Project progress and status updates

Overview

The project progress section gives you an in depth snapshot into the status of any Project you’re working on. Status reports make it easy to create rich, repeatable, actionable status updates and share your work with key stakeholders.

progress overview

Project progress snapshot

When you click into the Progress tab in your Project, you’ll be presented with a snapshot of your Project’s current progress status.

progress status

From the Progress View, you can:

  1. Check if the project is on track, at risk or off track
  2. View the number of Completed, Incomplete, or Overdue Tasks
  3. Set a status reminder
  4. Update the project status
  5. View or change the Project OwnerProject OwnerEvery project can have one Project Owner. They are able to set status updates for the project.Read more or view or change the project due date or date range
  6. See the most recent statusstatusA way to update project members on the progress of a project. Status includes a color (red, yellow, green) and short summary.Read more update

Milestones, Portfolios and Custom Fields overview

From your Progress tab you can also see Milestones, Portfolios and Custom Fields which are associated with your Project.

milestones overview

From the Progress View, you can:

  1. View or add a new Milestone using the + icon
  2. View Portfolios associated with the Project
  3. View any Custom Fields associated with the Project

Only Portfolios you have access to will be displayed. Portfolios are available to all Business users.

Recent Status Updates and Insights Overview

In the Progress tab you can get a quick look at historical Status Updates with the dots diagram.

The Task Burnup chart also allows you to view completed versus incomplete tasks over time. This provides you with a visual representation of the health of a Project.

insights overview

From the Progress tab, you can:

  1. View recent Status Updates through the dots diagram
  2. View a Burnup chart displaying completed vs incomplete tasks over time

How to create a Status Update

Any Project Member can set a status to inform other Project membersProject membersSomeone that has access to and receives notifications about a project.Read more on a project’s progress.

The templatized block structure allows you to incorporate the actual work being done in Asana with narrative context to explain the status of work.

Creating your Status Update

status update creation

To create a new Status Update:

  1. Click the Update status icon from your Project’s progress view

The ability to add Custom Fields in your Status Update is a Business feature.

status update screen

From the Status Update window, you can:

  1. Add a title
  2. Fill in your Status Update details, including progress, the Project name, Project owner and Project dates
  3. Choose which Custom Fields should be included in your update
  4. Add a new Section
  5. Include a Summary
  6. Outline your Next steps
  7. Outline the main accomplishments since your last update
  8. Drag Highlights into your Update to help tell your story
  9. Once you've entered an update, click the blue Post button.

Please note that you must select a project status of on track, at risk or off track before you can post a Project Status Update.

Adding Highlights to your Status Update

You can drag and drop Highlights such as completed Milestones or overdue Tasks into your Status Update to help tell your story. Adding these Highlights gives a visual insight into recent achievements or potential blockers for your Team.

Once you’ve added your Highlights and published your Status Update, Asana will remember the Block structure and ordering for future updates.

highlight ordering

You can also reorder your Summary, What we’ve accomplished and Next steps section by drag and dropping them into place.

Adding charts to a Status Update

You can add charts to your Status Update to give a visual representation of the work being done.

charts

Update Status Reminders

Each Project's Owner will receive a weekly task each Thursday to update the status of their Project due Friday. If you are the Project Owner and do not want to receive these reminders, you can turn them off.

turn off status update reminders

To turn off these Status Update reminders:

  1. Navigate to the Progress View
  2. Click the Remind me to update the status every Friday switch

Status updates will appear in the Project's Progress View and Conversations View.

Print or delete a Status Update

delete status

To print or delete a Status Update:

  1. Click the three dot icon beside the Status Update
  2. Click Print Status Update or Delete Status Update

You can only delete your own Project status, not a status posted by others.

A note on snapshotting

Status Updates are intended to be a snapshot of a Project's status at a moment in time. As such the data is frozen at the time of publishing. This includes things like Project name, Custom Fields, Task names, Due Dates and Assignees.

This means that if a Task name or Due Date changes after publishing, the appearance of the Task in the update will stay the same so you can look back and get a complete account of a Project's Status at a moment in time.

Privacy

Anyone who is added as a Collaborator on a Status Update will be able to see the whole contents of the report, even if they don't have access to the underlying Project.

This means they'll be able to see whatever Task details or text is included in the report. However, if they click on a Task, Milestone etc, that is part of a Project they don't have access to, they will see a request access page and not be able to access the underlying data.

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