Project Status Template

Creating a project status report is as much art as it is science.  A good status report contains critical project information that senior leaders and stakeholders can review to understand overall project health and progress.  The status report should also not take hours of time for a project manager to complete.  I’ve used many status reports over the years. I developed this template based on not only classic PMP status indicators (like schedule, budget, scope) but financial metrics and project reference information (such as project code).  All of the core project status information is included ‘above the fold’ for easy reference when the document is opened.  However, from experience attaching a document to an email reduces the likelihood of it getting read by about 50%.  To address this I copy and paste the dashboard information of the status report and paste it in the body of the email.  That way even a busy executive can quickly scan key project vitals through the preview feature of their standard mail program.