The Industry Project Report

Font Size: Main Headings (eg Chapter Title) –Word Heading 1

Sub Headings (within chapter) –Word Heading 2
Text – Times New Roman 12

All text should be fully justified

Page numbers should be inserted to the bottom right
A table of contents should be generated
Single line spacing should be used

Structure and Layout

Title page - The standard title page must be adopted in the words used, position, capitalisation,
font and size (see template at the end of this document)

Executive Summary - This is the most important page in the report. Senior managers are very
busy and are forced to ration the amount of attention to individual issues. A well-written summary
enables the report to be approved immediately without having to examine the detail or refer back
to the project sponsor. An executive summary must contain a description of the problem, the
method of investigation - a manager, taking a decision, needs to know the
scope of the investigation which the recommendations are based upon. For example a plant layout
would not be based on half an afternoon's study! The options considered should be highlighted -
leading into the recommended solution and its economic feasibility and payback. Any surprising
outcomes should be explained. This should be less than one page but more than three-quarters of
a page at single line spacing.

Contents:

Acknowledgements - This section is to thank company personnel for their support. It will also be
used by those assessing whether to implement the recommendations to see who was involved. The
acknowledgements should be formal in a warm friendly manner; there is no need to overdo it and
mention everyone spoken to. Some categories can be grouped together, for example, "all the
operators on the No. 6 Widget Line".

Introduction (Chapter 1) - This should cover a brief description of the Company in one or two
sentences for the benefit of IMME and the external examiner, a brief description of IMME in one
or two sentences for the benefit of the Company, a description of the problem outlined in the brief
(the brief should also be included as an appendix to the report) and a short description of the
methodology of the project.

Main Body - This will be specific to a particular report but should generally include any necessary
background needed for the work (either international bemchmarks/standards/theory etc…),
description of the approach used, analysis of the data, alternative solutions considered, the solution
selection criteria and a financial justification leading to a proposed solution in separate chapters as
necessary (seek advice from your UTT supervisor if uncertain). The level of detail should be
sufficient to support the arguments being proposed; if a large data analysis is required the detail
should be put in the appendices. Consider the structure carefully before beginning to write. A
common problem is to fail to plan the report and write down a sequential diary of events. The
reader is most affected by the first and last sentences in a section, the first sentence is used to
decide whether to bother reading the rest of the section and the last sentence lingers longest in the
memory.

Conclusions - This section draws together the threads from the main body. No new information
should be introduced. It will repeat the ideas from the executive summary and from the main body
of the report so it is important to try and find fresh words which re-iterate the message but do not
make it sound repetitive.

Recommendations - It is often difficult to separate conclusions and recommendations. While the

conclusions should argue points out of the main text, the recommendations propose a course of
action for the company. They must be substantiated by the data contained in the main body of the
report. They should be factual and pragmatic. Where there are too many unknowns further
investigation can be recommended. If the task looks very large it can be divided up into short,
medium and long term action plans with decision points on when and whether to proceed.

Figures and Tables - These break up the text and make reports more readable, but it must be
recognised that many of the readers will have a photocopy of the report, therefore colours and
small differences in shading should be avoided. Wherever possible letter-sized diagrams should
be used because often people either can't or won't bother to copy difficult sizes and the report may
be circulated with the page missing. Proper layout of graphs and tables is essential including axis
legends and titles. Embedded figures & tables should be kept short and lengthy pieces of analysis
kept in appendices. Also try to limit the volume of appendices, because bulky appendices limit an
individual's enthusiasm to photocopy your report and therefore restrict its audience. Copies of
working documents should be neatly packaged, indexed, and left with the project supervisor.

Writing Style
The language used has a large impact on the reader's acceptance of the report. It is easy to see how
a tabloid newspaper differs in writing style from a broadsheet or from a novel. Similarly business
writing has its own style. Everything is written in the third person passive. That is, you do not
use I, you or we, and generally write in the past tense. For example, "The humdinger valve was
found to be faulty" not "We found the humdinger valve was broken". The language used should
be clear, precise and as short as possible. The objective is to express complex ideas in simple
language not simple ideas in complex language.

