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

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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?

Why is a progress report 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.

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

Quarterly Business Review

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 Report

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

Progress Report Template

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

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Martin luenendonk.

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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.

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Blog Business

How to Write a Professional Progress Report 

By Daleska Pedriquez , Jun 28, 2022

progress report

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: 

progress report

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. 

progress report

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. 

progress report

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. 

progress report

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. 

progress report

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!) 

progress report

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. 

progress report

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.

progress report

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.

progress report

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.

progress report

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!

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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.

Progress Report Template

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.

business plan progress report

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.

business plan progress report

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.

Ask by Slite - Strop searching, start asking.

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..

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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:

monthly report template

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.

roadblock, solution, timeline, problem solving

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.

an infographic about how to transform verbs into nouns, tips for writing a progress report for project managers

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.

melting popsicle, imagery

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.

hiring progress report template

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.

milestones reached in a progress report

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:

goals for next month in a progress report

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.

daily progress report, report template piktochart

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.

example of challenges

Lessons Learned

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

example of lessons learned

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.

cover of a monthly progress report template

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:

suggesting mode google docs

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 .

team progress report, template piktochart

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.

checklist for reports, tips for creating reports, report checklist

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.

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10 Free Progress Report Templates in Excel, Word, & ClickUp

ClickUp Contributor

February 14, 2024

Every project manager knows: keeping everyone in the loop on the status of your project can sometimes feel like herding cats. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Between monitoring the next steps, checking up on your member’s workloads, and reporting back to stakeholders—there’s a lot of information to keep on hand. And it takes more than a detailed folder system on your hard drive to keep it all together.

The solution begins with a standardized progress report system to easily collect and distribute key project management updates in a timely manner.

…But how do you create this standardized process? With a customizable progress report template, of course. 🙂

Progress report templates provide the proper pre-built structure to save time and minimize errors while preparing your progress reports—as long as you know what features to look for!

It all starts with you.

Your specific project requirements, current processes, and your preferred free project management software will impact which progress report template works best for your team and use case. But no need to take to the web! We’ve got everything you need to find the best progress report template in this very article.

Follow along as we cover all of the ins and outs of project progress reports. Find key definitions, feature breakdowns, and access to 10 of the best progress report templates for your favorite work tools.

What is a Progress Report Template?

What makes a good project progress report template, 1. progress report template by clickup, 2. project status report template by clickup, 3. project tracker template by clickup, 4. campaign progress report template by clickup, 5. production tracking template by clickup, 6. hr progress report template by clickup, 7. start stop continue template by clickup, 8. monthly business status report template by clickup, 9. gantt excel progress report template for excel, 10. microsoft word weekly progress report template.

A progress report template is a pre-built form, page, or checklist to consistently provide detailed project documentation in a timely manner. These resources can be tailored to fit the specific needs of your project or team processes, and are generally kept by the project managers to share with members and stakeholders on a weekly or monthly basis.

Progress report templates are easily shared, copied, and customized, eliminating the need to start from scratch every week. Instead, simply plug and play the updates into your custom team document and fire it off to your key players.

But not all progress reports can be shared across teams and industries. Your use case, project type, and tech stack will determine which project progress report template is right for you. And the quicker you can spot the key differences and must-have features, the quicker you’ll be on your way to meeting your goals and delivering the progress reports of your supervisor’s dreams. 💜

So if not all teams can use the same progress report templates, how do you know which template is the one for you?

To avoid the time-consuming and frustrating practice of trial and error, look for the following features when using a template while creating progress reports:

  • Customizable and easily edited to tailor the pre-built document to your needs
  • Built-in collaboration features like live editing and URL sharing to ensure all members and stakeholders have access
  • Multiple views to support a list, Kanban board, Gantt chart, timeline, and other highly visual methods for managing progress
  • Actionable tasks to hold members accountable for upcoming items and keep your project moving forward
  • Multiple integrations to bring more context into your progress report from other work tools

ClickUp Docs, Chat, and List view in ClickUp

These five features may be a drop in the bucket compared to what you’re looking for. But the good news is, your template is out there! There are an infinite amount of resources at your fingertips thanks to your favorite search engine, but why waste an hour (or a day) digging through pages of links? Instead, start with the best. 🤓

10 Free Progress Report Templates

We’ve done our homework to bring you the top progress report templates for ClickUp, Excel, and Word. No matter your preferred software, use case, or work style, we’ve got the progress report template you’ve been searching for. ✨

Progress Report Template by ClickUp

The Progress Report Template by ClickUp is the ideal starting point. Think of this template as the benchmark to compare all other progress report templates to—it’s that versatile! Powered by ClickUp’s dynamic built-in document editor, ClickUp Docs , this template has every key feature you need to establish and optimize your progress reporting processes.

This one-pager is broken down into clear sections to establish the who, what, where, and when of the project you’re dealing with. It’s formatted to help you provide a quick overview of the major updates to keep both the project team and external stakeholders informed about where things stand, and what needs to be done next.

Scrolling down the page, you’ll be prompted to share the status of the project, any milestones it has reached to date, and any next steps needed—everything your stakeholders want to know. It also offers the ability to highlight any issues popping up and need-to-know information for anyone reading the project progress report for the first time.

Project Status Report Template by ClickUp

Ready to kick things up a notch? 🔥

The Project Status Report Template by ClickUp is the digital whiteboard template your visual-learning team members have been asking for! Using ClickUp’s collaborative Whiteboards feature, your team can work together to define:

  • The project overview
  • Progress made since your last report
  • Any additional support or resources needed to move forward
  • Key takeaways and report highlights
  • Areas that went well and those that need improvement

It’s essentially a highly-visual and collaborative pulse check that you can consult throughout the project to report on its progress—without having to copy a new document each week.

And since this template is designed for ClickUp Whiteboards, you’ll have the power to complete the diagram alongside your team using collaborative live editing, see who’s viewing your board, embed media and website cards from other software, and convert text directly into actionable tasks. Whiteboards truly are every project manager’s dream tool. 🏆

Project Tracker Template by ClickUp

The thing is—you’re probably not managing just one project at a time. Overseeing multiple projects and even more individual tasks can be a daunting feat of its own. Without the right progress report template, communicating the status of each status and its larger project can be nearly impossible! That’s what makes the Project Tracker Template by ClickUp so valuable.

With this List template, you can easily group tasks by their current stages using custom task statuses like Getting Ready , Production , and Going Live —with the ability to add more statuses if needed! But that’s not all. This template is packed with four Custom Fields for:

  • Project stage
  • Project duration (in days)
  • RAG (to communicate priorities)
  • Date of completion

Plus, you’ll have access to four ready-made workflow views to manage your project progress from every angle, including a highly visual Gantt chart and interactive Kanban board arranged by tasks per assignee.

Meanwhile, anyone taking a look will be able to look at other tasks related to the, plotting out and executing them in a way that makes sense for everyone involved. 

Campaign Progress Report Template by ClickUp

Now let’s dig into the specifics by use case—starting with the Campaign Progress Report Template by ClickUp ! There are a ton of variables to consider when running and managing your advertising campaigns. Unlike software development or employee onboarding, cost and real-time performance metrics play a key role throughout the entire campaign. If one element isn’t sitting well with your audience, it’s time to pivot.

This ClickUp Doc template makes those elements simple to maintain with a formatted document to help you choose which project OKRs to monitor, keep an eye on cost, manage revenue, and more. For example, you can quickly visualize how much of your campaign budget has already been spent to date and how much revenue that investment has brought in. You can also display a chart of clicks and conversions to identify any key trends.

Use this template to monitor your campaign’s ad effectiveness and results, both to share with other stakeholders and to make adjustments as needed for maximum ROI.

Production Tracking Template by ClickUp

Videos are some of the most complex projects most marketing and communications teams take on. They require close collaboration between multiple team members, and sometimes months’ worth of planning, execution, and post-production to publish the final product.

That process gets even more complicated when you’re overseeing the production of multiple videos at a time—that’s when the Production Tracking Template by ClickUp comes in handy.

This hefty template applies five custom task statuses, 11 Custom Fields, and six project views to your Workspace. In the default List view, every video is represented as a task that can be organized by its current status. To manage your production schedule, navigate over to your Calendar view for a visual representation of your posting cadence.

And for overall production progress, use your pre-built Board view to see Custom Fields in action. From your Kanban board, you’ll find key information like client approvals, storyboard links, production types, briefs, and additional resources for more context at a glance. This maintains a streamlined overview, while still providing the details needed to get videos finished on time and on spec for publication.

HR Report Template by ClickUp

One of the most important HR processes is assessing new employees after the first 30, 60, and 90 days of their employment. The HR Report Template by ClickUp helps you do just that. Use the simple ClickUp Doc to enter employee information, then note where your new hires may require additional training or supervision.

The single-page template includes sections for multiple review periods, allowing you to track progress over time. The result is a more streamlined process to ensure new employees in your organization succeed in their onboarding.

Start Stop Continue Template by ClickUp

Every project has important decision points at which you need to determine whether current tasks are worth starting, continuing, or need to be stopped. The Start Stop Continue Template by ClickUp helps you keep track of exactly those decisions.

For each area, you can include virtual sticky notes of tasks that need the action described in that section. Over time, you can move those sticky notes around easily as needed. Finally, helpful color coding ensures that it’s always easy to see what your team needs to focus on or stop doing.

Try these stop start continue templates !

Monthly Business Status Report Template by ClickUp

Let’s take it to the 30,000-foot view. If you’re starting a business or shipping a new product, key stakeholders need to know basic information about how that launch is going. The Monthly Business Status Report Template by ClickUp helps to simplify the process.

This ClickUp Doc template offers an easy overview of needed scope changes , deliverables, and capacity issues. It also allows you to highlight the work completed in a given month, giving members and stakeholders a window into how the business is performing and what needs to happen next.

Progress Report Template for Excel

For all you spreadsheet traditionalists out there, this free progress report template for Excel is for you. 💜 

A cover sheet allows for basic information, including a traffic-light color code system on overall status, scope, budget, and timeline .

From there, you’ll find a more detailed Gantt chart with the individual tasks that led to larger judgment calls. That way, interested stakeholders and team members can stick with the broader overview, or dig into the details as needed.

Progress Report Template for Word

The Progress Report Template for Microsoft Word helps project managers deliver the status, project summary , budget overview, and risks related to your project at any given time. This template keeps it simple, with easily edited sections to help you paint the picture of your project’s health over time. Plus, it offers the ability to customize its theming to align with your brand.

How to Provide Feedback on Progress Reports

Now that you have progress report templates, let’s talk about how to give (and receive) feedback on progress reports. Here are some tips to make the process as smooth and productive as possible:

1. Provide Concrete Evidence

When giving feedback on progress reports, it’s essential to provide concrete evidence to support your comments. For example, instead of saying “this report is not detailed enough,” provide specific examples of information that may be missing or could benefit from more detail. This helps the recipient understand exactly what needs to be addressed and how.

2. Focus on Solutions

When providing feedback, it’s important to focus on solutions rather than just pointing out problems. Offer suggestions on how to improve the progress report or address any issues that may have been raised.

3. Be Timely

It’s crucial to provide feedback in a timely manner. Waiting too long to share your thoughts may result in the same issues being repeated in future progress reports, which can slow down project progress.

4. Encourage Open Communication

Encourage open communication between team members when discussing progress reports. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and allows for any questions or concerns to be addressed promptly.

5. Acknowledge Effort

Be sure to acknowledge the effort that went into creating the progress report, even if there are areas that need improvement. This motivates team members and shows them that their work is valued.

