Progress reports

You write a progress report to inform a supervisor, associate, or customer about

progress you’ve made on a project over a certain period of time. The project can be
the design, construction, or repair of something, the study or research of a problem
or question, or the gathering of information on a technical subject. You write
progress reports when it takes several weeks or even months to complete a project.

Functions and contents of progress reports

In the progress report, you explain any or all of the following:

 How much of the work is complete

 What part of the work is currently in progress

 What work remains to be done

 What problems or unexpected things, if any, have arisen

 How the project is going in general

Progress reports have several important functions:

 Reassure recipients that you are making progress, that the project is going
smoothly, and that it will be complete by the expected date.

 Provide recipients with a brief look at some of the findings or some of the work
of the project.

 Give recipients a chance to evaluate your work on the project and to request
changes.

 Give you a chance to discuss problems in the project and thus to forewarn
recipients.

 Force you to establish a work schedule so that you’ll complete the project on
time.

 Project a sense of professionalism to your work and your organization.

Timing and format of progress reports

1
In a year-long project, there are customarily three progress reports, one after three,
six, and nine months. Depending on the size of the progress report, the length and
importance of the project, and the recipient, the progress report can take the
following forms:

 Memo—a short, informal report to someone within your organization

 Letter—a short, informal report sent to someone outside your organization

 Formal report—a formal report sent to someone outside your organization

In our course, you will write a progress report in the form of a thorough memo, and
you will attach an outline to that memo to give your recipient an idea of the content in
your final report. (see the chapter on outlines for more information.)

Organizational patterns or sections for progress reports

The recipient of a progress report wants to see what you’ve accomplished on the
project, what you are working on now, what you plan to work on next, and how the
project is going in general. In other words, the following three sections are key in any
progress memo or progress report:

 Work accomplished in the preceding period(s)

 Work currently being performed

 Work planned for the next period(s)

2
Other parts of progress reports

In your progress memo or report, you also need to include the following sections: (a)
an introduction that reviews the purpose and scope of the project, (b) a detailed
description of your project and its history, and (c) an overall appraisal of the project
to date, which usually acts as the conclusion.

 Opening paragraph introducing the purpose of the memo and a reminder

about the project topic

 Summary of the project

 Specific objectives of the project

 Scope, or limits, of the project

 Research gathered

 Overall assessment or appraisal of the project at this time

3
Revision checklist for progress reports

As you reread and revise your progress report, watch out for problems such as the
following:

 Make sure you use the right format. Remember that for our course, you will be
providing your progress in a memo.

 Write a clear opening paragraph reminding your recipient of the project you
are working on and that you are providing progress on that project

 Use headings to mark off the different parts of your progress report,
particularly the different parts of your summary of work done on the project.

 Use lists as appropriate.

 Provide specifics—avoid relying on vague, overly general statements about

the work you’ve done on the final report project.

 Be sure and address the progress report to the real or realistic audience—not
your instructor.

You will be including an outline of your report at the end of your progress memo for
this class, so now move to the chapter on creating outlines.

4
Periodic report

1. Consider all activities and accomplishments of the organization for the specific
time period. Begin by noting the time period. Are you sharing information about the
last two weeks, the past month, or the fiscal year?

2. Meet your audience’ needs. What are the audience’ concerns, history with the
writer and the project or organization, and roles?

3. Organize tasks so you can report them logically. Once lists are complete,
categories of tasks become subheadings under a major heading. Organize so the
reader can find important information easily.

4. Format for the audience. Many longer periodic reports are manuscript-formatted,
appearing like an essay or a book with a title. These reports offer formally and
distance appropriate for diverse audience. When written for an internal reader, a
short periodic report may be formatted as a memo. For an external reader, the report
may be formatted as a letter.

5. For the introduction, develop an overview that briefly presents the highlights of the
report. Mention each idea included in a major heading. Also state the reporting
period, the time of which the document describes activities or progress.

6. For the body, compose a section for each activity category or type of work
undertaken during the reporting period, with section heading and sometimes
subheadings organized from most important to least important.

7. In the conclusion, highlight any key ideas and refer to the next report.

8. Check the accuracy, particularly in statistics and names.

9. Use lists, numbered or set in columns, whenever possible to ensure easier

reading.

10. Divide long discussions into paragraphs to reflect groups of idea

5
Periodic report, or a recurring report, is a written document that summarizes the
events that have occurred since the last periodic report was written. Periodic reports
are written by federal agencies, corporations, non-profits and other institutions.
Periodic reports often cover the same basic set of information and rely on numerical
data to provide an overview of a specific time period.

There are five main types of periodic reports: incident reports, sales reports,
progress reports, feasibility reports and site reports. Incident reports track the causes
and effects of certain events. For example, an incident report would be created after
a company merged or changed management. An incident report helps to identify
effective strategies to make a business successful. Sales reports track the growth
and success of business. This is an especially valuable report for analyzing the
strengths and weaknesses of marketing strategies.

Progress reports and site reports are both very similar. Progress reports track overall
business activity and monitor specific changes made to the business. A site report
also looks at business activity, but includes recommendations for improvement. The
last kind of periodic report, a feasibility report, is used to determine whether or not a
change or strategy is feasible or in the best interests of the business.

6
Conference report

Business conferences give leaders of industry a chance to get together and discuss
the changes that are going on in their field. These conferences are often wide
ranging, with a number of speakers and a great number of topics that are covered. If
you have the job of writing the conference report, you should write it from the
perspective of covering all the highlights and make sure everyone knows the key
points that were addressed.

