![Introduction
Every company and organization, needs to communicate with their
employees in order to improve their service. Usually companies use
written communication method to inform something to their
employees (more when needs to be provided to a mass of people).
This kind of written work are call reports.
In "Contemporary Business Reports," Kuiper and Clippinger define
business reports as "organized, objective presentations of
observations, experiences, or facts used in the decision-making
process."
Sharma and Mohan define a technical report as "a written
statement of the facts of a situation, project, process or test; how
these facts were ascertained; their significance; the conclusions
that have been drawn from them; and [in some cases] the
recommendations that are being made" in "Business
Correspondence and Report Writing."
A report is a document that present the information organized to a
specific audience or for a specific purpose. There several ways to
make a report, in the following pages you can find some types of
reports.
Types of reports include memos, minutes, lab reports, book
reports, progress reports, justification reports, compliance
reports, annual reports, and policies and procedures. And this types
are divided in other format like, long or short report, formal or
informal reports, informatical or analytical report, vertical or
lateral report, etc….](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/typesofreports-191003195805/85/Types-of-reports-3-320.jpg)
Types of reports
- 1. Universidad Cristiana de Panamá Writing and Documentation Definition and types of reports Magister Israel Torres Student: Margarita Calderon Year 2019
- 2. Summary To provide with the definition, importance and types of reports that an organization can use.
- 3. Introduction Every company and organization, needs to communicate with their employees in order to improve their service. Usually companies use written communication method to inform something to their employees (more when needs to be provided to a mass of people). This kind of written work are call reports. In "Contemporary Business Reports," Kuiper and Clippinger define business reports as "organized, objective presentations of observations, experiences, or facts used in the decision-making process." Sharma and Mohan define a technical report as "a written statement of the facts of a situation, project, process or test; how these facts were ascertained; their significance; the conclusions that have been drawn from them; and [in some cases] the recommendations that are being made" in "Business Correspondence and Report Writing." A report is a document that present the information organized to a specific audience or for a specific purpose. There several ways to make a report, in the following pages you can find some types of reports. Types of reports include memos, minutes, lab reports, book reports, progress reports, justification reports, compliance reports, annual reports, and policies and procedures. And this types are divided in other format like, long or short report, formal or informal reports, informatical or analytical report, vertical or lateral report, etc….
- 4. Purpose To provide the different types of reports that can be use and how to do it. Research Questions What is a report? What are types of reports? Why is important a report? Objective To identify the most common report types and what is the use of them.
- 5. Theoretical Framework A report as you read above is a document that contains a specific information. Reports can be used in different areas such as financial, scientific, investigative, business, etc. There are different types of reports and these are not related just with what information you are writing but more about how you need to write the information. Here you can check some different types of reports. Type # 1. Formal or Informal Reports: Formal reports are very structure and organized, also need to be detailed about the information. For this type of writing people tends to eliminate elements like personal pronouns. Informal reports are usually short messages with natural, casual use of language. Type # 2. Short or Long Reports: This is a confusing classification. A one-page memorandum is obviously short, and a twenty-page report is clearly long. But where is the dividing line? People have trouble to define when it is not an short report anymore and where it begins to be a long report. Type # 3. Informational or Analytical Reports: Informational reports (annual reports, monthly financial reports, and reports on personnel absenteeism) carry objective information from one area of an organization to another. Analytical reports (scientific research, feasibility reports, and real-estate appraisals) present attempts to solve problems. Type # 4. Proposal Report: The proposal is a variation of problem- solving reports. A proposal is a document prepared to describe how one organization can meet the needs of another. Type # 5. Vertical or Lateral Reports:
- 6. It refers to the direction a report travels. Reports that go upward or downward the hierarchy are referred to as vertical reports; such reports contribute to management control. Lateral reports, assist in coordination in the organization. This report travels between areas of the same department or same organization level. Type # 6. Internal or External Reports: Internal reports travel within the organization. External reports, such as annual reports of companies, are prepared for distribution outside the organization. Type # 7. Periodic Reports: Periodic reports are issued on regularly scheduled dates. They are generally upward directed and serve management control. Preprinted forms and computer- generated data contribute to uniformity of periodic reports. Type # 8. Functional Reports: This classification includes accounting reports, marketing reports, financial reports, and a variety of other reports that take their designation from the ultimate use of the report. Almost all reports could be included in most of these categories. And a single report could be included in several classifications.
- 7. Methodology How do I write a report? Well, there different ways and certainly write an it depends of the type of report you are doing. However, there are some points of headlines that we can’t miss while writing a report. Step 1: Decide on the 'Terms of reference': Read all the information that have been given to you for the report and determine what is the purpose of it. Step 2: Decide on the procedure: You will need to clarify what is necessary for write the report, either if you need to research or investigate information for the report. Step 3: Find the information: Mostly you will need to read a lot of information regarding your report’s topic but in some cases you will need to go to the area related to the topic in order to observe or talk with people so you can obtain valuable information and data for you report. Step 4: Decide on the structure: depending of the type of report the structure can be (A title page, Executive summary, Contents, An introduction, Terms of reference, Procedure, Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations, References/Bibliography, Appendices, The sections, of a report usually have headings and subheadings, which are usually numbered) Step 5: Draft the first part of your report: Now that you have the structure is time to fill all that headings with the information you collected before. Step 6: Analyse your findings and draw conclusions: You will share what you found in all the information collected and what can this
- 8. mean for the organization/company also how can this change or improve, etc. Step 7: Make recommendations: Review your findings and give that you think can solve the problem or conflict. You need to be detailed so the reader can comprehend what need to be next. Step 8: Draft the executive summary and table of contents: Some reports require an executive summary and/or list of contents. Even though these two sections come near the beginning of the report you won't be able to do them until you have finished it, and have your structure and recommendations finalized. Step 9: Compile a reference list: Put all the sources where you get information to make your report. Don’t forget the APA referencing. Step 10: Revise your draft report: Last but not least important is to review and check your work. This way you can make sure that the message you needed and wanted to give was achieved and also make sure there are no grammatical or spelling mistakes.
- 9. Findings John M. Lannon, "Technical Communication" explained more about how the reports can be divided between the information/analysis or the formal/informal "In the professional world, decision-makers rely on two broad types of reports: Some reports focus primarily on information ('what we're doing now,' 'what we did last month,' 'what our customer survey found,' 'what went on at the department meeting'). But beyond merely providing information, many reports also include analysis ('what this information means for us,' 'what courses of action should be considered,' 'what we recommend, and why'). "For every long (formal) report, countless short (informal) reports lead to informed decisions on matters as diverse as the most comfortable office chairs to buy to the best recruit to hire for management training. Unlike long reports, most short reports require no extended planning, are quickly prepared, contain little or no background information, and have no front or end matter (title page, table of contents, glossary, etc). But despite their conciseness, short reports do provide the information and analysis that readers need." People sometimes doesn’t understand or know when it is a formal or informal report. This happen because there is not specific number of pages to determine either it is an informal report or formal report.
- 10. Conclusion In conclusion, reports are document that can share a variety of information in different ways. To make a good report, we need to plan questions about what is the report about, what we need to investigate, if the report need to be short or long, what is the purpose of the report, etc. This will help to structure the report in the best way and to get all the information needed as well. We should not forget that the report is something that other person will read and we need to be careful on how we express our thoughts and what type of words we are using for this. It can be difficult or at least complicated to perform a report without the outlined list of the information provided in the report.
- 12. Appendices This is an example of the content of the formal report