6. Be Specific

When receiving feedback on your own progress reports, ask for specific examples or suggestions for improvement. This helps you better understand how to enhance future reports and ensures that everyone is on the same page.

7. Be Open to Change

Be open to change and willing to adjust your progress reports based on feedback. Being open to change will improve the overall effectiveness of the report and ensures that it accurately reflects project progress.

Track Success with a Free Progress Report Template

You know the old saying about focusing on progress over perfection? Well at ClickUp, we believe in progress toward perfection—and the right progress report template is the first step in achieving that!

Investing your time in a progress report template is a simple addition to your production workflow that keeps everyone up-to-date about where the project stands. Any of the templates above will start you off on the right foot, especially a customizable template from ClickUp.

Access all of the templates listed above and over 1,000 more from ClickUp’s vast Template Library , plus, hundreds of rich project management features , tons of integrations, and more when you sign up for ClickUp today !

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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.

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business plan progress report

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 .

business plan progress report

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 .

business plan progress report

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?

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How to write an effective progress report

business plan 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.

How To Write An Effective Progress Report

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.

business plan progress report

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business plan progress report

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.

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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:

Progress Report Template Example

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.

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How to Write a Solid Progress Report for Project Success

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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

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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.

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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.

How to Write a Progress Report (Sample Template)

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  • 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.

Screen shot of Team Compass status reporting software.

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 Reports

  • 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.

Do's and don'ts for writing plans for progress reports

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 .

do's and don'ts for writing progress reports deadlines

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 !

What Are Business Reports & Why They Are Important: Examples & Templates

Business reports examples and templates for managers by datapine

Table of Contents

1) What Is A Business Report?

2) Types Of Business Reports

3) Business Reports Examples & Samples

4) Why Do You Need Business Reports?

5) How To Setup A Business Report?

6) Challenges Of Business Reports

In your daily operations, you likely notice your processes and ‘activities’ constantly changing – sales trends and volume, marketing performance metrics, warehouse operational shifts, or inventory management changes, among many others.

All these little alterations in your organizational activities are impacting the global well-being of your company, your warehouse, your restaurant, or even your healthcare facility. Whether you manage a big or small company, business reports must be incorporated to establish goals, track operations, and strategy to get an in-depth view of the overall company state.

But with so much information being collected daily from every department, static business reports created manually will not give your company the fresh insights it needs to stay competitive. Businesses that want to succeed in today’s crowded market need to leverage the power of their insights in an accessible and efficient way. This is where modern business reports created with interactive data visualizations come to the rescue. 

Traditional means of reporting are tedious and time-consuming. Due to how the human brain processes information, presenting insights in charts or graphs to visualize significant amounts of complex information is more accessible and intuitive.  Thanks to modern, user-friendly online data analysis tools armed with powerful visualizations, companies can benefit from interactive reports that are accessible and understandable for everyone without needing prior technical skills.

Here, we take the time to define a business report, explore visual report examples, and look at how to create them for various needs, goals, and objectives. In the process, we will use online data visualization software to interact with and drill deeper into bits and pieces of relevant data. Let's get started.

What Is A Business Report?

A business report is a tool that helps collect and analyze historical and current data from a company’s operations, production, and more. Through various types of business reports, organizations make critical decisions to ensure growth and operational efficiency.

To understand the best uses for these reports, it’s essential to properly define them. According to authors Lesikar and Pettit, “A corporate-style report is an orderly, objective communication of factual information that serves some organizational purpose”. It organizes information for a specific business purpose. While some reports will go into a more detailed approach to analyzing the functionality and strategies of a department, other examples of business reports will be more concentrated on the bigger picture of organizational management, for example, investor relations. That’s where the magic of these kinds of reports truly shines: no matter for which company goal you need, their usage can be various and, at the same time, practical.

Traditional business reports are often static and text reach (bullet points, headings, subheadings, etc.). Classically formatted in sections such as the summary, table of contents, introduction, body, and conclusion, this report format is no longer the most efficient when it comes to extracting the needed insights to succeed in this fast-paced world. On one hand, by the time these reports have been finished, the insights included within them might not be useful anymore. On the other hand, the fact that it is mostly text and numbers makes them hard to understand, making the analysis strategy segregated and inefficient.  

The visual nature of modern business dashboards leaves all the aforementioned issues in the past. Thanks to interactive data visualizations and modern business intelligence solutions , the analysis sequence can be done fast and efficiently while empowering non-technical users to rely on digital insights for their decision-making process. 

Your Chance: Want to test professional business reporting software? Explore our 14-day free trial. Benefit from great business reports today!

Types Of Business Reports?

Before creating your business outcome reports, it is important to consider your core goals and objectives. This way, you can pick the correct type of report for each situation. Here, we present you with five common types of visual reports that you can use for different analytical purposes. 

1. Analytical reports

Analytical reports are reporting tools that use qualitative and quantitative data to analyze the performance of a business strategy or as support when a company needs to make important decisions. A modern analytical dashboard created with top reporting software can include statistics, historical data, as well as forecasts, and real-time information. Let’s look into it with a sales example. 

This dashboard is an example of one of the most common types of business reports: analytical reports

**click to enlarge**

This visually appealing business analysis report contains relevant sales KPIs to measure performance, such as the average revenue per unit, the customer lifetime value, acquisition costs, and some sales targets to be met. The value of this analytical report lies in the fact that you get a lot of relevant metrics in a single dashboard. The data can be filtered and explored on different time frames such as daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, depending on the discussion that it needs to support.   

With this kind of sample in hand, managers can quickly understand if they are meeting their targets, find improvement opportunities, get a bigger picture of their sales, and find efficient ways to proceed with new strategies.  

2. Research reports

Next in our types of business reports that we will discuss is a research report. Companies often use these kinds of reports to test the viability of a new product, study a new geographical area to sell, or understand their customer’s perception of their brand image. To generate this type of report, managers often contact market research agencies to gather all the relevant information related to the studied topic. This brand analysis dashboard is a great example.

A brand analytics dashboard as an example of research business reports

The image above is a business report template of a brand analysis. Here, we can see the results of a survey that was conducted to understand the brand’s public perception on different topics. The value of this market research dashboard lies in its interactivity. Often, research reports are depicted in long and static PowerPoint presentations. With a modern market research dashboard like this one, all the info can be filtered upon need, and the whole presentation of results can be done on one screen. For example, if you want to know the brand awareness of a particular region or age group, you just have to click on the graphs, and the entire dashboard will be filtered based on this information. Like this, the analysis sequence is fast, interactive, and efficient. 

3. Industry reports

Following on from the research topic, our next type is an industry report. Benchmarks and targets are excellent ways to measure a company’s performance and success. But, these targets need to be based on realistic values, especially considering how crowded and competitive today’s markets are. For this purpose, companies perform industry reports. By getting a clear picture of the average industry numbers, such as the competitive landscape, industry size, economic indicators, and trends, they can plan smart strategies and create realistic targets for performance. 

Technavio Global Ice Cream Market 2020-2024

Let's take this industry report by Technavio about the Global Ice Cream Market as an example. Here, we can see relevant numbers concerning the ice cream market, how COVID-19 impacted it, and what is expected to happen between the years 2020-2024. For example, the business report sample shows that the pandemic has positively impacted the ice cream market and that it grew 4.33% during 2020. The report also shows that there is increasing popularity of plant-based ice cream and that this trend is driving market growth. This is invaluable information for an ice cream company as they can invest in new products with almost certain success.

4. Progress reports

Next, we have progress reports. Unlike our other examples, this type of business report is not necessarily based on deep research or advanced analytics but rather on delivering a clear picture of the performance of a particular area or business goal. Their visual nature makes them the perfect tool to support meetings or business discussions as they provide a glance into the status of different metrics. A common use of progress reports is with KPI scorecards . Let’s look at an example. 

A balanced scorecard showing financial and customer objectives, learning and growth, and internal objectives.

The image above is a business report example of a balanced scorecard. The goal here is to quickly understand the development of metrics related to 4 key business areas: financial, customers, learning and growth, and internal objectives. Each of these metrics is displayed in a current value and compared to a set target. Paired with this, the template has five colors for the performance status. This allows anyone who uses this report to quickly understand just by looking at the colors if the target is being met.

5. By business function

Getting a bigger picture of a company’s performance is a great benefit of the best business reports. But, apart from helping the company as a whole, the real value of these reports lies in the fact that they empower departments to leverage the power of data analysis for their decision-making process. Instead of the sales department, human resources, or logistics, your entire organization will be data-driven. Let’s look at it with a business report example by function on marketing.  

Business report example by function: a marketing performance dashboard

Created with modern marketing dashboard software , this example entirely focuses on the development of marketing campaigns.  With metrics such as the total number of impressions, clicks, acquisitions, and cost per acquisition being depicted on intuitive gauge charts, you quickly get a clear understanding of the performance of your campaigns. Through this, you can spot any inefficiencies before they become bigger issues and find improvement opportunities to ensure your marketing efforts are paying off. If you want to dig even deeper, this interactive business report can be filtered for specific campaigns so you only see related insights, making this dashboard the perfect tool to support team meetings. 

Business Report Examples And Templates

We’ve answered the question, ‘What is a business report?’ and now, it’s time to look at some real-world examples.

The examples of business reports that we included in this article can be utilized in many different industries; the data can be customized based on the factual information of the specific department, organization, company, or enterprise. Interdepartmental communication can then effectively utilize findings, and the content can be shared with key stakeholders.

Now that we know what they are, let's go over some concrete, real-world instances of visuals you will need to include in your reports.

1. Visual financial business report example

This first example focuses on one of the most vital and data-driven departments of any company: finance. It gathers the most essential financial KPIs a manager needs to have at his fingertips to make an informed decision: gross profit margin, operational expenses ratio (OPEX), both earning before interests (EBIT) and net profit margins, and the income statement. Next to these are the revenue evolution over a year compared to its target predefined, the annual evolution of operational expenses for various internal departments as well as the evolution of the EBIT compared to its target.

Visual of a financial business report example for top-management

The different sets of visual representations of data can clearly point out particular trends or actions that need to be taken to stay on the financial track of a company. All your financial analysis can be integrated into a single visual. When the presentation becomes interactive, clicks will provide even deeper insights into your financial KPIs and the desired outcomes to make a company healthy in its financial operations. The importance of this finance dashboard lies in the fact that every finance manager can easily track and measure the whole financial overview of a specific company while gaining insights into the most valuable KPIs and metrics. Empowering a steadfast and operation-sensitive plan is among the most important goals a company can have, and finance is right in the middle of this process.

Thanks to all this information displayed on a single dashboard, your report is greatly enhanced and backed with accurate information for you to make sound decisions. It becomes easier to implement a solid and operation-sensitive management plan.

2. Visual investor's business report layout

As mentioned earlier, holding an account of your activity, performance, and organization’s assets is important for people outside of the company to understand how it works. When these people are investors, it is all the more critical to have a clean and up-to-date report for them to know how successful is the company they invest in and for you to increase your chances of having more funds. This example provides just that: an exact overview of the most important insights and specific values in a particular time frame.

Visual of a finance KPIs business executive dashboard example for investors

Calculating and communicating KPIs about the overall company situation is what this investors’ relationship dashboard tries to focus on. You learn about the return on equity and return on asset, the debt-equity ratio, and the working capital ratio, but also see the evolution of a share price over time. Each of these metrics is crucial for a potential shareholder, and if they are not monitored regularly and kept under control, it is easy to lose investors’ interest. Tracking them and visualizing them through a modern dashboard is a competitive advantage for your investors’ reports. You can even see on this visual a clear set of data, so you don’t have to dig through numerous amounts of spreadsheets, but clearly see the specific development over time, the percentage gained or lost, ratios, and returns on investments. Not to be limited just to these data, you can always customize and make sample business reports for your specific needs.