Make a list of who all the key people were at the conference and write a line or two
on what they spoke about at the event. Provide their current position and the
background that gives them the authority to speak on their chosen subjects.

Write down the original goal of the conference. Your business may be going through
a technological revolution and it's important to keep everyone informed of the latest
changes. For example, your industry has undergone a major change in leadership
and this conference will outline its new direction. That would be the theme statement
of your report.

Write down the highlights from the speaker who has talked about the legal changes
in your business. While it's a good idea to note new trends, it's essential that
everyone is informed when the law has changed and how it impacts your business.
This will likely be one of the most well-attended meetings at the conference. If you
are unclear about any of the speaker's main points, ask him about them afterwards.

Talk to other key people at the conference and get their opinion on the most
important subjects discussed. If you have 25 years of experience in the business,
this may be easy. But if you don't have that kind of history, you will want to speak
with those who do. You don't want to waste time and space on issues that are not
that important and you don't want to short-shrift any other issues that are vitally
important.

Write your report and finish it within 72 hours of the conference. It is important to get
the information out to those who were in attendance and to those who were unable
to make it. Read over your report at least twice before you send it out to your
audience if you don't have an editor to check your grammar, spelling and key facts.

7
It's always better to let another pair of eyes check your work before sending it to the
target audience

What is the purpose of this report.

Keep in mind that the purpose of a business report is generally to assist in decision
making. Be sure you are clear on what decision is to be made and the role the report
plays in this decision.

It might be useful to consider the purpose in this way: as a result of this report, my
reader/s will … for example: as a result of this report, my reader/s will know: - how
well our recycling programme is doing - how to increase participation in it.

Who are the readers of this report.

Consider the main reader/s, but also secondary readers. The main reader for the
recycling report alluded to above is the director of the recycling programme.
Secondary readers might be the facilities management team on campus, the finance
team, etc.

Try to understand what the readers already know, what they need to know, and how
they will use this report. You will need to give enough information to satisfy all these
potential readers. You will need to use headings carefully so that different readers
can use the report in different ways.

What are the report’s main messages.

 taking into account the information above, think carefully about the main
message/s you need to convey, and therefore what information is required. Ask
yourself: what are the required pieces of information i need to include?

 what are the additional pieces of information i need to include?

8
Proposal report

The proposal assignment is an opportunity for you to present an idea to a specific,

named audience about an idea you have to improve a certain aspect of that
company, organization, center, or other business. Whatever topic you choose, you
must be able to conduct thorough scholarly research that you will integrate into your
final report.

To begin planning a proposal, remember the basic definition: a proposal is an offer

or bid to complete a project for someone. Proposals may contain other elements—
technical background, recommendations, results of surveys, information about
feasibility, and so on. But what makes a proposal a proposal is that it asks the
audience to approve, fund, or grant permission to do the proposed project.

A proposal should contain information that would enable the audience of that
proposal to decide whether to approve the project, to approve or hire you to do the
work, or both. To write a successful proposal, put yourself in the place of your
audience—the recipient of the proposal—and think about what sorts of information
that person would need in order to feel confident having you complete the project.

It is easy to get confused about proposals, or at least the type of proposal you will be
writing for this class. Imagine that you have a terrific idea for installing some new
technology where you work, and you write up a document explaining how it work,
showing the benefits, and then urging management to install it. Is that a proposal?
All by itself, this would not be a complete proposal. It would be more like a feasibility
report, which studies the merits of a project and then recommends for or against it.
However, all it would take to make this document a proposal would be to add
elements that ask management for approval for you to go ahead with the project.
Additionally, for this class, one of those elements is scholarly research. Certainly,
some writers of proposals must sell the projects they propose, but in all cases,
proposals must sell the writer (or the writer’s organization) as the one to complete
the project.

9
Types of proposals

Consider the situations in which proposals occur. A company may send out a public
announcement requesting proposals for a specific project. This public
announcement—called a request for proposals (rfp)—could be issued through
websites, emails, social media, newspapers, or trade journals. Firms or individuals
interested in the project would then write proposals in which they summarize their
qualifications, project schedules and costs, and discuss their approach to the project.
The recipient of all these proposals would then evaluate them, select the best
candidate, and then work up a contract.

But proposals also come about much less formally. Imagine that you are interested
in doing a project at work (for example, investigating the merits of bringing in some
new technology to increase productivity). Imagine that you met with your supervisor
and tried to convince her of this. She might respond by saying, “write me a proposal
and i’ll present it to upper management.” This is more like the kind of proposal you
will write in a technical writing course.

Most proposals can be divided into several categories:

 Internal, external: a proposal to someone within your organization (a

business, a government agency, etc.) Is an internal proposal. With internal
proposals, you may not have to include certain sections (such as
qualifications) or as much information in them. An external proposal is one
written from one separate, independent organization or individual to another
such entity. The typical example is the independent consultant proposing to
do a project for another firm. Chances are, you will write one of these two
kinds of proposals for this class, and it may be solicited or unsolicited, as
explained below.

10
 Solicited, unsolicited: a solicited proposal is one in which the recipient has
requested the proposal. Typically, a company will send out requests for
proposals (rfps) through the mail or publish them in some news source.

