Template
Project Status Report Template
A free project status report template for weekly and executive updates - the sections to include, what to write in each, and how to generate the same report automatically from delivery data.
What a status report has to do
A weekly status report exists to answer four questions in a fixed order: what changed, what it means for the commitment, what is at risk, and what decision is needed. Keep the structure identical every week so readers can compare like with like and spot drift early. The template below works for a single project and scales to a programme by repeating the progress, quality and milestone blocks per workstream.
The template, section by section
| Section | What it is for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Project name, reporting period, report owner and overall confidence rating. | Payments Modernisation - week ending 21 Aug 2026 - Owner: A. Kunala - Confidence: Medium |
| Headline | One sentence a sponsor can read in isolation and still understand the position. | Delivery remains on track for the October release, but defect closure is the constraint to watch. |
| Progress | Scope completed against scope planned, using the same formula every week. | 142 of 190 stories complete (75%), up 6 points on last week. |
| Quality | Open defects split by severity, plus movement since the previous report. | 3 critical, 11 high, 42 total open. Critical count unchanged for two weeks. |
| Milestones | Committed dates, current forecast and any change since last reported. | UAT start 08 Sep (unchanged). Go-live 14 Oct (forecast 21 Oct, 1 week at risk). |
| Risks and issues | Top exposures only, each with an owner, impact and mitigation date. | Vendor API sign-off outstanding - owner: J. Rao - decision needed by 29 Aug. |
| Dependencies and blockers | What the team is waiting on and who must clear it. | 4 stories blocked awaiting data migration environment. |
| Decisions needed | The specific choices you want from the reader this week, with options. | Approve two extra QA engineers for three sprints, or accept a one-week slip. |
| Evidence | Which datasets the numbers came from and when they were refreshed. | Jira epic export and defect export, refreshed 20 Aug 2026. |
Copy-and-paste version
Project: <name> Period: <week ending> Owner: <name> Confidence: Green / Amber / Red HEADLINE <one sentence on position and why> PROGRESS - Scope complete: <x> of <y> (<%>), <movement> since last report - Throughput: <delivered this period vs. planned> QUALITY - Open defects: <critical> critical / <high> high / <total> total - Movement: <closed> closed, <raised> raised MILESTONES - <milestone>: committed <date>, forecast <date>, status <on track / at risk / missed> RISKS AND ISSUES - <risk> | impact <...> | owner <...> | mitigation by <date> DEPENDENCIES / BLOCKERS - <item> | waiting on <team> | since <date> DECISIONS NEEDED - <decision> | options <A / B> | needed by <date> EVIDENCE - Sources: <datasets>, refreshed <date>
How to set RAG status honestly
- Green: Committed scope and dates hold with no unresolved high risk.
- Amber: A date or scope commitment is at risk and recovery depends on a decision or extra capacity.
- Red: A committed date or scope item will be missed on current trajectory.
Write the rule down once and apply it mechanically. Status that moves with mood rather than evidence is the fastest way to lose executive trust.
Mistakes to avoid
- Reporting green while critical defects and blocked items are rising
- Changing the progress formula between weeks so trends stop meaning anything
- Listing twenty risks instead of the three that can move the date
- Writing prose with no decision request, which trains executives to skim
- Omitting how fresh the underlying data is
From template to automated report
A template still leaves you filling it in by hand each week, and hand-filled numbers drift. StakeSync AI takes the delivery exports you already produce, normalises them, computes progress, quality and milestone metrics with the same formula every period, and then writes the update in this structure for the audience you choose - with every figure traceable back to the rows it came from.