Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Organization
The original proposal for the project determines the structure: make use of
original milestones or the timeline. With this in mind, the simplest structure is as
follows:
1. Introduction
2. Work Completed
3. Work Scheduled
4. Problems
But a more comprehensive list of components will give you a clearer structure,
even if you return to the simpler structure for the report itself.
1. Introduction
2. Project Description
3. Progress Summary
4. Problems Encountered
5. Changes in Requirements
6. Overall Assessment of the Project
This document adds: 7. Report Apparatus (titles, references, etc.)
1. Introduction
As always, first indicate the purpose of the report and its intended audience.
Clearly define the time period covered in the report (see also titles). Then,
explain the project's objectives and summarize the major issues. Sometimes the
summary can be a separate section from the introduction [2].
2. Project Description
In very short reports, the introduction might contain this section, but if it is under
its own heading, readers who are familiar with the project can skip it. Someone
unfamiliar with the project, however, needs summarized details such as purpose
and scope of the project, start and completion dates, and names of parties
involved [8]. Often this section can be adapted from a proposal or borrowed from
a previous progress report.
3. Progress Summary
This is the substance of the report (so "summary" may be a misnomer). You want
to discuss work done, work in progress, and work to be done. You might just
use these as subheadings to structure the section. This would be a project-tasks
approach. Other approaches are time-periods or a combined approach.
Your project (and sometimes your sponsor) will determine which of these three
you use. If the problems encountered or changes required are time-related, then
use the time-periods approach to your advantage; likewise, if the problems or
changes relate to specific tasks then use the project-tasks approach. Another item
that may be included here is a summary of financial data. This last item could
be contained in a table or appendix, or an independent section.
4. Problems Encountered
As noted in the opening, snags are expected. Don't hide from them; explain what
they are and how they might affect key areas of the job (such as timing, price or
quality). If the problem occurred in the past, you can explain how you overcame
it. This is least serious; in fact, you look good. If the problem is in front of you
(now or in the future), explain how you hope to overcome it, if you can.
5. Changes in Requirements
Here, you record the changes to the project: milestones added, new requirements,
or schedule changes (good or bad). Even if these changes have not affected the
ultimate goal of the project, you need to tell the sponsor how problems have been
accommodated.
7. Report Apparatus
A long progress report will include all the apparatus of formal reports: letter of
transmittal, title page, table of contents, abstract, appendices, references. Only the
most common will be addressed here.
PROGRESS REPORT:
Manufacturing Custom Relief Valve Assemblies
XYZ Company
• Subtitle: Note that the subtitle in the above example incorporates the dates
covered by the report. This makes handy reference for a reader, particularly on a large
project where more than one progress report may be necessary.
• Appendices: In a short report (less than 10 pages) keep appendices to a
minimum. It is always appropriate, however, to lodge financial data in an appendix if it
does not fit elsewhere in the report. An important guideline is that it is only worth
including an appendix if you mention it in the guts of the report. Otherwise, leave it out
altogether.
References: Systems of referencing vary widely within engineering disciplines. The University
of Toronto's Language Across the Curriculum program has a convenient "bibliography builder"
for people using the author-date system. The basics of the format can be seen in the reference list
below that contains the references used in producing these pages. See also: