Business Proposal

The Business Proposal is the major writing assignment in the course. You are to create and submit a formal proposal that suggests how to change something within an organization. This organization can be large or small, a place of employment now or in the past, or an organization to which the students belong. From past experiences, it is best to use a business with fewer than 200 employees, and one with which you have personal experience. It could be a place where you currently work or a place you have worked or volunteered in the past.

The change can be specific to a unit or can apply to the whole organization; it can relate to how important information is distributed, who has access to important information, how information is accessed, or any other change in practices the students see as having a benefit. The proposal should be directed to the person or committee with the power to authorize the change. However, if you are working within a large organization, and asking for a small organizational change, communicating with a CEO or president may not make the most sense. You need to think about who within the organization might be the best person for the type of change suggested.

For the submission, you are to follow the guidelines for formal proposals available in Chapter 10 of the text. You can review 10.1, 10.4, and 10.19 for more information about specific components for a well-written formal business proposal. A complete proposal must have all required sections of a formal report excluding the copy of an RFP and the Authorization. The final draft of the proposal should be 1500–2000 words, and include the following necessary formal proposal components:

• Letter of transmittal
• Executive summary
• Title page
• Table of contents
• List of illustrations
• Introduction
• Background: Purpose/problem
• Proposal: plan, schedule, details
• Staffing
• Budget
• Appendix

Formatting does matter for this assignment, and you are to check the text for details about how to format and draft the different proposal segments. Proposals don’t just have text; graphics and charts are necessary, too. In addition, research is important, and footnotes and references must be included. All content should be concise, clear, and detailed. The proposal should be well-written with appropriate grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

This is a scaffolded writing project that consists of four assignments.