Business Report

Functions of information technology

•Data capture: This is the process of compiling information. For example, electronic commerce companies like AMAZON.COM use internet cookies to capture data about a customer’s purchases via their website. So in this case, they use this data to suggest items to a user related to their previous orders via their website. Also GOOGLE.com uses internet cookies to monitor websites and content we search for online, then they use that data to suggest adverts tailored basing on our interests. Many online companies are using internet cookies to capture data as a way on increasing their sales and improve on their service because this data is used to tailor services basing on users needs.

•Data Processing: This involves converting, analyzing, computing and producing all forms of data, information. After capturing data, the system must re-organize that data basing on what the organization wants to use that information for. For example, when an e-commerce website captures data about your previous purchases via their website. Their system can organize that data inform of prices, products of interest, categories of interest, period of purchase etc , and this data will be used next time when a user goes back to that e-store to suggest relevant products.

•Generation of Information: This involves organizing information into a useful form.

•Storage of information: This involves retaining information for future use. The best example is ‘‘Facebook.com” This is a social network which connects people, but upon registering with the network , the user will provide their interests , profession , background information like former college , etc…. Then facebook will use this information to suggest friends to that user. The other trick is that Facebook will still use the same information when suggesting Adverts to this user. On their platform, advertisers can tailor adverts basing on users interests, location and sex. All this data is provided by the user upon registration.

•Retrieval of Information: It is process by which a computer device is used to find and copy data for further distribution and processing.  A good example on this is a ”Search Engine like Google , Bing , Yahoo ” these companies have data centers which store information which can be used at a latter stage by the end user who will be searching for information online. They have robots which crawl and find information on website servers, this information is indexed and cached on data centers. So at a latter stage, users of search engines like Google will query this stored data to process information they desire.

The business report is a description of business events and financial activities that carries a written presentation in which one analyzes a real situation or a case study of business and applies necessary speculations and/or theories to produce a range of suggestions and/or recommendations in order to improve the situation. Though it is a specialized form of general report, there is no basic difference between the two. The function, process and principles of a business report and a general report are almost the same. The difference you may find between them lies only in their application to situations. Whereas a general report presents the description of different events in different situations and/or activities at large, a business report is especially concerned with business activities, covers the company's situation, business trend and financial activities.

Business reports are required in disciplines such as accounting, finance, management, marketing and commerce. Often the type of assignment set is a practical learning task requiring you to apply the theories you have been studying to real world (or realistic) situations; for example, accounting and finance students may be asked to analyse a company’s financial data and to write a report detailing their findings, marketing students may be asked to research and develop a marketing campaign for a product and to write a report presenting the proposal to the company, management students may be asked to report on the management structure of a company and make recommendations for its improvement. Learning how to report on financial information, marketing and management strategies and issues to others is an important component of business studies.

Your assignment question will most probably guide you as to the type of information that should be included in your report and the steps you should follow. Here are some examples:

A typical question from  accounting and finance

 A typical question from  marketing

 A typical question from  commerce

In these examples there are separate, yet related tasks, and this will be reflected in the structure of the report: information will be divided into sections with headings (for example, Recommendations), and the sections will follow a logical progression.

Business reports will obviously differ according to the specific question and task they seek to answer. It is important, however, to be clear what the overall purpose of your report is: is it to inform, to make a proposal, or to solve a problem?

Depending on function, the types of reports are as follows:

◾Analytical reports are the ones containing analytical information, in a narrative form. They offer complete and detailed information on a subject to the one requesting the report. Also, this type of report allows the person making it to give detailed explanations and opinions on a subject. They are usually made by specialized workers and requested by managers.

◾Informational reports are reports presenting facts or information without any explanations or opinions from the person creating them. They are usually created from a large data pool and have a day to day nature. They can be requested by specific departments of by managers. Most of the time nowadays they are automatically generated reports, following predetermined templates.

◾Research reports are, as the name suggests, based on research conducted by an external or internal team. They summarize the research for people with a medium or low level of subject understanding. They are created after the research has ended and they include conclusions, suggestions and other subjective information coming from the creators of the research. Usually, such reports are requested by higher ranking managers and CEOS and they are made by the developing teams of the company.