Ask HN: How does your department report on progress?

How does your Engineering department report on progress to the exec/board of your company?

Does somebody compile a written report, or is it automatically generated? What sort of content does it have?

It would be great to know the size of your department and company. It would also be great to hear your assumptions on whether you think the exercise is useful and it gets read, or whether you feel it's more about self-justification.

We're trying to change how we do our own reporting, and finding it hard to work out the best way to do it.