A daily report is typically a document prepared by employees to submit to their supervisors. A standard report contains details on how they spent their work day, including any achievements or challenges they encountered. If a particular project is under way, the daily report serves the purpose of updating the boss on the project's status. Often, the report also outlines plans for the following work day.

Why Should You Write a Daily Report?

A daily report updates a team leader or manager about an ongoing project. It should provide an overview that describes each member's tasks and progress. This saves the time of a daily meeting, but still allows the project to remain on track and keeps the manager well-informed. Reports are often more cost-efficient than a daily conversation. It is also an effective way of finding out which tasks have been completed so the project manager can distribute new tasks discerningly. Daily reports may also be used when it comes time for employee evaluations. A manager can look back at a series of reports to determine how quickly and efficiently work had been completed during a major project.

What Should You Include in a Daily Report?

Because this type of report is written each day, it is typically short and concise, and refers only to the activities and accomplishments of the specific work period.

Daily reports include:

  • Details about the tasks completed
  • Any resources that were used
  • How much time was spent on each task
  • What was accomplished that day
  • Any problems that arose that day

Example of a Daily Report

This example of a daily report details work on a team project that involves creating a new employee training program for first aid and CPR.

Report for March 27, 2018

Tasks completed:

  • Determined available space for training program.
  • Made calls to three different outside first aid and CPR instructors. Waiting on pricing.
  • Made a list of possible training dates based on company calendar.
  • Divided employees into six groups of 15 each for training purposes.

Possible problems:

  • Training for everyone may be too expensive. Will know more once I receive pricing.
  • Alternate idea is to assign a smaller group to learn these procedures. If this becomes necessary, I suggest five people on each floor of the building receive the training. 

Tasks for Tomorrow:

  • Secure pricing
  • Determine how many people are budgeted to receive training
  • Set dates of training

This is a very short project, and the task will most likely only take three to five days to complete. However, this concise report keeps the manager up to speed on the progress of an important new program for the company.