1. TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING
4th Semester B.S. (IT) 2010
Submitted By:
Sidra Yousuf
Submitted to: MISS NAZISH NOUMAN
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
JINNAH UNIVERSITY FOR WOMEN
5-C NAZIMABAD, KARACHI 74600
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2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE COMPONENTS OF A REPORT ................................................................................................................. 3
ELEMENTS OF TECHNICAL WRITING ............................................................................................................. 3
DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN ABSTRACT & SUMMARY. .................................................................................... 4
FORMAT OF TECHNICAL REPORT .................................................................................................................. 5
CHECKLIST FOR THE TECHNICAL REPORT...................................................................................................... 8
TYPES OF REPORT .................................................................................................................................... 9
Annual Report: .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Progress Report: ..................................................................................................................................... 10
Information Report: ................................................................................................................................ 11
Examples: ............................................................................................................................................ 11
Structure of an information report: .................................................................................................... 11
Problem-Solving Report: ......................................................................................................................... 12
Extended Reports:................................................................................................................................... 13
Possible Sections in an Extended Report: ........................................................................................... 14
Recommendation Report........................................................................................................................ 15
Purpose of the Report.......................................................................................................................... 16
Contents of Report.............................................................................................................................. 16
Feasibility Report .................................................................................................................................... 17
Fact-finding reports ................................................................................................................................ 18
Creating a Fact Finding Report ............................................................................................................ 18
Formal Reports:....................................................................................................................................... 22
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3. THE COMPONENTS OF A REPORT
Depending upon its length and purpose, a technical report may include the following
components:
Title Page
Disclaimer
Abstract
Acknowledgements
Contents Page
List of Figures and Tables
List of Symbols and Definitions
Introduction
Main sections and subsections
Conclusions
Recommendations
References
Appendices
ELEMENTS OF TECHNICAL WRITING
The ability to communicate clearly is the most important skill engineers and scientists can have. Their
best work will be lost if it not communicated effectively. style of writing are examined. Technical writing
differs in presentation and tone from others styles of writing; these differences are described first.
1. Clarity :
The logical flow of the document will help readers understand the content. It can be
useful to ask someone who is not familiar with the topic to review your writing before
you finalism it. Using headings, illustrations, graphs or tables can be useful - your aim is
to make it as easy as possible for your readers to understand what you've written.
Consider how the way the text sits on the page or screen - another clue to maximizing
clarity for your readers.
2. Accuracy :
The information and the interpretation of data that you present must be accurate. If it's
not, your readers will question the credibility of the content. Be careful to clearly
differentiate between fact and opinion, and to accurately cite references to other works.
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4. 3. Brevity :
Strive to find the balance between the amount of information presented and the time
needed to read the document. Remember that you can use an appendix or link to provide
supplementary or background information. Consider using an illustration, table or graph
rather than words to explain a concept - but remember, if you use a 'visual', don't give a
long written explanation.
4. Sentence length:
Generally, complex or unfamiliar concepts are best presented in shorter sentences. This
will give readers time to digest small pieces of information before moving on to the next.
While this can be difficult to achieve, try to aim for approximately 25 words per sentence.
If you find you've written a series of long sentences, look for 'and', 'but', 'however' and
similar words where you can break the sentence.
5. Paragraphs:
The age-old rule about one topic per paragraph is a useful guide. That doesn't mean that
you can have only one paragraph for each topic, but it does mean that having only one
topic in each paragraph makes for clear, logical writing.
6. Reader-centricity:
You are writing for your readers. Make it as easy as possible for them to understand your
work.
DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN ABSTRACT & SUMMARY.
An abstract is a short form of a research paper in a nutshell. On the other hand a summary is a
short form of an essay or a chapter in a book or an act in a play. This is the main difference
between abstract and summary.
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5. FORMAT OF TECHNICAL REPORT
The ability to write a clear and accurate technical report is essential for success in a technical
career. The following is a pretty good format for a report on technical work, and will help to
guide you in writing one.
Number of Page
Title Page
- Title/Author/Organization/Date
1 Abstract
- An abstract is a brief, 200 word description of project objectives; investigative methods used
and research conclusions or applications.
- A list of key words that describe the project and identify the major research concept should be
submitted with the report.
1 Acknowledgments (optional)
- Acknowledgments precede the contents and should be no longer than two paragraphs.
