Without a doubt, communication can make or break your project. With so many channels available – instant message, email, chat tools – it’s easy for key information to get lost or misunderstood!
As a project manager, you need to communicate regularly with the team and stakeholders, sharing relevant information in an easy-to-use way.
Unfortunately, you likely don’t have time to create and email reports or updates on a daily or weekly basis! Even if you did, this isn’t a good use of your valuable time!
Deploying BrightWork 365 on Power Platform
With the BrightWork 365 project management solution deployed on a Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform, you can build and share reports via email quickly to increase project visibility.
These reports pull data from sources like a document library, and using Power Platform’s audit history, the built-in version control helps track changes to report drafts before they are shared.
Keep reading to learn more about the types of reports you can send to different audiences and how to share project reports via email using BrightWork 365 and Power Automate.
A Look at Microsoft 365 Sharing Settings
Before exploring the methods below, it helps to know about Microsoft 365’s native security framework. Configuring external sharing policies at the organizational or site level determines who can access your content from outside your company.
This includes managing guest access for specific stakeholders and setting granular permissions (like read-only or edit) to control what they can do with the report.
For enhanced security, you can also set a link expiration date on shared files or even disable the creation of anonymous links that work for anyone.
Project Reports By Audience
The project team needs to see different types of report formats to make their jobs easier. Below are key elements of a comprehensive project status report, tailored by team role, to consider.
Stakeholders
Stakeholders need access to real-time portfolio dashboards with the option to drill down for more information, visualizing progress against the overall project schedule and key milestones.
Depending on the type of project and how the work is progressing, share these reports on a weekly basis or an ad-hoc basis.
You can also embed interactive Power BI dashboards directly into your SharePoint site for a more detailed, self-service experience.
Project Manager
Daily email reports such as Upcoming Work, Overdue work, and Top Open Issues will help you to stay on top of progress. These automated visibility reports web application features save you from spending hours looking for data.
Team Member
Team members are likely working on several projects at once. Schedule a weekly ‘My Work’ report to your team, for example, every Monday morning, to help everyone focus on their tasks, which are derived from the master project plan.
For more immediate communication, consider using Microsoft Teams integration to share report summaries or alerts with color-coded RAG indicators for at-a-glance updates.
3 Ways to Share Project Reports in Power Platform
Now that you have some ideas about what types of reports to use, let’s take a look at sharing this information via email.
There are three ways to report BrightWork 365 data via email with BrightWork 365: ad-hoc reports, scheduled email, and dashboards.
1. Share Ad-Hoc Reports
Need to share an updated report with a project stakeholder ahead of a key meeting? Using the Share option in the top menu in BrightWork 365 (Power Platform), you can quickly share a report with the necessary people.
Just fill in the form, and a copy of the report will soon be in their inbox! All emailed reports have hyperlinks for the recipient to drill down into each project to get more insight.
2. Share Reports using Automated Emails
Creating and sharing project status reports can be time-consuming, but with BrightWork 365 and Microsoft 365, you can automate the process and save valuable time every week.
Once a status report is created in BrightWork 365, you can easily add the email addresses of relevant recipients, such as stakeholders, team members, or executives, right within the report interface.
Using Power Automate, BrightWork 365 will automatically send the report to everyone who needs it, ensuring timely updates without manual follow-ups.
How It Works:
- Create your status report in BrightWork 365.
- Add recipient email addresses directly to the report.
- A Power Automate flow will trigger and send the report to the listed recipients.
- Recipients will receive the report via email—no need to log into the project site.
This automation is security-aware: recipients will only receive information they have permission to access, based on their Microsoft 365 credentials and site permissions.
By leveraging this integration, you ensure consistent communication while freeing up time to focus on more strategic tasks.
Over a project’s lifecycle, various scheduled reports will be created at different times. You can view and manage these emails in the ‘Scheduled Report Email list’, located under ‘Advanced Share’. The report will also detail which emails failed to send and why.
3. Sharing Portfolio Dashboards
While scheduled and ad-hoc emails work for individual reports, what about a series of reports contained in a dashboard?
Stakeholders often want a summary overview of the project with charts, scorecards, or reports on various aspects of the project, such as risks.
The easiest way to share dashboards in Power BI.
For example, BrightWork 365 includes integrated Power BI dashboards that provide real-time visibility into your project and portfolio data. These reports help teams and leadership track progress, identify risks, and make informed decisions.
Key features include:
- Portfolio dashboards showing project health, status, and timelines.
- Work reports highlighting tasks, issues, and deliverables.
- Resource reports for tracking workload and availability.
Because it’s built on Microsoft Power Platform, these reports are interactive, customizable, and can be shared securely across your organization using Microsoft 365 permissions.
Strengthening Project Reporting with BrightWork
BrightWork 365 simplifies project communication across multiple channels by providing a centralized platform on Microsoft 365 and Power Platform.
Its integration with SharePoint’s document libraries and version control ensures data accuracy while delivering relevant insights to stakeholders, project managers, and team members.
Features like Microsoft Teams integration and embedded Power BI dashboards help teams stay aligned and informed with real-time updates.
See how BrightWork 365 can transform your project reporting workflows. Schedule your live demo today.
