Determines the Objectives and

Structures of Various Kinds of

Reports

Week 5 Lesson 5
• an account or statement describing in detail
an event, situation, or the
like, usually as the result of observation,
inqui
ry, etc.
• A document containing information organized
in a narrative, graphic, or tabular form,
prepared on ad hoc, periodic, recurring,
regular, or as required basis.
• Reports may refer to
specific periods, events, occurrences, or
subjects, and may be communicated
or presented in oral or written form.
• A document that presents information
in an organized format for a
specific audience and purpose.
Although summaries of reports may be
delivered orally, complete reports are
almost always in the form of written
documents.
H U R T Q E V I T A U L A V E R L T H E

S P O D E M O G R A P H I C E A C X I S

T I N F O R M A T I O N I C S O W N T S

R E X L O V E W H Y H V O O N J D U I E

U A C C I D E N T Q R M P S B U D C N R

C E H E A R T R Z E M O T Z S E M I S G

T X L I Z A A I S E R R Q T N U C N P O

U A M Q W D R M N P U D R T D B L C E R

R M A J E I B D G C F I L N G O E I C P

A I R F O J A Y T H A A A C V N I D T E

L N K E Z T Z I H L B R Y O J I N E I L

E A R D I N O P R O O L O V E J A N O E

N T L O U N I E R M P K S H G K D T N C

G I N A Y T S A E R U L I A F W E R L T

I O Q W R E T M B V C X Z S L G O A T R

N N M O A O P E R A T I O N D E I R Y I

E A P R R Z N O I T E L P M O C S H K C

E E C Y T I L I B I S A E F E L P O U A

R H F C A S E S T U D Y V P K E C I V L

S Z X P E R I O D I C Q S U P E R M A N
1. Structural Engineers 2. Electrical 3. Demographic 4. Sales
5. Trade 6. Service 7. Operation 8. Periodic
9. Construction 10. Failure 11. Student-Laboratory 12. Work
13. Evaluative 14. Completion 15. Examination 16.
Inspection
17. Information 18. Special 19. Case Study 20. Memorandum
21. Incident 22. Accident 23. Feasibility 24. Industrial-
Research
25. Recommendation 26. Progress 27. Proposal 28. Oral
Structural Engineers Electrical Demographic Sales
Trade Service Operation Periodic
Construction Failure Student-Laboratory Work
Evaluative Completion Examination Inspection
Information Special Case Study Memorandum
Incident Accident Feasibility Industrial-
Recommendation Proposal Research Oral
Progress
• It is a visual property
inspection carried out by a
chartered structural or civil
engineer.
• It is a report document that refers to
the in service condition of the electrical
installation of the buildings.
• The purpose of the report is to establish
if the electrical installation is in a
satisfactory condition for safe and
continued service and the financial costs
of electrical works required before the
purchase of a property.
• Demographics are a statistical view of a
population, generally including age, gender,
income, schooling, and occupation and so on.
Demographic Report is not only used for
research purposes, rather it is also a major
factor and contribution in business venture.

• Understanding the demographics of the target

customers is critical for the success of the
business. Not only do the business owner need
to understand them in order to decide exactly
what the product and services mixes will
include, but this information will also affect
pricing, packaging, promotion and place.
• In order to properly evaluate a community or
neighborhood for the best location for the
business, the owner must know the demographic
profile of his potential customers. To see if the
community he’s considering offers a population
with the demographic traits necessary to support
his business, look at the community's:
•
• Purchasing power.
• Residences.
• Means of transportation.
• Age ranges.
• Family status.
• Leisure activities.
• A record of calls made and products sold
during a particular time frame kept by
a salesperson or their management. For
example, a typical sales report
might incorporate data on
(1)sales volume observed per item
or group of items,
(2)how many new and current
accounts were contacted and
when, and
(3)any costs that were involved
in promoting and selling products.
•The practice of announcing the trade or
issue of a security to the appropriate
regulator.
•Trade reporting is mandatory and serves
to increase transparency in the market.
It also helps keep the regulator abreast
to what is happening,
which may help it find.
• It reports on the results achieved both operationally
and strategically and on any developments related
to Service Level Agreements such as hitting various
targets, like availability.

• Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a part of a

service contract where a service is formally
defined. Particular aspects of the service – scope,
quality responsibilities – are agreed between the
service provider and the service user.

• Its purpose is to provide information to both the

service provider and the service user in order for
informed decisions to be made.
• Operational reporting is reporting about
operational details that reflects current activity.
Operational reporting is intended to support the
day-to-day activities of the organization.
"Examples of operational reporting include bank
teller end-of-day window balancing reports,
daily account audits and adjustments, daily
production records, flight-by-flight traveler logs
and transaction logs."
Operational Reporting solutions should deliver the following
benefits:
• Real Time Reporting – To be of benefit, Operational Reporting
needs to provide current information to its consumer. For
example, it does not do the shipping dock much good to view
a list of ready-to-be-shipped orders from yesterday.
• Detailed Information – Operational Reporting must present the
data in the lowest level of granularity. For example, if there is
a sales line that is backordered and needs to be filled, the
responsible parties need to know the specifics of the
transaction.
• Flexibility – To limit your dependence on IT, your Operational
Reporting solution should provide flexibility to enable end
users to create their own specific views of the data.
• Summary of events that presents
essentially the same type
of information updated at regular intervals
such as every day, week, month, etc.
Also called recurring report.
• 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.
• It is the hourly and daily events on a
worksite. It shows the numbers of
employees and equipment. The time of
start and finish is also recorded.
Accidents are reported as well as
weather and progress.
• It is a logical and systematic
examination of an equipment or
machine and/or documentation to
detect and to analyze the causes,
probabilities, and consequences of
actual or potential failure and to plan
corrective actions in those failure.
• Laboratory reports are written to
describe and analyze a laboratory
experiment that explores a scientific
concept. It 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.
• They are typically assigned to enable you to:
• Conduct scientific research.
• Formulate a hypothesis about a particular
stimulus, event, and/or behavior.
• Review relevant literature to justify your
hypothesis.
• Allow someone to replicate your study by
providing precise details.
• Apply statistics to test your hypothesis.
• Explore theoretical explanations.
• Evaluate research objectively and
methodically.
• Communicate concisely and precisely.
• Also called working draft (sometimes called
a draft document)

• A working draft is a type of technical report

that is a work in progress, a preliminary form
of a possible future document. A working draft
indicates a commitment on the part of the
issuing organization to do further work in the
area outlined in the document. Several revisions
of the working draft may be issued before the
final document is written, or the document may
be made obsolete by future developments.
• These are a useful way to describe
program successes, as well as areas in
need of improvement. When data is
communicated well, it can be used to
maintain current support, garner new
backing, and apply for additional
funding.
• It is written when the work is finished.

• It provides a permanent record of the entire project,

including the circumstances that led to its
beginning.

• It serves as immediate documentation.

• It presents recommendations: suggestions about how to

proceed in light of the conclusions.

• It serves as a future reference when there is a personnel

change, a major new project is undertaken and a problem
develops after the project has been completed.
• Examination Report is the report issued by
an IRS (Internal Revenue Service) auditor
after an audit is concluded with its
findings. Audit is an examination of the
financial records of a person, business, or
organization, typically done to correct
careless or improper bookkeeping or to
verify that proper records are being kept.
Businesses and nonprofits often undergo
an annual audit by an independent
accounting firm. The IRS also conducts
audits, mainly to assess taxes owed.
• It is a written report of
the property's condition presented by a
licensed inspection professional.

• It is also a confidential report prepared for a life

or health insurance company on a risk, setting out
the moral and physical hazards that may or may
not be present. Inspection service is usually bought
from companies that specialize in that field. Used
for classifying individuals as standard,
substandard or uninsurable.
• An information report is a factual
text, which means it provides
information about something.
An information report is used as a way
to gain a better understanding about a
living or non-living subject. An
information report: uses facts to explain
something.
• It is a report that is prepared in accordance with Generally
Accepted Auditing Standards.

• Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) refers to

broad rules and guidelines in preparing for and
performing audits of a client’s financial statements.

