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Daily activity report template (Word & Excel): a whole shift, logged as it happens
A daily activity report, or DAR, is the officer’s running record of a shift: who was on post, where they went, what they noticed and what they did about it. Use this template to set one standard for every post on your property.
Printable template
What the DAR is, and who keeps it
The officer on post keeps the DAR from the moment they take over until the next officer relieves them. Entries go in as the shift unfolds, not in a rush at the end. On a quiet night in a warehouse yard, that means each round and a note about a truck that showed up early. On a busy weekday at a construction site, the page fills with deliveries, gate checks and crews signing in.
The incident report covers one event in depth; the DAR covers the whole shift in brief. When something serious happens, the log gets a single timed line that points to the full incident report, so the two records stay linked.
What goes in each part of the log
- Shift header: property, post, officer, date, start and end times and who took over. Every entry below traces back to one person and one shift.
- Timed log: four columns for the time, the location, the activity or observation and the action taken. This is the backbone of the report.
- Patrol rounds: when each round started and ended, the area it covered and anything out of place, which shows the whole site was walked.
- Visitors and vehicles: times in and out, name and company, plate and purpose.
- Maintenance and safety hazards: lights out, leaks, trip hazards, blocked exits and gates that will not latch, with where each one is and who was told.
- Keys and equipment: what the officer received at the start and handed over at the end.
- Shift summary and signatures: a few lines on the shift as a whole, signed by the officer and reviewed by a supervisor.
Entries that are worth reading
A DAR earns its place when each line says something specific. “All secure” written every hour tells the reader nothing about what was checked. “Lot B rear gate: chain and lock in place, no vehicles inside” tells them exactly what the officer saw and where.
- Write the time from a clock when you make the entry.
- Name the place exactly: building, floor, door or parking row.
- Stick to what you saw or heard, and keep labels, guesses and opinions out.
- For anything that needs action, note who was told and when.
- Mark a late entry as late, with the time it was added.
How managers put the DAR to use
Read across a week, the logs show patterns a single site visit never will: the gate found open every Friday, the stairwell light that keeps failing, the delivery that always beats the receiving crew. Managers use them to plan repairs, move patrol times, answer tenant questions about a particular evening and confirm the post runs the way the post orders describe.
Every Vantage shift ends with a photo report, so the written log comes with pictures from the property. Officers hold BSIS guard cards, and supervisors make quality inspections at posts.
Adjusting the template for your site
Print the Word copy for a clipboard at the post, or keep the Excel copy if you want logs you can sort and filter. A construction site might add a column for delivery tickets. A warehouse might list dock doors in the rounds section. A mobile patrol route that visits several properties can rename the post field to the route and log each stop as a location.
Whatever you change, keep the timed log and the signatures. If you would like the reporting set up with a new post, request a quote and send us the template with your notes.
A few useful answers
Common questions
What does DAR stand for in security?
Daily activity report. It is the log a security officer keeps across a shift, covering rounds, visitors, observations and actions from the start of the shift to the handoff.
How much detail should each DAR entry have?
Enough that someone who was not on site knows what was checked and what was found. A short sentence or two per entry, with the time and the exact place, covers it.
Who should receive the daily activity reports?
The people named in your post orders, such as the property or facility manager and the security supervisor who reviews the log. Decide the list before the first shift so no report goes unread.
Does the template work for a mobile patrol route?
Yes. Rename the post field to the route and use the location column for each property or checkpoint, so the log reads in the order the officer drove it.