3. Visual management report example

The management KPIs presented below focus on the revenue and customer overview seen through a specified quarter of a year. With just a click, you can easily change your specific date range and make an overview of different months or years.

Management business report showing the important KPIs to C-level executives

When analyzing insights on a more specific level, you can easily spot if the revenue is approaching your target value, compare it to the previous year, and see how much of the target you still need to work on. The average number of your revenue per customer compared to your targets can also identify on a more specific level how much you need to adjust your strategy based on your customers’ value. If you see your values have exceeded your goals, you can concentrate on KPIs that haven’t yet reached your target achievement. In this specific example, we have gained insights into how to present your management data, compare them, and evaluate your findings to make better decisions.

This clear overview of data can set apart the success of your management strategy since it is impossible to omit vital information. By gathering all your findings into a single CEO dashboard , the information presented is clear and specific to the management’s needs. The best part of this example report is seen through its interactivity: the more you click, the more data you can present, and the more specific conclusions you can look for.

These report templates that we have analyzed and presented in this article can be a roadmap to effectively create your own report or customize your data to tailor your needs and findings.

4. SaaS management dashboard

The next in our rundown of dynamic business report examples comes from our specialized SaaS metrics dashboard .

A business report example visualizing the number of paying customers, ARPU, CAC, CLTV, and MRR over the course of a month

A SaaS company report example that packs a real informational punch, this particular report format offers a panoramic snapshot of the insights and information every ambitious software-as-a-service business needs to succeed.

With visual KPIs that include customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime value, MMR, and APRU, here, you will find everything you need to streamline your company’s initiatives at a glance. This is an essential tool for both short- and long-term evolution.

5. Sales KPI dashboard

Niche or sector aside, this most powerful of online business reports samples will empower your sales team to improve productivity while increasing revenue on a sustainable basis.

A monthly sales report template focused on high-level metrics such as revenue, profits, costs, incremental sales, accumulated revenue, up/cross-sell rates, etc.

A powerful daily business activity report as well as a tool for long-term growth, our sales dashboard boasts a cohesive mix of visualizations built to boost your business's bottom line.

With centralized access to sales graphs and charts based on churn rates, revenue per sales rep, upselling & cross-selling, and more, this is a company report format that will help you push yourself ahead of the pack (and stay there). It’s a must-have tool for any modern sales team.

6. Retail store dashboard company report example

Retail is another sector that pays to utilize your data to its full advantage. Whatever branch of retail you work in, knowing how to generate a report is crucial, as is knowing which types of reports to work with.

Example of a business report for an online retail store that displays return reasons, total orders, top sellers, average order per customer, etc.

Our interactive retail dashboard is one of our finest visual report examples, as it offers a digestible window of insight into the retail-centric unit as well as transaction-based information that can help you reduce costs while boosting your sales figures over time.

Ideal for target setting and benchmarking as well as strategy formulation, this is an unrivaled tool for any retailer navigating their activities in our fast-paced digital age. If you’re a retailer looking for steady, positive growth, squeezing every last drop of value from your retail metrics is essential—and this dashboard will get you there.

7. Customer service team dashboard

As a key aspect of any successful organizational strategy, optimizing your customer service communications across channels is essential. That’s where our customer service analytics report comes into play.  

Business reporting example for customer service team performance

Making your customer service efforts more efficient, effective, and responsive will not only drastically improve your consumer loyalty rates but also set you apart from your competitors.

One of the best ways to achieve a mean, lean, well-oiled consumer-facing machine is by giving your customer service representatives the tools to perform to the best of their abilities at all times. Armed with a balanced mix of KPIs to track and enhance service performance, this most powerful of business report samples will help you drive down response times while improving your first call resolution rates. It’s a combination that will result in ongoing growth and success.

8. Employee performance dashboard

In addition to your customers, your employees are the beating heart of your organization. Our employee dashboard will give you the power to track the ongoing value and productivity of your internal talent.

Employee performance depicted with business reporting processes.

An ideal formal business report example for any modern HR department, this telling dashboard will give you deep insight into how your employees perform and behave over specific timeframes.

Here, you can examine trends in absenteeism rates, track overtime hours by age group, monitor your training costs, and explore peaks and troughs in productivity across the entire workforce. This melting pot of at-a-glance information will empower you to provide training exactly where it’s needed and get to the heart of any issue that’s affecting productivity or engagement levels. 

Working with this business report format example consistently will ultimately ensure you get the very best return on investment (ROI) from your internal talent.

9. Marketing KPI dashboard

Without a solid multichannel marketing strategy, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever see a consistently healthy ROI from your promotional efforts. Shooting in the dark regarding marketing will also see you fall behind the competition. Enter our marketing dashboard .

Marketing business report for management, with main KPIs about costs and revenue

This business report format template brimming with insight, lets you set accurate performance benchmarks while uncovering a wealth of insight from one intuitive dashboard.

To optimize your promotional campaigns and activities, talking to specific audience segments and using the right touchpoints at precisely the right time is essential. Without a targeted approach, all you’re doing is throwing your time and money away.

This effective company report example offers a balanced overview of your campaigns’ performance by offering the tools to dig deep into vital metrics like cost per acquisition (CPA), customer lifetime value (CLTV), and ROI.

This perfect storm of metrics will show you where your communications or campaigns are failing to drive engagement and where they’re yielding positive results. Armed with this critical information, you can optimize all of your efforts to make the biggest possible impact across channels. An essential report design for any modern organization looking to scale swiftly and consistently.

10. Warehouse KPI dashboard

Being a warehouse manager or decision-maker is a high-pressure job where every decision counts. To keep your fulfillment activities and initiatives fluid, functional, and primed for organizational growth, sweating your data correctly is a must.

A business report example focused on the warehouse performance in the logistics industry

Our warehouse KPI dashboard is a business report sample that aids both real-time decision-making and longer-term strategic planning.

With a powerful selection of logistics-based KPIs, this highly visual business report structure features metrics based on on-time shipment rates, a breakdown of warehouse costs, the number of shipments made over a specified timeframe, and a perfect order rate.

By making this kind of business reports formats a core part of your daily operations, you can eliminate unnecessary costs or activities while boosting overall productivity and significantly improving the success, as well as accuracy, of your warehouse operations. It is an invaluable tool that will help consistently deliver on your fulfillment promises, improving your brand reputation in the process.

11. Cybersecurity dashboard

In our hyper-connected digital age, failing to invest in adequate cybersecurity solutions is the same as leaving your front door wide open when you’re on holiday.

Business report template tracking relevant IT metrics for cybersecurity

To avoid the devastating impact of organizational cyber attacks or informational breaches,  our cyber security IT dashboard will ensure your company is fortified from every angle. This most vital of business report examples will help you fend off any prospective acts of cybercrime while monitoring for any attacks or abnormalities in real-time.

Here, you can keep on top of your cybersecurity rating, track your phishing test success rates, understand how long it takes you to identify an attack (and improve your responsivity), look at how often you backup your company's sensitive information, and discover the most common intrusion rates related to your company from a cohesive space. It’s an essential analysis tool designed to keep your company safe, secure, and happy.

12. CEO dashboard

The CEO is the highest leadership position in an organization. As such, they need to get a complete overview of the entire operations and performance to ensure everything is running smoothly and on track to meet expected goals. Our next example is a scorecard report tracking relevant metrics related to finances, marketing, customer service, and human resources. 

Business report template tracking metrics for the CEO

What makes this template so valuable for the CEO is the fact that it offers a long-term view with benchmarks for quarterly and annual performance. This way, leadership can evaluate the development of the different strategies and spot any inefficiencies at a glance by looking at the green or red colors depicted on each KPI. Plus, each section of the scorecard offers a detailed breakdown of additional information to help dive deeper into the reasons behind a specific result. 

For instance, we can see that there is an increase in the total expenses in the current quarter. However, when taking a deeper look at the yearly breakdown, we can see that the operating expenses ratio has been decreasing for the past three months. Therefore, the quarterly increase is nothing to worry about.

13. Manufacturing production dashboard 

As a production company, you must ensure every aspect of the process is efficiently carried out at its maximum capacity. This means, ensuring machines are working properly, the right amounts of products are being produced, and the least amount are being returned by customers. Our next template aims to help with that task by offering a 360-degree view into a company’s production processes.

Manufacturing business report template displaying main manufacturing KPIs to keep the pulse of your factory

With insights into production volume vs. quantity ordered, top 5 machines by production volume, and return items by reason, the manufacturing manager can spot inefficiencies and identify trends to optimize production and ensure the highest possible ROI. 

For example, looking at the top machines by production can help you spot the ones that might need some maintenance and plan that maintenance time without affecting production. On the other hand, analyzing the returned items by reason can also help improve customer experience and satisfaction. If you see a large amount of returns due to a broken product, it means you need to improve the quality of your materials or the packaging when they are sent to the customer to keep it safer. 

14. IT project management dashboard

Completing a project successfully relies heavily on the team being connected to keep tasks moving at the expected speed. The issue is that it often involves multiple meetings that end up taking a lot of time that could be implemented actually completing the tasks. Our next sample aims to tackle that issue by providing a real-time overview of project development metrics.

IT business reports: project management overview

At the top of the report, we see a breakdown of the different stages of the project with a development percentage and a projected launch date. This is great information to have as it can inform the team about the status of the entire project and any external stakeholders as well.

We then get insights into the project budget, overdue tasks, upcoming deadlines, and employee workload. This is invaluable information that can help optimize any bottlenecks and increase overall efficiency. For instance, we can see that Georg and Nancy are 10+ days overdue with their tasks which is not good for the project. However, a deeper look shows us that these two employees are the ones with the biggest workload, which means they might need some help from other team members to speed up their tasks.

15. HR diversity dashboard 

Diversity in the workplace has become a big priority for organizations and prospective talents. Each year, more and more businesses realize the value of having employees from different backgrounds and cultures as a way to boost their strategies and overall growth. That being said, to be considered a diverse company, you need to ensure your workforce feels comfortable and that the same opportunities are being given to all. Enters our last business report template.

business plan progress report

The template above offers a view into different diversity management metrics from recruitment to talent management. Through this insightful report, HR managers can test the success of their diversity strategies and spot any areas of improvement to ensure the highest level of employee satisfaction. The template is highly interactive and offers insights into diversity by gender, ethnicity, and disabilities.

Analyzing the content of the report, we can see that black employees are the ones with the highest voluntary turnover rate. This is something that needs to be looked into to find the reasons why these employees are not feeling comfortable at the company. On the other hand, we can see that the organization is 1% above the 2% industry standard for hiring employees with disabilities. This is a great indicator, and it can translate into a low 7% of voluntary leaves by these workers.

Now that we’ve looked at report samples, let’s consider the clear-cut business-boosting benefits of these essential analytical tools. These perks will make your company stronger, more fluent, and more efficient on a sustainable basis.

Why Do You Need Business Reports?

Why do you need business reports? 1. Risk assessment & opportunity, 2. Trends & connections, 3. Business Intelligence, 4. Buy-in, 5. Operational efficiency,6. Specificity, 7. Accuracy & consistency, 8. Engagement, 9. Benchmarking, 10. Communication

These reports also enable data collection by documenting the progress you make. Through them, you have the means to compare different periods and activity, growth, etc. You can better see which products or services are more successful than others, which marketing campaign outperforms which other, and which markets or segments require more attention. Collecting all this data is indispensable – and by doing so, you build a paper trail of your past (or, namely, a data trail). They let people outside the company (like banks or investors) know about your activity and performance and enable stakeholders to understand your organization’s tangible and intangible assets.