1/2-1 Table of Contents and Lists of Figures and Tables
- The Table of Contents should list section numbers, titles, second- level headings and their page
numbers.
Third-level headings also may be listed.
- If the report contains five or more figures or tables, they should be listed using the style of the
Table of Contents.
Introduction
- What was done/when
- Who/for whom
- Value of results (use)
Background
- More detail on why, what else going on affects what you will show
- Define context, set the stage and get them interested!
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6. Statement of Problem
- Succinct definition of problem
- Obviously follows from material in the background section
- Specifically defines and limits the “scope” of the effort
Approach
- Clear & repeatable description of how you tackled the problem Enough information for a
knowledgeable person to reproduce the results you are about to present
Results
- Actual findings, significant output of tests & analysis
- Must be readable, not pages of computer output
- Include problems encountered, believability of results, accuracy estimates.
- Picture = 1,000 words!
Summary & Conclusions
- Restate problem, approach & results
- Conclusions you drew (& why)
- Utility of results
- Subject for further study
- Emphasize what you want them to remember in 6 months
References
Bibliographic entries should be listed alphabetically by author, as follows:
Hawkins, R.R. Scientific, Medical, and Technical Books Published in the United
States of America. 2nd ed. New York: Bowker, 1958.
Appendices
• Rest of the tables/graphs
• Computer Listings
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7. Page format
• Margins should be 1.25 inches left and right; 1 inch top and bottom.
• Text should be in a 12 point serif font (i.e., Times Roman, Bookman, etc.); captions, tables and
figures should be in a sans-serif font (i.e., Helvetica, Arial, etc.).
• Spacing should be 1.5 lines, printed on one side of the paper.
• Block-style paragraphs should be used, with no indentation (except for fifth-level)
Headings, which should be blocked on the left; see Heading Styles, below).
• There should be two returns between a paragraph and the next heading.
• Material borrowed or adapted from external sources must be identified and quoted (i.e.,
document, source, date and page).
• Avoid half-page and one-sentence paragraphs.
• Do not use contractions.
• When referring to a specific figure or table, spell out and capitalize the words “Figure” and
“Table”.
• Indented lists of material should be set off with bullets:
- One blank line should precede and follow a list.
- Bulleted items should be indented left and right.
• Percentages should be written as follows: 1%, 76%, etc.
• Acronyms must be spelled out the first time used, followed by the acronym in parentheses.
Tables and figures
Tables and figures must be numbered sequentially and titled individually.
• Place tables and figures as close as possible to the text in which they are mentioned.
• Distinguish tabular material from the text.
• Cite a source if the tabular material or figure content has not been generated by the researcher.
• Figure captions should be complete sentences when appropriate.
• Use “Figure 1,” not “Fig. 1,” or “Table 1.” in the text, as well as for captions.
• Unless generated by the researcher, a source should always be cited. The figure source should
appear after the caption (e.g., Source: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory)
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8. CHECKLIST FOR THE TECHNICAL REPORT
Use the following questions to ensure that your technical report is structured properly according
to common expectations:
Do you include all the required components in the required order, for example, transmittal
letter, followed by title page, followed by figure list, and so on? (See the chapter on report format
for details.)
Do you address your report to a real or realistic audience that has a genuine need for your
report? (See this chapter and the chapter on audience for details.) Do you identify in the
introduction what background the audience needs to read and understand your report?
Does your report contain specific, factual detail focused on the purpose of the report and the
needs of the audience and aimed at their level of understanding?
Does your report accomplish its purpose? Is that purpose clearly stated in the introduction?
does your report use information sources and do you properly document them? (See the
chapter on finding information and the chapter on documenting borrowed information for
details.)
Does your report use the format for headings that is standard for this course? (See the chapter
on headings for details.)
Does your report use the format for lists that is standard for this course? (See the chapter on
lists for details.)
Does your report use graphics and tables? Does your report use the format for graphics and
tables that is standard for this course? Specifically, are your figure titles (captions) to our class
specifications? (See the chapter on graphics and tables for details.)
 Is page 1 of your introduction designed according to the standard for this course? (See the
chapter on report format for details.)
does every new section (which starts with a first-level heading) start on a new page? Have you
check for widowed headings (headings that start at the very bottom of a page)? Stacked headings
(two or more consecutive headings without intervening text)? Lone headings (a single heading
within a section)? Parallelism in the phrasing of headings?
