Project status report template: RAG status, milestones, risks and a full example

A project status report template shows, for one project, where it stands against plan: an overall RAG status (red, amber, green), status for scope, schedule, budget and resources, milestones with forecast dates, the top risks and issues, and the decisions needed from the sponsor. It goes out on a fixed cadence, usually weekly or every two weeks. Below are a template to copy, a filled-in example, and a one-table version for executives who follow many projects.

The project status report template

## Project status: [project name]

| Field                    | Value                     |
|--------------------------|---------------------------|
| Reporting period         | [dates]                   |
| Project manager          | [name]                    |
| Sponsor                  | [name]                    |
| Overall status           | [Green / Amber / Red]     |
| Change since last report | [Better / Same / Worse]   |

### Summary
[Two or three sentences: where the project stands, the main reason, and what you need.]

### Status by area
| Area      | Status | Comment |
|-----------|--------|---------|
| Scope     |        |         |
| Schedule  |        |         |
| Budget    |        |         |
| Resources |        |         |

### Milestones
| Milestone | Planned date | Forecast date | Status |
|-----------|--------------|---------------|--------|

### Budget
| Budget | Spent to date | Forecast at completion | Variance |
|-------:|--------------:|-----------------------:|---------:|

### Risks and issues
| Risk or issue | Impact | Likelihood | Owner | Mitigation | Due |
|---------------|--------|------------|-------|------------|-----|

### Decisions and asks
- [Decision needed, options, recommendation, deadline]

### Next period
- [Key activities and who owns them]

Agree on what the colors mean, so the report stays honest:

• Green: on plan, or off by less than the team can recover on its own.
• Amber: at risk. There is a recovery plan, but it needs watching or help soon.
• Red: a date, budget or scope commitment will be missed without a decision from the sponsor.

Then write your thresholds down, for example "amber when a milestone forecast slips up to two weeks, red beyond that", and use them for every project.

Project status report example

Project status: Customer portal relaunch, October 6 to 17, 2026. Overall Amber, worse than the last report.

Summary. Designs and the account pages are done, but the single sign-on integration is two weeks behind because the identity provider's test tenant arrived late. A December 1 launch still works if the usage dashboard moves to the second release. The sponsor's decision is needed by October 24.

Decision needed: move the usage dashboard to release 2 and hold the December 1 launch (recommended), or keep it in and launch December 15.

Executive status report template

Executives who follow several projects want one row per project, not five pages:

| Project | Owner | Overall             | Trend                 | Next milestone | Forecast | Top risk or ask |
|---------|-------|---------------------|-----------------------|----------------|----------|-----------------|
|         |       | Green / Amber / Red | Better / Same / Worse |                |          |                 |

Filled in, it reads like this:

Link each row to that project's full report. For a team's weekly update across all its work, the weekly status report template fits better.

Automate the weekly project status update

Milestone forecasts and the RAG call need a person, but the facts underneath them (what finished, what slipped, what is blocked) already sit in your tracker. Scheduled agent skills can gather them:

• Asana weekly project status update writes what got done, what is due next week and what is at risk, ready for stakeholders.
• Jira blocked issues alert catches blocked work twice a day, before it turns a milestone red.
• Notion weekly project digest lists which projects changed status, who owns them, and what is due or overdue.

Or ask your agent for the draft:

From Asana project "Customer portal relaunch", list tasks completed since last Friday, tasks due in the next two weeks, overdue tasks with their owners, and milestones with their due dates. Fill in this project status template: [paste it]. Suggest a status for each area with one line of evidence, and leave Overall status and Decisions for me.

Each run posts a card to your Briefkin board. You add the RAG call and the decisions, then send.