EFFECTIVE REPORT WRITING

WHAT IS A REPORT ?A report is exactly what its name suggests - a report on an event or activity.
WHY ARE YOU WRITING THE REPORT ? These are the circumstances that led to the tasks and activity being reported on and the decisions or actions that will be taken as a result of your report.
WHO WILL READ THE REPORT ? These are the people who will be reading the report.
WHAT ARE THE REPORT'S OBJECTIVES? These are the specific project objectives that led to the activity or task you will be reporting on.
WHAT IS THE PROCESS AND THE ACTIVITIES YOU CARRIED OUT TO MEET THE PROJECT OBJECTIVES? These detail the step by step approach and activities you carried out to meet the project objectives.
WHAT ARE THE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS? These are the conclusions and recommendations that result from the detailed activities you carried out.
WHAT IS THE NEXT ACTION AND ANY DEADLINES? This is what needs to be done and by when as a result of your report
THAT IS ABOUT ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REPORT WRITING
AND NOW FOR THE HARD PART.........PLANNING AND WRITING IT

THE REPORT STRUCTURE

GOLDEN RULE #1 Planning the structure of a report starts when you plan the structure of the project you will report on and the tasks and activities you will carry out to complete the project itself.
Let us assume that your company's staff is expanding and you have been tasked to asses your company's computer PC needs and make recommendations accordingly.

The planning of your tasks could look like the following.



PROJECT TASK FORMAT
Step 1 A review of current and future staff levels by department to determine how many computers you will need to buy.
Step 2 A review of current and future computer requirements by department to determine the computer specifications that will meet each department needs.

Step 3 An analysis of where the computers will be located in each office and the cost of installing new connections to the network.
Step 4 An analysis of the service, cost and terms of business from different network technicians to install the computers.

REPORT FORMAT

Your report, based on the steps you carried out would look the following.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND- ( Why you are writing the report )

In this section, spell out the circumstances that led to the activity that is being reported on and the purpose of the report. This serves as a reminder to readers of the report, the circumstances surrounding the activity and report and the decisions or actions that will be taken as a result of your report.
In the case in point you will recap on the growth of Anycompany Ltd. - perhaps referring to a relatively larger growth in some departments. You will also state this growth means an expansion of staff which in turn requires the acquisition of more PCs. You will also state that the purpose of the report is to seek senior management approval to buy more PCs.

REPORT OBJECTIVES
In the case in point these could be stated as:
1. To assess the computer needs of Any company Ltd
2. To put forward recommendations on how to effectively and economically meet those needs.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ( GOLDEN RULE #2 always include an executive summary)
Because any report will be read by different levels of management your report should contain an executive summary right at the beginning of the report- usually after the introduction or statement of objectives.
An Executive Summary is critical because it will help senior executives want a get to the points of your report quickly.
In the case in point your executive summary could look the the following.
As a result of Any company's expansion, the following computer PC needs have been identified.
1. A total of 14 new PCs are required whose details are as follows.
a) 5 standard speed PCs for new managers.
b) 6 standard Pcs for the accounts department
c) 3 high speed computers for the PR department who design promotional material and require high speed PCs.
2. The cost of acquiring the PCs will be xxxxx

3. The cost of installing new network connections YYYYYY
4. The estimated time to acquire and install the computers will be 2 weeks from approval of the estimates contained in this report.

REPORT DETAILS

This is the main section of your report and should be broken down into the sub-sections you used to plan the task in the first place. For example in the case of identifying the computers needs of Any company Ltd you would have held discussions with each department head. You would then detail the results of these discussions under sib-headings as follows:
A review of current and future staff levels by department.
This section will detail your findings on the overall number of computers that are required, together with a breakdown by each department.
A review of current and future computer requirements by department.
This section will detail your findings on the type/specifications of computers for each department.
An analysis of where the computers will be located in each office and the cost of installing new connections to the network.
This section will detail your findings on where the computers will be located in each department.
An analysis of the products, service, cost and terms of business from different computer suppliers.
Following discussions with department heads, you will have approached different suppliers to get estimates, delivery dates and terms of business. This section will summarize your findings with detailed estimates attached in an appendix at the back of the report.
An analysis of the service, cost and terms of business from different network technicians to install the computers.
Following discussions with department heads, you will have approached different technicians to get estimates, delivery dates and terms of business. This section will summarize your findings with detailed estimates attached in an appendix at the back of the report.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This will summarize your conclusions, recommendations and next action.

APPENDIX
The appendix will contain all the supporting documentation ( e.g. supplier estimates you refer to in your report.
GOLDEN RULE #3 Don't clutter your reports with a lot of detail or fancy charts. Keep those in an appendix for those who want more information.
Thick reports may impress some people but filling pages can be annoying and disrupt the main points you want to communicate. Keeping your report short will maintain focus and satisfy those who want the information quickly and adding the detailed information in appendices, will satisfy those who want more information.