Your report will need to include specific needs sections. These sections will provide detailed elements of your report to meet the specific needs of your audience. Your report should include an executive summary and appendix, and it may include a user's guide if your project needs one. 

Executive Summary

An executive summary is for the decision makers, your sponsor, or your sponsor’s company. It should only be one page in length, and it should establish the following:

• The purpose and background of the project
• Recommendations and a discussion on the implication of those recommendations or a discussion of the impact of activities completed in your project if it is an activity based project. If the project contains both research and activities, then elements of both styles will be required.
• Conclusions that support given recommendations or that support the list of activities completed during the project
• Information supporting conclusions or a description of the work plan driving the activities completed or tools created
• Quantify impact by listing dollars or percent improvement whenever possible in the Executive Summary
• Don't be afraid to forecast the impact that will be made by the recommendations or activities of the project

Appendices

An appendix should include all the data sources from which you derived your conclusions. Regardless of whether your project was recommendation or activity-based, both reports should include the following items in their appendix:

• All data gathered during the project
• All surveys, templates, and interview guides with the data and results
• All of the databases and reports gathered for the project (do not include the entire report of copyrighted materials but cite their references)
• All of the charts and graphs created for the project
• Descriptions of activities implemented during the project and the value created
• Feedback on the impact of the activities completed during the project

User’s Guide

A user’s guide is created for those who are going to implement your solutions or re-create any activities you have done. This includes any directions for tools you used or created or activities you carried out. Your user’s guide may include some of the following elements:

• The purpose of the tool, database, program, activity, and so on
  • Explain the problem your project was designed to fix or the opportunity it was designed to capture.
• A description of the tool, program, or activity; its elements, and its desired output
• A step-by-step process on how to operate the tool, program or activity in order to achieve the desired outcome
• Warnings, limitations, difficulties, and so on in operating the tool, program or activity
• Troubleshooting recommendations to be taken if there are problems with the tool, program or activity 
• Contact information or a bibliography containing potential sources of help for the tool, program or activity