University at
IE 320 Engineering Economy (Spring 2005)
Project Report Format (suggested)
This hand-out suggests a possible format for the
term project progress and final reports. Deviations from this are permissible
and necessary depending on the specific chosen project. However, the basic
content of the material presented below should be a part of the report, and
should be well structured.
1. Cover Page: Title of project, Submitted by (group names, SID), In
partial requirement for, Date.
2. Abstract/Summary/Executive Summary: This is a short section, usually one or two
paragraphs, which summarizes the report. It is usually written at the end and
requires more time/line than normal text. It sells the report. It should,
summarize your entire contents/work documented, without getting into specific
details. Major findings/contributions should be brought up without the lengthy
details of how that was achieved. It may have Key words at the end.
3. Introduction: Describes the environment of the project. It briefly describes the
existing problem (without mathematical details, usually), and thus, the need
for economic analyses or procedures. This is usually the motivation for your
work. It could document the current state-of-the-art or previous work in this
area. It then states the objectives of your work or the work that has been
performed so far. This is written as a consequence of your need and the ability
of your methods to address your problem. It concludes with an outline of your
report, i.e., Section 2 describes the problem formulation, …,
conclusions and further work is presented in section X.
4. Problem formulation/Objectives: This is the right place to present the precise
description of the problem and state your objectives, mathematically if
possible. Data elements should be detailed.
5. Approach/Methods/Solution Procedure: This is the heart of the work. This section
is usually the main body and is sub-sectioned due to its size. It contains the
solution approach or methods you have adopted or developed, and their efficacy
to solve your problem.
6. Numerical Study/Application: It describes the
application of your methods to the problem data, and documents the results
obtained. If the results are extensive, a separate section can be devoted to
them.
7. Discussion/Benefit Analysis: This is an important
section from the point of view of the net benefit to the company/customer. It
discusses the results obtained in the previous section and their utility to the
company; expected savings in $'s, time and quality improvement should be
described in a quantitative manner. These discussions are
based on solid arguments, and not guesses. Deviations from expected
results should be explained.
8. Conclusions and Further work: This section concludes the
work without repeating the discussions or contents of another section. It is in
a summary form and could be itemized. At this point few speculative remarks can
be made. Future work that will enhance the scope of the project and enhance benefits
should be included.
9. Acknowledgments: if any.
10. References: This includes your
bibliography. Formal referencing style should be adopted (see IEEE journals, or any other journal).
11. Appendices: Are numbered sequentially
and should have a single ``theme." Detailed problem data, secondary
proofs/algorithms, etc. should be a part of the appendices. A good way to know
what should not be included in the main text but in appendices is to assess the
importance of the material. If it is secondary or consists of long details, not
critical to the understanding of the basic project, it should be in an
appendix.