Does the title page of your report includes a descriptive abstract, and is it written according to
the specifications in the chapter on abstracts?
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9. Do you include an informative abstract in your report; is it positioned properly in relation to
the other report components; and is it written according to the specifications in the chapter on
abstracts? Specifically, does your informative abstract summarize the key facts and conclusions
of your report rather than act as just another introduction or descriptive abstract?
Does the introduction of your report include the elements necessary in good introductions,
such as audience, overview, purpose? Do you avoid the problem of having too much background in
the introduction, or having an introduction that is all background? (See the chapter on introductions for
details.)
TYPES OF REPORT
Form Reports
Extended Reports
Information reports
Fact-finding reports
Annual reports
Progress reports
Recommendation reports
Feasibility reports
Problem-solving reports
Annual Report:
An annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding
year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information
about the company's activities and financial performance. Most jurisdictions require companies
to prepare and disclose annual reports, and many require the annual report to be filed at the
company's registry. Companies listed on a stock exchange are also required to report at more
frequent intervals (depending upon the rules of the stock exchange involved).
Typically annual reports will include:
Chairperson's report
CEO's report
Auditor's report on corporate governance
Mission statement
Corporate governance statement of compliance
Statement of directors' responsibilities
Invitation to the company's AGM
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10. as well as financial statements including:
Auditor's report on the financial statements
Balance sheet
Statement of retained earnings
Income statement
Cash flow statement
Notes to the financial statements
Accounting policies
Other information deemed relevant to stakeholders may be included, such as a report on
operations for manufacturing firms or corporate social responsibility reports for companies with
environmentally or socially sensitive operations. In the case of larger companies, it is usually a
sleek, colorful, high gloss publication.
Progress Report:
Once you have written a successful proposal and have secured the resources to do a project, you
are expected to update the client on the progress of that project. This updating is usually handled
by progress reports, which can take many forms: memoranda, letters, short reports, formal
reports, or presentations. What information is expected in a progress report? The answer to this
question depends, as you might expect, on the situation, but most progress reports have the
following similarities in content:
1. Background on the project itself. In many instances, the client (a manager at the National
Science Foundation, for instance) is responsible for several projects. Therefore, the client
expects to be oriented as to what your project is, what its objectives are, and what the
status of the project was at the time of the last reporting.
2. Discussion of achievements since last reporting. This section follows the progress of the
tasks presented in the proposal's schedule.
3. Discussion of problems that have arisen. Progress reports are not necessarily for the
benefit of only the client. Often, you the engineer or scientists benefit from the reporting
because you can share or warn your client about problems that have arisen. In some
situations, the client might be able to direct you toward possible solutions. In other
situations, you might negotiate a revision of the original objectives, as presented in the
proposal.
4. Discussion of work that lies ahead. In this section, you discuss your plan for meeting the
objectives of the project. In many ways, this section of a progress report is written in the
same manner as the "Plan of Action" section of the proposal, except that now you have a
better perspective for the schedule and cost than you did earlier.
5. Assessment of whether you will meet the objectives in the proposed schedule and budget.
In many situations, this section is the bottom line for the client. In some situations, such
as the construction of a highway, failure to meet the objectives in the proposed schedule
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11. and budget can result in the engineers having to forfeit the contract. In other situations,
such as a research project, the client expects that the objectives will change somewhat
during the project.
Information Report:
An information report is a factual text, which means it provides information about something. An
information report is used as a way to gain a better understanding about a living or non-living
subject. An information report:
uses facts to explain something
gives details about a topic
does not contain personal views
is usually written, but can also be presented orally (spoken).
Examples:
Topics, or subjects, found in information reports can be about one specific thing or a group of
things. Some examples of topics might include:
cars
ocean animals
rainforests
pollution
computers
Structure of an information report:
Formal written information reports usually follow a very specific structure. The first part of an
information report is the title, or heading, of the report. This will tell the reader what topic is
covered in the report.
The first introductory paragraph, known as the classification, explains the aspects of the topic
that will be covered in the report.
The following information is contained in the body paragraphs. This is where the topic of the
report is covered in more detail. These paragraphs use factual information to give the reader a
better understanding of the topic. Often, these paragraphs are broken up by sub-headings to help
organize the information.
