The primary purpose of a status report is to present updates on a project or activity, monitor its actual progress versus the targets, discuss issues and challenges encountered during the reporting period, and other matters which may need the attention of stakeholders.
- Types of Status Reports: Free Resources and Downloads Part 1
- General-Purpose Status Report Template Free Download Part 2
- How to Make Status Reporting 10x Easier Part 3
- Additional Sources Part 4
Part 1
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Employee Status Report
An employee status report documents an employee’s performance, activities, and accomplishments in a given period. It may take the form of a manual logbook that the supervisor may look at, or through an email to be sent to the supervisor.
Check this article about employee status reports for best practices and free downloads
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Department Status Report
This type of status report provides an account of the accomplishments of the unit or department in a given reporting period and an overview of the financial details, production status, and other matters concerning the department.
How to write a department status report + free templates
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Executive Status Report
An executive report provides a high-level summary of all updates and progress of a project and is submitted to the top management of an organization or a company. Due to their limited time, top officials may not have enough time to go over a full detailed report, that is why this type of report is prepared. The ultimate goal of this report is to tell whether the project is progressing as planned and to determine ways of catching up if the project is behind its schedule.
All about executive status reports with samples
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Financial Status Report
A financial status report is a summary of all fund disbursements, general fund status, and budget adjustments. Generated at the end of a reporting period, it is usually submitted to business managers, the board of directors, investors, stakeholders, auditing bodies, and the government.
Learn more and download a free sample of a financial status report here
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Client Status Report
These are a brief but detailed account of the work accomplished which are submitted to the customer or client on a regular basis, depending on the agreement. Aside from work accomplishments, it also discusses the questions or problems encountered by the team which the client may also need to look into. This type of report also provides a preview of what is going to happen in the following week or month.
This article about client status reporting contains a free template and a guide
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Implementation Status Report
An implementation status report serves as a documentation of the project’s history and may be used later in the evaluation, review, and analysis of how the project went through. Through this status report, stakeholders are informed of the status of the project implementation in terms of schedule, scope, resources, costs, etc.
Check this one for a free implementation status report template and best practices
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IT Status Report
An IT status report presents the status of the information technology in a company or in an organization containing updates on the overall status of key IT initiatives, accomplishments during the reporting period. An excellently written IT report can present the valuable contribution of IT in the organization which other officials or staff within the company may not easily understand.
In this article we provided useful tips for writing an IT status report with a free template
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Marketing Status Report
A marketing status report provides updates on the status or progress of a marketing campaign and is generated monthly to serve as the basis for critical company decisions on its marketing policies and other related matters. Through this report, the organization can see whether the marketing campaigns are performing according to plan and which among the marketing activities are actually delivering results.
Marketing status report template free download
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One-Page Status Report
One-page status report account for all accomplishments, milestones, problems, issues encountered, and budgetary information, but in a shorter form. All this information must be brief and concise enough to fit on one page.
Download the best samples here
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Quarterly Status Report
Quarterly reports provide a strategic balance between long- and short-term vision to help initiate changes within the organization or company. It helps generate necessary data for the company that is reliable and credible.
Article about quarterly status reports: best practices, tips, free template
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Scrum Status Report
A scrum status report provides a list of values delivered to the project such as features developed and requirements satisfied. The report should be able to keep the team and the client updated on the progress of the project which has actual business value.
Scrum status report free template
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Team Status Report
The team status report provides a detailed summary of accomplishments and activities done by the team to carry out a project. It is a reliable way of keeping the team on how the project or the tasks are progressing and where these are heading.
Team status report: free examples and templates, how-to’s
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Daily Work Report
A daily work report is an essential tool to ensure that employees are on track with their performance targets and also to monitor their progress. It also lets the supervisors see what the staff did on a particular day and what he or she plans to do the next day.
How to write a daily work report + templates
If you’re a team leader, you’ll also enjoy this article: “The Ultimate Guide to Daily and Weekly Status Reports With Case Studies“
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Business Development Status Report
A business development status report provides a better overview of business opportunities a company or an organization has. It also accounts of the progress of activities conducted by the firm to enhance its business, policy, and operations.
Business development status report: free template and best practices
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QA Daily Status Report
Quality assurance teams execute tests to simulate actual usage of a product and find out if there are defects. The status and the results of these test are often contained in a QA daily report. This report is provided not only to the product developers but to the other stakeholders, too.
