Reporting – it’s what a project manager does. No matter what, the nature of the project reporting is needed at all costs. Reporting does not only help to understand the current stage of the project but also ensures the correct predictive decisions from the stakeholders.
There are various methods and ways of reporting, out of which a few recommended status reports are discussed below.
- Project health report
- Risk assessment report
- Timesheet report
- Issues report
- Schedule variance report
- Cost variance report
- Project Health Report:
This report gives a high-level snapshot of the project. This type of report is very helpful for sharing on-screen meetings with the team and stakeholders. The entire project status is usually reflected in this project health report. Usage of diagrams and charts enhances the impact of this report.
Risk assessment report:
A Risk assessment report enables to identify different types of risks associated with the project and helps to categorize it based on their impact and probability. Also, it helps to prioritize issues and make sure that managers take preventive actions within time.
Timesheet Report:
Along with every other aspect, the project manager has to ensure the full utilization of time to achieve the required outcomes. This report indicates the time that every employee has invested in the project by having the accountability of each team member against the tasks allotted to them
Issues Report:
Same as the risk assessment report, Issues report also identifies problems and gives a clear picture of what is wrong with the project. Issues report usually takes place after the issues have been identified in that manner it helps the manager to take the best corrective actions to resolve those errors.
Schedule Variance Report:
As the name suggests, this report gives a clear understanding of the project’s status in terms of time. Schedule variance report shows the difference between the time planned and actual time spent on the project. This report can be made at regular intervals along the way to make better decisions to minimize the time difference.
Cost Variance Report
The cost variance report is pretty much similar to the schedule variance report. This report helps to identify the difference in planned cost and the actual cost incurred on the project. These differences can be calculated by using various formulas of EV and AC, but the report gives the insides of where and how much the cost has incurred.
Challenges and Pitfall of different status reports
Most of the status reports come with similar types of challenges and pitfalls. First of all, the gathering of data and second of all is the inaccuracy of data. Cost variance report and schedule variance reports need the most accurate number to give a better picture of the project, however; the gathering of this data is pretty difficult because usually these numbers get revealed at the end of the project which makes it difficult to create a variance report in between of the project.
Timesheet report gives a clear understanding of the investment of time from each employee, but it does not give any resolution to improve employee’s efficiencies. This type of report only gives a snapshot of employees’ invested time in numbers.
The project health report is the best report to understand the current standing of a project, yet it is one of the most difficult ones to create what type of information should be included, what use of language is needed and whether charts and graphs are needed or not. Usage of a standardized template pretty much helps to resolve this issue.
Reports for Steering Committee
Effective reporting to all agents i.e. steering committee, executive sponsors and senior managers is slightly different from one another (Bourne, 2006). The steering committee is usually on the wheel of business. They need all the relevant information of the project to make better decisions for the future. Project health report or status report is the best possible option for a project manager to present them. In just a glance project health report allows the reader to have a current bird view of the project and because of lack of time steering committee asks for this report to make better decisions.
Reports for Sponsors
Sponsors are usually the financial backbone of the project. Risk assessment report gives them a clear understanding of how much to invest and in which areas. Impact of risks and their probabilities are the major highlights of these reports which can either convince the sponsors or change their decisions. Variance reports also play an important role in convincing sponsors to invest more or pull their funds. This report helps them understand the efficiency of the project and its team in terms of cost and time.
Reports for Team Members
Team members are on the field, they are the ones who can either make a project success or failure. Keeping them aware of all the relevant information is very important. Timesheet report is the most important report for them along with the issues report and variance. Variance reports help them understand where they are lacking and what needs to be improved. While issues report forces them to prioritize those tasks which can hurt the project in the long run.
Connection with Lyle Case study:
There were several issues which could have come to a resolution by use of different status reports. Schedule variance report and timesheet report could have identified the problem with man-hours required for the project. If the Schedule variance report had been made in the first place, then alongside Mr Don the VPs of the company could have taken a strong step against it. Similarly, the issues with communication and lack of integrity from staff members of Lyle construction should have been included in the issues report, this way these problems would have been able to get more spotlight from the decision-makers. Lastly, project health reports needed to be mandatory for the project manager at different intervals of project. This report would have helped all the stakeholders to identify the problems and to take the correct decisions.
References
Bourne, L. (2006, July). Project relationships and the stakeholder circle. In PMI Research Conference. Montreal Canada, PMI
Kerzner, H. R. (2013). Project management, case studies, fourth edition. New Jersey, US: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from https://www.engbookspdf.com/uploads/pdf-books/ProjectManagementCaseStudies4thedition-1.pdf