• It attempts to elaborate, explain, or exhibit in a prescribed

fashion certain sections, accounts, or items of a financial
statement.

• Cash receipts/disbursements reports, proposed

acquisitions, and tax basis financial statements are some
examples of a special reports.
• Case studies are in-depth investigations of
a single person, group, event or
community. In a case study, nearly
every aspect of the subject's life and
history is analyzed to seek patterns and
causes for behavior. The hope is that
learning gained from studying one case
can be generalized to many others.
Unfortunately, case studies tend to be
highly subjective and it is difficult to
generalize results to a larger population.
• The case study method often involves simply
observing what happens to, or reconstructing ‘the
case history’ of a single participant or group of
individuals (such as a school class or a specific
social group), i.e. the idiographic approach. Case
studies allow a researcher to investigate a topic in
far more detail than might be possible if they
were trying to deal with a large number of
research participants (homothetic approach) with
the aim of ‘averaging’.
• The case study is not itself a research method,
but researchers select methods of data collection
and analysis that will generate material suitable
for case studies
• Explanatory: Used to do causal investigations.
• Exploratory: A case study that is sometimes used as a
prelude to further, more in-depth research. This allows
researchers to gather more information before
developing their research questions and hypotheses.
• Descriptive: Involves starting with a descriptive theory.
The subjects are then observed and the information
gathered is compared to the pre-existing theory.
• Intrinsic: A type of case study in which the researcher
has
a personal interest in the case.
• Collective: Involves studying a group of individuals.
• Instrumental: Occurs when the individual or group allows
researchers to understand more than what is initially
obvious to observers.
 There are a number of different sources and methods that
researchers can use to gather information about an individual
or group. The six major sources that have been identified by
researchers (Yin, 1994; Stake, 1995) are:

• Direct observation: This strategy involves observing the subject,

often in a natural setting. While an individual observer is sometimes
used, it is more common to utilize a group of observers.
• Interviews: One of the most important methods for gathering
information in case studies. An interview can involve structured
survey-type questions, or more open-ended questions.
• Documents: Letters, newspaper articles, administrative records,
etc.
• Archival records: Census records, survey records, name lists,
etc.
• Physical artifacts: Tools, objects, instruments and other artifacts often
observed during a direct observation of the subject.
• Participant observation: Involves the researcher actually serving as
• A memorandum (abbrev.: memo) was from
the Latin verbal phrase memorandum est,
the gerundive form of the verb memoro, "to
mention, call to mind, recount, relate",
which means "It must be remembered
(that)...".
It is therefore a note, document or
other communication that helps the memory by
recording events or observations on a topic, such
as may be used in a business office.
• Memoranda are often used in diplomacy,
business, and law. Two countries might sign a
memorandum of understanding that they will
equally share use of the river that runs between
them. A member of Congress might publish a
memorandum criticizing the government’s
education policies. You’re probably more
familiar with the word's shortened form, memo,
which means the same thing but is usually used
in informal contexts, such as for messages within
an office.
• it is document, usually confidential
(protected from discovery by a plaintiff
in a lawsuit),describing any accident
or deviation from policies or orders
involving a patient, employee, visitor,
or student on the premises of a health
care facility.
• It is a report that is filled out in order
to record details of an unusual event
that occurs, such as an injury to a
patient.

• The purpose of this report is to document

the exact details of the occurrence who
witnessed the event. This information
may be useful when dealing with
liability issues stemming from the
incident.
• A document prepared by an analyst or
strategist who is a part of the
investment research team in a stock
brokerage or investment bank. A research
report may focus on a specific stock or
industry sector, a currency, commodity or
fixed-income instrument, or even on a
geographic region or country. Research
reports generally, but not always, have
"actionable" recommendations (i.e. investment
ideas that investors can act upon).
• It is a presentation of factual information to an audience.
• Informal oral reports are generally characterized by
small-group settings with a high degree of audience
interaction and a relaxed manner of delivery and dress.
An informal oral report might be an impromptu
presentation. Informal oral presentations can foster the
free exchange of ideas and be important for producing
action items.
• A formal oral report is distinguished by its adherence to
an agreed-upon format or outline. Formal oral reports are
usually prepared well in advance of presentation and
are therefore well rehearsed. Your manner of delivery is
extremely important in a formal oral report situation.
Audience interaction is generally limited to the question
and answer period at the conclusion of your report.
• The Manuscript Method. You read a written report to
your audience word for word, glancing up from
time to time to make eye contact. In this method,
you will not miss anything. However, the audience
might be bored if the oral report is done using this
method because of the monotony of the whole
process.