The conclusion of an information report gives any final details or facts about the topic. It may
also be used to review what the report was about.
Visual elements are important because they help the reader to understand the topic better. Visual
elements can include drawings, photographs, graphs, maps or diagrams.
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12. A glossary is often put at the end of an information report. A glossary is a list of technical words
used in the report and their definitions.
The bibliography is a list of resources like books, magazines and websites, which were used to
help write the information report.
Problem-Solving Report:
Problem Solving is very important but problem solvers often misunderstand it.
A problem is decided by purposes. If someone wants money and when he or she has little
money, he or she has a problem. But if someone does not want money, little money is not a
problem.
For example, manufacturing managers are usually evaluated with line-operation rate, which is
shown as a percentage of operated hours to potential total operation hours. Therefore
manufacturing managers sometimes operate lines without orders from their sales division. This
operation may produce more than demand and make excessive inventories. The excessive
inventories may be a problem for general managers. But for the manufacturing managers, the
excessive inventories may not be a problem.
If a purpose is different between managers, they see the identical situation in different ways. One
may see a problem but the others may not see the problem. Therefore, in order to identify a
problem, problem solvers such as consultants must clarify the differences of purposes. But
oftentimes, problem solvers frequently forget to clarify the differences of purposes and incur
confusion among their problem solving projects. Therefore problem solvers should start their
problem solving projects from the definition of purposes and problems
Terminology of Problem Solving
We should know the basic terminology for Problem Solving. This report proposes seven terms
such as Purpose, Situation, Problem, Cause, Solvable Cause, Issue, and Solution.
Purpose
Purpose is what we want to do or what we want to be. Purpose is an easy term to understand. But
problem solvers frequently forget to confirm Purpose, at the first step of Problem Solving.
Without clear purposes, we can not think about problems.
Situation
Situation is just what a circumstance is. Situation is neither good nor bad. We should recognize
situations objectively as much as we can. Usually almost all situations are not problems. But
some problem solvers think of all situations as problems. Before we recognize a problem, we
should capture situations clearly without recognizing them as problems or non-problems.
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13. Without recognizing situations objectively, Problem Solving is likely to be narrow sighted,
because problem solvers recognize problems with their prejudice.
Problem
Problem is some portions of a situation, which cannot realize purposes. Since problem solvers
often neglect the differences of purposes, they cannot capture the true problems. If the purpose is
different, the identical situation may be a problem or may not be a problem.
Cause
Cause is what brings about a problem. Some problem solvers do not distinguish causes from
problems. But since problems are some portions of a situation, problems are more general than
causes are. In other words causes are more specific facts, which bring about problems. Without
distinguishing causes from problems, Problem Solving can not be specific. Finding specific facts
which causes problems is the essential step in Problem Solving.
Solvable Cause
Solvable cause is some portions of causes. When we solve a problem, we should focus on
solvable causes. Finding solvable causes is another essential step in Problem Solving. But
problem solvers frequently do not extract solvable causes among causes. If we try to solve
unsolvable causes, we waste time. Extracting solvable causes is a useful step to make Problem
Solving efficient.
Issue
Issue is the opposite expression of a problem. If a problem is that we do not have money, the
issue is that we get money. Some problem splvers do not know what Issue is. They may think of
"we do not have money" as an issue. At the worst case, they may mix the problems, which
should be negative expressions, and the issues, which should be positive expressions.
Solution
Solution is a specific action to solve a problem, which is equal to a specific action to realize an
issue. Some problem solvers do not break down issues into more specific actions. Issues are not
solutions. Problem solvers must break down issues into specific action.
Extended Reports:
The Extended Report-Definition Format fully describes a report-object. The file format has been
developed to add some sort of XML serialization to the reporting engine to simplify the creation
of design tools. This format is not meant to be written by human users. It is complex, verbose
and can be confusing. Reference documentation describing the accepted Objects, Properties and
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14. Style-Keys can be generated with the Reference-Doc-Generator module in the Pentaho
Reporting Classic project.
Possible Sections in an Extended Report:
Table of Contents
Introduction
Instrumentation
Applied Theory
Aims
Principles
Reagents
Method
Flow Chart
Calculations
Results
Conclusion
Discussion
Appendices
References
Table of Contents
This is a good idea if the report is very long or complicated, especially if it has many different
sections.
