2. Definition of a Technical Report
• Technical reports present facts and
conclusions about your designs and other
projects.
• Typically, a technical report includes
research about technical concepts as well
as graphical depictions of designs and
data.
• A technical report also follows a strict
organization.
3. General Format
• Technical Reports have an organized format
because a majority of your audience may not
read the entire report in one reading.
• This specific format allows readers to quickly
locate the information they need.
• Most technical reports include the parts listed
below. However, you may be required to include
or exclude specific sections.
4. • Transmittal Letter
• Title Page
• Abstract
• Executive Summary
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures & List of Tables
• Report Body
• References
• Appendices
5. If you are planning a technical report, you should
define the following:
• Report topic: Decide what subject you are going
to write on.
• Report audience: Define a specific person or
group of people for whom you are going to write
the report.
• Report purpose: Define what the report will
accomplish—what needs of the audience it is
going to fufill.
• Report type: Decide on the type of report—for
example, technical background report, feasibility
report, progress report, etc
6. Progress Report
• Progress reports have several important
functions reports. As the name suggests, they
document ongoing projects.
• You write a progress report to inform a
supervisor, associate, or customer about
progress you've made on a project over a
certain period of time.
• The project can be the design, construction, or
repair of something, the study or research of a
problem or question, or the gathering of
information on a technical subject.
7. • You write progress reports when it takes
well over three or four months to complete
a project.
• They might be one-page memos or long,
formal documents.
• Such a report is aimed at whoever
assigned the project.
• Its goal is to enable the manager or
sponsor of a project to make informed
decisions about the future of the project.
8. Functions and Contents of Progress Reports
• In the progress report, you explain any or
all of the following:
• How much of the work is complete
• What part of the work is currently in
progress
• What work remains to be done
• What problems or unexpected things, if
any, have arisen
• How the project is going in general
9. Organization
• The original proposal for the project
determines the structure. With this in
mind, the simplest structure is as follows:
• Introduction
• Progress Summary
Work Completed
Work Scheduled
• Problems
• Changes in Requirements (If any)
• Overall assessment of the project
10. 1. Introduction
• As always, first indicate the purpose of the
report and its intended audience.
• Clearly define the time period covered in
the report (see also titles).
• Then, explain the project's objectives and
summarize the major issues.
• Sometimes the summary can be a
separate section from the introduction.
11. 2. Progress Summary
• This is the substance of the report. You want to
discuss work done, work in progress, and
work to be done. You might just use these as
subheadings to structure the section. This would
be a project-tasks approach.
• Other approaches are time-periods or a
combined approach.
• Your project (and sometimes your sponsor) will
determine which of these three you use.
12. 3. Problems Encountered
• Snags are expected.
• If the problem occurred in the past, you
can explain how you overcame it.
• If the problem is in front of you (now or in
the future), explain how you hope to
overcome it, if you can.
13. 4. Changes in Requirements
• Here, you record the changes to the
project: milestones added, new
requirements, or schedule changes (good
or bad).
14. 5. Overall Assessment of the Project
• Since a progress report is not about a
finished work, the conclusion needs only
to give your professional opinion of how
the project is going.
• What is significant is to explain anything
that may change the expected quality of
the final product.
15. Report Apparatus
• A long progress report will include all the
apparatus of formal reports: letter of
transmittal, title page, table of contents,
abstract, appendices, references.
