1. Creating Progress Reports
and Periodic Activity
Reports
Martha Schwer
Madison Area Technical College
Note: We will be doing both of these
report types in this course. For the
formal report, you will write 2
progress reports.

2. Definitions
 A Progress Report is an informational report
that explains what has been, is being, and
will be accomplished on a long-term project
or goal. It provides information about the status
of a project or objective prior to completion.
 A Periodic Activity Report is an informational
report that explains everything you
accomplished during a specific period of
time OR everything you contributed to a
specific project. It summarizes the activities of
a person or team, most often at the completion of
a period of time or project.

3. Purpose of Progress Reports
 Update audiences (supervisors or clients)
on where a project is in relationship to
the overall goals and objectives.
 Written at various stages of a project;
each project may need multiple progress
reports.
 Early on, can read like a list of deadlines.
Later in the project, can read like a
narrative explanation of problems
encountered and overcome.

4. Purpose of
Periodic Activity Reports
 Update audience (supervisors) on what
you’ve been doing at the end of a
specific period of time.
 Quantifies how much time you are
spending doing what; data can be used in
larger projects.
 Explains your contributions to multiple
projects, which are unrelated to each
other.
 Documents what you do, your workload,
your ongoing training, or your overall
productivity.

5. Ethical Issues
 Progress and Periodic Activity reports must
disclose everything the audience needs to know
about a project, experiment, situation, period of
time, or problem.
 Ethical reports must accurately and
comprehensively record and report results and
correctly explain problems. Don’t exaggerate or
underplay.
 Take credit for what you do AND credit what
others do.
 Can be used if your company is ever sued to
document what was and wasn’t said or done.

6. Overall Organization in Progress
and Periodic Activity Reports
Intro: Purpose, Main Point, Forecasting
Statement. (1-3 sentences)
Body: Provides details organized into sub-
sections with headings.
Conclusion: Directive or Complementary
(see next slide). Confirm correct contact
info; summarize any broad concerns.

7. Complimentary vs.
Directive Conclusions
Conclusions in technical documents are
needed to confirm that no further pages
are missing and the document is
complete. You have 2 choices:
 Complimentary conclusions just
indicate “this is the end.”
 Directive conclusions tell the reader
what they need to do next—they direct the
reader’s action.

8. Organizing the Body
 Make your approach explicit in the forecasting
statement. Use corresponding headings.
 Organize consistently throughout the document.
 Present task-based information in sequence
(first step to last) or chronologic order (oldest to
newest). Most progress reports follow this
pattern.
 Present role-based information in order of
importance (most important to least important).
Most periodic activity reports follow this pattern.
 Within sections, move from general to specific to
provide background, scope, and context.
 Develop body sections evenly.

9. Examples
 Progress Report: see p. 252-3, Figure 8-
4. Note “Work Completed, Work Planned.”
Note the positive tone and content of
conclusion.
 Periodic Activity Report: see p. 254,
Figure 8-5. Note that it explains what
Nancy did during a specified period of
time. The conclusion explains problems
encountered.