Free template
A free one page project status report template in Word, with RAG definitions that mean something so the steering committee sees the real position early.
By Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
A note before you start
Status reports drift towards green because nobody wants to be the person who turned the project red. Agree what red, amber and green mean before anything goes wrong, report against the baseline rather than the latest plan, and put the decisions you need at the top. A report that never asks for anything is not doing its job.
Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
Fill it in every week or fortnight, depending on the pace of the project. Start with the overall status and the decisions or help you need, then milestones against the baseline, then the top risks and issues. Use the RAG definitions in the template and do not change them halfway through. Keep it to one page; the detail belongs in the logs.
[Organisation name] | Version 0.1 | [Date] | Owner: [Name, role]
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Project | |
| Reporting period | |
| Overall status (RAG) | |
| Status last period | |
| Summary in two sentences |
| Decision or help needed | From whom | By when |
|---|---|---|
| Dimension | RAG | Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule | ||
| Cost | ||
| Scope | ||
| Quality | ||
| Benefits | ||
| Resources |
| Milestone | Baseline date | Forecast date | Variance | RAG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Description | Owner | Action | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green | On track within tolerance; no help needed |
| Amber | At risk of breaching tolerance; a recovery plan is in place and owned within the project |
| Red | Tolerance breached or about to be; a decision or help is needed from the steering committee |
| Blue | Complete |
Template by PEF Consulting Partners, pefconsultingpartners.co.uk. Free to use and adapt.
Related reading: how to read a programme status report critically, the RAID log template, the project plan template, independent programme assurance.
Overall status, decisions and help needed, status by dimension such as schedule, cost and scope, milestones against the baseline, and the top risks and issues. One page is enough.
Weekly on fast moving projects and fortnightly on most others, timed to land before the forum that will act on it.
Red, amber and green, a simple traffic light rating. It only works if everyone agrees what each colour means, which is why the definitions sit in the template.
One that reports green on the outside while it is red inside. It usually comes from vague RAG definitions and a culture that punishes bad news, and it is the most common reason boards are surprised by late projects.
If every report has been green until the month before go live, the problem is the reporting, and it is worth an independent read of where the project really stands.