Project reporting: how to track progress & make data-driven decisions for successful projects

Most people think project reports are just more paperwork 😒 But what if we told you they’re an important step in delivering successful projects?

Regular and accurate project reporting helps you stay on top of a project’s progress by tracking its deliverables and budget. If there’s a problem (and what project ever goes 100% to plan?), your team can course-correct and get things back on track before it’s too late.

Project progress reports (e.g., analyzing earned value or time spent on project work) also save your team time by eliminating drawn-out status meetings. They’re especially useful for teams working remotely, as they provide a clear and accessible way for everyone to know exactly what’s going on at all times, without needing to be in the same place.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at:

• What project reports are
• Why project reporting is important
• How to build and share project reports within your team

Let’s get reporting.

What are project reports?

A project report is an overview of the current status of the project used to show the progress and requirements of any project over its timeline. Ideally, these project reports are an easy-to-understand summary that all stakeholders, clients, or collaborators can comprehend.

What about project reports for agencies?

Depending on the size, complexity, delivery date, and budget of a project, an internal report may be required daily, weekly, or monthly over a project’s life cycle. However, no matter the frequency of the reports, their purpose stays the same: to keep teams up to date on the progress of the project and any challenges that might impact its delivery.

You see, the magic of project reports isn’t to record setbacks after they happen but to predict them and prevent them from occurring in the first place. It is a sure-proof risk management tactic. By consistently reporting on the health of projects in your agency’s pipeline, you can accurately predict changes and delays ahead of time.

For example, if your agency is developing a mobile app and a project milestone is due in a couple of weeks, it’s important to know whether your team is completing their tasks on time. Real-time project reporting in a tool like Float (👋) helps you keep track of your team’s progress, see if they’re ahead or behind on key elements of the campaign, and predict whether or not there are any potential blockages between them and the finish line.

Reports help you see the full picture of your team’s capacity and your project’s progress. They also allow you to adjust your project schedule as needed to ensure your team can deliver work to your client on time and on budget.

➡️ Read our guide on agency management software to find the best option for you.

Unpacking a project report

Every project status report should include metrics or data that quantify progress and show the project status. They provide a comprehensive view of project health, helping you identify areas that need attention.

Depending on the type of report, you might include information about phases, milestones, resource workloads, and expenses like the report below 👇

For example, this report compares logged hours to scheduled hours, showing that less than half of the budget has been spent. This indicates there’s enough time and money remaining to complete the work. The team is steadily progressing through milestones and phases and is on track to meet the project due date.

➡️  Find the right project management software for your marketing agency to get a holistic view of your team’s availability.

Why is project reporting important?

Project reporting is essential for providing an overview of the project. It shows where resources have been used, what problems have halted progress, when you can expect a project to be finished, and whether or not it’s over budget. For agencies specifically, project reports can help provide:

• Improved team transparency
• Better resource planning and allocation
• Accurate project status updates 
• Efficient budget tracking

We will elaborate on these below 👇

📋 Improved team transparency

Project reports include detailed updates on the entire project, from upcoming milestones and due dates to actual time spent on tasks and cost overruns. This highlights any potential risks and gives a fuller picture of the overall health of your projects. Sharing this kind of information with your project stakeholders provides transparency and creates a shared sense of accountability.

⏱️ Better resource planning and allocation 

How is your team’s time actually spent and how long do project tasks usually take? If you can’t track it, you can’t answer that question!

Building a report on how your team’s time is spent helps you track overall project progress more accurately. This information shows you if any of your resources have time to spare and can be reallocated based on your business needs. For example, if a project’s progress is lagging due to the design team being under-resourced, and you have a designer who has finished their tasks ahead of schedule on another project, you can bring this newly available team member over to help pick up the slack and improve the pace of the project.

🏥 Accurate project status updates  

A status report offers a high-level view of your project’s overall health. If a project is going off course, or you’re close to finishing its budget, it’s better to know early. In a worst-case scenario, if you can see that scope creep or other factors have affected your project’s delivery, it’s best to be on the front foot and communicate this early to your clients so you can agree on what the next steps should be.

💲Efficient budget tracking 

You need to know their budget spend in real time to assess how your projects are tracking. If scope creep is starting to impact your team’s task delivery and project timeline, it will ultimately impact your project’s budget. Reports are the most effective way to give you full control over monitoring your project budget spend and resource utilization.

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Project planning & reporting software built for teams

More than 4,500 of the world’s top teams choose Float to plan and schedule their project work. It gives you a high-level view & report of your team’s capacity so you can schedule projects with confidence.

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3 tips for building and sharing effective project reports

Project reports are more than just status updates—they’re a powerful tool for driving better decisions, improving collaboration, and ensuring project success. With the right approach, reporting can transform how your team delivers projects.

1. Ensure project information is accurate 

Project reports are only useful when they contain complete and accurate information. To ensure this:

• Limit manual data entry to reduce errors
• Ensure all project data is accurate and entered on time
• Sync changes automatically to keep everyone updated

The last one is pretty tricky if you’re using spreadsheets for reporting. With project planning software like Float ( 👋), you can automate logging hours for time tracking reports. You can also lock timesheets to prevent unauthorized changes. And all changes you make such as shifting phases are synced automatically.

2. Tailor reports to your audience

Even the best project management reports lose their impact if people don’t understand them. 

One best practice for presenting reports—and communication in general—is to provide your audience with only the information they need in the format they’ll best understand.

For example, stakeholders might value a general overview of all projects but expect more detailed insights on the most profitable or high-priority ones.

With Float, tailoring reports to meet these needs is simple. Use the Filter option to drill down into specific projects by department, client, or other criteria. You can then save these customized views and share them directly with stakeholders, ensuring they get the exact insights they need without unnecessary details.

Let’s talk about formats. Consider using visuals such as bar charts or line graphs over raw numbers. Instead of overwhelming stakeholders with numbers, visual reports (like those in Float) make it easy to understand project progress, such as logged and scheduled hours of a project.

3. Use reports to make better decisions 

Reports are powerful tools for decision-making because they highlight trends and issues.

For example, if several reports show projects frequently going over budget or missing milestones, you can identify underlying causes and make changes to improve future outcomes. Imagine your agency is producing a TV commercial. You notice that similar projects in the past have consistently run out of funds before completion. The culprit? A recurring price point that’s generous to your customers but bad for business. So you revise your plan for future projects—whether by reducing hours, shortening the commercial, or updating the client’s quote.

The tentative project feature in Float is particularly helpful here. It allows you to create projects, assign resources, and allocate budgets without affecting ongoing work. These unconfirmed projects are visually distinct, making it easy to plan without disruption.

Project reports can help your team work smarter

No day is ever the same in the world of a creative team. Changing workflows, due dates, and milestones are just part of the game.

Regular project reporting can help you keep track of all the moving parts. But not just any tool will do. You need a project planning tool with resource management capabilities like Float to help you see where your team is spending their time and to predict whether a project will stay within its budget. The visual Report dashboard helps you predict and correct problems like cost overruns and missed due dates before they happen.

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