But proposals can be solicited on a very local level: for example, you could be
explaining to your boss what a great thing it would be to install a new
technology in the office; your boss might get interested and ask you to write
up a proposal that offered to do a formal study of the idea. Unsolicited
proposals are those in which the recipient has not requested proposals. With
unsolicited proposals, you sometimes must convince the recipient that a
problem or need exists before you can begin the main part of the proposal.
Most of the technical writing projects we have seen in this class have been
unsolicited proposals.

11
Typical scenarios for the proposal

Many of you may have never given much thought to producing a technical report
based on a viable proposal. Several sample topics are included on the assignment
sheet; here are some additional ideas:

 Imagine that a company has a problem or wants to make some sort of

improvement. The company sends out a request for proposals; you receive
one and respond with a proposal. You offer to come in, investigate, interview,
make recommendations—and present it all in the form of a report.

 An organization wants a seminar in your expertise. You write a proposal to

give the seminar—included in the package deal is a guide or handbook that
the people attending the seminar will receive.

 An agency has just started using a new online data system, but the user’s
manual is technically complex and difficult to read. You receive a request for
proposals from this agency to write a simplified guide or startup guide.

 Imagine that a nonprofit organization focused on a particular issue wants an

consultant to write a handbook or guide for its membership. This document
will present information on the issue in a way that the members can
understand.

Not all research topics are appropriate for technical writing. Topics that are based on
values and beliefs do not fall into the category of technical. Historical and literary
topics do not qualify. Always check with your instructor about any topic ideas you
have before starting on your project.

In addition, keep in mind you must integrate scholarly research into your final report,
choose a topic for which you can readily find such material. While interviews and
other first-hand sources are often valuable to a report, one that relies heavily on
these sources will not meet the outcomes of this course.

12
Common sections in proposals

The following provides a review of the sections you will commonly find in proposals,
submitted in this class in memo format. Do not assume that each one of them has to
be in the actual proposal you write, nor that they have to be in the order they are
presented here. Refer to the assignment sheet and consider other kinds of
information unique to your topic that should be included in your particular proposal.

As you read this chapter on proposals, check out the sample proposal memo shared
in our current week’s unit folder. Again, keep in mind that not all of the sections
discussed here will show up in the examples, but most will.

Introduction. Plan the introduction to your proposal carefully. Make sure it does all of
the following things (but not necessarily in this order) that apply to your particular
proposal:

 Indicate that the content of the memo is a proposal for a specific project.

 Develop at least one brief motivating statement that will encourage the
recipient to read on and to consider approving the project (especially if it is an
unsolicited or competitive proposal).

 Give an overview of the contents of the proposal.

Background on the problem, opportunity, or situation. Often occurring just after the
introduction, the background section discusses what has brought about the need for
the project—what problem, what opportunity exists for improving things, what the
basic situation is. For example, management of a chain of day care centers may
need to ensure that all employees know cpr because of new state mandates
requiring it, or an owner of pine timber land in eastern oregon may want to get the
land producing saleable timber without destroying the environment.

While the named audience of the proposal may know the problem very well, writing
the background section is useful in demonstrating your particular view of the
problem. Also, if the the proposal is unsolicited, a background section is almost a
requirement—you will probably need to convince the audience that the problem or
opportunity exists and that it should be addressed.

13
Benefits and feasibility of the proposed project. Most proposals briefly discuss the
advantages or benefits of completing the proposed project. This acts as a type of
argument in favor of approving the project. Also, some proposals discuss the
likelihood of the project’s success. In an unsolicited proposal, this section is
especially important—you are trying to “sell” the audience on the project.

Description of the proposed work (results of the project). Most proposals must
describe the finished product of the proposed project. In a technical writing course,
that means describing the written document you propose to write, its audience and
purpose; providing an outline; and discussing such things as its length, graphics,
binding, and so forth. In the scenario you define, there may be other work such as
conducting training seminars or providing an ongoing service. At this early stage, you
might not know all that it will take to complete your project, but you should at least
have an idea of some of the steps required.

Method, procedure, theory. In some proposals, you will need to explain how you will
go about completing the proposed work. This acts as an additional persuasive
element; it shows the audience you have a sound, thoughtful approach to the
project. Also, it serves to demonstrate that you have the knowledge of the field to
complete the project.

Schedule. Most proposals contain a section that shows not only the projected
completion date but also key milestones for the project. If you are doing a large
project spreading over many months, the timeline would also show dates on which
you would deliver progress reports. If you cannot cite specific dates, cite amounts of
time for each phase of the project.

Costs, resources required. Most proposals also contain a section detailing the costs
of the project, whether internal or external. With external projects, you may need to
list your hourly rates, projected hours, costs of equipment and supplies, and so forth,
and then calculate the total cost of the complete project. Internal projects, of course,
are not free, so you should still list the project costs: hours you will need to complete
the project, equipment and supplies you will be using, assistance from other people
in the organization, and so on.

Conclusions.

14
The final paragraph or section of the proposal should bring readers back to a focus
on the positive aspects of the project. In the final section, you can urge them to
contact you to work out the details of the project, remind them of the benefits of
doing the project, and maybe make one last argument for you or your organization
as the right choice for the project.

Special project-specific sections. Remember that the preceding sections are typical
or common in written proposals, not absolute requirements. Always ask yourself
what else might your audience need to understand the project, the need for it, the
benefits arising from it, your role in it, and your qualifications to do it. What else do
they need to see in order to approve the project and to approve you to do it?

