Beverly L. Pasian - De Gruyter Handbook of Responsible Project Management

Reports are a primary mechanism for transmitting information to an intended audience across many situations and disciplines. Reporting occurs everywhere: at various levels within companies, at regular intervals on projects, after a consulting engagement or study, for a particular purpose, and to stakeholders both internal and external. Examples can be found in abundance, from end-of-semester grades to monthly project reports, to annual shareholder accounts of financial status and activity.

Regular reporting is expected on projects; it is an essential and often contractually required communication element across many stakeholders. It is also crucial for governance, legal documentation, and responsible project management.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to report (verb) means to give a spoken or written account of something that one has observed, heard, done, or investigated. Similarly, a report (noun) is an account given of a particular matter, especially in the form of an official document, after thorough investigation or consideration by an appointed person or body; also a spoken or written description of an event or situation, especially one intended for publication or broadcast in the media. The utilization of the word can be traced to the mid-nineteenth century.

Reviewing these definitions yields some insight into the concept:

1. A report is a method of documenting a situation, occurrence, or activity.

2. The authorship of a document is a matter of significance or appointment.

3. Written reports tend to be more formal or official than verbal reports.

4. Reporting is a crucial mechanism of both communication and governance.

What does a report look like? Because reports, as a concept, serve an incredibly variety of purposes, there is no universal standard. However, organizations often develop standardized formats according to purpose. Ultimately, the intended usage of the report and the information contained within determine its content and form. Reports may be qualitative or quantitative, or (most likely) a combination of both, and may supplement the written word with images (graphics and/or photos). They may communicate progress, disseminate information, provide data for decision-making, and/or document and elevate the visibility of problems, risks, and opportunities. The type and quantity of available information will change during the project lifecycle, uncovering new opportunities and risks, and possibly necessitating a revision of the report format. Reports are a required element of accountability and assurance on projects, which become a permanent part of the record, vital in incidence changes and claims.

Responsible project management embraces the notion of communication as critical to perceived project success. This means ensuring constant, appropriate communication with stakeholders to raise awareness of the project and project status and diligent reporting to engage stakeholders, gain support, and reduce power distance.

The universe of stakeholders on any project includes both internal and external stakeholders, and the list of those stakeholders can be quite extensive if the population is considered beyond just those who are proximate to and active with the project, have influence, and may affect the project outcome. Every person, entity, or organization with whom the project interacts is a stakeholder, and there will even be additional stakeholders with whom no direct contact is made, extending as far as society-at-large. The term entity is used loosely here in that it may also refer to environmental concepts such as land, air, and water. In the digital real-time inter-connected world we live in, projects are constantly under scrutiny from every direction, 24/7/365.

In the context of responsible project management, stakeholders represent the many facets of sustainability (economic, environmental, and social, extending to and through the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations). There are layers of stakeholders, like an onion, which is one step further removed from the project. Responsible project management considers projects from societal and sustainability perspectives, which means the list of stakeholders is expanded to include the natural environment and societys future (subsequent generations). The stakeholder population range is intentionally broad in this context.

There is no one-size-fits-all style of the report because there is no one-size-fits-all stakeholder. Stakeholders own life experiences and perspectives contribute to developing their principles. Their role and relationship to the project, along with their ideas (ideologies, aesthetic preferences, biases, and intentions), define their perspective, expectations, and obligations in the project. Even within the same category of stakeholders, each stakeholder has different motivations, responsibilities, risk tolerance, and definitions of success that define their information requirements. Further embedded within each stakeholders definition of success is their expectation of value creation. Notions of value will differ between stakeholders, often leading to scenarios where (from the stakeholders point of view) a project is simultaneously a success and a failure.

The report authors must identify interested stakeholders to whom reports are due, purposely involving a wide range of stakeholders, then ranking them according to the level of influence and interest. Next, the project team needs to create a list of reports and their timing, work with stakeholders to define what success means, and agree on a threshold of information importance and granularity. Understanding and empowering stakeholders are vital to crafting a project report that is meaningful, relevant, timely, comprehensible, and actionable. In turn, well-designed reports encourage information sharing, facilitate collaboration and stakeholder engagement, and promote informed decision-making.

Not all project reports are designed for action by stakeholders; some are purely informational communication of status to interested parties. In such instances, the project team should ensure the information contained within is appropriate for the audience, represents the voices, and addresses the concerns of the diverse group of constituents, not just significant stakeholders.