The Project Management Horse Blanket Report

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) - Reporting

Having the ability to capture valuable metrics from your project management software and report on it is the key to successful project management. Delivering projects on time within the budget is what all Project Managers work for. 

Reporting via The Horse Blanket 

What is a Horse Blanket? It's a large sheet of continuous paper that is used in plotter printers. You can drape the paper over a horse. The plotter printer will produce quality graphic prints from the large paper that lets you create a masterpiece of any size. Create a collage of various reports and screenshots to tell the story. A visual picture of various reports and screenshots that are all displayed at the same time will open eyes. All the dots should connect. The key is selecting the right reports and screenshots that tell the story. This is a continuous work in progress to keep evolving the reporting. Keep designing reports and screens with valuable information.

Wrike Screenshot 

Wrike Screenshot

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) - Software

To accomplish your reporting you will need a robust project management software that supports PPM. Monitoring the progress of projects is very critical to spot deficiencies so that they may be addressed with the appropriate remediation to get the project back on track. 

The Project Management Office Dashboard

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) - Reporting

Having the ability to have real time status reporting of all the projects in the organization is a goal that the Project Management Office (PMO) should undertake. The reporting will be dashboards displayed in the PMO on a large LCD monitor. Project teams will be directed to update their tasks throughout the day to give the PMO the ability to have fresh data on their dashboards. There might be resistance if the teams update their status weekly. Just give it time and it will become part of the team's daily routine. To accomplish your reporting you will need a robust project management software that supports PPM.

The Live Dashboard

Hang a large LCD monitor in the PMO in a good location to be viewed. The dashboard will give you a glance at how all the projects are doing. Why wait for weekly, on request and monthly reports to find out good or bad news. Daily monitoring of a dashboard will ensure that projects are on track within the budget. Define various dashboard views of your project metrics to display throughout the day. A large visual view with the colors of Green, Yellow and Red to highlight important information will make an impact on how you monitor your project portfolio. Call it the Project Command Center Dashboard.

Sample Dashboard 

Big Brother is Watching

The main objectives for the PMO dashboards is budgets and project timelines. It's all about being proactive to address potential problems in the early stages. If a budget keeps increasing the project could go way over the approved budget. Missing milestones could be a resource issue. Just naming a few issues that you can detect on a well designed dashboard. Your dashboard is a work in progress. You should always look for ways to keep improving your dashboards with valuable metrics. 

Have a Meet and Greet 

Invite stakeholders, executive management, managers, project managers and project teams to see your dashboards in action on the big screen. Ask for feedback on how you can improve your dashboards reporting. Give it a try and drop me a note how it worked out for your organization.