Highlight Report Template

Highlight Report: [Project name], Stage [N], period ending YYYY-MM-DD

A highlight report is the regular, short progress report that the project manager sends to the project board (or steering group) during a stage. It compares progress with the approved stage plan and with the tolerances the board delegated, so the board can stay informed without meeting, and it flags early anything that may need the board's attention. The structure is aligned with the highlight report management product described in PRINCE2 7 (PeopleCert, 2023) and works for any stage-gated project. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example.

Document control

Approvals

A highlight report is issued for information; it is not approved. Record who reviewed it before issue.

Revision history

The worked example is the Tenant Services Portal project of Brackwell Vale Housing Trust, a fictional housing association replacing its tenant self-service website. Stage 3, Build and migrate, runs 16 weeks from 2027-02-01 to 2027-05-21 with a budget of 520,000 EUR. This is highlight report 4, for week 8.

1. Summary

Example: Overall status Amber (previous Green). Portal build is on plan and 5 of 9 stage products are complete. Legacy data profiling in work package WP-07 found more poor-quality tenancy records than the sample suggested, so forecast stage cost has risen to 548,000 EUR (+28,000 EUR, +5.4%) and forecast stage end to 2027-05-28 (+1 week). Both are inside the stage tolerances of +/-8% cost and +/-2 weeks time. The board is asked to note the data quality risk RSK-014.

2. Products completed and in progress

2.1 Completed this period

2.2 Planned for the next period

2.3 Behind plan

3. Performance against stage tolerances

Explain every Amber and Red line in one or two sentences.

Example: Cost and time are Amber because the extra data cleansing in WP-07 adds an estimated 28,000 EUR and one week. Headroom left in the cost tolerance is 13,600 EUR (41,600 minus 28,000). If cleansing effort rises by more than about half again, the forecast will breach tolerance and the project manager will raise an exception report.

4. Risks and issues

Full registers: [link to project/raid-log or tool].

5. Changes and issues handled within tolerance

6. Lessons and good news

• [Lesson or achievement]
• Example: Sampling 2% of legacy records under-estimated data quality problems. Profile the full data set before estimating migration effort.
• Example: The repairs form passed its accessibility review first time because the design system components were used unchanged.

7. Requests to the board

8. Next period

9. Related templates

• Exception report, when a forecast breaches tolerance
• End stage report, at the stage boundary
• Work package, the source of checkpoint reporting
• RAID log for risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies
• Steering committee report for a meeting-based governance model
• Status report for a lighter, non-staged format

Glossary

• Project board: the group that directs the project, usually an executive (sponsor), a senior user and a senior supplier.
• Stage: a section of the project that the board authorises one at a time.
• Tolerance: the permitted deviation above or below a plan target (time, cost, scope, quality, risk, benefits, sustainability) before the next level up must be told.
• Checkpoint report: a team manager's progress report on a work package to the project manager.
• Exception: a situation where a tolerance is forecast to be exceeded.
• RAG: Red, Amber, Green status rating. Define what each colour means in the project management approach.

Standard and licence note

Structure aligned with the highlight report management product and the "manage by exception" principle of PRINCE2 7 (Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2, 7th edition, PeopleCert, 2023). PRINCE2 is cited by name only: no text, tables or figures from the publication are reproduced, and the headings, wording and the fictional Brackwell Vale example are original. The sustainability tolerance line reflects PeopleCert's public announcement that PRINCE2 7 integrates sustainability into project performance. Official text: PeopleCert, purchase or licensed access: https://www.peoplecert.org/prince2. PRINCE2 is a registered trademark of PeopleCert. Check the current edition and your organisation's project management approach before use. Template licence: MIT.