Introduction
One or more paragraphs which define the subject of the report. For example, if the subject is
"High Performance Liquid Chromatography" (HPLC) you might give a definition of HPLC and
outline how HPLC differs from traditional liquid chromatography techniques.
Instrumentation
Several paragraphs that describe how the instruments you will be using to perform the analyses
(e.g. spectrophotometer, gas chromatograph etc.) work. It is a good idea to include a block
diagram of the basic components of the instrument. If it is a complicated instrument capable of
running several types of analyses you should use subheadings.
Applied Theory
In reports that deal with instrumentation, this is usually an explanation of the mathematics
involved and consequently will include several equations.
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15. Principles
More equations. Usually only required if one or more chemical reactions are involved.
Reagents
If your method is to be presented as “Materials & Methods” this is unlikely to be required. It is
most often asked for when highly toxic reagents are being used.
Flow Chart
This is another way of describing the method, and rewritten as an easy-to-read and logical
sequence of events, to allow you to get long incubations etc. underway as soon as possible.
Sometimes you may not be allowed into the practical class unless you have a flow chart ready.
Preparing a flow chart will allow you to use your lab time as efficiently as possible.
Calculations
These are usually to work out what dilutions of the stock reagents are required in order to
prepare working solutions, in the case of biochemistry-related practicals.
Appendices
Sometimes the amount of raw data is excessive (e.g. a computer printout of hundreds of
numbers) and it is best to insert this at the end of the report as an appendix and to put a summary
of these results in the results section.
References
An extended report may, in addition to the discussion references, include references for the
introduction, instrumentation or applied theory sections. Formal referencing, e.g. using the
Harvard system, may be required.
Recommendation Report
Recommendation Reports are among the most important types of job-related writing. A
Recommendation Report is a detailed report submitted to a reader or a group of readers who are
usually in a position of authority -- supervisors, managers, department heads, company buyers,
and elected officials, civic leaders -- to endorse or reject the writer’s plan or choose from among
their recommendations
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16. Purpose of the Report
The purpose of your Recommendation Report to your target audience is to present a carefully
created, well-supported proposal for application of the research you have conducted. The report
will propose ways to apply your findings to the problem you have investigated.
The acceptance of the Recommendation Report can lead to improved working conditions, a more
efficient and economical business, additional jobs or business for a company, or a safer
environment.
Contents of Report
Introduction:
The opening should be interesting and comprehensive so that it catches the reader's interest and
adequately represents what is to follow.
Explain the problem as it is occurring at your target organization.
- Verify how widespread the problem is or how frequently it occurs by presenting statisitcs or
other data (e.g., "turnover rates have increased by 47% over the past two years") and by giving
specific examples (E.g., "The organization has received a significant number of complaints
related to customer service.")
- Include quantifiable details about the implications or consequences of the problem.
- Emphasize the reasons action needs to be taken.
Conclude the introduction with a purpose/scope or forecasting statement. A forecasting statement
provides readers with organizational information as it previews what lies ahead in the body of the
report and indicates how that content is going to be organized. As such, forecasting statements
facilitate reading as they give your reader an initial sense of the meaning and content of the
report.
Methodology:
Explain all methods used to gather information except for your target audience interview, since
its primary purpose was to understand the background of the problem, not to get solutions. Do
not assume readers know your assignment.
Do not narrate your procedures, but do explain your methods, answering who, what, how, and
how many. You should be able to accomplish this in just a few sentences, especially if you use
concise language.
Summary of the Secondary (Library) Research Findings
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17. More than any other type of workplace writing skill, analysis calls on you to use critical thinking
skills to analyze a problem, to consider what has been done before to address that problem, and
to recommend solutions. In this section of the report, then, your team will summarize the
literature you reviewed, focusing on the strategies and solutions that are most relevant to the
situation at your target organization.
At the beginning, condense the sentence or passage you used to introduce the literature review;
then refer readers to Appendix B to see the complete literature review.
Feasibility Report
The primary objectives of this report is to inform about the following matters.
1: What the proposed system will achieve.
2: Who will be involved in operating the proposed system in the organization.
3: The benefits that system will give.
4: The organizational changes needs for its successful implementation.
5: The estimated cost of the system.
All these are given in technical and simple language and the beginning of the
report as an executive summary. It is followed by the detail feasibility report
which contains the following items.
