Prepared by: Diane T. Rover and P. David Fisher

prog_rpt.html

Periodic progress reports during the life of a project serve several important purposes:

1. It brings the team together to evaluate internally the progress made toward fulfilling the project's purposes.
2. Problems encountered by individuals are identified and addressed.
3. The work plan is reviewed and updated as required with an eye toward ensuring that all project goals and objectives are met on time and within budget.
4. The report itself informs others about the progress made to date and identifies plans for completing the project. The progress report also identifies any possible impediments to meeting the original goals, objectives, or timelines.

The written design team progress reports should follow the same format and style as the original proposal. This includes the first page with a project title, list of team members and executive summary. The Executive Summary would have much of the same wording as the executive summary in the original proposal. However, it would also provide a list of significant achievements to date and a statement as to whether or not the project is on schedule. The executive summary should clearly identify any possible impediments to meeting the original goals, objectives, or timelines. The body of the report should contain three sections: Introduction, Progress, and Plans.

The Introduction should state the period of time covered by this report. It should also state the projects purpose, goals, and objectives. Much of this information can be extracted directly from the RFP and the original proposal. Moreover, much of this same Introduction can be reused in future progress reports and in the final project report.

The Progress portion of the progress report should focus on the schedule contained in the proposal and should address the following:

1. Identify each of the tasks that was active during the current reporting period.
2. Discuss methods used for each task.
3. Demonstrate technical depth by discussing one technical task in detail.
4. Identify accomplishments achieved since the last reporting period.
5. Identify any significant problems that were encountered since the last reporting period.
6. Evaluate how well the project is progressing in the context of the original project goals, objectives, and time lines.

The Plans portion of the progress report should also focus on the schedule contained in the original proposal and should address the following issues:

1. Identify each of the tasks that have not yet been completed for the project.
2. Identify the objectives for each of the tasks
3. Discuss plans for completing these tasks.
4. Identify any possible impediments to meeting the original goals, objectives, or timelines or state that there are no impediments.

NOTE: Completing weekly, informal written progress reports facilitates the development of formal progress reports. The Management Skill Team and Doc Prep Skill Team may have recommendations on informal reports.