how to write a progress report for work

👀 Turn any prompt into captivating visuals in seconds with our AI-powered visual tool ✨ Try Piktochart AI!

• Piktochart Visual
• Video Editor
• Infographic Maker
• Banner Maker
• Brochure Maker
• Diagram Maker
• Flowchart Maker
• Flyer Maker
• Graph Maker
• Invitation Maker
• Pitch Deck Creator
• Poster Maker
• Presentation Maker
• Report Maker
• Resume Maker
• Social Media Graphic Maker
• Timeline Maker
• Venn Diagram Maker
• Screen Recorder
• Social Media Video Maker
• Video Cropper
• Video to Text Converter
• Video Views Calculator
• AI Flyer Generator
• AI Infographic
• AI Instagram Post Generator
• AI Newsletter Generator
• AI Report Generator
• AI Timeline Generator
• For Communications
• For Education
• For eLearning
• For Financial Services
• For Healthcare
• For Human Resources
• For Marketing
• For Nonprofits
• Brochure Templates
• Flyer Templates
• Infographic Templates
• Newsletter Templates
• Presentation Templates
• Resume Templates
• Business Infographics
• Business Proposals
• Education Templates
• Health Posters
• HR Templates
• Sales Presentations
• Community Template
• Explore all free templates on Piktochart
• The Business Storyteller Podcast
• User Stories
• Video Tutorials
• Visual Academy
• Need help? Check out our Help Center
• Earn money as a Piktochart Affiliate Partner
• Compare prices and features across Free, Pro, and Enterprise plans.
• For professionals and small teams looking for better brand management.
• For organizations seeking enterprise-grade onboarding, support, and SSO.
• Discounted plan for students, teachers, and education staff.
• Great causes deserve great pricing. Registered nonprofits pay less.

Progress Report: How to Write, Structure, and Make Project Progress Visually Attractive

Picture this: Days or weeks into a project, your supervisor asks for a progress report.

Depending on your experience with writing progress reports, you might respond with readiness, anxiety, or confusion. Where do you begin? How do you know you’ve created a satisfactory or even amazing final report? Fear not—the expert team here at Piktochart is here to help.

In this progress reporting guide, we’ll not only give you top tips on how to write a successful report but additionally provide you with progress report templates and checklists to keep you focused on the important stuff. We begin, of course, with the all-important question anyone from a newbie to even a seasoned professional might have: “What is a progress report?”

Table of contents:

What is a progress report, why is a progress report important.

• How to write a progress report
• How to structure a progress report
• Free progress report templates you can edit right away

Progress report checklist

In case you prefer watching over reading, feel free to check out the video summary of this blog post:

A progress report is exactly what it sounds like—a document using simple and straightforward language that explains in detail what has been achieved and what else is needed for project completion. Essentially this document is a status update before the final report, outlining tasks completed by a team member, project manager, or team, along with what else needs to be done.

W hether you need to provide daily progress reports or even quarterly progress reports, this asset outlines the activities you’ve carried out, the tasks you’ve completed, and the milestones you’ve reached vis-à-vis your project plan .

Depending on the scope and complexity of the project, you might need to give a progress report weekly or monthly or for every 25% project milestone.

In terms of audience, a progress report is typically written for a supervisor, colleague, or client. Progress reports can be written from the perspective of one person as well as an entire team or department.

Throughout your career, you’re likely to be creating more reports than you can count (challenge for you: count them and find how many resources you’re using!).

Perhaps you find yourself spending more time crunching data and plugging numbers into graphs than actually working.

Reports don’t have to be as time-consuming as they often are. Progress report templates are time-savers! Get your free Piktochart account so you can follow along as we share more templates below.

We also tapped into the brilliance of Kevan Lee of Buffer in this interactive content experience to help you with your progress report projects.

Dive right in here, and learn some reporting hacks from Kevan .

Sometimes it might feel like writing about your progress in detail is redundant, especially when you’ve been regularly communicating with your supervisor, teammates, and client throughout the course of the project. Like any project manager, you probably think there are more important things to work on.

But this type of professional report is actually quite useful for several reasons.

1. It gets everyone on the same page

Each person who receives a copy of the report will know what has been accomplished and what is remaining. This prevents confusion about what has been or has yet to be done. Additionally, it provides proof and data about the respective project that can be cited and sourced if and when questions arise in the future.

2. Writing progress reports facilitates collaboration

This is especially important when different teams or departments work together. Knowing what another team is prioritizing helps prevent working in silos and also reduces task redundancy. Additionally, progress reporting helps a team identify areas where it can offer help or collaborate with others.

When teams can track progress on where other teams are on the project timeline, project managers get a better idea of the current status. They can reassign resources to make sure everyone is on track to hit the deadline for the current project, which can be tricky if you’re managing remote teams .

If you’d like to learn more about how you can work together with your team on a report, sign up for a free Piktochart account and try our online report maker .

3. It improves transparency and accountability by providing a paper trail

When you submit your report, you’ve placed on record that you’ve accomplished a task or explained why your results were different than expected. Once the document has been accepted, it becomes part of the project’s official documentation.

So, just in case someone accuses you in the future of failing to accomplish a task or not reporting a problem, you can point to the progress report as proof that you did so.

On the flip side, if your project ever gets nominated for an award, you can be sure validators will come seeking documents that explain how the entire thing was accomplished.

4. It improves project evaluation and review

Next time you plan for a project, your team can examine documents, including progress reports, of previous projects to find out what was done right, what went wrong, and what can be improved.

Previous reports can shed light on systemic issues, loopholes, and other causes of delay or failure—both internal and external—that must be avoided or resolved.

5. It provides insights for future planning

When the supervisor knows what tasks have been accomplished, he or she can focus on monitoring progress toward the next stages of the project.

When a report shows that delays have occurred, the supervisor is able to investigate the problems that hindered progress and take steps to prevent them from happening again in the future.

The supervisor will also be able to adjust the project timeline if absolutely needed or instruct teams to double down.

Ultimately, all the valuable insights from the project documentation can increase the chance of success for future projects.

Here is a progress report format example:

How to write progress report s

Have you ever found yourself stuck tapping your pen or staring at a blinking cursor, unable to begin writing?

Writer’s block is not an unusual experience when creating progress reports, especially for those whose jobs typically don’t involve drafting a long document or creating a formal report.

One reason people may find it difficult to write these reports is the thought that they’re not ‘writers.’ Yet, this is simply a negative mindset.

Reports don’t require sophisticated language—in fact, the simpler, the better.

Here are some writing tips on progress reporting:

“Piktochart is my go-to tool when I’m looking for a way to summarize data that is easy for our upper management to review. Piktochart provides me with the tools to display data in a creative, visually appealing way.” – Erica Barto, Selection, Testing & Assessment Specialist at Valero Energy Corporation Create a report, presentation, infographic, or other visuals online with Piktochart. You don’t need any graphic design experience to make professional visual content. Sign up for free .

1. Think of it as a Q&A

Before you start worrying about your reporting frequency and whether you should provide monthly reports or weekly reports, take a step back and focus on the purpose of the report itself.

In essence, the reporting process comes down to Q&A; you’re answering key questions about your progress. Imagine your manager, colleagues, or client asking you their most important questions, and you’re simply providing them with answers on the project status.

For example, let’s say that you’re organizing a weekend fair with food stalls and music and that you’re put in charge of food concessions.

The project plan might require you to have secured letters of intent (LOI) from at least 10 businesses by the end of the first month.

Your progress report would then outline the companies or entrepreneurs who have sent LOIs, including a description of their businesses and plans for their food stalls. If talks are in progress with other businesses that haven’t yet sent LOIs, you can include that and explain when they’re expected to send in their letters.

On the other hand, if you haven’t met your target, you’d have to explain why but also narrate the efforts you have exerted and the expected timeline for achieving the desired results.

2 . Use simple and straightforward language

This doesn’t mean you can’t use technical jargon.

For example, if you’re in the construction business, you don’t have to avoid using terms like “tender” or “variation” or “risk management.”

But otherwise, speak plainly. Use clear and concise language.

One misconception in business writing is that complexity impresses. In truth, it only causes confusion. Fact is, being able to speak plainly about your subject indicates that you understand your subject matter inside out.

Let’s get specific. One thing that makes business documents dreary is the transformation of verbs into nouns—just like I did there.

If we had to rephrase that to keep the verb, we’d write, “transforming verbs into nouns.” It sounds simpler and gets to the point.

3 . Avoid using the passive voice where possible

Sometimes, you can’t avoid using the passive voice in formal documents that prohibit the first-person point-of-view. But when done well, it helps to make your progress reports more relatable.

Going back to the food concession example, a passive sentence would read: “Research on potential food concessionaires was carried out.”

To make that sentence active, give it an actor (which is the team in this case), as in: “The team researched on potential food concessionaires.”

4. Be specific

A study published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience found that when you use concrete words, you tend to engage both the left and right parts of the brain, while the right region tends to remain unstimulated by abstract words.

While the jury is still out on exactly how word meanings are represented in the mind, we can agree that the phrase “a merry sound” doesn’t stir the imagination as much as “tinkling bells”.

“A hot day” doesn’t activate visual imagery as much as “a melting popsicle” does. When a reader’s mind is stimulated by words, it’s less likely to drift off.

Taking the previous example, “researched on potential food concessionaires” doesn’t evoke a visual image. Meanwhile, “built a list of 50 potential food concessionaires” is more concrete, especially when you add details of what food items might be sold.

5. Explain jargon if needed

This depends on who will be reading your progress reports, and if you’re using very specialized jargon that only members of your team would be familiar with.

For example, in a report written by a construction team addressed to the project manager , construction jargon could be used as the recipient obviously understands it.

6. Spell out acronyms when they first occur in the document

Don’t assume that every single person reading the report will understand all the acronyms you use without you spelling them out.

For instance, in construction work, SWMS should first be spelled out as “safe work method statement”. ‘Pre-starts’ should be spelled out as ‘pre-start checks’. So in your report, it would look like this: “safe work method statement (SWMS)”, then all subsequent references are free to just be SWMS.

7. Stick to facts

Avoid providing an opinion, unless it’s part of the project.

For instance, your task might be to analyze data and offer your interpretation and prediction. In that case, you can offer your speculation and point of view, as long as you have evidence to back you up.

8. Use graphics to supplement the text

Avoid writing down a long series of numbers in a sentence. Try using different types of graphs , tables or charts, especially when dealing with a series of numbers.

Here at Piktochart, we have many progress report templates, and the hiring progress report below is a great example.

When using graphs or charts, try out several types to determine which ones best present your data. You might use a bar graph , pie chart , line graph , or even scatter plot . When doing so, though, spend time distinguishing different data sets from the others by using labels and colors.

Don’t worry if this sounds daunting—there are plenty of software that can help you visualize data , including the most basic examples, MS Excel and Numbers for Mac.

How to structure progress report s

You may still be wondering about the exact process of how to write a progress report. Armed with all of these practical tips, how do you put the report together?

First, it depends on the type of report, as well as the intended reader. A progress report may be written daily, weekly, or monthly. It may be written for an individual or a team.

As you’ll see in the examples below, the main parts of a progress report are:

1. Introduction

This part provides an overview of the contents of the progress report. It’s best to write this after you’ve completed all the other parts of the report. That way, you’ll be able to provide an accurate summary.

Keep it short and simple. One or two paragraphs will do.

2. Accomplishments

Numbers and details are your friends, especially when writing this section of the progress report. The accomplishments you write should correspond to your goals.

What were your goals for the period covered by the report?

This could be a goal for the day, week, month, or quarter. On the other hand, it could be a team goal, too.

Be concrete when writing goals. For instance:

Avoid providing too much detailed information. The simpler this section is, the easier it is for stakeholders and the project team to see the project priorities.

4. Roadblocks

Explain what situations, if any, prevented you from achieving your goals, or may have hindered the project’s progress.

But don’t stop there. Be proactive and present an action plan and timeline for resolving the roadblocks. Include details, such as funds, materials, and human resources you may need to implement the solution.

Progress reporting templates you can edit right away

To guide you better, here are progress report template examples that are visually attractive and highly readable.

These templates are available if you sign up for a free Piktochart account . Once you log in, use any of the templates below and edit the elements and text to make it your own.

1. Daily progress report s

A daily progress report includes your goals for the day, as well as your accomplishments the previous day. It also explains challenges encountered in performing tasks and achieving goals.

Another section under the daily report is ‘lessons learned’. These need to be directly related to the day’s tasks and challenges, as well as to the previous day’s accomplishments.

2. Weekly progress report

Weekly progress reports provide a week-by-week breakdown of what has been accomplished and what tasks remain to be completed.

Just like a daily report, a weekly progress report may include challenges and lessons learned. Examples are included in the templates below.

To get a better idea of this, let’s go back to the events example:

• Many potential vendors were attending a week-long industry convention; couldn’t book meetings.
• Potential vendors didn’t read the entire email.

Lessons Learned

• Consider industry events when planning a timeline for contacting clients
• Introductory emails must be short and have readable formatting

3. Monthly progress report ing

A monthly report is necessary for projects with longer durations. The report may provide both monthly and quarterly data on project progress.

4. Team progress report s

Team progress reports provide information on both team and individual milestones and progress status. Now this one is more complicated, simply because it involves several people who may have worked on different tasks.

It’s not enough to just let one person make the report. Of course, one person can do the typing, but everyone must provide input and feedback.

One way to keep a record of different team members’ input is to keep track of edits they have made.

To do this, simply enable tracking of changes on a Word document, or on Pages for Mac users. When working on a collaborative tool like Google Docs , click the pencil icon on the top-right part of the window, and choose “Edits become suggestions” on the drop-down menu. Here’s what that looks like:

On the other hand, team members can insert comments or questions. Again, you can do this easily on a Word document, as well as on software that let you comment on shared documents, like Google Docs and Piktochart .

Here’s what it looks like in Piktochart (learn more about this feature in our guide to annotated comments for teams ):

Here’s one example of Piktochart’s many team project report templates .

One last thing… You’ve finally finished typing up your report—breathe a sigh of relief, but don’t hit ‘send’ just yet.

Go over it at least once (better to do it more than once, especially if it’s a team report). Re-read the article, edit the content as needed, then ask a teammate to proofread with a fresh pair of eyes.

Finish your progress report on time

Be more accountable and efficient with your progress reports using Piktochart’s professional-looking and editable progress report templates.

Other Posts

25 Green Color Palette Combinations (With Hexes and Name Codes)

How to Create a Professional Business Letterhead (With Tips, Templates and Examples)

How to Make Any Image Background Transparent

Do you want to be part of these success stories, join more than 11 million who already use piktochart to craft visual stories that stick..

• Project Evaluation
• Project Management Methodologies
• Project Management Metrics
• Project Portfolio Management
• Proof of Concept Templates
• Punch List Templates
• Requirements Traceability Matrix
• Resource Scheduling
• Roles and Responsibilities Template
• Stakeholder Mapping
• Team Charter
• What is Project Baseline
• Work Log Templates
• Workback Schedule
• Workload Management
• Work Breakdown Structures
• Agile Team Structure
• Cross-Functional Flowcharts
• Creating Project Charters
• Guide to Team Communication
• How to Prioritize Tasks
• Mastering RAID Logs
• Overcoming Analysis Paralysis
• Understanding RACI Model
• Eisenhower Matrix Guide
• Guide to Multi Project Management
• Procure-to-Pay Best Practices
• Procurement Management Plan Template to Boost Project Success
• Project Execution and Change Management
• Project Plan and Schedule Templates
• Resource Planning Templates for Smooth Project Execution
• Risk Management and Quality Management Plan Templates
• Risk Management in Software Engineering
• Stage Gate Process
• Stakeholder Management Planning
• Understanding the S-Curve
• Visualizing Your To-Do List
• 30-60-90 Day Plan
• Work Plan Template
• Weekly Planner Template
• Task Analysis Examples
• Cross-Functional Flowcharts for Planning
• Inventory Management Tecniques
• Inventory Templates
• Six Sigma DMAIC Method
• Visual Process Improvement
• Value Stream Mapping
• Creating a Workflow
• Fibonacci Scale Template
• Supply Chain Diagram
• Kaizen Method
• Procurement Process Flow Chart
• UML Activity Diagrams
• Class Diagrams & their Relationships
• Visualize flowcharts for software
• Wire-Frame Benefits
• Applications of UML
• Selecting UML Diagrams
• Create Sequence Diagrams Online
• Activity Diagram Tool
• Archimate Tool
• Class Diagram Tool
• Graphic Organizers
• Social Work Assessment Tools
• Using KWL Charts to Boost Learning
• Editable Timeline Templates
• Guides & Best Practices
• Kinship Diagram Guide
• Graphic Organizers for Teachers & Students
• Visual Documentation Techniques
• Visual Tool for Visual Documentation
• Visualizing a Dichotomous Key
• 5 W's Chart
• Circular Flow Diagram Maker
• Cladogram Maker
• Comic Strip Maker
• Course Design Template
• AI Buyer Persona
• AI Data Visualization
• AI Diagrams
• AI Project Management
• AI SWOT Analysis
• Best AI Templates
• Brainstorming AI
• Pros & Cons of AI
• AI for Business Strategy
• Using AI for Business Plan
• AI for HR Teams
• BPMN Symbols
• BPMN vs UML
• Business Process Analysis
• Business Process Modeling
• Capacity Planning Guide
• Case Management Process
• How to Avoid Bottlenecks in Processes
• Innovation Management Process
• Project vs Process
• Solve Customer Problems
• Startup Templates
• Streamline Purchase Order Process
• What is BPMN
• Approval Process
• Employee Exit Process
• Iterative Process
• Process Documentation
• Process Improvement Ideas
• Risk Assessment Process
• Tiger Teams
• Work Instruction Templates
• Workflow Vs. Process
• Process Mapping
• Business Process Reengineering
• Meddic Sales Process
• SIPOC Diagram
• What is Business Process Management
• Process Mapping Software
• Business Analysis Tool
• Business Capability Map
• Decision Making Tools and Techniques
• Operating Model Canvas
• Mobile App Planning
• Product Development Guide
• Product Roadmap
• Timeline Diagrams
• Visualize User Flow
• Sequence Diagrams
• Flowchart Maker
• Online Class Diagram Tool
• Organizational Chart Maker
• Mind Map Maker
• Retro Software
• Agile Project Charter
• Critical Path Software
• Brainstorming Guide
• Brainstorming Tools
• Visual Tools for Brainstorming
• Brainstorming Content Ideas
• Brainstorming in Business
• Brainstorming Questions
• Brainstorming Rules
• Brainstorming Techniques
• Brainstorming Workshop
• Design Thinking and Brainstorming
• Divergent vs Convergent Thinking
• Group Brainstorming Strategies
• Group Creativity
• How to Make Virtual Brainstorming Fun and Effective
• Ideation Techniques
• Improving Brainstorming
• Marketing Brainstorming
• Rapid Brainstorming
• Reverse Brainstorming Challenges
• Reverse vs. Traditional Brainstorming
• What Comes After Brainstorming
• Flowchart Guide
• Spider Diagram Guide
• 5 Whys Template
• Assumption Grid Template
• Brainstorming Templates
• Brainwriting Template
• Innovation Techniques
• 50 Business Diagrams
• Business Model Canvas
• Change Control Process
• Change Management Process
• NOISE Analysis
• Profit & Loss Templates
• Scenario Planning
• Winning Brand Strategy
• Work Management Systems
• Developing Action Plans
• How to Write a Memo
• Improve Productivity & Efficiency
• Mastering Task Batching
• Monthly Budget Templates
• Top Down Vs. Bottom Up
• Weekly Schedule Templates
• Kaizen Principles
• Opportunity Mapping
• Strategic-Goals
• Strategy Mapping
• T Chart Guide
• Business Continuity Plan
• Developing Your MVP
• Incident Management
• Needs Assessment Process
• Product Development From Ideation to Launch
• Visualizing Competitive Landscape
• Communication Plan
• Graphic Organizer Creator
• Fault Tree Software
• Bowman's Strategy Clock Template
• Decision Matrix Template
• Communities of Practice
• Goal Setting for 2024
• Meeting Templates
• Meetings Participation
• Microsoft Teams Brainstorming
• Retrospective Guide
• Skip Level Meetings
• Visual Documentation Guide
• Weekly Meetings
• Affinity Diagrams
• Business Plan Presentation
• Post-Mortem Meetings
• Team Building Activities
• WBS Templates
• Online Whiteboard Tool
• Communications Plan Template
• Idea Board Online
• Meeting Minutes Template
• Genograms in Social Work Practice
• How to Conduct a Genogram Interview
• How to Make a Genogram
• Genogram Questions
• Genograms in Client Counseling
• Understanding Ecomaps
• Visual Research Data Analysis Methods
• House of Quality Template
• Customer Problem Statement Template
• Competitive Analysis Template
• Creating Operations Manual
• Knowledge Base
• Folder Structure Diagram
• Online Checklist Maker
• Lean Canvas Template
• Instructional Design Examples
• Genogram Maker
• Work From Home Guide
• Strategic Planning
• Employee Engagement Action Plan
• Huddle Board
• One-on-One Meeting Template
• Story Map Graphic Organizers
• Introduction to Your Workspace
• Managing Workspaces and Folders
• Adding Text
• Collaborative Content Management
• Creating and Editing Tables
• Adding Notes
• Introduction to Diagramming
• Using Shapes
• Using Freehand Tool
• Adding Images to the Canvas
• Accessing the Contextual Toolbar
• Using Connectors
• Working with Tables
• Working with Templates
• Working with Frames
• Using Notes
• Access Controls
• Exporting a Workspace
• Real-Time Collaboration
• Notifications
• Meet Creately VIZ
• Unleashing the Power of Collaborative Brainstorming
• Uncovering the potential of Retros for all teams
• Collaborative Apps in Microsoft Teams
• Hiring a Great Fit for Your Team
• Project Management Made Easy
• Cross-Corporate Information Radiators
• Creately 4.0 - Product Walkthrough
• What's New

How to Write a Solid Progress Report for Project Success

Progress reports are like project status updates that help everyone involved understand how things are going. Writing a solid progress report is crucial for keeping your project on track and ensuring its success. In this guide, we’ll break down the process of creating a great progress report, making it easy for you to communicate your project’s progress effectively. We have also included progress report templates for you to get started right away.