• The Memorization Method. You learn by heart and

recite a report you have written. This method, tends
to make you too structured, too formal. You will
not be able to give additional explanation because
you have to present your report verbatim or word
for word. Buf if you have a sharp memory, it is
very likely that you can deliver the report well.
• The Extemporaneous Method. You can write the report
in rough form. You speak spontaneously using an
outline or note cards as guide. You can explain further
as you report. But sometimes you tend to speak
lengthily without considering the time element.

• The Impromptu Method. You talk on the spot with no

prepared draft, outline or note cards. This method is
applied only to brief reports that require little or no
research or presentation. The downside is that you
tend to be disorganized in this method. However, if
you are familiar with the topic, you can, most likely,
discuss it comprehensively.
• A feasibility study, also known as
feasibility analysis, is a preliminary
study undertaken to determine and
document a project’s viability. It comes
from the word feasible which means
“capable of being accomplished;
practicable; or likely.” Feasibility
studies can be used in many ways but
primarily focus on proposed business
ventures.
• The term feasibility study is also used to
refer to the resulting document. The results
of this study are used to make a decision,
whether or not to proceed with the project.
If it indeed leads to a project being
approved, it will — before the real work of
the proposed project starts — be used to
ascertain the likelihood of the project’s
success. It is an analysis of possible
alternative solutions to a problem and a
recommendation on the best alternative. It,
for example, can decide whether an order
processing be carried out by a new
system more efficiently than the previous
• A feasible business venture is one where
the business will generate adequate cash-
flow and profits, withstand the risks it
will encounter, remain viable in the long-
term and meet the goals of the founders.
The venture can be either a start-up
business, the purchase of an existing
business, an expansion of current
business operations or a new enterprise
for an existing business. A feasibility
study is only one step in the business
idea assessment and business
development process.
• A feasibility study is not a business plan.
The separate roles of the feasibility study
and the business plan are frequently
misunderstood. The feasibility study
provides an investigating function. It
addresses the question of “Is this a viable
business venture?” The business plan
provides a planning function. The business
plan outlines the actions needed to take
the proposal from “idea” to “reality.”
• The feasibility study outlines and analyzes several
alternatives or methods of achieving business
success. The feasibility study helps to narrow the
scope of the project to identify the best business
scenario(s). The business plan deals with only one
alternative or scenario. The feasibility study helps
to narrow the scope of the project to identify and
define two or three scenarios or alternatives. The
person or business conducting the feasibility study
may work with the group to identify the “best”
alternative for their situation. This becomes the
basis for the business plan.
• The feasibility study is conducted before the
business plan. A business plan is prepared only
after the business venture has been deemed
to be feasible. If a proposed business venture
is considered to be feasible, a business plan is
usually constructed next that provides a
“roadmap” of how the business will be
created and developed. The business plan
provides the “blueprint” for project
implementation. If the venture is deemed
not to
be feasible, efforts may be made to correct its
deficiencies, other alternatives may be
explored, or the idea is dropped.
• Proposed Project Description
Defining and describing a proposed project
or business venture lays the foundation for
feasibility analysis. If you are analyzing a
project, go into detail about project timelines,
deliverables and resource requirements. If you
are analyzing a business, detail the products
and services that it will offer, the proposed
target market and any extraordinary
resource needs introduced by the business
model. Focus on the requirements of
implementing the venture, rather than details
such as business names and organizational
structures.
• Market Analysis Section
Analyze the industry and market targeted by the
proposed venture. Measure the size of the market and its
demographic makeup using census data or other survey
sources. Define a target market segment according its
behaviorist, geographic and psychographic characteristics.
Analyze any competing businesses or projects that are
planned or already at work in the market. With this
