What are the ways in which a report can be organized?

After studying this unit, you will be able to

Índice Show

Organization Pattern
Ordering Information

- - understand how reports are organized

Because reports vary by size, format, and function, writing them involves adjusting to the needs of the audience while respecting conventions and guidelines. Reports are typically organized around six key elements, the 5Ws + H:

Whom the report is about and/or prepared for
What was done, what problems were addressed, and the results, including conclusions and/or recommendations
Where the subject studied occurred
When the subject studied occurred
Why the report was written (function), including under what authority, for what reason, or by whose request
How the subject operated, functioned, or was used

Pay attention to these essential elements when you consider your stakeholders, or those who have an interest in the report. That may include the person(s) the report is about, whom it is for, and the larger audience of the business, organization, or industry. Ask yourself who are the key decision-makers reading the report, who the experts or technicians will be, and how executives and workers may interpret your words and images. (Business Communication for Success, 2015)

Organization Pattern

Although reports have the same sections, the audience, purpose and content of a report will influence the report’s organizing pattern: direct or indirect.

Direct Pattern

Direct reports contain routine, nonsensitive information. Reports using this organizing pattern will present the most important findings first followed by facts, data and other explanatory details. Thus, the direct approach is most appropriate for informational reports. In addition, when the receiver is likely to be in agreement with and accepting of the report’s information and recommendations, the direct approach can also be applied to analytical reports. This approach allows the receiver to access relevant information in a quick, efficient and easy to follow manner.

Figure 38.1 presents the organizing pattern of a direct report.

Indirect Pattern

An indirect approach may contain sensitive, controversial, debated or unpleasant information. As a consequence, not all readers will be knowledgeable of, in agreement with, or accepting of the information and/or recommendations made in the report. For this reason, the indirect approach is used when the audience must be educated about or persuaded of the credibility of the information presented and the merits of the recommendations made. An indirect report presents the facts, data and other explanatory details before presenting its conclusions and recommendations. Since only analytical reports present recommendations, the indirect approach is used exclusively with analytical reports. (Business Communication Essentials, 2016; Communicating for Results, 2017)

Figure 38.2 shows the organizing pattern of an indirect report.

Ordering Information

In addition to determining if your report will use the direct or indirect approach, information must also be organized to help the reader understand the information. Five of the more useful ways to organize information are presented below.

Information Organization Methods

Figure 22.5 presents five ways to organize information to assist reader comprehension.

Think of a problem or challenge you have observed or experienced at your workplace. Do you have an idea or a solution that would help to reduce costs, improve customer service, improve quality, etc? Before beginning, consider the organizational principles presented in this section to determine how best to organize your information to receive the best possible response from your boss. Now write the report.

References

Bovee, C., Thill, J., & Scribner, J. (2016). Business communication essentials (4th ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson Canada Inc. Retrieved from http://www.pearsoncanada.ca/highered/product-showcase/new-solutions-for-core-foundations-from-pearson-canada/business-communication-essentials-fourth-canadian-edition-4e

Meyer, C. (2017). Communicating for results (4th ed.). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://oup-arc.com/access/meyer-4e-student-resources#tag_case-studies.

USC. (2018). How to write a business report [Video]. Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8uF1EoIneE&t=46s.

The information displayed in a report comes directly from the fields of the layer or table on which the report is based. One way you can customize a report is by organizing its data. When information can be divided into groups it can help highlight trends that may otherwise go unnoticed. For example you may want to have certain employee records grouped by the department they belong to and sorted ascendingly based on their hire date.

Reports support the following three methods of organization:

Grouping—Gather report records by a common value.
Sorting—Organize report records in alphabetical or numerical order based on the values in one or more fields. Sorting can be performed in either ascending or descending order. Optional case sensitivity can also be utilized.
Summary statistics—Show the complete set of information for the reported records. Examples include an average or maximum numeric field value as well as the total count of a string value in a field.

Using a combination of the organizational methods available, a report can be created that provides both organized details as well as summary information for quick reference. Grouping and sorting can also be added to an existing report as well as updated after the initial report creation.

Grouping and Sorting are optional levels of organization that can be applied to your report data. However, this can be defined during report creation. To organize data in the Create New Report pane, complete the following steps:

On the Insert tab, in the Project group, click New Report
to open the Create New Report pane.
In the Create New Report pane, review or update the Report Name and Data Source options and click Next.
In the Filter the data options, specify the fields and rows to show in your report and click Next.
In the Organize the data options, select the fields by which you want the data to be grouped by and set a corresponding sorting direction.
Specify any additional data sorting desired. This sorting will be apparent within each group. Only fields that are not being used as groups can be selected as multiple sorting levels are applied in a top-down manner after the sorting required by grouped fields.
Optionally define any summary statistics to be included.
Click Next to continue to the Design the report options, or click Finish to generate the report using the current configuration.

Additional grouping can be added to a report at any time using the following steps:

On the Insert tab, in the Data group, click the Group button
to open the Insert Group dialog box.
Choose the field you want to group by and the corresponding sorting direction.
Click OK.

A new group header and footer will be added to the report section.

Sorting and grouping can be changed after it has been established using the following steps:

In the Contents pane, right-click on the report title and click Properties.
Click the Grouping and Sorting tab.
Select the fields you want the data to be grouped by and a corresponding sorting direction.
Specify any additional data sorting desired.
Click OK to apply this change.

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