Special assignment requirements

Depending on the writing situation, your proposal may need to include other
specialized elements as well. Some of these are described below. Note: some of
these elements will actually be required in your progress memo for this class;
however, in a real technical writing situation, your supervisor might ask you to
include in your proposal any of the following:

Audience: describe the audience of the final report (which may be different than the
audience for the proposal). You may need to discuss for whom the report is
designed, their titles and jobs, their technical background, and their ability to
understand the report.

Information sources: list information sources; make sure you know that there is
adequate information for your topic; list citations for specific books, articles,
reference works, other kinds of sources that you think will contribute to your report.

Graphics: list the graphics you think your report will need according to their type and
their content. (if you cannot think of any your report would need, you may not have a
good topic—do some brainstorming with your instructor.) For this class, you will be
required to create and include graphics in your final report.

Outline: include an outline of the topics and subtopics you think you will cover in your
report.

15
Proposals and audience

Remember that, in a technical writing course, the proposal assignment serves

several purposes: (1) it gives you some experience in writing a proposal; (2) it gets
you started planning your term report; (3) it gives your instructor a chance to work
with you on your project, to make sure you have a viable topic. For the second and
third reasons, you need to include specific elements in your proposal (as noted in
your assignment sheet) some of which may not seem appropriate in a real-world
proposal.

In this technical writing course, the proposal is the beginning of a weeks-long

research and writing process that goes through many stages until it gets to the end
point: the technical report. You only submit the proposal once during this process.
After that, you will write and submit different types of documents: a progress report,
an outline, an annotated bibliography, a graphics draft, a report draft, and a final
report. Be careful to use the term “proposal” only if you are specifically referring to
the initial stage of your project.

Another point to keep in mind relates to the audience for proposals versus the
audience for reports that come later in the writing process. The audience for your
proposal is the person who can approve, support, and possibly fund your research
and writing. The final report that you produce may be directed at a different
audience. Consider the example of a proposal written to a supervisor at a solar
power company suggesting the creation of a policy manual for residential solar panel
installers. The proposal’s audience may be an executive, whose knowledge of the
technicalities may be very broad. On the other hand, the final report’s audience is the
technicians, who may have more specialized knowledge than the executive. The
content and language used for these two different audiences will need to be adjusted
to fit the writing situation. (for more on this, review the chapter on audience analysis.)

16
Audit report

Document prepared by the auditors appointed to examine and certify the accounting
records and financial position of a firm. It must be filed every year by an incorporated
or registered firm (along with its audited financial statements) with the appropriate
regulatory authority. Also called audit report.

Audit report is a written opinion of an auditor regarding an entity's financial statements. The
report is written in a standard format, as mandated by generally accepted auditing
standards (gaas). Gaas requires or allows certain variations in the report, depending upon
the circumstances of the audit work in which the auditor engages. The following report
variations may be used:

 A clean opinion, if the financial statements are a fair representation of an

entity's financial position.

 A qualified opinion, if there were any scope limitations that were imposed
upon the auditor's work.

 An adverse opinion, if the financial statements were materially misstated.

 A disclaimer of opinion, which can be triggered by several situations. For

example, the auditor may not be independent, or there is a going
concern issue with the auditee.

The typical audit report contains three paragraphs, which cover the following topics:

1. The responsibilities of the auditor and the management of the entity.

2. The scope of the audit.

3. The auditor's opinion of the entity's financial statements.

An audit report is issued to a user of an entity's financial statements. The user may
rely upon the report as evidence that a knowledgeable third party has investigated
and rendered an opinion on the financial statements. An audit report that contains a
clean opinion is required by many lenders before they will loan funds to a business.

17
Audit report – basics, format and content

For any enterprise, the audit report is a key deliverable which shows the end results
of the entire audit process. The users of financial statements like investors, lenders,
customers, and others base their decisions and plans on audit reports of any
enterprise. An audit report is always critical to influencing the perceived value of any
financial statement’s audit.

The auditor should be careful in issuing the audit report as there is are a large
number of people placing reliance on such report and taking decisions accordingly.
The report should be issued by being unbiased and objective in discharging the
functions.

Contents of an audit report

The basic structure of an audit report as prescribed by the standards on auditing is

as follows:

Title-title should mention that it is an ‘independent auditor’s report’.

Addressee-should mention clearly as to whom the report is being given to.

For example members of mentions that it is the management’s responsibility to

prepare the financial statements. F the company, board of directors

Management’s responsibility for financial statements

Auditor’s responsibility-mention that responsibility of the auditor is to express an

unbiased opinion on the financial statements and issue an audit report.

Opinion-should mention the overall impression obtained from the audit of financial
statements.

For example modified opinion, unmodified opinion

Basis of the opinion state the basis on which the opinion as reported has been
achieved. Facts of the basis should be mentioned.

18
Other reporting responsibility-if any other reporting responsibility exists, the same
should be mentioned.

For example report on legal or regulatory requirements

Signature of the auditor-the engagement partner (auditor) shall sign the audit report.

Place of signature-the city in which audit report is signed.

Date of audit report-date on which the audit report is signed.

Other headings being basic and self-explanatory in nature, we need to understand

the about the opinion part precisely. This part forms the basic crux of an audit report.

Opinion in an audit report

There are primarily two kinds of opinions issued by an auditor in his / her audit
report:

Unmodified opinion (also called unqualified report)

Modified opinion (also called qualified report)

1. Unmodified opinion

Issued for any audit where the auditor is satisfied that the financial statements
present a true and fair view of the operations and transactions in an enterprise
during the period.

