Our Approach to Client Reporting during Software Development + Best Practices

• What is client reporting in software development and its importance?
• Client reporting software Coreteka utilizes for better alerting
• Our client reporting best practices
• Wrapping up

The software development project’s success is not solely dependent on the technical prowess of your team. Communication plays a much larger role. Your IT vendor should ensure that the project’s status and current tasks are transparent at every stage of the software development lifecycle. Otherwise, you risk receiving a product that doesn’t meet your expectations.

As an international software development company, Coreteka has been providing services to various types of businesses for over 7 years. During this time, we have learned from our experiences and found optimal solutions to make our communication with clients as simple, informative, and transparent as possible. In this article, we share our approaches and best practices for client reporting. Keep reading to know what to pay attention to when developing technical projects.

What is client reporting in software development and its importance?

Regular, recurrent client reporting is an effective approach during software development. The thing is, creating such complex products is an entire philosophy. Just take a look at the software development lifecycle concept, which we’ve explained in simple terms in our blog. While the client may have a good idea for product creation, they may not fully grasp how to implement it. This is where technical specialists come to their aid.

Reports are utilized to visually demonstrate the development progress. They can include key metrics, figures, diagrams—anything that helps visualize and explain at which stage the project is and whether it requires improvement.

This is necessary for:

• Meeting expectations. Thanks to transparent client reporting practices, both stakeholders and technical teams can understand the ultimate goal of the project. Moreover, it contributes to avoiding misunderstandings, which is crucial when complex matters need to be explained in simple, non-technical language.

• Risk management. Every complex technical project involves potential risks. For example, development requirements may change, and at the same time, they need to fit within budget and time constraints. When you regularly receive detailed development reports, managing such risks becomes significantly easier.

• Making informed decisions. Data is an integral part of management. If you lack sufficient information about the project’s progress, making informed decisions becomes more challenging. For example, you can prioritize the most important features, understand adherence to specifications, and identify areas for improvement in your software.

If you’re already working with a development team, we recommend requesting detailed reports that include information about the current project status, key milestones, resources expended, etc.

Client reporting software Coreteka utilizes for better alerting

To collect data and keep customers informed, we utilize several client reporting tools simultaneously. Detailed information about them is below.

#1 Jira Time Tracking System

We use Jira, one of the go-to tools for technical teams when it comes to client reporting. Beyond that, it’s handy for planning out each step of development. Our project managers handle the planning while developers and other tech experts log their time there.

When it comes to working on your project, we can either use our version of Jira or seamlessly connect to yours.

#2 Ninjato Project Management Tool

While Jira is quite powerful, we want to give our clients an even more detailed view of their project’s progress. That’s why we’ve developed our custom add-on for Jira. It helps us keep tabs on the project’s current status, make predictions, track bugs, and provide metrics tailored to each project’s unique needs. You can learn more about Ninjato in our article.

#3 Notification tools for project managers

To delve deeper into your project and track patterns, our project managers regularly receive notifications from Ninjato. Moreover, this solution allows us to create detailed charts and other visualizations. All reports can be generated with a single click and sent to the client upon request at any time.

Our client reporting best practices

While compiling reports for clients is a standard practice in software development, it is crucial to present information correctly. For ourselves, we have established several client reporting practices.

1. Identifying key KPIs at the project approval stage. Every project is unique, and what works well for one may not for another. Furthermore, even if your solution resembles existing ones, there will always be differences. We define the functional features of each project during the business analysis stage. It is also at this point that we coordinate key indicators with the client. We have previously written a blog post about the metrics that can be tracked during software development. The list is quite extensive but unique for each specific case.

2. Keeping it simple. Our project managers strive to provide clients with the most relevant and necessary information. Typically, we deliver all reports in PDF format or Google Sheets. However, if you want more details about the development process, you can always request additional data. Our project managers analyze them daily to extract the most important information.

3. Visualizing. Most people are visual learners, meaning it’s easier for us to perceive information with our eyes. To facilitate this process, all possible data can be presented in the form of diagrams and graphs.

4. Conducting regular meetings. Sometimes it’s easier to discuss work results verbally. For this purpose, our clients and the team regularly meet at monthly meetings. Here, detailed discussions about work results can take place, and clients can ask questions to technical specialists.

Our team values open communication, so each client is assigned a personal account manager. If you encounter any difficulties or have questions, you can always write to them to quickly get a response. We also encourage communication with the technical team, and if necessary, we will explain everything in simple, understandable language.

Wrapping up

Communication and informativeness are the keys to success and mutual understanding in software development. One of their components is regular client reporting, through which stakeholders can analyze key metrics and assess progress.

We use various software to create reports for our clients. Furthermore, thanks to different additional solutions, our project management team can provide highly detailed information.

If you are in search of a reliable team for developing your technological solutions, feel free to reach out to us to discuss the details.