EXAMPLES • Reports

A first page and . . .

clear relevant title Report on the design of invoice documents

To The Spring Water Company

From Cavendish Consultants
Date February 12, 1995

Summary This report reviews the existing billing documents and recommends improved
report summary
designs for invoices which are easier to understand and reflect the quality of the
including instructions company’s services.
for old version It supersedes the report dated January 10, copies of which should now be
shredded.
important information Important The information in this report is confidential and is available
is emphasized only to the Document Design team.
Please do not photocopy any part of it.

Contents Introduction 2 Introduction

useful two-level table
3 Background
of contents to orient 4 Structure of the report
the reader Analysis & recommendations 5 General
6 Titles
8 Narrative
11 Tables
meaningful headings 16 Payment details
19 Associated documents
Design proposals 22 Letters
28 Invoices
35 Associated documents
Other issues 39 Document design
40 Document production
41 The way forward

Action There are outstanding issues throughout the report identified in italics that need
to be resolved before we can complete the design phase. Please give your
actions clearly stated answers and recommendations to the project manager, Dave Baxter (ext 247), by
February 24 so that they can be considered at the next team meeting which is at
10:00 am on March 2 in Room 6D.
contact name &
If you have any questions call Dave. Thank you.
telephone number

document title, version

Invoice Documents Report • draft II Feb 12, 1995 Page 1
& date
 Xerox • Documents at Work

clear subsection heading

Payment details
This section details the way in which bills are generated, together with the arrangements for
comments & actions in paying them. We need to make clear what the total is, whether it is a debit or credit and when
different type styles it is due.

1 Billing frequency
structured hierarchy There are different types of bills depending on whether the supply is measured.
of information
• Un-metered
The bill is based on an assessed value of the property and is produced annually in advance. In
normal circumstances it is for the financial year Jan 1 to Dec 31 and the payment period varies
good use of space to from annually to weekly.
separate sections
• Metered
The bill is based on meter readings resulting in different charges each period. The payment
period varies from annually to monthly and can be made by cash or check or through a direct
debit arrangement.

2 Payment Slips
The existing payment slip is a standard bank format prescribed by the Central Bank and its
scanning technology. Two cases need to be considered:

• Weekly and monthly payment slips

headings relate to These are printed on an additional page. The provision to record the payment due date on each
their sections slip and specific instructions on the reverse remains the same as other slips.

• Blank payment slips

These need to be provided for those who can only pay an amount less than the total due.
However, this can only be done following agreement by letter or telephone.

3 General Payment issues which must be resolved

• Check the implications of changing the paper size with Central Bank
• Improve the quality of the OCR ‘Type B’ print
more action notes • Highlight the reference numbers on the payment slip
• Encourage customers to put their customer reference number on the back of checks
• Discourage the request for receipts by deleting the receipt check box and monitoring the
consequences

section heading Analysis & recommendations Feb 12, 1995 Page 16

Caveat:
These sample report pages do not mandate
specific Xerox corporate identity guidelines. . . . an inside page