Unit $14$: Formal Recommendation Report Guidelines

$3170$ Assignment $4$: Recommendation Report

Who, What, Where:

Recommendation Report

$10-12$ pages $($including all front and back matter and at least $3$ visuals$)$

NOTE: As previously noted, you can work with a partner, but as a pair you will be responsible for the completion of assignment $3$and $4.$ Additionally, you are in charge of applying team dynamic techniques to address any issues with your partner. You will both receive the same grade for the completed projects and alternate posting $($to keep you participation scores up$)$ only one document for the two of you.

How to Begin: Now that you$$ve completed your road map for your Recommendation Report $($Assignment $3$: Short Proposal$),$ you should have a pretty good idea of where you$$re headed. Use the following outline to organize your final report:

Recommendation Report Elements:

Front Matter:

Letter $($if no longer employed there$)/$ Memo $($if currently employed there$)$ of Transmittal

Title Page

Table of Contents and List of Figures

Executive Summary

Report: Title

Introduction:

Persuasive hook $($total cost$/$loss$-$to$-$date to the company$)$

Purpose $($indicate problem and solve$)$

Forecast $($the entire report$)$ identify your primary sections

Body:

Introduce the problem

Provide necessary background $($significance of your problem and your goals or purposes for solving it$),$ not on the company

Provide examples, supporting statistics, authoritative quotes $($to lend credibility to the seriousness of the problem and your recommendation$)$

Recommendations $$ bulk of the report $($this is tad different than the study report in Guffey$)$

Discuss the possibilities of solutions

Conclude which recommendation$($s$)$ would best serve your purposes

Discuss pros, cons, cost of solution$($s$)$

Show how advantages of recommendation$($s$)$ outweigh disadvantages

Offer details about benefits of recommendation$($s$)$

Discuss steps they need to take $($implementation of recommendation$)$

Closing:

Restate recommendation$/$benefits

Specify the action required $($deadline and contact info.$)$

Back Matter:

Works Cited page

Appendix Items $($include cover page$)$

Glossary $($optional$)$

Other optional materials $($resume$,$ survey, etc. $$ often attached as appendices$)$

Letter$/$Memo of Transmittal: This document is attached to the front of your report, addressed to the person who asked you to compile the report $($real name of the CEO or top dog of the company$).$ For the purpose of this assignment, that person is your audience $($the CEO, CFO, or Head of the Board of Directors, etc.; see below$),$ not your instructor $($I only acted as your manager for the proposal to give you approval to go ahead$).$

It$$s up to you to decide whether to include a letter or memo of transmittal. What$$s the difference? A letter is an external document; a memo, internal. If you work for the company, you$$ll attach a memo; if you$$re outside the company, a letter. Either way, be sure to include purpose and forecast $($forecast what you will talk about in the memo$/$letter indicating there is an attached report$)$ in this document.

Executive Summary: The Executive Summary is a short summary of your entire report. For this document, it will be no longer than a page. It should, however, introduce each of the major sections $($problem and recommendations at least$)$ your report covers$$essentially serving as a forecasting document for your reader.

Addressed To: Your audience for the recommendation report is different from your audience for the short proposal; while the proposal was addressed to your instructor, the report will be addressed to your manager $($real name$)$ or the person who would get the final document in your company $($CEO$,$ CFO, Board of Directors, etc.$).$

Because you have a different audience for this assignment, you$$re going to need to outline $($or define$)$ the problem again $($don$$t assume that since you already outlined it in your Short Proposal you don$$t need to do it again$).$ Remember, your short proposal was an outline that you gave to your instructor. This is the real deal$$be sure you$$ve taken the time to explain the situation$/$problem and its urgency. Once you$$ve done that, you$$ve set the stage for your recommendations.

Developing Your Recommendations: The key to this assignment is taking enough space and time to fully develop your recommendation$($s$).$ Remember that your recommendation is the meat of your report, not just a brief section.

You also want to make sure you$$re not recommending more than you can cover in this report. If your recommendation is to develop a new training program, for example, and that training manual covers three major topics, you$$re probably not going to have the time or space in this project to address testing, for example. Rather than weakening the work you$$ve done on the training manual, leave this topic for a future project. Mention this instead in your conclusion $($as a next step to be taken.$)$

Organizing Your Visuals and Graphic Highlights: Use visuals $($gr