5 Step Process for Creating a Business Report

Executive Summary - 5 Step Process for Creating a Business Report

The 5 Step Process for Creating a Business Report provides a revolutionary and simple concept to writing the often-dreaded business report. By following the five steps outlined in the presentation, writers can overcome their fear and anxiety of having to prepare a business report. Ms. Tindall provides the right amount of detail as she walks the reader through the five steps for creating a business report: planning, drafting, revising, documenting sources and proofreading. In addition to the five steps, information was provided on how to distribute the information from the report through social media outlets. The information is compiled in such a way that it would be a welcome addition to our employee library.

Planning is essential to successfully create a professional business report. Organizing your thoughts and laying out the plan for your report is the foundation of this step. The key elements identified in the planning step include topic, audience analysis, purpose or objective, content and organization and the delivery method. This step tends to take the most time but is worth it because it saves time overall and keeps you on track when writing.

Drafting the body of the report is where you begin to develop the message the report is intended to convey to the audience. The main purpose of drafting is to get the words on paper. The key elements addressed in this step are introduction, main points, conclusion or summary and supplemental pages, if required.

After drafting the body of the report, it is time to start revising the report to ensure that the writing is clear, concise and accurate. When revising your report, the writer should follow the key elements of content, style and correctness.

Documenting sources is the fourth step in the process. Sources are documented to give credit to the originator of the material. Document sources completely and accurately. The key elements of documenting sources are that it acknowledges the author, validates your work and avoids ramifications such as accusations of plagiarism.

The last, and one of the most important steps is proofreading. Review the final draft of your report carefully in search of errors. Content errors, typographical errors and formatting errors are the key elements of proofreading.

The last component of the presentation included information on how to use social media to distribute company information. Since social media makes it very easy to share information, it can be one of the most cost-effective ways to distribute information to large audiences. The examples provide how on how social media can be used as both an internal and external communication tool.

Following the five steps as outlined in the presentation will alleviate many of the fears that business report writers face. The revolutionary and simple concept is