I believe that we’re failing to recognise the purpose of the process of reporting. There is particular information your boss needs in order to show her boss that she is on top of things and able to run the show effectively. The software gathers information from different sources within the project and converts them in spreadsheets, graphs and charts. It requires focus on outcomes. Our outcomes: what did we achieve? So change the routine now and again to encourage people to take notice. However, just circulating a report on its own is unlikely to achieve the goal of ‘communication’, which is to successfully exchange information. Project managers have a huge opportunity to use the process of reporting as a mechanism for managing stakeholder expectations, perceptions and behaviour. The outcomes you have achieved. As your project progresses, stakeholders evolve in terms of their level of understanding and involvement, and also their own priorities. They are readings that enable a manager to assess performance towards the achievement of objectives. Reporting helps to maintain a dialogue with stakeholders, transfer knowledge, build confidence, enable stakeholder decisions and influence their actions. In a discussion about using video as a method of providing project update reports, I asked if people thought their stakeholders would actually take the time to view a video. Instead we need to be communicating at ‘stakeholder level’ - as a peer to each of our stakeholders. First Example: Second Example: LOGFRAME EXAMPLES. When you travel on a plane do you pay attention to the safety briefing from the flight attendants? The value of any project cannot be measured without defining success. The most common type of project report, a project status report provides a general state of the project to its stakeholders. Regular communication is essential for good project management and reports have a role to play in keeping stakeholders informed about milestones, issues, resolutions, costs, risks and next steps. Ask what each stakeholder requires in terms of reporting and updates. Well, hurrah for that but the alarm bells are ringing. When projects involve several internal and external stakeholders, it is often necessary to prepare and distribute a lot of different reports containing subsets of similar data and information. Finally, the outcome of the course correction is reported. The two are similar enough that they are often lumped together, but there are some key differences between outputs and outcomes. It is important as part of the business case to define the outcomes and how they will be measured. Being a believer in 'Less is More', I recommend keeping reporting succinct, mirroring the 'stand up' team meetings approach and providing what time-poor stakeholders really want to know: Taking things step-by-step can help ease anxieties among everyone involved, and ensure a winning result. The Project Outcomes Report Page will show you which Project Outcomes Report s are Due, Overdue, Submitted, and Not Yet Due. Are project reports just stuff to be sent out as a box-ticking exercise? 2. It compares this with an established baseline to see if the project is on track or; if adjustments have to be made if the project is behind its schedule. Let’s explore common types of project reports and how to make them work for you. This approach can create a 'pull' wherein stakeholders actually take more of an interest and contact the team occasionally to ask questions. Sending a message does not mean it’s been received or understood. Do they want to see a copy of your report every time, relevant sections only, or five bullet points and a link to it? Although organizations and individuals have been practicing project management for nearly two decades, and institutions and researchers have been teaching and studying its tools and techniques for nearly as long, much is yet unknown about the factors influencing project outcomes. Keep in mind that KPIs are notobjectives. So it is worth assuming that information at the bottom of a long email is unlikely to be read and attachments will probably not be opened. Five ways to make project reporting an effective stakeholder engagement tool, “do you have the information you require to approve my choice of supplier?”, “were you able to view my video report and did it cover the necessary points?”. To summarize, project management reporting hopes to be: The effective communication link between all the different stakeholders on the project and the organization The helping hand in gathering important data and information in order to keep track and records of … Being slightly vulnerable is also quite genuine - afterall, no project runs smoothly so being open about risks as well as certainties can help engage the project stakeholder. Project status rep… just presenting what’s important to the project manager. The Project Status Report becomes the window to the world to share what is going on with the project on the inside. The process of reporting affects how well we achieve those outcomes. All Rights Reserved, PMO tips â keep your projects on track during the…, How to define a process for project metrics and outcomes, Project Milestones: Using outcomes to tell the story…, Defining project success - the importance of your…, Role of Project Sponsor in Agile Project Management. 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