Free Project Status Report Template (Fillable PDF, Word, Excel)

What is on the page

Overall status (RAG)

Green on track, amber at risk with a recovery plan, red off track and needing a decision. One tick, chosen honestly. Reports that are always green get ignored.

Health by area

Schedule, budget, scope and quality each get their own color and a one-line comment, so a project can be green overall but amber on budget.

Summary

Two or three sentences a sponsor can read in twenty seconds: where we are, what changed, what we need.

Accomplished and planned

Four lines each. Outcomes, not activity: "receiving module live" rather than "worked on receiving module".

Milestones

Baseline date, forecast date and percent complete. The gap between baseline and forecast is the schedule variance in plain sight.

Risks and issues

A risk might happen; an issue has. Each needs an owner and an action. Three to four lines; the full list lives in the risk register and issue log.

Decisions needed

What you need from the reader, by when. If this box is empty every week, the report is not being used.

Schedule and budget figures (executive design)

Baseline and forecast finish, approved budget, spent, forecast at completion, variance. The numbers executives actually ask for.

What a status report is for

A project status report exists so the people who aren't in the project every day can see whether it is on track and act if it's not. It's not a diary of what the team did. The test of a good one is whether a sponsor who reads only the top third knows the overall status, the biggest problem and what decision is being asked of them.

Weekly for active delivery phases, fortnightly or monthly for long planning phases and for portfolio views. Send it the same day each week so readers expect it, and keep the format identical from week to week so changes stand out.

What to put in a weekly project status report

Keep the same order every week so readers know where to look.

1. Header: project name, project manager, reporting period and report date.
2. Overall status with a reason: one RAG color and one sentence on why. "Amber: pick-rate test 11% below target, fix planned for Nov 18" tells the reader far more than "Amber" on its own.
3. What got done: three or four finished outcomes. Leave out work that's still in progress.
4. Next steps: write each one as an action, an owner and a date, such as "Replace six Wi-Fi access points, R. Sato, Nov 18". A next step with no name or date usually doesn't happen.
5. Milestones: baseline date next to forecast date, so any slip shows without explanation.
6. Risks, issues and decisions: the top few, each with an owner, and the decision you need with the date you need it by.

Who gets it: the sponsor, the core team, the leads of any team you depend on, and the client if the project is for one. Paste the overall status and the summary into the email itself and attach the PDF, since plenty of readers never open attachments. Save each week's report in one folder. When someone asks why a date moved, the history is already there.

Which design to use

• Weekly project status: the team and the direct stakeholders. Accomplishments, plans, milestones, risks, decisions.
• Executive summary: sponsors, steering committees, clients. Schedule and budget figures, key metrics, top risks, decisions. No task detail.
• Portfolio status: a manager or PMO reporting on five to ten projects on one landscape page.

How to write it in fifteen minutes

1. Update the milestone table first from the plan. The forecast dates tell you the schedule color.
2. Check spend against budget; that gives the budget color.
3. Pick the overall color. If any area is red, overall is at least amber.
4. Write the summary last, after the tables, so it reflects them.
5. List accomplishments as outcomes. Delete anything that isn't finished.
6. Pull the top three or four risks from the risk register and issue log; don't reproduce the whole list.
7. Write the decision you need, with a date. Then send it.

Mistakes that make status reports useless

• Watermelon reporting: green on the outside, red inside. If the forecast finish has moved, the schedule is not green.
• Activity lists instead of outcomes.
• Risks without owners or actions.
• Changing the format every week, so readers cannot compare.
• No decisions section, so problems are described but nothing is asked for.
• A report that's longer than one page. Detail belongs in the plan, the register and the log which the report links to.

RAG definitions worth agreeing in advance

Teams argue about amber. Set the rule once: green means on plan within tolerance (say, under 5% schedule or budget variance and no open severity-1 issues); amber means outside tolerance but with a recovery plan the PM owns; red means outside tolerance and needing a decision or resource from outside the team. Write the rule on the report (the portfolio design has a legend line) and apply it the same way every week.

Editing the Word and Excel versions

In Excel each section is a block of cells; keep one sheet per week in the same workbook so you can look back. The portfolio design is landscape in every format. In Word, the health-by-area and milestone tables are standard tables, so rows can be added. The RAG boxes are plain checkboxes in the PDF and ☐ characters in Word and Excel; replace them with colored cell fills if your organization prefers.

Questions

How often should I send a status report?

Weekly during active delivery, fortnightly or monthly during long planning or warranty phases. Same day, same format, every time.

What is the difference between a risk and an issue?

A risk is something that might happen and would hurt the project. An issue is something that has happened and is hurting it now. Both need an owner and an action; the report shows the top few, the register and log hold them all.

Can I use this as a general status report template?

Yes. For a team or department weekly status report that is not tied to one project, skip the milestone table or use it for key dates, and keep the RAG status, what got done, next steps and help needed. The structure works the same way.

How long should a status report be?

One page. If it does not fit, you're reporting detail that belongs in the plan or the logs.

Who should get the executive summary?

Sponsor, steering committee, client and anyone who approves money or dates. The weekly status goes to the team and working-level stakeholders.

Does the PDF calculate anything?

No. The status report is text and ticks; the PDF is fillable so you can type into it and save each week's copy.