The Five Parts of a Project Executive Summary

This article will briefly go over the five essential parts of a project executive summary. They may have different headings or titles associated with them in different documents and may extend to many more parts. However, these five essential sections remain important, without which an executive summary template would fail to do its job.
 

Parts of a Project Executive Summary

Project Focus

 
This is the first part of any powerful executive summary. It provides a project overview of the problems that ought to be addressed. It also summarizes the specific business needs identified in the project, such as increasing sales, opening a new office, enhancing market presence, reducing procrastination, reducing errors, restructuring, and any other specific business needs referred to in the project. This part of an executive summary should identify the business needs and justify spending resources to address those needs. As a rule, a project manager must try to make this section the most engaging because otherwise, stakeholders would lose interest in reading the rest.
 

Project Goals

 
The next part of a project executive summary usually concerns itself in listing the project's goals. While the previous part lays down the business needs, like "opening a new office," this part mentions the specific goals like "renting an office," "hiring local staff," "completing the rental agreement," "securing financial projections," and etcetera.
 

Summary of the ES

 
The executive summary, by itself, can become a formidable document for many, especially for those who have little time. Hence, it is necessary to include an overview of the document once the business plan and project goals have been enumerated. Experience shows that a project sponsor reads the "business needs" or "project focus" and then skips directly to the "summary" part of the document. They continue reading the entire project proposal if they either like what they see or are concerned by what they see. This is why a great deal of attention needs to be given to this section of an executive summary, and in essence, it should tell the story of how the work is done and how the goals and deliverables are achieved. The summary can also include impact analysis of the project for good measure with relevant financial information.
 

Key Findings of the Project

 
The key findings of a project usually follow the summary. This section aims to make the management aware at a glance of the key points of value uncovered during project execution. The findings include the lessons learned by the project team and the opportunities and pitfalls that were invaluable for the business.
 

Deliverables

 
This section enumerates the project results and what has been added to the inventory in knowledge and referable materials. Deliverables can include documents like process overview, detailed documents, charts, graphs, checklists, implementation plans, training plans, guidelines for future projects, etc.

Sometimes, if the number of crucial documents required to prove claims made in the executive summary or required to highlight is large in number, then it is custom to create an appendix and attach such documents there.
 

Executive Summary Template

Putting the relevant information together here's a basic executive summary format.
 

• Introduction, be sure to know your target audience.
• Table of contents in the form of bullet points.
• Provide a brief description of the company’s role and identify its strengths.
• Explain the need, or the problem, and its importance.
• Recommend a solution and explain its value.
• Justify said solution by explaining how it fits the organization's business plans.
• A strong conclusion that once more wraps up the importance of the project.

This executive summary example can be used as an example, and you can add or remove certain elements to fit your needs. This sample executive summary contains the main elements you will need for your business plan or project summary.
 

After Writing an Executive Summary: What to Do

It is always good to start with a draft when writing anything. Your first draft should hit all the major points discussed above, but do not get bogged down in making it perfect. Consider this your exploratory draft. Gather all the necessary details.

The next step is to review the document thoroughly to ensure that nothing important has been missed. Make sure your focus is clear and direct and that it speaks directly to your potential client's needs.
 

Conclusion

A properly created executive summary is essential for understanding business processes and recycling knowledge. It is also essential for quickly highlighting business and employee performance.

Here is a chance to summarize what the decision-makers have read through the executive summary. Use this opportunity to sell your proposal - you want the reader to believe this is the best option. Your executive summary should tie back to the goals and problems of the company you are pitching to.