One of the best strategies to keep the team focused on the same objective is to provide daily and weekly status reports.
Understanding the employee’s needs is one of them. A study by The Economist Intelligence Unit found that 46% of business managers find it challenging to manage remote workers.
On the other hand, building trust and clear communication in teams is one of the best solutions for creating a safe work environment.
A daily and weekly status report could be the answer to this problem. A manager can better understand any emotional or project-related issues that may arise by asking team members a series of focused questions and having them write regular reports.
Why do we need Daily and Weekly status reports?
Managers use daily, and weekly status reports as communication tools to keep track of their employees’ progress and challenges.
Status reports provide regular updates on the status of multiple business projects. Progress reports, when written concisely, provide valuable data regarding the project’s progress.
Daily Status reports providing updates on multiple business projects. Progress reports, when written concisely, provide valuable data regarding the project’s progress.
Weekly status reports are more detailed than daily reports. Every week, these focus on what’s on track, what’s being blocked, and what’s coming up.
Team members utilize the report to update their manager on their project-based progress for the day (daily status updates) or the current and forthcoming week (weekly status reports).
Further, the value and benefits of daily and weekly status reports are more substantial than regular updates and employee engagement.
The significance of daily and weekly reports
- Keep track of the project: It’s always discouraging to work hard on a project until the end, only to realize you’ve been off track the entire time. People dislike being caught off guard, and as the manager, regular reports ensure that the team is always aware of the project’s status. And if anything goes wrong, managers can address it proactively and quickly to meet the deadline and budget.
- Summarize progress: Daily and weekly status updates are not real-time. They are synopses of what happened. As a result, they allow management to stay informed about how well the team is adhering to the project plan.
- Less manual work: Project managers need more time to spend hours compiling data from various sources. Daily and weekly status reporting tools make it easier to gather all of this data in one location and generate a status report with the click of a button.
- Identify roadblocks: Status reports explain why an individual’s progress is being delayed and what can be done to overcome the obstacles. This enables managers and teams to take a proactive approach to resume operations. Proactive status reporting also assists businesses in identifying and resolving issues and risks before they harm project timelines.
The daily status report includes
Each team member can state or contribute to a daily status report by stating or contributing what tasks they have worked on, what they are currently working on, and any issues impeding their progress. A daily status report should typically include the following items:
- Today
Provide a list of the tasks you intend to complete today. This gives team members and managers visibility into whether or not employees are working on the right tasks. It also provides essential information to team members about the status of shared tasks.
- Yesterday
Include a list of tasks completed the day before. When everyone does this, the manager’s job becomes more accessible because they don’t have to ask each team member what tasks they have completed.
- Work challenges and roadblocks
Take note of any roadblocks or bottlenecks encountered. Having these details in one place allows management or team members to step in and help find solutions.
The weekly status report includes
Ensuring that weekly reports don’t lack any essential details by including:
- Project details
The purpose of retaining project details is for record keeping. By clearly including these details, managers and stakeholders can quickly thumb through status reports chronologically if a problem arises.
- Project Summary
The summary section summarises everything that has happened with the project in the previous week and what is expected to be accomplished in the coming week.
- Project completion result
Make a point of emphasizing project progress and goals met. In percentage form, report the overall completion status.
- Actions
This section describes the plans for the coming week. This also gives the manager an idea of what employees will be working on, allowing them to plan their future steps based on their milestones.
- Challenges, risks, and mitigation plans
The report must notify the managers of any roadblocks encountered during the week and suggest any steps they can take to ensure a smooth workflow.
Workforce Management software- The best tool to use for status updates
Workforce management software may be an excellent option. Workforce management software, with features such as real-time monitoring, automated data collection, and tailored reports, can help managers track team progress, identify bottlenecks, and make data-driven decisions that will help them maximize their performance over time. As a result, workforce management software can be an invaluable resource for any manager looking to streamline their team’s workflow and boost productivity.
- Forecasting and budgeting: Workforce management software generates real-time reports that businesses can use to forecast staff deployment and workload balance as labor demands change.
- Staff Scheduling: Scheduling is an essential aspect of workforce management software because it enables businesses to automate staffing reports based on real-time visibility of all business variables such as vacations, availability, workload, and absences.
- Time and attendance: Using Workforce Management Software to track time and attendance reveals attendance patterns, which aids businesses in better-anticipating variations in customer demand and controlling both scheduled and unforeseen absences and leaves. Managers can identify possible coverage gaps, increase payroll accuracy, and deal with persistent tardiness and absence problems.
- Employee performance report: Workforce management software gives companies a better knowledge of the amount of employee engagement so they can concentrate on the factors that affect productivity. Employers can recognize staff members who perform beyond expectations in a way that is consistent with what they value most by thoroughly understanding how each person works.
- Payroll: The availability of audit-ready custom reports reduces manual payroll and benefits administration, making payroll processes and queries faster and easier. The resource management tool enables instant payment options, such as end-of-shift payments and timesheet syncing to payroll.
Conclusion
Reporting on project progress is critical to ensuring that your team proactively identifies risks, stays on track, stays within budget, and is all on the same page.
A daily or weekly status report is the most effective way to streamline the process.
You can document and share status updates using workforce management software. Find a tool that provides an overview of your project’s progress, so your team has a single source of truth and clarity for all project-related work.
While status reports show your team’s accomplishments, eResource Scheduler, workforce management software, tells you how productive your team is. Together with the status report, resource management software helps you keep your project on time and within budget.