Progress Report Template

• Ready to use
• Fully customizable template
• Get Started in seconds

What is a Progress Report

A progress report is a document that provides an overview of the status, advancements, and achievements of a project or task. It typically outlines what has been accomplished, what is currently in progress, and any challenges or obstacles encountered. Progress reports are commonly used in various settings, such as work, education, or personal projects, to keep stakeholders informed about the project’s developments and to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding the current state of affairs.

Progress Report Templates to Keep Track of Project Progress

Daily Progress Report Template

Project Status Report Template

Project Status Summary

Project Dashboard Template

Project Status Summary Template

Why You Need to Use a Progress Report

A progress report promotes a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement in project management. Here are several reasons why a progress report is important.

Clear communication: Keeps everyone on the same page by sharing what’s happening in a project.

Tracking achievements: Highlights what has been successfully completed, boosting team morale.

Problem-solving: Identifies and addresses challenges, helping to find solutions and stay on track.

Decision-making: Provides real-time information for informed decision-making during the project.

Accountability: Holds team members responsible for their tasks and deadlines.

Learning and improvement: Creates a record of progress, facilitating learning for future projects.

Efficiency: Keeps the team working efficiently by preventing confusion and misunderstandings.

Collaboration: Encourages collaboration and coordination among team members.

Key Components of a Progress Report

The following components of a progress report collectively provide a comprehensive view of the project’s progress, challenges, and future plans, enabling effective communication and decision-making.

• Introduction : Brief overview of the project, including its purpose and objectives.
• Work completed : Summary of tasks or milestones achieved since the last report.
• Work in progress : Description of current activities, tasks underway, and their status.
• Challenges and issues : Identification and discussion of any problems, roadblocks, or challenges faced.
• Achievements : Recognition and celebration of significant accomplishments and milestones.
• Upcoming tasks : Outline of the next steps, tasks, or milestones planned for the future.
• Timeline and schedule : Review or adjustment of the project timeline or schedule, if necessary.
• Budget overview : Overview of the project’s financial status, including spendings and any budget changes.
• Recommendations : Suggestions for improvements or changes to improve project efficiency.
• Conclusion : A brief summary and conclusion, often including an overall project status assessment.

Challenges of Creating and Using a Progress Report

While project reports are handy for keeping track of project progress, they can pose some challenges.

Time-consuming: Writing a progress report can take time away from actual project work.

Communication issues: Making sure that everyone understands the report may be challenging.

Data accuracy: Getting accurate information for the report can sometimes be difficult.

Overlooking details: Important details may be unintentionally left out.

Balancing detail and brevity: Finding the right level of detail without making the report too lengthy can be tricky.

Tracking complex projects: Managing and reporting progress for complex projects may pose a challenge.

Ensuring regular updates: Getting everyone to consistently update progress can be a hurdle, especially in dynamic work environments.

Best Practices for Creating an Effective Progress Report

Creating an effective progress report involves following some best practices:

• Keep your report clear and straightforward, avoiding jargon or overly complex language.
• Highlight the most important information, emphasizing achievements and addressing challenges.
• Use a consistent format and structure for easy comprehension.
• Submit reports on time to make sure that the information is relevant and up-to-date.
• Provide enough detail to convey the message, but avoid unnecessary information that may overwhelm.
• Use charts or diagrams to visually represent data and trends for better understanding.
• Include potential solutions when discussing challenges, promoting a proactive approach.

Create Your Next Progress Report with Creately

Simplify the process of creating progress reports and streamline project management, communication, and improve overall project success with Creately ’s visual collaboration platform.

Task tracking and assignment

Use the built-in project management tools to create, assign, and track tasks right on the canvas. Assign responsibilities, set due dates, and monitor progress with Agile Kanban boards, Gantt charts, timelines and more. Create task cards containing detailed information, descriptions, due dates, and assigned responsibilities.

Notes and attachments

Record additional details and attach documents, files, and screenshots related to your tasks and projects with per item integrated notes panel and custom data fields. Or easily embed files and attachments right on the workspace to centralize project information. Work together on project documentation with teammates with full multiplayer text and visual collaboration.

Real-time collaboration

Get any number of participants on the same workspace and track their additions to the progress report in real-time. Collaborate with others in the project seamlessly with true multi-user collaboration features including synced previews and comments and discussion threads. Use Creately’s Microsoft Teams integration to brainstorm, plan, run projects during meetings.

Pre-made templates

Get a head start with ready-to-use progress report templates and other project documentation templates available right inside the app. Explore 1000s more templates and examples for various scenarios in the community.

Comprehensive shape libraries

Create any visual aid from flowcharts to timelines with comprehensive shape libraries for over 70 types of diagrams including icons. Illustrate or make annotations easily with freehand drawing and format text without leaving the keyboard with markdown shortcuts.

Progress reports are indispensable in project management. They foster communication, accountability, and a culture of continuous improvement. Make use of the progress report templates we have provided to track your progress and stay organized.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

More Related Articles

Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

• Free Project Management Software
• Agile Project Management Software
• Project Management Software for Nonprofits
• Organization Apps to Boost Productivity
• Resource Management Software
• Monday Review
• ClickUp Review
• Monday Pricing
• ClickUp Pricing
• Wrike Pricing
• Asana Pricing
• Smartsheet Pricing
• Teamwork Pricing
• Airtable Pricing
• Scoro Pricing
• Asana vs Monday
• ClickUp vs Monday
• Wrike vs Asana
• Trello vs Asana
• ClickUp vs Asana
• What is Agile Project Management?
• Key Benefits of Agile Methodology
• Most Important Agile Metrics
• Agile Manifesto: Values and Principles
• Agile Project Management Certifications

Progress Report: What is it & How to Write it? (+Examples)

Picture this: You're a project manager juggling multiple tasks, deadlines, and team members. Keeping the balance between different tasks is hard but very important.

Enter the progress report, your secret weapon in conquering chaos and ensuring smooth sailing.

But what exactly is a progress report, and how do you craft one effectively? In this blog post, I'll demystify progress reports and guide you through the process of writing one.

From daily progress reports to weekly progress reports, using practical progress report templates and a tried-and-true format.

What is a Progress Report?

A progress report is a vital tool in project management , designed to keep different types of stakeholders informed about the ongoing status of a project.

It's a concise document highlighting current achievements, challenges, and goals, allowing the project manager to track progress and make necessary adjustments.

Project progress reports are one of the most important types of project management reports . They help maintain transparency, communication, and accountability within a team, ensuring everyone is on the same page. They also provide valuable insights for decision-makers, helping them gauge the project's overall health and success.

Here's what you can expect to find in a typical progress report:

• Project Overview: A brief summary of the project's objectives and scope.
• Current Status: A snapshot of where the project stands regarding completed tasks, milestones reached, and overall progress.
• Challenges and Issues: Any technical difficulties, resource constraints, or personnel issues.
• Next Steps: The immediate tasks and goals on the horizon and how the team plans to tackle them.
• Progress Report Format: The layout of the report can vary depending on the organization's preferences or industry standards.

Writing a progress report can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. You'll create a valuable document that keeps everyone informed and aligned by breaking it down into manageable sections and using clear, concise language.

Embrace the progress report writing skill and watch your team's productivity and communication soar.

Why are Progress Reports Important?

Progress reports play a vital role in project management, serving as a communication tool to keep stakeholders updated. Let's delve into why progress reports are crucial for the success of any project or business.

Transparency and Accountability

Progress reports eliminate ambiguity and promote transparency. By regularly sharing project updates with stakeholders, the project team is held accountable for their work. This accountability ensures everyone is on track to meet the project milestones and objectives.

Identify Potential Issues Early

Progress reports help identify potential problems before they escalate. Team members can spot bottlenecks, delays, and other issues by examining project data and analyzing the progress report.

Early detection enables the team to take prompt action and prevent these issues from derailing the project.

Effective Decision-Making

Armed with accurate and timely information from progress reports, project managers and stakeholders can make informed decisions.

When a project progresses smoothly, management can allocate resources more efficiently or plan for future phases. On the other hand, if a project encounters challenges, swift decisions can be made to reallocate resources or change course.

Maintaining Momentum

A progress report's important aspect is maintaining momentum. When team members see their progress documented and shared, it fosters a sense of accomplishment and motivation.

This positive reinforcement encourages teams to keep pushing forward and maintain their productivity.

Improved Communication and Collaboration

Progress reports facilitate better communication and collaboration among team members. By sharing updates and insights, the entire team stays informed, reducing the chances of miscommunication or misunderstandings.

Moreover, progress reports provide a platform for team members to ask questions, provide feedback, and offer support.

Performance Tracking

Business progress reports, such as quarterly, monthly, or annual progress reports, help track performance over time.

By comparing past reports, management can gauge the business's overall health and identify trends or patterns. This historical data can inform future strategies and drive continuous improvement.

How to Write a Progress Report

Step 1: define the purpose.

The first step in writing a progress report is understanding its purpose. Progress reports inform stakeholders about the project's status, including what has been accomplished, any challenges encountered, and future planning. This allows project managers to keep everyone in the loop and make informed decisions.

The purpose of this monthly progress report is to update the management team on the project's status. It presents an overview of completed tasks, in-progress tasks, upcoming tasks, and any challenges faced during the reporting period. This report will also provide insight into key performance metrics and future planning .

Step 2: Know Your Audience

Determine who will read the progress report. Is it for higher-ups, clients, or team members? Tailor the language, tone, and level of detail accordingly.

Step 3: Set the Timeframe

Decide the reporting period – weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Choose a timeframe that best suits your project's pace and stakeholder expectations.

Step 4: Collect Information

Gather data on tasks completed, team members involved, and any obstacles faced. Consult previous progress reports, project documentation , and team members for accurate information.

Step 5: Organize Content

Break down the report into logical sections. Here’s what we suggest:

• Summary: A brief overview of the report's contents.
• Completed Tasks: List tasks accomplished during the reporting period.
• In-Progress Tasks: Describe ongoing tasks and their current status.
• Upcoming Tasks: Outline tasks scheduled for the next reporting period.
• Challenges: Discuss any obstacles encountered and how they were addressed.
• Key Metrics: Highlight key project performance indicators and progress towards goals.
• Future Planning: Discuss plans for the next reporting period and any adjustments needed.

Step 6: Write the Summary

Craft a concise summary that provides a snapshot of the report. Mention key achievements, challenges, and plans for the future. Keep it brief but informative.

This progress report covers our team's accomplishments during Q1, with a particular focus on the completion of the website redesign and the initiation of our social media marketing campaign. We've encountered some challenges in coordinating with external vendors, but we've implemented solutions to overcome those obstacles .

Step 7: Detail Completed Tasks

List all tasks completed during the reporting period. Include the following information:

• Task description
• Team members involved
• Start and end dates
• Any relevant metrics (e.g., hours spent, budget used)
• Task 1 – Implement a user login system.
• Team members: Jeff and Sarah.
• Start date: January 1st.
• End date: January 15th.
• Metrics: 98% successful login rate.

Step 8: Discuss In-Progress Tasks

Outline ongoing tasks, their current status, and expected completion dates. Explain any delays and their impact on the project timeline .

• Task 2 – Develop a mobile app.
• Current status: 70% completed.
• Expected completion date: February 15th.

Step 9: Describe Upcoming Tasks

Identify tasks scheduled for the next reporting period. Provide details such as:

• Assigned team members
• Estimated start and end dates
• Dependencies on other tasks
• Task 3 – Launch marketing campaign.
• Assigned team members: Anas and Mark.
• Estimated start date: February 16th.
• Estimated end date: March 1st.
• Dependencies: Completion of mobile app development.

Step 10: Address Challenges

Discuss any challenges encountered during the reporting period. Describe how they were resolved or any plans to address them in the future.

• Challenge 1 – Unforeseen technical issues causing delays.
• Resolution: Increased resources and adjusted project timeline to accommodate the additional time required.

Step 11: Present Key Metrics

Highlight key project management performance indicators and progress toward project goals. Use visuals like charts or graphs to make the data more digestible.

• Metric 1 – User registration rate.
• Current status: 500 new users per week.
• Target goal: 1,000 new users per week.

Step 12: Plan for the Future

Discuss plans for the next reporting period, including any adjustments required. This may involve reallocating resources, revising timelines, or redefining objectives.

In the next reporting period, our focus will shift to improving user retention and engagement. We plan to implement new features based on user feedback and optimize the onboarding process.

Step 13: Proofread and Revise

Review the report for clarity, accuracy, and readability. Ensure all information is presented in a clear, concise manner.

Step 14: Submit the Report

Submit the progress report to the relevant stakeholders, ensuring they have ample time to review and provide feedback.

Example Progress Report Template

Use this template as a starting point for your progress report:

By following these steps and guidelines, you'll be well-equipped to write an effective progress report that keeps stakeholders informed and drives project success. Clear communication is key to maintaining momentum and ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Examples of Progress Reports

1. business progress report.

A business progress report helps track company growth, accomplishments, and areas for improvement. It includes:

• Revenue and sales figures.
• Market trends and competition.
• Operational efficiency.
• Employee performance.
• Goals and milestones achieved.

2. Quarterly Progress Reports

These reports offer a snapshot of a project or business every three months. They cover:

• Major achievements.
• Challenges faced and solutions.
• Key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Updated project timeline.
• Budget status.

3. Monthly Progress Reports

Monthly progress reports provide more frequent updates on projects or departments. They highlight:

• Accomplishments and setbacks.
• Progress towards monthly goals.
• Resource utilization.
• Issues and risks.
• Action items for the upcoming month.

4. Project Status

Project status reports focus on a specific project's progress. They showcase:

• Project documentation updates.
• Completed tasks and upcoming deliverables.
• Risks and issues encountered.
• Team members' performance.
• Changes to project scope or timeline.

5. Personal Progress

Personal progress reports help individuals track their growth and development. They include:

• Personal goals and objectives.
• Achievements and lessons learned.
• Skill development and training.
• Performance feedback.
• Areas for improvement and action plans.

Best Practices for Writing Progress Reports

Know Your Target Audience

When you create a progress report, start by identifying your target audience . Project stakeholders, team members, and future decision-makers should all benefit from your report.

Write in such a way that it is easy for them to understand. Avoid technical jargon and explain industry-specific language so everyone stays on the same page.

Reporting Frequency and Dates

Establish a reporting frequency for your progress reports. Whether weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, maintain consistency. Include report dates and the expected completion date of the current project to provide a clear timeline.

Stick to the Project's Scope

Focus on the project's scope and stay within the project's purpose. Don't digress or include unrelated details. A concise report ensures that readers remain engaged and informed.

Review Previous Reports

Refer to the previous report to identify any changes or developments. Highlight the work completed, project deliverables , and any updates to the project plan. Doing so will maintain continuity and keep stakeholders informed about the department's progress.

Prioritize and Organize

Arrange project priorities logically, focusing on the most critical aspects first. Organize the information in a clear, easy-to-follow format. Use headings, subheadings, and bullet points for better readability.

Be Transparent About Problems

Don't shy away from discussing problems or challenges. Addressing issues helps stakeholders understand the project's status and any hurdles that may affect successful completion. Offer potential solutions or workarounds to demonstrate proactive thinking.

Back Up Progress with Relevant Data

Use relevant data to support your progress. Figures, charts, and percentages can provide a quick overview of the project's status. Make sure your data is accurate, up-to-date, and presented in an easy-to-understand format.

Highlight Team Member Contributions

Acknowledge team members who have made significant contributions to the project. This recognition boosts morale and encourages continued excellence.

Include Future Projections

Discuss what's next for the project, such as upcoming tasks or milestones. This helps stakeholders understand the trajectory of the project and anticipate the work ahead.

Keep it Simple and Actionable

Present complex ideas in a simple, easy-to-understand language. Break down complicated concepts into manageable chunks. Offer actionable insights and practical takeaways, so stakeholders can quickly grasp the project details.

Establish a Database

Create a database to store all progress reports. This repository helps stakeholders access past reports and provides valuable insights for future projects. It also ensures that information is preserved and easily accessible when needed.

Proofread and Edit

Before sharing your progress report, proofread and edit for clarity, consistency, and accuracy. This step ensures that your report is polished, professional, and easy to understand.

Progress Reporting FAQs

A progress report is most valuable when you're working on a long-term project. It's a way to keep stakeholders updated on progress and share important insights.

The primary purpose of a progress report is to provide a clear and concise overview of a project's status. This includes: – Communicating progress toward goals – Identifying potential issues and solutions – Demonstrating accountability and commitment to the project – Providing a step-by-step guide of completed tasks and upcoming work – Offering visual aids, like charts and graphs, to illustrate data A well-crafted progress report keeps stakeholders informed and fosters collaboration. It's also valuable for maintaining momentum and motivation throughout the project.

Writing Progress Reports Does Not Need to Be Hard

So, you've reached the end of this blog post. You're now equipped with the knowledge and tools to make progress report writing a breeze. Remember, it doesn't have to be a daunting task.

Keep it simple, stick to the facts, and let your progress shine. Talk about what you achieved, any challenges you faced, and how you overcame them. Use a clear, concise, structured format to ensure your message is easily understood.

To simplify the process, check out our guide on project reporting tools .

Ask yourself:

• What are the key takeaways from this period?
• How can I best communicate the status of the project?
• Are there any challenges that need addressing?

Considering these questions will make your progress report informative, actionable, and engaging. And don't forget, practice makes perfect. The more progress reports you write, the easier and more efficient the process will become.

Explore Further

• Essential Components of Project Management
• Best Project Management Software 2023
• The Inspiring History of Project Management. How Did It Begin?
• 9 Essential Roles In Project Management

Was This Article Helpful?

Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

We use essential cookies to make Venngage work. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.

Manage Cookies

Cookies and similar technologies collect certain information about how you’re using our website. Some of them are essential, and without them you wouldn’t be able to use Venngage. But others are optional, and you get to choose whether we use them or not.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are always on, as they’re essential for making Venngage work, and making it safe. Without these cookies, services you’ve asked for can’t be provided.

Show cookie providers

• Google Login

Functionality Cookies

These cookies help us provide enhanced functionality and personalisation, and remember your settings. They may be set by us or by third party providers.

Performance Cookies

These cookies help us analyze how many people are using Venngage, where they come from and how they're using it. If you opt out of these cookies, we can’t get feedback to make Venngage better for you and all our users.