An audit report with an unmodified opinion is also known as a ‘clean report’. An

unmodified report develops confidence among users of financial statements and
annual reports of an enterprise.

It provides an impression that the financial statements are reasonably free from any
misstatements and results as appearing there are true and fair.

19
2. Modified opinion

whenever the auditor has specific findings during his / her audit and concludes that
an unmodified opinion cannot be issued due to the nature of findings, a modified
opinion is issued in the audit report.

There are two basic reasons due to which an auditor concludes on issuing a
modified opinion:

Based on the audit and evidence, finds out that the financial statements contain a
certain degree of material misstatements.

Unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidences to conclude that the financial
statements are free from material misstatements.

There are three kinds of modified opinions which are issued according to the findings
and circumstances:

 Adverse opinion
 Qualified opinion
 Disclaimer of opinion
 Qualified opinion
 Qualified opinion is given in a situation where:

The auditor concludes that misstatements are material but the impact is not so high
that it would render the whole financial statements unacceptable; or

The auditor is unable to obtain sufficient or appropriate audit evidence but concludes
that there are indications of misstatements in the financial statements (but the
degree is not high).

20
Example of a qualified opinion paragraph in audit report:

In our opinion, except for the incomplete disclosure of the information referred to in
the basis for qualified opinion paragraph, the financial statements give the
information required by the companies act, 2013, in the manner so required and give
a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in
india:

In case of the balance sheet, of the state of affairs of the company as at march 31,
xxxx;

In case of profit and loss account, of the profit/loss for the year ended on that date;
and

In case of the cash flow statement, of the cash flows for the year ended on that date.

B. Adverse opinion

An adverse opinion shall be issued by the auditor where he concludes that on the
basis of evidence obtained and procedures performed, there are material
misstatements in the financial statements and the impact of the same is high.

21
Example of a qualified opinion paragraph in audit report:

In our opinion, because of the omission of the information in the basis for adverse
opinion paragraph, the financial statements do not give the information required by
the companies act, 2013, in the manner so required and also, do not give a true and
fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in india:

In case of the balance sheet, of the state of affairs of the company as at march 31,
xxxx;

In case of profit and loss account, of the profit/loss for the year ended on that date;
and

In case of the cash flow statement, of the cash flows for the year ended on that date.

C. Disclaimer of opinion

A disclaimer of opinion is to be issued by an auditor in cases where the auditor

concludes that he / she is not able to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidences. In
such scenario, the auditor is not able to form an opinion and thus, disclaims form
providing an opinion on the financial statements. The impact of material
misstatements and degree of the same is high enough.

22
Example of a draft disclaimer of opinion:

We were engaged to audit the financial statements of abc private limited (“the entity”)
which comprises the balance sheet as at march 31, xxxx, the statement of profit and
loss, (the statement of changes in equity) and statement of cash flows for the year
then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant
accounting policies.

We do not express an opinion on the accompanying financial statements of the

entity. Because of the significance of the matters described in the basis for
disclaimer of opinion section of our report, we have not been able to obtain sufficient
and appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion on these
financial statements.

Emphasis of matter paragraph in an audit report

In a situation where the auditor concludes that it is important to draw the attention of
users of the financial statement to a particular reported item, he/she may include an
emphasis of matter paragraph in his / her audit report. In this case, the auditor is not
required to modify his / her opinion. The paragraph is added when the issue is not a
key audit matter and only requires disclosure for a better understanding of the
financial statements.

Example of circumstances where the auditor shall include emphasis of matter

paragraph in audit report:

To inform users of financial statements that the same has been prepared under a
special purpose framework;

The auditor discovers some facts after the date of an audit report and the auditor
issues new or amended audit report.

Uncertainty about the future outcome of an ongoing litigation.

23
Feasibility Reports

A business feasibility study or report examines a situation whether economical,

technological, operational, marketing-related or other and identifies plans best suited
to manage the situation. It may involve approaches to cutting costs, assessing a new
business location, or developing a new technological system. The feasibility report
assesses the supporting data and reasoning of each plan and provides a
recommendation of which plan to implement.

Economic Feasibility

An economic feasibility study reports on the cost factors of a proposed plan to an

organization. If, for example, an organization requires a feasibility study on its
payment-processing techniques, the report may assess the cost factors involving the
functions of electronic funding, security measures and approvals applicable to both
e-commerce and regular transactions. With supporting data, the study would make a
recommendation of the benefits and areas of improvement for both types of
transactions.

Operational Feasibility

An operational feasibility report focuses on the effectiveness of the function of the

operations of an organization. If a business has a global market, for example, an
operational feasibility study could examine the roles within each of its divisions both
locally and in each global office. Based on the data of the study, the report could
recommend that the organization consolidate and centralize certain departments for
greater efficiency and cost-savings.

Market Feasibility

If you are setting up a new retail store the right location plays an important role in the
success of your business. A market feasibility study helps determine if your location
is beneficial to your business. The market-feasibility study inspects the surrounding
community, identifies competition, lifestyle, shopping patterns and other influences.
Analysis of the data in the market-feasibility study provides the basis of whether or
not this location can drive the market for your business.

24
Technical Feasibility

Each business needs an information system to store data. Before a system is built, a
technical feasibility study can identify the potential challenges and problems that the
system may encounter technically based on the requirements and goals of the
business. The study analyzes possible technical solutions to ensure that the system
is achievable in its effectiveness to the business. The study identifies a number of
technical options based on the business's resources and requirements and a final
recommendation.

