writing a Memorandum

Writing Requirements:

In this final deliverable, students will demonstrate an understanding of the problem and fully develop all required elements of the memorandum for this writing assignment. Refer back to the

Business Memorandum Guidelines

found in the

reading

part of this assignment to find the formatting of the memorandum, the elements required, and the content to be included. Review and revise your pre-writing document using the input from your classmate to assist your own revision process. Be sure to edit the document for grammar and spelling prior to turning it in. For convenient reference, the assignment is included below.

Step 1: Review Peer Review Feedback and Integrate Your RevisionsWriting Assignment 2 Reading #GEA 2

Give careful consideration to all of the feedback provided by your peers. Determine which feedback you believe suggests improvements that you can make to your document and make the needed revisions to your document. As this is your work, you may decide you disagree with some comments or agree with the comment but not the recommended action; you do not need to implement suggestions you disagree with.

Step 2: Return to the Memorandum Guide and Complete Missing Elements of Your Memorandum

The work you did in the pre-writing assignment did not produce the complete memorandum. That assignment was designed to get you thinking about important elements of the assignment, without having to produce the entire document. You will take what you started and have revised and with the use of the Business Memorandum Guidelines, you will complete all elements of the memorandum being careful to remember who you are writing to.

Problem Description:

You are a line manager in Superior Car Part’s Ellisville manufacturing facility. The company produces automotive parts, and you have responsibility for the line producing steel shafts for the gearbox manufactured in the Ellisville Plant. The acceptable dimension of the shaft is 2.5±0.05 inches in diameter with the most desirable product having a diameter of exactly 2.5 inches. The current equipment is approaching the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced. Two vendors are trying to sell your company, Superior Car Parts Incorporated, their machines for the shaft-machining task. You have been asked to assess the machines from each vendor, and to make a recommendation for a machine vendor supported by a justification for your decision.

You asked both vendors to supply data on the machining accuracy of their machines for the given task. Both vendors machined 100 shafts, collected data, plotted histograms, fitted the histograms with normal distributions and supplied you with their findings.

Let X= diameter in inches of the gearbox shaft

Abano Machines Inc.: X has a normal distribution with a mean of 2.49 and a standard deviation of 0.030

Li Equipment Corp.: X has a normal distribution with a mean of 2.53 and a standard deviation of 0.015

Audience:You are creating this document for the company’s

Chief Operating Officer, (Links to an external site.)

Lena George, and copying the

Chief Financial Officer (Links to an external site.)

, Amita Kohli. Documents involved in major financial decisions like this may also be distributed by the addressees to other executives and the corporate board members.

