RAG Reporting That Shows the Real Project Status

RAG Status Reports That Show the Real Status

How to make RAG reporting show the real status of a bank programme: define each colour, rate against the baseline, back it with evidence, show the trend and escalate red with a decision.

Alexander Kiel

Business Analyst · Banking & Wealth Management

11.07.2026 · 8 MIN READ · PMO SUPPORT

ON THIS PAGE

1. Define Each RAG Colour in Writing

2. Rate Status Against the Baseline

3. Back Each Colour With Evidence

4. Show the Trend and the Forecast

5. Make Amber Safe to Report

6. Escalate Red With a Decision Request

Sample case: Universal Credit

In short

FAQ

RAG reporting rates each workstream of a programme red, amber or green, so a steering committee can see at a glance where it stands. The colour often hides the real risk. When Bent Flyvbjerg and Alexander Budzier studied 1,471 IT projects, they found that one in six had a cost overrun of 200% on average and a schedule overrun of almost 70%.

Banking supervisors ask for reports that tell the whole story. The ECB's 2024 guide on risk data aggregation and risk reporting expects the management body to confirm that reports are meaningful and well balanced in terms of qualitative and quantitative information. It adds that the frequency of internal risk reporting should be consistent with the dynamics of potential changes to the risk figures.

A report that stays green until a week before go-live and then turns red is a watermelon: green outside, red inside. Would your steering committee see the problem in your next report, or only after the deadline?

Illustrative RAG status report with one row per workstream and columns for status, trend, evidence, forecast and decision needed, where the red testing item carries a highlighted decision request for the steering committee

STEP 1

Define Each RAG Colour in Writing

A RAG status means little until the programme agrees what each colour stands for. Write one sentence per colour and a threshold for time, cost, scope and risk. Without written criteria, one workstream lead reports amber where another reports green for the same delay.

UK government assurance reviews show how short a definition can be. In the delivery confidence guide for review teams, green means that successful delivery of the project/programme to time, cost and quality appears highly likely. Amber means delivery appears feasible but significant issues already exist requiring management attention. The government's project delivery standard adds that a report should be factual and realistic, highlighting progress to date.

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Write one sentence that defines each colour

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Set thresholds for schedule, cost, scope and risk

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Print the definitions on the first page of every report

Would two of your workstream leads give the same colour to the same two-week delay?

Keep in mind: Amber easily becomes the safe default. If most items stay amber for months, the thresholds are too wide.

STEP 2

Rate Status Against the Baseline

Measure every RAG status against the approved baseline: the agreed dates, budget and scope. Effort and good intentions do not count. A milestone that slipped two weeks is late, even if the team worked weekends to keep the slip that small.

The UK project delivery standard states that once approved, plans shall be baselined and progress regularly monitored and analysed. It adds that managers of work components should be set permissible tolerances. The colour then follows a simple rule: green inside tolerance, amber when a breach is forecast and red when the tolerance is breached.

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Agree tolerances for each milestone, budget line and scope item

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Rate every item against the approved baseline only

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Change the baseline only through a formal change decision

Does your status report still compare progress with the plan the steering committee approved?

Keep in mind: A quiet re-baseline turns red back into green. Show every baseline change and its approval in the report.

STEP 3

Back Each Colour With Evidence

Every RAG status needs evidence a reader can check: milestones met, test results, open defects and spend against budget. Colours based on feelings are where watermelon reporting starts. UK review teams are told to base their assessment of Delivery Confidence on the evidence they have gathered.

Research on troubled IT projects explains why. A review of 14 studies over about 15 years, published in MIT Sloan Management Review in 2014, found that employees don’t accurately report when projects are failing. Co-author Ronald Thompson advises executives to trust, but verify. Figures pulled straight from the source systems help, as my article on automating weekly reporting with Excel and VBA shows.

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Attach one measurable indicator to every RAG status

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Pull figures directly from plans, test tools and finance systems

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Ask for the evidence whenever a status improves

Which green item in your last report would change colour if someone asked for the evidence?

Keep in mind: Evidence can be selective too. Ask what the report leaves out, not only what it shows.

STEP 4

Show the Trend and the Forecast

A single colour shows today's position. Add the direction since the last report and a forecast for the next critical milestone. A green item with a worsening trend is the early warning a steering committee needs, weeks before the colour changes.

