11.2 Parts of an Informational Report

Summary

Preface your progress report with a Summary section that provides a comprehensive overview of the most important information (i.e., the number and a descriptor of each task and its completion status).
As with your project proposal, you are most likely going to use a pure summary to discuss the status of each task, rather than an executive summary. This is because progress reports tend to emphasize what needs to be done and if any changes need to be made, rather than analyzing data and making final recommendations.

Introduction

Review the details of your project’s purpose, scope, and activities. The introduction may also contain the following:

Date the project began

Date the project is scheduled to be completed

People or organization working on the project

People or organization for whom the project is being done

Overview of the contents of the progress report

Project status

This section (which could have sub-sections) should give the reader a clear idea of the status of your project. It should review the work completed, work in progress, and work remaining to be done on the project, organized into sub-sections by time, task, or topic. These sections might include

Direct reference to milestones or deliverables established in previous documents related to the project.

A timeline for when the remaining work will be completed.

Any problems encountered or issues that have arisen that might affect completion, direction, requirements, or scope.

Conclusion

The final section provides an overall assessment of the current state of the project and its expected completion, usually reassuring the reader that all is going well and on schedule. It can also alert recipients to unexpected changes in direction or scope, or problems in the project that may require intervention.

References

This additional section provides full citations for any outside material included in the progress report.