Mastering Progress Report Writing

Guide to Writing a Progress Report

• A progress report is a report that updates information about a project.
• Progress reports are used for projects with many steps and are issued at regular intervals.
• Progress reports allow management and clients to stay informed about a project and make adjustments to assignments, schedules, and budgets.
• The tone of the progress report should be honest and clear, with no defensive language.
• Withholding information or misleading the reader is unethical.
• The format of the progress report should include headings and subheadings for organization and consistency.
• The report should include the date, to/from address, subject line, salutation, introduction, work completed, work remaining, adjustment/problem, and conclusion.
• The introduction should explain the purpose/objective of the report, project status summary, and define technical terms for non-expert readers.
• The work completed section should detail what has been done, what is left, work schedule, complications, and include tables/charts.
• The work remaining section should describe the next immediate steps, major tasks for the next report, expected date of next tasks, and briefly mention future tasks.
• The adjustment/problem section should describe issues that may have arisen, the problem in meeting the original cost estimate, and needed changes in schedule.
• The conclusion should summarize the predicted schedule, explain future steps, reasons for any delay, predicted completion date, and include recommendations for actions related to the schedule, resources, and delivery dates.