Reports and Who Gets Them

Reporting and who gets those reports were discussed in Chapter 12. The ongoing project reports and status updates are sent to the executive sponsor and project stakeholders. But who should receive the final reports? The report that addresses the business problems the project solved, with the metrics to demonstrate the business impact? The report that summarizes the outstanding efforts of the team in meeting milestones, goals, and objectives on a consistent basis? Who should receive the final report that includes salient quotes from the customer, whether an internal or external customer, on the professionalism, skills, and cooperative nature of the project team? The report singing the project’s praises is sent to the executive team, the project team members’ direct management, and the company’s marketing communications department. This is the type of information marketing communications delights in receiving. It can be used to help build company morale, reach new external customers, and enhance the firm’s community standing.

The other report that covers the discussion items, line by line, from the lessons learned meeting, should go to the executive sponsor and executive team, to the executive who asked for the project and supported its charter. The lessons learned report should also go to each team member and their direct manager. Finally, a copy of this lessons learned report must be included with the project file and stored in the historic projects archives.