An introduction with in outline of the proposal
A broad data flow diagram of the existing system.
A modified data flow diagram.
All possible alternatives solution.
Merits and demerits of each solution.
Any new equipment to be install or any new resources required for proposed
system.
Expected benefits of the proposed system.
Cost of the system.
New procedures to be implemented and environment of the persons in operating
new system.
Any anticipation problem in implementation.
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18. Fact-finding reports
Fact finding reports are a quick and useful way to analyze specific details of your systems by
only providing the required information in a simple and easy to see report format. They can be
used to satisfy day to day operations, provide vulnerability reporting and also audit ready reports.
Auditor Professional comes with hundreds of predefined fact finding reports but the user can also
define his own, based on his needs.
Creating a Fact Finding Report
To create a new report definition:
1. Choose Edit>Fact-Finding Report Definitions
2. If necessary, expand the tree in the left pane to locate the category containing the report.
3. To create a new folder within the Fact-Finding category, right-mouse click in the left-hand
pane and select New'.
4. Enter the name of the new folder. (For example, type in Custom)
5. Highlight a folder in the left hand pane that you want the new FFR to reside in.
6. Click the New... button.
Note: There are two options to use. Create a new report or create a copy of an existing
report and then make modifications to the copy. It may be easier to start with a copy and
make modifications to that report. In the example below, it will be done using a New
report.
7. Enter the name that you want this report to be called in the Report Title window. (Custom
Report has been added in the example below)
Use the uppermost set of tabs to select the area of the report:
OS includes Windows, Unix, and Novell NetWare operating systems.
DB includes Oracle,MS-SQL and DB2 databases.
Web includes Internet Information Services (IIS).
Messaging includes Exchange and Domino systems.
Network includes Citrix and Cisco routers and L3 switches.
Directory Services includes Active Directory (AD).
Cross Platform are reports which contain attributes from more than one module.
9. Use the left-hand pane to navigate to, expand, and select the general information you wish to
include.
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19. 10. Once populated, use the center pane to select the settings to include.
11. In the example below, we walk through the steps of creating a FFR that will show passwords
greater than 30 days old.
12. Expand the + symbol next to Servers.
13. Under Table Name, enter a name for the table (Passwords over 30 days was used here).
14. Under Servers/Users + Groups (0/59), you will see 59 items in the right hand pane. Double
click on the setting that you want to place in the table. (Once this is done, two things happen; the
status of the table changes from No output attributes! to Modified and Users + Groups (0/59)
changes to Users + Groups (1/59). This indicates that 1 of the 59 settings is now being used the
table below.
15. Select User Name from the same settings list.
16. In order to know which servers have users with passwords over 30 days, the Sever Name
needs to be added to the Table. Highlight Servers (0/36) and find Server Name in the window on
the right and double click on it.
17. Check the box Most Recent.
Note:' By checking the box Most Recent, Auditor will only list the latest value found in
collections. For example, if a collection was on Monday and it stated the password for
UserX was 40 days old and another collections was done on Friday, the password for
UserX would now be 44 days old (considering it has not been changed). If a report is
done on how old passwords are and the time range for the report included both
collections and the Most Recent box was NOT checked, the report would list UserX
twice in the report. One entry stating the password was 40 days old and other entry
stating it was 44 days old. In a case like this, one is only concerned with the most recent
age of the password.
18. To see what this report looks like, click on the Generate button (keep default the settings of
Relative Time Range 20 weeks).
19. Click OK.
20. Click View when prompted. This report should list the age of all passwords, with the users
name and server name.
21. Minimize this window to be viewed later for comparisons.
22. Back in the FFR Definitions Editor, click on Edit in Report Properties.
23. Under the column User Password Age in Days, double click on … in the row labeled Criteria.
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20. 24. Select >= as the operation to use and type in 30 for the value.
25. Click OK.
26. Click Save.
27. Click Generate.
28. Click OK.
29. Click View.
30. Compare this view to the previous view. Any users that had passwords less then 30 days will
not show up in the new view. See an example below.
31. Change this report to look differently. Have the Server Name in the first column (and sort by
Server Names), the second column to be the User Name and password length to be the last
column.