The project delivery standard expects exactly this: reporting should reflect both achievement to date and a forecast for future performance. Forecasts are where optimism creeps in. In 2018, Amyas Morse, then head of the National Audit Office, warned that officials present what might happen if everything goes right [as] the most probable result.

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Show whether each item is improving, stable or worsening

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Forecast the date of the next critical milestone

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Compare each forecast with the one in the last report

How often has your forecast go-live date moved without any change in its colour?

Keep in mind: A forecast that slips a few days every week hides a large delay. Track the total movement since the baseline.

STEP 5

Make Amber Safe to Report

People report red late when red feels like a personal failure. Thank the person who raises amber early. Judge workstream leads by how early they flag problems rather than by how green their reports look. The colour describes the work, not the person. In a decommissioning project I worked on, the status stayed green while it ran to time, until one issue set off a chain reaction and turned it red.

In 2001, H. Jeff Smith, Mark Keil and Gordon Depledge modelled why staff keep quiet as a project goes under. The 2014 MIT Sloan review found that the stronger the perceived power of the project leader, the less inclined subordinates are to report accurately. Google's study of 180 teams listed psychological safety first among five dynamics of effective teams.

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Thank the person who raises the first amber

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Discuss amber items before green ones in every meeting

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Keep RAG ratings out of individual performance reviews

When did someone in your programme last report red before their manager already knew?

Keep in mind: Asking for honesty while reacting badly to red teaches the opposite. The first red report sets the tone.

STEP 6

Escalate Red With a Decision Request

A red status should arrive with a request: the decision the steering committee needs to make, the options and the date by which it must decide. A red item without a request leaves the committee discussing the problem instead of solving it.

The project delivery standard states that the senior responsible owner shall refer decisions above their delegated authority. The ECB's 2024 guide expects the management body to monitor corresponding action plans to solve significant deviations identified. My article on the one-page decision paper shows how to frame the request in a single page.

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Attach a decision request to every red item

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Give the steering committee two or three options with their impact

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Record the answer and its owner in the decision log

Does your steering committee leave each meeting with a decision on every red item?

Keep in mind: Red does not mean the programme has failed. Red without a recovery plan or a decision request does.

Building a Psychologically Safe Workplace | Amy Edmondson (Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management @ Harvard Business School)

SAMPLE CASE

Universal Credit

The UK Department for Work and Pensions planned to introduce Universal Credit for all new claims nationally in October 2013. In September 2013, the National Audit Office reported that the Department did not have any adequate measures of progress, even though the timetable was tight and the delivery approach was new to the Department.

The NAO described a culture of ‘good news’ reporting that limited open discussion of risks and stifled challenge and a ‘fortress mentality’ within the programme. The board did not have adequate performance information to challenge the programme’s progress. It relied instead on external reviews, which came too rarely to replace timely management information.

The warnings arrived late. The head of the Major Projects Authority led a 13-week reset between February and May 2013. The Department was forced to stop work on its plans for national roll-out. It had already written off £34 million of its new IT systems.

Key takeaway: A programme can look on track until an outside review looks closely. Reports that welcome bad news and measure real progress give the board time to act before a reset forces it to.

"Universal Credit could well go on to achieve considerable benefits if the Department learns from these early setbacks"

Amyas Morse (Comptroller and Auditor General @ National Audit Office)

In Short

RAG reporting shows the real status when every colour follows written rules. Define each colour, rate against the approved baseline, back the colour with evidence, show the trend and forecast, make amber safe to report and send every red item with a decision request.

The result is a steering committee that sees problems while there is still time to act. The programme avoids the late surprise of a green report that turns red a week before go-live.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does RAG status mean?

RAG stands for red, amber and green, the colours used to rate the status of a project, workstream or risk. Green means delivery is on track within agreed tolerances. Amber means there are issues that need management attention but can still be resolved. Red means the plan cannot be met without a decision or help from the steering committee or sponsor.

What is watermelon reporting?

Watermelon reporting describes status reports that look green on the outside but are red on the inside. The report shows the project on track while the people doing the work know about serious problems. It usually comes from colours based on opinion rather than evidence and from a culture where bad news is unwelcome. The problem then surfaces late, close to the deadline.

How often should a RAG status report be updated?

Most programmes update the RAG status report weekly or every two weeks and before each steering committee meeting. The pace should match how fast the risks change. In the weeks before a go-live or cut-over, a daily update is common. Whatever the cycle, every status needs a date, a named owner and evidence that is no older than the report itself.