Wouldn’t it be amazing if you had complete portfolio visibility and insight because your team submit project reports in the same format, standard and on time? Better yet, they don’t mind doing it, because it’s quick and easy.  

If you’re like most PMO leaders, every time you receive a round of project reports from your project managers, it makes you pull more facial expressions than a mime scaling an invisible wall. 

The cost of inconsistency 

One of the biggest factors that affects you directly is time. How much time are you actually spending a week chasing your team for their project reports? And then spending even more time chasing for what’s not in them! Your time is precious, so saving hours per week here would be a big win, right? 

The next is data! Without standardisation, execs can’t make sound business decisions and accurate metrics/data can’t be drilled down into. If it’s taking a project manager a week to send their project report, it’s already out of date. 

The value of standardised project reporting 

In the project economy we now find ourselves in where projects equal change, your organisation’s portfolio is your roadmap to future success and competitive advantage. 

Project Management Offices like yours play a key role in this overseeing and managing your organisation’s portfolio. Embracing standardised project reporting helps ensure the right decisions are made at the right time.  

5 reasons to standardise project reporting 

• When teams consistently submit status reports in the same way (and time), it not only streamlines the reporting process, but it benefits PMOs and the team itself. 
• Consistency of a standard project reporting format enables you to compare project statuses, identify trends, and make accurate assessments on project health. It creates a common language and understanding among stakeholders, aiding effective communication and insight-based decision making. 
• Time! Your team will spend less time producing reports and you save a heap of time gathering and reviewing. That means more time back into managing projects. 
• Standardised project reporting ensures visibility and transparency across the project portfolio. Visibility and transparency is vital for PMOs to be able to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and mitigate risks early on. With accurate and reliable data, you can conduct meaningful analysis, evaluate performance against metrics, and facilitate efficient communication among stakeholders, fostering collaboration and building trust. 
• Gain a deeper insight into project performance, risks, and issues, allowing data to be consolidated and analysed, patterns to be identified, and challenges to be addressed proactively. This data-driven approach enables you and your team to make informed decisions, allocate resources effectively, and ensure project alignment with strategic objectives.  

3 ways to establish project reporting standards quickly 

1. Identify what project information needs to be captured 

If you’re a newly established PMO or looking to revamp your project reporting process, you need to determine the key elements and metrics that need to be included in your project reports. Also define the standard reporting format, such as sections, data fields, and required information. The key is also making sure this is communicated and understood by the team. 

2. Create (user-friendly) reporting templates:  

You want to take the guesswork out for your team, so project reports are quick and easy to complete. We all put off tasks that we don’t fancy doing so it’s about making it as easy as possible. Ensure your templates are up to date, are in a shared, accessible location and all your team know where to find it! 

3. Utilise project templates 

Yes, more templates! Not only do project templates help ensure consistency across all project information and help ensure governance but they also make sure data required for project reporting is there from the start. Most project management tools have the ability to save basic templates and have pre-defined sets of tasks. 

Standardise project reporting quickly and easily with Fluid 

The above steps seem simple until you realise that we skipped the hard part. They still require manual entry which equals time and room for error. This is where Fluid comes in. With all project data centralised and available, you can use the advanced reporting to check out your team’s projects statuses without even chasing for a report. 

Better project data 

The project workspace in Fluid lets your project managers update project progress, add milestones, record risks, and update other relevant information quickly and easily. Everything is one place. To ensure standardisation, we have custom project templates available for you to pre-define every aspect of your projects before they’re created. 

Accurate real-time insight 

With dozens of reporting templates, custom dashboards and more filters than Instagram, you can create your perfect view of real-time, accurate project data. Need to run exception reporting on David’s projects? Ready in a few clicks. 

Automated project reporting 

No more dreaded Fridays for you are your team. Your project managers simply click a button, their project report is exported in a beautiful, branded document ready for sharing. All reports from the team will look the same and all will contain the latest real-time project data. 

Check out a recorded demo to take a look at Fluid first-hand.