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Lindsay Sherwin
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Project Reports
This section introduces the five main reports commonly used
for project control and reporting. The sequence of reports is represented in the flow chart below.
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The
Project
Brief is generally the first
document. It is produced when the project
is initiated by the Project Sponsor following a Project Proposal
stage. It should establish for the project manager:
- What the project is to achieve, by when,
and within what resources.
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The Project Scoping
Report
(sometimes
called project initiation document or project plan) is the second document. It is
produced by the Project
Manager following a brief Scoping Project Study. It should
build on the Project Brief developing it to establish:
- What the project is to achieve
- A detailed time schedule for carrying out the
project
- Details of the resources required - people,
money, sections
- Who is to be involved in the project
- What the risks and implementation issues are.
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The Project Progress Report is produced by the
Project Manager in agreement with the Project Sponsor. It should
establish:
- What progress has been made, what work is
left remaining, and what the issues are.
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The Post Project Evaluation is not produced
for all projects. When it is, it is produced by the Project Manager
at the request of the Project Sponsor. It should establish:
- How did the project progress and what were
the issues we should be aware of for future projects.
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Key points are:
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Some reports are more specific than others. The structure
for the Project Scoping Report Plan is the most specific as this document will be used for
central coordination of the organisations projects. Others are less specific in that
their content may need to vary from project to project. For these the
content should be agreed between project manager and project sponsor.
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The reports are progressive, for example,
information in the Project Brief provides the basis for similar information
in the Project Scoping Report.
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The Project Brief and Project Scoping Report templates are based on
scoping a project.
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Regarding timing of the reports, it is generally best
practice to produce them at a natural end-of-stage rather than at regular
intervals.
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