RAG Status: What Red, Amber and Green Mean
RAG status is a red-amber-green rating applied to a project, workstream or reporting dimension to signal whether it is on track. Green means within tolerance, amber means at risk or recoverable with action, red means outside tolerance and requiring a decision. The value comes from written thresholds; without them the colour is an opinion.
What the three colours are meant to carry
RAG is a compression device. It reduces a position to one of three states so a reader can scan twenty lines and know where to stop. That only works when each colour has a stated trigger.
| Colour | Signal | What the reader is expected to do |
|---|---|---|
| Green | Within tolerance on the dimension being rated | Nothing. Read on |
| Amber | At risk, or off track but recoverable by action already owned | Note it, check the owner and date on the recovery action |
| Red | Outside tolerance, or recovery requires something the team cannot authorise | Read the ask. A decision or an intervention is being requested |
Some organisations add blue for complete and grey or white for not started. Others run a separate direction-of-travel arrow beside the colour, so a reader can distinguish an amber that is improving from an amber that is degrading.
How it is used
RAG is applied at more than one level. A project carries an overall status; underneath it, individual dimensions — schedule, budget, scope, resource, quality, risk — carry their own. Rolled up across a portfolio, the same scheme drives the heat view that a PMO reads first, which is how the PMO portfolio dashboard is built: one register per project, colours derived from it rather than typed in.
The rule that makes RAG usable is that the colour is derived, not chosen. Where the threshold is written down — schedule amber at a forecast slip of one to two weeks against baseline, red beyond that; budget amber at a forecast variance over five per cent, red over ten — the rating stops being negotiable. Deriving it in the tool removes the argument entirely: the RAID log template scores each entry automatically from probability and impact, and the weekly status report assembles the dashboard from the underlying lines. What each colour has to be accompanied by in the narrative is set out in the project status report guide.
Where it goes wrong
- Amber as a resting state. Where red carries a social cost, everything lands on amber and the scale collapses into two values, one of which means nothing.
- Watermelon reporting. Green on the cover, red underneath. This is usually a symptom of the colour being set by whoever presents rather than derived from data.
- No thresholds. Without a written trigger, two project managers rate identical positions differently and the portfolio view is not comparable.
- Colour without an ask. A red with no requested decision tells the reader there is a problem and gives them no way to help.
- Jumping green to red. A status that never passes through amber means the reporting is lagging the reality.
- Colour only, no trend. Three ambers in a row is a different situation from a first amber, and the flat colour cannot show that.
Related terms
Project status report — the document RAG usually appears on. Highlight report — the method-based equivalent, which carries the same ratings. Exception report — raised when the position goes beyond tolerance, which normally coincides with red. Tolerance — the agreed limit the colour is measured against. Milestone — the most common object a schedule RAG is calculated from.
Questions
Who sets the RAG status?
The project manager sets it, but ideally does not choose it. Where thresholds are written down, the colour follows from the data and the project manager's judgement goes into the commentary instead.
What is the difference between amber and red?
Amber means recovery is possible with action the team already owns. Red means the position is outside tolerance and recovery needs something outside the team's authority: money, people, scope relief or a date change.
Should overall status be the worst of the sub-statuses?
Some organisations apply that rule and it prevents a green cover page over a red schedule. Others allow judgement. Either is workable as long as the rule is stated and applied consistently across the portfolio.
Why is everything amber?
Usually because red carries a cost — a review, an escalation, a difficult conversation — and amber does not. Written thresholds and a requirement that every amber name a recovery action with an owner and date reduce the drift.