Free Excel template · Excel for project management
Free project status report template
For project managers who send a weekly status report and want the RAG to follow from the numbers instead of from the mood of the week. Enter the budget, spend, % complete and your milestones with baseline and forecast dates, and the template works out slip in working days, cost performance, a forecast final cost, and schedule, budget and overall RAG, plus a one-line headline to paste into the email.
Preview and try it
This is the template's sheet, calculated by the same engine as the Cellwise app. Change any number to see the formulas react before you download.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weekly project status | |||||
| 2 | Project | Website relaunch | ||||
| 3 | Status date | Nov 2, 2026 | ||||
| 4 | Budget | 31920 | ||||
| 5 | Spent to date | 17005 | ||||
| 6 | Work complete (hours-weighted) | 0.47 | ||||
| 7 | Holidays | Nov 26, 2026 | Nov 27, 2026 | |||
| 8 | ||||||
| 9 | Milestone | Baseline date | Forecast date | Done? | Slip (working days) | Status |
| 10 | Requirements signed off | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 | Yes | 0 | Done |
| 11 | Wireframes approved | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 | Yes | 0 | Done |
| 12 | Design sign-off | Oct 30, 2026 | Nov 6, 2026 | No | 5 | At risk |
| 13 | Content complete | Oct 30, 2026 | Nov 11, 2026 | No | 8 | Slipping |
| 14 | Site build complete | Nov 25, 2026 | Nov 30, 2026 | No | 1 | At risk |
| 15 | Launch | Dec 8, 2026 | Dec 10, 2026 | No | 2 | At risk |
| 16 | ||||||
| 17 | ||||||
| 18 | Budget used | 0.53273809524 | ||||
| 19 | Cost performance index (CPI) | 0.88 | ||||
| 20 | Forecast cost at completion | 36273 |
How the formulas work
Slip in working days
NETWORKDAYS counts both end dates, so subtract 1 to get the gap. The holidays in B7:C7 are skipped: content complete moves from Friday October 30 to Wednesday November 11, which is 8 working days late. A forecast earlier than baseline shows as a negative number.
Milestone status
Done first, then Missed if the forecast date has already passed without the milestone being done (update the forecast!), then Slipping for more than 5 working days late, At risk for any slip, otherwise On track.
Cost performance index
Earned value (the share of work done times the budget) divided by what you have spent. 0.88 here: 53% of the budget is gone for 47% of the work. B6 should be weighted by effort, not a simple average of task percentages.
Overall RAG from the parts
The overall status is the worst of schedule and budget. Schedule is Red when any milestone is slipping or missed; budget is Red when CPI drops under 0.9 and Amber under 0.97. Change the thresholds in B23 and B24 to the ones your sponsor agreed.
A headline for the email
TEXT formats the percentages inside the sentence. Paste it as the first line of your status email so readers who stop there still get the point.
Make it yours
- Never edit the baseline dates once the plan is agreed. Move the forecast dates instead; the slip is the story.
- Update % complete from effort (hours done over hours planned), not from how the work feels.
- Add your holidays to the B7:C7 range (insert cells inside it to make it longer) so slips are counted in days people actually work.
- Keep last week's copy (right-click the tab > Move or Copy > Create a copy) so you can show the trend.
FAQ
What should a weekly project status report include?
An overall RAG with one sentence of why, milestones with baseline and forecast dates, budget used against work done, the top risks and issues with owners, and any decisions you need from the reader. Keep it to one page.
What does a CPI of 0.9 mean?
For every dollar spent, the project has delivered 90 cents of planned work. If performance stays the same, the final cost will be about the budget divided by 0.9, or 11% over.
Can I use WORKDAY instead of NETWORKDAYS?
They answer different questions. NETWORKDAYS counts working days between two dates (how late is this?). WORKDAY adds working days to a date (if it takes 12 working days, when does it finish?). Both accept a list of holidays.
Functions used
IFPicks a result from a testNETWORKDAYSWeekdays between datesROUNDRounds to digitsCOUNTIFCounts cells that matchIFSFirst true test winsORTrue if any test is trueTEXTNumber to formatted text
Related guides
- How to count working days between two dates in Excel
- How to write a nested IF in Excel
- How to use IF with AND and OR in Excel
- How to combine text with numbers and dates in Excel
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