• Google Analytics

Targeting Cookies

These cookies are set by our advertising partners to track your activity and show you relevant Venngage ads on other sites as you browse the internet.

• Google Tag Manager
• Infographics
• Daily Infographics
• Graphic Design
• Graphs and Charts
• Data Visualization
• Human Resources
• Training and Development
• Beginner Guides

Blog Business

How to Write a Professional Progress Report 

By Daleska Pedriquez , Jun 28, 2022

The first time I had to do a professional progress report, I panicked. I always thought I was an organized, big-picture person. I thought I had each step of the project, each stakeholder’s task mapped in my mind. But I found myself at a loss… 

I didn’t know where to begin my report or what to include. So I did some research and asked my co-workers for advice. 

I’m glad I did because they shared some useful tips on  how to use visual communication  in a progress report. They also pointed me towards a ton of templates to use as a starting point.

Now, I’ve filled out countless progress reports and learned some valuable lessons along the way. So, gather around everyone! I’ll show you the magic of using progress reports for your business, including how to incorporate data visualization.

(Most importantly, you’ll find a generous list of templates you can use with our  report maker  to get the job done!)

Click to jump ahead:

What is a progress report, why are work progress reports important, how do you write a progress report, 3 tips to write great reports, faqs about writing a professional progress report.

Let’s start with the basics. A progress report includes a detailed description of the current status of a project, as well as forecasts for the future. You can use this type of report to share insights on project status and performance. You may also project results and timelines based on the milestones your team has achieved and the challenges you’ve faced so far.

These reports often contain a summary of communications between a team member and a project manager. This helps stakeholders get a snapshot of how a project is progressing. 

Keep in mind: a progress report may be for your team alone, your company as a whole or your board of executives. Depending on the audience, you may want to include more or less granular information.

Return to Table of Contents

This may seem obvious, but reporting on progress is key for keeping your team on track. Consistent  project updates  will ensure everyone is working on the right tasks, at the right time. These reports also provide an opportunity for reflection…

What’s going well? What isn’t? Do the project objectives still make sense? Do they need adjusting? By taking the time to reflect  before  a project is finished, you’ll be able to catch any problems, adjust and increase your chances of success. 

Sounds good? But wait, there’s more… 

Here’s a closer look at the benefits of creating a professional progress report: 

Improves team collaboration 

As I mentioned, progress reports are all about keeping teams on the same page. Generally, everyone on your team would receive a copy of the report. That way, everyone can see what’s done and what remains to be done. 

This is also a good way to keep your team motivated during long projects. By reporting on everything that’s been accomplished, they can see just how far they’ve come.

In the initial phases of a project, your progress report may be as simple as a timeline. This type of report works well during the planning stages, too. For example, check out this weekly reporting template: 

You can customize this template however you need. Style the text, swap out the colors, add in your logo and voilà… you have a professionally branded report.

Guides decision-making throughout a project

Again, if you wait until the end of a project to reflect, you may miss opportunities to course-correct along the way. No  project plan  is perfect. There will always be unforeseen circumstances. A task that requires more time. A team member that drops out of the race… 

A progress report can help you deal with these hiccups. By proactively checking in on a project, you can make decisions about the best use of resources. Or even, whether you need to switch lanes entirely! 

Creates a detailed audit trail for all projects

While a progress report  isn’t  an audit, it does provide a record of all the work undertaken during a project. In other words, it’s useful if you or your company need to create an audit trail using project execution records.

Of course, progress reports are also useful if you’re answering to execs, giving updates to your fellow execs or simply referring back to the next time around. 

Take this quarterly project status report as an example. Using this template, you can share a high-level overview of a project with a simple progress bar featuring a clear percentage, or swap in any chart to depict progress. With Venngage’s editor, you just have to double-click on the chart and input the appropriate value.

Promotes transparency and accountability

Transparency and accountability are buzzwords in business, but with good reason. Without transparency, there’s no accountability. And without accountability, well, your project is going to be a slog. 

Progress reports are a great way to maintain transparency and accountability throughout a project. Not only can you see exactly who’s done (and doing) what, but you can also highlight the allocation of funding and resources, as well as results. 

Now that we’ve talked about the perks of using a progress report to  visualize your company’s projects , let’s dig into the good stuff. Here’s how to write a detailed progress report: 

Determine your report’s objectives

Of course, your report will have different objectives depending on the format. If you’re putting together a weekly report, those objectives may be tasks accomplished. You may also include notes about roadblocks or problems solved. 

A monthly or quarterly report will likely look at larger milestones instead and give a broader overview of the progress made on a project. This type of regular project evaluation may also compare progress to previous months. 

Pro tip: while designing in Venngage, you can create a new color scheme, or use one of the many automated color palettes available. If you’re on a business plan, you’ll also have access to  My Brand Kit , which allows you to upload logos, choose fonts and set color palettes. Then, you can easily apply your visual branding to every design.

Collect all your data

Once you’ve established your objectives, you can gather the necessary data to report on them. 

For example, with a weekly report, you may need to check in with your team members to get a status update on their tasks. With a monthly report, you may be able to pull results, in addition to a broader status update. 

Whatever claims you include in your report, just make sure you can back them up with data. If you’re saying a project is 90% complete, that percentage should be calculated based on real numbers, not estimates. 

In general, you’ll share a broader progress update on the first page of your report. Then, the following pages will show the supporting data. 

Perform a detailed data analysis

Now for the fun part. (Yup, I’m a data nerd.) 

Analyzing your data is the logical next step. I like to start by organizing my data into buckets. For example, I might have a bucket for tasks accomplished, outstanding tasks, blockers, budget and key learnings to date. 

Often, I’ll include a bucket for outstanding questions. And I analyze all of the above to identify patterns and make informed predictions.

Once you have all this information, make a note of which pieces of data can be visualized. Graphs, charts and other visuals help simplify complex data and reduce the amount of text you’ll need in your report. (More on visualizing your data in just a sec!) 

Pro tip: when creating a report in Venngage on a  Business Plan , you can collaborate in real-time with your team members and invite them to work on a design. You can also leave comments and get feedback, right on the platform. Alternatively, you can share your design online, via email or download a high-resolution PNG, PDF or interactive PDF. 

Outline and edit your report

Ah, the outline. I create an outline for everything I write, whether it’s a blog, business plan, or yes, a progress report. In my experience, it’s the best way to avoid writer’s block. With a detailed outline, you’ll never get stuck staring at a blank screen again. 

At this point, you know your objectives. You’ve collected and analyzed all your data. All that’s left is to  turn it into a story . 

I like to start with objectives and work my way backward. In my outline, I’ll cover objectives on the first page. Each one gets its own heading with supporting data underneath. I’ll also include a high-level description of my project on the first page. 

I like to organize the following sections by objective, too. This creates a natural hierarchy while keeping goals and objectives top of mind. 

Nail down the length of your report

Keep in mind that you don’t want your report to be the length of a bible! No one has the time or attention span for that. Here’s a quick rule of thumb: a progress report should be around two to three pages.

This should give you enough space to state your objectives, present supporting data, showcase progress and make any predictions. If your outline is more than three pages, have another look and see what you can trim. As all good writers know, sometimes you have to  kill your darlings . 

Design your report using visuals 

A picture is worth a thousand words — there’s a reason we’ve all heard this saying a thousand times! 

Engaging visuals  are the perfect way to turn dry data into meaningful, digestible statements. But you don’t have to create these visuals from scratch or hire a designer for that matter. By starting with one of  Venngage’s templates , you can simply customize the visuals to suit your needs.

For example, this project management status report template includes several images, charts and icons. You can swap out the images with your own or browse over three million high-quality, royalty-free photos to find something suitable. 

You can also change the icons to reflect your data. With Venngage, you get access to over 40,000 icons with thousands of diverse options to reflect a range of skin tones and cultural backgrounds. Plus, you can change the  charts to best represent your data . 

By using visuals in your design, you’ll break up walls of text and make your report both aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand. In the end, this will help you improve communication and impress any stakeholders involved. 

With Venngage’s  report maker , the design process is quick and easy. And best of all, you can do it all yourself — exactly the way you envisioned.

Related : 5 Best Report Creators for Businesses in 2022

Get feedback from your team 

Before sharing your final report, consider getting feedback from your team. 

They may have additional insights to share on a project’s progress. They can also help spot faulty data and prevent any embarrassing retractions down the line. This is also just good for morale. The more involved your team feels in a project, the more invested they’ll be. 

Finalize your report

Last step: proofreading.

Make sure to double-check everything, from spelling and grammar to project details and data visualizations. This step ties in with my point above. Getting a second pair of eyes to proofread your report is always a good idea. 

When you’ve been staring at something for weeks, it can be hard to catch mistakes. Your team members can look at your report with fresh eyes and share fresh insights.

In the data-heavy example above, a misplaced comma or rogue denominator could make all the difference. So don’t skip that final once over! At the end of the day, the goal is to create a report that’s as accurate as possible.

I’ve talked a lot about how to use visuals to create an engaging, full-featured progress report. But what about words, you ask? 

Keep these three quick tips in mind to breeze through the writing part, too: 

• Stay focused

And I mean hyper-focused. 

Remember the first step in this guide: determine your report’s objectives. By staying focused on your objectives, you’ll avoid unnecessary tangents. Plus, you’ll have a lot less editing to do when it comes time to kill your darlings! 

If a point doesn’t tie back to your objectives, skip it. This will give your entire report a sense of direction. It will also help your team members digest and retain the information.

• Discuss your objectives in a balanced manner

If you have multiple objectives, make sure you give each one its due. 

It’s true, one objective may be more important than the other. For example, you might dedicate more real estate to outlining project tasks than predicting future progress. Just make sure to weigh positive and negative data fairly. 

You don’t want a rose-colored report, so to speak. This will set unrealistic expectations and be more harmful than helpful down the line. Instead, use all the available data to share a balanced perspective in your progress report. 

• Use a consistent reporting style

Reports are no place for flowery language. 

To make your report as effective as possible, use straightforward, simple language. Make sure to define any acronyms or technical terms at the beginning of your report. And remember the three Cs while you’re writing: be clear, concise and compelling.

What are the three types of progress reports?

There are three types of reports based on the time span they cover:

• Weekly: These reports typically cover a team member’s individual progress and how it affects the entire project.
• Monthly: These progress reports typically provide a broader overview of a project, including team member progress, methods and projections. Monthly reports are usually data-dependent and require more visuals than weekly reports.
• Quarterly: These detailed reports cover a three-month period. Quarterly reports include a lot more data and will require more visuals to make them digestible and engaging as a result. 

What are the qualities of a good progress report?

The qualities of a good progress report are: 

• Comprehensiveness: Provide a total overview of a project using clear objectives, simple language and a balanced ratio of text and images in your layout.
• Data-backed: Make sure your report includes accurate data that you’ve double-checked for any discrepancies.
• Rich in visuals: Leverage engaging visuals to break up the text in your report and turn your data into a compelling, easily digestible story.

Write a detailed professional progress report and achieve your goals

I know from personal experience that writing a progress report can be daunting at first. 

But with these tips and templates, I’m confident you can do it. So go ahead, give it a try.  Create a beautiful, raise-winning report  with Venngage for free. Just remember to clearly define your objectives first… and don’t skimp on visuals!

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

How to Write a Progress Report

• 6-minute read
• 28th September 2021

A progress report is a business document that provides updates on a project’s progress toward meeting a goal. Typically, you’ll provide a progress report for a supervisor/manager, team member, or business client to summarize a project’s status and what still needs to be completed or improved.

But how do you write an effective progress report for your business’s projects ? In our guide below, we set out the typical structure of a progress report.

1. Header Information

A progress report should start with a header that includes key details about the report and the project. Typically, this will include the:

• Reporting period and/or the date of submission.
• Name(s) and position(s) of the report’s recipient(s).
• Name(s) and position(s) of the report’s author(s).
• Subject or title of the report/project.

This will help the recipient to understand the contents of the report at a glance.

2. Introduction

The introductory paragraph of a progress report should outline the purpose and timeframe of the project, plus any other important details or insights. 

You can also include an overview of what the rest of your progress report will cover.

3. Work Completed

The next section of your report should be titled “Work Completed.” Here, you can provide a chronological list of the project tasks that you have already completed and their corresponding dates. You can also include key findings from those tasks.

4. Problems Encountered

The next section should outline any problems encountered in the project so far. You should then explain either how those problems were solved or how they will be solved, and whether any extra help will be required to do so. You will also need to mention if those problems prompted any changes to the project.

5. Future Plans

To highlight the goals for the remainder of the project, the next section of your report should outline any future project tasks with their corresponding dates or deadlines, anticipated problems, and/or ideas for the project as you move forward.

End your progress report with a brief summary of key completed tasks, ongoing tasks, and major issues encountered. You don’t need to go into too much detail here, though. Stick to the essential details.

5 Tips on How to Write a Progress Report

We also have some helpful tips you can use when writing a progress report:

• Adapt the structure – While the structure outlined above will work for most projects, you can adapt it to suit your requirements. For instance, for a complex project with multiple goals, you may need to break it down into sections, detailing the progress, problems, and plans for each objective.
• Choose an appropriate frequency – For ongoing progress reports, think about whether to schedule daily, weekly, or monthly updates.
• Write clearly – Make sure to write clearly and concisely . Keep your sentences simple, straightforward, and easy to understand.
• Know your audience – If you’re writing a report for someone outside of your organization or team, explain any industry-specific language you use.
• Keep it professional – Make sure to use a formal tone , avoiding colloquial terms and phrases, slang, contractions, and other informal language.

Finally, to be sure your report looks and sounds professional, have it proofread. You can try our proofreading services by uploading a trial document for free today!

Example Progress Report

To see what a progress report might look like, check out our example report below:

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

Date: September 24, 2021 To: J. Seymour, Head of Planning From: A. Boleyn, Planning Assistant Subject: Migration to new planning software

Since November 2016, Exemplar Inc. has used the PlanULike package to manage the company’s everyday operations. However, when we expanded to new territories in July 2021, the limitations of the software became evident, especially with regard to currency conversions when budgeting for projects in Europe. As a result, in August 2021, the decision was made to migrate to new planning software. This report covers the progress in this project made up until September 24, 2021.

Work Completed

• August 30 – Research completed into available planning software packages. The PlanZone software is selected based on its flexible budgeting capabilities.
• September 6 – A timeline is developed for installation and implementation of the new software package, with an initial deadline of September 30.
• September 10 – Head of Human Resources, Jack Thacker, begins developing in-house instructional materials for the new software.
• September 18 – Software is acquired and installed. Provisional version of internal training program is developed and tested with key staff members.
• September 21 – IT department identifies software compatibility problems with older hardware in operations department. New equipment purchased.
• September 24 – New computer hardware installed. After testing, training program is extended to heads of department in planning and operations.

Problems Encountered

The key problem encountered thus far has been a compatibility issue between the new software and some of the company’s existing hardware. Head of IT, Simon Robinson, reports that this was due to PlanZone including graphical features that Exemplar Inc. does not use and had not been factored into the initial planning.

Due to speedy delivery and installation of new hardware, this has not significantly affected the timeframe for the migration. But the unexpected expense does mean that the project is now significantly over budget.

In addition, the testing of the in-house training program took longer than anticipated to complete. Key staff are now familiar with the new software, but the deadline for company-wide training has been extended to November 15, 2021.

Future Plans

The improved training program will continue until November 15, 2021, when all relevant staff are expected to be familiar with the new software, after which all operational planning will use PlanZone, and the PlanULike systems will be deprecated by November 30, 2021. Due to exceeding the budget allocated for this project, a meeting will be scheduled for heads of department to discuss how the extra expenses may impact budgeting for other projects.

The company has acquired and installed new planning software (PlanZone), which is projected to enhance project planning and ease operations in new territories. However, unexpected hardware and training issues have slowed progress. Deadlines for the migration have thus been extended. Meanwhile, implications of the extra expenses will be factored into budgeting for upcoming projects.

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Got content that needs a quick turnaround? Let us polish your work. Explore our editorial business services.

3-minute read

What Is a Content Editor?

Are you interested in learning more about the role of a content editor and the...

4-minute read

The Benefits of Using an Online Proofreading Service

Proofreading is important to ensure your writing is clear and concise for your readers. Whether...

2-minute read

6 Online AI Presentation Maker Tools

Creating presentations can be time-consuming and frustrating. Trying to construct a visually appealing and informative...

What Is Market Research?

No matter your industry, conducting market research helps you keep up to date with shifting...

8 Press Release Distribution Services for Your Business

In a world where you need to stand out, press releases are key to being...

How to Get a Patent

In the United States, the US Patent and Trademarks Office issues patents. In the United...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

Advisory boards aren’t only for executives. Join the LogRocket Content Advisory Board today →

• Product Management
• Solve User-Reported Issues
• Find Issues Faster
• Optimize Conversion and Adoption

How to write an effective progress report

As someone who has written hundreds of progress reports, I know that writing a good progress report can keep people in the loop about how your project or product is moving. Additionally, it helps build trust by actively letting everyone know how things are going, what may have changed, and where you may need support. It can be a very helpful tool.

Getting started with writing progress updates can be a little tricky. There are some key steps you’ll want to navigate to ensure that your progress reports are effective, helpful, and meeting the needs of your team and stakeholders.

In this article, we’ll talk about what a progress report is, why they’re important, the elements of a progress report, and more.

What is a progress report?

A progress report is a document, usually in the form of a weekly email, that lets key stakeholders and team members who are involved in your project stay up-to-date on how things are going.

These updates can include the progress from this week, whether or not the project is on track, and if any additional leadership support is necessary to keep the project going smoothly and eliminate blockers or challenges.

Why are progress reports important?

Progress reports are important because they help build trust in the project team by keeping stakeholders in the loop with clear communication. A good progress report ensures that stakeholders don’t sit and wonder how a project is going.

Another benefit? They can help you spot issues and elevate them before problems stack up and take your project off course. You can also use a progress report to escalate blockers, or potential blockers, to the stakeholders who may be able to assist you in clearing them. Need approval before you move forward with a key part of the project? You can outline that in your update and let everyone know to expect this before it happens.

Progress reports also help keep a pulse on the pace of the project. If you know that you have important dates coming up, knowing that you have a regular time you’ll need to check in on the progress of the project can help you know if you’re on schedule.

If things start to get off track, you’ll be able to course-correct easier. And, since a progress report keeps your stakeholders in the loop, there are no big surprises to anyone if something doesn’t go according to plan.

What’s included in a progress report?

The first important thing is to really understand what your stakeholders want to see in an update. Are there particular parts of the project they might be concerned about and want more detailed insights into how that part of the project is going? If so, you may want to come up with a list and build your outline from there.

A comprehensive progress report typically includes:

• A summary of activities completed by the team
• What progress was made, and how the team is tracking toward their goals
• What challenges there were, if any
• Action items and any next steps

Activity summary

In the activity summary, you can be as detailed as is helpful to communicate to stakeholders. Ask if your stakeholders want either an in-depth or high-level summary of the work that was completed by the team.

Over 200k developers and product managers use LogRocket to create better digital experiences

For example, some stakeholders want to be able to see each individual item the team completed. Some stakeholders think that a high-level summary of features is enough information. You can customize the level of detail in your activity summary for your stakeholders and team.

Progress update

Your activity summary and progress updates might sound similar, but activities are usually more task-oriented while progress is usually either an outcome or progress toward a specific outcome.

For example, let’s say that your progress update outlines that your engineering team spent time writing code for a new feature this week. Your progress report may include details about customer feedback about the new feature that your UX designer gathered.

Challenges and obstacles

While it may not be easy to talk about challenges or difficulties during a project, your stakeholders will want to know what challenges came up, how they were handled, if they’ve changed the timeline of the project, and if the team needs any help.

A great way to talk through the challenges section of your progress report is to follow a simple format:

• A brief description of the challenge encountered. This should be no longer than 2–3 sentences.
• A brief outline of how the challenge was addressed
• A clear statement of whether or not the challenge is still being resolved
• A clear ask for help, if help or support is needed

For example, here’s how this might sound in an actual progress report:

Dealing with API challenges with VendorX

This week, we had an outage in production due to a breaking API change that was made by VendorX. The customer impact was that our app was unavailable for 30 minutes. Customers saw an error message. To resolve the issue, we reached out to VendorX tech support and let them know the issue was impacting our app. They were able to resolve it, and our customers no longer have this issue.

