Business Report

Title of Your Paper in Upper and Lower Case

Your First and Last Name

Western Governors University

Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Business Challenge 4 Functional Areas 5 Recommendations 6 Implementation 7 Timeline 8 Financial Impact 9 Organizational Impact 10 References 11 Appendix A 12 Using this Outline: Critical Success Points 13

The executive summary should describe the most important aspects of the business report. It is not the introduction. Instead, it should give the reader a summary of the entire prospectus. Summarize the most important points of the project and provide enough information to explain what the reader will learn. This should be developed after the business report is finished. Include highlights of the following in your summary:

• statement of the business challenge

• functional areas to analyzed

• recommendations

• implementation and timeline

• financial and organizational impact

Length: Approximately 1 to 2 pages, double-spaced

Format: Narrative

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Title of Your Paper in Upper and Lower Case

This is your introduction. After this paragraph starts your ideas based off your table of contents.

Length: Approximately 1 paragraph, double-spaced

Format: Narrative

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Provide relevant information about the chosen organization, including each of the following:

● history of the company

● detailed description of the product/service offerings

● target market

● number of employees

● location

a. Summarize the business challenge that you identified in part A of task 3.

Note: Your recommendations in this task should address the same business challenge you discussed in task 3.

Length: Approximately 1 page, double-spaced

Format: Narrative (additional page if includes chart)

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Analyze three functional areas (e.g., leadership, human resources, marketing, production, finance, IT) that are either contributing to or are impacted by the business challenge.

a. Discuss obstacles that have hindered organizational success.

Length: Approximately 3–6 pages, double-spaced

Format: Narrative

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Recommend solutions to address each of the three functional areas from part A2.

a. Recommend solutions to address overall deficiency in the organization.

Length: Approximately 3–6 pages, double-spaced

Format: Narrative

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Discuss specific actions or activities that will need to occur in order to carry out each of the recommendations.

a. Describe each of the following for each action or activity discussed in part 4:

● people

● time

● equipment

● tools

● budget

● necessary processes to effectively implement recommendations

One way to undertake implementation analysis is to create a chart that identifies and assigns the resources per functional area. See the following example:

Length: Approximately 1–2 pages

Format: Narrative or chart

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Create a visual timeline that includes the start and end dates, milestones, and resources for each recommended action or activity from part 4. A table, spreadsheet, or Gantt chart could meet this requirement. See the following example:

Length: Approximately 1 page

Format: Table or chart

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Analyze the potential long-term financial return on investment the company can expect based on implementing your recommendations.

Length: Approximately 1–2 pages, double-spaced

Format: Narrative

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Discuss the broader organizational returns (e.g., morale, productivity, and culture) the company may expect based on implementing your recommendations.

Length: Approximately 1–2 pages, double-spaced

Format: Narrative

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Provide a reference list in APA format for every cited source in your report. Your sources should be either academic or business sources. You should include at least three sources.

Length: Approximately 1 page

Format: APA reference list

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Client Time Log

The number of meetings depends on your problem or business need. In some cases, three meetings are sufficient, but more meetings might be necessary.

Please determine the client’s preferred method to communicate. Given scheduling issues, a combination of methods is best, such as face-to-face, teleconference, and webinars.

Here’s a chart to keep track of these meetings:

Length: As required

Format: Chart

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The purpose of this outline is to facilitate organization of Task 4.

Some points to consider:

(1) When submitting the template, please remove the instructions. Your final document should contain only the headings and the content you added.

(2) A significant part of this work is narrative. Thus, please avoid bulleted lists. (One exception is when charts are most appropriate.)

(3) Use Times Roman 12 pt. font.

(4) Per APA style, written narrative should be double-spaced.

(5) Write in an objective manner. You are a professional consultant, and the requirement is to provide a viable solution to the client.

(6) Make sure to use sources, and cite them per APA Style.

(7) Your Task 4 work is contained within this document. If you have other items that add value to this assessment, please include them as appendices.

(8) Page-length approximations are recommendations, but there is no specific page length requirement.

(9) When using a source, paraphrase instead of quote (citing appropriately as you go). Please note that no more than 30% of submitted work should come from direct quotes or close paraphrase. The goal here is to synthesize material and write in your own words.

(10) Only include sources in the reference list that were cited within the document, per APA Style rules.

(11) For tips on using APA style, please refer to the APA Handout web link included in the General Instructions section.

(12) After making changes, please update the table of contents to mirror correct page numbers.