforts, and keeps the project focused on its goals. This translates to improved workflow, efficiency, and effectiveness.
A project plan ensures stakeholders are on the same page as team members. By outlining the project’s scope, timeline, and resources needed, it becomes a shared document that everyone can refer to.
This transparency helps manage expectations and reduces the likelihood of miscommunication or misunderstandings. It’s a tool for accountability that assigns specific tasks to team members, sets due dates, and provides performance metrics. It also provides a structured approach to tackling the project, which can alleviate anxiety and uncertainty.
One of the key benefits of a comprehensive project plan is its ability to reveal clashes in timelines, resource allocation, and team availability well in advance. When you map out the project schedule in detail, you’re more likely to spot overlaps in task assignments or periods where team members may be overburdened.
When creating a project plan, one of the primary tasks is to define the scope clearly. This definition helps your team understand what needs to be accomplished and prevents scope creep, which can lead to overwork and delays.
Equally important is managing the project budget. A thorough project management plan outlines the financial resources allocated for each phase and activity. By closely monitoring the budget, you can track spending and keep the project on track financially.
In a project plan, every task is assigned to specific individuals. This establishes who is responsible for each piece of the puzzle. When team members see their names next to tasks, they understand that they are accountable for the timely and successful completion of those tasks.
This level of clarity extends to stakeholders as well. The plan outlines their roles, whether that involves providing resources, making decisions, or offering expertise. By explicitly stating what stakeholders are accountable for, the plan helps prevent misunderstandings and ensures that everyone contributes as needed.
A project management plan isn’t just a bunch of lists and deadlines; it’s the comprehensive strategy that guides every aspect of a project. It brings team members and stakeholders to the same table, ensuring everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and when. This way, everyone on the team knows their roles and responsibilities, which keeps the project on track.
Wrike’s suite of user-friendly features is designed to support you through every step of creating and executing a project management plan. From plotting out timelines on Gantt charts to tracking all aspects of a project with customizable dashboards to using templates to simplify complex processes, Wrike’s got everything you need to turn the sometimes daunting task of project planning into a smooth ride.
What are the six important parts of a project management plan .
There are six key components that form the backbone of a solid project management plan. These include:
A project management plan provides a roadmap for the project, outlining tasks, responsibilities, and deadlines. A good plan helps manage the project’s budget effectively, ensuring resources are used efficiently and costs are kept under control. It anticipates potential risks and prepares strategies to mitigate them, reducing the chances of unexpected problems derailing the project.
Crafting an effective project plan requires a methodical approach, starting with gathering comprehensive information about the project. This involves understanding project goals, resources, constraints, and stakeholder expectations. Organizing this information in a structured manner ensures clarity and precision. Identifying and engaging stakeholders and team members early is also essential for aligning their expectations and roles.
It’s important to take time to plan with a clear technique, as disorganization can lead to ineffective execution. A systematic approach to planning lays a strong foundation for project success.
Using a template to create a project management plan simplifies the planning process. When it is well designed, it ensures no components of a project plan are overlooked. It provides a structured framework for organizing information, setting clear objectives, and assigning project tasks.
Collaborative work management software like Wrike is a powerful tool for implementing a strong and easily repeatable project management template. Wrike’s features, such as Gantt charts, customizable dashboards, and automated reports, provide a comprehensive toolkit for managing every aspect of a project.
With Wrike, you can easily map out project timelines, assign tasks, and set milestones. Our dashboards allow for real-time progress monitoring, ensuring the project stays on track. Automated reports also offer valuable insights into project performance, helping to make informed decisions. Wrike’s ability to integrate with other tools ensures seamless collaboration among team members.
The structure of a project management plan generally remains the same whether the project is simple or complex. It will always encompass elements like objectives, scope, timeline, and resources. The only difference is that a plan for a complex project will typically include more detail than for a simpler project.
Fed likely to cut rates by quarter percentage point next month.
San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly on Monday said “the time is upon us” to cut interest rates, likely starting with a quarter-percentage point reduction in borrowing costs, Reuters reports.
Asked if there is anything that could derail a rate cut at the U.S. central bank’s Sept. 17-18 policy meeting, Daly told Bloomberg TV that it “would be hard to imagine at this point.”
She says the “most likely” path ahead is for inflation to continue to slow gradually and for the labor market to add jobs at a “steady, sustainable” pace—and if that projection plays out, “adjusting policy at the regular, normal cadence seems reasonable.”
The Fed usually adjusts rates in quarter-percentage-point increments, though it pushed through four consecutive 75-basis-point hikes in 2022 and continued to tighten policy in 2023 in response to an inflationary surge.
“We haven’t seen any deterioration yet in the labor market,” she says, but “if we should see deterioration, or any signs of weakness, then being more aggressive to ensure that we don’t see that, would be appropriate.”
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9. Project Completion Report. A project completion report marks the end of a project journey. It summarizes the entire project lifecycle, from initiation to closure. This report contains an overview of the project's objectives, deliverables, milestones, challenges, and recommendations for future projects. 10.
Each section should be around 1-2 sentences long. The things you should include in a one-pager business plan are: The problem - Describe a certain problem your customers have and support the claim with relevant data. The solution - How your products/services can solve the issue.
