Recommendation Report & Presentation
For this assignment, you should choose a company you are familiar with (ideally somewhere you have worked or volunteered, but could be an office or business you frequent) and identify a problem. The problem should be small in scope (don't try to take on the national debt or housing market meltdown) but should have more than one possible solution. For example, you might choose a restaurant that needs to increase sales, a business plagued by ineffective communication or a store with customer service problems.
You are allowed to work with a partner; however, as a pair you will be responsible for the final report & the presentation. If you work with a partner, you need to turn in a description of what each group member contributed to the report (e.g. specific sections or duties). You are also in charge of applying team dynamic techniques to address any issues with your partner and you will both receive the same grade for the projects.
The Recommendation Report will be a formal long report, but the sections differ a little from the model repor. You can use the book for general guidelines on report writing, but be sure you are including all the below sections.
REQUIRED Elements (Organize in the order listed below):
Front Matter: The front matter uses roman numerals for page numbers, follow the number guidelines below.
The front matter will include:
• A Letter of Transmittal in the format of a Letter (if no longer employed or don't work there - this is an external document)/ or a Memo (if currently employed there - this is an internal document). This should be one page at the most and should introduce the report to your audience (much in the way your job cover letter introduces yourself to the company you are applying to). This doesn't have a page number shown on it.
• A Title Page: Listing report title, authors, person or people prepared for, and the date. This counts as the first page of the front matter but does not have a page number shown on it.
• A Table of Contents: Lists the sections of your report. First page number listed here - starting with Roman numeral ii.
• List of Illustrations: Lists the illustrations (visuals) in your report. Continue page numbering in this section. If this is on its own page, it is Roman numeral iii.
• An Informative Abstract (Half a page max, typically one long paragraph): This is a short summary of the entire report including recommendations. Continue Roman numeral page numbering.
Report: The below elements are the main body of the report - you use normal page numbers starting with "1" for the rest of the report:
• Introduction - Briefly introduce the report topic and supply any necessary background information.
• Problem & Purpose - Briefly explain the problem and purpose was.
• Research - Describe any research you did to investigate the problem and what you learned from it.
• Recommendations Discussion - Note that the format of your recommendations may be different depending on your topic. But your recommendations section needs to:
o Present AT LEAST TWO alternatives to resolve the problem (e.g. to resolve the parking problem on campus you could make parking free to students, lower daily rates, or put parking costs into student fees)
o Discuss pros, cons, costs, etc. of each possible solution you present (e.g. Free parking pro: students will be happy, con: university will spend more).
• Conclusion:
o Identify which alternative would best serve your purposes and:
a. Show how advantages of recommendation outweigh disadvantages (e.g. Although costs for the university would initially rise, it would be worth it because...)
b. Offer details about benefits of recommendation (e.g. This could increase enrollment, increase attendance to classes/decrease lateness, retain students/faculty)
c. Discuss steps they need to take to implement the recommendation) (e.g. To implement you need to remove parking pay stands, distribute permits to students, etc.)
d. Specify any additional action required to proceed with your recommendation.