How to build a daily QA status report with template
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Daily Log
Summarizing how an employee spent his time on the job, a daily work log creates a detailed picture of how the employees spent their day. It helps the supervisor and the employee understand how productive the day went by.
Daily log template and how-to tips
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Daily Report
A daily report is prepared by an employee detailing how they spent their work day, including their achievements and challenges. It also enables the team manager to have an overview how the team’s project is progressing.
Daily report is usually less detailed then a work log. Check the best daily report templates here.
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Weekly Status Report
A weekly status report is a summary of all work done during a week and how these tasks contributed to the completion of project or assignment. It is also a helpful tool for the manager to monitor the performance and the progress of this team.
Best practices and free templates
Choosing between daily reports vs. weekly status reports? Check this case study
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Weekly Sales Report
Helping the management to assess the company’s performance in terms of sales, a weekly sales report affects major decisions related to business development, recruitment, salary increases, and other aspects of business operations.
This article will help you write a good weekly sales report and includes a free sample
Here are some general tips on how to effectively write a status report:
- Find out the exact information required to be in the report. It is important to get the information from the persons involved to minimize time and effort to be spent on making the report.
- Find out if there is a standard format or template for the kind of status report. With a standard format, it will be easier to determine what information should be included in the report and there is a lesser chance of missing out on important things.
- An ideal report presentation should discuss the accomplishments first, then the plans, and then the other matters on the third part. Bottlenecks, issues, risks, and other important concerns may also be discussed in the third part.
- Just like any work-related documents, a status report also reflects the personality of its creator. If it is free from any grammar mistakes and typographical error, impeccably prepared, and well-thought, the same thing is thought about the writer of the report. If it is the other way around, the author is viewed as lousy and just take things for granted.
Part 2
Status Report Free Download
If you need a general-purpose status report, check this free sample:
Download Status Report Template XLSX
Part 3
How to Make Status Reporting 10x Easier
How to use status.net for status reports:
- Make reporting easier: Most fields (such as date, name, report type, and formatting) are inserted automatically by software.
- Save time: No need to spend hours in Word or Excel perfecting the report’s layout because it exports your updates into a beautifully crafted file with a couple of clicks.
- Peace of mind: No one forgets to fill in their status reports because status.net sends timely reminders according to the recurrence schedule you chose.
- Eliminate data silos: All data is accurately collected and easily accessible.
- Decrease time and effort spent on monthly, quarterly, and yearly reporting thanks to powerful filtering and export features.
- Optionally, enrich reports with the latest updates automatically added from web apps your team uses (such as project management tools, version control systems, support systems, financial applications, CRM, etc.) by connecting these apps to your status feed.
- Sharing: Status reports can be either
— exported to files and printed, or sent by email;
— shared with the manager online (in this case, an email with the full text of the status report will be sent automatically); or
— shared online as company-wide or team-wide status reports, i.e., all team members share their progress with each other (spend less time on meetings).
Sign up to make status reporting easier for yourself and your team.
How to configure status reporting:
Step 1:
- Create a “Status Report” feed and set up a recurrence.
- Configure who will write and read reports by choosing the “Participants” tab and then clicking the “Cog” button near “Feed Participants” title.
Options:
- Set the status feed as “Team-wide” if you want all team members to view each other’s status reports.
- Alternatively, you can allow access to status reports for certain participants only (such as yourself if you’re a team lead). In this case, turn “Team-wide” mode OFF and restrict viewing by unchecking “View” properties for other participants. Team members with the “View” checkbox unchecked will only be able to view their own status reports.
- If you’re a manager and you don’t plan to share your status reports with your team, uncheck “Update” for yourself – in this case, you won’t receive reminders to fill in this status report.
- The Recurrence setting configures how often participants receive email reminders to fill in their status reports. This feature is optional and can be turned off.
- You can add, remove, and assign new team members at any time.
Step 2: The text of the status update should be added to the “Update” field of status feed.
Data such as the report type, date and name will be added automatically.
As soon as a new status report is added, participants with “View” rights can view it in real time when they log in to their accounts. They will also automatically receive emails with the full text of status reports.
Step 3 (Optional): Generate a report and export it to PDF.
(Skip this step if you share status reports online and don’t print them.)
- Choose dates
- Choose people
- Click “File” button
- Choose type of report and click “Generate Report”
Done!
Part 4