Be succinct and to-the-point with every aspect of the report, from points of contact to resources and any potential roadblocks. The idea is for your project reports to be as easy to digest as possible, especially if you're supplying busy stakeholders with a steady stream of ongoing status reports. 6. Be prepared.
Apart from describing its results, it must also explain the implications of those results to the organization and its business operations. How to Write and Create Project Reports Part 1. Project Report Free Download Part 2. Additional Sources Part 3. Part 1.
Download the project plan template for Excel and save it using your preferred file naming convention. Enter Project Details. Enter the Project Title, Project Manager, Start Date, and End Date in the dedicated sections. The Project Duration automatically populates based on the start and end dates.
Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It's also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. After completing your plan, you can ...
The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Project Report: How to write a Project Report with Templates. Writing an effective project report is a crucial skill for any project manager. A well-written report clearly communicates the status and progress of a project to key stakeholders and outlines key next steps.
To put together a report that your project stakeholders can use to gain insights, make decisions and optimize processes, take the following systematic approach to writing your project reports: 1. Define the purpose and scope: Clearly establish the goals, objectives, target audience, and information needs of your project report. 2.
How To Write A Project Plan in 6 Steps. Writing a project plan requires, well, planning. Ideally, the seeds for a project plan need to be sowed before internal project sign-off begins. Before that sign-off, conduct capacity planning to estimate the resources you will need and if they're available for the duration of the project.
How to Write a Project Report in 7 Steps. Writing an effective project report is crucial for evaluating the project's health, keeping stakeholders informed, and setting the stage for future projects. Here are seven steps to guide you through the process. Step 1. Decide the Objective.
A Complete Guide to Project Reports Why write a project report in the first place? This report is so crucial in keeping key players up to date - we'll explore who exactly you need to be writing for in the next point. A project status report is needed to give a summary of a project, significant changes, and to keep a record of the project's progress.. A project status report adds milestones and ...
Keep it short and simple. Project stakeholders don't want to get bogged down in too much detail. The report should provide an accessible overview of the project's status. A weekly 20-page document will simply go unread. Be concise, and avoid technical jargon.
Start with a stunning cover page followed by a table of contents. Then move on to the executive summary and the body, which includes the key details. Finally, you can round off your report with a summary. To make your report actionable, summarize it with key takeaways, action points and expectations.
Take the following steps to create a new report. Click the Report tab and then click New Report. Pick from the four options: Blank: Provides a blank canvas that you can use to add charts, text, tables, and images using the Report Tools Design tab.
When writing a project management report, it is essential to keep the following in mind: Be concise and share results and outcomes: Don't focus on details your stakeholders don't need to know. Try to use bullet points, not paragraphs. If you create a 10-page document every week, no one is likely to read it.
Step 2: Create an Outline. Once you've gathered the resources, it's time to plan the report. Before you start writing, create an outline that will help you stick to the right structure. A business report is complex writing in which you can get lost very easily if you don't have a clear plan.
1. Progress report (aka project status report) This type of report provides an overview of the project's status, highlighting completed tasks, milestones achieved, and work in progress. It keeps stakeholders informed about the project's development. For basic progress reporting, use the task tracker template. 2.
Step 1: Explain the project to key stakeholders, define goals, and get initial buy-in. The first step in any project is to define the "what" and "why.". Key stakeholders have the influence and authority to determine whether a project is successful, and their objectives must be satisfied. Even if the project comes from the CEO himself ...
The R&D department reports directly to the CEO or top management. You may also see research report examples. Examples for new product projects include a restaurant adding a new dish in their menu, a car manufacturer creating a new variant for an existing automobile model, or a video game developer releasing a new game.
Describe Your Services or Products. The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you're offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit ...
And How to Create One. 1. Executive summary. This is a short section that introduces the business plan as a whole to the people who will be reading it, including investors, lenders, or other members of your team. Start with a sentence or two about your business, your goals for developing it, and why it will be successful.
Let's discuss specific "rules" that will make the entire company planning process easier before writing your business plan report. The goal is to finish your business plan so you can concentrate on growing your company. Here are 5 steps in creating one. Step 1: Keep it brief.
Sinnaps also allows projects to be exported onto an Excel spreadsheet. This in itself can be used as a form of report that can be distributed across all stakeholders of the project. The export is an editable Gantt-Chart and also includes a status summary of the sub-tasks and activity objectives planned in the project.
Stakeholder management plan; How to write and develop a project management plan. Clearly, a lot of information goes into the creation of a project management plan. It's reasonable to wonder how a project manager pulls it all together. To make the project planning process easier, we recommend using a project management plan template. A ...
The Fed usually adjusts rates in quarter-percentage-point increments, though it pushed through four consecutive 75-basis-point hikes in 2022 and continued to tighten policy in 2023 in response to ...
Trump has publicly rejected Project 2025 as Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has sought to tie him to some of the plan's most extreme proposals. But in private, Vought said that those ...
Measure and report insights. Plan and track enterprise projects, gain visibility into capacity, ensure alignment to business objectives, monitor insights and results, and support data-driven decision-making. Make informed decisions and gather insights by building effective dashboards with user-friendly, visual tools.