Engineering Fundamentals: An Introduction to Engineering, 4th ed.c

4.4 Progress Report, Executive Summary, and Short Memos

Progress Report

Progress reports are means of communicating to others in an organization or to the sponsors of a

project how much progress has been made and which of the main objectives of the project have

been achieved to date. Based on the total time period required for a project, progress reports may

be written for a period of a week, a month, several months, or a year. The format

of the progress report may be dictated by a manager in an organization or by the project’s sponsors.

Executive Summary

Executive summaries are means of communicating to people in top management positions,

such as a vice president of a company, the findings of a detailed study or a proposal. The exec-

utive summary, as the name implies, must be brief and concise. It is generally no more than a

few pages long. In the executive summary, references may be made to more comprehensive

reports so that readers can obtain additional information if they so desire.

Short Memos

Short memos are yet another way of conveying information in a brief way to interested individu-

als. Generally, short memos are under two pages in length. A general format for a short memo fol-

lows. The header of the memo contains information such as the date, who the memo is from, to

whom it is being sent, and a subject (Re:) line. This is followed by the main body of the memo.

4.5 Detailed Technical Report 97

Date: May 3, 2001

From: Mr. John Doe

To : Members of Project X

Re: Budget Request

4.5 Detailed Technical Report

Detailed technical reports dealing with experimental investigations generally contain the

following items:

Title The title of a report should be a brief informative description of the report contents. A

sample of an acceptable title (cover) sheet is shown on page 99. If the report is long, a table of

contents should follow the title page.

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