Write a quarterly report from the records below. Treat the supplied data as the source of truth. Do not calculate, infer, or claim a result when the necessary baseline, target, period, or source is absent. Reporting period and audience: [PERIOD AND AUDIENCE] Goals, KPIs, targets, and actual results: [RESULTS DATA] Major work completed and evidence: [WORK COMPLETED] Misses, risks, dependencies, and root-cause notes: [RISKS AND LEARNINGS] Next-quarter priorities, owners, and dates: [NEXT QUARTER PLAN] Ask up to 3 clarifying questions only if a required input is missing. Otherwise, produce a 900-1,300 word report with this structure: 1. Executive summary: 3-5 bullets covering overall status, the most material result, the largest gap, and the decision or support needed. 2. Scorecard: a table with KPI, Q target, actual, prior-quarter comparison if supplied, status (on track/watch/off track), source, and one-sentence interpretation. Use “not provided” rather than calculating unsupported comparisons. 3. Progress against priorities: for each major initiative, state the intended outcome, work completed, evidence, owner, and current status. Distinguish completed deliverables from realized business impact. 4. What changed and why: explain the two or three most consequential drivers, including relevant root causes, risks, and dependencies. Label hypotheses as hypotheses. 5. Next-quarter operating plan: a table with priority, measurable outcome, owner, first milestone and date, dependency, and escalation point. 6. Decisions and open questions: list what leadership needs to decide, by when, and the consequence of delay. Write in plain operational language, not promotional language. Before answering, reconcile every stated result with the scorecard and check that every next-quarter priority has one accountable owner and a measurable outcome. Flag conflicting figures, missing denominators, and claims presented as facts without evidence.
Fill in
| Placeholder | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| [PERIOD AND AUDIENCE] | Enter the quarter, reporting entity, and the people who will read the report. | Q2 2026, customer success team, for the VP of Operations and department leads. |
| [RESULTS DATA] | Paste KPI definitions, targets, actuals, prior-period figures, and sources where available. | Gross retention target 92%, actual 90.8%, Q1 91.5%; first-response time target under 4 hours, actual 3.1 hours; onboarding completion target 75%, actual 68%. Sources: Looker dashboard, June 30 export. |
| [WORK COMPLETED] | List significant initiatives, deliverables, owners, completion dates, and evidence of progress. | Launched in-app onboarding checklist May 12, owned by Priya; revised 42 help articles, owned by Mateo; trained 18 CSMs on renewal-risk review. |
| [RISKS AND LEARNINGS] | List misses, blockers, dependencies, root-cause notes, and lessons from the quarter. | Retention missed due to three enterprise churns totaling $184k ARR; two cited delayed integrations. Onboarding emails were delayed by CRM migration until May 20. |
| [NEXT QUARTER PLAN] | List proposed priorities, accountable owners, milestones, target dates, and required decisions. | Priya: raise onboarding completion to 74% by Sep 30, first experiment Aug 5. Mateo: publish integration status hub by Aug 20. VP Ops: decide integration escalation staffing by Jul 15. |
How to use
- Export or paste the metrics with their definitions and reporting dates, then add context from the people who own the work.
- Check every percentage for its denominator and ensure targets refer to the same period as actuals.
- Read the decision section with the intended audience; add a deadline and consequence for any item that currently sounds optional.
- Send this follow-up: “Create a five-minute spoken update from this report for the executive meeting, preserving all caveats and open decisions.”
Variations
Board update
Use this when directors need material performance and governance issues, not an operating log.
Draft a board quarterly update from [PERFORMANCE DATA], [STRATEGIC PROGRESS], [FINANCIAL CONTEXT], [MATERIAL RISKS], and [DECISIONS REQUESTED]. Keep it to 700-1,000 words plus a scorecard. Separate management facts, management interpretation, and board decisions. Highlight deviations from plan with magnitude, cause if known, corrective action, accountable executive, and timing. Do not bury liquidity, legal, customer concentration, or security risks in general prose. Before answering, verify that every number names its period and unit, and flag any risk or forecast unsupported by the supplied records.
Project review
Use this for one program or product initiative rather than a whole department.
Write a quarterly project review for [PROJECT NAME] from [OBJECTIVES], [MILESTONE STATUS], [METRICS], [BUDGET OR RESOURCES], and [RISKS]. Produce a one-page report with RAG status, milestones due versus completed, scope changes, evidence of outcomes, decisions needed, and a next-quarter plan. Name one directly responsible individual for every unresolved action. Distinguish schedule slippage from scope change and from blocked dependency. Before answering, check that dates are internally consistent and flag any milestone presented as complete without acceptance evidence.
Team retrospective
Use this when the report is meant to improve the team’s operating system.
Facilitate a quarterly team retrospective using [TEAM], [QUARTER RESULTS], [WORKING PRACTICES], [INCIDENTS OR FRICTION], and [NEXT QUARTER CONTEXT]. Produce sections for outcomes, what helped, what hindered, decisions, and 3-5 experiments. Each experiment must have an owner, a start date, a success signal, and a review date. Keep observations separate from interpretations, and do not assign blame to individuals. Before answering, check that proposed experiments address a stated problem and can be tested within one quarter.
Tips
- State the metric definition beside the number when it could be interpreted differently; “retention” may mean logo, gross revenue, or net revenue retention.
- Do not use “completed” as evidence that an initiative worked. Report the shipped deliverable separately from the result it was expected to influence.
- A risk register becomes useful when it includes a trigger and an escalation point. “Integration delays” is less actionable than “escalate if two enterprise tickets exceed 10 business days.”
- Assign a single accountable owner for each priority, even when several teams contribute. A list of collaborating functions does not answer who drives the next milestone.
FAQ
Can AI analyze my quarterly metrics for me?
It can organize calculations and identify questions, but it should not substitute for the source systems or metric owner. Provide definitions, periods, and exports so interpretations can be checked.
How should I report a missed target?
State the target, actual, scale of the gap, known cause, corrective action, owner, and next review date. Avoid explaining a miss away with activity counts.
Should a quarterly report include all projects?
Include projects that materially affected goals, resources, risk, or decisions. Put lower-impact operational detail in an appendix or linked operating review.