  • Risk assessment & opportunity: With a business report, you can increase the understanding of risks and opportunities within your company . Sample reports accentuate the link between financial and non-financial performance: they streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve overall cohesion in an informed, commercially ‘safe’ way.
  • Trends & connections: Business report samples can help you compare your performance to other internal units or companies in the same sector. On a more specific level, a report template can help you dig thoroughly into operational metrics and details and discover correlations that would be otherwise overlooked. In today’s hyper-connected digital age, gaining a deeper insight into your data will empower you to formulate strategies that will accelerate key areas of your business growth through trend identification. This fact alone highlights the importance of a business analysis report.
  • Business intelligence (BI): If used correctly, the best BI tools will answer a vital question: ‘Will I survive on the market?’ By creating a business report of a company built to improve your BI activities and answer essential organizational questions, you will gain the ability to tackle deeper specific insights that can bring operational value and control the overall expenditures. By knowing how to set up such a report with specific samples and templates, you can provide building blocks to establish a successful business intelligence strategy.
  • Buy-in: While there are many different types of business reports for a company, they all have one common trait: gathering data and tracking the business activities related to something specific. By working with the right reports, users can perform in-depth visual analyses of many key areas or functions and provide informed recommendations that will ultimately improve efficiency and encourage innovation. Regardless of how good or beneficial an idea might be , getting buy-in from senior executives or external partners is often a major roadblock to progress. However, a good report template presents a level of depth and presentation that is both factual and convincing and will encourage buy-in from the people with the power to sign off on new strategies, initiatives, or ideas.
  • Operational efficiency: The more factual the report is, the clearer the data. When your data is well organized and crystal clear, it’s possible to interpret your business activities cost-effectively, reducing the time required to analyze findings while saving countless working hours sifting through metrics for actionable insights. A good template presents an in-depth analysis where the writers show how they have interpreted their findings. For example, a marketing report can reduce the time needed to analyze a specific campaign, while an HR report can provide insights into the recruiting process and evaluate, for example, why the cost per hire increased?
  • Specificity: When you create a business information report, you are giving yourself a key opportunity to address specific issues that are often used when decisions need to be made. As author Alan Thomson says, “A company report conveys information to assist in business decision-making. [It] is the medium in which to present this information.” They have several purposes: some record information to plan for the future, some record past information to understand a situation, and others present a solution to a pressing problem. Some executive dashboards are for daily usage, while a monthly business report template will help you pinpoint your activities on a more gradual, incremental basis.  They are all essential to commercial success, as they bring clarity to complex analysis. As mentioned earlier, the clearer the data, the more cost-effective results will be, so keeping in mind the exact data to incorporate into this kind of report should be essential in deciding what kind of report to generate. You can find multiple key performance indicator examples in different industries, which should be considered when creating that kind of report. You can also generate an interdepartmental report or between businesses to compare industry values and see how your company stands in the market.
  • Accuracy & consistency: In The Age of Information, data is a vast landscape, and if you want to use it to your advantage, aiming for consistency and accuracy is key. If your data is off or presents hit-and-miss findings, it could cost your company in the long run.  Working with an online dashboard tool to produce your reports is an incredible advantage for the ease of use, the time saved, and, most importantly, the accuracy of the information you will use. As you work with real-time data, everything on your report will be up-to-date, and the decisions you will take will be backed with the latest info. Business report examples are significantly helpful when you need to explore your data and perform data analyses to extract actionable insights. They will deliver an important added value to your report thanks to the visualization of your findings, bringing more clarity and comprehension to the analyses, which is their primary purpose.
  • Engagement: As intuitive, digestible, and visual tools, business-centric reporting tools are easier to understand and tell a story that is far more likely to resonate with your audience.  While exploring your data, with deeper insights generated with just a few clicks, the report doesn’t have to be dull, boring, and lost in hundreds of pages or spreadsheets of data. If you create a report that is clean and customized, you will bring more value than by printing or searching through a spreadsheet. Achieving a design like this is simple with the right KPI dashboard software . Imagine yourself in a meeting with 200 pages of analysis from the last 5 years of business management. One participant asks you a specific question regarding your operational costs dating 3 years back. And you’re sitting there, trying to find that specific piece of information that can make or break your business meeting. With business dashboards , you cannot go wrong. All the information you need is generated with a click, within a click.
  • Benchmarking: If you know how to set up a business-centric report with efficiency, you will gain the ability to set defined, accurate benchmarks. By frequently setting targets based on your most important organizational goals and working with visual reporting tools, you will keep your organization flowing while catalyzing your overall growth and productivity levels.
  • Communication: One of the best uses of these tools is improving internal collaboration and communication. By gaining 24/7 access to your most essential business data while enhancing the way you analyze and present it, you will empower everyone in the business with better access to information, which, in turn, will enhance internal communication and collaboration.
  • Innovation: The intuitive nature of these reports makes them the most efficient way to steer a progressive analytical strategy. As such, it’s easier (and quicker) to uncover hidden insights, spot trends, and hone in on critical information. It’s this speed, ease, and accuracy that frees creativity and improves innovation across the organization, accelerating growth as a result.

These reports can also be of many different types, but they all have one common trait: gathering data and tracking the organizational activities related to something specific. From there, their author(s) will often perform an analysis and provide recommendations to the organizations.

How To Generate A Business Report

Top 10 steps on how to do a business report

The primary importance of a corporate-centric report lies in gaining confidence and clarity. Before starting to create it, it’s vital to establish the goals and the audience. Knowing who you want to direct it to is key in its elaboration, from the tone, vocabulary/jargon you choose to the data you will focus on. A report to external stakeholders, to the CEOs, or to the technical engineers’ team will be drastically different from one another.

Likewise, the scope varies according to the objective of the report. State beforehand the needs and goals to direct you on the right path. It should be impartial and objective, with a planned presentation or dashboard reporting tool , which enables an interactive flow of data and immediate access to every piece of information needed to generate clear findings.

To help you write your daily, weekly, or monthly business-centric report template with confidence, let’s go over some essential steps and tips you should focus on:

1. Consider your audience

First of all, if you want to understand how to do a business report the right way, you have to think of your audience from the outset. Your reporting efforts must make sense and offer direct value to the end viewer or user - otherwise, they’ll be meaningless. That said, it’s critical that you take the time to consider who will use the reporting tool most and which information or features will add the most value, helping improve the organization in the process. Take the time to understand your audience, and your reporting tools will not only meet expectations but exceed them - one well-placed visualization at a time.

2. Determine and state the purpose

As we stated in the previous paragraph, defining the needs of your audience is vital to reporting success. As we said, a report usually assists in decision-making and addresses certain issues. You can state them at the beginning of the report. The more clear and specific the goal, the better the content will be. You won’t lose time adjusting information when you present your purpose in a clear and well-defined manner.

3. Use a mix of real-time and historical data

Another key component of this report is making sure you’re free of any informational blind spots. So many companies work with one form of metric, stunting their organizational progress in the process. To drill down deep into detailed pockets of information and gain a panoramic view of specific trends or patterns, working with a balanced mix of historical and real-time data is key. Doing so will empower you to capitalize on potential strengths while learning from historical weaknesses. This balanced approach will also give you the tools to develop strategies that return the best possible ROI while making powerful decisions under pressure.

4. Set actionable targets and goals

Once you’ve curated your informational sources and defined your audience, you should set actionable goals. Setting the right benchmarks will help you track your ongoing success with pinpoint accuracy while defining goals or targets will give you the insight you need to work with the right KPIs while ensuring your company is moving in the right direction. Taking the time to set actionable goals and targets that align with your organizational strategy will ensure your reports offer a consistently healthy ROI.

5. Define your reporting frequency

Another key component of successful organizational reporting is deciding how often you will analyze your metrics and information. Depending on the function or the goals you’re looking to achieve, you should decide whether your dashboard will serve as a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly reporting tool. Setting the right frequency will ensure your analytical strategy is fully streamlined while connecting you with the insights that count most at exactly the right time. The best modern reporting tools also offer automated functionality, helping to monitor insights and offer alerts without human intervention - the best way to save time while ensuring you never miss a critical piece of information again.

6. Gather and organize the information

Now that the purpose and scope are clearly defined, you can start gathering the data in any form that can address the issue. Thanks to that information, you will carry out data analysis to understand what lies beneath and to extract valuable insights. These findings need to be balanced and justifiable – what significance they have to the report's purpose. Identifying key performance indicators for a specific company, organizing, comparing, and evaluating them on the needed level, can be one of the most important parts of creating this kind of report. An example of a business report that shows how to extract and define your analysis can be found above in the article, where we presented our visuals.

7. Present your findings

Explain how you uncovered them and how you interpreted them that way. Answer the original issue by detailing the action to take to overcome it and provide recommendations leading to a better decision-making process. A best practice to present the insights you have drawn out is using dashboards that communicate data visually in a very efficient way. A dashboard software like datapine can precisely answer that need while helping you with data exploration at the same time, which is a crucial part. When you click on a specific part of the dashboard, you can easily access your data in a more in-depth approach.

Comparing your findings is also one of the features you can use if you are asking yourself what has changed in relation to a specific period. When you assess these datasets in just a few clicks on your monitor, the whole reporting process and measurement of your strategy can be done in minutes, not days. Evaluating findings in today’s digital world has become one of the main focuses of businesses wanting to stay competitive in the market. The faster you can do that, the more information you gain, and the more successful your actions will become.

8. Align your visualizations

Expanding on presenting your findings, it’s also important to get your design elements right when considering how to write a business report. As a rule of thumb, your most essential at-a-glance insights should be at the top of your dashboard, and you should aim to be as clean, concise, and minimal as possible with your presentation to avoid cluttering or confusion. To improve your visual storytelling and bring every key element of your report together cohesively, getting your dashboard design just right is vital. Our essential guide to data visualization methods will help to steer your efforts in the right direction.

9. Proofread your reports

When you’re looking at a polished example of a business report, you’ll notice that every element of design and content is immaculate and makes complete logical sense. That said, to get the best returns for your analytical efforts, proofreading your reports is vital. Work through your report with a fine-toothed comb and ask trusted colleagues in your organization to do the same. Once you’ve carefully proofread your entire report, you can collectively tighten up any sloppy design elements, typos, misleading copy, and bad visual placements. Doing so is vital because it will make your examples of business reports slick, actionable, accurate, and built for success.

10. Be responsive

While modern reporting dashboards are dynamic and interactive in equal measure, it’s important that you also remain robust and responsive when writing a business-based report. What does this mean, exactly? It means that in the digital age, the landscape is always changing. As such, if you want to get the most from your reports or dashboards, you must commit to editing and updating them according to the changes around you. In an informational context, what is relevant today may be redundant tomorrow, so to remain powerful and relevant, your reports must always be optimized for success. When you write a business-style report, you should understand that, to some extent, you will need to rewrite it repeatedly. Remember, commit to regularly assessing your reports, and success will be yours for the taking.

You can easily find a sample of a business report on the Internet, but not all of them fit your needs. Make sure, at any moment, that the report you want to create is accurate, objective, and complete. It should be well-written, in a way that holds the reader’s attention and meets their expectations, with a clear structure.

Common Challenges Of Business Reports

Common challenges of generating business reports

As we just learned from the previous section, generating a successful report requires carefully following some steps and considerations. This often comes with challenges and limitations that users face during the generation and analysis process. To help you be aware of those challenges and how to overcome them efficiently, we will list some of the most common ones below. 

  • Data quality 

All the time and effort dedicated to the reporting process will be for nothing if you are not working with high-quality information. Believe it or not, according to recent reports , 41% of companies cite inconsistent data across technologies as their biggest challenge. With only 16% labeling the data they are using as “very good”. 

