Effectively managing a project is a many layered process and effort, and there are a number of components that need to be effectively meted out by the project management team leader as well as by individual members of the project management team, or by groups of project management team members, at the assignment of the project management team leader. One of the most essential elements of the effective coordination of the project is the effective and complete dissemination of communication regarding the current performance elements to all of the interested parties. Performance reports are the mechanism that makes this possible. Performance reports represent the actual documents that offer a thorough organized view of work performance information to date, any earned value management parameters and calculations, and the to date analyses of project work progress and status. A number of common formats include those of multiple chart types, tables, histograms, and S-curves.
This term is defined in the 3rd and the 4th edition of the PMBOK.