Next steps and action items

At the end of the progress report, you’ll want to give a brief description of what the team plans to do next on the project to keep momentum. This can include the upcoming tasks or activities the team intends to tackle and how this keeps the project moving forward.

More great articles from LogRocket:

• How to implement issue management to improve your product
• 8 ways to reduce cycle time and build a better product
• What is a PERT chart and how to make one
• Discover how to use behavioral analytics to create a great product experience
• Explore six tried and true product management frameworks you should know
• Advisory boards aren’t just for executives. Join LogRocket’s Content Advisory Board. You’ll help inform the type of content we create and get access to exclusive meetups, social accreditation, and swag.

If you are dealing with a challenge, this section may also include the challenge’s impact on progress and how you may need to plan accordingly.

If you’re thinking that sounds like a lot to keep up with, there’s a great way to make it easier — use a template.

Using a template to make progress reports that are quick and easy to read

Progress report templates are easy to create and iterate over time as the needs of the project change. Templates can make writing your progress report faster and easier. Another key benefit of using a template? It’s easier to ask for help from your teammates to help fill in the key details because you can ask them to fill out key sections.

Templates also help your stakeholders know what to expect each week. By sending the same format each week, it can make it easy to know where the relevant information they need will be located in the progress report.

Here is a very simple template on Google Docs that you can use as a weekly progress report. Go to File > Make a copy to download it and, as we’ll go over next, you can customize it how you like to fit the needs of your project:

Tips for customizing a template

Progress reports aren’t one-size-fits-all. In fact, they should be customized to fit the needs of your project! Here are some tips to help customize a generic template:

• Make sections clear — Clearly outline the sections of your progress report, and let everyone know what you’ll be addressing in each section. Remember the key sections: activities, progress made, challenges or blockers encountered, and actions and next steps. You may want to include other sections, but you’ll want to include at least those four
• Include other sections as needed for your project — Depending on the type of project, you may also include area-specific updates. If you are building a new software product, you may also include an update on KPIs or customer feedback. If you work on an engineering team, you may need to update on code quality or test coverage metrics. Remember, this is for you and for your stakeholders to communicate, so customizing it to everyone’s needs is important
• Add some fun — Maybe you highlight new learnings, a fun fact, or a customer research anecdote as a part of your update
• Use emojis — Another way to make sections stand out is to add emojis. On a Mac, you can use Control + Command + Space to pull up the emoji keyboard. On a Windows machine, you can use the Windows Key + Period . Add emojis to your sections to add a little fun, and make each section’s purpose stand out visually. Adding an emoji can help visually call out sections. You can also use emojis for whether or not something is on track by using colors and color coding.
• Make updating and reading metrics easy by using tables  — If you’re reporting on a lot of metrics , make those easy to update by utilizing tables when and where you can. On the left side, include the name of the metric. On the right, include the number. Voila, an easy-to-read and easy-to-update metrics table

Once you’ve got the template, where do you store it? Ideally, put the template where you can quickly and easily access it and send it. Do you use a document repository like Sharepoint or Confluence? You can create a page that you can duplicate and edit. If you use something like Notion, you can save the page as a template that you can quickly and easily apply to any page within Notion.

Another thing to consider is how you plan to send the update each week. One option is to link to a document repository that has all of the updates linked and just schedule an automated email to send to key stakeholders with a link to the homepage. Another option? Copy and paste the text from your update into an email and link to older updates that live elsewhere.

When to update your template

If you feel trapped using a template, know that you can customize them and change them over time. As the project changed and evolved, so did our progress updates. It’s okay to change them! In fact, sometimes it’s necessary. So how do you know when it’s time to change your template?

• You regularly get questions from stakeholders about aspects of your project that are not answered in the current template
• The project has taken on a completely new direction but you haven’t updated your progress report to capture these new aspects of the project
• You’ve added another team or aspect to the project but their work is not reflected in the template

All of these are signs that it’s time to update the template to include more or different information. This can be a great time to pause and ask your stakeholders what new information would be helpful for them to read about in the progress report.

Incorporating progress report comments

Your stakeholders may have follow-up questions or comments about your progress report. This is great news because it means that your stakeholders are involved and staying up to date! Of course, they may have positive feedback or negative feedback. How do you handle either situation?

Handling negative feedback about your progress report from stakeholders

You’ve sent out the progress report, and you’re excited to hear all of the positive comments on how much progress the team is making. Then the comments start rolling in, and they are disappointingly not positive. How do you address negative comments from stakeholders?

There is negative feedback about the formatting

Sometimes, stakeholders may have negative feedback about how the progress report looks instead of commenting on the contents of the report itself. This can be a good thing — they have an interest in the process!

Take their feedback into consideration and potentially make updates to the template to make incorporating their feedback easier from week to week. If there’s a way to make the report easier to read, make those adjustments. If data is missing that would help make decisions — and if the data is available — consider adding it to subsequent progress reports.

There is negative feedback about the progress being made

Sometimes, stakeholders will have questions or comments related to how quickly the project is moving or the challenges the team is encountering. Here are some steps on how to handle this when it comes up.

• First, try to understand where the stakeholder is coming from. Are they curious about why a challenge arose? Are they concerned about the progress so far? Are they nervous about missing a critical deadline? You may need to reach out to that stakeholder to understand their concerns or feedback better so that you know how you can help
• Once you understand where the concern is coming from, now you can work to address the stakeholder’s feedback or criticism. If they address a challenge that has come up, it may be a good time to escalate the support you need in clearing the blocker. If they’re addressing that it seems like the project is off-track, reiterate what you or the team are doing to ensure that the project stays on track
• Sometimes, negative feedback occurs because someone is missing context or does not have all the information. In this case, it can be helpful to ensure that the stakeholder understands

Handling positive feedback about your progress report

When you get positive feedback about the progress you’re making, this is a great time to share that feedback with the entire team and celebrate. There are ways to incorporate this kind of feedback into your team’s rhythms.

One way is to surface positive feedback at a daily standup or weekly team meeting, letting them know that the leadership team or external stakeholders are happy with the progress are cheering you on. If appropriate, inviting a stakeholder to a team meeting and letting them know they’re excited about the progress can be a fun addition.

Conclusion and key takeaways

Progress reports can help keep your stakeholders in the loop, build trust, and keep them up to date about what’s happening within your project. Remember that good progress reports adapt and change as you get feedback from your stakeholders and as the project needs change. Templating your progress reports can help you save time and allow others to contribute as you assign segments to other members of the team.

Remember that you can also keep it fun by adding your touch to it. If negative feedback arises, incorporate what you can. And when positive feedback comes up, remember to pass it on.

Featured image source: IconScout

LogRocket generates product insights that lead to meaningful action

Get your teams on the same page — try LogRocket today.

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• #collaboration and communication

Stop guessing about your digital experience with LogRocket

Recent posts:.

Leader Spotlight: Improving product development through documentation, with Mark Francis

Mark Francis discusses the importance of stakeholders across all business groups embracing the need for documentation and transparency.

A guide to crafting your brand strategy

Brand strategy is one of the most underestimated forces that shapes the trajectory of your products and services.

Leader Spotlight: Helping turn Apple’s business around, with Steve Chazin

Steve Chazin, VP of Products at Alarm.com, shares how he was re-hired by Steve Jobs to help turn Apple around.

Leader Spotlight: Building a comprehensive migration plan, with Deepika Manglani

Deepika Manglani discusses major transitions she’s worked on at Tribune Publishing, including a divestiture and application migration plan.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

• Unito home /
• How To Write a Progress Report (With a Free Template)

Writing a progress report is one of those tasks that sounds simpler in theory than it is in practice. Your goal is self-explanatory — to update the reader on, well, your progress! But in practice, you need to find a balance between including all relevant information and excluding distracting, extraneous details. That’s not always easy to do, and it can be especially tough if writing isn’t typically part of your job. 

Progress reports vary a lot based on the specifics of your work. That said, there are still some guiding principles that will help you make your report helpful, accessible, and informative. 

Keep reading as we break down what a progress report is, why it matters, and how to write one. When you’re done, you’ll be ready to write an exceptional progress report, and we’ll even give you a free template you can use to nail it every time.

What is a progress report?

A progress report is a formalized way to keep people updated on your work. Usually, they’re intended for an audience that wasn’t part of your work but is still connected to it in some way. This could be someone supervising you — like your manager — or an external stakeholder. Progress reports can be written daily, weekly, quarterly, or even annually.

These reports can also be issued as part of general updates on company performance, especially as quarterly or annual reports . Obviously, they provide information about your progress, but they also discuss blockers, whether or not they were overcome, and how. They’ll also include important KPIs . 

Good progress reports contain detailed, specific information, not generalized statements. If you’re working on a long-term project and will be reporting at regular intervals, it might be helpful to structure all your reports from the same standardized template . This will give you a consistent frame of reference when you’re looking back at the project’s trajectory. 

In addition to keeping other people in the loop, reporting on your progress can help you and your team stay on track. It forces you to assess how far you’ve come and think critically about obstacles, both what caused them and how you solved them. It also helps you and your teammates get credit for your hard work!

Why are progress reports important?

When you’re knee-deep in your project, progress reports can sometimes feel like a waste of time. After all, you’d rather be getting the work done than writing about it! 

But in reality, progress reports are incredibly important in project management . Here are a few ways that progress reports make work better for everyone. 

They make it easier to work together

Progress reports give everyone visibility. This helps you avoid information silos, confusion, miscommunication, and inefficiency. They also promote collaboration . If multiple teams are working on a project, it’s easy to spot ways to help each other, since everyone knows exactly what’s going on.

In Unito’s Report on Reporting , 82% of people surveyed said their reports led to actionable insights at least most of the time. That can mean finding the weak spots in your workflow or just getting a better sense of how everyone collaborates.

Progress reports track individual contributions

Once a project’s completed, it can be tricky to remember exactly who handled which task. But there are many reasons why that information should be carefully documented. For example, if a problem arises later, you may need to look back and see what caused it. Did someone drop the ball? Conversely, if the project is a success, your progress report makes it easy to see who deserves to have their efforts recognized.

In either scenario, the report removes ambiguity. Who did what is crystal clear and not up for debate.

They help you reflect on success and failure

Progress reports provide value long after your project wraps up. Going past individual employees’ successes or failures, they can reveal the big-picture loopholes, oversights, and inefficiencies that impeded your progress. Many companies will also analyze progress reports in aggregate to improve all their operational processes. 

How to write a progress report

Your progress report should be clear, concise, and informative. If you’re not much of a writer, don’t worry — the point of a progress report is to share information, not show off your storytelling skills.

Here are some general best practices to follow when you’re writing your report.

Set a schedule 

Outline when regular progress reports should be delivered and make sure you get buy-in from your team. Set specific deadlines for submission or they will sink to the bottom of everyone’s to-do list and never get done. 

How often you need to write a report depends on the project’s size and complexity, but keep things realistic. Asking teams to report too frequently can lead to unhelpful, surface-level reports, while not enough reporting can lead to important milestones being missed. 

Start with the basics

Include basic information like your company, department, the name of everyone working on the project, an overview of what it entails, and your goals. This gives your manager the ability to share the report outside your team or department without amending it. 

Keep your progress report simple 

As we mentioned, progress reports should use simple, accessible language to convey information. This is not the time to emulate your college philosophy paper. Overly complicated phrasing won’t make you look smart and professional, it will confuse your reader and obscure your meaning.

That’s not to say you can’t use technical or industry-specific language — after all, in many situations, these terms are the simplest way to convey your meaning. If you do choose to use specialized terms or acronyms, you may want to define them. This depends on the audience of your report. 

Progress, plans, and problems

One technique to keep things brief and to the point is known as “progress, plans, and problems.” The idea is that unless you’re talking about an accomplishment, projected future accomplishment, or a roadblock, it doesn’t belong in your report. 

When managers, supervisors, and colleagues are aware of your progress, plans, and problems , they have a holistic view of where the project’s at and can see where their attention is needed.

Include data 

It’s not enough to just tell the reader what you accomplished — wherever possible, you should prove it, too. Use charts, tables, or graphics wherever you can to help the reader visualize your progress. Try to source data from tools you’re already using.

Progress report template

Need a hand writing your progress report? We have a free template you can use to draft your reports. Just click the link to access the Google Doc, and download the template. This template follows the pointers outlined above, as well as including a section where you can draft an executive summary.

Download the free template

Get unito’s report on reporting.

Reporting is an absolutely essential workflow for your business. But have you ever felt like it’s more difficult than it should be? We surveyed 150 knowledge workers from various industries, asking them about their reporting workflows, the tools they use, and more.

You can get the full breakdown of their answers — and our analysis — in Unito’s Report on Reporting.

Get the eBook here

Visibility, accountability, and communication.

Even when you understand their importance, writing progress reports can feel like taking valuable time away from actually doing the work. 

But reporting on your progress doesn’t need to be a hassle. If you follow these guidelines, you’ll get in the habit of writing clear, helpful progress reports that make it easy to update your colleagues, assess your performance, and keep your project on track. 

Go From Talk To Act Faster With Unito’s Latest Integration

Slack is Unito’s newest integration! Find out how it works and what it can do for your Unito flows in this breakdown.

How to Efficiently Implement Scrum in Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps supports both Scrum and Kanban methodologies. Here’s how to set up your boards for a Scrum project efficiently.

Related articles

Unlock the Power of Sync (Ebook)

Data integration isn’t a luxury, but most existing platforms haven’t stepped up to the plate in a meaningful way. In this ebook, you’ll learn how a 2-way sync can change the game for your organization.

12 Free Google Sheets Report Templates

If your organization still relies on Google Sheets as its main reporting tool, here are some templates to make that a little easier for you.

Two-Way Sync is the Future of Work: Here’s Why

The integration landscape is full of different tools trying to do essentially the same thing: streamline workflows and smash tool silos. Here’s our take on why two-way sync is your best option (and always will be).

How to Write a Progress Report (+ Best Practices)

Master the art of progress reports with our guide. Discover what progress reporting is, how to write one, and how Motion simplifies the process.

Running a business can be like spinning plates: something always needs your attention.

Have you ever felt lost in tasks, meetings, and deadlines? You’re not alone.Many wish for a clearer way to see how things are going and share that with our team.

This guide is your answer.

We'll tell you about the in's and out's of progress reporting, give you progress report templates (ideas) and give you some tips on making the most out of progress reporting.

What is a progress report?

A progress report is like a photo album for your business tasks. It shows what's been done and what's left to do from a project plan or action plan.

Imagine you launched a new product last month. In your monthly report, you'd note how many were sold, any feedback received, and plans for the next month. These can be daily progress reports or weekly progress reports for fast-moving projects or quarterly progress reports to review bigger goals.

While it's great to celebrate wins, progress reports must also highlight areas that need attention — think setbacks or roadblocks that cause project teams to fall short of targets.

The bottom line is that progress reports give a clear picture of where you are, helping you make better decisions for the future.

Why are progress reports necessary?

Imagine setting out on a journey without a map or compass. Without direction, it's easy to wander aimlessly.

In the business landscape, progress reports serve as your map and compass, guiding the way and showing how far you've traveled.

Here’s how they help:

• Enhancing communication:  A vital lifeline in any business is clear communication. Through progress reports, teams can connect, ensuring everyone is aligned. Consider a marketing team launching a new campaign. Without regular updates, the sales team might miss opportunities to leverage campaign material.
• Clarity:  By documenting what's been accomplished and what’s ahead, there's less guesswork involved. For instance, if a supplier knows a project is ahead of schedule, they can prioritize deliveries accordingly.
• Proactive management:  Highlighting bottlenecks isn’t just about pointing out flaws. It’s about finding solutions. By understanding where roadblocks exist, resources can be channeled to tackle them effectively.
• Setting expectations   and ensuring accountability:  When everyone knows the goals and their role in achieving them, there’s a shared sense of purpose. It's like being part of a relay race where each member knows when and how to pass the baton.
• Building trust and transparency : When team members, stakeholders, customers and investors have visibility on  project progress , confidence grows.

Progress reports aren’t just documents — they’re tools that knit teams together, strengthen strategic goals, and pave the way for business growth and success.

Key components of a progress report

Every part of your progress report has a specific job. Each section offers a different insight, so no details get lost, and the big picture is kept in your sights.

Here are the key components explained simply:

Executive summary

The  executive summary  provides a snapshot of the entire report. In 1 - 2 paragraphs (at most, a page), briefly explain the main takeaways.

For example:  "In September, we surpassed our sales target by 12% but faced unexpected shipping delays."

Goals and objectives

Your  goals and objectives  set the direction of your report by stating what you aim to achieve.

For example:  "Our objective was to increase website visitors by 10% this quarter."

Accomplishments

Accomplishments  are where you celebrate what was achieved during the reporting period — these are your “wins.”

For example:  "Successfully launched two new products, resulting in a 15% revenue boost."

Challenges and obstacles

Your  challenges and obstacle s detail the roadblocks you faced and the steps taken to overcome them.

For example:  "Encountered supply chain disruptions due to weather, leading to a week's delay in product delivery."

‎Next steps and action items

The  next steps and action items  outline the roadmap for upcoming tasks or strategies.

For example:  "Plan to initiate a marketing campaign in the Northeast region by next month."

Metrics and data

Metrics and data  offer concrete numbers to back up statements, grounding your report in facts.

For example:  "Website traffic increased by 8%, with a notable 20% growth in returning visitors."

Recommendations

And finally,  recommendations  where you propose future actions based on the insights from the report.

For example:  "Considering the rising demand for eco-friendly products, suggest allocating more budget to our 'Green Line' next quarter."

Understanding a progress report’s components helps you give it depth and value. It’s what transforms it from a simple recap to a structured and insightful reflection which can help shape future strategies and tactics.

How to write a progress report

Writing a progress report is like telling a story of your work. Let's break it down step-by-step to keep it simple and clear.

Step 1: Understand and tailor to your audience

Think about who’ll read your report. Different readers have different needs. A CEO might want the big picture, while a team leader wants detailed  project status  notes.

For example, if you’re an engineer writing a report for non-technical stakeholders, you’ll want to avoid the “rocket science speak” as they may not understand.

And if technical topics are unavoidable, use metaphors and analogies so they grasp the essentials without feeling lost.

Step 2: Begin with a clear executive summary

The executive summary is your report’s highlight reel. In just one or two paragraphs (depending on the report, a page), it offers a snapshot of the main events, achievements, and challenges.

People may only read part of your progress report. At the very least, they’ll read the executive summary, so you’ll need to deliver highly relevant information quickly.

Start by outlining the primary objectives and how well they’ve been achieved. Following that, highlight  key milestones  but also acknowledge major hurdles. And finally, end with your most critical recommendations.

Step 3: Adopt a consistent and clear format

Choose a layout and be consistent. If you start with what happened in January, February should come next. Use headings, bullet points, and tables so they’re easy to read (and highlight the important details so they stand out).

‎Step 4: Include visuals to enhance understanding

Graphs and charts can impart information faster than words. Make sure they're clear and related to what you're saying. For example, a chart showing how sales changed every month can be more effective than just writing about it.

Step 5: Stay objective and fact-focused

Avoid “option statements”. Instead, ground your report in measurable outcomes. Rather than saying something like "sales were good," add specificity with a statement, "sales increased by 20%." This adds credibility and gives your readers a more precise evaluation of progress.

Step 6: Review, refine, and edit

No report is perfect on the first draft — review for clarity and precision.

Ask a colleague to read your report so they can point out confusing or boring parts. Make sure your data is current, and double-check the facts. Remember, an error, no matter how small, can undermine the entire report’s credibility.

The do’s and don’ts of progress reports: best practices

Progress reports walk the fine line between simplicity and comprehensiveness. Knowing what to include and what to skip can sometimes be tricky. Below is a curated guide to ensure you hit the right notes every time.

Do's of progress reports

Be honest and transparent about challenges:

• Don’t hide the truth. If there was a setback, share it. It’s how teams learn and grow. For example, if a marketing campaign didn't achieve its targets, state it directly, then offer the next steps to improve.

Clear language:

• Use straightforward words and avoid complex phrases. Instead of writing, "The project encountered insurmountable challenges," simply state, "The project faced tough challenges."