25
Trip report

The normally prepared by a business traveller immediately after a business trip. Its
primary purpose is to document contacts made and lessons learned, and to
summarize overall observations and conclusions; all in a format that can be shared
with others in the organization.

A trip report can be a useful document for many people in an organization.

For example, even when only one, two, or three people might have been able
to take a particular trip, a well prepared trip report can benefit many others in the
organization.

The ideal trip report will be a one to three page document written in point-form style.
To make it easy to follow, it should be sub-divided into three or four sub-sections
such as: Introduction, Main Issues, Key Contacts, and Observations and/or
Conclusions. In the Key Contacts section, be sure to provide contact details on each
contact made including, full name, title, phone number, e-maill address, etc.

The trip report below was set up in MS-Word and was created based on an actual
business trip taken for an agency in the non-profit sector. It contains the key
elements that would normally be covered when drafting a typical trip report for most
situations.

26
When writing a report about your business trip, stress how it was a good investment
for the company to send you. This will help convince managers that future trips also
will be money well spent. Creating a report on your trip to a seminar, conference or
trade show should focus on showing a return on the company’s investment.

Format of a Trip Report

Unless you are writing a long, formal report, skip the cover and contents pages and
executive summary. Use a memo format if the document will only be a few pages
long, and use a heading that lists the date, topic of the report, your name and who’s
receiving it. Use section heads to organize the report, such as Trip Purpose,
Overview, Benefits, Cost and Summary.

Introduction and Overview

Start the report with an overview that states facts but does not provide support or
detail. Let the reader know what the trip was, why you were sent and the expected
results. For example, you might write that you went to a trade show in California to
meet with important clients, prospect new ones and check out the competition. You
might write that you attended a business workshop to learn new human resources
practices to help you recruit better employees, reduce turnover and develop a better
benefits package.

The Body of the Report

Describe what happened at the event in terms of how or if you met your goals for
going there. Don’t be afraid to tell your supervisor any expectations that fell short -- if
you don’t, and he asks later, you might look like you purposely left this information
out of the report. For example, if you went to a trade show and weren’t able to meet
any promising new clients, you might have solidified relationships with longtime
customers and learned new information about competitors, which could lead to more
business or better product ideas.

27
Recommendation report

Writing a recommendation report usually involves describing a situation, evaluating

possible alternatives and proposing a solution to a problem. Whether you’re writing a
project, performance or risk assessment, clearly stating the facts makes it easier for

others to reach a decision based on your research. You can download a business
recommendation template or create your own document or presentation format. A
comprehensive recommendation report typically includes a table of contents,
executive summary, data acquisition methodology, options and conclusions.
Additionally, you can provide attachments with details or include links to websites
with relevant information.

Describing the Situation

When writing a recommendation report, start by clearly stating what you’re

evaluating. This sets the tone. For example, if you need to create a report on
absenteeism at your company, start by listing statistics about the problem. Then add
commentary about its impact. For example, absenteeism might lead to decreased
productivity, missed deadlines and lowered customer satisfaction.

Conducting Research

In your recommendation, you need to define the methodology used to collect data.
For example, you might create an online survey, conduct focus groups, complete
interviews or read literature on the subject. This activity helps you find out what other
people think about the topic and what actions they may be taking based on their own
experiences. For example, you might discover that employees at your company may
miss work repeatedly due to caregiver obligations, poor health or transportation
problems. Analyze the situation thoroughly before drawing any conclusions. For
instance, you can use analysis techniques such as drawing a fishbone diagram to
determine the root cause of the problem.

28
Qualifying Alternatives

After you lay out the problem, you can go on to suggest ideas. For example, when
writing a recommendation report about employee development, list options for
developing professional skills, such as effective communication, negotiation and
decision making. Your recommendation report may also include details about past
interventions and results.

Summarizing Findings

Summarize your findings from your research using concise charts, lists and
diagrams. This makes it easier for your superiors to interpret your recommendation
and draw their own conclusions. For example, you may find that employees fail to
recognize the impact of their absenteeism. Promoting awareness can increase
attendance and maintain appropriate coverage. Your recommendations should have
specific, measurable and achievable actions defined. They should also be realistic
and time constrained. For example, a recommendation might suggest design,
distribution and display by the end of the month of posters in the workplace that
highlight incentives and punishments.

Give specific examples of events relevant to your goals or anything that happened
that will benefit your company. Rather than listing personal benefits you got from the
trip, such as improving your knowledge of a specific software, discuss how those
benefits will help the company -- for example by decreasing the company’s need to
hire outside vendors now that you have this skill.

Summarize the Highlights of the Trip

Use the summary to recap the highlights of the trip, including your expected benefits,
whether or not you attained them or any others, the total cost for the trip, any
expected financial benefit to the company and your recommendation for the future.
The more specific you can be about the benefits of your trip, the easier it is for your
superiors to calculate a return on their investment

29
Attach Your Expense Report

Consider attaching your expense report to the document, rather than listing the
details in the document. Include the total cost of the trip in your document, but save
details, such as airfare, lodging, meals, tips, parking and other travel costs for the
expense report.

30
Laboratory Report

laboratory report provides a formal record of an experiment.

The discussion of objectives, procedures, and results should be specific enough that
interested readers could replicate the experiment.

Format Although most laboratory reports will include the following sections, some
experiments will require a different format.

Tailor your report so that it adequately explicates your specific experiment

.Abstract: a brief informational synopsis of your experiment, typically under 200

words. Strive to use informational or declarative rather than descriptive prose. (See
Genre Handout, “Abstracts.”)