information in hand, try to determine whether there is truly a
viable market for the output of the project or business, and
whether it is truly possible to gain market share from existing
competitive forces. In highly saturated markets with
entrenched competitors, for example, it may be less feasible
to build a new brand than to provide contractor services to
the strongest competitors.
• Technical Feasibility Section
Consider the requirements for specialized equipment or
facilities, copyrights, patents, labor and expertise for the
venture in question, and determine whether or not you either
have these resources on hand or are reasonably able to
obtain them. Technical requirements can range from special
permits and licenses from multiple government agencies to
specialized vehicles or professionally licensed specialists.
Obtaining resources, especially highly educated
technical employees, can greatly increase the cost of
building a proposed venture, but moving forward
without them can lead to the quick failure of a project or
closure of a new business. For any resources you do not
have on hand, consider the cost of obtaining and
retaining them.
• Financial Feasibility Section
Determine how much the proposed project or
business start-up will cost to implement, as well as how
much it can be expected to earn. Consider all of the
resources and capital investments required up front.
Calculate any financing requirements that will arise,
and analyze the potential sources of financing
available, such as business loans or outside investment.
In this section, try to ascertain whether the project or
business can be expected to earn a consistent profit
and whether you or your business currently has access
to the cash or financing required to get the idea off the
ground.
• proposes a solution to a problem
or evaluates possible solutions and
recommends one
• This type starts from a stated
need, a selection of choices, or
both and then recommends one,
some, or none.
• For example, a company might be looking at
grammar-checking software and want a
recommendation on which product is the best. As
the report writer on this project, you could study
the market for this type of application and
recommend one particular product, a couple of
products (differing perhaps in their strengths and
their weaknesses), or none (maybe none of
them are any good). The recommendation
report answers the question "Which option
should we choose?" (or in some cases "Which
are the best options?) by recommending Product
B, or maybe both Products B and C, or none of
the products.
• Identification of the problem, an overall comparison
of several solutions, conclusions drawn from study
and comparison of the solutions and a
recommendation.
• A recommendation report should state facts rather
than popular opinions. Additionally, a
recommendation report should include a solution
that is specific to the problem and takes into account
chance and human nature. Also, it should be
supported with research and devised after
consideration of economic factors. By considering
these factors and presenting a solution in the proper
format, a recommendation report can be used to
influence others.
In writing recommendation report here are
some suggestions:
1.Identify a client with a workplace
problem, situation, or opportunity.
2.Develop a plan for investigating the
situation and the means for resolving it.
3.Establish the criteria required for your client
to make an effective decision.
4.Develop and implement a project for
completing your research
(investigation)
5.Interpret and present your findings in a
recommendation reports to your
clients.
I. Introduction
A. Statement of the need
B. Statement of recommendation
C. Statement of scope and plan of the report
II. Expanded statement, and explanation of the
recommendation
III. Option to be considered
IV. Discussion of each option
V. Summary of conclusion
VI. Restatement of recommendation
Recommendation for Drunken Driving Prevention
At your request the Michigan Safe Driving Committee
investigated the negative effects that drunken driving has
on society. Drunk drivers are making it unsafe for
pedestrians, other drivers, and they also put themselves in
Danger. This problem was discovered when the Michigan
Safe Driving Committee researched the drunken driving
deaths in Michigan in the past couple of years. Last year,
there were 980 drunken driving deaths in the state of
Michigan. In this report, I explain a possible solution
discovered by the Michigan Safe Driving Committee, and
present our findings followed by our comparison of
drunken driving deaths in Michigan. Along with the
Michigan Safe Driving Committee, I considered three
possible solutions:
• Put more Police officers on the streets of Michigan
• Increase the punishment of Driving Under the
Influence (DUI)
• More strict on Breathalyzer Tests