Stick to facts:

• Use numbers and evidence. If sales increased by 10%, say exactly that. Precise data is more impactful than vague claims.

Regular updates:

• Keep a consistent schedule, whether it's weekly reports or monthly reports. Regular updates keep everyone in the loop. Imagine a teammate working on a project, not hearing any updates, and suddenly being told there are drastic changes.

Audience-focused:

• Your report should cater to the reader's needs. For instance, while a tech team might appreciate detailed technical data, others might prefer a summary of results.

Don'ts of progress reports:

Avoid jargon:

• Technical or industry-specific terms can confuse some readers. If explaining a new software update, don’t sign off the coding specifics. Instead, focus on its benefits and changes.

Skipping details:

• While brevity is good, leaving out vital information isn't. If a project is delayed due to a vendor issue, it’s essential to mention it so everyone understands the hold-up.

Over-optimism without data:

• Being positive is good, but not without evidence. Don’t claim a project is "highly successful" unless you have data to show it.

Lengthy reports:

• Be concise. A report that drags on may lose the reader's attention and cause them to miss important details. Aim for clarity and brevity.

Submit without proofreading:

• Mistakes reduce credibility. Before delivering your report, double-check for errors. A report with errors can make readers question its accuracy.

Effective progress reports combine honesty with clarity. They present data transparently, cater to their audience, and are free from fluff or errors. Adopt these best practices, and your progress reports will always be on point.

Making progress reporting effortless with Motion

Managing tasks and keeping up with progress reports can be challenging. Motion offers tools and features that simplify these processes so you can focus on writing reports and other  high-value tasks  instead of relentlessly  organizing your calendar.

Here’s how motion can help:

Seamless task management for accurate updates

Staying on top of tasks is a top priority for any business, and accurate reporting helps you do that.

Motion's AI-assisted algorithm provides a streamlined system that effortlessly aligns your tasks with your reporting needs.

• ‎ Simplified prioritization:  With Motion, business owners can effortlessly determine which tasks need immediate attention, helping report what’s been accomplished and what’s next.
• Adaptive scheduling:  If unforeseen changes occur, Motion readjusts your tasks so your progress report always reflects the current state of affairs without manual fiddling.
• Unified task view:  See all your tasks at a glance, big or small, so nothing is missed in your report.

Meetings that drive progress

Effective meetings can be the backbone of productive teams, and their outcomes can greatly influence progress reports. Here’s how Motion’s AI-assisted scheduling features help change how you plan (and run) your meetings.

• Optimized meeting schedules:  Motion  schedules your meetings  at the most productive times, ensuring every team huddle results in actionable takeaways, enriching the content of progress reports.
• Clear action points:  Post-meeting, Motion can help list  clear action items  that feed directly into what needs to be reported and acted upon next.

Team transparency for cohesive reports

A team moving in harmony can produce comprehensive reports that reflect both individual achievements and collective progress. Motion gives a bird's-eye view of team activities, making report compilation seamless and easy.

• Real-time team overviews:  Get a quick snapshot of what each member is working on. This helps you create detailed progress reports that reflect both individual and collective achievements.
• Proactive alerts:  Motion's notifications alert you well in advance of potential roadblocks or missed deadlines. This makes progress reports reflective and anticipatory tools (handy for recommendations in progress reports).
• Streamlined workflow:  By reducing the manual effort in  task management , Motion gives you more time to focus on analyzing progress and strategizing rather than just documenting it.

Harness the power of Motion

Navigating progress reports becomes a breeze with Motion by your side. It's the bridge between tradition and innovation for businesses.

Ready to experience the difference?

Dive into a free trial of Motion  and watch as it transforms your reporting process (and productivity).

Related articles

The 8 Best Calendars for Work in 2023

Understand Project Blockers & How to Transform Them Into Success

The Secrets to Effective Sprint Planning

Put motion to the test., tech and media companies are talking about motion.

Learn / Guides / Performance reporting guide

Back to guides

Progress reporting 101: how to review your projects in 5 steps

Projects tend to take on a life of their own—twisting and turning with each new development, milestone, and lesson. 

But as you collaborate with more stakeholders and journey further into the heart of a project, the details can become overwhelming, and you may begin to lose sight of where you’ve been and where you need to go. This is where progress reports have a vital role to play.

Last updated

Reading time.

This guide teaches you what a progress report is, and when and how to create one, so you can update stakeholders, solve problems, plan your next steps, and learn from past projects .

Add insights to your progress reporting

Use Hotjar to understand how customers interact with your website and product to add detail and direction to your progress report.

What is progress reporting?

Progress reporting is an ongoing study into the development of a project, usually for the team members involved. It focuses on events and tactical details, like progress drivers and anticipated roadblocks, to assess what your project has achieved and where you’ll take it next. 

For example, imagine a design manager creating a progress report for a homepage redesign project. They’ll use the progress report document to share insights from the product management team and summarize recent discussions to give everyone the same context moving forward.

A status report is another performance reporting type that the design manager could use, but it isn’t interchangeable with a progress report. While a progress report is an ongoing study of the project for the team, a status report is a snapshot of current progress for stakeholders.  For example, while the homepage redesign progress report contains hands-on details for the design team, a status report for this project would tell the C-suite that the team completed its first two milestones ahead of schedule. 

Progress reporting is vital for project management because it consolidates information and identifies the next steps. The benefits of progress reporting include:

When to create a progress report

If progress reporting is an ongoing look at your project, when and how often should you create a progress document? There are two options. 

Create a progress report at regular intervals

Regular progress reporting—like weekly for shorter projects or monthly for more significant initiatives—helps when you have many stakeholders or the project moves quickly. For example, cross-functional collaboration benefits from a regular recap and check-in since not every person will be in every meeting or work session. 

Create a progress report after milestones

Alternatively, projects with smaller teams benefit from progress reporting after milestones rather than on a consistent cadence. For example, a one-person social media team would check in with their marketing manager as they complete phases of a new campaign or feature launch.

How to create a progress report in 5 simple steps

While progress reporting benefits a wide range of roles and projects, the basic structure is always the same. Here’s a 5-step progress report template to follow. 

Step 1: clarify goals and timeline

First, you need to briefly explain the project to give context to the rest of the report. Clarifying project goals and timelines brings priorities to the surface to make it easier for stakeholders reading the report to catch up.

Details to include:

Project summary: a brief overview of the project

Product objective: your immediate product goals and the long-term initiative they support. Think of these as objectives and key results (OKRs).

Milestones: the main tasks you've already completed or still need to complete for a high-level understanding of the project scope

Timeline: the progress you've made in the project’s reporting period

To illustrate the first step in progress reporting, let’s use the homepage redesign example from earlier. The design manager leading the project says their team is updating the website’s homepage to reflect rebranding and increase engagement. Then, the manager lists the major milestones, including wireframing, prototyping, and testing over a 3-month period, which they’re halfway through. 

Step 2: consider stakeholders

Reading a progress report that has nothing to do with you is confusing at best and boring at worst—so be sure to tailor your document to its audience. 

Determining who’s going to see and use the report influences what details you need to include. For example, a C-suite leader cares more about customer activation progress than a debate over whether the homepage banner should be cerulean or cyan. 

Project owner: who’s in charge of the project

Team: who’s on the team, and their role in the project

Report prepared for: who will read the report and if they had a particular motivation, question, or concern

Definitions: stakeholders might not know certain cross-functional terms. For example, your graphic designers probably haven’t reviewed a Google Analytics glossary in a while.

In our example homepage redesign project, the design team needs effective cross-functional collaboration . Throughout the project, they’ll work with the product team to test design effectiveness and with the marketing team to create copy and imagery for their target audience. Since the design manager knows this, the progress report needs to have insights across groups and summarize discussions different functions may miss. 

All together now! 👯

Effective collaboration and communication can make or break a project, whether you work with one other person or five other functions. Asynchronous communication in a shared document for project updates or new ideas is a must. Here at Hotjar, we’ve also established rules for what gets a meeting.

Every meeting requires an owner (usually the organizer) whose duties include the following:

Establishing a clear objective and agenda: what’s the purpose of the call, who’s attending, and why?

Listing relevant data and required reading so all participants can prepare

Documenting the meeting’s output and actions to share with the team on an agreed-upon channel (e.g. email, Trello, Discourse).

Learn more about our strategies and tools for better collaboration .

Step 3: share recent updates 

Progress reporting is an ongoing process, so you need to reference developments about questions or concerns stakeholders brought up in the previous report. If this is your first progress report, compare progress to any assumptions you had. 

Problem resolutions: any prior issues you resolved and how you did it

Answers to questions: queries from previous progress reports that need to be addressed

New insights: an overview of new data, metrics, priorities, or lessons that impact the project

Testing results: results and learnings from A/B tests or customer interviews  

For example, the design manager would include a screenshot of their data dashboard to provide a summary of how the first prototype of the homepage redesign performs. The progress report would also have notes from a cross-functional meeting that answered a previous question about the customer journey .

Hotjar’s Dashboard presents key sessions and user behavior data in charts and graphs so you don’t have to switch between multiple analytics sources

Step 4: identify drivers and blockers

Your progress report is the place to consolidate all your important Slack messages, meeting outcomes, and personal notes as you work through the project. 

Documenting what’s helping and hindering the project gets everyone on the same page, helps you prioritize the next steps, and creates a record you can learn from and reference in the future. 

Product experience (PX) insights: data that reveals how customers interact with your product or website to understand the project’s impact

Delays: anything that slows the project down

Questions: team questions or unknowns

Progress drivers: details that positively impact the project (so you know what to do more of next time!)

Upcoming events and milestones: what you’ll work on next

Let’s go back to our homepage redesign project. In this step, the design manager reminds the team they’ll be out on vacation next week and that there’s an upcoming meeting of designers, product managers, and marketing folks to watch customer recordings together . The meeting’s goal is to get new perspectives on the response to the new page design, and the team needs to document the results to include in the next progress report.

Bring your progress reports to life with product experience insights

PX insights help you break out of your team silo and get an outside perspective from the people you’re trying to help—your customers. 

Hotjar (hi, that’s us! 👋) is a product experience insights platform that adds data-informed decision-making to your progress report. Hotjar gives you:

Heatmaps (free forever) to uncover where website visitors pay the most attention

Recordings to see exactly how customers interact with your product

Surveys to learn what customers love and hate about your product

Feedback to get real-time thoughts on your design

Interviews to hear how customers describe their goals and preferences

Funnels to learn where and why customers drop off

Plus, adding context to your progress report with PX insights increases stakeholder buy-in with tangible results, gets new team members up to speed, and creates a knowledge base of your efforts to reference in the future .

Hotjar's tools give you a new perspective on your customers’ experiences

Step 5: list the next steps

Your progress report becomes actionable when you summarize what you’ve learned and create an action plan. 

As you create subsequent progress reports for a project, you can assess whether the tasks you'd initially set out to do were indeed the ones that took up your time. This information lets you rework future planning or rein in a project that’s straying off course. 

Tasks: deliverables needed, timeframes, and who’s responsible for what

Follow-ups: meetings to schedule or stakeholders to loop in

For example, with the progress report, the design team recognizes the need to follow up with the marketing team for the homepage’s new copy. They also need to review comments the website development team left on the first version of their homepage wireframe.

If you’re only ever focused on implementation, you’ll waste time and budget on tactics without knowing if they actually delivered growth or not. You should be constantly evaluating performance data, both qualitative and quantitative, to inform your efforts. Then, by packaging this data up in monthly, quarterly, or annual performance insights, you can use the reports to increase your organizational impact.

Use customer insights to support your progress reports

Progress reporting supports projects by clarifying what has happened and what will happen. But you need the right insights to understand project progress and decide what to do next. 

As much as confident teammates and company veterans may think they know what’s best, you need to learn from customers to create for customers . When you prioritize customer empathy and curiosity, you create an accurate and impactful progress report.

Rather than relying on assumptions or guesses, teams need to use customer and PX insights—information that helps you test and correct as you work through a project. This customer-driven data helps you focus on what matters and get results, preventing you from going too far down a path to nowhere.

Progress reporting FAQs

Progress reporting is an ongoing study into the development of a project, usually for the team members involved. It focuses on events and tactical details like progress drivers and anticipated roadblocks. The goal of a progress report is to assess where the project has been and where you’ll take it next. 

For example, imagine a design manager creates a progress report for a home page redesign project. They update the design team on insights from the product management team and summarize recent discussions to give everyone the same context moving forward. 

What are the benefits of a progress report?

A progress report lets you: 

Consolidate the main takeaways from recent collaboration , which means everyone is on the same page

Review project and product planning regularly to make continuous adjustments that keep you close to your customers and goals

Work through issues and questions with your teammates and stakeholders

When should you use a progress report?

There are two scenarios you can use a progress report:

At regular intervals , like weekly or daily progress reports for short projects or a monthly progress report for larger initiatives. Use this method if you have a lot of stakeholders or the project moves quickly. For example, a cross-functional collaboration benefits from a regular recap and check-in.

After milestones , like when the team is stuck or after you complete a significant task. Use this method if the project has fewer stakeholders, like a one-person team checking in with their boss as they complete phases of the project or as part of a product roadmap .

How do you create a progress report?

Clarify goals and timeline : what is the project and when will you work on it?

Consider the stakeholders : who’s involved?

Share recent updates : what have you done so far?

Identify drivers and blockers : what’s helping and hindering the project?

List next steps : what will you do next?

Trend report

Previous chapter

Status report

Next chapter

How to Write a Progress Report: Full Guide

Table of contents, what is a project outline.

In this article, we'll explore everything you need to know to create a progress report and the perfect reporting structure for your business.

We'll help you build a business case for introducing progress report writing into your workflow, as well as share optimal reporting timeframes, how to write them, and how to structure progress reports with your team. We'll close out with some best practices for writing progress reports, and help you find your feet in this massively beneficial working style.

What is a progress report?

First up, we're guiding you through a progress report, but what is it? The spoiler's in the name "progress," which means 'forward or onward movement towards a destination'. Since most projects usually have a final target destination, the journey getting there has to be described in some way to apprise other people of the status.

A progress report is a type of business writing designed to update someone on various tasks of someone else . It's written for managers, project stakeholders, leadership, or company-wide updates. It doesn't merely show progress or successes but also drawbacks, obstacles, and recommendations for improvement.

Reporting project progress is a formal, documented, and structured way of keeping people in the know. There are many types of progress reports out there, email wrap ups, memos, PDFs, business letters, project summaries , Google docs, and the list goes on.

Why are progress reports important for business?

If your team members aren't big on report writing, this section of the guide will help you build a formal case to introduce progress reporting to your workflow— time to get away from lost email chains or messy PDFs.

Whether you're a manager looking for ways to get a better overview of your team, or you're a team player looking to increase business efficiency— the below is why creating a working progress report is so essential for any business.

1. Align your team

Staying in sync as a busy team with lots of subtasks can be painfully difficult sometimes. Especially with a distributed workforce, important information gets lost in a mass of slack messages, email chains, and 1-1 catch-ups. It can get really overwhelming when juggling holidays, sick leaves, and meetings with external stakeholders.

Project progress reports effectively summarize your teams' achievements, milestones covered, and challenges encountered in one place. Use a progress report as a one-stop-shop for any team member that needs an update on a particular project or initiative. Progress reports eliminate the need for managers and team members to repeat themselves, allowing everyone to catch up quickly on their schedule.

2. Showcase wins

Progress reports are a fantastic tool for managers and leadership to credit and acknowledge an individual's efforts and progress towards company goals. When annual or bi-annual reviews come around, these progress reports can serve as the backbone for someone's performance record and enable a fair assessment of work ethic based on factual progress rather than feelings, bias, or solely major projects.

At the same time, reporting progress on a project gives employees an opportunity to celebrate their wins and have a notch on their belts when promotions are in consideration.

3. Give stakeholders updates on projects

An easy win, and an obvious point but certainly not one to be overlooked. The primary aim of writing progress reports is to give stakeholders the updates they need and bring them up to speed on the status of everything . The stakeholders can be anyone in the business or externally. They just need to be known by the reporter when writing the report, so the reporter can include the necessary information they know a particular person will require.

4. Document work for future reference

If a business is ever looking to repeat a project or strategy, your progress reports are essential for learning and improving processes. These reports allow a company to optimize a strategy or process based on learnings. Writing a progress report on projects regularly is an excellent way of documenting workflow and in the future, the workforce will have a solid and practical reference point to draw ideas, motivation, and innovation from.

5. Identify common roadblocks

While a progress report primarily highlights the positive advancements in the project, it's also important to highlight the bad - roadblocks. These can come in many forms; maybe it's technology, maybe it's a vendor, maybe it's team capabilities or a particular team member. Managers should collate progress reports and identify common roadblocks that need addressing.  In doing so, they'll work towards making the business an operationally smoother workplace.

When to write a progress report

A progress report can be put together at many different times, depending on the goal of the report. Different types of companies and businesses would tackle progress report writing differently. A crop progress report in agriculture can be written weekly or quarterly according to the stages in farm processes, but a sales report aimed for a year cumulative target might have to be written as frequently as everyday. Here's a breakdown of the different types of progress reports according to frequency and how to create them.

Daily progress reports

These progress reports are short, straight-to-the-point, and usually between a manager and a team member. There's no spectacular detailing here, just a quick overview of daily tasks achieved, any problems that came up, and progress made towards larger goals. A daily progress report should be delivered at the same time everyday, preferably at the end of work to summarize the day's activities, or at the beginning of work hours to relay the previous day's progress.

Weekly progress reports

This type of report is best between a manager and a team member. It should dive into what a team member had planned to achieve at the start of the week, what they eventually achieved, and how they were able to pull things off.

The weekly progress report is best delivered on a Friday afternoon, so managers and team members have time to chat it over and make an action plan for the following week.

Monthly progress reports

Monthly progress reports are usually reasonably detailed, written to update a small business or team on a particular individual's or department's progress towards goals. Writing a progress report every month is a great opportunity to highlight particular individuals who worked exceptionally hard in the month and give other departments an idea on how your team is performing.

Quarterly progress reports

Every business - well, every serious business - sets quarterly goals and KPIs. It's extremely important to follow up on those goals in an appropriate period of time. Quarterly progress reports can be of two kinds. First, there's the in-depth one that is usually several pages long and goes into details about everything that is achieved by the company in the past quarter. It highlights all the major wins, obstacles, and team member's opinions on workflow improvement. The second one is simply an overview, a brief report that checks whether the key performance indicators and OKRs (objectives and key results) are being met. Progress report comments are super-useful in explaining or summarizing sections of information in quarterly reports, to help the reader grasp the ideas quickly and efficiently.

Annual progress reports

The final report of the year is the ultimate progress report. The annual project progress report has to be as detailed as possible, and it's often such a big deal that it's printed out and handed out to every company member. It's a central knowledge base for everyone to stay apprised of the company's progress in the past year. This report is usually aimed at company-wide or towards leadership. What did your department achieve across the entire year? What can you celebrate, what lessons have you learned, and what are you hoping to change for the next period?

How to write a progress report

Progress report writing can be tricky, especially for someone doing it for the first time. Also, it's common knowledge that project reports might be different for different companies. A construction progress report might need to be more pictorial and diagrammatic, and in this type of report, it's okay to be technical. A sales project report, however, should be concise and easy to understand at a glance. Follow these steps to ensure your reports are as legible as possible.

Be clear and specific

It's not always going to be easy keeping off technical jargon in project progress reporting, but you must try to keep it simple with language and sentence structure; it can be the make or break of any progress report. Try to use short sentences and proofread any report before submitting them. Most times, the readers of the reports are too busy with other things to have the time for dramatic writing. The report can be detailed and in-depth without being complicated.

Explain industry-specific language

Sometimes, it will be entirely impossible to keep the jargon out when writing progress reports. If you're reporting for people outside of your team, then it's important to explain any abbreviations or lingo that may only be common knowledge within your department; it prevents miscommunication.

Number & title projects

As a general rule of thumb, get a reference number and title to every project you cover; this will help people discuss them online afterward.

Stay formal

An informal report remains limited to peers only. To report project progress in a formal environment, an appropriately toned report gives a manager the option to keep it to herself or to share it with a broader audience with no need to amend. Avoid doing the double work of writing a scrappy report and having to write another one when the higher-ups want a peek.