Introduction: identifies the experiment to be undertaken. Explains its objectives and

significance and provides the background necessary to understand it. When
appropriate, the background should indicate theoretical predictions.

Procedures (or Methods): the procedures section should provide readers with
enough information that they could replicate your experiment if they so desired.
Select the level of detail appropriately.

Results and Discussion (sometimes presented as separate sections): conveys

results relevant to the goals of the experiment. Analyzes the results and discuss their
implications. Acknowledges possible sources of error. Considers presenting
information visually with graphs and tables; provide figure captions.

Conclusions: this section places specific results into the context of the experiment
as a whole. (If your laboratory report is short, the Discussion section may serve as a
sufficient conclusion.) Evaluates the results in light of the objectives stated in the
introduction.

Appendices: this is the place to include data too extensive or tangential to warrant
inclusion in the main body of the report, but necessary as procedural or analytical
evidence.

31
Accident report

In general, an unplanned, unexpected, and un-designed (not purposefully caused)

event which occurs suddenly and causes (1) injury or loss, (2) a decrease in value of
the resources, or (3) an increase in liabilities. As a technical term 'accident' does not
have a clearly defined legal meaning. In insurance terminology, an accident is the
events which is not deliberately caused, and which is not inevitable. For example, if a
driver (who is covered under personal automobile insurance for injury and losses
due to negligence) willfully drives the vehicle into a tree, the resulting injury or loss is
not insured.

Similarly, insurance policies do not compensate for obsolescence or wear and tear
because their occurrence is inevitable in normal course of things. See also
incident.The prime objective of accident investigation is prevention. Finding the
causes of an accident and taking steps to control or eliminate it can help prevent
similar accidents from happening in the future. Accidents can rarely be attributed to a
single cause. Work environment, job constraints, and supervisory or worker
experience can all play a part. These factors must be examined to determine what
role each had in causing the accident.Once the causes are established, precautions
must be identified and implemented to prevent a recurrence. Investigators must
always keep in mind that effective accident investigation means fact-finding, not
fault-finding.To explain why and how an accident happened, investigators must
collect information on the events that took place before and during the event.
Investigators can then determine accident conditions by examining physical
evidence and interviewing witnesses. Both of these steps are of equal importance
and should be done as soon as possible to ensure complete accident investigation.
Equally important is the need to document the steps that were taken immediately
after the accident to deal with the emergency and to begin the investigation. It also
identifies the forms to be used and the procedures to be followed within specified
time frames.In order for an investigation to be a valuable tool in accident prevention,
three things must take place:

 the information gathered must be analyzed;

 corrective action must be taken; and

 the action must be monitored for effectiveness.

32
Performance Evaluation

An employee’s development should be tailored to an individual’s personal goals,

which are determined in a formal performance appraisal. Done well, the performance
appraisal process can be extremely positive for both employees and supervisors.
Too often performance appraisals are considered to be painful and time consuming,
but if they are properly planned and executed they offer an important opportunity to
provide employees with constructive feedback that can help them to define
successful career paths for their work and careers in both the short- and long-term.

Providing employees with honest feedback and direction promotes efficiency and
increases morale in the workplace, and is something an effective leader does on an
ongoing basis. The many benefits of performance appraisal include:

 Improved performance and profitability

 The opportunity to open two-way communication

 Increased job satisfaction and motivation

 Better morale and teamwork

 Improved planning for employee development

 Assistance with possible hourly wage or salary increases

Effective employee performance involves many components. Before conducting a

formal evaluation, it is a good idea to gather documents and think about the
employee and his or her performance. It is also important to keep an open mind and
ask the employee to comment on working in the organization, personal successes
and challenges, and any general input. Including the employee in the whole process
leads to increased commitment and engagement, and often the person will present
observations, ideas, and insights that otherwise may not be addressed.

Steps in a performance review

1. Do background work for the performance review

 Clarify job description and responsibilities.

 Clarify employee development interests and needs with the employee.

33
  List specific development areas for concentration. Holding this conversation
with the employee will ensure that the areas of development are those that
really interest him or her and, at the same time, benefit the organization.

 Review performance objectives and performance standards. Again, including

the employee will ensure that the objectives and standards are clear.

 Review progress toward objectives through ongoing feedback and periodic

discussions.

 Decide on purposes. In all of the following purposes, although it is helpful to

present your perspective, it is equally important to ask the employee for
insights and ideas for direction. Typically, the purposes include:

o What the employee is expected to do

o How well the employee is doing

o What the employee’s strengths and weaknesses are

o How the employee can do a better job how he or she can contribute
more

2. Prepare the employee

Employees should be told about the appraisal process during their hiring and
orientation. When people know it is part of organizational policy, they don’t feel
singled out. Schedule the meeting in advance, explain the process, and give the
employee a copy of the evaluation form to review and complete prior to the meeting.
Ask the employee to also give some thought to his or her performance over the
period in question in order to come prepared with examples of successes and
challenges, insights into trouble spots within the organization or systems for work,
and ideas for improvements and areas for development.

3. Prepare the setting

Plan to conduct the interview in a location that is free from interruptions. Remember
to schedule sufficient time; evaluations can take quite a bit of time in some cases.

