How to Create a Project Report: Objectives,

Components, and More

By Simplilearn
Last updated on Jun 15, 202398874

Table of Contents
5 Steps to Create a Project Report From Scratch
Project Report Objectives
Project Report Components
Common Project Report Types
Project Report Use Cases
View More
Managing a project is by no means an easy feat. Many moving parts can make it
complicated to stay focused on the tasks and keep stakeholders up to date on the
project status. This is why project reports are a useful tool for project managers.

These project reports can be used to provide direction for team members, offer status
updates for partners or management teams, and successfully manage risk mitigation –
to name just a few! 

Let’s take a closer look at how to create a project report including its many objectives,
components, and examples of project reports.
Steps to Create a Project Report From Scratch

Creating project reports is an integral part of evaluating project success. Documenting

the lessons learned and sharing them with a larger team in an organized way can help
with future projects. You can use different tools to put together your project report. Here
are 7 basic steps involved in creating a project report - 

1. Know Your Objective 

Sit down, evaluate your objectives, and understand what you want to describe, explain,
recommend, and prove with your report. Having set goals will not only help you proceed
with your project report but also help readers understand your point of view? 

2. Recognize Your Audience

Your audience plays an essential role in making your project report a success. A formal
annual report differs from a financial report: the language, representation of data, and
analysis changes per your target audience. 

3. Data Collection 

The chances of you having a solid report is when data supports it. Data plays an
essential role in making people believe in your derivations. Also, support your claims by
citing sources such as case studies, surveys, interviews, etc. 

4. Structure the Report

A project report is further divided into certain sections. These 4 are the most common
divisions of a project report:

 Summary: The summary gives the reader a download of all covered in the project
report. Even though a summary is placed at the beginning of a project report, you
can only write it once your entire report is complete. 

 Introduction: Mention the outline of the report, give context and mention the scope
and methodologies used in the report. 

 Body: This is the lengthy section of the report as it contains background details,
analysis, data, and graphics. 

 Conclusion: This section brings the entire project report together. 

5. Edit and Proofread 

Once your project report is ready, read it multiple times with some time gap. You can
ask your co-workers to review it. 

Project Report Objectives

Every project report starts with a solid project report objective. Your objective should
provide precise direction for the rest of the report. Consider what purpose you want your
project report to serve. Are you describing new risks or explaining project delays? Or
will your report focus on persuading management teams or stockholders to invest
additional funds into the project? 

A thorough understanding of your objective will help guide you in writing the report and
make the purpose of the report clear to all stakeholders.

Here are a few examples of project report objectives:

 Requesting approval for a new project

 Tracking the progress of the project

 Identifying and managing risks

 Managing costs and budgets

 Requesting financial assistance

Project Report Components

Your project report will be bursting with essential information about your project.
Although the content of your report will differ depending on the type of report you’re
creating, keeping your report organized will make it easy for the reader to follow along
without missing any critical points. Organize your data and content into sections that
allow all stakeholders to quickly reference.

Consider including some of the following project report components:

Executive Summary 

The first section of your report will likely include an executive summary. The brief
overview should provide all the essential takeaways from the report, allowing the reader
to understand the report's contents without having to read through all of the project
details.

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Project Progress

This component includes real metrics that track your project’s progress. It offers an
overview of the project's status and budget while identifying risks or issues that may
have emerged. Helping project management and other stakeholders reflect on the
project schedule and make amendments as needed.

Risks and Risk Management

What risks have developed that may affect the quality, timeline, or budget of your
project? How will you control these emerging elements? It’s inevitable that all projects
will face risks, so it’s how you intend to manage those risks that’s important to the
project team and stakeholders. Include a detailed analysis of the risk, your proposed
solutions, and how these new elements will affect the project as a whole. 

Budget

Are your financials where they need to be for the current status of your project? Will
more capital be required to reach your goals effectively? Provide a detailed overview of
the allocation of your budget including materials, labor, and operating costs. 

Timelines

Reflect on your project goals. Is the project behind, ahead, or on schedule? How will
any changes to your timelines affect your budget or resources? Include an overview of
tasks that have already been completed and a comprehensive schedule of remaining
tasks.
Resources

Resources may include materials, machinery, or even funding required to complete your
project. Provide a detailed summary of your current resource allocation. What are
detrimental resources for your project running low? Are there any excess amounts?  

Team Performance

Is your team completing tasks efficiently? Are there any skill or knowledge gaps that
need to be addressed? Compare your team’s performance to your initial goals to
identify the group’s progress.

Common Project Report Types

A project report is a simple and detailed description of the essence of the project and its
aims and aspirations. The business management team and stakeholders are kept
updated on every development regarding the project; based on that, they prepare their
strategy. This vital information keeps the communication line open between the
management team and the stakeholders, providing them with a complete picture of
every action concerning the project. 

A project report includes the necessary recommendations for all types of businesses,

established and start-ups. Moreover, organizations use project reports to procure
financial help from institutions. Project reports can be of various types that help
everyone complete a project successfully. Based on the report, your team can take up
any activity that benefits the project. 