There have been many deaths in Michigan over the

past couple of years. Drunk Driving has been one
the problems. Driving under the influence has
caused many deaths in Michigan over the past
couple of years. Drivers are becoming more
reckless due to a lack of supervision, and a lack of
punishment. There are more drivers every year,
which could increase the deaths caused by Driving
under the Influence in Michigan.
Drunk Driving Statistics Compared
The following stats represent the total Michigan auto
accidents fatalities in 2007 and 2008 and the percentage of
car crash deaths that involved a driver who had .08%
blood alcohol content or higher.
2007
Deaths 1,08 980
Percent 2008
8 29
28% %
• Put more police officers on streets of Michigan
Training more cops would benefit Michigan. The state of
Michigan Police Department should recruit more police
officers to the police academy. This would make drivers
more cautions and less willing to take the risk of driving
under the influence.
• Increase the punishment of Driving under the influence (DUI)
There are some drivers who drive without a license. This is mostly when you
refuse to take a breathalyzer, blood, or urine test. This results in drivers not
intimidated being by the DUI punishments. Making the punishments more
severe would make the drivers more aware and somewhat fearful to drive
under the influence. Drivers that are charged with DUI should have to pay a
fine for the first offense. For the second offense there should be a fine and a
suspended license. The third time someone gets charged there should be a fine,
a suspended license, and possibly jail time.

• More strict on Breathalyzer test

Breathalyzer test should be used more frequently. The breathalyzer tests are
only used if officers pull you over for reckless driving and ask you to take a
breathalyzer test. There should be a solution where every driver must be tested
to limit some of the deaths caused by drivers driving under the influence. The
State of Michigan should lower the blood alcohol percentage from .08% to .04%.
This would result in a decrease of drivers who drink alcoholic beverages before
they get on the streets of Michigan.
There were 980 deaths in Michigan in 2008. Recruiting more people to come
to the police officer would result in more people wanting to become a
police officer. Putting more police officers on the streets would make
drivers wiser about getting on the road and also make them less risky.
Driving under the influence should be looked at as a major crime. There
should be more punishment involved in DUI crimes. Punishments should
include jail time, paying fines, and suspended license for the drunk drivers.
The State of Michigan should be stricter on the breathalyzer test
conditions. The blood alcohol percentage should be lowered from .08% to
.04% in Michigan. The .08% is proven to be too merciful to people who drive
drunk. There are too many deaths in Michigan that is caused by this one
problem. The comparison of the deaths from 2007 and 2008 are only slightly
different. There were more deaths resulting from DUI in 2007 than in 2008,
but the numbers are still way too high.

On Behalf of the Michigan Safe Driving Committee, we would like to help

the Michigan Safe Driving Department keep drunk drivers off the streets of
Michigan.
 The State of Michigan should recruit
more police officers and get them on the
streets of Michigan to keep the drunk
drivers from getting behind the wheel.
The punishment of DUI should be
increased. Drivers should pay a fine for a
1st offense. For a 2nd offense there should
be a fine and a suspended license. A
third offense should result in a fine, a
suspended license, and possible jail time.
– It describes the status of a project that is not yet completed with the
purpose of informing the clients how the work is proceeding.

– It may be in the form of memoranda, letters, short reports, formal

reports, or presentations.

– Most progress report have the following similarities in content:

1. Background on the project itself
2. Discussion of achievements since last
reporting
3. Discussion of problems that have arisen
4. Discussion of work that lies ahead
5. Assessment of whether you will meet the
objectives in the proposed schedule and budget
Outline of the progress report

