How to wrIte a Monthly Progress Report (+ Free Templates)

Keeping stakeholders engaged is easily done through monthly reports. A monthly report template is handy when you need to create a high quality report.

There are 3 types of monthly reports:

1) Often a monthly status report is provided to the supervisor as an update of employee’s plans and activities. Most probably, it will also go to the manager of the supervisor as an input to his own report. It also serves as documentation of employee’s work history, and it’s a good reference during annual performance reviews.

2) Monthly project report. This type of report does not require as many details as a weekly project report does, but it provides a higher-level view of the developments in the project. Stakeholders would usually be interested in tracking the budget, expenditures, the quality of project outputs, and the risks, challenges, and issues affecting the project.

3) On the other hand, contractors also provide a monthly progress report to give the client a head’s up on where the project is, at the moment. Because of their setting, the client and the contractor might not see each on a regular basis. The client himself might not have enough time to monitor the developments of the project. In this situation, a monthly project status report also serves as a vital medium of communication between the contractor and the client so the report should be as detailed as possible.

A monthly report is a presentation of the activities and accomplishments of an organization for the previous month. The content of a monthly report typically includes:

– A summary of the company/department/person’s performance for the month

– Highlights from key projects that were completed during that period

– Projected goals for the next month

– Financial information about revenue, expenses, and profit margins (if applicable)

– Information about new hires or departures (if applicable)

Here are some tips on how to come up with a monthly status report which will effectively communicate the project developments to the top management, the stakeholders, or the clients:

• Provide a short description of the project that is brief yet concise. It does not need to be too detailed as its primary purpose is just to inform the management and the client of what this project is all about.
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  Project managers should also keep in mind that they need to practice honesty, transparency, and integrity in reporting since top executives can be surprisingly sharp in remembering even the smallest, most trivial details.
• Presenting related data may be easier through tables, graphs, and charts. Visual presentation makes reporting easier since readers can immediately see trends through the use of lines and bars. However, do check first whether the data to be presented graphically or in a tabular form will accurately represent the trend that the executives need to see.
• Do not use too many technical terms or concepts in the report. Abbreviations should be spelled out the first time it will be used in the report, followed by its abbreviated form, so that the readers will be guided on what it means.
• Good formatting of the report increases readability. Using a single type and size of font throughout the whole report creates a consistent view. Emphasize different sections and subsections of the report by making the text bold or underlining them. It shows that the following portion is distinct from the previous one and it signifies that a new topic or area is coming up.
• Allow time to make the report. Cramming is not a good thing, especially in report writing, when the primary goal is to capture the development and progress of a project. The project manager or the writer of the report may need to sift through various details and information to come up with a comprehensive report.
• A monthly report should be written in an objective manner and avoid subjective opinions.
• A monthly report should be concise and should not contain unnecessary details or information that is irrelevant to the topic at hand.
• The format of a monthly report may vary depending on what it is used for (i.e., whether it is for internal use or external use).

It is important to have an objective in mind before beginning the monthly report. This will help you stay focused and not get distracted with irrelevant information.

Objectives for a monthly report could be:

1) To summarize performance for the month

2) To identify what went well and what didn’t go well

3) To establish a plan of action for next month

What Does a Monthly Report Contain?

It is important to have a specific template for your monthly report so that you can be consistent. This will help you stay on track with all the necessary information that needs to be included in it.

Last Month’s Activities

Accomplishments for the Month

Plans for the Next Month

Issues and Concerns

Keep in mind that the report should be free from any errors, grammatical or typographical, and it should also be noted that the quality of the report reflects the personality and professionalism of its writer.

Monthly status reports also help the team and the company reflect on what they can accomplish during the month and determine which among the initiative made are producing positive outcomes.

Valuable and action-oriented, monthly status reports should also state the next steps for the project, team, or company. Enterprises or organizations may have a standard format or template for a monthly status report which asks for a particular set of information about the project or performance targets that the management would inform with.

If you don’t have a template, here are some guidelines to create a monthly status report that will clearly reflect all the accomplishments in a given month.

Provide Necessary Information That Will Identify Why the Monthly Progress Report Was Made.

Write a Brief Summary of What the Project or Performance Goal Is All About.

The Most Significant Content Is the Accomplishments of the Team’s Project Development.

Provide Details on the Tasks Performed by the Team for the Month.

Support the Details Presented in the Monthly Status Report.

Try to keep the report within one to two pages: enough to update the readers about the project, and not to take too much time from the users.

Monthly Report Template: Free Download Section

Additional Sources

1. How to Conduct an Effective Monthly Meeting + Free Sample Agenda
2. How to Write an Impressive Weekly Project Report + Free Template Download
3. How to Write a Quarterly Status Report + Free Template Download