34
4. Prepare yourself

Collect necessary information from all sources. This should include a careful review
of the detailed job description, previous appraisals, commendations or warnings in
the employee’s personnel file, evaluations from peers, subordinates, and customers,
if applicable. Complete a draft of the appraisal form in advance. Plan what you are
going to say, especially about particularly good or poor performance. Anticipate
possible points of confrontation and likely reactions from the employee and maintain
an open mind to hear what the employee has to say about points of possible
contention.

5. Hold the meeting

In the meeting use the RAP approach: Review the past, Analyze the present, Plan
for the future. At least 50 percent of the meeting time should be spent on the future.

 Start on a positive note. Ensure employees know that the purpose of the
meeting is to help them perform their jobs better and that their input is
valued—that they are to be active participants in the process.

 Describe specific behaviour in simple, direct language. Avoid commenting on

intangibles such as attitude, personality, and motivations. Don’t say
something such as, “You’re lazy.” Instead say, “I have observed that you
frequently spend time chatting with co-workers when there is work to be
done.”

 Compare behaviour to specific performance standards whenever possible.

Don’t say, “You work too slowly.” Say, “You often take two minutes to chop an
onion; it is typically done in one.”

 Encourage employees to participate. Ask how they feel about their own
performance in each criterion and if there are other factors or procedures that
might be getting in the way of their performance. Ask them to suggest
methods and ideas for improvement.

35
  Try to balance positive and negative feedback. Even if the employee is an
extremely low performer in one area, find something positive to maintain self-
esteem and optimism for success in the job. For high performers, balance
praise with discussion on ideas and areas for further development.

 Discuss reasons for low performance. Telling an employee that improvement

is necessary without exploring the reasons for deficient performance will
rarely result in improvement. It is very important to explore with employees
what is hindering performance and what they can do and what supports or
resources they might need to bring performance up to standard. These might
include pairing the employee with a high performer, providing additional
training, clarifying expectations, brainstorming ways for the employee to meet
standards, etc.

6. Measure performance

Develop a performance review form to support your performance discussions. The

main components to include are:

 Employee name and title

 Date of review and assessment period

 Annual objectives

 Major job duties and ratings on those duties

 Personal performance criteria and ratings on those criteria

 Strengths and development areas

 Performance action plan for developmental areas

 Career goals and training plan

 Narrative comments from both the manager and the employee

 Employee and manager signatures.

36
Specification

Advantages -human brains are generally not that great at understanding abstractions
or novel ideas/concepts when first exposed to them, but they’re really good at
deriving abstractions or concepts if given enough concrete examples.[citation
needed] The more examples we are given, the more likely we are to correctly
understand the intended meaning. Also, by using concrete examples, they become
more familiar and relatable to something similar to our past experiences, which
generally makes them easier to understand.

Successful application of Specification by example is documented[1] to significantly

reduce feedback loops in software development, leading to less rework, higher
product quality, faster turnaround time for software changes and better alignment of
activities of various roles involved in software development such as testers, analysts
and developers.

Examples as a single source of truth

A key aspect of specification by example is creating a single source of truth about

required changes from all perspectives. When business analysts work on their own
documents, software developers maintain their own documentation and testers
maintain a separate set of functional tests, software delivery effectiveness is
significantly reduced by the need to constantly coordinate and synchronise those
different versions of truth. With short iterative cycles, such coordination is often
required on weekly or biweekly basis. With Specification by example, different roles
participate in creating a single source of truth that captures everyone's
understanding. Examples are used to provide clarity and precision, so that the same
information can be used both as a specification and a business-oriented functional
test. Any additional information discovered during development or delivery, such as
clarification of functional gaps, missing or incomplete requirements or additional
tests, is added to this single source of truth. As there is only one source of truth
about the functionality, there is no need for coordination, translation and
interpretation of knowledge inside the delivery cycle.

37
When applied to required changes, a refined set of examples is effectively a
specification and a business-oriented test for acceptance of software functionality.
After the change is implemented, specification with examples becomes a document
explaining existing functionality. As the validation of such documents is automated,
when they are validated frequently, such documents are a reliable source of
information on business functionality of underlying software. To distinguish between
such documents and typical printed documentation, which quickly gets outdated,[4] a
complete set of specifications with examples is called Living Documentation.[1]

Key practices

Teams that apply Specification by example successfully commonly apply the

following process patterns

Deriving scope from goals

Specifying collaboratively - through all-team specification workshops, smaller

meetings or teleconference reviews

Illustrating requirements using examples

Refining specifications

Automating tests based on examples

Validating the underlying software frequently using the tests

Evolving a documentation system from specifications with examples to support

future development

Software teams that apply specification by example within a Scrum framework

typically spend 5%-10% of their time in refining the product backlog, including
specifying collaboratively, illustrating requirements using examples and refining
examples.

38
Applicability

Specification by example applies to projects with sufficient organisational and

domain complexity to cause problems in understanding or communicating
requirements from a business domain perspective. It does not apply to purely
technical problems or where the key complexity is not in understanding or
communicating knowledge. There are documented usages of this approach in
domains including investment banking, financial trading, insurance, airline ticket
reservation, online gaming and price comparison. A similar approach is documented
also in a nuclear-power plant simulation project.

Tests based on shared examples fit best in the category of tests designed to support
a team while delivering software from a business perspective (see Agile Testing
Quadrants) - ensuring that the right product is built. They do not replace tests that
look at a software system from a purely technical perspective (those that evaluate
whether a product is built the right way, such as unit tests, component or technical
integration tests) or tests that evaluate a product after it was developed (such as
security penetration tests).

39