¶ … Equipment evaluations: When acquiring new equipment, a justification must be made for the selection of a specific piece of equipment on a cost/benefit analysis, compared with other pieces of equipment on the market; its utility; its current value and value in terms of the ROI and likely depreciation based upon need for repairs and wear and tear. A problem analysis attempts to get to the heart of a particular problem by defining the problem correctly, breaking it down, and then proposing possible solutions. They often contain an analysis of the causes of a problem with the hopes of suggesting the correct answer as well as a list of the direct and indirect effects of the problem.

Progress/periodic reports: Progress reports are intended to give the reader a snapshot of how an individual or a project is doing at a particular juncture in time. They are often issued at periodic, specific occasions. They allow issues such as a project going over budget or over time to be flagged; or if an employee is underperforming. This allows the issue to be addressed as soon as possible, before the issue spirals out of control (or the employee is fired).

Recommendations: Recommendations are intended to provide suggestions...

These reports are forward-thinking rather than backward-looking.
Q2. Just like with any professional piece of writing, editing is an important final step. What are the six essential guidelines for editing? In your opinion, which of these guidelines is the most important one to consider during the editing process and why?

The six essential guidelines include reviewing the document so see if the correct format was used; to see if it used a specific format for organization (such as ABC); if a correct introductory summary was used; if there was detailed support given in the body of the work for all of the points made; if there was a strong conclusion; and if all of the necessary attachments were provided to support the detailed aspects of the memo.

Although all of these are indeed important components, I would suggest that the need for organizing the information is the most important step. If information is not organized in a comprehensible manner, no matter how useful it might be, the reader will not benefit from it. Particularly for business communications, people are reading very quickly, solely for information and less for the stylistic prose.…