Forum post no. 3 Week 6 Reporting and Earned Value –Meredith explains that the three most common project reporting systems are “routine, exception, and special analysis” (Meredith, 2009, p. 447). Regular can refer to a calendar date, but most often refers to the release of milestones for a project. Exception reporting occurs when decisions occur that affect team members and the state of the project. These usually involve a deviation from the plan that the project manager must document for the team's protection and self-preservation. The astute project manager uses this type of reporting sparingly. Special analysis reporting results from extraordinary circumstances that occur during the project. Material substitutions or process exceptions can trigger this report. Effectively communicating the status of a project means that the project manager must avoid common reporting errors. Too much detail will frustrate management, result in failure to read (or understand) the report, and “prevent project team members from finding the information they need” (Meredith, 2009, p. 449). The project must have a reporting system comparable to the organization's reporting systems. The project cannot use separate registration, accounting and information systems that are not directly compatible with the host organisations. Finally, the monitoring system that follows the project must “correlate directly to the project plan” otherwise the data is meaningless (Meredith, 2009, p. 450). To measure the progress of a project, the project manager must design a reporting structure that compares the actual activity associated with the project with the desired outcome predicted by the initial project justification. Many project managers manage and report…middle of the paper…the manager identifies and reports problems early enough to allow corrective action and hopefully maintain the project's schedule and budget. If not, variance reporting can document and help the project manager and the organization correct problems for the future. References: Meredith, J.M. (2009). Project Management A managerial approach. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Mental Tools. (2011, April 5). Punch out breakage issues found onto manageable parts. Retrieved April 10, 2011, from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_02.htmNagrecha, S. M. (2002). An introduction to earned value analysis. PMIGLC Symposium 2002 (p. 12). Project Management Institute, Great Lakes Chapter.Project Management Institute. (2008). A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Newtown Square, Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute.