This is a general page about the Project Status Reports that’s part of the CS6440 course.
Teams must develop five Project Status Reports but each team member will separately submit their report along with responses to 5 questions the teaching team will provide. This is an important tool for the TAs to monitor team progress and to make sure everyone is contributing and the team is working effectively. Each Status Report is worth up to 2 participation points as part of your overall grade depending on the quality of your comments.
Each status report will be reviewed and graded by the TA Mentor.
What are Status Reports?
Status reports are a reliable way of keeping the team accountable and updated with their developments and issues that may come up in a project’s status as work is being put into it up to completion. Team status reports are an efficient way getting updates done and issues resolved for everyone on the team and mentors. Consistent team status reports enables each team members to have a better idea where the work has been progressing and lacking.
Team status reporting is also a necessary communication tool for everyone (the client, stakeholders, project manager and their team) to get to know about each other’s situations, which enables them to better understand the human aspect of the project.
Why do they matter?
Team status reports are critical project management tools that teams use for keeping the project on track in relation to expectations and scope. This is also a way to gives teams an opportunity to fill in any gaps that they might not see otherwise with the project requirements or client/stakeholder expectations. Unforeseen circumstances can easily be addressed if they are brought to the light by team status reports. And everyone involved will have a chance for the correction of any problem that may arise.
Each team is expected to work together to formulate a status report. Each team member is required to submit the status report during the weeks that no project deliverables are due. We encourage the teams to work together to create the status reports during the teams weekly meetings and submit them individually.
Why do we have to submit them Individually?
Submitting the status reports individually, gives each individual student the opportunity to share their individual thoughts about the project progression, interactions with teammates and mentors, etc. The teaching team will provide you with 5 basic questions for your individual response. These responses must be added to the status report.
Example Submission
Once we have our first set of status reports due, we will provide an exemplary example here. For now, feel free to create your own status report, even with a twist, as long as it has the basic requirements as listed below.
|
Basic Requirements |
||
| Team Name | Progress Summary | Tasks Scheduled for last week |
| Project Name | Overal Project Health & Percent Complete | Tasks Completed last week |
| Your Name | Milestones & Deliverables | Tasks scheduled for the next week |
| Project Manager | Current or Open Issues | Who is responsible for each of the tasks |
| Date of Report | Current or Open Risks | Next scheduled meeting with mentor |
| Gantt Chart | Change Requests | Next scheduled team meeting |
| Link to External Tools (ie. Trello) | Mentor Feedback | Individual Answers to preset questions |
All status reports must include an updated Gantt Chart that tracks the roles, tasks and progression of the project. Although, this task is considered a project management responsibility – teams will be penalized if it is not included in their deliverables and status reports, as each team member should be involved in it’s development and progression throughout the life of the project.
You may utilize your Gantt chart to document the percentage complete, milestones and deliverables. However, you must include a brief description or summary for each of these items in your status report.
Below you can find a refined schedule that highlights the status reports and the team evaluation. You can find the full course calendar and all of the course deliverables here.
| Project Status Report Timeline | |||
| Week # | Week Of | Deliverable | Assignment Due Date |
|
8 |
10/09/2017 |
Project Status Report 1 | 10/15/2017 |
|
10 |
10/23/2017 |
Project Status Report 2 | 10/29/2017 |
|
11 |
10/30/2017 |
Project Status Report 3 | 11/05/2017 |
|
13 |
11/13/2017 |
Project Status Report 4 | 11/19/2017 |
|
14 |
11/20/2017 |
Project Status Report 5 | 11/26/2017 |
|
16 |
12/04/2017 |
Team Evaluation | 12/10/2017 |