Progress reports step-by-step

The following is a step-by-step guide to creating useful progress reports. Learning how to write a progress report is a process, and the more you write, the better you become at organizing your details into clean, easy-to-understand sections.

Follow this 8 step format for progress report writing to ensure you include all the important details:

1. Place identifying details at the top

The first step to creating a killer progress report document is to title your report by placing the identifying details at the top of the page. Each report must be clearly distinguished from all the others for easy documentation. Untitled reports seem rushed with little attention to some of the most important details.

These details should be written in clear, bold fonts of varying sizes. They include:

- Title of the report - Date of submission - Department/division - Reference number - Handling/supervising officer

2. Project details

Following the identifying details of the report are the details of the project itself. It doesn't matter how many progress reports are submitted in a period of time; the details of the project must be included in each one. The higher-ups probably have a long list of reports being submitted by various departments, so they'd always require a refresher of what each team is working on.

After the title, you should write one or two sentences generally describing the project. After this, you can list out the details of the project. The best practice in a working progress report would be to put the information in a tabular form. These include:

- The project name/title - Project ID - Starting date - Expected date of completion - Current status - Team members involved - Project manager - Supervising officers

3. Summary of the report

This should be a short paragraph between 100 and 150 words, briefly describing the project details and current status of the project. It gives an overview of everything that's currently going with the project, and it's written for the sole purpose of providing a quick glance-over within the report. Do not include any negative details or complaints here - keep it short and simple.

4. Core activities

Following the summary is an in-depth description of all core activities going on within the scope of the project, you have to describe the sub-tasks and how the teams are getting on with their roles. Tabulation is also a great way to represent this information.The table labels include and are not limited to title of the subtask/activity, small description, relevant dates (start and expected completion), current status, team member assigned, and relevant file links. Progress report comments from the supervising officer can also be included here. The overall section is already a detailed input, so keep all secondary details brief and straight-to-the-point.

5. Current quantifiable results

This is an optional table, especially for projects that are still beginning and are yet to yield reports. When writing progress reports for ongoing projects, this section can be written as a list of or a three-column table containing the name of the task holder, subtask name, and brief details of the result achieved. Make sure the results are mentally quantifiable and reasonable. If there's nothing to write, leave this section undone and don't bother with fluffy or unnecessary information. Doing this will essentially reduce the transparency of your report.

6. Challenges encountered

Most times, teams would encounter problems and obstacles with implementing the overall project plan. When creating progress reports, it's important to make a section where you outline the challenges encountered in a list, and highlight the subtask(s) where the problem actually occurred. Describe how this has affected the completion of the project or the overall results as a whole.Hot tip: Avoid using strong negative language here. You can describe in detail but keep the tone professional.

7. Recommendations and suggestions

If you need to consult members of your team for their input in this section, great idea! Here, you're required to recommend improvements that could possibly fix the problems outlined above or improve the situation. This is best written as a list. You can expand briefly on any point that needs further details. Ensure to mention how your suggestions directly affect the results.

8. Concluding paragraph and signatures

In progress report writing, the conclusion is simply a re-hash of everything discussed in the report. The trick is to compress all the information into one to two sentences, or a maximum of three. Let it quickly capture the main point of that report, how it intertwines with the previous report and your expectation for the next report.

Also, leave a couple of lines for your signature as the project manager and another for the supervising stakeholder.

Best practices for writing a progress report

Writing a progress report in project management is a solid sign of dedication and commitment from any team or division. Even if it's not a company-wide mandate to write these reports, sometimes, it's actually useful to write them for in-team benefits. It keeps everyone motivated and inspired. We'll close this guide out with some best practices for creating your progress reports and introducing them to your team's workflow.

Whether you're putting together a business progress report, a research progress report, or any other - here are 13 tips to help it really stand out:

1. Use data

Where you can, always use data to showcase progress or lack of it. Think about ways you can generate data with the progress reporting tools you have and display the data in a clear way; always try to show movement toward the greater goal.

2. Use visual aids if necessary

Don't be afraid to support your report submission with visuals. There's no point in wasting paragraphs of text explaining a situation when you can explain it with a screenshot. Writing a progress report isn't merely about passing information but also engaging the reader to absorb your headway with a project. If there are any stonewalls, your visual aids make them easier to identify.

3. Be transparent

Transparency is invaluable if you want your reporting structure to be productive and positively contribute towards moving forward. Highlight to staff that progress reports call for transparency. No one needs to hide behind fluff or try to optimize the status of a report for fear of looking bad. Address every project as it is. There's no need for fluff pieces or grossly unnecessary information. If your report is too short and there are not enough details to create a solid progress report document, you can ask for an extension or simply turn in your document the way it is. As long as you stay honest and write appropriately, you'd have successfully done your job.

4. Make sure everything is dated

Due dates, report dates, task deliveries, the lot. Earlier in this article, we mentioned how these project progress reports would be the backbone of research for any similar project in the company's future. If you date everything, someone can dive into systems to pull metrics they may need from correct dates, and better understand the tools and talent the company had at that particular time.

5. Include company and department goals

If your progress reports are for inter-departmental use, then it's useful to share the goals that you personally, or your department, are working towards. Double-check what you can and can't share with human resources if you’re ever unsure. In doing so, you'll give the reader greater insight into your logic and actions.

6. Discuss problems and progress

Every report is a platform for discussing problems and progress. When writing progress reports, kick conversations off via the content you provide and ask any questions you'd like answered from the reader. Write in a cordial, formal, and neutral tone.

Tip: Your reader is there to help you, no matter what role they're in within the company; you'll be surprised by the innovative ideas you can get from other departments. 💡

7. share it wisely.

Think wisely about who needs to see this document, especially the special progress report comments included by a top-level supervisor. Is it more than management? Perhaps other departments or even external stakeholders, like funding agencies, will benefit from reading this report. Try to identify those who need the report before writing it and then share it so that everyone has easy access.

8. Structure storage

You can store reports, no problem. However, think of the architecture around your report storage system. Try to build a map to guide people through reports and how they're stored. You want people to find a report quickly.

Figure out what someone needs to search for reporting project progress at any time, or the path they need to follow. This process will save a lot of time in the future and empower employees to use the reports at any time, not just when they're first delivered. That's a wrap!

9. Add a call-to-action

This is a great opportunity to get instant help for the reader or your superiors. Call-to-actions are useful when there are uncertainties, confusions, or problems with the project. These could include task differentiation, unclear milestones, or shortage of funds. A call-to-action could be asking the superior to supply clarification or some feedback in an email or a communication channel. You could also ask for a budget review or anything else your team might need to follow through to the successful completion of the project.Note that when writing a progress report, you should still limit the use of CTAs to extreme necessities.

10. Get all hands on deck

Always consult your team members when working on progress reports. If you're the team leader, you can invite everyone to pitch in and submit informal reports of their personal progress with milestones in the project. If you're a team member assigned the role of progress report writing, you could reach out to everyone individually for their input.

One of the best ways to write a solid progress report is to include the personal overviews of the members of the team pushing the project forward. This may not exactly be possible with frequent progress report schedules, such as daily and weekly, but with longer timelines, team members are invaluable to the process.

11. Ditch the passive voice

Let's be honest - a lot of your superiors don't have the time to read all the reports that come their way. Using a lot of passive voice while writing a progress report reduces readability and most times, the reader will not engage with the content.

Instead of writing: "We were instructed by our manager to restart the milestone..." You can write: "Our manager instructed us to restart the milestone..."

While you won't always be able to avoid the passive voice, make a solid effort to report actively. You can check out the Grammarly and Hemingway Apps for passive-to-active voice detection and correction. Also, progress report comments should never be re-written to the passive voice. You may correct and edit grammatical/typographical errors, but do not rephrase or entirely rewrite.

12. Keep the length optimal

A tricky line to walk.

If your progress report is abnormally short, no one will take you seriously. If it's too long, you can be certain your managers aren't going to read it. They'd probably skim it and move on to something else. It'll be really hurtful to spend so much time working on a lengthy and detailed progress report only to have it skimmed and dumped - also, it's simply not efficient.

It's important to keep the length of your report reasonable. If you can fit everything you have to report into one page, go for it. This also depends on the frequency of the report. If it's a daily progress report, keep it as short as half a page. A weekly progress report can be longer, quarterly reports can be a couple of pages while the annual report is the only one where it makes sense to have several pages in the document.

13. Always edit and proofread

Obviously. It's important to maintain great writing standards to communicate efficiently and impress your readers. No one will enjoy reading a report with grammatical and typographical errors. Always read through your report at least twice and use software such as Grammarly to pick the less-subtle errors out.

Enjoy Progress Reporting with Slite

Slite isn't just any regular project management tool, it's a robust and feature-packed collaboration platform that can super-charge your team's organization to the highest levels of efficiency. It's amazing how much difference the right tool can make in your operations.

Slite has tons of amazing pre-developed templates for all project management activities. Our template for progress report writing will certainly take the tedium and unnecessary boredom out of updating statuses at any frequency. It's available for free download when you sign up on our app, and you should enjoy our templates' useful new features. Below are some of the most awesome things to love about Slite:

1. Doc collections

Organizing documents can easily become a mess. Slite has a super-sweet doc collection feature, stacking them into well-organized color-coded lists with zero room for annoying sidebar clutter. We provide an easy filtering and sorting feature, quick cycling and embedding features, and you can reference your docs anywhere within the app. You can also arrange into column types and choose different views for each team! The doc is a really helpful feature when writing a progress report. All documents relevant to the current project can be easily sorted and referenced in your report.

2. A range of super-useful collaboration tools

This is why Slite is an absolute breath of fresh air. Slite has a wide range of super-useful features and extra tools to make collaboration easy for your team: - Communication tools - Quick decision updating tab - Quick reactions - Doc embeds for progress reports - Rich-text formatting - Quote and reply function

3. Vast integration range

Slite external app integration allows you to directly import documents from applications such as G-docs or Evernote. There's no hassle switching between docs. Slite integration also accommodates applications such as Slack, Google Drive, Miro, Pitch, Github, and social media applications. If the details you need to write your progress report are stored in another application, Slite makes retrieval easy and straightforward.

Manage Progress Reporting with Slite

If you’re looking to build a progress report into your team’s work schedule then we’ve already done the heavy lifting for you.Use Slite's free progress report template , and build on it.Hopefully, you’re walking away from this guide fully-equipped to introduce progress reporting to your business and start benefiting from this fantastic process— continuing to make great things happen.

Christophe Pasquier is Slite’s co-founder and CEO. Chris’ goal is to help teams do incredible work in better environments, by helping them embrace remote work and async communication. He currently lives in Berlin with his wife and baby Noé. Find him @Christophepas on Twitter!

Working remotely? So are we since 2016. Slite may be the right communication tool for you!

Managing projects remotely discover our list of the best softwares to use in 2021..

How to Write a Progress Report (Sample Template)

• PPP - Plans, Progress, Problems

With over 10 years of experience, Weekdone has provided tens of thousands of teams from startups to Fortune 500 with a simple goal-setting, status updates and progress reporting tool . This is why we developed  Weekdone .

Weekdone is your solution for connecting managers and employees through real-time updates, e-mail reports and social newsfeed.   Tr y it here ! It’s free forever for small teams and offers a free trial for larger ones! Read about the benefits here .

Falling efficiency, lack of focus, no drive. Said the team leader who doesn’t have good reporting software

The perceived negative qualities listed above come and go in companies over time. But shouldn’t we try to avoid them? Or, at the very least, take control in situations where we have the ability to do so? I think so!

Just like our bodies need to fight spring fever with the right mix of nutrients, we should give our organizations proper treatment when productivity falls below a critical level.

We’re not so arrogant, calling our service a ‘company doctor’ – but there is a simple cure out there for those of you looking to save your organization from this lack of efficiency. The cure is of course, the reason you’re here – progress reports!

Imagine if you were able to automate the process of transferring weekly status updates into a combined report at each week’s end. Sounds awesome, right? Weekdone helps you do that and so much more. It’s a status reporting tool for teams and a software that automates some of your most time-consuming management tasks.

The information in these reports help managers track team and individual’s progress while observing both company and team goals.

However, not many are familiar with the benefits of progress reporting.

So, let’s fix that too!

Progress reports used by teams encourage engagement and transparency. It’s been said that having a specific place to check in your progress increases the probability of meeting a goal by 95%.

For managers, progress reports offer concrete information about your employees’ contributions. It encourages the exchange of ideas and opinions. Truthfully, it is a very simple form of two-way communication. With some guidelines and basic understanding of the format, everyone can file an excellent report on their own.

Progress Report – The Basics

The foundation of every good progress report is a “PPP methodology”, something the  Weekdone is built on. This stands for Progress, Plans and Problems. It may seem overly simplistic, but there is a deep framework hidden underneath.

PPP is “rich in stuff, low in fluff”. Cleve Gibbon

Gibbon’s thought is shared by the likes of Emi Gal (CEO of Brainient) and Colin Nederkoorn (CEO of Customer.io), both of whom use PPP to organize and streamline their respective enterprises.

Even companies like Skype, Ebay, and Facebook picked up on the benefits of PPP.

So, what does PPP mean exactly?

• Progress. Progress lists employee’s accomplishments, finished items, and closed tasks. This category gives a good assessment of how much work has been done.
• Plans are the tasks you plan to accomplish over the course of one week. At Weekdone, we recommend setting these 3-7 plans on the Friday prior to “their work week”. All of the items listed under Plans are potential items of Progress. However, leave room for changes and accept that your Plans are not set in stone. Also consider, that these should ultimately help drive your Quarterly team goals forward.
• Problems. Problems lay out challenges and pitfalls. Some people leave correcting mistakes for last, but it is highly recommended to do this throughout the project.

When you keep in mind these three things, you already have what it takes to write a simple report. Should you choose to try Weekdone for free , these 3 categories are the ones in the default weekly status update form. *Which you can change and customize the titles of, if something else resonates more to you 🙂

Who, How and What of Progress Reports

Furthermore, if you really want to succeed in communicating the details and nuances of progress reports, you should always have these three questions in the back of your mind: who, how, and what?

The key part of progress reports is your team. Michele Puccio, Sales Director of Arrow,  says that they helped him “stay connected with the team”. This is why your immediate focus should be on your colleagues and team dynamics.

Reports need to be concise and focused, so you should understand what your colleagues want. To help yourself with this task, ask a few questions:

• How are the readers connected to the project?
• Do they know the details and goals of the project?
• Are the readers comfortable with technical language?

Next, consider the tone of writing. Managers and executives may not understand the intricacies of employees’ conversational style. Use longer, comprehensible sentences but also try to refrain from writing essays. Ideally, there should be 5-7 keywords per sentence.

Take a look at a sample report for further guidelines and inspiration. Remember that the modern world is metrics-driven, so figures are more important than descriptions.

Instead of: “ we need to increase the output ” Try: “ we need to increase the output by X% ”.

Concrete goals are more inspirational and, at the same time, more attainable.

The one mistake people tend to make when writing a progress report is avoiding writing about mistakes altogether. The purpose of progress reports is to objectively identify key difficulties and concerns and help them along the way. Even if the problem was already addressed, it needs to be put into writing to help avoid making the same kind of mistake in the future.

Secondly, keep in mind the relevance of your writing. Explain how every individual item connects and compares to Progress.

Keep It Simple

Even when progress seems small and changes are minimal, keep updating your reports. It enables transparency on all levels and can help assess challenges so you can plan your next actions accordingly.

Going back to our interview with IT distribution company, Arrow , Michele Puccio shares this example of how progress report influence your performance:

“In the beginning of the week, you decide to call 5 new customers. You write it down and have it under your nose. By the end of the week, you will call 5 new customers. You have made the commitment, communicated it to the rest of the team, and now need to honor this.” Michele Puccio

Progress report templates are made to save time for everyone, so it is illogical to spend most of your workday on writing them. This can be easily aided by reporting tools. Many teams use Google docs or emails to do this.

That being said, it is better to use tools that are specifically developed with progress reports in mind and allow you to automate the process of writing them. Availability and accessibility are key for an excellent progress report .

The key to progress reports is regularity. Progress reports need to be done at least on a monthly basis, though weekly is encouraged. With a notification system integrated in Weekdone, you ensure that everybody remembers to send their reports in time.

Try Team Compass for automated weekly progress reports.

Implementing Progress Reports

1. make sure to explain benefits to employees.

This one seems a bit obvious, but going ahead without explaining employee benefits risks employee buy-in later. You need to explain the ‘whys’ to everyone. Some easy benefits to sell include: employees having a voice within the organization, and raised productivity and focus on new plans. To find out more about selling the benefits to your team, we recommend drawing from this infographic .

2. Make sure that communication goes both ways

Create a culture that allows discussions to be held from both sides and allow team members to provide feedback to their superiors as well as the other way around. Making a culture that encourages feedback as the default model improves overall company communication and makes progress reports more meaningful to employees and managers alike.

3. Spend less time in meetings by using progress reports as a substitute

Use progress reports (and other tools like our Weekdone ) to decrease the amount of time wasted at meetings by encouraging frequent updating through the web and mobile-based services. If your status meetings stay in one place, you’ll save countless hours every month by writing instead of speaking.

4. Sign up with an online tool that offers you ready-made solutions

It may sound a little promotional, but online tools can make the implementation process so much easier. Progress reporting can be done via e-mail, word document or spreadsheet, but the challenges are far greater and you risk not having all of your information in one, easily accessible place. Combing through Google docs and emails is a colossal waste of time,  after all.  One of the advantages online tools have is that they automatically remind your team to fill their form, compile the received information, and then present it to you in a way that’s both appealing and fun.

Implementing progress reports with a tool

1. make the progress report meet your needs.

Using a ready-made template does not mean that you have to adjust to its specifications. Actually, these tools are flexible enough to meet your standards and needs. What is more, they provide you with even better ideas that might have been missed otherwise.

2. Write down Objectives and Key Results

Before inviting your whole team, make sure you have set up Objectives. The goals that need to be reached in a certain period and key results that help the team achieve these. Try this management technique used by LinkedIn, Twitter and Google. For a more in depth understanding of OKRs, feel free to check the Weekdone step-by-step guide to OKRs .

3. Invite your team

After you have set up all crucial information, it is time to invite your team. Send them an automatic e-mail to sign up.

4. Contacting product support to give a quick demo for everyone

Explaining this new tool to everyone on the team might be a challenge. Especially when you are not too familiar with it. No worries, that is exactly why product support people are here for. Remember, there is no such thing as a dumb question. There are only dumb answers. Don’t be afraid to contact the support for additional materials, demo or whatever is on your mind.

Sign up for free Weekdone team management software trial to implement best practice based progress reporting in your team. Set structured goals to align activities throughout your organization via leading OKR software . Track weekly plans and progress. Provide feedback and move everyone in a unified direction. Try it now !

Progress report: What it is and how to write a progress report

Create beautiful charts & infographics get started, 10.08.2021 by infogram.

Every project manager with several large-scale projects should know what is a progress report and how important it is in staying aligned with your team and stakeholders.

Messaging through email often becomes a messy way to share progress, whereas weekly meetings take too much time. If you just want to provide an update on your project, the most effective way to do so is with asynchronous communication.

This is where progress reports come in. A wisely planned reporting process and a well-structured report template can make a huge difference. How? You’ll see.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What is a progress report
• Seven reasons why progress report is important
• How to write a progress report: Tips and templates

Keep reading to the end to discover free progress report templates from Infogram that’ll help you get started.

What is a progress report?

A progress report is a part of project documentation that confirms how far the team has progressed toward its goal. In other words, it answers questions – what have we done so far? Where are we? What are the next steps?

The progress report provides executives, managers, teams, or clients with project details like:

• Current status of the project
• Completed tasks
• Reached milestones
• Roles and responsibilities
• Unexpected issues or obstacles faced during the project
• Priorities and next steps
• Other performance metrics and relevant data

The regularity of progress reporting usually depends on your project’s scope, difficulty, and communication plan. When planning a project, remember to set specific timing requirements for the report – daily, weekly, monthly, or after achieving a milestone.

Why is a progress report important in project management?

1. Same project, same page

Perhaps the most important benefit of reporting is bringing everyone on the same page. Writing a progress report may not always seem necessary, as you’re likely already communicating with the director of the project regularly. But it’s not only the management that should get a comprehensive view of your project.

