Operational vs. Organisational documents

In this week’s lecture, Nori introduced the use of the proposal in the context of professional communications for both within the organisation and between the organisation and those outside of the organisation – including other organisations.

Pro’s and cons of written communication

• Irreversible - cannot be taken back once sent. Implication: need to be careful about what you write.


• Feedback may be indirect – often written communication may not result in the recipients replying with their own written communications, but do feedback indirectly through actions. This can be unanticipated sometimes.


• Provides evidence of action – as this type of communication results in a black and white document.


• Formalises your discourse – and the recipients take formal communications more seriously than informal ones.

As IT professionals (to be) we must be clear on who the target audience is. This is especially so when the target audience does not have an IT background, as is often the case. Thus we must be vigilant in ensuring in using terms or jargon, which for us may seem routine or matter-of-fact, but in reality actually runs the risk of confusing and even alienating them.

Whom you are writing for

In writing a proposal – more on the proposal itself later – we must first identify who we are writing the proposal for: is the audience someone /a group within your own organisation, or is it another organisation or group that is not part of your organisation. This essentially determines your choice of writing an operational or organisational document.

The difference between an operational and an organisational document are as follows:

Operational Document	Organisational Document
Slim document: 2 to 10 pages	Varied: Slim document to a book
Purpose is to clarify and reaffirm what has been discussed prior to this, and confirm that everyone is on the same page	Purpose is to initiate, establish and consolidate the relationships between the organisation and the other party
Functions as a documented consensus on what was agreed upon	Functions somewhat like a contract or memorandum of understanding or offer of services
Emphasises the pragmatic aspect – giving and sharing info, in a streamlined manner, such that the manager is able to skim through it quickly	Emphasises the official-ness and formality, as the contents of the document then becomes the representation of the organisation to others outside of the organisation.

Note that in our Industry Based Learning internships, it is not likely that we will be creating organisational documents at all – that would more likely be handled by managers rather than the lowest level staff – and we should be working on operational documents most o the time; but it is still important for us to know the difference between the two so that we can keep that in mind while writing proposals.

The proposal

As mentioned earlier, the aim of the proposal is to document the understanding reached during a prior meeting. The proposal is usually required when, at the said meeting, a new idea for a project was discussed. The proposal will be circulated among members, and may be revised (sometimes multiple times) until all participants are on the same page on the issues discussed and included in the proposal.

In this unit, we will not be taught any one rigour or format for a proposal – presumably many do exist – instead, just what are the key elements and important things to say in a proposal. As mentioned last week, use the principle of going with what tends to work in communications.

To begin, the proposal may convey each of these messages (A)what the new project is; (B) why this idea/project is great; (C) demonstrate that the project is feasible – that it can actually happen; (D) why you are the right person for this project – proposals as an organisational document only; (E) requests and demands that you need met in order for the project to work.

The proposal should have the following sections:

1. Introduction: (A)


2. Significance: (B)


3. Project Plan: (C)& (D)


4. Requirements: (E)


5. Expected outcomes: (B)

As can be seen, the key messages roughly correspond with the sections. However note that this is just a rough guide and each proposal has different specifics, and therefore different sections and messages.

Submitting a proposal

In the typical organisation that we will be interning at during IBL, we will be told to “come up with a proposal” for what has been discussed by our managers right after the meeting. If this happens to me, and I realise, “Snap! I haven’t been paying attention at all!”, then I would be in quite a pickle.

Thus a good practice to build would be to cultivate a personal habit of jotting down / scratching notes at any meeting. If a minute-taker is appointed for the meeting, then there is no need to duplicate the work, but one must remember to obtain a copy of the minutes from the minute-taker after the meeting upon being tasked to prepare a proposal.

After the original meeting, the norm is to submit the proposal a an email attachment to the manager who requested it ASAP, usually 1 or 2 weeks, unless otherwise stated by the manager. However, note that being a bit late much better than delivering something that is of poor quality.

Common sense has it that you should not just email your manager a blank email with the proposal as an attachment: you should write something in that email – something that very briefly states what the email is (and its attachement) is regarding.

Dear Jim,

Please accept the attached proposal, which I have prepared following our discussion on Monday.
[[describe the attachment]]

I would be grateful if you could advise if the document is ready for circulation within the team
[[provide initiative for correspondence]]

Thank you,
James
[[use thank you rather than regards, especially with superiors]]