Course Methodology
Participants will be required to put their acquired knowledge into practice through the development of progress, status, periodic, investigative, and instructional reports. They will also practice the development of charts and performance dashboards.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Plan and create effective business reports by following the report-writing process
- Achieve reporting objectives utilizing a proven structuring methodology
- Research, analyze, and organize information into meaningful conclusions
- Support the presentation of information using appropriate visual aids
- Apply advanced methodologies to make every report a winning report
Target Audience
Engineers, safety officers, technicians, accountants, managers, and all those responsible for preparing technical reports.
Target Competencies
- Written communication
- Report writing and structuring
- Structured thinking
- Ability to address complex situations
- Analytical skills
- Ability to generate sound recommendations
The Report Writing Process
- Report writing overview
- Five easy steps to report writing
- Understand your audience.
- Articulating the intended purpose
- Planning content and style
- Employing essential writing building blocks,
- Business writing: Express or impress?
Reporting Structure
- Structuring tools
- Arranging different sections of a report
- Writing captivating introductions
- Conducting research and analysis
- Delivering evidence-backed findings
- Developing unbiased conclusions
- Tools and methodologies for deriving recommendations
- Bringing it all together: A cohesive and coherent report
- Storytelling elements
Report Types and Templates
- Recognizing different reporting structures
- Matching reports to situations
- Six reporting types
- Investigative reports
- Progress and status reports
- Periodic reports
- Instructional reports
- Proposals
- Financial reports
- Reporting templates
The Power of Visual Aids
- Using visual aids
- Principles for designing visual aids
- Recognizing different visual aids
- The role of visual aids
- Applying principles of design
- Using images, diagrams, graphs, charts, and tables for impact
- Integrating visual aids into a report
- Essential visual aid checklist
Reports that Win
- Elements of winning reports
- Using writing tone effectively
- Applying scientific tools and methodologies
- Mastering the 'so what?'
- Building rapport
- Mastering editing techniques
