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183 organisations, the need for a communication strategy may arise. The strategy would outline how various aspects of the research project would be packed and disseminated to various stakeholders over a period of time. An expert in communication strategies would need to be involved in the preparation of such a document. How to Prepare a Progress Report As the name suggests, a progress report is an important written document that helps communicate the progress of a project to people within the organisation and outside the organisation (clients, funders, stakeholders etc.). It highlights what has been done and what is yet to be done on the project. Functions of a progress report The three functions of a project progress report are to: a) Inform the project stakeholders what has been accomplished and what remains to be accomplished in order to complete the project. b) To alert the project stakeholders, especially the project sponsors to various project needs and issues. c) To provide documentation in case of any legal problems that may arise during the project implementation. Project stakeholders are individuals or organisations that have a share/interest in the project. These are usually identified at the very beginning of the project in the project charter or project plan. Project stakeholders usually include the project sponsor or sponsors, project team members and other leaders or executives. Since the project sponsors are responsible for financing the project, they have the right to know about any risks or issues that may affect the project and what is being done to mitigate or solve them and what the sponsors can do to help solve any problems. Stakeholders may also include individuals from other areas whose work may be affected by the progress or results of the project. If there are any delays, these too will be highlighted in the report. A progress report also helps establish and formalise the various duties and responsibilities of team members on the project. When reporting what has be done, there is also information about who did what and when. This acts as a formalisation process of the various responsibilities. Progress reports also help tie down a work schedule. By determining what is left to be done, a time schedule can be attached to each of the remaining activities. If previous activities have not been achieved within a stimulated time-frame, the progress report will contain information on the various challenges that led to this. It will also highlight problems (if any) that were experienced during the project.