Highlight Report: Definition, Contents and Frequency
A highlight report is the periodic report a project manager sends to the project board during a stage, at a frequency the board sets. It covers progress in the period, what is planned next, the position against stage tolerances, and any items needing the board's attention. It is the routine report; an exception report is the unscheduled one.
What it contains
| Section | Content |
|---|---|
| Period covered | The reporting window and the date of issue |
| Status summary | Overall position for the stage, usually with a RAG rating |
| This period | Products completed and work packages closed |
| Next period | What is expected to complete before the next report |
| Tolerance position | Where time, cost, scope, quality, risk and benefit stand against the agreed limits |
| Issues and risks | Those the board should be aware of, with current status |
| Corrective action | What the project manager has taken inside their own authority |
| Requests | Anything the board is being asked to note, decide or provide |
How it is used
The highlight report belongs to a management-by-exception model. The board delegates day-to-day control to the project manager within tolerances and receives highlight reports as assurance that the project remains inside them. As long as it does, the board does not need to meet. The report is therefore written to a specific test: does this show we are still inside tolerance, and if not, what is being done about it.
That gives it a different emphasis from a general status report. A status report is often written for a broad distribution list and has to explain context. A highlight report is written for a board that already knows the plan, so it can be shorter and can assume the tolerances as read. In practice most organisations run a single document that serves both, which works provided the tolerance position is stated explicitly rather than implied by a colour.
The frequency is set by the board at stage authorisation — commonly fortnightly or monthly, matched to stage length. The underlying data comes from the same trackers as everything else: the weekly status report supplies the period detail, and the governance pack supplies the risk, issue and action position that the report summarises. For a board that receives its papers as slides, the one-pager compresses the same content to a single page. What each section should say is covered in the status report guide.
Where it goes wrong
- Tolerance position omitted. Without it the report cannot do the one job it exists for, and the board is reading a general update.
- Growing into a stage report. Highlight reports that expand to cover justification and forward planning duplicate the end-stage report and take longer to write than to read.
- Late. A report covering a period that closed three weeks ago describes history the board can no longer act on.
- Used instead of an exception report. A forecast tolerance breach mentioned in passing in a routine report has not been escalated.
- Corrective action unstated. Where the report shows a problem but not what the project manager has already done about it, the board intervenes unnecessarily.
Related terms
Exception report — the unscheduled report raised when a tolerance is forecast to be breached. End stage report — the fuller report produced at a stage boundary. Project board — the recipient. Tolerance — the limits the report measures against. Project status report — the general-purpose equivalent for a wider audience.
Questions
How often is a highlight report produced?
At the frequency the project board sets when it authorises the stage, commonly fortnightly or monthly. Short stages tend to attract more frequent reports.
What is the difference between a highlight report and a status report?
A highlight report is the PRINCE2 term for the routine report from project manager to project board, written against agreed tolerances. Status report is the general term with a wider audience. The content overlaps heavily.
Who writes the highlight report?
The project manager. It is one of the few reports where authorship matters, because it is the project manager's own account of the position to the board that delegated authority to them.
Does a highlight report replace an exception report?
No. The highlight report is routine and confirms the position inside tolerance. An exception report is raised as soon as a breach is forecast, without waiting for the next scheduled report.