12.2. Progress Reporting

Why Progress Reporting Matters

Progress reporting is the process of updating folks who are not directly involved in the project to know how things are going. In the Planning phase, you would have developed a timeline that had goals for meeting milestones. The Progress Report is your chance to let others know whether or not the project is on track to meet those goals/milestones. This is often the main part of the Monitoring phase of a project, which arches over several of the main phases of project management.

The goal of progress reporting is to do regular check-ins to make sure that there are no major snags in a project’s progress. And if there are challenges, they can be addressed before they become problems. A progress report keeps everyone on the project team informed.

If you were to report on your progress with the employee training records organization project, you could report things such as:

• What have you accomplished so far?
• What are you currently working on?
• What do you expect to have completed before the next report?

You write a progress report to inform a supervisor, associate, or customer about progress you’ve made on a project over a certain period of time. The project can be the design, construction, or repair of something, the study or research of a problem or question, or the gathering of information on a technical subject. You write progress reports when it takes several weeks or even months to complete a project.

Functions and Contents of Progress Reports

In the progress report, you explain any or all of the following:

• How much of the work is complete?
• What part of the work is currently in progress?
• What work remains to be done?
• What problems or unexpected things, if any, have arisen?
• How is the project going in general?

Progress reports have several important functions:

• Reassure recipients that you are making progress, that the project is going smoothly, and that it will be complete by the expected date.
• Provide recipients with a brief look at some of the findings or some of the work of the project.
• Give recipients a chance to evaluate your work on the project and to request changes.
• Give you a chance to discuss problems in the project and thus to forewarn recipients.
• Force you to establish a work schedule so that you’ll complete the project on time.
• Project a sense of professionalism to your work and your organization.

Timing and Format of Progress Reports

In a year-long project, there are customarily three progress reports, one after three, six, and nine months. Depending on the size of the progress report, the length and importance of the project, and the recipient, the progress report can take the following forms:

• Memo—A short, informal report to someone within your organization
• Letter—A short, informal report sent to someone outside your organization
• Formal report—A formal report sent to someone outside your organization

Organizational Patterns or Sections for Progress Reports

The recipient of a progress report wants to see what you’ve accomplished on the project, what you are working on now, what you plan to work on next, and how the project is going in general. In other words, the following three sections are key in any progress memo or progress report:

• Work accomplished in the preceding period(s)
• Work currently being performed
• Work planned for the next period(s)

Revision Checklist for Progress Reports

As you reread and revise your progress report, watch out for problems such as the following:

• Make sure you use the right format.
• Write a clear opening paragraph reminding your recipient of the project you are working on and that you are making progress on that project.
• Use headings to mark off the different parts of your progress report, particularly the different parts of your summary of work done on the project.
• Use lists as appropriate.
• Provide specifics—avoid relying on vague, overly general statements about the work you’ve done on the final report project.
• Be sure to address the progress report to the real or realistic audience—not your instructor.

“Progress Reports” from Technical Writing Copyright © 2015 by Annemarie Hamlin, Chris Rubio, Michele DeSilva is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

“In Progress” by Undraw, Undraw License