Business Memorandum Guidelines
INTRODUCTION
Use this document as a guide when you develop the structure and content of your business
memorandum. The document has the following sections: general writing instructions,
memorandum layout example, visual support within the text and formatting instructions.
Information on the content requirements is included in the memorandum layout example.
GENERAL WRITING INSTRUCTIONS
▪ Prepare your memorandum using full sentences and paragraphs.
▪ Use plain language
How to Write a Business Memorandum
1
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Perri Lui, CEO, The Manufacturing Corporation
Kiran Desai, Legal Counsel, The Manufacturing Corporation
CC:
Malik Washington, CFO, The Manufacturing Corporation
Alice Walker, Senior Process Technical Support
Coopers Project Proposal Team
FROM:
Alex Hernandez, Project Lead, The Manufacturing Corporation
DATE:
June 28, 2019
SUBJECT:
Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request
Summary
In this section describe the context of the problem you are addressing, the problem you are
addressing, what you are asked to do or provide relative to that problem, the type of analysis you
will use, and the recommendation you are putting forward. This section provides readers a
complete overview of the document.
Analysis
In this section you will explain the logical (not mathematic) progression that takes you from the
problem to your recommendation. You will include a graphic that helps make your analysis
clearer.
Note: Be Sure graphics used are fully labeled and
easily readable.
Figure 1: Probability of Prostate Cancer based on PSA Results
Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request
How to Write a Business Memorandum
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Specifically, the analysis will include:
§ The problem you were asked to address and any clarifying information, if any, you
discovered when working on how to respond to the problem
§ What you were asked to do relative to this problem
§ The data you started with
§ Your analysis approach, and why it is a good approach to inform the problem
§ What you found in doing the analysis and how this informs your recommendation
§ Your recommendation and why it will address the problem presented.
Additional Considerations
In this section you address additional considerations. You must accomplish this without
undermining the recommendation you are making. Discuss how the additional considerations
would inform the problem, how they would make the recommendation stronger, and what
additional data or information is needed to evaluate the them.
Conclusion
This is the bookend to the summary where you restate what you are addressing, how you
addressed it, and what your recommendation is. It is important that you word this differently
than the summary at the beginning; this allows readers a second chance to be clear on what you
are telling them. You may also include next steps when known.
Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request
How to Write a Business Memorandum
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Appendix A* – Statistical Calculations
Appendices in a document are reserved for content that may be helpful to the reader but
would interfere with the document flow if included in the main text of the document.
Documents may have multiple appendices, with each one addressing a separate topic.
Appendices should be referenced in the main part of the memorandum i.e. (see Appendix A
Statistical Calculations to review detailed calculations)
• Each appendix starts on a new page with “Appendix”, a sequential letter (starting with
A) and a descriptive title. If there is only one appendix the letter in the title is not
required.
§ For this work include your statistical calculations as your appendix. If you have
additional research that you do not want to include in the body, but could be helpful to
readers, it may be included as another appendix.
* Only use letters in the appendix title if there are multiple appendices
Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request
3
Figure 1: Business Memorandum Example
How to Write a Business Memorandum
4
VISUAL SUPPORT WITHIN THE TEXT
(this is not a stand-alone section of the document but is integrated within various parts of the document
to enhance clarity for readers.)
Using graphics in your professional documents can be helpful in expanding the readers
understanding of the material being presented. For this reason, graphics should be included
in this document. The information below provides guidance on how to accomplish this.
Use of Graphics
▪ Do not start your document with a graphic.
▪ If you find you are using more than two sentences to present your data or analysis,
consider the use of tables, graphs, or charts.
▪ Place graphics near where you are discussing the material contained in them and
reference the graphic in your document to identify its value to the document – i.e. “(see
Figure 1: Field of Operation Crash Data (2010-2015) to see the overview of the data”)
▪ Leave two lines above and below the table, or figure with its number and title and the
body of the text to set it apart from the document text. Horizontally Center the graphic
on the page.
Identification of Graphics
▪ Tables are labeled above as “Table #: Brief table description”. Figures are labeled below
as “Figure #: Brief figure description”. Number tables in your document starting a 1,
figures also start at 1 both a numbered independently (This means if you have both
figures and tables they will each start at number 1.) i.e. Figure 1: Field of Operation
Crash Data (2010-2015)
