How do you keep your project and program performance reporting consistent and high quality?

1 Define your reporting requirements

Before you start writing your performance reports, you need to understand what your stakeholders expect from you. What are their information needs, preferences, and priorities? How often do they want to receive your reports, and in what format? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that they care about? By defining your reporting requirements upfront, you can align your reports with your stakeholders' expectations and avoid confusion or misunderstanding.

2 Establish a reporting framework

A reporting framework is a set of standards, templates, tools, and processes that guide your performance reporting. It provides consistency, accuracy, and completeness across projects or programs. A reporting framework may include a reporting calendar to specify frequency, deadlines, and distribution of reports. Additionally, it could feature a reporting template to define structure, format, and content of reports. Moreover, a reporting tool could automate data collection, analysis, and presentation. Furthermore, a reporting process can outline roles, responsibilities, and steps for creating, reviewing, and approving reports.

3 Use data-driven evidence

Using data-driven evidence is a key principle of performance reporting, as it helps demonstrate achievements, identify gaps, and justify actions. Collecting relevant, reliable, and timely data from various sources is necessary to make use of this evidence. Analyzing the data to recognize trends, patterns, and anomalies is also important. Presenting the data in a clear and concise way with charts, graphs, tables, and dashboards is essential for effectively interpreting the data to explain its meaning and implications. Moreover, it helps build credibility and trust with stakeholders.

4 Focus on the key messages

While data is important, it is not enough to create a high-quality performance report. You also need to focus on the key messages that you want to convey to your stakeholders. What are the main achievements, risks, issues, and lessons learned from your project or program? How do they affect your objectives, scope, schedule, budget, and quality? What are the implications and recommendations for the next steps? By focusing on the key messages, you can make your performance reports more relevant, meaningful, and actionable.

5 Seek feedback and improvement

Performance reporting is not a one-time activity. It is a continuous process that requires feedback and improvement. You should seek feedback from your stakeholders, sponsors, and team members on your performance reports. How do they perceive your reports? Are they satisfied with the information, format, and frequency of your reports? Do they have any suggestions or questions? By seeking feedback, you can identify your strengths and weaknesses, and improve your performance reporting accordingly.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?