I. Introduction – describes the purpose of the document and the

previous work which includes a brief summary of the
document contents
II. Facts and Discussion: Past Work; Future Work
A. Accounting of work completed – indicates whether
the work is going as planned
B. Accounting of problems encountered with work not
completed
C. Plans for handling problems areas
D. Evaluation of progress to date
III. Conclusions/Recommendations – plans for completing
tasks
• A proposal is a plan, a scheme, an offer to be
accepted or rejected: to make proposals for peace.
• Proposals come under many different guises. They
range from casual, one-page memos to multiple-
volumes that are hundreds of pages long. Usually,
a proposal is a document written by a person,
business, or agency who wishes to perform a job
or solve a problem for another person, business or
agency and receive funding or money for the
proposed task. Despite the differences, though a
particular task or project to solve a technical
problem in a particular way, under a specified
plan of management, for a specified
• The degree of formality of a proposal is in direct proportion
to the situation that gives rise to it. If the proposal is just
within the organization (a business, a government agency,
etc.), it may not include some of the sections of it like
qualification, etc. but if it is external, a proposal written for
other company or agency, it must be complete.
• When writing a proposal, you must be very careful to
write as formal and complete a proposal as the situation
calls for. Proposals differ from most other business and
technical writing in one important way—they deal with the
future. It must convince the reader that there is a situation
or problem and that the proposal writer is the best person
to solve the problem or repair the situation. A final issue
that proposal writers must face is the idea that, more often
than not, proposals are legally binding others.
Proposals have the following characteristics:
• Proposals deal with the future.
• Proposals must convince the reader that
there is a problem and the writer can
do something about it.
• Proposals must convince the reader that
the writer is the best person to fix the
problem.
• Proposals vary in length and formality.
• Proposals are often legally binding
offers.
You can improve your proposal by carefully answering the following
questions:
• What do I propose to do?
• Can I do it?
• How do I propose to do it?
• Is this possible or feasible?
• What evidence can I introduce to demonstrate that what I
propose to
do will actually get the desired results?
• What evidence can I use to convince my reader that my way is
the best way to obtain the desired results?
• How can I show my ability to do what I propose to do?
• How much will it cost me to do the task?
• How much shall I charge to perform the task?
• What evidence must I show to convince the reader that this cost
is acceptable?
• Is my time schedule appropriate?
• What evidence must I include to convince the reader that the
time schedule is satisfactory?
• Solicited Proposals
Solicited proposals are written in
response to published
requirements, contained in a
request for
proposal (RFP), request for
quotation (RFQ), invitation for
bid(IFB), or a request for information
(RFI).
• Unsolicited Proposal
An "unsolicited proposal," is a written
proposal for a new or innovative idea that is
submitted to an agency on the initiative of the
offering company (i.e. your company) for the
purpose of obtaining a contract with the
government, and that is not in response to an
RFP, broad agency announcement, or any other
government-initiated solicitation or program.
The unsolicited proposal should be:
 Innovative and unique
 Independently originated and developed by the offering
company
 Prepared without government supervision, endorsement, direction
or direct government involvement
 Detailed enough to show that government support could
be worthwhile, and that the proposed work could benefit
the agency's research and development (or other mission
responsibilities)
 Not an advance government proposal for a contract that
you know the agency will need and that could be acquired
by competitive methods
• Internal Proposals
Internal proposals are ideas or projects that are
presented to whoever holds the position of top
management in a company. These types of proposals
can be written by a particular individual, group,
department, or division of a particular company.
Some advantages to this include easier
communication, knowing the client's needs and
making fast decisions.
• Sole-source Contract
These types of proposals are made when a
private firm, government agency, or association will
make a bargain to supply a service or product to a
single company and when a company has an
excellent authenticity and achievement record.
There is no fix format or form of the progress report but most of
them have the following parts.
• Introduction. Indicate the purpose and contents of the proposal.
Mention prior contact with the recipient, or how you found out
about the project. Give an overview of the contents of the proposal.

• Background. Discuss the background of the project – the problem or

opportunity that has brought about this proposal.

• Proposal. State what you propose to do about the problem, how you
plan to help the readers take advantage of the opportunity, how
you intend to help with the situation.

• Benefits. Discuss the benefits of doing the proposed project, the

advantages that come from approving it.

• Procedure. Describe exactly what the completed project would

consist of, what it would like, how it would work—describe the
results of the project.
• Results. Discuss or describe what the finished
product will look like, how it will work (in the
case of the report project, describe the report in
terms of page count, graphics, audience,
contents, etc.).

• Feasibility. Either here or in the benefits section,

discusses the likelihood of the full benefits of
the project – particularly if it’s a business
venture.

• Schedule. Provide a schedule, including major

milestones or checkpoints in the project.
• Qualifications. Briefly list your qualifications for
the project; provide a mini-resume of the
background you have that makes you right for
the project.

• Costs and Fees. List the costs of the project,

the resources you’ll need to do the project.

• Conclusion. Create a closing for the proposal, in

which you urge the reader to contact you,
possibly review the benefits of doing the
project and having your organization to do the
work.