Status Reports

It talks about the progress going on with a project. It also states various significant
activities associated with the project. This status report organizes the communication
medium between the team and the stakeholders. It summarizes the finished tasks on
the project at hand. It includes the budgetary details and the timeline of the project. It
also helps identify the risks related to the project and measures to tackle them
beforehand. The status report also keeps track of the events or actions or any activity
taken in the past. Status reports are carried out weekly, daily, monthly, or quarterly.
They help collect and distribute information about crucial activities in a project in a
smooth manner. 
Progress Report

While executing a project, a progress report is inevitably carried out to update

everything about the project. It usually includes things like if the project baseline is
fulfilled. It indicates the initial plan you prepared along with your stakeholders about a
project regarding the expectations, schedules, cost, deliverables, and scope of it. A
progress report informs your stakeholders how much progress has been made in the
above directions. 

You should prepare this status report in a specific manner by stating the project title,
contact information, a summary of the status, and providing all the information about the
budget, timeline, and expected completion date of the project. You can take the help of
several such free templates available online to make the status report. 

Risk Reports

This type of report explains the risks associated with the project in a documented form.
It covers details about risks that are managed already and the emerging ones. It
includes the overall risk profile of the project. Risk reports identify and state potential
risks that could alter the duration of the project and tips to manage them. 

Board Executive Reports

An executive report is a summary of the business plan of an organization for lending

partners. It enables the team members to collect and combine the results of numerous
research studies to help them decide on the project. It is the starting point of arranging a
dialogue with the investors. It should be written in such a way that it creates the best
impression in the minds of the lenders. It should be short and precise and
comprehensively analyze the project. 

Cost Benefit Analysis Report

This kind of report helps organizations know if a particular project is possible or not. It
will show you how much the project will benefit your organization against the
investment. It will help you decide if a project is worth taking on for your organization
and how much business profit it will get you at the end of the day. Alternatively, it will
also help your organization better utilize its resources while progressing with the project.
You can monitor your project expenses and spending to manage your funds better. 

Resource Reports
This report highlights the distribution of resources according to the project tasks. The
team members and the investors get the necessary information by reading this report
on how well the resources are distributed in the project. It will give detailed narration
about which team is assigned to which task according to the date wise. This type of
report is beneficial for an organization to know if there is over allocation of resources as
this could harm the project. Overall allocation happens when there are insufficient
resources to complete all the crucial activities of the project. 

Variance Reports

This report helps you compare your overall project plan with the project's end result. It
uses metrics to inform you if your project is running according to the timeline, ahead of
time, or running late. Moreover, it will streamline the data based on the comparisons
you have made on the project. With the availability of various project management tools,
preparing this kind of report has become easier now. It cuts down your hard work by
creating the project activity report and conveying it to the stakeholders. 

Gap Analysis Report

This report will examine the project's current status in the context of schedule, cost, and
labor and, subsequently, compare the targeted status. It discovers and examines the
gap between these two aspects and prepares a strategy or action plan on how to do the
needful to reach the targeted objectives. Every business, whether a budding one or an
established one, will need this kind of gap analysis report to perform better in terms of
projects. This report will tell you how to take the successful step to graduate to the next
level of your business. This will tell you whether you are fulfilling your business
objectives and using your resources carefully. 

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Project Report Use Cases

There are several common use cases for project reports in project management. These
include:

Project Status Report 

A project status report is used regularly throughout a project to communicate the
project’s progress in conjunction with the original project plan. The status report of a
project provides all stakeholders with updates on the project’s development and
performance. Your status report may cover issues or risks that have emerged and
include your amended project plan.

Project Tracking Report

A project tracking report offers real numbers, metrics, and other key indicators that
measure the project’s overarching progress. This comprehensive report covers all
aspects of the project, including project status, tasks, project team performance, and
how much of the project has been completed.

Project Performance Report

Performance reports provide an overview of the project’s progress, a breakdown of

resource allocation, and costs to date. Your performance report will help monitor the
project’s current direction and forecast how well it will perform.  

Project Health Report

A health report offers an analysis of any problem areas or risks within your project.
Completing a project health report can help identify any potential issues before they
occur, saving you time, money, and resources.

Project Summary Report

A project summary report provides a quick snapshot of the project’s status. Along with
tasks completed and a summary of financials, the brief report should include any key
highlights or milestones and a glance at upcoming scheduled tasks. 

Project Time Tracking Report

Project time tracking reports help the team and all stakeholders better understand the
time allocation for each task. It’s a useful tool for project managers to gauge their teams'
efficiency and identify what areas need improvement. 

Project Report Examples

Not sure where to start with your next project report? Consulting the right project report
example can help you gain the direction you need.

Click here for a status report example.

Opening and Viewing Reports With Microsoft 

Using Project, one can easily create new reports or customize them for various types of
project data without relying on any other application or software. MS Project offers
dozens that you can use right away. You can also customize any report’s content and
look or build a new one from scratch.

 Click the Report tab and then click the View Reports group. 

 Select the type of report you need.

For instance, if you have to open the Project Overview report, navigate Report >
Dashboards > Project Overview.