This presents a huge challenge as the consequences of poor data quality can be quite expensive since organizations are basing their most important strategic decisions on unreliable insights.  

To prevent this issue from affecting you, it is essential to invest time and money in implementing a thoughtful data quality management plan to ensure your information is constantly checked under specified guidelines. Putting extra attention to the cleaning and constant manipulation of the information is also a huge aspect of the process. 

  • Lack of data literacy 

Another big challenge that businesses face when implementing reporting practices is the level of literacy of their employees. As mentioned earlier in the post, the success of the entire process relies heavily on the entire workforce being involved in it and collaborating with each other. The issue is that generating a report and analyzing the data can be very intimidating for non-technical employees who often don’t have the necessary skills or confidence to integrate data-driven activities into their daily work. 

That is why carrying out a careful analysis of the literacy level across your workforce can help you understand the actual situation and offer training instances to anyone who needs it. Paired with that, investing in self-service BI tools that allow any user, regardless of their technical knowledge, to generate a business report with just a few clicks is a great way to approach this challenge. 

  • Long generation processes 

It is not a secret that manually generating a business report can take a lot of time and effort. In fact, in some cases, when a report is finally completed, the information in it might not be entirely valuable anymore. Luckily, this challenge has been tackled a long time ago thanks to the power of automation. 

Modern online reporting tools offer users the possibility to automatically generate a report in a matter of seconds, eliminating any form of manual work. All they need to do is connect their data sources, select the KPIs they want to display, and enjoy a visually appealing and fully functional report in just a few clicks. This enables organizations to focus on the important part, which is extracting powerful insights to inform their strategies. 

  • Static vs. interactive business reports 

Traditionally, these reports generated with tools such as Excel or PowerPoint have been static and full of text and complex numbers. Making it impossible to extract deeper conclusions from them or act on fresh insights. This is not to say that they are completely unuseful, but their historical and static perspective makes them less effective, especially considering how agile decision-making can represent a huge competitive advantage for organizations today.  

To help you make the most out of your data-driven efforts and tackle this common limitation,  we recommend you invest in tools that offer dynamic reports. BI reporting tools , such as datapine, give you the ability to generate interactive real-time reports, like the ones we saw earlier, which can be easily filtered to explore different periods or lower levels of data. This will give you the power to extract deeper and fresh insights to boost your strategies and growth. 

  • Ensuring data security and privacy 

In the digital age we live in, we need to be fully aware of the risks of using online tools to manage our business’s operations. Studies have shown an increasing trend in cyberattacks and data breaches that has left decision-makers concerned about how they manage their sensitive data. One of these attacks can significantly impact an organization’s reputation but also incur considerable costs that can be hard to come back from. According to recent research, these types of breaches cost businesses an average of $4.35 million in 2022. 

All of this makes security and privacy a big challenge for businesses of all sizes. Especially regarding their report-related activities, as they contain sensitive information about the company and its clients. Luckily, modern SaaS BI tools offer high levels of security to help you keep your data secure at all times, from the moment it is generated to the time it is shared with different stakeholders. Therefore, it is important to consider this topic before investing in such a tool. 

Key Takeaways Professional Business Reports  

"Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it." - Chip & Dan Heath , Authors of Made to Stick, Switch.

We live in a data-driven world, and as a business, it’s up to you to move with the times. If you ignore the power of smart data analytics, you are only stunting your own commercial progress.

We’ve explored many shining business reports examples, and one thing is abundantly clear: if you embrace the power of digital reporting, your company will be bigger, better, and exponentially more informed. The more confident and informed you are as a business, the better you will be able to respond to constant change. In today’s digital world, it doesn’t matter what sector you work in. If you’re rigid in your approach to data, you will get left behind. Digital reporting dashboards are the only way forward.

So, you now know what business reports are, how to structure and write them , and how they can benefit your business. Committing to the right reporting and information delivery can have a significant impact on your organization and orientate its strategy better. For more ideas about business reporting in a more specific, function-related way, you can dig deeper into some of our popular articles on sales reports and marketing reports !

Don’t miss out on that opportunity and start now with datapine’s online reporting software , and benefit from a free 14-day trial ! You won’t regret it.

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How to Create Progress Reports for Projects & Businesses

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Stakeholders are concerned with the progress of the project because they have a vested interest in its success. They want to stay in consistent communication with you and get reports on how the project is progressing over regular periods of time.

The way for a project manager to keep stakeholders updated is through reporting, specifically with a progress report. A project progress report sounds straightforward—it’s a report on the project’s progress. But how it’s structured makes or breaks a progress report.

A screenshot of a status report generation screen in ProjectManager, with different filter settings that affect the progress report

What Is a Progress Report?

A progress report communicates what has been happening in the project, over a set period of time, to stakeholders. It shows whether the project is on schedule, and if not, the report is used to start a discussion on how to adjust the budget and project resources to bring it back on track.

Therefore, you can say that the purpose of a progress report is to persuade stakeholders that the project is sound and moving forward as expected. It does this by showing the work-in-progress, which allows stakeholders the opportunity to make any change requests.

These suggestions can then be managed and worked out to prevent any negative impact on the project scope. Project managers can also use progress reports as a means to address issues that they’re having and, in doing so, set more realistic expectations for the stakeholders.

Progress Report vs. Status Report

What’s the difference between a progress report and a status report, given that they are both communication tools and provide stakeholders with vital information on the project? Both progress reports and status reports summarize where the project is at in terms progress, costs, issues and any other information that is helpful to stakeholders.

There is one key difference, however. A progress report is a picture of the project over a course of a specific period of time, while a status report only captures the moment in which it was initiated. The progress report offers a larger amount of data, while the status report shows data from a moment in time without the larger context.

Related: Free Project Report Templates

What Should Be Included in a Project Progress Report?

A progress report can be one page or several, depending on the depth of detail you wish to convey. They can be delivered as a memo, in letter form, or as a formal report when presented to stakeholders.

Whichever you choose, stakeholders will want to see where the project is and where it’s going. Therefore, you should include a list of tasks, milestones and whatever progress was made. This leads to the larger goals of the project and what has been accomplished in terms of its objectives.

This is usually structured by topic. That is, there is usually a summary first, which gives an overview of the project’s progress in terms of scope, tasks, etc. This should also include items such as:

  • The date of the project’s start, when it’s scheduled to finish and the period that the project covers
  • A list of team members and other project members, plus whoever compiled the report
  • A list of the stakeholders, who are the recipients of the report
  • An overview of the contents of the report

Next, you will focus on the status of the project. Here you’ll look at what work has been done, which is still in progress and what remains to be done. It should be broken into the task and could include the following:

  • A list of milestones and deliverables related to the project
  • A timeline of remaining work and when it’ll be completed
  • Any problems or issues that have arisen and can impact the project

There should also be some mention of the budget, how much has been spent over the period being reported and how much is left in the overall budget. Note any unexpected expenditures and other anomalies.

How Do You Create a Progress Report?

If you’re running a project, you’ll have to produce a progress report periodically over its life cycle. To save time, it’s good to use a progress report template. ProjectManager has dozens of free project management-related templates on our site, including a free progress report template.

Progress Report Word template screenshot

Start with Identifying Info

Whether you’re using our template or creating one from scratch, your progress report should begin with project top-line information. From there, it goes into a summary of the project. Our template breaks those high-level topics into five: status, scope, schedule, cost and risk .

Summarize the Data

The summary is where you can compare the status of the previous progress report to the current one. This provides a clear indication that the project is moving forward as planned. Beyond that, there’s room for a summary to explore the topic in greater detail.

Dive Into Finer Details

Once you’ve identified the project and summarized its overall status, you can then go into greater detail about each topic. For example, listing tasks and their progress , going into any issues that might have arisen and looking into your budget allocation.

List Your Accomplishments

On our free progress report template, we end with an accomplishments box to capture any that were not collected above. Finally, there’s an expected accomplishment box, which is a way to set expectations for the next progress report.

Best Practicing When Making a Progress Report

When you’re writing your progress report, one way to make sure it’s effective is to think your stakeholders’ perspectives as you write it. You want to relay what happened over the period covered if anything blocked that progress and what is coming next.

Don’t Be Generic

Stakeholders want specifics. They don’t want you to go into details about how you accomplished something, but they want to know what was accomplished. They want metrics, not narratives. Your answers should be meaningful and avoid unnecessary details.

Know the Frequency

That is, if you’re working on a very long project, stakeholders might want a progress report delivered to them weekly or even daily. Find this out first and deliver your progress reports when the stakeholders expect them .

Break It Up

It’s a good idea to break your progress report into sections. This makes the report more readable. Having a section headlining informs the reader what to expect and helps guide them through the document.

Use clear and simple language; avoid jargon that can confuse the reader. You want them to know what you’re saying immediately and not have to struggle through it (or worse, misunderstand) what you’re trying to convey.

Use Software

Having project management software can facilitate the reporting process. Depending on what tool you’re using, you can get real-time data and easy delivery to your stakeholders. This saves time and presents better data.

How ProjectManager Lets You Create Progress Reports

ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that organizes your tasks, teams and projects. Our features help you plan, monitor and report on every aspect of the project. Our cloud-based tool means that you’re getting real-time data to create more accurate and timely reports.

Stakeholders want to see the big picture and our one-click reporting tools make it easy to get them just the data they want to see. Our reporting feature lets you make instant reports on task, time, costs, timesheets, project variance and more. Plus, sharing it with stakeholders is easy!

Filtering a status report

To get an instant status report, use our dashboard feature. The real-time dashboard is constantly collecting data from your team and automatically calculating it to display in easy-to-read project metrics that show the percentage complete on tasks, how much time is left, team workload and more.

ProjectManager’s dashboard view, which shows six key metrics on a project

ProjectManager is a cloud-based tool that delivers real-time data to help you make better decisions. Project managers get transparency into every aspect of the project’s life cycle and teams are placed on a collaborative platform that fosters better work. See why organizations from NASA to Nestle use our tool and take this free 30-day trial today.

Click here to browse ProjectManager's free templates

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An Outstanding Business Progress Report [Free Template Download]

By archtc on August 26, 2017 — 2 minutes to read

Writing a Business Progress Report (+ Free Template)

A business progress report provides an overall indication of the business health of a company. It analyzes the progress of the outlined business goals and projections made at the start of a year. It commonly presents itself to top management and business investors.

Also, it acts as a medium of communication among units of an organization as it conveys essential information that serves as a basis for coming up with business strategies and critical decisions.

  • Business Progress Report: 5 Key Points Part 1
  • Business Progress Report Template Download   Part 2
  • Additional Resources Part 3
  • How to Dramatically Reduce Time You Spend Creating Reports Part 4

Here are 5 key points in coming up with a business progress report:

The Organization May Opt to Form a Team to Come up with a Business Progress

Decide on the major highlights and determine its overall objective, reflect any shortcomings.

Be transparent in reporting about those areas where progress have been slow to the company. It is important to convey this information to the top management and to the investors to give them a heads up on the real situation of the enterprise.

Make Your Report Easy to Read and Understand

Create clearly-labeled subheadings for each indicator or topics it addresses. Information within the business progress reports should be easy to find as executives and investors may not have time to read the whole length of the report.

