What’s an Analytical Report?

It’s a business report that evaluates a business process or strategy using relevant company data to help
employees make the right decision. Besides analysis and information, it also includes recommendations,
and that’s what makes it different from informational reports.

Analytical reports are based on historical data, statistics, and provide predictive analysis for a certain
issue.

The goal of analytical reports includes:

A better understanding of business and operational activities;

Viewing, understanding, and summarizing a lot of information about the business condition through
data visualization;

Letting the end-user view multidimensional charts and interact with data using data visualization tools;

Weighing options between multiple solutions.

How Do You Write an Analytical Report?

You can write it by using traditional means such as a whitepaper, spreadsheet, or simple Word file. But,
these take a lot of time and effort, and the end result is usually more confusing than useful.

Whatagraph, on the other hand, provides ready-made analytical report templates that make the job
easier for every brand.

A basic analytical report should include:

A title page – including the main topic or purpose of the report

Table of contents – in a logical or chronological order

A clause – specifying and presenting the methods used for the activity
The main discussion – broken down into organized sections including the heading, the sub-heading, and
the body of the discussion.

The conclusions – according to the results and information gathered in the report

The recommendations – given by the employee who created the report

Sections for bibliography or appendices – when necessary

To write a successful analytical report, make sure you follow the points listed below:

Identify the Problem

The first step to making an analytical report is to identify the problem and the people affected by it.
Make sure you describe the problem by including information about where it originated, what
techniques were used to solve it so far, and the effectiveness of those techniques.

An analytical report example could be about student tardiness in a specific school. In that case, the
problem is clearly defined - the student tardiness, the people affected are the students, the teachers,
and parents, and one of the methods used in the past to fix the problem include a reward system for
students on time, which proved to be unsuccessful.

Explain Your Methods

Explain the methods you’ve used in the report to assess the success of past tactics and consider
alternative tactics.

For example, a report about the failure of an ad campaign of one company might reveal that the
information about the success of the campaign was determined by surveys conducted on a sample
population.

Analyze Data
Analytical reports display a thorough analysis of the information collected through the research
methods employed. Since this report is about problems, previously proposed solutions, and possible
alternative solutions, the analysis of data centers around the success or failures of these solutions.

For example, an analytical report on obeying speed limits can assess and compare the success and
failure of formerly proposed solutions, including constructing speed bumps, posting speed limit signs, or
using police traffic stops.

The analysis of the information gathered from these three approaches can tell which of them was most
successful, or what combination of these approaches was most effective.

Make Recommendations

Every analytical report should include recommendations for possible solutions to a specific problem.
They are found in the recommendation or conclusion section of the report.

What’s the Most Important Aspect of Analytical Reporting?

The most important aspect of this type of reporting is the ability to make decisions or solve problems
based on evidence instead of assumptions and guesses.

Even though data alone isn’t enough to solve the problem, it does provide the necessary tools to make
informed decisions you can explain and justify in case they don’t work out as planned.