Reports Dashboard Option

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Change Data in Your Report 

Reports are customizable. So, you choose the data that MS Project will show in any
part of a report. Follow the steps below to change the data in your report:

 Click the chart or table you would like to alter. 

 Use the Field list pane present on the right side to select fields to filter and show
data. 

 Also, clicking a chart displays three pop-up buttons on the right-hand side of the
chart. You can opt for the Chart Elements or Chart Filters button to select elements
and filter chart data.

For instance, take the previous Project Overview report as an example. You can change
the % Complete chart and display critical subtasks rather than top-level summary tasks
using the below-mentioned steps:

 Click anywhere in the % Complete chart.

 Now, in the Field List pane, navigate to the Filter box. 

 Select the Critical option.

 Next, pick level 2 in the Outline Level box. Let’s suppose that this is the first level of
the outline with subtasks rather than summary tasks.

 The chart will reflect the change as you make your selections.

Changes in the % Complete Chart

Change the Report Format 

Using Project, you can go from monotonous black-white to vivid effects and colors. With
the Split view, you will be able to view the real-time report changes while you make the
changes. To change the report format, take the following steps:

 Click the report (you can click anywhere).

 Now click Report Tools and click the Design tab. It will display options for changing
the look of the entire report. 

 Using this tab, you can alter the color, font, or theme of the entire report. You can
also include images, charts, shapes, or tables here.

Report Tools Options

 Clicking on individual elements such as tables, charts, and others of a report will
display new tabs at the top of the screen for formatting that part. 

Table Styles

 Use the Drawing Tools Format tab to change shapes. 

 The Picture Tools Format tab will help you add picture effects.  

 You can configure and tweak tables using the Table Tools Design and Table Tools
Layout tabs. 
 The Chart Tools Format and Chart Tools Design tabs help tweak charts. Also,
clicking on a chart displays three buttons on the right side of the chart. You can use
the Chart Styles button to modify the chart color or style. 

Suppose you plan to change the % Complete chart in the Project Overview report. Click
anywhere in the chart and tap on the Chart Tools Design.

% Complete Chart

 From the Chart Styles, pick a new style for your chart. The option selected in the
following image adds shadows to the columns and removes the lines.

Chart Styles in Chart Tools Design

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 Next, you can click Chart Tools Design > Change Chart Type to add some depth.
 You can change the columns by clicking Column > 3-D Stacked Column.

 To add a background color, click Chart Tools Format > Shape Fill. Now pick a new
color. You can explore more color options by clicking on more fill colors.

Color Options for Chart

 Alter bar colors by selecting the bars and then click the Chart Tools Format > Shape
Fill option. Pick the color you want. 
 You can drag the numbers upwards to get them off the chart. 

The above-stated changes will be reflected as follows.

% Complete Chart on Making the Changes 

Make Your Report 

Take the following steps to create a new report. 

 Click the Report tab and then click New Report.

 Pick from the four options: 

 Blank: Provides a blank canvas that you can use to add charts, text, tables, and
images using the Report Tools Design tab.

 Chart: It is suitable for comparing Actual Work, Work by default, and Remaining
Work. Using the Field List pane, you can pick different fields for comparison or use
the controls to alter the format and color of the chart.

 Table: It displays tabular information. Using the Field List pane, you can select
what fields are to be displayed in the table.  

 Comparison: It gives you two charts side-by-side. Initially, they will have the same
data. You can click on the chart and choose the information of your choice in the
Field List pane. 
 Types of New Report Styles

 Name your report and start adding information to it. All charts are fully customizable.
You can easily add or delete elements to meet your needs.

 You can make your new report available for future projects by using the Organizer to
copy this new report into the global template. 

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Share Your Report 

 Click anywhere in the report.

 Navigate Report Tools Design > Copy Report.

 Copy Report Option

 Now paste the report into any program of your choice. You might have to resize or
align the report when you paste it elsewhere. You can also opt for the printing option
for sharing hard copies. 

FAQs 

1. What is a project report and its significance?

A project report summarizes a project's key aspects, including its goals, timeline,
budget, progress, and outcomes. It provides project managers with critical information
to monitor and evaluate the project's performance, identify potential risks and
challenges, and communicate progress to stakeholders.

2. What is the format of a project report?

A project report format is completely customizable depending on the project

requirements and your choices. However, it should focus on the specific objectives of
the project, its methodology,  major findings, and progress. 

3. How do you prepare a project report?

Preparing a project report is simple. Click Report > New Report and choose from the
four options. Now, give a suitable name to the report and start adding information. 

4. What is a project report with an example?

 A project report is a document providing detail on the project’s overall status or specific
aspects of its performance. Irrespective of the report type, it contains project data based
on economic, financial, technical, managerial or production aspects. For example, a
Cost Overview report tells the current cost status of the project. It also reveals planned
costs, remaining costs, cumulative costs, actual costs, and percentage of completion to
help understand if the project is within budget.

5. How do you write a complete project report?

Writing a complete project report entails a proper start and closure, including

 Labeling the document and writing the project overview 

 Including a section for the project’s scope 

 A well-formulated project performance analysis.

 Highlighting the project’s accomplishments, results, and outcomes.

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