If Applicable Ask Someone to Check the Report and Provide Feedback

Business progress report: free download section.

business progress report

Click Here to Download Business Progress Report Template DOCX

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You can also use the following templates on ProsperForms :

weekly project status report form template

Edit and use this template

weekly status report form template

Additional Free Templates

  • How to Write a Smart Project Progress Report + Free Template Download
  • How to Write a Weekly Progress Report + Free Template Download
  • How to Write a Business Development Status Report + Free Template Download

Bit Blog

Progress Report: What is it & How to Write it? (Steps & Format)

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Want to create a progress report to highlight the project’s achievements? No worries, we have got you covered! Read on…

A quick question – on a scale of 1 to 10, how important is it to regularly keep track and provide project updates to your supervisors, colleagues, or clients? The answer is 12! Simply, because nobody likes being left in the dark!

For any project in a company, people around it need to be well-informed about the project status, the research being done by the project team, their decisions, and the scope for improvement. These updates are an integral part of project management and ensure that every team member is operating efficiently with their goals being met on time.

One way to showcase the status of your project and keep track of it is to write a powerful  progress report!

In fact, the American Society for Training and Development shows that having a specific place to check your progress increases the probability of  meeting a goal by 95%.

Progress reports are a great place for project managers to inform and engage their supervisors, clients, or associates, about the progress they have made on a project over a certain period.

If executed well, progress reports provide a quick overview of how things are humming along, offering valuable insights to increase productivity, provide the necessary guidance, and quickly solve emerging difficulties.

However, writing a progress report can be a little daunting, especially, when you have a diverse team and various sub-projects to manage. Well, don’t fret! We’re going to fix that. In this blog post, we’ll teach you everything about progress reports, why they are important, and how you can write one that will make everyone say ‘wow’!

  What is the Progress Report? (Definition)

A progress report is a document that explains in detail how much progress you have made towards the completion of your ongoing project.

A progress report is a management tool used in all types of organizations, that outlines the tasks completed, activities carried out, and target achieved vis-à-vis your project plan.

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

  • The amount of work complete?
  • What part of the work is currently in progress?
  • The problems or unexpected things that have occurred?
  • What work is pending?
  • How the project is going in general?

Read more:  How To Write An Impressive Project Proposal?

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Why are Progress Reports Important?

No project manager wakes up thinking “ I wish I could make reports for my supervisor and team all day” ! We get it. Writing progress reports are not very fun.

However, you know that writing progress reports are part of the deal. Progressive reporting demands talking with your team or client to understand the goals and showcase the information that closely relates to the said goals.

Whether the report is about updating the investors, marketing performance, or resource management. These reports let everyone see what’s going well and what isn’t.

It also assists managers to see the overall success or failure of projects. Furthermore, progress reports help to:

1. Make Information Transparent

The glue that holds together any relationship is visibility and transparency. A well-defined progress report directly presents how your work affects the project’s bottom line and showcases the rights and wrongs!

By adding transparency to your project plan, you can build an unmatched level of credibility and trust with your team and clients.

2. Encourage Constant Interaction

Creating and discussing progress reports results in constant communication and keeps everyone in the loop. Being in constant contact with others on a weekly or monthly basis ensures a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities.

3. Improve Project Evaluation and Review

Previous progress reports will help you in clarifying loopholes, and systemic issues, and examine documents to find out what went wrong, what can be done right, and which area needs improvement.

4. Provides Insight for Future Planning

When a progress report shows all the delays that have occurred, the supervisor or a project manager can monitor and investigate the issue that hindered progress and take additional steps to prevent them from happening in the future.

Read more:  How to Write Project Reports that ‘Wow’ Your Clients?

How to Write a Progress Report with 4 Simple Steps?

Progress reports are essential documents for tracking project plans and initiatives, but if the readers and writers are not in sync, these reports can be a hit-or-miss exercise for everyone involved.

Therefore, here are some steps to help you deliver the right information to the right people at the right time.

Step 1. Explain the purpose of your report

There are many reasons for someone to write a progress report. Obviously, for many of them, it’s to brief the progress and status of the project.

Readers might also want to know detailed information about the project’s purpose, its duration, and other important insights.

Step 2. Define your audience

Once you have sorted out the purpose of writing the progress report, consider the type of audience you will be targeting and the details that your readers are going to acknowledge in the report.

These can be, what decisions your readers are going to need to make after reading the progress report, the information they are going to need to know to oversee and participate in the project effectively, etc.

Step 3. Create a “work completed” section

In this section, you should describe everything that has already been done and the best way to do this is to mention the completed tasks chronologically.

You can specify dates, tasks you and your team were working on, information on key findings, etc.

Step 4. Summarize your progress report

In the summary section, provide the essential details about the to-do and completed work. Also, add a short description of the problems your team encountered, recommendations from your supervisor for their resolution, and whether any assistance on the project is required.

Read more:  Business Report: What is it & How to Write it? (Steps & Format)

Creating a Progress Report that Stands Out with Bit.ai !

If you are planning to show a progress report that looks exactly like any other bland report, chances are your readers are just going to skim it along the way or won’t read it at all.

Well, to lure your reader’s attention and proudly display the work you have done on the project, you have to make the progress report irresistibly compelling!

How about awesome visuals, accompanied by quality content that could grab the reader’s interest and encourage them to read the whole thing? No doubt, everybody likes reading something easy to grasp and visually stunning!

Luckily, we have got the perfect tool for you that will provide a reading experience like never before and bring your grey-scale progress reports to come alive! A solution like  Bit.ai

Bit.ai: Document collaboration platform for creating progress reports

Bit is a new-age cloud-based document collaboration tool that helps teams create, share, manage, and track interactive workplace documents.

Bit helps you make sure your reports are more than just plain bland text and images. Thus, apart from allowing multiple users to collaborate on reports, Bit also allows users to share any sort of rich media like campaign video, tables, charts, One Drive files, Excel Spreadsheets, GIFs, Tweets, Pinterest boards, etc. Anything on the internet with a link can be shared and Bit will automatically turn it into visual content.

Bit has a very minimal design aesthetic which makes every design element pop, awesome readability, and rich features that will prevent collaborators from messing up any documents and help them rethink the way they work!

Besides writing progress reports, you can easily create other beautiful documents like the statement of work , project documentation, operational plan , roadmap, project charter , etc. in a common workplace for other team members to collaborate, document, share their knowledge, brainstorm ideas, store digital assets, and innovate together.

The best part is that this knowledge is safely secured in your workspaces and can be shared (or kept private) with anyone in your organization or the public!

Bit features infographic

All-in-all Bit is like Google Docs on steroids! So, no more settling for those boring text editors when you have an excessively robust solution to walk you through!

Still, not sure how Bit can help you create that perfect progress report to woo your readers? Let’s see some more of Bit’s awesome capabilities!

Key Benefits of Creating Your Progress Reports on Bit.ai

Simple, clean UI:  Bit has a very minimal design aesthetic to it, allowing a newbie to quickly get on board with the platform. Even though the platform is feature-rich, it does a great job as to not overwhelm a new user and provides a systematic approach to work.

Organization of information:   Information is often scattered in cloud storage apps, emails, Slack channels, and more. Bit brings all your information in one place by allowing you to organize information in workspaces and folders. Bring all your documents, media files, and other important company data in one place.

Brand consistency:  Focus on the content and let Bit help you with the design and formatting. Bit documents are completely responsive and look great on all devices. With amazing templates and themes, Bit docs provide you with the type of brand and design consistency that is unheard of in the documentation industry

Smart search:  Bit has very robust search functionality that allows anyone to search and find their documents swiftly. You can search workspaces, folders, document titles, and the content inside of documents with Bit’s rich-text search.

Media integrations:  Companies use an average of 34 SaaS apps! No wonder why most of our time is spent hopping from one app to the next, looking for information. This is why Bit.ai integrates with over 100+ popular applications (YouTube, Typeform, LucidChart, Loom, Google Drive, etc) to help teams weave information in their documents beyond just text and images.

Multiple ways of sharing : Bit documents can be shared in  three different states :

  • Live state : A live state meaning that all changes that you make to the document will update in real-time. If you are sharing your documents with clients, partners, or customers they will always get your most up-to-date changes.
  • Embeds : You can embed Bit documents on any website or blog. Bit docs are fully responsive and render perfectly on your website.
  • Tracking : You can track your documents and gather real-time insights to understand how users interact with your content. See how much time users spend viewing documents, scroll ratio, user information, and more.

Our team at  bit.ai  has created a few more templates to make your business processes more efficient. Make sure to check them out before you go, y our team might need them!

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A well-defined progress report is like the pulse of a project! It determines your relationship with your readers, highlights all the updates- big or small, and keeps everyone on the same page. Remember, depending on the complexity and scope of the project, you might need to share your progress report on a weekly or monthly basis for better efficiency!

Once you follow all the steps that are mentioned above, your reports are surely going to feel like a breeze of fresh air to your readers, making you look credible and professional. So what are you waiting for?

Do you write such reports in your organization, if yes, which tool do you use? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @bit_ai

Further reads:

  • Technical Report: What is it & How to Write it? (Steps & Structure Included)
  • 11 Amazing Goal Tracking Apps and Tools! (Free & Paid)
  • 7 Types of Reports Your Business Certainly Needs!
  • Performance Report: What is it & How to Create it? (Steps Included)
  • Formal Reports: What are they & How to Create them!
  • KPI Report: What it is & How to Create a Perfect One?
  • How to Write a Project Charter Document?

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Document Creation: 12 Dos and Don'ts to Keep in Mind!

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FREE 10+ Business Progress Report Samples [ Development, Project, Establishment ]

business progress report featured

Every company has the ability to initiate new projects . It has to be aware of the progress, findings, and decisions of what needs to be improved. To ensure that the management has been provided with the necessary information, progress reports are written. Basically, a progress report is considered as an update of the status of a specific project. Well-structured progress reports are essential and useful in both the business that you are in and for you. If you want to get real-time and accurate information and details, adequate staffing , and financial assistance for the project that you have been working on, a business progress report is suited for you. In this article, we will be going to deal more about what actually a business progress report is and how to create one.

Business Progress Report

10+ business progress report samples, 1. business progress report template, 2. business communication progress report, 3. business program progress report, 4. business environment progress report, 5. business plan progress report, 6. business basics programme progress report, 7. business communication weekly progress report, 8. business establishment progress report, 9. business licensing progress report, 10. business continuity progress report, 11. business committee progress report, what is a business progress report, five key points of a business progress report, who should write a progress report, what are the types of formats in a progress report, why is a progress report important.

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business communication progress report

Size: 207 KB

business program progress report

Size: 324 KB

business plan progress report

Size: 163 KB

business basics programme progress report

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business establishment progress report

Size: 386 KB

business licensing progress report

Size: 531 KB

business continuity progress report

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business committee progress report

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A business progress report is designed to provide an indication of the overall status of the business of a particular company. It gives an analysis about the progress of the outlined business goals and projections. It is commonly made in order to be presented to the top management and investors in various businesses.

With regards to its structure, it mainly consists of a header, executive summary , description of the components, and an indication as to when will be the next due date of the next report. You may write your business progress report following a specific template and then present it to your boss or to another reporting superior.

1. An organization may form a team in order to come up with a business progress – you may assign a leader and each of the team members should be assigned with a particular indicator to work on. They will be monitoring the progress of the business based on that particular indicator and in gathering essential information for reporting purposes.

2. Come up with some major highlights and determine its objectives – you may create an outline for the given indicators. This will let you know which of the facts need to included in the report. Practice accuracy as some of the business investors may not consider generalities.

3. Reflect to any shortcomings – it is important that you would be transparent in reporting about what specific area needs to be improved. The reason for this is because the top management and investors need to know about the real situation of the business.

4. Make your report easy to read and easy to understand – when you are going to make a progress report, make sure to create clear headings and sub-headings for each of the topics. The information itself should be easy to find as the executives and the business investors do not have sufficient time to read the entire report.