Be sure to include identification of all table and chart elements and a key where it is needed
to identify the image or table elements.
GENERAL FORMATTING
This section provides formatting information for your memorandum. If you do not know how to
accomplish any of the formatting requirements, there are many good online resources, please
consult them.
▪
▪
▪
▪
Page: 8 ½ x 11 inch plain white paper portrait (vertical) layout.1
Margins: one-inch margins on all sides
Footer:
▪ Justified left: the subject line text of your memorandum.
▪ Justified right: page number (number all pages, starting with the first page.)
Font Style: Times New Roman except for the Memorandum title (see below) 2
1
There are memorandum templates available through Word templates and other sources. However, many of these
use graphics that are not appropriate for professional documents. As a rule the only header/footer graphics that you
should use for a professional memorandum would be your company letterhead.
2 It is widely accepted that serif fonts are easier to read in large blocks of text. Times New Roman and other serif
fonts are thus most commonly used in the body text of print documents. On the other hand, san serif fonts are often
used for titles and sub-titles in documents to make them stand out. San serif fonts are also more frequently used for
online information as they are seen as being more legible on screen.
How to Write a Business Memorandum
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▪
Font Size: 12 point. (You may go down to 11 point, if it helps you keep the last few lines of a
memorandum from ending on a page alone. Keep font size consistent in the document unless
otherwise specified.
MEMORANDUM HEADER
This section addresses both the format and content of the memorandum header which is appears
only on the first page of the memorandum. The elements of the memorandum header are the
addressee(s) (to), person or people copied (CC), the writer (from), the date, and the subject of the
memorandum. (see Figure 1 to see the finished appearance of the header.)
▪
“Memorandum” Title
▪ Location: Top line of the first page of the memorandum, Centered horizontally.
▪ Font Style: Ariel Bold or Helvetica Bold, all capital letters
▪ Font Size: 14 point
▪ Type in bold font and capital letters MEMORANDUM3
▪ Add lines margin-to-margin lines above and below to accent the title (see Figure 1). Use
the insert – shapes – line tool for this. After drawing the lines in you can reverse click on
the line and adjust the color, line style and line thickness.
Return to Times New Roman 12 point font
Below is the set-up of the identifying elements of the memorandum header. After setting up
each of these elements you will fill in the appropriate information for this memorandum for each
element. This information will start 1 inch from the margin or 2 inches from the edge of the
page. To accomplish this use the ruler function (insert/ruler). On the left side of the ruler at the
top of the document find an arrow pointing to the right (if it is some other tab marking click on it
until the arrow appears and then click on the one inch mark on the ruler to set the tab at one inch.
After this you can tab over to insert the document specific information for the line.
▪
Addressee(s)
▪ Location: Space down three lines (at 12 point font) and justified to the left
▪ Type in bold font and capital letters TO:
▪ Set tab, tab to one inch and add the name and title of the person the document is
addressed to.
▪
(Carbon) Copies 4
▪ Location: Space down two lines
▪ Type in bold font and capital letters CC: which stands for carbon
▪ Set tab, tab to one inch and add the groups or individuals the document is copied to. If it
is individuals, include their title and position.
3
When a document is addressed to a more familiar and hierarchically close audience you may use ‘Memo” rather
than memorandum as the document title. When you are going up the chain of command or outside you work group
it is better to be more formal and use the full term – Memorandum.
4 The term “carbon copy” or its acronym CC originate when copies were made by using carbon paper between pages
being typed to produce a copy of the document while typing it.
How to Write a Business Memorandum
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MEMORANDUM
TO:
Perri Lui, CEO, The Best Company
Kiran Desai, Legal Counsel, The Best Company
CC:
Malik Washington, CFO, The Best Company
Alice Walker, Senior Process Technical Support
Coopers Project Proposal Team
1-inch
FROM:
Alex Hernandez, Project Lead, The Best Company
DATE:
February 10, 2019
SUBJECT:
Coopers LLC Project Financials Approval Request
1-inch
margin
all sides
Figure 2: Memorandum Title and Header Example including Content Example
▪
▪
▪
▪
From
▪ Location: Space down two lines
▪ Type in bold font and capital letters FROM:.
▪ Tab over 1 inch from the left margin and type the name of the author(s) of the
memorandum their title(s) and their organization(s)
Date
▪ Location: Space down two lines
▪ Type in bold font and capital letters DATE:.
▪ Tab over 1 inch from the left margin and put the date the memorandum will be
distributed.
▪ Format the date as month (spelled out fully), day, and year (see Figure 2)
Subject
▪ Location: Space down two lines
▪ Type in bold font and capital letters SUBJECT:;
▪ Tab over 1 inch and type a descriptive title for the document capitalizing the key words.
Edit the title to make it as short as possible while being descriptive enough to inform the
outside reader what is addressed by the document.
▪ For example, if you are requesting funding for new ambulances, a subject line that
says “Funds Request” is not enough detail, while “Funding Request for 2020
