Key dependencies?

And how to identify the differences between either? And how to report?

Thank you for your article about the Project Status report. It is directed toward creating a brief summary of the project. This is what the Executive Summary in the Monthly report should contain.

Please allow me to add, that if the Planner is trying to create a Monthly Status report, then it should be more comprehensive.

These segments are a must in each Monthly status report:

Scope:
I. Engineering (Material and Shop Drawings)
II. Procurement
III. Construction
IV. Commissioning and Testing

Cost:
I. Invoicing
II. Extra Work
III. Variations

Time:
I. Approved schedule with Critical Path
II. Actual progress with updated Critical Path
III. Delays and reasons for delays

The status report should address each issue above in addition to list all the following:

1. Minutes of Meeting
2. The following logs:
a. Correspondence sent and received
b. Non Conformance Recrods Issued
c. Material submittals status Log
d. Shop Drawings status Log
e. Procurement Log
f. Invoicing, insurance and guaranttees Summary
g. Request for Information
h. Confirmation of Verbal Instructions
i. Daily reports
3. Manpower summary
4. Outstanding Issue and Recommendations

Thank you again for your excellent article.

Samer

Point #1: “where we are”: this is to describe the position of current progress. It could be cost status, time status, and scope status. Use a dashboard or simple chart to describe these will be better.

Point #2: “how we are doing the project”: this is to report what problems and issues happened within the project and how we responded them. This will include summary of changes within the project and/or the product.

Point #3: “where we are going next”: this is to describe action plans to do next week.

Notes: The summary of Point #2 can be also put in Lessons Learned Document at the end of the project phase.

It seems to me that pregnancy is an activity, birth is a milestone and the baby is the deliverable. This is intuitively understandable. The pregnancy has all the features you mention when you talk about a milestone.

So, are we as part of atatus reporting just talking about major activities or project phases? I don’t think so. As a project manager, it’s important to know about the milestones too. e.g. When will system testing start, when will it be finished, when will the system go live etc. These are the really important aspects of the project and do not necessarily have any related “percent complete”, but meeting them keeps the project on track.

I’d like to add that project status should be provided in both push and pull mode. Let me explain. Push mode is when the PM sends the status to managers, let’s say every Monday morning. Push mode allows managers to access project status on-demand with a web interface. A project management software with a server version, or a simple wiki, does the job.

Even if managers don’t often use the on-demand project status, they will appreciate the “ongoing” nature of reporting.

I am in both roles: PM and manager. As manager, I also like seeing a chart (a burndown chart for example). I also like colors, but that’s really a question of personal taste.

Bruno Collet
Blog “Execution in the Information Age”