Many companies have adopted “weekly reports” as a way to regularly review their operations. In addition, if the weekly report is operated correctly, it can be used as know-how to improve operations.
However, many people may not know what points they should be aware of in order to write an easy-to-understand weekly report.
In this issue, we will focus on how to write a weekly report, tips and tricks, and differences from the daily report for below people.
- “We want to keep track of how to write an easy-to-understand weekly report to prevent cognitive discrepancies.”
- “I am looking for an easy-to-understand weekly report example.”
- “I want to know if there is a way to create a weekly report efficiently.”
This article will help you to write an appropriate weekly report based on the example sentences, and will also give you tips on how to make your weekly report smoothly.
Contents
- 1 What is the difference between a weekly report and a daily report?
- 2 4 purposes of writing a weekly report
- 3 How to write a clear weekly report (with 3 steps)
- 4 Example of an easy-to-understand weekly report
- 5 Tips for writing a more comprehensive weekly report
- 6 The easiest tool to create and share weekly reports
- 7 Summary of how to write easy-to-understand weekly report and examples
What is the difference between a weekly report and a daily report?
There is a difference between weekly and daily reports in the frequency and abstraction of reporting.
A weekly report is a document that is prepared on a weekly basis and contains a general description of the contents after checking whether the previous week’s goals were achieved. On the other hand, a daily report is a document that describes in detail the points to be improved in the day’s work and the goals for the following day.
Therefore, it is clear that the level of abstraction of the contents and the period of review differ between the weekly and daily reports. However, they both have the same “point of understanding the progress of work and looking back”.
4 purposes of writing a weekly report
Here are the 4 purposes of writing a weekly report. This is a must for any team that has neglected to write a weekly report in the past.
The first purpose is to share business progress.
By sharing work progress on a regular basis, your team can promptly support in the unlikely event that a project falls behind its original schedule. It also solves the need for repeated individual communication regarding progress.
Therefore, a weekly report is essential to prevent missed deadlines and reduce the burden of communication.
(2) To review work content
The second purpose is to review the work.
With the weekly report, the team’s goals, issues, and ways to improve can be clearly identified, which can be used to review the work. As a result, measures such as solving unnecessary work and prioritizing work can be taken.
In this way, if your team acquire the habit of identifying and improving work issues, you will be able to improve your team’s work performance.
(3) To accumulate knowledge
The third purpose is to accumulate knowledge.
In the weekly report, not only the results of the week, but also efficient ways to proceed with the work and examples of failures are described. This accumulated knowledge can be used to prevent the recurrence of mistakes and shorten work time.
In addition, if the knowledge accumulated through the weekly report is shared in training sessions, the education of new employees will also be facilitated. Therefore, it is clear that the weekly report can be a corporate information asset.
(4) To provide feedback to business operations
The fourth purpose is to provide feedback to the business.
Weekly reports allow you to receive feedback from your supervisor, so you can notice countermeasure for improvement that you could not find individually. As a result, it is easier to improve results in the following week and beyond.
However, paper weekly reports cannot be shared in real time, and with email and chat tools, information flows and past comments cannot be checked immediately. Therefore, use a tool such as Stock that allows you to tie feedback to the weekly report.
How to write a clear weekly report (with 3 steps)
Here is a 3-step guide on how to write a clear weekly report. By following the steps below, anyone can easily create an easy-to-understand weekly report.
How to write 1｜Set goals for the week
First, set goals that you want to achieve throughout the week.
When setting goals, it is easier to evaluate them if you include specific numerical values. For example, instead of “prepare as many estimates as possible”, use “prepare 3 estimates per day”.
However, because abilities vary from person to person, goals should be set within a “achieve range”.
How to write 2｜Describe the work content and results of the week
Next, leave a note of the work content and results for the week.
By describing the work and results, you can easily look back on the week and accumulate knowledge about it. When describing the contents, be aware of the following “5W1H”.
- When
- Where
- Who
- What
- Why
- How
Based on the above, it is possible to prevent cognitive discrepancies due to excess or deficient content.
How to write 3｜Reflecting on the week
Finally, review the week and set goals for the following week.
If the week’s goals were not achieved, clarify what actions or thoughts were not sufficient. Analyze the causes, formulate improvement measures, and reflect them in the next week’s actions.