Ambulances for Stations 64, 67, 82 and 95” is too much detail. A more ideal title
would be “2020 Ambulance Funding Request”
Include a line below the header that goes across the page margin-to-margin.
MEMORANDUM BODY – FORMAT
How to Write a Business Memorandum
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Section Set-Up
▪ Set up your document single spaced. Add a blank line between paragraphs.
▪ Each section of the document has a title in bold font, on a line above the text for that
section.
▪ For this assignment the title the sections, do not use numbers
How to Write a Business Memorandum
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__________________________________________________________________
MEMORANDUM
__________________________________________________________________
TO:
Lena George, Chief Operating Officer, Superior Car Part’s Incorporated
CC:
Amita Kohli, Chief Financial Officer, Superior Car Part’s Incorporated
FROM:
Gustavo Olenscki, Line manager, Superior Car Part’s Incorporated, Ellisville
office
DATE:
October 30, 2019
SUBJECT: Benefit analysis between purchasing steel shaft machine from Abano Machines Inc
and Li Equipment Corp
______________________________________________________________________________
Summary
The Superior Car Parts Incorporated manufacturing facility sited in Ellisville is facing a
situation in which they must replace a steel shaft machine that is getting close to its useful life. Li
Equipment Corp offered a machine that manufactures metal shafts with a mean diameter of 2.53
and a standard deviation of 0.015 among all shafts produced. The other company, Abano
Machines Incorporated, presented a machine that performs the same task but produces metal
shafts with a mean diameter of 2.49 and a standard deviation of 0.030. The requirement for each
the shaft-making machine is that the diameter of the shafts produced are as close as possible to
2.5 inches. After analyzing the two options presented to Superior Car Parts Incorporated, I was
able to conclude that Li Equipment Corp’s machine is the best option.
The fact that the shaft-making machine produced by that Li Equipment Corp has a lower
standard deviation means that the shafts produced will have diameters values that do not vary
very much from each other. On the other hand, Abano Machines Inc. may have shafts with a
diameter that vary too much from the 2.5 inches ideal measurement.
Statistical Approach and Analysis
The decision making went from the idea that it is important for the new shaft-making machine
yields products with consistent diameter values. In other words, diameters that fall closer to the
ideal range desired by our company, which is 2.5 inches.
Graph
Sample production of the two different machines
SAMPLE SHAFT PRODUCED
15
13
11
9
7
5
3
1
2.38
2.4
2.42
2.44
2.46
2.48
2.5
2.52
2.54
2.56
2.58
DIAMETER IN INCHES
Li Equipment Corp.
Abano Machines Inc.
Figure 1: Horizontal bar graph comparing the diameters of shafts produced by the two
companies being analyzed.
It is very easy to clearly see the different between two different values using this type of
graph. In this case it possible to see that within a sample of 15 shafts produced, the values for the
Li Equipment Corp. are closer to the ideal value. Also, they are closer together when compared
to the values from Abano Machines Inc..
Additional Considerations
Conclusion
Appendix A – Pre-Writing Questions
1. What problem you have been asked to address? This is not a statistics question, therefore the
answer is not about performing a certain calculation.
I was asked to evaluate two options concerning the replacement a machine responsible for the
shaft-machining operation. The two options are offered by two different companies and their
machines have different characteristics when it comes to precision.
2. What is the objective or outcome this work should produce? Again, this is not a statistics
question, and will not be answered with a statistical approach. (Refer to the answer to question 1
and 2 when writing your thesis statement.)
The goal of this work is to perform an analysis of the two products, in this case machines that
manufacture steel shafts. The pros and cons of each machine will be evaluated in accordance
with the requirements of Superior Car Parts Incorporated.
3. What statistical approach will you use to address this problem? AND Why does this approach
provide you insight into addressing the problem? What does it let you know about the problem
that can inform a decision?
The efficiency of each machine will be evaluated in such manner the precision in which the shaft
diameter varies in every production will be evaluated.
4. Who you have been asked to address this memorandum to?
The memorandum in question is addressed to the company’s Chief Operating Officer,
Lena George. In addition, the Chief Financial Officer, Amita Kohli is to be addressed with a
carbon copy.
5. What are each of the addressees is likely to need from reading the memorandum? (This is a
critical thinking exercise, ask yourself what the addressees’ responsibilities are and use that to
think about what they need to know from you. If you are not familiar with these corporate roles
look up descriptions of each. There are links to a description for each in the problem description
below.)
It very important that each addressee is offered with the information necessary to make an
effective decision. In other words, the data acquired needs to support a financial and logistical
approach. The Chief Operating Officer will focus on the consequences of a certain choice, and
the Chief Financial Officer will focus on the costs of the machines (e.g. maintenance).