Project Summary Template to provide an overview of projects
When planning and executing any project, organizations need a proper system to track progress and keep teams aligned. At any given point in the project life cycle, everyone involved should be able to answer a few basic questions: is the project hitting its KPIs, what are the next steps, and what challenges have come up so far. A project summary is what makes those questions easy to answer without calling a status meeting.
What is a Project Summary?
Having a project summary will provide an overview of a project’s status at any given time during the project. This is essentially a brief description of the progress, nature, current status and pending activities. Project summaries are helpful in collating all data and presenting it in a concise and understandable way. In other words, your project summary should describe the project to internal or external stakeholders, letting them know of any success, key metrics, next steps and more. Internal stakeholders, such as team members and managers, will be able to keep track and manage their projects. For external parties, the project summary is a way to provide context.
In every organization, project management can be affected by a variety of reasons. For starters, project managers deal with constantly-changing goals. This could be due to market fluctuations or other limitations. Then, there may be a switch in the availability of resources, such as labor or finances, in the duration of the project. Pair this with the fact that 59% of project managers run 2 to 5 projects at a time, project summaries are a critical aspect of management that will keep things in check.
The most common failure mode is a project summary that reads like a diary: a list of everything that happened since the last update, with no clear signal on whether the project needs attention. It helps to write the status line, on track, at risk, or blocked, before writing anything else, then let the rest of the summary justify that one line. If the status doesn't match what the details show, the summary needs a rewrite, not more detail.
What are the benefits of creating project summary
Project summaries aren’t just a formality to complete at the end of every touchpoint of a project. In fact, they bring about a plethora of benefits to project managers and stakeholders, as well as go a long way in ensuring project success.
Here are some of the benefits of creating a project summary.
Create a reasonable action plan
Presenting a project scope and outcome in a detailed format will enable teams to drive future actions through information-driven decisions.
Tracking
Comparing a project’s current status against the original plan acts as an indication of how well the project is going, as well as what to keep in mind for future projects.
Manage risks and costs
Risk management and cost management are a critical aspect of project success. By reporting these in the project summary, managers will be able to mitigate risks and stay within budget.
Visibility
One of the main objectives of creating a project summary is so that stakeholders will have an overview of all project details. This way, they can always ensure that things are kept in check and running smoothly, without having to conduct site visits or in-depth analysis.
What should be included in the Project Summary
Depending on the scope, nature and objectives of the project, the project summary will be tailored to communicate these details. In general, a project summary should include the following elements:
Executive Summary
An executive summary is a short documentation that introduces and outlines your project summary. It typically takes up a few lines and includes information project description, objectives, main highlights of the report and more. To the reader, an executive summary provides a way to be acquainted with the content without having to read the entire report.
Project Outline
A project outline includes the company name and description, as well as any external partners. If this is a large organization, the project outline needs to include the specific department and/or teams. Then, it should also include a project scope statement. A project scope statement is a detailed outline of the work that needs to be done, the problem it wants to solve, as well as the deadline for completion and allocated budget. This helps set a foundation for an objective-driven project management process.
Project map or schedule
A project map creates a visual representation of the activities that are being carried out to achieve a desired outcome. Since project maps may take up too much space and be time-consuming to read, project summaries can include a brief schedule description that lists all past and future activities pertaining to the project scope.
Project Milestones
These are the milestones that the project set out to achieve. This section should list out each specific phase of the project, such as ideation, design or testing, as well as a definition of each phase. Then, mark each phase with an in-progress, complete, or incomplete stamp.
Costs
Every project will have a budget. If the budget for the phase is complete, the table will mark the actual cost. If the milestone is not reached, the project summary will include estimated costs.
Risks and issues faced
Successful project management is heavily reliant on proper risk management. “Issues” are the problems that were faced during the duration of the project so far. “Risks” refer to potential issues that may arise in the future. Listing these out will give project managers and team the opportunity to review their past challenges as well as mitigate future risks.
Metrics
Project metrics indicate the project’s success and help to track performance. These can include performance metrics to measure KPI. This way, project managers will have an idea of how their team has performed as well as areas for improvement. Additionally, engagement metrics take a look at how efficiently the team works together.
Action plan
Every project summary ends off with an action plan. With a clear idea of how the project went, it is now time to determine the next course of action. Whether this is mid-project or end-project, the summary will determine the next steps to take. This may be in line with the initial scope of work or include new initiatives.
Sample Template for Project Summary
If you're ready to begin managing your projects with a well-thought-out project summary, get started right away with this project summary example and template from Kipwise.
See how your projects are going at any moment without digging through paperwork or sitting through another status meeting. This template is built for teams to share project information on the go and keep everyone moving forward. It uses a simple, intuitive format that works well across an entire organization, and you can upload this project summary example into your company’s knowledge base within seconds.
