Monthly client report template for software

A monthly client report is a document in which a software agency shows what was done in the month, what it cost, what is planned for next month and what is waiting for the client's decision. The template here has five parts: header, work table, totals, plan and risks. The file below the text has the same structure, with formulas.

Header: project, month, prepared by

Three lines at the top: the project name, the month the report covers, and who prepared it. It looks obvious, but a report without a written month looks like any other report six months later, and a report without the preparer's name gives nobody to ask.

If one client has several projects, a separate report per project is better. A combined report is convenient for the writer, but the reader has to take it apart, and usually will not.

The work table, column by column

This is the heart of the report. Each row is work on one task on one day:

Date: the day the work was done;
Task: the name or number the client knows, such as their own ticket number;
Department: the part of the client's organization the work belongs to, so each department sees its own;
Description: what was done, in one sentence a non-developer understands;
Hours and rate;
Amount: hours times rate. In the file it is a formula, and it stays empty until both columns are filled.

An example row looks like this: the date of the work, the client's ticket number, the finance department, "fixed the VAT calculation on invoices sent to customers", the number of hours and the agreed rate.

The totals row

At the bottom of the table there is a totals row: total hours and total amount, both formulas in the file. The grand total should match the invoice; if it does not, better to find out before sending.

Recurring payments that are not hours, such as hosting or licences, are best listed separately rather than mixed into the work rows: they answer a different question.

If there is an hour bank or a monthly budget, add one line under the totals: how much of it has been used so far. That way the client sees the number that matters without calculating it.

Plan for next month

A few short lines: what is planned, and in what order of priority. Not a commitment, but a direction the client can correct before the work starts. Next month's report will show how much of it got done, and that is the most useful comparison there is.

Write each item so it can be checked at month end: not "system improvements", but "the new sign-up form is ready for the client's review". An item that cannot be marked done or not done helps neither side.

Risks, and what is stuck on the client side

The part most often missing from reports, and the most important one. Here you write:

what is waiting for an answer, approval, content or access from the client, and since when;
what may slip in the schedule, and why;
an overrun of the budget or hour bank, before it reaches the invoice.

One line like "waiting for design approval since the start of the month" saves a whole argument at the end of the quarter.

Write each item with the name of the person who needs to act, and what exactly is needed from them. "Waiting for the client" with no name stays open for months, because nobody on the client's side knows it is theirs.

How to use the template every month

Copy the sheet for a new month and do not delete the previous one: the history is part of the value;
fill in the work table during the month, not the evening before the report goes out;
check that every row is attached to a task, and that there is no "general maintenance" row without detail;
update the plan and the risks, and compare with the previous month's plan;
send on a fixed date, even in a quiet month.

An hour forgotten and found after the report was sent does not go into the old report. Log it in the current month's report with a note saying which month it belongs to, so what the client already received does not change under them.

In SLAtech Vantage a report like this is built from the hours logged against tasks, grouped by department, and the client sees it in the portal and exports it to Excel and PDF.

Download the template (Excel)

Frequently asked questions

What must a monthly client report for a software project contain?

Five parts: a header with the project name, the month and who prepared it; a work table where each row is a task with date, department, description, hours, rate and amount; a totals row; a short plan for next month; and a list of risks and of what is waiting for the client's answer. Without the last part the report describes the past and does not help anyone decide.

Why attach every hour to a task in the monthly report?

Because only then can a focused question be asked. Faced with "40 hours of development", the client can only accept the total or reject it. Faced with a row saying which task took how many hours, the client can ask why that one, and get a factual answer. It is good for the contractor too: detailed hours are much harder to dispute.

When should the monthly report be sent to the client?

On a fixed date, for example in the first days of the following month, and always on the same one. A report that comes only when the client asks mostly measures whether they remembered to ask. It matters to send one in a quiet month too: a short report saying there was little work, and what was done anyway, builds more trust than a month with no report at all.

How do you use the template's Excel file?

Download the file, fill in the project name, the month and who prepared it, and add a row for each piece of work on a task. The amount column calculates itself as hours times rate, and the totals row adds up the hours and the amounts. Below the table there is room for next month's plan and for risks. For each month, copy a new sheet and keep the previous ones.