Producing a unified progress report with inputs from several contractors

The project management organization in which the author works produces an annual technical progress report for the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant Project. The report has to be integrated and edited from the inputs of six major Project participants scattered from coast to coast. The integrated report manuscript then has to be submitted for two formal reviews, and the report must be published in a readable and attractive form. Accomplishing those steps in a reasonable length of time, with a high degree of accuracy, and at minimum expense requires careful planning and close supervision. Planning includes scheduling in such a way as to perform operations in parallel, where possible, instead of in series. Exploiting the capabilities of word processing saves much keyboarding and proofreading time. Art from previous reports is reused when possible. Many of these methods can be applied to other reports that require integration and editing of material from several sources