32. Back in the FFR Definition Editor, click on Edit (the table) under Report properties.
33. Change the Output Column for User Password Age in Days to 3.
34. Change the Output Column for Server Name to 1.
35. Change the Sort for Server Name to Ascend.
36. Click Save.
37. Click Generate.
38. Click Ok.
39. Click View.
40. Back in the FFR Definition Editor, click on Edit (the table) under Report properties.
41. Change the Sort value to Merge and Ascend.
42. Click Save.
43. Click Generate.
44. Click OK.
45. Click View.
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21. 46. The Server Name column has been merged to allow for easier viewing of settings in the
table.
47. Back in the FFR Definition Editor, double click on Installed App Name found under
Server/Software/Applications to add this setting to the table.
48. Click on Edit (the table) under Report properties.
49. The Installed App Name should not have been added and now must be removed. Right
mouse click on the Windows for the column that contains Installed App Name and select
Remove. This column is now removed.
50. Click on Save.
51. Back in the FFR Definition Editor, right click on Edit in Report properties and select New.
This will add a new table to the FFR.
52. Enter a name for the new table and add a description.
53. Add Server Name, CPU Speed and BIOS version to the new table.
54. Click Save.
55. Click Generate.
56. Click OK.
57. Click View.
Note: You have now created one report that has two tables, one table containing user
accounts with passwords greater than thirty days and a second table containing servers
with CPU Speed and System Bios Versions.
58. Back in the FFR Definition Editor, click on Edit (the table) under Report properties.
59. Click on View SQL.
60. Auditor creates SQL scripts when creating tables within FFR. Experienced programmers can
either copy the script to be used outside of Auditor, programmers could modify the script to
allow more freedom than Auditor provides with the current tools. Warning: Manually editing the
SQL script will change the ability of Auditor to read the script and not allow the user to add
items to the table via normal method of double clicking on a Setting and placing it in the table.
61. Click Cancel.
62. Click Close.
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22. 63. Click Finish.
Formal Reports:
Engineers and scientists write formal reports for many reasons, including the documentation of
experiments and designs. As an engineer or scientist working on the design of an airplane seat,
you might write several formal reports. One formal report might propose a new design for the
seat. A second formal report might update the progress on the construction of a test seat. Yet
another formal report might document tests performed on the design. Still another formal report
would assess whether the new design should replace the existing design. In this last report, you
would combine elements from all the previous reports. Note that this last report might appear as
a research article, which is a special kind of formal report for a research audience.
Front Matter
The front matter to a formal report includes the preliminary information that orients all readers to
the content of the report. In the format presented in these guidelines, the front matter includes a
front cover, title page, contents page, and summary. Other sections that sometimes appear in the
front matter are preface, acknowledgements, list of illustrations, and list of abbreviations. Except
for the cover, which has no page number, pages in the front matter are numbered with roman
numerals.
Front Cover
The front cover of a formal report is important. The front cover is what people see first. When
the report sits flat on a desk, the front cover is in view. Therefore, the front cover should contain
the report's title and the author's name. Because reports are often revised and republished, the
front cover should also contain the date of publication. The front cover has no page number.
Space the title, name, and date to achieve a nice balance on the page. If possible, type the title in
a larger font size than the name and date. Use initial capitals for the title.
Title Page.
The title page for a formal report often contains the same information as is on the cover. In some
formats, there is a summary included. Most often, because of space restrictions, that summary is
descriptive (more like a table of contents in paragraph form). Sometimes, though, this initial
summary is informative and geared toward the technical audience of the report. In such situations,
that summary is often named an "Abstract." Consult with your instructor to find out what kind of
summary, if any, should be on this page. Note that the title page is numbered "i" (the actual
presence of a page number on the first page is optional).
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23. Contents Page.
The table of contents includes the names of all the headings and subheadings for the main text. In
addition, the table of contents includes names of all headings (but not subheadings) in the front
matter and back matter. For instance, the contents page includes listings for the the appendices
(including appendix titles), the glossary, and the references.
Summary
Perhaps no term in engineering writing is as confusing as the term "summary." In general there
are two types of summaries: descriptive summaries and informative summaries. A descriptive
summary describes what kind of information is in the report; it is a table of contents in paragraph
form. An informative summary is a synopsis of the text portion of the report; it is analogous to a
baseball boxscore. Unfortunately, few people use these terms to name the summaries in reports.
The names you're likely to run into are "abstract," "executive summary," and plain old
"summary."
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