Henry HattenrathProject Consultant| Tectonic Engineering MSA LLCNew York, Ny, United States
One of the most obvious and far reaching arteries in the body of the project Communication Plans are the reports from the project team and contractors. The content of these reports is the life blood of the communication network to provide readers with objective information on the health of the project and individual contracts contributing to project realization.
From my experience on design and construction projects in the rail transit industry, the progress reports issued by the Project Manager (PM) will define current status and identify key performance indicators throughout the project life cycle. In addition to management accountability, the reports become the historical records for future use in planning projects and contracts. The reports provide data that can be used for estimates, schedules, production rates, and durations for design and construction processes as well as other qualitative project management knowledge areas such as risk management, quality, safety, procurement planning and contract administration.
Depending on the targeted audience, the monthly progress reports by the PM can have many formats, varied levels of content detail and different publishing and distribution dates. Reports may be tailored for internal customers, funding partners, executive management and oversight consultants. However, it is imperative that published reports use the same data base so that metrics match from report to report for the same reporting period.
Project Monthly Report content may include categorized topics such as: A) Project Scope/Description of Work/Project Changes. B) Summary Schedule/Project Milestones. C) Project Progress – Planned and Actual, Intermediate (Contractor) Milestones. D) Current Status-Reporting Period. E) History of Completed Work Milestones. F) Financial – Budget and Expenses. G) Other: Contingency Management, Contract Management, Risk Management, Resource Management.
Contractor Monthly Progress Report content may include categorized topics such as: A) Executive Summary, Contractor PM Assessment, and Issues Affecting Progress. B) Contract Scope/Description of Work. C) Summary Schedule/ Contract Milestones. D) Contract Progress – Planned and Actual. E) Subcontractor Milestones. F) Current Status-Reporting Period. G) Status Section – Critical Issues, Correspondence, Submittals, Deliverables, Contract Changes, Invoices. H) Financial Summary – Contract Amount, Payments, Proposed Changes. I) Other: Resource Management, Quality, Safety, Materials Management, Code Compliance. J) Attachments: Progress Photographs, Schedule, Logs, Certifications.
Good Practices for Monthly Reports
• Identify Project report requirements in the Project Management Plan (PMP)-Communication Plan, and in Project Management Office (PMO) procedures
• Specify Contractor report requirements contract documents
• Assure Key Performance Indicators (KPI) complement all type reports and supporting data is available to PMO and PM
• Ensure content, format, and language is consistent across all reports
• List contact information for PM and other primary content contributors
Good Practices for Distribution and Review
• Use a standard list of recipients including all project team members, designated PMO officers, and other targeted audience
• Distribute in a format that is readable across electronic medium such as tablets, and iPhone
• Discuss monthly reports at project/progress meetings
• Transmit reports with cover letter that summarizes PM cursory comments and assessments, items of interest, and items requiring project team action
TIP: KPIs that reflect unfavorably for multiple reporting periods and across significant number of projects in a program should be re-assessed against original assumptions.
TIP: PMO procedure should identify variance thresholds for KPI and planned/actual metrics where reports are required to specify PM project performance assessment and corrective action.
TIP: Photographs should integrated in reports and they should be updated for each reporting period, captioned, and reasonably reflect field conditions - no more than one month earlier. Saving Changes...
Great tips Henry, your recommend having multiple reports adapted to different stakeholders, that make perfect sense.
How do you go about making sure they are concistent ? Do you use a specific tool or it is custom to your organisation/project?
Yes @Maria, That could have been a blog or an article.
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1 reply by Henry Hattenrath
Jan 03, 2017 8:20 PM
Henry Hattenrath
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Hi Vincent
The Project Controls (PC) group in the PMO is responsible to compile actuals, calculate metrics and ensure consistency in format, content and language of narrative across several monthly projects reports to MTA, federal funding agencies, internal one-page executive summaries, and external management oversight summaries. While this currently relies on the PC, it was previously accomplished using a separate integrated MS Excel file maintained by the Project Team using a data input sheet with linked fields to other sheets formatted for each type report based on specific audience needs and preferences.
Henry
Saving Changes...
Henry HattenrathProject Consultant| Tectonic Engineering MSA LLCNew York, Ny, United States
Jan 03, 2017 3:16 PM
Replying to Vincent Guerard
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Great tips Henry, your recommend having multiple reports adapted to different stakeholders, that make perfect sense.
How do you go about making sure they are concistent ? Do you use a specific tool or it is custom to your organisation/project?
Yes @Maria, That could have been a blog or an article.
Hi Vincent
The Project Controls (PC) group in the PMO is responsible to compile actuals, calculate metrics and ensure consistency in format, content and language of narrative across several monthly projects reports to MTA, federal funding agencies, internal one-page executive summaries, and external management oversight summaries. While this currently relies on the PC, it was previously accomplished using a separate integrated MS Excel file maintained by the Project Team using a data input sheet with linked fields to other sheets formatted for each type report based on specific audience needs and preferences.
Henry Saving Changes...
Thomas KennedyProject Engineer| BPAberdeen, Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom
Great Post, I tend to compile a variety of different weekly and monthly reports for different audiences supported by the project controls group utilising Microsoft office. If anyone has experiences of using alternatives that could simplify this I would be interested to hear. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Like Thomas, I tailor my status reports to its audience: what I show my client is usually different than what I show my sponsor or manager.
The important thing is to make sure that you collect the right data to support your report and KPIs. That might sounds tautological but you need to make sure, as Henry points out, that the team leads, including suppliers, provide you with the information that you need, not what they wish to report. Saving Changes...
Philippe SchulerSenior Instructor/Lecturer in Project/Program/Account PMO Management| Independant ConsultantLes Choux, France
Great and very useful article. My experience in monthly/weekly reporting: - be honest and clarify numbers with soft data, - challenge and validate the data from others, - report in a timely manner so that information can be reviewed (this is a reporting KPI for me. No last minute reporting!) - tailor the report to the requirements from the governance/communication plan. Saving Changes...
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