Containing detailed summaries of information and activities done by the team to carry out a project, a regular team status report offers a reliable means of getting the team updated with latest developments on the project and the challenges they encountered.
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Through this type of report, team members will have an idea of the progress made and where it’s heading.
Also, team status reports give an idea of how people are using resources and if there are enough to continue. It gives the team the advantage of using and managing these resources wisely.
In addition, it serves as an important communication tool for everybody involved in the project—the team, the top management, the clients, and the stakeholders.
Everyone is aware of the team’s situation that makes them understand the human aspect of the project implementation.
- Benefits and Considerations for a Report Part 1
- Team Status Report Download Part 2
- How to Make Status Reporting 10x Easier Part 3
- Additional Sources Part 4
Part 1
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How Does It Benefit the Team?
It is an important project management tool that keeps the project on track and within the expectations of the project team, the clients, and other stakeholders.
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The project manager and the team can easily spot issues and problems that may come up during the project implementation and can work on a solution to address it.
With its data sourced from different aspects of the project, the team can forecast any eventualities and enable them to make adjustments to their work assignments and schedule. Since they were able to see it in advance, they are given an ample amount of time to accommodate the changes and transition smoothly, thus, eliminating any sudden changes. -
Keys to an Effective Team Status Report
Basically, the most important thing to remember in coming up with a team status report is that its content should be relevant to the project and the team, as major decisions may be based on the data presented in this report.
The report should reflect the team’s accomplishments for the reporting period, issues and challenges encountered, and the performance objectives and targets for the succeeding reporting period. The project manager need not take all the responsibilities in the generation of team status report. In fact, different sections of the report may be assigned to each team member for him or her to update and work on based on his or her role or responsibility on the project.
.This will give the team members a deeper awareness, understanding, and also ownership of the project and their assignments. The role now of the project manager is to discuss with the team member and approve what they’ve written.
.Generally, the team status report brings everyone on the same page.
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As a result, in its absence, the team may use other means of communication such emails, phone calls, and meetings. There are also useful collaboration tools of but nothing beats having a single document that reflects everything everyone is doing.
Part 2
Team Status Report: Free Download
Free online tools for work:
1. Fluxes.com — Free Project and Task Management Software
2. Status.net — Software for Daily and Weekly Status Reports
Click Here to Download Team Status Report Template XLS
Part 3
How to Make Status Reporting 10x Easier
How to configure status reports on status.net:
Step 1:
- Create a “Team Status Report” applet — customize our preset forms or easily create a new form in minutes.
- Setup reminders if you want your team members to receive automatic reminders when their reports are due.
- Configure who will submit reports by choosing the “Participants” tab.
Step 2: Users will click the “Open Submission Form” button to fill in and submit the report.
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.
Options:
- Set the applet as “Team-wide” if you want all team members to view each other’s status reports.
- Alternatively, you can make every participant to view his/her own reports only. Manager/stakeholders will view all reports.
- Add, remove, and assign new team members at any time.
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.)
Click “Generate Report”.
Done!
Benefits:
- Make reporting easier with auto-fill:
Fields such as date, name, report type, and formatting are inserted automatically by software. - Consolidate reports automatically:
Reports created by your team members can be consolidated easily. - Save time with auto-layout:
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 with auto-reminders:
No one forgets to fill in their status reports because status.net sends timely reminders according to the schedule you chose. - 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 popular free task management software Fluxes.com, and other project management tools, version control systems, support systems, financial applications, etc.) by connecting these apps to your status applet.
- Quick sharing:
Status reports can be either
– exported to files and printed, or sent by email;
– shared with the manager online (in real time);
– shared online (in real-time) 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 now to make status reporting easier for your team.
Part 4