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What's inside the project status report template?
Thirteen 16:9 slides. Every chart and table is a native PowerPoint object you can edit, and every slide has speaker notes.
| # | Slide | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cover | Programme, period, board and sponsor |
| 2 | Overall status | Scope, schedule, cost, risk and resources, each with a status and a direction |
| 3 | Portfolio view | Every workstream with status, percent complete, budget and forecast end |
| 4 | Highlights | What was done this period and what is planned next |
| 5 | Milestones | Baseline date, forecast or actual date and status |
| 6 | Timeline | Gantt style bars showing work done and to go against a today line |
| 7 | Budget | Baseline, actual to date and forecast at completion by workstream |
| 8 | Spend curve | Cumulative spend against plan, with the forecast to completion |
| 9 | Risks | High and rising risks with owner and response |
| 10 | Issues and dependencies | Each with an owner and a date to resolve by |
| 11 | Resources and benefits | Staff by team against plan, and benefits against target |
| 12 | Decisions requested | Three decisions, each with a recommendation and impact |
| 13 | Keeping it current | How to refresh it by hand or automatically |
The sample programme belongs to Fabrikam, a fictional organisation. Every figure is made up, but the workstream budgets add up to the programme total, the spend curve ends at the same actual cost and the timeline uses the same percent complete as the portfolio table.
How do you use the template by hand?
- Download the file in the colour you like and open it in PowerPoint.
- Export your milestones, risks, issues and costs from the project plan, the tracker and the finance system.
- Update the tables and the status words. Each status is a word with a coloured dot, so it still reads when printed in black and white.
- Update each chart: right click it, choose Edit Data, and paste your figures. On the timeline, change the start, done and to go months, then move the today line one month along.
- Rewrite the highlights, the decisions and every slide title, then delete the sample labels.
The first report takes a few hours. The catch is that statuses, dates and costs change every period, and a board notices quickly when the milestone table and the timeline disagree.
How do you wire it to live data with INSYNCR?
If your tracker and cost figures already sit in an Excel workbook or a SQL Server table, you can link the report to them once and refresh it before each board instead of retyping. INSYNCR does this from inside PowerPoint.
- Install INSYNCR. It appears as a tab in the PowerPoint ribbon.
- Select a chart, table or number on a slide and link it to the matching cells in Excel or the matching query in SQL Server.
- Before each board meeting, refresh. The tables, the timeline and the cost charts update in place.
The template's charts and tables are native PowerPoint objects, so links attach without rebuilding any slide. INSYNCR runs in PowerPoint on Windows (Office 2016 and later), not on a Mac or in the browser. Excel works on every plan; SQL Server needs the Professional plan.
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Questions about this template
What should a project status report include?
Most boards want the overall status and why, milestones with baseline and forecast dates, a timeline, cost against budget with a forecast at completion, the top risks and issues, the decisions needed and progress on benefits. This template has a slide for each, and the portfolio view covers a programme with several workstreams.
How do I make a Gantt chart in PowerPoint?
The template uses a native stacked bar chart: an invisible first series sets where each bar starts, and two visible series show work done and work to go. Right click it and choose Edit Data to change the months. The speaker notes on slide 6 explain it step by step.
Is the project status report template really free?
Yes. There's no form, no sign up and no watermark beyond a small "Template by INSYNCR" line in the footer, which you can delete. You can use it for your own projects or your clients'.
Does the template work in Google Slides or Keynote?
It opens in both, but the native charts may turn into static pictures, so editing the numbers is easiest in PowerPoint. Live data linking with INSYNCR needs PowerPoint on Windows.