Business Mathematics I
Project 1: Loan Workout
Evaluation of Final Written Report
Team # ______
Organization:
_____ / 8
• Report contains an introduction and conclusion.
They do not need to be labeled as such, but there needs to be a paragraph that states what
your objective is, what your findings were, and briefly outlines your approach (i.e. gives
some idea as to what the rest of the paper contains). Do NOT leave your final decision to
the last line of the paper. Your boss isn't going to want to wait that long! You should also
have a paragraph at the end that summarizes all of your findings (yes, even those from
your further analysis) and how they affected your final decision.
• Ideas are presented in a clear and logical manner with appropriate transitions.
A subtitle does not constitute a transition. How does one section of your paper affect,
motivate, and/or coincide with the next section?
• Report is self-contained.
We are beyond the age of cutting and pasting (with scissors and glue) diagrams into a
document.
Main Content:
_____ / 16
• The objective of the project is clearly stated.
Why are you writing this paper? What was it your company wanted you to do? Why did
they need to know this? How will your recommendation be used?
• Appropriate background information is given.
What information were you given to start with? What was essential to know before you
began?
• All project assumptions are clearly stated, and their importance explained.
Make sure you are distinguishing between "assumption" and "definition". There are
certain things we assume to simplify our calculations, simplify the problem, etc. Explain
why it was essential to make such an assumption. If it wasn't essential, then why do it?
• All variables are defined.
A must!!! You cannot refer to a variable name, unless it has been defined already.
• All formulas and Excel functions are clearly explained.
The nitty-gritty details of Excel are not necessarily required, but a person somewhat
familiar Excel should be able to follow your work. Don't be afraid to put explicit details
in an appendix.
• All computations are correct and interpreted in the proper context.
Computations should have been completed and checked in homework already. There is
no reason why your numbers should be wrong. Once you get your numbers, what do they
mean?
• Results are expressed in the appropriate units.
This is inherent in interpreting your results. Please specify units!
• Recommendation is clearly identified and well supported.
Remember: Mathematics for Business Decisions. The decision is important, but you also
have to "sell" your idea. Support it with plenty evidence. Numbers speak wonders!
Further Analysis:
_____ / 4
• Team explores the project beyond the basic level of the Class Project.
You need to make another calculation different from the calculations already specified
in the class project.
• Exploration is useful and interesting.
There has to be a specifc reason why you calculated what you did, and it should have
some effect on your final decision. What you want to avoid is going through the class
project's calculations, finding preliminary results, doing your further analysis and finding
additional results, and then summing up only the preliminary results in your conclusion.
The further analysis must be useful enough to mention again in the conclusion.
Style:
_____ / 12
• Report is bound and contains a properly formatted table of contents.
Bound ≠ stapled. Your boss asks you for a report. Are you going to hand in a stack of
stapled pages with bent corners? No. Find a folder, or presentation portfolio. Your table
of contents should list the major sections of your paper and their respective page
numbers.
• Layout of report is visually appealing.
Paragraph after paragraph of black and white words is monotonous. Use colors,
diagrams, etc. to set your paper apart from others.
• Complete sentences and good paragraph structure are used.
A must for sounding professional. No IM'ing terminology!!
• Report is free of spelling and grammatical errors.
Ditto.
• Proper mathematical notation and typesetting (Equation Editor) are used.
• Tables are well-formatted.
It's also a good idea to label your tables and graphs for reference, for example, Table 1.2,
Figure 3.1, etc.
• Writing style is consistent throughout paper.
Read over the whole paper, and avoid a "change in speaker".