When reporting fro both internal and external report in your experience what is the best frequency. Why do you believe it is optimal?
Every Week, two week, Monthly,Quaterly....
From my experience the reporting period is mostly driven by the change dynamics or fluidity of the project. A stable, common and standard project can be reported to the principal stakeholders (like sponsor, steercom, etc) on a longer term basis (max of quarterly). A project which has frequent major changes (with high risks or financial implications) will require short term reporting (monthly or so). The other factor that may influence the reporting period, will be the authorization gates that are put on the project. But as far as the project team, there must be regular reporting (a max of two weeks) unless the project is very dormant.
Thanks for sharing John,
So you can have project not reporting for p to three months. Are the internal project of for a external client? If external, would the invoicing be quarterly also? Saving Changes...
Depends on the audience. Ideally, the status is centralized, updated daily, with weekly notifications that include a hyperlink to the dashboard. Dependent on the audience, or communication plan, weekly could vary.
The great thing about a centralized solution, the dashboard view displayed can be dependent on the viewer - the right information to the right person.
Thanks Andrew
A centralized solution can bring you a up to date information daily. The reporting is facilitated! Saving Changes...
It varies from project to project , industry to industry and Organization to Organization,
You should focus on what are the Organizational Process Assets of the Organization doing the project
Thanks Mudassar
Yes it is driven by the industry, the organisation and the project, also stakeholders. Saving Changes...
As already everyone has pointed out, it depends mainly on the project and the customer.
I'd say that once a week seems a fair number and it is what I have encountered in different cases throughout my career. I have also learned that Managing Directors like One Pagers, so I use these to provide a high level summary of project status (i.e. also traffic light system works)
Thanks Eduard,
One page weekly is very interesting. Then a guest there is a more complete report produce a different frequency! Saving Changes...
This depends on project duration. If project is of small duration, weekly internal and external reporting should be fine. If working on very large project, it is recommended to have internal 2 weeks and monthly external report.
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1 reply by Vincent Guerard
Dec 08, 2016 9:56 PM
Vincent Guerard
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Thanks Parvin
Yes interesting, I like the 2 weeks on large project
Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Look at your project activities' duration. You should try to meet at least as often as the shortest duration to gather progress made on the activities.
For example, if on your project the activities range from 3 to 5 weeks, You would want to meet at least every 3 weeks.
On the other hand, if the activities range from 5 days to 25 days, you would want to meet at least every week.
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1 reply by Vincent Guerard
Dec 08, 2016 9:59 PM
Vincent Guerard
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Thank you for your input Stephane
So you will have reporting (meeting) according to the shortest activities in the project.
To define reporting period in Communication Plan we usually look firstly at OPA, e.g.: 1) Investment/Steering/BoD calendars 2) Core executives regular briefings 3) JSC external report release dates 4) Company financial procedures (to report/adjust your project budget) 5) PMO procedures Normally, top executives&shareholders reporting period is 90-120 days, for PMO and financials every 30 days.
Then we need to define optimal reporting period for another key internal stakeholders, and those who want to stay informed. It based on project M&C processes established to keep project on track. To define it we look at the milestones in project schedule and number of work packages, and use very simple formula:
(D/maxN)*7, where D – Project or phase duration, days; N – Number of Milestones or completed Work Packages in that particular project or phase; 7 – Multiplier, denote the number of critical deliverables in your report.There may be another multiplier instead of 7, based on common sense.
If the phase duration is 200 days and N of work packages need to be finished in this phase is 40, then we need to control project delverables at least every 5 days (200d/40) and the optimal reporting time is 30-35 days (5*7)
If the phase duration is 6 days and N of work packages finished in this phase is 11 (we are in rush) then we need to control project at least twice a day (48h/11), and the optimal reporting time vary from 3 to 6 days.
We try to agree on templates in advance and reuse information from it
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1 reply by Vincent Guerard
Dec 08, 2016 10:06 PM
Vincent Guerard
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Thanks Victoria
A clearly define method, flexible. It make sense to me.
Nothing will get behind without rapid knowledge of the PM.
This depends on project duration. If project is of small duration, weekly internal and external reporting should be fine. If working on very large project, it is recommended to have internal 2 weeks and monthly external report.
Thanks Parvin
Yes interesting, I like the 2 weeks on large project Saving Changes...
Look at your project activities' duration. You should try to meet at least as often as the shortest duration to gather progress made on the activities.
For example, if on your project the activities range from 3 to 5 weeks, You would want to meet at least every 3 weeks.
On the other hand, if the activities range from 5 days to 25 days, you would want to meet at least every week.
Thank you for your input Stephane
So you will have reporting (meeting) according to the shortest activities in the project.
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Dec 09, 2016 7:23 AM
Stéphane Parent
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Unless that shortest activity is an outlier, that would be correct, Vincent.
