CMCE10002 Chap.13 Writing the Analytics Memo and Corporate Brief
Writing the Analytics Memo and Corporate Brief
One analysis, two documents, two readers
The group assignment asks a group to work with a business dataset, develop a clear research question, run a reproducible analysis using descriptive, causal or predictive methods, and communicate the findings twice: an Analytics Team Memo written for peers or a manager who will check the work, and a short Corporate Brief written for an executive who has to decide something.
The brief is not a shortened memo
The memo can begin with the question and work forwards to the finding.
The brief begins with the finding and the recommended action, and anything that does not change that recommendation does not belong in it.
Both carry the limits, but the memo records them so a reviewer can judge the work while the brief records only those that would change the decision.
The writing standard is specific
Short sentences, data in place of adjectives, no hedging words standing in for numbers, a so-what test applied to every sentence, an objective register, and no unexplained jargon.
Each rule names a defect that makes analytical writing unusable to the reader it was written for.
The process rules are assessed too
Marks are equal by default and adjustments follow only from documented differences in contribution, where documentation means communication through University channels.
A signed contribution statement is submitted with the work, individual submissions are not permitted and groups cannot be changed, so difficulties are raised early with the teaching team rather than solved by leaving. Late submission without an approved extension or special consideration receives zero marks.
What this chapter covers
- 01
The memo and the brief as documents for two different readers
- 02
Leading with the finding and the recommended action in the brief
- 03
Replacing vague adjectives with the measurement they stand in for
- 04
Applying the so-what test to every sentence in a draft
- 05
The group-work rules on documentation, channels and contributions
Writing one finding for both readers
- 1Write the memo version.
- 1Write the brief version.
- 1State what changed between them.
Key terms
- Analytics team memo
- The document written for a peer or manager who will review and challenge how the result was produced.
- Corporate brief
- The short document aimed at an executive who has to decide something on the strength of the finding.
- Contribution statement
- The signed record of each group member's role, submitted with the assignment.
- Research question
- The specific question the analysis is designed to answer, fixed before the method is chosen.
- So-what test
- The check that asks whether removing a sentence would change the meaning of the document.
Writing the Analytics Memo and Corporate Brief FAQ
What two documents does the group assignment require?
An Analytics Team Memo, written for a peer or manager who will check the work, and a short Corporate Brief, written for an executive who has to decide something. The subject frames them as mirroring the way findings actually move through an organisation.
What belongs in the memo but not in the brief?
Method detail that lets a reviewer reproduce and challenge the work, such as why one comparison group was chosen over another. The brief carries the finding, the recommended action and the risk attached to it, because those are what change what the reader does.
How should generative tools be acknowledged in the group assignment?
By citing the tool used, including the prompts and the output as a comment or an appendix, and explaining in your own words what the generated code does and why it was used. The last of those is the part a group cannot supply if it does not understand the code.
Exam move
Draft the brief first and the memo second. Writing the brief first forces you to decide what the recommendation is, and the memo then has a clear job: to justify it to someone who will try to break it.
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