Introduction
Formal technical reports are long documents, typically of five pages or more, that offer depth information sometimes with analyses on topics relevant to technical and business decision making. To achieve your goals with the report, it is useful to keep in mind that such reports are created and consumed by audiences within specific contexts, which are as varied as there are types of businesses in existence.
To plan any technical report, it is important to be reminded of the many factors relating to context and audience, which will influence:
- the content included in the report
- types of visual aids
- document type and structure
- tone and style
- language and terminology
So, completing a thorough audience and context analysis is essential to getting started. Regarding audience, consider the following to make specific decisions about your document:
Table 1 Audience Factors Affecting Document Planning
| Factor | Document Decision |
| Knowledge and interest | Content |
| Education | Content, vocabulary |
| Language: level (formal, informal), jargon or plain language, linguistic form (English or other) |
Vocabulary, style, tone |
| Attitude towards the subject: positive, neutral or negative |
Structure and content |
| Occupation or role | Tone, format |
| Organizational setting or context | Content, format, tone |
It is always good practice to tailor the contents of the report to suit not only your purpose, but also to address the needs of the audience, which is why doing a good audience analysis will make achieving this goal much easier than if you did not do one.
Remember also that contextual factors influence both you and the reader. Contextual factors vary from organization to organization, but essentially would include some of these:
- Communication flows (top down, lateral, or bottom up)
- Environmental considerations
- External factors like the economy, politics, social issues
- Mobility (on the road or in a fixed location)
- Organizational structure (hierarchical or lateral)
- Place of work: at home or at work
- Regulatory, policy, and legal considerations
- Technical, financial, and resource constraints
- Workplace culture
Starting your document planning process with these analyses will get you off to a good start and will save you time by helping you focus on your goal.