5. Ask someone to check on the progress report and provide feedback about it – always make sure that the business progress report is free from any errors. Make a validation to the information provided especially to the statistics that were used in the report. Do not forget to apply transparency and accuracy as these two are considered to be essential elements of a business progress report.

It can be you, yourself, who can write a business progress report. Your goal is to inform your supervisors, associate, and other officers who are in the top management, or a client with regards to the progress that you have made over a specific project for a period of time.

Progress reports can be in a form of a memorandum, letter or email, or a formal report.

Progress reports are important for a few reasons. It gets everyone in the same page, it facilitates collaboration, it improves transparency ad accountability, it improves project evaluation and review, and it provides insights for future planning.

Business progress reports can be in different formats. No matter what format you follow, it is best to have it in a clearly-defined structure. They are made to only inform the top management and business investors regarding the status of your project. However, they can even affect the decision-making process. If you want to see more guide formats, you may consider checking out the business progress reports samples and templates in the article.

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How to Write a Progress Report

Progress Report1

A progress report is an  executive summary  of the progress an individual (and his team) has made on a certain project over a certain time frame. An individual may report and explain the work that has been covered, resources spent, unexpected problems or instances that the project has undergone (if any), estimated time of completion, and other details concerning the project at hand.

A progress report is created to give the recipient (e.g. supervisors, managers, or office heads) an overview of the overall status report of a specific project. This gives them a chance to evaluate your performance, and request a few changes if necessary. They can also be informed of the problems which have affected and might affect the project.

Here some of the examples of progress report template for you to make the right report needed. Keep scrolling!

Weekly Progress Report Template

weekly progress report template

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Weekly Work Progress Report Template

weekly work progress report template

Progress Report Template

progress report template

Size: 51 KB

Progress Report Gantt Chart Template

progress report gantt chart template

Size: 30 KB

Agency Progress Report Template

agency progress report template

Size: 28 KB

Client Progress Report Template

client progress report template

Size: 136 KB

Student Progress Report Card Template

student progress report card template

Size: 33 KB

Project Progress Report Card Template

project progress report card template

Size: 55 KB

Business Progress Report Template

business progress report template

Size: 43 KB

Daily Progress Report Card Template

daily progress report card template

Student Progress Report Template

student progress report template

School Progress Report Template

school progress report template

Size: 48 KB

Free Progress Report Card Template

free progress report card template

Size: 37 KB

Job Progress Report Template

job progress report template

Size: 40 KB

Project Progress Report Template

project progress report template

Daily Progress Report Template

daily progress report template

Professional Client Progress Report Template

professional client progress report template

Size: 29 KB

Patient Progress Report Template

patient progress report template

Size: 171 KB

Free Work From Home Progress Report Template

free work from home progress report template

Size: 49 KB

Steps in Writing a Progress Report

Writing a progress report might not come easy to most people, especially for beginners. Still, a progress report is an important document which gives the writer a chance to communicate with the recipients.

  • Figure out the purpose of your progress report :  This will be your guide on how to write your report .
  • Begin by writing the header :  This typically includes the project report name (or report subject), writer’s name and position, date of submission, name, and position of the recipient, etc.
  • Compose the introduction :  Provide an overview of your report to your readers.
  • Write the body of the report :  Provide information on the tasks that have been completed, the problems you have encountered so far and the action plans you have done to solve them.
  • Add a few details on your future plans for your project :  Discuss the tasks you plan on doing in the future, and the specific time needed to accomplish such tasks. You may also include a forecast of the possible problems you might encounter.
  • Create a summary of your report :  Only provide the key points you have discussed in your progress report.
  • Review and revise your report :  You can create a checklist in excel to guide you in revising and polishing your report.

Daily Progress Report for Building Construction Template

daily progress report for building construction template

Dos and Don’ts in Writing a Progress Report

  • Think about your audience.  Learn how to communicate with your audience.
  • Be direct to the point.  Avoid adding unsolicited opinion, and go straight to the point.
  • Stick to the topic.  Do not confuse your readers by including unnecessary topics.
  • Keep it simple and concise.  Deliver your formal report using a few words.
  • Mind your language and tone.  Use formal language and tone in your report. Avoid sounding too casual or friendly. Use simple language in writing.
  • Be consistent.  Try to stick to the format you use for your other progress reports.
  • Use a few visual aids.  Include a few visuals (graphs, figures, diagrams, charts in pdf , etc.) to support your report.
  • Cite sources.  Recognize the sources of your information in your report.

Don’ts

  • Use vague words.  Be specific. Avoid making vague statements and exaggerated expressions.
  • Write long sentences.  Keep your sentences short and direct to the point.
  • Submit a draft.  Always review our work before submitting it.
  • Include unrelated points.  Unrelated points will only waste yours and your readers’ time.
  • Blame people.  Avoid complaining, making excuses, or shifting the blame to other people when problems arise. Suggest possible solutions for such problems instead.

General FAQs

1. define a progress report..

A progress report can be defined as a report on how much work has been done successfully. It explains, in detail, about how far one has reached in the completion of a project. It outlines the activities carried out, the tasks completed, the milestones reached, and mainly, the step-by-step project plan.

2. What is the importance of using a Progress Report?

Progress reports are used to inform someone about the progress you have made in the project over a certain timeframe given to you. The project can be the design, construction or repair of something, a study or research of an issue, etc. Progress reports help you keep track of all the activities done.

3. What are the functions of a Progress Report?

A few functions of a progress report are as follows:

  • Reassures recipients that you are making progress
  • Guarantee that the project is running smoothly and that it will be completed by a specific date
  • Gives recipients a chance to evaluate the work
  • It allows the clients to request for any changes if needed.

4. What is the difference between a Progress Report and a Status Report?

A progress report communicates the current status of what is going on in the ongoing project. Wheres, a status report is an update on the entire range of the operations of all the departments and divisions of the organization.

5. What are the types of a Progress Report?

There are three major types of progress report:

  • Memo: it is short and is only used for reports for communication purposes within the entity
  • A letter or email: can be used for reports within or outside of an organization
  • Formal report: it is longer and is mainly used for reports outside an organization.

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How to Plan a Business Progress Report With Team Members

A business owner should keep her team members informed about the company’s progress. Employees are often given annual performance reviews. The business progress report could be likened to a performance review for the company as a whole, but it should be done on at least a quarterly basis rather than annually. Sharing the progress report with team members gives the owner the chance to further motivate employees and explain any changes in strategic direction she may have planned based on the company’s financial performance.

Review actual results in comparison to forecast. Review the goals for the year that were expressed in the company’s business plan and see which goals the company is reaching and where it is falling short of goals. Look beyond numerical results such as sales and evaluate all aspects of the company’s operations, including the effort staff members are putting forth and how well everyone is working as a team.

Select the most valuable pieces of information to present in the progress report -- the financial and operational highlights. If some team members are not finance-oriented, make sure the report includes explanations of what finance terms such as "depreciation" or "gross margin" mean. Compose the progress report as though you are giving a presentation to team members. Express not only the variances that occurred, but the reasons for the variances. The business environment may have changed in relation to the assumptions about the economy or the competitive landscape that was in place when the plan was devised.

Plan an agenda for the meeting in which you present the progress report and engage team members in a mini-business planning session, during which you will discuss, and solicit their input about, aspects of the company’s operations that need improvement. Work together to create new strategies and tactics to address revenue shortfalls or negative variances in expenses. Decide whether assumptions used in the plan need to be revised going forward. If needed, set revised goals for the remainder of the year.

Emphasize what the company is doing well -- make the overall progress report a positive, motivating experience for team members. Show them what they can be proud of about the company’s achievements. Praise team members for extraordinary effort and achievement.

  • Inc.com: Explaining Financials
  • Consider offering new types of incentive compensation -- financial rewards, additional time off -- to energize team members about reaching the revised goals.
  • The business owner could deliver the progress report to the company as a whole, to individual departments or to individual managers. If the progress report has a particularly harsh assessment of one department’s performance, the owner may not want to share the information with the team members of all departments as a group.
  • If the company is going through tough times or is performing poorly relative to the owner’s expectations, he should not focus on placing blame, but rather on what can be done going forward to fix whatever situations caused the performance problems. Lack of progress can be a sign of negative external factors outside the management team’s control -- such as a decline in consumer spending -- rather than a sign that effort or execution was lacking on the part of team members. Employees react positively to a CEO who recognizes there is nothing the team members can do about the past, and has a bold vision to make the company more successful in the future.

Brian Hill is the author of four popular business and finance books: "The Making of a Bestseller," "Inside Secrets to Venture Capital," "Attracting Capital from Angels" and his latest book, published in 2013, "The Pocket Small Business Owner's Guide to Business Plans."

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How to Create a Project Status Report

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The end of the week is here, so it’s time to sift through spreadsheets, emails, and tools to compile an update on your project's progress. Reporting on your work's status helps maintain team alignment, identify risks early, and ensure the project remains on schedule and within budget. 

Switching to a project status report template will streamline this process. Creating a project status report will minimize your time on redundant data collection, freeing more time for meaningful work. Whether preparing your first project status report or seeking a more efficient method, this article will guide you through creating an effective report, helping you consistently meet your project deadlines.

What is a status report?

A project status report is a concise, timely update on your project's progress. It provides essential high-level information, allowing team members and key stakeholders to grasp the project's current state quickly. These reports maintain alignment among all involved parties, highlighting what's on schedule, identifying obstacles, and outlining the next steps.

The frequency of your status reports should align with your project's timeline, varying from weekly to monthly updates depending on the project's nature and stakeholder needs. Far from mere reactions to setbacks, these reports proactively keep your team apprised of the project's health, whether on track, facing risks, or behind schedule. These reports are integral throughout all project phases , ensuring schedule adherence and consistent communication.

Types of project status reports

When you create status reports, the frequency and level of detail depend on your project management requirements. Here's a rundown of different types of status reports and the times they're most effective:

  • Daily status report : This status report outlines the daily activities of each team member. It focuses on their current tasks and any issues hindering progress. Typically, it includes a summary of the day's work and achievements from the previous day. These reports are essential for projects that require close monitoring and real-time updates.
  • Weekly status report : This report details the project's progress, including the name of the project, the report date, and a summary of the week's work. It also outlines the upcoming week's action plan, challenges, risks, and mitigation strategies. Weekly reports are crucial for tracking short-term project milestones within the broader project plan .
  • Monthly status report : The monthly status report provides monthly updates, offering a broader view. It's beneficial for leadership to gauge progress and make informed decisions about the project budget and future activities. The report includes accomplishments, a recap of the month, and plans for the next month.
  • Quarterly status report : This report is valuable for a high-level overview, providing a snapshot over four months. It covers the same areas as other reports but often includes graphs and visuals for clearer understanding. Quarterly reports align long-term project milestones with the overall project plan.

Each report type serves a distinct purpose, from detailed, granular updates to comprehensive summaries. The choice depends on the project's complexity, stakeholder information needs, and specific project management software capabilities.

Benefits of project reporting

Project reporting is more than a procedural task. It's also an integral part of effective project management . An accurate project status report offers several key benefits:

  • Increased transparency : Project status reports ensure that every team member and stakeholder has a clear view of the project's current status, upcoming tasks, and potential issues. The level of transparency is essential for trust and clarity within the project.
  • Track project health : Discovering at the end of the project timeline that things were off course is something you should avoid. Regular progress reports offer high-level summaries and critical metrics, informing everyone about the project's health. If the project is off track, these insights allow quick, proactive adjustments to meet deadlines and stay within budget.
  • Effective communication : Status reports enhance communication efficiency. They compile essential details into an easily digestible format, ensuring that everyone involved is on the same page.
  • Risk management : Regular reporting is vital in early identification and mitigation of potential risks, preventing them from escalating into major issues.
  • Accountability : Team members can access information asynchronously by replacing status meetings with a project status report you share via a central tool. This approach saves valuable time and allows for more focused, productive discussions during meetings.