In this way, repeated goal setting and reflection will increase the team’s ability to solve problems and improve team results.
Example of an easy-to-understand weekly report
Here is an example of an easy-to-understand weekly report.
The following example shows how to make the goals, tasks, and results visible at a glance, and how to use quantitative expressions to accurately convey information to the reader.
Weekly Work Report Template / Example
Date: _____________________
Affiliation: _____________________
Name: _____________________
Main text
Weekly Target
50 sales to acquire new customers for Product A.
Business Description
- Monday, February 1
- Tuesday, February 2
- February 3 (Wednesday)
- Thursday, February 4
- February 5 (Friday)
Meeting with Development Dept. and responding to e-mails.
Visit to Company B
Visit 10 sales offices.
Call from Company C with complaints and respond to them (report to the person in charge).
Meeting regarding Product D.
5 sales visits
Meeting with Development Dept.
10 sales phone calls.
Business Results
・Company B is positive about introducing Product A.
・Sales: 35 cases/target 50 cases…. Delay due to complaints to Company C
Target for next week
・Company B is positive about introducing Product A. 35 sales/target 50… [Next week’s target] 40 sales to acquire new customers for Product A.
・Hearing with Company E regarding samples.
・Meeting on Product D.
Other items to be shared
(To Mr.××) Please confirm the proposal by ____ day.
In addition to the above, add your own items as needed to ensure that there are no omissions in the structure.
Tips for writing a more comprehensive weekly report
Here are 2 tips for writing a clearer weekly report. The following tips will help you create a weekly report that conveys information at a glance.
Tip 1｜Use a template
The first tip is to use a template.
The special templates for weekly reports have a predefined format, so there is no need to write items from scratch. In addition, some Word and Excel templates allow you to freely add items according to the type of industry.
Therefore, the use of templates is recommended to prevent formatting variations and to save time in creating weekly reports.
Tip 2｜Use IT tools
Next, in order to write an easy-to-understand weekly report, the use of IT tools is also essential.
If the weekly report is written on paper, it will not only become difficult to read if revisions are made repeatedly, but it will also take a great deal of time to write the report. In addition, the weekly report is managed in file formats such as e-mail, Word, and Excel, so the weekly report that you need is buried in the file.
On the other hand, an IT tool that allows users to keep weekly reports in a notebook format saves time by solving the need to open the file each time, and sharing can be completed in a single location. However, if the IT tool is too multifunctional, employees will not be able to use it, so choose a tool like Stock that has all the functions you need.
Below is the easiest tool to create and share weekly reports.
If the weekly report is not shared smoothly, the discovery and resolution of issues will be delayed. However, with paper or Excel-based weekly report management, not only are the files buried, but they must also be shared by attaching them to an email.
Using an IT tool that allows information to be kept in a notebook, rather than in a file, speeds up the creation and sharing of weekly reports. In particular, if the IT tool can be easily operated even by employees who are not familiar with IT, it saves time and effort to give them a lecture on how to use it.
In conclusion, Stock is the best choice for streamlining weekly report operations, as it is not excess or insufficiency with necessary functions.
Weekly reports created in “Note” of Stock can be organized by business or member using intuitive “Folders”. You can also link weekly reports to feedback with “Messages” tied to the notes, so you do not have to worry about losing track of past comments.
Stock｜A tool can be used without explanation even those who are not good with IT
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Summary of how to write easy-to-understand weekly report and examples
We have focused on how to write an easy-to-understand weekly report and example sentences.
In order to write an easy-to-understand weekly report, it is important to set quantitative goals and then describe the details of your work and reflections without excess or insufficiency or under-delivering. In addition, utilizing a template can greatly reduce the man-hours required for the description.
However, if weekly reports are managed in Word or Excel, it is troublesome because the files are buried and it takes time to share them. It is recommended to use “an IT tool that can manage information in a notebook format” to speedily create and share weekly reports.
However, if the tool is not easy to use, even for those who are not good at IT, it will not spread throughout the company and will be left unattended. Therefore, “Stock” is essential for your company’s weekly report management, which can be used intuitively.
Free registration only takes 1 minute, so be sure to take the burden out of managing your weekly reports with Stock.
