Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
future, or even persuade sales managers in the organization to take
countermeasures.
This brings us to a very important aspect of a report — that of style.
As one goes higher in the organizational chart, the need for day-to-day
operational data is replaced by the necessity for “business” information,
that is, parameters that directly affect revenues. A CEO may not want to
look at the working hours or time-offs of his 4000 shop floor employees
in various shifts. Instead, he would like to know the productivity of his
individual manufacturing units by shifts. Thus, it is important for the report
creator to fully understand the style and pitch that would work best for
different audiences, while keeping the idea and the logic of the report
pretty much the same. Today's business intelligence (BI) tools allow this
kind of drill-down or rollup capability. Recall from Chapter 2 on Systems
that the variety in the reporting decreases as one goes up the hierarchy.
A good report should communicate the required information to the
intended audience in a relatively short period of time. As a report writer,
one may feel better to report as much as possible or believe that more
information likely produces a better understanding. However, this is not
the case — unnecessary information or too much detail creates clutter
and hinders understanding.
The
should indicate the contents in a clear and precise expression.
It helps to understand the contents. Priority can be decided by the title.
title
: For any report use, 80 percent of the message one
wants to communicate should appear within the first 20 percent of the
space. Readers should be able to gauge the essence of the contents and,
in a short time, determine if they want to scroll down into the details of
the entire report. It should almost always be the case that one should
start the report with the conclusion. This is how headlines in newspapers
work; they give away the main story but make the headline attractive
enough to get the reader to learn more. If one wants to draw attention
to more than one conclusion within the same report, present them in the
order of their importance.
The 80/20 Rule
in thought, and communication, is very important in report
design — less is more often works. Most business depends on some basic
fundamentals in a dynamic environment. Because a report conceptually
needs to map to portions of it, it should be no mor e complex than
necessary. Unnecessary ratios, performance indices, ratings, and global
economic indicators may be impressive but should be used only if
required.
Reports need to
Simplicity
. They present data that supports an
argument or helps establish a point of view. It need not always be the
mere presentation of information in the database on a screen or paper,
in the text or graphics, with indicators on areas of importance to which
make a point
