How to Create a Reporting Period
Start a report cycle for a ready project.
A reporting period is one report cycle for a project: for example "Q3 2026 progress report". It holds the period's indicator values, activities, evidence, story, draft and exports.
Before you start
The project must be Ready on its Setup page (workspace folder, reviewed donor template, indicators with baseline/target/unit/frequency, and a reporting profile). Until then, creating a period is blocked and the Setup page tells you what is missing. Completed or archived projects cannot get new periods.
Steps
- Open Projects → project → Reporting and click to add a new period.
- Choose the Report type: Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, Final, Activity, Situation or Custom.
- Pick the Donor template (only reviewed templates are recommended; unapproved ones are marked "not approved yet"). It is pinned to the period.
- Start date and End date are suggested from the report type and the project's dates. Each new period is chained after the previous one and clipped to the project's end date. Adjust if the donor uses different cut-offs.
- Donor deadline is calculated from the template's deadline setting where it has one. Add an Internal review deadline (optional) earlier than the donor's.
- Save.
Periods must not overlap and must fall inside the project dates.
After creating it
The period workspace opens with the four steps: Update Project → Tell the Story → Generate Draft → Review & Submit. See Understanding the reporting workflow.
Period status
Not started → In progress → Evidence collection → Draft generated → Under review → Approved → Submitted → Closed. See Report statuses.