Estimates suggest that communication comprises 90% of the Project Manager’s job. One interaction type that we often find ineffective in healthcare software companies is PMs communicating with executives. That’s why an executive report template is necessary to keep company leaders in the loop regarding your progress.
Executive reports turn complex, lengthy project records into clear, concise summaries for C-Suites. Given the audience, these documents require unique data points, tone, and even formatting. Getting good at writing them comes with experience, but luckily, we at Vitamin have that in spades.
Unsure which information about your project to include and how to present it? Discover the top executive reporting practices for healthcare Project Managers and our tried-and-tested report template.
Understanding Your Audience
Overworked, overbooked, and overburdened, executives are often preoccupied with high-level tasks like strategizing and external relationships. However, to do their jobs right, they must stay in the loop about what’s happening on the operative level. An executive report template will arm them with the facts to act for the good of the company.
How do you provide the right information without redundancies? Like any writing, a high-quality report needs you to know how your executives tick. And that begins with understanding your reader persona.
A reader persona is the prototypical audience member for your content. When communicating with executives, start with generalizations and tailor them with details gathered through your experience in the company.
Limited bandwidth is a central feature of an executive reader persona. Each executive report requires a topic, with excess information cut out during editing. Another notable trait is assignability — leaders will want to know who’s responsible for which task, so clarify it in your report to ensure a smooth follow-up.
The specifics depend on your higher-up — are they detail-oriented, or do they only care for summary data? Are they a people-person who likes addressing matters face-to-face, or do they prefer formal emails? Tailor your communication strategy according to their preferences.
Pro Tip: Most executives have taken personality tests, like Myers-Briggs or DISC. Ask if they’d share it with you to improve your working relationship.
5 Components of Health Tech Executive Reports
An executive report template needs two parts — what decision-makers want to know and what they need to know. As the healthcare Project Manager, you balance outcome and money talks with ‘boring’ data with long-term business impact.
Let’s see what you might include in an executive report.
1. Summary
The first part of your executive report template is a summary. It’s a several-sentence-long status report outlining the contents of the update. For instance:
- The problem or need of your project at the moment. ‘We’re at the third week of developing and facing (an issue) with (tech component).’
- The recommended solution. ‘We believe we could resolve (the issue) by doing (suggested action).
- The value and influence of your solution. ‘Doing so would speed up development/save money/help meet regulatory requirements/align us with the SRS.’
- Specific requirements you have from executives. ‘I’m seeking approval for this course of action so we could (next step).’
Pro Tip: Include basic information, like project name (ClientXYZ: ProjectXYZ), start date, expected end date, and report date, in the header. This provides the necessary context to leaders who are less involved in day-to-day tasks.
2. Project Progress
The progress report should contain the activities planned for the next 4–6 weeks. If stuck on a bottleneck, identify and offer 2–3 possible solutions (complete with the pros and cons).
Here’s the information that could be a part of the progress update:
- Actions taken. A summary of decisions made since the last report. Include accomplishments and milestones, too.
- Decisions required from executives. Define whose decision you need and when it’s due. Examples include budget changes and communication with clients.
- Task lists. Everything yet to be done to deliver the project successfully. Each task should have an assigned person and a due date.
3. Budget Management
As the healthcare Project Manager, you tally the numbers and manage the budget — it’s one of the parts of your job that matters the most to executives.
This section of the executive report should summarize where the allocated money went in the previous period and whether your spending aligns with the plan. If there have been overages, include explanations and a cost-cutting strategy to adjust the funds moving forward.
4. Risk Assessment
Whether you struggle with timeliness, usability, or compliance, the risk section is a crucial element of the healthcare executive report template. Leaders care about these factors because they affect the company’s success and reputation, so share updates in each report.
Draw from your broader project management risk analysis document but focus on the topic of the current report — the project stage, potential risks, their impact on the timeline and outcome, and the mitigation strategies you have in place.
5. Future Outlook
As the final section, the executive report should contain the anticipated milestones and deliverables for the upcoming reporting period. This gives the leadership material for their meetings with investors and keeps your team accountable for meeting milestones on time and within budget.
The Vitamin Reporting Methodology
Our healthcare Project Managers maintain a regular reporting schedule with our CEO and the leadership of companies we collaborate with. To simplify matters, we use a standardized, straightforward template fitted for the project and clients’ wants.
If you’d like a practical example of how you can facilitate communications with external partners, download and adapt our executive report template here.
Best Practices for Effective Reporting
How often should healthcare Project Managers report to executives? There’s no one-size-fits-all cadence, so determine it based on the preference of your leaders. From our experience of 60+ projects, weekly updates typically work best. However, project changes require immediate updates, regardless of the regular reporting schedule.
Apart from that, your executive report template should follow these guidelines:
- Clear formatting — aim for a single page (longer for less frequency) and use white space and margins for better readability. Choose an easy-on-the-eyes font and opt for bullet points to summarize key findings.
- Regularity — the biggest trick for communicating with executives is to be regular with your reports. Send reports even if you have no updates, as no news is good news. The board will be glad to hear everything’s according to plan.
- Consistency — keep your reports consistent, with predefined fields and topics for each update. To accommodate the ever-changing nature of healthcare projects, it can contain an ‘AOB’ box for special updates.
- Clarity — this principle is already familiar to healthcare project managers, who act as a buffer between the business and technical side of the company. Avoid jargon and technical terms that may be unfamiliar to non-technical stakeholders - we already discussed ways to bridge the gap between tech and business speak in another blog. Attach numbers to the narrative if possible, as that’s the language business people speak best.
- Conciseness — a 15-page, detail-laden report will seem like unnecessary noise to busy execs, making it likely for vital information to fly over their heads. A good executive report contains the conclusions and results, with little discussion of the process behind it.
- Visualization — images are a great way to represent complex information and help execs remember it. Graphs and charts are your allies during business meetings, and timelines effectively display your progress.
- Independence — while each update builds on the previous one, it should be able to function as a stand-alone document. Include all necessary explanations and references to old information to ensure executives get the entire context from every report.
Project Manager Communication Made Easier
You can’t slack on good reporting in a healthcare software company. It transforms heaps of data into actionable insights for senior leadership, leading to better decision-making, board meetings, transparency, and communication. Remember to keep your report concise — ideally not over a page — trimmed to contain only relevant information, key figures, and illustrative visuals.
Whether updating internal or external leadership, get our executive report template and tailor it to your needs. It’s a helpful tool for healthcare software companies of all sizes.
At Vitamin Software, we understand the importance of reporting and practice what we preach. We could partner with you to support your efforts or consult you toward better reports — schedule a meeting to discuss the details.
