PPM Report – 5 Key Reports for Project, Resource and Portfolio Management

Are you looking for a solution for project, resource and portfolio management (PPM)? Or are you about to introduce one? Then, you will be familiar with the classic chicken-and-egg problem: what comes first? In what order should you start the PPM introduction if you want it to go as smoothly as possible? Our many years of experience have shown us that the PPM report topic often comes last when a PPM solution is introduced.

And wrongly so! Because the PPM system should be planned around the reports and their respective users – not the other way round. We believe the reason for this approach is obvious. The salient point is not entering the data. In effect, the PPM system should provide information derived from the data. This is what the PPM reports are for. They make you realize what is currently happening. And what needs to be decided.

Hence, the order we recommend: start with the appropriate project reporting. This will provide a clear guideline for setting up your PPM system and therefore the maximum benefit.

To make it easier for you to get started, this article introduces five key PPM reports. These are the ones we regard as essential for a successful start to introducing a PPM system. The contents of the reports listed are only suggestions. Of course, you should tailor these to your individual needs.

The article covers the following topics:

• The five key PPM reports
• Portfolio dashboard
• Project pipeline
• Project status report
• Resource utilization across the team
• Resource situation and roadmap
• Checklist: 12 key questions for the PPM report topic
• Conclusion – PPM report

The Five Key PPM Reports

In our opinion, the five key PPM reports are:

1. The portfolio dashboard
2. The project pipeline
3. The project status report
4. The resource utilization across the team
5. The resource situation and roadmap

At the end, we give you a checklist of the 12 most important questions for introducing and modifying your PPM reports. In this way, you are optimally prepared for your next steps towards a successful system for project, resource and portfolio management.

Interested in where project management is going? Find out the latest PM trends.

1. The Portfolio Dashboard

The project portfolio dashboard is a PPM report that serves top management and the steering board as an instrument for monitoring and controlling the project portfolio. With the aid of important KPIs, the status of the portfolio is presented in an easy-to-read way.

Important elements of this dashboard should be:

• Overall status of the portfolio
• Share of projects by status
• Adherence to schedule and budget
• Resource utilization
• Quality
• etc.

The historization of data enables a comparison with previous states. This is how the development becomes visible.

Learn more about project portfolio management in our 7-step guide.

2. The Project Pipeline

The PPM report for the project pipeline shows all projects across their phases in the life cycle. This makes it easy to identify the progress of the projects.

The need for action becomes apparent where you find:

• Too low or too high a number or projects
• Critical accumulations in certain phases

3. The Project Status Report

The project status report is a PPM report that shows the status of the project concerned. Examples of important elements of the project status report:

• Header data (project name, number, manager, sponsor, type etc.)
• Project status in terms of time (project phase, overview of the timeline)
• Project status (“project health”, status traffic lights, indices for dates and costs)
• Comparison of baseline, planned and actual values (timeline, work, costs)
• Comment for the description of the current project situation in a free text field
• Overview of important milestones as well as risks and change requests

Learn all about the project status report: Read now!

4. The Resource Utilization Across the Team

In the matrix organization, the project manager requires the support from line management. To this end, project managers send requests to team leaders.

Looking to introduce resource management? Here is how it works fast and well.

Team leaders need to be able to make a reliable commitment to the project managers. For this, they need a complete overview of the workload of their team members.

This is the only way for them to see how much time is available for projects after the deduction of absences and operations. Thus, they have a well-founded basis for committing their resources to the project.

Is a static evaluation of project resource management based on reports sufficient for you, e.g. in Microsoft Project Server? In such a case, you can obtain clarity with:

• Standard applications
• A modified report

But you may want to see and edit dynamically in one view both:

• The evaluation
• The planning options for the resources on the team

For instance, the TPG CoReSuite Team Manager App allows you to do two things:

• Approve project requests
• Plan all activities outside of projects

In a minimum amount of time, you gain a complete overview of the resource situation in your team.

5. The Resource Situation and Roadmap

When new projects are to be incorporated into a portfolio, the resource situation is often the limiting factor.

Another interesting read: Requirements for modern IT-supported PMO reports

A resource histogram, which is aggregated upwards, showing the utilization depending on the project situation can help. It can clarify if overload is looming, and when. And in which teams. This makes it possible to decide on the earliest start date for new projects.

Tools specially developed for this purpose show you the current situation from running projects overlaid with the resource requests from new projects.

Interested in other kinds of reporting? Read about Earned Value Analysis (EVA).

In this way, you recognize imminent overload at once. And you can move projects along the timeline (i.e. comfortably with the mouse). Alternatively, you can deactivate individual projects. Or you can modify the resource capacity in different scenarios you can simulate in advance.

Thus, you determine the number of running projects your organization can handle in parallel. You also identify the ideal starting time of those projects. A tool specially developed for this purpose is TPG CoReSuite Portfolio Manager App.

Checklist: 12 Key Questions Before Introducing PPM Reports

1. What is the purpose of the PPM report?
2. What is its target group?
3. For which decisions should it provide a basis?
4. Who should have what permissions?
5. How often should the reports be released?
6. Will the reports need to be available online or offline?
7. Do you require ad-hoc evaluations?
8. Do the reports need to be printed?
9. Is it necessary to include the option to comment on the reports?
10. Do you need to keep a history of the data?
11. Will the reports have to be archived?
12. Do you want to be able to modify the reports yourself?

Conclusion – PPM Report

This article has shown you that project management reporting is the central part of introducing your PPM system. All data entries serve the purpose of drawing the appropriate information for necessary decisions from the projects. Hence, PPM reporting should come at the very beginning. In other words: you will get the most out of your PPM system if you have an eye on the PPM report topic from the very beginning and define your desired reports.

In a second step, you have gained an overview of the five key PPM reports.

1. The portfolio dashboard: This PPM report provides an overview of the most important KPIs of your project portfolio
2. The project pipeline: It helps you identify the progress of the projects at a glance
3. The project status report: This PPM report shows you the state of a particular project
4. The resource utilization across the team: A reliable source for committing resources to projects
5. The resource situation and roadmap: They clarify how and when overload situations will occur for new projects

The final checklist has made you familiar with 12 key questions concerning PPM reports. You should have answers to these before you introduce PPM reporting.

Our final tips

Get to know the individually adaptable “PPM Paradise” – the optimal environment for your enterprise-wide project, program, portfolio and resource management. Download the eBook now (just click, no form).

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Did you find the PPM report recommendations in this article helpful? Do you have any comments or questions? Please write to us in the comment area below!

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