Everyone who receives the report is aware of the project’s current state. No miscommunication and no overcommunication – that’s the beauty of progress reports.

2. Fostering team collaboration

Since everyone receiving the progress report is on the same page, it’s easier to foster collaboration . It’s especially crucial when different teams are working on the same project.

Progress reports eliminate the silo effect within teams and allow them to help each other with their knowledge, experience, or assets. It also prevents different people from doing the same thing and reduces redundancy, as everyone knows who’s done what.

To facilitate collaboration and help your team create visually compelling and professionally looking reports, you can add your whole team to the Infogram editor for teams .

3. Asynchronous communication = fewer meetings

A progress report is one of the examples of how teams and organizations can implement the principles of asynchronous communication.

Instead of running weekly status meetings, you can share weekly progress reports instead. Nowadays, when our calendars are overstuffed with meetings, an asynchronous report is a great way to save time and let everyone check progress whenever it works best for them.

4. Accountability and motivating the team

Discipline 3 is about keeping a compelling scoreboard. “What’s the point?” you might wonder.

Individuals get more engaged and motivated to reach goals (and “ win the game ”) when they can visually see their progress. And that’s where a report can factor in. When your team can see how productive their teammates are, a healthy dose of gamification and competition can boost their motivation and sense of accountability.

Choose one of the dashboard templates or create your own dashboard with charts, graphs, images, GIFs, and other handy assets . Next, publish the visualization or embed the dashboard in the team’s intranet or shared resource. Let the games begin!

5. Transparency within the project lifecycle

Submitting a progress report is like clicking a “save” button on a shared document. If you review the history of your report, you’ll see who had done what, when they did it, and how it looked before the last updates.

Reporting provides transparency within the project execution process and creates a paper (or rather, digital) trail . If something goes wrong you can prove when and who executed the tasks and what problems were faced during the project.

6. Project analysis and overview

Progress reports, along with other project documentation, can be useful in any project. You can use these reports to explore previous performance, including success stories, areas of improvement, and things you should avoid moving forward.

Reviewing reports can help project managers to clarify loopholes, systematic issues, and identify internal and external factors affecting a team’s or individual’s productivity.

7. Insights for future planning

All the factors explored in progress reports should be used to improve team or process efficiency.

A project manager should pay close attention to their team’s answer to the question “ What’s holding you back? ” Add these insights to a knowledge base containing best practices on managing and executing projects.

How to write a progress report?

The answer to how to write a progress report is pretty simple: It’s up to you .

There are situations when progress report formatting might be set in stone, like when governmental organizations or international foundations are involved. Otherwise, you can be flexible and align your report in any way that’s convenient for you. Here are the best practices for creating a progress report.

1. Don’t overdo it – stay simple

A progress report is not an essay or a super detailed, technical description of everything that’s happened. Keep it short.

Even if your project team consists of highly skilled engineers using a lot of technical vocabulary, try to use plain language. Keep it simple.

2. Q&A as progress report format

There is no one correct format for how to write a progress report. But keep in mind that your report should provide answers to all the questions that might pop into the head of your manager, client, or any other involved person.

Though it could be a fun idea, you don’t need to create a progress report in the form of an interview. Instead, make a list of all potential questions and structure your answers in three parts:

• Progress : What have you done since the last report? What tasks and milestones did you achieve?
• Problems : Are there any blockers affecting progress? What external or internal issues have you identified?
• Plans : What are the next steps? What are short-term and long-term goals for the team? What are the priorities?

3. Give your progress report meaning

One crucial aspect of progress reporting is quality. Two main things might affect quality: Frequency of reporting and accuracy of answers.

To address frequency, be prudent about the reporting schedule. If you’re on a long-term project, daily progress reports could become a bureaucratic nightmare. Choose reporting frequency wisely so that you don’t lose sight of the initial goal of a report.

Most importantly, encourage specific answers when defining how to write a progress report. Instead of generic and vague answers, use KPIs and progress metrics to provide more meaningful information. Specific data makes it easier for everyone to track progress.

4. Go beyond traditional documentation

There’s nothing wrong with creating a report as a traditional text document, but if you want to create a professional-looking and interactive report (that motivates your team), challenge yourself to try something new.

What if you visualize your data? Reports have shown that presentations containing visual aids are 43% more effective in persuading audience members of your point.

Your progress report probably consists of data. Here at Infogram, we love data. Coincidence? Maybe.

However, we have a lot of progress report templates that are ready to serve your needs. Change colors and fonts, and add timelines, charts, graphs, tables, text, images, video, and anything else that might make your report more engaging.

Report templates from Infogram

Here are just a few of our report templates that you can fully adjust and design to fit your project’s or team’s needs. Explore our template library here .

With that being said, good luck to you and your team with projects! We encourage you to not think about progress reports as something that you have to do, but make the most of it instead.

Interested in discovering how Infogram can enhance your team’s work? Join a brief Zoom session with our Infogram representative to explore key features, get answers to your questions, and understand how we can assist. It’s quick, informative, and just like a coffee break chat. Schedule your call now!

Get data visualization tips every week:

New features, special offers, and exciting news about the world of data visualization.

Join more than 200,000 readers and receive the latest data visualization news, tips and trends every week.

Exploring different types of reports, how to prepare for a meeting: a comprehensive guide for effective meeting prep, empowering women entrepreneurs: an interview with startup program manager, alise gurenko.

What Is a Progress Report And How Can You Make Them More Effective?

What is a progress report and how can you effectively manage your progress reporting process as projects become bigger and more complex?

At ScrumGenius , a tool to facilitate and automate status reporting and reduce communication overhead, we understand the value of a great reporting process.

As your company and teams grow, your projects also increase in scope and complexity. Various types of reporting, previously done ad-hoc, need to be more systematic and standardized to be manageable.

If you’re a manager, keeping track of progress reports from increasingly larger projects through email can quickly become overwhelming. How can you get meaningful information from your progress reports? Moreover, how can you prevent delays in progress report submission, especially when your team is distributed?

In this article, you'll learn:

• What a progress report is 
• Why a progress report is important
• Best practices on structuring progress reports, from using the PPP methodology to setting deadlines
• Progress report format and template
• Why you should automate and standardize your progress reporting process

As you will read, automating your progress reports can drastically reduce the time spent in meetings, help you get meaningful answers, and make your reporting process much more efficient. 

What Is a Progress Report?

A progress report is a document that shows the progress that your team is making towards completing a project.

Progress reports give an overview to either a supervisor, a manager, a team leader, a colleague or a client on:

•  The status of the project
• The milestones achieved
• Responsibilities of each employee or team member
• The issues faced by various team members
• ...and other important factors that affect project completion

This report is essentially a project management mechanism to prevent issues before they happen, to ensure that the project will be finished on-time, and to keep those involved informed of the project's progress.

How often the progress report should be submitted (e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) will heavily depend on the project's scope and complexity.

In general, you want your progress reports to provide meaningful insights. Setting a daily reporting schedule for a long-term project may lead to progress reports with surface-level answers.

Therefore, you may want to set a reasonable schedule and give a progress report template with standardized questions on project progress and key issues. 

Giving these questions in advance will encourage your team members to think about their responses more thoroughly before handing in the report.

Why Is a Progress Report Important?

The importance of progress reports lies beyond keeping track and managing your different projects happening simultaneously. Progress reports also provide valuable insights on how your team can finish projects more effectively.

Aside from giving an overview of the projects taking place, a well-structured progress report template also allows the project manager to identify key issues affecting the team's productivity and a project's progress toward completion.

These insights can then be fed into a knowledge base, which contains best practices on how to manage and execute future projects.

With the ScrumGenius progress report template, you can effectively track each team member's blockers. You can also see how often they report these blockers affecting project completion.

Of course, a progress report also helps foster collaboration. Simply put, knowing about each other's tasks helps prevent people from doing the same things and reduce task redundancy. 

Best Practices On How To Write a Progress Report

1. treat a progress report like a q&a.

A simple way to start learning how to write a progress report is by treating the progress report format as a question and answer sheet on the project's progress. You need answers on the progress, the blockers and the next tasks to do that lead to project completion. Nothing more. Nothing less.

2. Include questions on progress, plans and problems (PPP)

PPP is a management technique for status reporting that focuses on project progress toward completion. Questions related to PPP lead to specific and meaningful answers, instead of generic ones with unnecessary details. It's used by many people at Skype and Apple to get useful and relevant project facts.

As Cleve Gibbon puts it, PPP is "rich in stuff, low in fluff." Here's what each P means:

• Progress - These include milestones, goals achieved, finished tasks and validated items  that contribute to project completion.
• Plans - These include things to do, short- and long-term objectives, and other plans that affect project completion.
• Problems - These are blockers and issues that affect project completion.

Each P should have answers with 3-5 items. If your team is having a hard time filling out the progress reports because they're too frequent, you might want to change the frequency they're submitted. 

3. Allow meaningful completion of the progress report

An often-neglected aspect of the progress reporting process is ensuring that the information acquired is at a high quality. Two things help achieve this: setting the right schedule and encouraging specific answers.

Setting appropriate deadlines is key. People doing long-term projects that last for a year or more may not want to submit daily progress reports. A wrong schedule might lead to unsatisfactory answers. That said, make sure that you set actual dates for submission. Otherwise, people may always put them as a last priority task.

Moreover, you should encourage formulating specific answers. For example, this can be emphasizing for answers to include relevant metrics, instead of vague descriptions. This helps you track progress more meaningfully. 

4. Use section headings to make reading and writing simpler

Add section headings in your progress report format to make the process of writing and reading the report a lot easier. When learning how to write a progress report, section headings help you focus on providing valuable information about the progress, in itself.

The purpose of a progress report is to give clarity on the progress of a project, not to describe every single aspect about what's currently happening in the project.

Plus, the project manager reading the project will have an easier time reading and remembering key elements in it.

With ScrumGenius, the progress report templates are structured in such a way that each progress report has clearly-defined headings.

5. Use simple and straightforward language

Learning how to write progress reports means using a progress report format with a language that's clear and straight to the point. Unless your project requires you to use jargon and technical language, keep your sentences simple, straightforward and easy to understand. 

Progress Report Format Template Example Using PPP

Using PPP, a progress report format structure should have the following sections:

• Introduction - This helps understand what project this report is about. Simply ask what they're working on to start the progress report.
• PPP section - This is the main body of the progress report, and it should give enough information on the overall status of the project. As you will read in the next section, ScrumGenius allows you to have an overview of the goals and blockers reported in the status reporting process to derive important insights from.
• Anything else to add? -  This section may also provide more holistic comments on how this project is being done.

How to Facilitate Your Progress Reporting Process Through Automation and Standardization

As your projects become larger in scope and complexity, you will need a status reporting tool like ScrumGenius to track and manage your progress reporting process.

Relying on standard communication tools like email and manually sending your team members follow up can quickly become unmanageable. Not only that, manually sifting through progress reports can take time from getting more meaningful work done.

1. Standardize and iterate on your progress report template to gain meaningful insights

To identify patterns affecting project completion and other important project management insights, you will have to standardize the sections/questions in your progress reports. This means sending out the same progress report questions on a project for your team members to answer.

Having progress report templates means that your team can invariably produce answers within the PPP framework. It also allows you to identify outlier responses affecting project progress. With ScrumGenius, you can create custom progress reports or choose from various templates. 

Some team members might have run into blockers that you need to urgently address. Or someone might have found a way to more efficiently finish their tasks. Either way, these can be important project management insights for future reference.

Plus, using a template will save you and your team previously spent on formulating a structure for these reports.

2. Automate progress reporting submission

Manually doing check-ins and follow-ups via email or chat is not only cumbersome, but it's also not sustainable in the long-run as your teams grow bigger and your projects more complex.

Set teamwork on autopilot. With ScrumGenius, you can automate your whole progress reporting process by setting automatic regular deadlines on submitting progress reports.

ScrumGenius is integrated with all major chat platforms including Slack, Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex Teams. Depending on the schedule you've set them, a bot will automatically send them these questions for people to answer within a window of time.

You can also set the check-in reporting window to cater to different time zones. Read more about this here . This is especially important for globally-distributed teams.

3. Have an overview to see your team's overall progress on various projects

Having an overview of the progress reports helps you identify various patterns affecting project completion. ScrumGenius has a dashboard that allows you to see:

• Participation - How many completed the progress report.
• Goals - How many participants reported their goals and progress.
• Blockers - How many participants are experiencing blockers.

This overview can help you deduce important insights on the aforementioned metrics. For example, you can see what the participation rates are for the various submission windows and act accordingly. 

4. Spend less time in meetings by using progress reports

Some studies suggest that executives spend up to 23 hours per week in meetings . With ScrumGenius, our clients have reported a reduction in meeting times by up to 300% ( read the case study here).

Our status reports have provided valuable information that has helped meetings become more efficient and focused. 

5. Create a knowledge base for your project managers, teams and new hires

Finally, these project management insights can contribute to building a knowledge base. This is a great way to set up best practices on how to manage and execute future projects more effectively.

It will also be a great resource for new hires to figure out the best processes for your company and how to achieve key metrics that they're supposed to hit (based on past successes).

Take Your Progress Reporting Process To The Next Level With ScrumGenius

A progress report allows you to get important information on project completion. ScrumGenius is a simple, yet powerful, tool that can improve your progress reporting process through automating and standardizing these reports.

Once activated, the ScrumGenius bot sends reminders to your team at a specific time each day to fill out their progress reports.

If you want to make your progress reporting process more efficient, try out ScrumGenius today.

We value your privacy

Project Progress Report: Definition, Example & Template

Fahad Usmani, PMP

September 21, 2022

Tracking project progress is necessary to ensure the project is moving in the right direction. A project progress report is a key tool to help you achieve this objective.

A project progress report removes the overwhelming task of surfing through data to get meaningful project information and provide information that matters to stakeholders .

These days, most organizations use automation to generate progress status reports, as all project management software programs provide this facility. This has drastically reduced data collection time and report generation time.

What is the Project Progress Report?

Definition: A project progress report is a formal project management document that provides project status and progress, compares it with the planned progress, and presents the result to stakeholders. It helps sync project information among stakeholders.

Progress reports are part of performance reports .

This document shows stakeholders how close the team is to achieve the project objectives . It summarizes the work and provides an at-a-glance update on project activities.

Areas covered in a progress report include the following:

• The project’s current status
• The achieved milestones  
• Roles of team members
• Cost and schedule performance
• Influencing factors in achieving project goals

The progress report can be submitted daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, or annually. This frequency is defined in the project plan.

Why are Progress Reports Important?

The importance of progress reports for different stakeholders is as follows:

To the Project Manager

• Keeps track of project progress.
• Helps then show the progress to the management.
• Detects and prevents obstacles.
• Aids in decision-making.
• Provides insightful information used to make future projects better.
• Prevents the loss of important information.
• Helps the manager and team avoid repeating mistakes.
• Helps to take corrective and preventive action.
• Keeps stakeholders informed of the current state of a project.

To Team Members

• Encourages collaboration and synchrony: Since team members discuss the progress reports, communication is enhanced, and they can synchronize ideas to boost productivity.
• Encourages Continuum: Juggling between leaves and holidays and setting meetings with clients can be difficult, but progress reports update everyone on the project.
• Showcases Achievements: A progress report shows team achievement, which is a great motivating factor for team members.

To the Project Sponsor and Management

Project sponsors and clients can see the project’s direction. If the project needs corrective or preventive action , they will take it to ensure the project is on track.

A progress report is a key communication project document for management and the client.

How to Write a Progress Report

Before starting a progress report, let’s understand the element of progress reports.

A progress report has three main parts:

1. Introduction

This section has the following information:

• Name of the project
• Project’s scope
• Reporting period

2. Detailed Project Description

You can provide a complete project history under this heading detailing the necessary information, including performance indexes , variance, and forecasting.

Include mistakes and difficulties, as they provide room for corrections and development and save future projects from similar issues.

3. Conclusion

This is the project’s summary from its commencement to the current date.

Steps for Writing a Project Progress Report

1. Define the Targeted Audience: Defining the target audience is necessary, so the progress report is written based on their requirements. The choice of the audience determines the language, format, and best practices when writing a progress report.

2. Explain the Purpose of the Progress Report: There are many reasons for writing a progress report. Some are concerned about the project’s current state, while others are concerned about delay or cost overrun.

3. Add a Section on Completed Tasks: You document what has been done. Use only past tense. Mention completed tasks in chronological order, specifying dates and key information on each completed task. 

4. Add a Section on Work Schedule: This section informs the audience about the tasks to be completed in the future. These tasks are separated with an emphasis placed on each major task. Use future tenses for this section. 

5. Give a Summary of the Progress Report: Provide a summary highlighting the challenges encountered and recommendations for corrective and preventive actions.

Best Practices on How To Write a Progress Report

Writing a progress report can be tricky. However, the following guidelines can help you write a robust progress report.

1. Keep it Formal, Simple, and Concise 

Use straightforward language and avoid vague descriptions or cumbersome, technical words. An exception to this may be in cases where industry-specific terms are required.

A progress report is often informal when the audience is the project team. However, you should keep it formal at the beginning to avoid the makeover when external stakeholders require it. 

2. The Questionnaire PPP (Progress, Plans, and Problems) Format

You can treat a progress report in a question-and-answer format to keep it simple and avoid unnecessary information. 

Progress can be achievements, completed milestones, finished tasks, and validated products. 

Plans refer to new tasks ahead, to-dos, timed objectives, and the expected frequency of delivery, whether daily, monthly, quarterly, or annually. 

Lastly, problems are those possible blockers or hindrances to the project.

A progress report should cover questions related to the PPPs for a holistic status report, as it leads to answers directed at achieving specific results and avoids stereotyped responses. 

3. Validate the Information

Get verified data and send accurate reports to stakeholders. Get the team members to sign off the report and check for errors.

A project manager should take the validating process seriously to prevent being considered unreliable. Consistency, relevance, and reliability must be ensured.

4. Ensure Proper Dates 

A progress report must have a date stamp. The progress report should document the date and, if possible, time of events.

5. Use Section Headings

The project progress report should be broken into sections. Section headings improve the readability of the progress report, drive focus, and help the reader remember the key information.

6. Set Realistic Schedules and Deadlines

It may not be feasible to request a daily progress report from teams working on a big project.

Forcing a rush may result in the formulation of non-specific answers, which may thwart the main aim of the progress report. 

7. Automate and Standardize Progress Reports

Manual reporting is challenging; it is time-consuming and unsustainable in the long term. 

Therefore, automate the reporting system, if possible. 

Standardizing the progress report can be achieved by using standardized templates. You can modify the template as per your requirements and use it throughout the project life cycle.

8. Disclose the Progress Report to Authorized Parties 

A progress report is an official project document and can contain sensitive information. Therefore, if required, keep it away from unconcerned eyes to avoid a breach of confidentiality.

Types of Project Progress Reports

A progress report can be any of the following types.

1. Project Status Report

A project status report provides the project’s current status and helps compare the planned progress.

This progress report often uses RAG color codes (red, amber, and green), similar to a traffic light pattern.

This report is called the RAG status report and shows the areas that need improvement.

• Green = Good
• Amber = At risk
• Red = Off track

White is occasionally used for project tasks yet to be commenced.

2. Resource Workload Progress Report

Image Source link

A resource workload progress report shows how team members allocate their effort and time to the project activities.

This report shows the gaps where reassigning resources is required. It judges team focus, acceleration rate, and the proposed task completion date.

3. Time-Sheet Progress Report

A timesheet monitors the time spent by a team member. The monitoring frequency can be daily, weekly, or monthly.

For example, a daily timesheet is updated at the end of the day. This progress report is also called the End-of-day (EOD) report.

4. Expenses/Budget Progress Report

This report ensures that the required resources are within the budget. Here, expenses are accurately measured.

This report compares financial goals to be achieved over a specified timeline with estimated figures.

5. The Who, When, and How of Progress Report Writing.

This report shows who, when, and how the report is prepared and the result. 

The Format Of Project Progress Reports

Progress reports can be in any format. Examples are as follows:

1. Memo Format

A memo can be sent as a circular in an organization addressing everyone working on the project and is often intended to relay general information or achievement.

2. Email or Written Letter

These days, email reports are common. Unlike memos, emails and letters can cover a wider audience, including internal and external stakeholders.

