The use of standard reports is a normal part of project management practice. The use of standard reports within the Stakeholder Circle offers a number of additional specific advantages:

• The report definition has to be entered only once and can then be added to each stakeholder receiving the report by a single click
• The full set of information is copied forward avoiding omissions
• The report name is identical, this is important during the creation of the Communication Report sorted by ‘Report’. Any differences in the typing of a report’s name will cause the system to see different reports

The creation of each report requires the definition of:

• A unique name
• Format (Formal/Informal and Oral/Written)
• Frequency (the Stakeholder Circle does not specify the actual date(s) a report should be sent, this is the role of the project’s communications management system)
• The report contents and any special comments.

Standard reports can be added, changed or deleted as needed.

Changing or deleting a standard report will not alter the information already copied into various stakeholders’ engagement messages. These existing stakeholder reports will require amending, updating or deleting in the individual stakeholder’s engagement profile.

Visit the Methodology Page to read a summary of the overall StakeholderCircle methodology.

Select ‘Manage Reports’ from the Main Menu to see a list of all current standard reports (this may be blank if there are no reports).

• To create a new report, simply click the ‘New Report’ button. A new blank report is created at the bottom of the current list
• To delete an existing report, click the ‘Delete This Report’ button next to the report you wish to remove
• To add or change the report specification:
  • Click in the box next to the ‘Message Name’ and type in the name of the message (eg, Finance report)
  • Add information on the message’s contents (eg, monthly expenditure information)
  • Select the appropriate format options:
    • Formal = A preplanned communication with a predefined structure and purpose (eg, a presentation to a senior management committee). When written, the communication is typically signed.
    • Informal = All other communication
    • Oral = Spoken communication (face to face, telephone, video conference)
    • Written = All other communication including electronic text (eg emails). – Select the frequency (eg, Monthly)
  • Add any appropriate comments

The option to ‘Delete All Reports’ allows the standard report database to be emptied in one click (this cannot be undone). The ‘Edit Project’ function from the Main Menu has a facility that allows all of the sample PMO data to be destroyed and the database re-set ready for your project. This ‘Destroy All Existing Data’ option does not remove the standard reports set up for the Paradise Island PMO, based on the assumption that they may be of some use as templates for your reports.

If this assumption is incorrect, the ‘Delete All Reports’ facility can be used.

• Main Menu – Returns you to the Main Menu
• New Report – Created a new blank standard report
• Help – this option opens the help screen (pop-up): close the help pop-up to continue working (Note, the database help screen links to additional information on the Stakeholder Circle web site).
• Sort by Report # – (Default) Sorts the reports in the order they were created
• Sort by Name – Sorts the reports by their name
• Go Engagement – this takes you back to the Stakeholder Engagement list
• Delete All Reports – Removes all standard report definitions from the database (this cannot be undone)

Help is available to all Stakeholder Circle users – we will attempt to answer your questions within a 24 hr period. To access help in the first instance email your question to: help@stakeholder-management.com