Project reporting is vital for project managers, as it ensures effective project tracking , clear communication, and a consistent path toward project objectives.

Key elements of a status report

An effective project status report involves several key elements that enhance readability and usefulness. Here's what a robust status report template should include:

  • Executive summary : This is where you provide a concise, high-level overview of the project. Aim for no more than six sentences, offering just enough detail to intrigue readers to read the rest of the content.
  • Visual progress of the project : A status report should visually represent the project's progress. Use Gantt charts or graphics to showcase completed project milestones and deliverables.
  • Overall project schedule : The project schedule is vital, as it outlines deadlines and progress. Opt for visual tools such as dashboards and calendars for clarity and ease of understanding.
  • Insights into the project budget : Budget analysis is a core responsibility in project management. The status report should visually represent the budget. For example, you could include pie charts showing expenditures. 
  • Common challenges and blockers : Be transparent about current obstacles. It allows you to address any issues affecting project execution , from client communication to resource availability.
  • Well-communicated next steps : Clearly outline the upcoming tasks and milestones, assigning responsibilities and due dates to specific team members. This approach fosters accountability and sets a clear path for project continuation.
  • All project KPIs and metrics : Incorporate a dedicated section for metrics, possibly using graphical elements to make data more engaging. Track and compare KPIs such as cost performance, logged time, customer satisfaction, and productivity to past reports for a comprehensive view of the project's health.

A weekly status report template or any other frequency-specific template should integrate these elements to streamline the reporting process, ensuring that each report is informative and engaging for the entire project team.

Recommended templates

The correct project management template is vital when creating a vision for your project status report. Here are some top recommendations:

  • Project status template : Atlassian, in partnership with ASU, has developed a comprehensive project status template. It's adaptable to suit any company's needs. Customize it in Jira by creating issue types or fields relevant to your status report and save it as a new template for ongoing use.
  • Weekly status report template : Ideal for encapsulating weekly progress, this template focuses on results rather than hours spent. It's concise, fostering consistent communication with team members and managers.
  • Project plan : Handling projects with multiple teams can be challenging. The project plan template simplifies the management of projects of varying sizes and complexities, ensuring stakeholders are always informed.

Steps to writing an effective project status report

Here are some simple steps to follow to write an effective project status report:

Identify the objective

Start by determining the primary goal of your status report. Is it to inform stakeholders of progress, address potential issues, or provide an overview of project health? Clarifying this sets the tone for your report.

Define your target audience

Tailor the content and depth of your report based on who will read it. Different stakeholders might have varying interests, such as project timelines for team members and budget details for financial stakeholders.

Gather the necessary data

Essential for a well-rounded report, this step involves compiling information from multiple sources, including the budget, project timeline details, recent events, and upcoming deadlines. Your project timeline should list key events or actions with dates to provide a chronological view, aiding in creating your status report.

Organize the report

Logically structure your report. Use a status report template to ensure consistency and cover all vital areas, such as progress, budget, and upcoming milestones.

Ensure clarity

Strive for clear, concise language. Avoid jargon unless necessary and explain any complex terms. Clarity ensures that all key stakeholders understand the report’s contents regardless of their familiarity with the project's specifics.

Edit and send

Ensuring your project status report is clear and proofread is essential for maintaining its integrity and effectiveness. The report must be rigorously reviewed for errors and ensure the language conveys the intended message. This aligns with the best practices for creating impactful project status reports and provides the audience with an understanding of the information.

Status report best practices

With an understanding of what a project status report entails and how to craft one, here are some best practices to ensure its effectiveness:

  • Accommodate different learning styles : Not everyone absorbs information from text alone. Enhance your status report with visuals such as Gantt charts and graphs, and include external links to emphasize key points. Additionally, consider having synchronous discussions with clients during the review process, as real-time conversations can be more impactful.
  • Stay accountable with recurring meetings : Establishing a routine is crucial post- project kickoff . Schedule effective team meetings regularly from the start, making report preparation and sharing a habitual part of your process.
  • Keep an ongoing draft : Avoid last-minute rushes by maintaining a draft of your status report. Update it as events unfold, as it will prepare you for unexpected inquiries. This approach ensures you’re ready to present a well-informed status report, especially when juggling multiple projects.

Create effective status reports with Jira

Jira redefines project management efficiency by offering a dynamic suite of features for simple and complex projects. Jira's about more than just planning and tracking, it sets teams up for rapid progress and enables them to stay aligned with broader objectives, critical deadlines, and essential outcomes. 

Teams can plan and visualize workflows seamlessly with its intuitive boards. Managing dependencies and aligning with overarching goals is easier with timelines. 

Moreover, Jira provides actionable reports that help you make informed decisions, giving you a holistic view of projects. Together, these tools ensure every phase of your project is transparent, coherent, and on schedule. Ready to elevate your status-reporting process? Get Jira for free and experience a seamless transition from planning to execution.

Status report: Frequently asked questions

How often should you create a status report.

The frequency of status reports depends on the project's complexity and stakeholders' needs. Whether weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, choose a cadence that keeps everyone adequately informed without causing information fatigue. A weekly status report might be a good starting point.

What makes an effective status report?

An effective status report is clear, concise, and focused. It provides valuable insights into the project scope , progress, challenges, and future steps, facilitating informed decision-making .

What’s the difference between a status report and a progress report?

A status report provides a comprehensive overview of a project's current state, including data on progress and other aspects. In contrast, a progress report focuses on the completed tasks and project milestones, aligning with the schedule to demonstrate advancement. Both keep project managers and key stakeholders informed.

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Add content to the form

Go to the  Developer  tab Controls section where you can choose controls to add to your document or form. Hover over any icon therein to see what control type it represents. The various control types are described below. You can set properties on a control once it has been inserted.

To delete a content control, right-click it, then select Remove content control  in the pop-up menu. 

Note:  You can print a form that was created via content controls. However, the boxes around the content controls will not print.

Insert a text control

The rich text content control enables users to format text (e.g., bold, italic) and type multiple paragraphs. To limit these capabilities, use the plain text content control . 

Click or tap where you want to insert the control.

Rich text control button

To learn about setting specific properties on these controls, see Set or change properties for content controls .

Insert a picture control

A picture control is most often used for templates, but you can also add a picture control to a form.

Picture control button

Insert a building block control

Use a building block control  when you want users to choose a specific block of text. These are helpful when you need to add different boilerplate text depending on the document's specific purpose. You can create rich text content controls for each version of the boilerplate text, and then use a building block control as the container for the rich text content controls.

building block gallery control

Select Developer and content controls for the building block.

Developer tab showing content controls

Insert a combo box or a drop-down list

In a combo box, users can select from a list of choices that you provide or they can type in their own information. In a drop-down list, users can only select from the list of choices.

combo box button

Select the content control, and then select Properties .

To create a list of choices, select Add under Drop-Down List Properties .

Type a choice in Display Name , such as Yes , No , or Maybe .

Repeat this step until all of the choices are in the drop-down list.

Fill in any other properties that you want.

Note:  If you select the Contents cannot be edited check box, users won’t be able to click a choice.

Insert a date picker

Click or tap where you want to insert the date picker control.

Date picker button

Insert a check box

Click or tap where you want to insert the check box control.

Check box button

Use the legacy form controls

Legacy form controls are for compatibility with older versions of Word and consist of legacy form and Active X controls.

Click or tap where you want to insert a legacy control.

Legacy control button

Select the Legacy Form control or Active X Control that you want to include.

Set or change properties for content controls

Each content control has properties that you can set or change. For example, the Date Picker control offers options for the format you want to use to display the date.

Select the content control that you want to change.

Go to Developer > Properties .

Controls Properties  button

Change the properties that you want.

Add protection to a form

If you want to limit how much others can edit or format a form, use the Restrict Editing command:

Open the form that you want to lock or protect.

Select Developer > Restrict Editing .

Restrict editing button

After selecting restrictions, select Yes, Start Enforcing Protection .

Restrict editing panel

Advanced Tip:

If you want to protect only parts of the document, separate the document into sections and only protect the sections you want.

To do this, choose Select Sections in the Restrict Editing panel. For more info on sections, see Insert a section break .

Sections selector on Resrict sections panel

If the developer tab isn't displayed in the ribbon, see Show the Developer tab .

Open a template or use a blank document

To create a form in Word that others can fill out, start with a template or document and add content controls. Content controls include things like check boxes, text boxes, and drop-down lists. If you’re familiar with databases, these content controls can even be linked to data.

Go to File > New from Template .

New from template option

In Search, type form .

Double-click the template you want to use.

Select File > Save As , and pick a location to save the form.

In Save As , type a file name and then select Save .

Start with a blank document

Go to File > New Document .

New document option

Go to File > Save As .

Go to Developer , and then choose the controls that you want to add to the document or form. To remove a content control, select the control and press Delete. You can set Options on controls once inserted. From Options, you can add entry and exit macros to run when users interact with the controls, as well as list items for combo boxes, .

Adding content controls to your form

In the document, click or tap where you want to add a content control.

On Developer , select Text Box , Check Box , or Combo Box .

Developer tab with content controls

To set specific properties for the control, select Options , and set .

Repeat steps 1 through 3 for each control that you want to add.

Set options

Options let you set common settings, as well as control specific settings. Select a control and then select Options to set up or make changes.

Set common properties.

Select Macro to Run on lets you choose a recorded or custom macro to run on Entry or Exit from the field.

Bookmark Set a unique name or bookmark for each control.

Calculate on exit This forces Word to run or refresh any calculations, such as total price when the user exits the field.

Add Help Text Give hints or instructions for each field.

OK Saves settings and exits the panel.

Cancel Forgets changes and exits the panel.

Set specific properties for a Text box

Type Select form Regular text, Number, Date, Current Date, Current Time, or Calculation.

Default text sets optional instructional text that's displayed in the text box before the user types in the field. Set Text box enabled to allow the user to enter text into the field.

Maximum length sets the length of text that a user can enter. The default is Unlimited .

Text format can set whether text automatically formats to Uppercase , Lowercase , First capital, or Title case .

Text box enabled Lets the user enter text into a field. If there is default text, user text replaces it.

Set specific properties for a Check box .

Default Value Choose between Not checked or checked as default.

Checkbox size Set a size Exactly or Auto to change size as needed.

Check box enabled Lets the user check or clear the text box.

Set specific properties for a Combo box

Drop-down item Type in strings for the list box items. Press + or Enter to add an item to the list.

Items in drop-down list Shows your current list. Select an item and use the up or down arrows to change the order, Press - to remove a selected item.

Drop-down enabled Lets the user open the combo box and make selections.

Protect the form

Go to Developer > Protect Form .

Protect form button on the Developer tab

Note:  To unprotect the form and continue editing, select Protect Form again.

Save and close the form.

Test the form (optional)

If you want, you can test the form before you distribute it.

Protect the form.

Reopen the form, fill it out as the user would, and then save a copy.

Creating fillable forms isn’t available in Word for the web.

You can create the form with the desktop version of Word with the instructions in Create a fillable form .

When you save the document and reopen it in Word for the web, you’ll see the changes you made.

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  23. Create a form in Word that users can complete or print

    Show the Developer tab. If the developer tab isn't displayed in the ribbon, see Show the Developer tab.. Open a template or use a blank document. To create a form in Word that others can fill out, start with a template or document and add content controls.