3. Formal Report

A formal format for a progress report is used for external stakeholders or higher management. 

For example, the project sponsor requests a monthly progress report.

You can provide progress reports in the following formats:

• PowerPoint presentation
• Google Docs

Example of Progress Report

A few examples of progress reports are given below:

Software Development Progress Report

This report helps optimize processes carried out and ensures the alignment of team goals. Examples are databases, app stores, and metrics.  

Project Management Report

A general overview of the progress of the project is given in the project management report. It allows stakeholders to monitor team performance and track value points, teams’ responses to challenges, and completed tasks.

Financial Report

This includes information about gains, losses, expenses, generated revenue, and cash flow.

A sound financial report supports both previously built and custom integration and gives an at-a-glance view of the project’s financial status.

Customer Support Report

For flawless customer service, proper reporting should be done. This identifies weak points that require attention. The focus is on the help desk’s ability to support.

Sales and Marketing Report

This report shows the sales performance and the marketing effort that brings the sale.

eCommerce Report

An eCommerce report has multiple uses, from boosting online sales performance to providing a store overview of online functioning and how to make improvements.

Project Progress Report Templates

A standardized progress report template covers all key issues and saves you from creating your report from scratch.

The progress report template helps the team stay productive.

Here are a few samples of progress report templates that you can use for your report.

Sample Project Progress Report

A project progress report is a form of project documentation. It is a part of a performance report that compares the project’s progress with the planned progress. Sometimes, it provides the forecasting analysis.

The project progress report provides critical information to stakeholders on project health regularly.

I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.

PMP Question Bank

This is the most popular Question Bank for the PMP Exam. To date, it has helped over 10,000 PMP aspirants prepare for the exam. 

PMP Training Program

This is a PMI-approved 35 contact hours training program and it is based on the latest exam content outline applicable in 2024.

Similar Posts

Agile Scrum Meetings: Types of Scrum Meetings & Examples

Agile Scrum meetings are part of the day-to-day engagement activities of a Scrum process. Scrum is the earliest and most popular agile framework for managing IT product development.  Extreme Programming, Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM), Disciplined Agile (DA), Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Large Scale Scrum (LeSS), etc., are other popular agile frameworks. Every morning, the…

PMP Vs CAPM

I often receive emails from professionals asking me if they should go for the PMP certification or the CAPM certification. They are interested in learning which qualification would best advance their careers. Therefore, to provide them with a comprehensive response, I have decided to write this PMP Vs CAPM blog post. In this post, I…

What is the Kübler-Ross Model (Five Stages of Grief)?

The Kübler-Ross Model (also known as the “Five Stages of Grief” or “DABDA”) is a psychological model which states that people who experience grief go through five stages of emotions: (1) denial, (2) anger, (3) bargaining, (4) depression, and (5) acceptance.  Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross introduced this model in her 1969 book, On Death and…

Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Contract: Definition,Types & Example

A contract is a binding agreement between the buyer and seller that obligates the seller to provide goods or services and obligates the buyer to compensate the seller for such goods or services. A contract sets out the expectations for all both involved. An organization can choose any procurement contract depending on their requirements, but…

CISSP Certification Requirements: Skills, Experience & Education

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) is an information security certification awarded by the International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC) ². Applicants must demonstrate that they meet all the CISSP certification requirements to be considered for this certification. CISSP certification is useful for professionals working as information security specialists who want to demonstrate their…

What is a Program in Project Management?

Today we will discuss the program in project management and program management. These are essential concepts, and you must know these terms and how they differ from the project, project management, portfolio, and portfolio management. Let’s start with an example. Let’s say that the government has proposed two different construction projects. The first project will…

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Google Slides Presentation Design
• Pitch Deck Design
• Powerpoint Redesign
• Other Design Services

• Business Slides
• Guide & How to's

How to prepare and write valid progress report for project?

What is a progress report.

The project status report summarizes your project progress compared to project plan milestones. It is a robust communication tool to keep everyone in the loop, synchronize people, and reach project goals as a result. A monthly email, progress report slides, or shared drive link is a typical frequency and format for spreading similar records.

There are several ways you can structure it and present it, and these are the most popular solutions:

• Word document;
• PowerPoint presentation;
• Excel table;
• Web-based platform page.

Read our previous article on presentation design trends in 2022/2023 to make your progress report even more attractive.

An attractive progress report on a project is usually sent to all project stakeholders: team members, steering committee members, sponsors, executives, end users, customer representatives, etc. In other words, you must send the report to anyone who touches the project scope and wants to receive the deliverable and progress updates.

One way to make your report is to send a ‘ do my presentation ’ request to credible services. Another way is to read this article with detailed project progress report templates you can apply to Word, PowerPoint, or any format you prefer. Follow it wisely!

How to Make a Progress Report Presentation?

1. project summary.

The first slide of any progress report for the project is a project summary. Commonly, you want to include information to remind stakeholders what your team is actually doing and what you include in this particular report.

Scope Statement

Add a “Scope Statement” to indicate the area you’re responsible for from a delivery standpoint.

Scope Statement Template: To implement the new future state security center with a focus on streamlining people activities and implementing technology to support the new ways of working by the end of Q4.

Project Priority Matrix

Project Priority Matrix has to let people know what your constraints are and what you’re willing to optimize and accept from scope, time, and budget perspectives. It becomes handy when you have requests from people off to the side, like, “we do not understand everything else but make sure to please add this element”. And you have your matrix as the strongest argument as to whether it is possible or not.

Project Priority Matrix Template:

2. High-Level Milestones

The next slide you’d prefer to have in your project progress report is “High-Level Milestones”. It helps you to give an overarching view of your team’s activity ⎼ what they’re currently performing, delivering, or challenging. The presented data must support a scope statement and the priority matrix to create an integral progress image, either a brand new person or a regular viewer.

High-Level Milestones Template:

3. Overall Project Status

The status of your overall project means basically its current performance level, either on track or at risk, etc. You can use a strop light system to make the progress report design of this slide more attractive and comprehensible:

Green = On track; Yellow = Potential risks; Red = Severe issues.

Needless to say, it is not bad to have yellows and reds, but it tells everyone what areas to improve for the best result, not an average one. It is indeed more suspicious than successful to run a project that’s always in green status. It might mean that people are not really aware of what’s going on.

4. Project Deliverables

The next PowerPoint or Google slides to add to your progress report presentation is project deliverables or major milestone status. In layman’s words, it is the heartbeat of your progress report. To depict it attractively, you can use the same strop light system to underline different statuses.

Project Deliverables Template:

We give very specific deliverables in the template above, and you should definitely alter them as per your report (every time you present). Most important is to define your deliverables because people come with assumptions you have to negate.

Again, do not be afraid to give red or yellow status: it just means you understand your project’s ins and outs, ups and downs, strengths and flaws. If the status is yellow, mention that the team is monitoring the issue to devise an alternative solution. If the status is red, make sure to say the team is already fixing the issue.

5. Issues and Risks

This is the slide or slides where you have to outline high-level external elements impacting the project. You should share everything influencing the initial scope, time, or budget with your stakeholders before all statuses turn RED. It means you will highlight any issues not connected to a deliverable. The purpose is to show your due diligence and deep awareness of project flow and constraints.

Risk Report Template:

Project Timeline is being negatively impacted. As a project, we struggle with our IT core team members to complete tasks. A new project was launched in the operations department, and some of our team members are being pulled away from their tasks by managers outside this project. As the PM, I will be speaking to their direct managers to bring up this issue for resolution.

Progress report is a powerful update highly recommended for any type of project. It helps to make correct and timely decisions, detect risks, take appropriate actions, and file for future reference. Your stakeholders are more involved in the project if they get a monthly report with work completed, work scheduled, and current/potential problems/projections. Besides, it keeps every team member on track because they know they must come up with some result by the end of the month.

Now you know how to write a progress report with a simple design. However, if you want slides that stand out or a sophisticated template for all your next reports, make sure to contact our specialists and get professional assistance.

#ezw_tco-2 .ez-toc-widget-container ul.ez-toc-list li.active::before { background-color: #ededed; } Table of contents

• Presenting techniques
• 50 tips on how to improve PowerPoint presentations in 2022-2023 [Updated]
• Keynote VS PowerPoint
• Types of presentations
• Present financial information visually in PowerPoint to drive results

• Design Tips

Annual report design templates and tips: how to tell a great story with financial data in 2023

How to create weekly status report template

Quarterly business review: how to write and how to present it via presentation tools

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game New
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications
• Official Writing
• Report Writing

How to Write a Work Report

Last Updated: January 15, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Madison Boehm and by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Madison Boehm is a Business Advisor and the Co-Founder of Jaxson Maximus, a men’s salon and custom clothiers based in southern Florida. She specializes in business development, operations, and finance. Additionally, she has experience in the salon, clothing, and retail sectors. Madison holds a BBA in Entrepreneurship and Marketing from The University of Houston. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 175,829 times.

Writing a work report might feel overwhelming, but it might be easier than you think. Work reports are typically used to explain your progress on a work project or provide your conclusions and recommendations regarding a workplace issue. To easily write an effective work report, start by considering your purpose, audience, research, and message. Then, draft your report using a typical format for business reports. Finally, you can revise the report to make it effective.

Planning a Work Report

• For example, your purpose may be to analyze a business issue, explain the results of a project you worked on, or provide your supervisor with an overview of your work progress. [2] X Research source

• Who all will read your report? Include anyone who might reasonably use the report in your audience.
• If you’re writing for different types of readers, include all necessary information for your least informed reader to understand. However, use headings for each section so that informed readers can skip information that is redundant for them. [4] X Research source You might also include sections for each audience to address their concerns.

• Financial information
• Statistical information
• Questionnaires
• Interviews with experts, coworkers, clients, etc.

• Has the project scope changed?
• What tasks have you done since the last progress report?
• What tasks are you going to do next?
• Are you on track to complete the project on time? If not, why?
• What obstacles have you encountered, and how will you overcome them?
• Did you learn any lessons this month?

• In most cases, you’ll start your report by explaining your results, conclusions, or recommendations. Then, explain how you got to this point and your reasoning, if applicable.
• If you are about to make a controversial conclusion or recommendation, explain your process and reasoning first so your audience will be able to understand why you arrived at this idea.

Drafting a Work Report

• In some cases, you might also include a cover letter to explain why you wrote the report, what it includes, and what you think needs to be done next. This is more common for reports that have taken a long time to prepare or require an additional explanation before the reader looks at the report itself.
• For a progress report, list your name, project name, date, and reporting period on a title page. Put each item on a separate line. You can label each line with “name,” “project name,” “date,” and “reporting period,” or you can just list the information. [8] X Research source
• Ask your boss if there are specific recommendations for formatting your work report. They’re your best resource for preparing your report.

• You don’t need to summarize the entire report. Just focus on the most important ideas in the report, such as the key recommendations or conclusions you’re presenting.
• If you’re writing a progress report, you can skip this section.

• Use titles and headers for each section so your report is easy to read.
• If you’re writing a progress report, you usually don’t need to include a table of contents, unless your boss prefers that you do. However, include titles and headers for each section to make it easier to navigate your report.

• Your introduction doesn’t need to be long. Be direct and specific so that your reader will understand the context and purpose without a lengthy explanation.
• Write 2-4 paragraphs for your introduction.
• For a progress report, your introduction should only be 1-2 paragraphs long. It should summarize your project and what you hope to accomplish. You might also preview the work you’ve completed and what you plan to do next.

• In most cases, this section will include an introductory paragraph and a list of the conclusions you reached.
• Here’s what a conclusion might look like: “1. Our population is aging, leading to more health risks among our clientele.”
• If you’re writing a progress report, you won’t have any results or conclusions to present. Instead, list your accomplishments or completed tasks in the section after your introduction. You might also provide a short 2-4 sentence paragraph in this section. However, a list is usually sufficient. You might list “Raised $200 to pay for festival tent,” “Contracted with Your Party Plan to manage festival planning,” and “Surveyed 1500 residents to gather public input.” [12] X Research source

• For example, you might write, “1. Train all employees to perform CPR.”
• If you’re writing a progress report, you’ll instead list the next tasks or goals that you plan to accomplish in your upcoming work period. For example, you might list “Find vendors for the festival,” “Approve festival designs,” and “Order promotional posters.” [13] X Research source

• This includes a lengthier discussion of your research and evaluations.
• This section should be the longest in your report.
• If you’re writing a progress report, you can skip this section. In its place, include a section on the obstacles you faced while working on the project, as well as how you overcame them. [14] X Research source You might write, “Many residents didn’t return the survey because it didn’t include prepaid postage. Moving forward, we’ll include postage on our surveys or give residents the option of doing their survey digitally.”

• Unless otherwise instructed, use APA formatting for business reports.
• You can skip this section if you’re preparing a progress report.

• For example, you might have “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and “Appendix C.”
• If you’re writing a progress report, you don’t need to include this section.

• You might write, “The arts festival planning project is on track for completion on schedule. We’ve completed 90% of our pre-planning activities and are now shifting attention to purchasing materials. The project has no outstanding obstacles, but we will address any that arise in the future.”

Making Your Report Effective

• Your headings might include: Introduction, Completed Tasks, Goals for Next Quarter, Obstacles and Solutions, and Conclusion.
• Tailor your headings to fit the information in your report.
• For a progress report, your audience will likely be your supervisor, team, or clients. [16] X Research source

• You would write, "Revenues are up 50% for the fourth quarter," rather than, "Revenues sky-rocketed by 50% to generate stellar fourth quarter earnings."

• Keep in mind that some work reports may be long, as they may cover a lot of information. However, your writing should still be concise.
• It's okay to write, "Sales increased over the last quarter after the sales staff implemented cold calling," rather than, "We saw an exponential increase in revenues over the past selling quarter as our talented, dedicated sales people began cold calling potential clients to ask them to purchase more products."
• First, give an overall summary of the business. It should not be long. You have to grab the reader's attention right away. Or else no one will read a 100-page document. [19] X Research source
• Then give an overall snapshot of where you are at financially, where you are in terms of the business and the team. [20] X Research source
• After that, go into your past report and show that you have been making revenue in the current year. Then mention that you will try to take the business in a particular direction based on the trends.

• Rather than writing, "Disengaged staff members are low in morale, making the office feel like a soulless machine," you could write, "Staff members whose productivity numbers rated lower than others reported feeling disengaged."

• Keep your language professional throughout your report.

• If you can, have someone else proofread your report for you, as it's difficult to spot all of your own mistakes.
• If time allows, set aside your report for at least 24 hours before you proofread it.

Outline for a Work Report

Expert Q&A

• After you write your first work report, you can use it as a template for future reports. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Your workplace may have a template for work reports. Talk to your supervisor to see if you can use a template for your report. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you can, base your report format on an existing work report from your business or organization. Check the files at your office or ask your coworker or supervisor for a copy of an existing report. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• If you’re using an existing report as an example, don’t copy the wording in that report. This is plagiarism and will likely result in you facing professional consequences. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.unr.edu/writing-speaking-center/student-resources/writing-speaking-resources/how-to-write-a-business-report
• ↑ https://www.cipd.org/uk/learning/support-for-students/currently-studying/business-report-writing/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-a-report/
• ↑ https://people.montefiore.uliege.be/mfonder/INFO0064/report_writing_instructions.pdf
• ↑ https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c6_p10.html
• ↑ https://bizfluent.com/how-7883364-write-report-boss.html
• ↑ https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/engineering/current-students/undergraduate/practical-work/practical-work-reports.html
• ↑ https://hrnews.co.uk/what-is-a-work-report-and-how-to-write-it/
• ↑ https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/tipsheets/writing_business_reports.pdf

About This Article

To write a work report, use a cover or title page to provide the name of your report, the date, and the names of the authors. Next, provide a brief executive summary detailing the key information, such as the mission statement, objective, company information, and growth highlights. After your summary, include a table of contents listing what’s in your report. Then, at the beginning of your actual report, include an introduction that gives an overview of the report. After your introduction, give an overview of your research or evaluations and how your findings relate back to the topic of your report. Following the overview, give your recommendations for moving forward and conclude your report. To learn how to add an appendix to your report, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Christian Aymar

May 22, 2019

Did this article help you?

Peter Akpan

Dec 6, 2022

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Get all the best how-tos!

Sign up for wikiHow's weekly email newsletter

Work Progress Report

It goes without saying that good work consists of a lot of reports and responsibilities . That being able to give out a good report would also mean that you are giving your employers an opportunity to see what you are working on. Of course a good report would need a lot of information and a lot of work on your part. With that being said, being able to know what you can write and what you cannot write should also be a part of getting your work progress report right. Your work progress report can be daily, weekly or even monthly. As well as anyone working in businesses, companies, or even construction companies do use work reports to be able to know the on goings of their employees. But being able to know how to write a work progress report should also be a part of a work progress report. So to make it even easier for those who may be planning on writing work reports, this article would be the right one you should be checking out for. Take a look at the examples as well for easy access and to use as you please.

9+ Work Progress Report Examples

1. weekly work progress report template.

• Google Docs

2. Work From Home Progress Report Template

3. Work Progress Report on Construction

Size: 914 KB

4. Monthly Work Progress Report

5. Research Work Progress Report

Size: 288 KB

6. Annual Work Progress Report

Size: 226 KB

7. Field Work Progress Report

Size: 204 KB

 8. Apprentice Work Progress Report

Size: 134 KB

9. Work Plan Progress Report

Size: 62 KB

10. Strategic Work Progress Report

Size: 85 KB

What Is a Work Progress Report?

You may get this kind of report from your employer or they may be asking for this kind of report from you . This document is as important as it may look and sound, but do we even know what it is for? So a work progress report is a kind of document that shows the detailed progress of an employee . May it be from a project they are working on or from a task they are asked to complete. This kind of progress report gives the employer an idea of how far the employee has completed the task and how long till they fully have completed it. In addition to that, a work progress report can be given to either a colleague, an employee, your boss or even an intern who is doing their internship. The purpose of a work progress report is to maintain the progress of an employee with their task. To be able to see progress or the lack of it.

How to Write a Work Progress Report?

It goes without saying, learning how to write and what to write in a progress report should be something positive to look forward to. Not something that should be expected someone can do. Are you an employee or an intern who is told by their employer or the organization to write a progress report? You may want to take a look at these simple steps to help you write a work progress report.

1. Add a Title to Your Work Report

What better way to begin than to write a title to your work progress report. The title however has to be related to what you are planning to write in the report. Avoid writing a title that may not be appropriate for the report. Keep it simple and professional.

2. Give a Short Introduction to Your Report

Contrary to popular belief, when you write a progress report you can simply jump to the main part. It is always best to start with a short introduction. This is to notify the reader or your audience as to what they should expect from your report. It is also a good thing to place an introduction before the main body so that the reader can get a glimpse of the progress you are making.

3. Make Your Jargon Easy to Understand

Another thing to remember. When you write, always expect that the readers will not be able to understand the lingo that you may be used to. If possible, use words that are common and general, over the words that you may be used to. This is to avoid any issues or misunderstandings.

4. State the Progress in Your Report

Moving on, this is the part where you are going to be placing your progress. Even the smallest progress in your task or projects should be listed. Explain the reasons and the task in the report. Again, never assume that your readers would understand what task or project you are working on if you do not explain.

5. Edit the Report Before Passing It

Last but not least, edit your report. Check for any misspelled words, grammatical errors and information that may not be a part of the report. You should also check for the information that you may not have added and deleted by mistake. Check your tone of voice and writing as well.

What is a work progress report?

A work progress report is a document that you write to take notice of your progress. This kind of report is used by the employer as a way to check if there is any progress or movement being made for the task given.

What should be avoided when writing a work progress report?

What should not be added in a work progress report are words that could be misinterpreted by your employer. As well as no proof of the progress you have made for that certain day or time.

To whom should the work progress be written for?

Your employer may ask for the copy or the original copy of the work progress report. They would be the one to read about it and to be able to see what can be done if they think that you are not doing well.

A work progress report is a useful tool. It shows employers of the progress of their company and their employees. It shows them the positive and the negative part of the report. It gives them the opportunity to correct any issues and to resolve any problems that go along with it. It also shows them the growth and development of an employee through the tasks given.

Report Generator

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

Generate a report on the impact of technology in the classroom on student learning outcomes

Prepare a report analyzing the trends in student participation in sports and arts programs over the last five years at your school.