Report Media
The report should be submitted in hard copy and in electronic form as a single pdf file. The file
name should contain the last four digits of the project number and the names of the authors e.g.
"1404 Smith and Jones.doc" It will not be considered to have been handed in successfully until the
course administrators have managed to access the whole of the report using the software on their
computers. It is mandatory that the media or emailed copy is accompanied by a final printed out
version. This is because of the high level of non-compatibility and disk error that is experienced.
The standard office software is MS Office. Text can always be saved as RTF or TXT formats but
you must seek permission for this from your project Tutor; if in doubt ask! In addition, five copies
of any pages, photographs, diagrams or charts which are coloured or are not letter sized must be
included. This is because report production is done by black and white photocopying. It is best to
avoid the use of colour unless absolutely essential. Means must be provided to enable the Tutor to
identify the author of every section. The best way to do this is by including a separate contents
page with each section initialled by its author, or by marking each page of the print out. Care must
be taken to ensure that the report's page numbers are consecutive when the two authors'
contributions are brought together.

Report Assessment Process

The objective of the report assessment process is to get a satisfactory copy to the Company as soon
as possible in order to maintain the momentum of the project and therefore maximise the chances
of the recommendations being implemented.
End of Project

Write Report

* Note it is your responsibility to get the report

Submit Report by the assigned due
date
Recorded at UTT
Assessed by UTT Tutor
submitted on time. Passing them to anyone else,
including members of staff, does not absolve you from
that responsibility. Also partially complete reports are
deemed not to have met the deadline because they cannot
be sent directly to the Company. The Tutor assessment
sheet will be sent to the project team once it is ready.

Assessed by Company

Published by UTT
Assessment Criteria
The Tutor's assessment sheet provides Course Members with a written record of the tutor’s
professional appraisal of the project work, the presentation feedback and the report. If a Course
Member does not understand or agree with the appraisal he/she should arrange to discuss it with
the Tutor. The assessment enables:
 The Course Members to monitor their own performance and develop self improvement
plans.
 The Mentor to be aware of the Course Members performance standards.
 The keeping of a permanent record of the Course Members’ performance to aid the writing
of job references etc.

Common Pitfalls
Executive Summaries that lack content and are too short. The executive summary is the most
difficult piece of writing in the report and should be done last. It should contain all the salient
points of the report and enable a senior executive to decide to act upon the report without further
reference to the main text.
Length - Academic works are often specified in terms of length, which leads to an unnecessarily
wordy style. Industrial audiences want the maximum of content in the minimum of words. A
common pitfall is to shorten reports by deleting content rather than tightening up on the writing
style.
Diagrams - There are common problems of diagrams either being legible only in the mind of the
author or being in a clever colour scheme that becomes meaningless when photocopied. It is highly
recommended that a photocopy is taken and given to a third party as a comprehension check.
Printing - Printers have different margins and header/footer settings, this can lead to tables and
diagrams being split over two pages and/or large areas of blank page that waste paper and irritate
the reader. Use the margins set on the office printer and run print preview to ensure a satisfactory
result can be obtained.
Editing - The report will be compiled from two individuals’ contributions but must read like a
single report. This means internal section references must be consistent, common ideas and
arguments must be developed through the report. A common error is the repetition of background
material in different parts of the report written by different authors. One of the team should take
responsibility for the editing to ensure consistency. Finally individuals should ensure that in
planning the writing of the report they allow sufficient time for at least two complete editing cycles
of their writing. It requires a very high ability to write a report correctly at one pass. It is also quite
difficult to appraise the layout of a report without printing it out and editing it on paper to get the
balance of the sections correct.
 THE UNIVERSITY OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

MSc. INNOVATION, MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Programme 2017/2018

PROJECT TITLE

COMPANY NAME

By: Students names and ID numbers

Supervisors: UTT Supervisor and Company Supervisor

Date: