# Red, amber or green rating (RAG) A RAG rating is a traffic-light status used in project and program reporting. It summarizes where something stands in one color, so stakeholders can scan a status report and see where to look first: - **Green**: on track. No action needed from management - **Amber**: at risk. There are problems, but the team has a plan to handle them. Keep an eye on it - **Red**: off track. The project won't meet its targets (dates, budget, scope or [[Success criteria|success criteria]]) without a decision or help from above It applies at any level: the overall project status in an executive summary, each milestone, each risk or each workstream. Some organizations add a fourth color, blue, for work that's completed (BRAG). The color alone isn't enough. A RAG rating is only useful when: - **The colors are defined up front**, with thresholds everyone agrees on (e.g., amber when a milestone is expected to slip by less than two weeks, red beyond that). Otherwise every project manager uses their own scale - **Every color comes with a one-line reason**, and for amber or red, what's being done about it and what's needed from whom - **Red is safe to report.** When red is punished, everything turns amber or green until it's too late. This is called watermelon reporting: green on the outside, red on the inside A project that stays amber for months is usually red in disguise. Being written down and visible, RAG ratings work as a lightweight [[Information Radiators|information radiator]] for managers and sponsors. ## References - [[Knowledge Worker Kit - 06.02 Organize project information]] ## Related - [[Information Radiators]] - [[Success criteria]] - [[Iron Triangle]] - [[Project Management (MoC)]]