Capstone 503 Project Report Template

Pat Hammett, Ph.D.

The University of Michigan

Comments:

The following template provides guidelines for preparing a written capstone project
report. Reports should be approximately 15-40 single-spaced pages, including tables and
figures (excluding appendices), and be submitted as WORD or PDF files. Projects with
multiple team members are expected to create a more comprehensive report. Your report
should be similar in organization as this template (e.g., Follow the Main Headings).
Subheadings and lengths of each section will vary based on your project and writing
style. In addition, some general guidelines for grammar and format recommendations are
provided in an appendix for reference.

We recognize that some information contained in this template is repetitive across

sections. However, since different audiences will read your report, we believe it is
essential to repeat certain information. Ultimately, we want you to produce a high quality,
professionally-presented research report that has sufficient detail to help others utilize
and build upon your project findings.

Project Results Confidentiality:

The University of Michigan recognizes that information contained in reports may be

deemed sensitive or confidential. In many cases, the University has an established
agreement with companies of its students regarding confidentiality, including that we will
not share any report information without consent. Still, the University prefers that
students avoid including any confidential information. For example, rather than using
figures for actual cost savings, students may discuss improvement in percentage terms.
Students should work through their employers to make sure that reports are approved
internally before submission. Of note, a final report with confidential information may
be submitted to the company, but not submitted to the University.. Here, a ‘sanitized’
version of this report without confidential information should be submitted for archival.
If a student obtains permission from the course coordinator to not submit a final report
for confidentiality reasons, students must still include their short summary statement
without any confidential information.
 Title of Report

ISD (or MFG or GAME or AUTO or ESENG) 503 Project Report

Submitted to:

Name, Title
Department/Organization
Address (optional)

Prepared by:

Name, Title
Department/Organization
Address (optional)

Date Submitted

Note: Do not put a page number on title page. Begin numbering with the Executive Summary.

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Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 4

Introduction (heading style 1) ............................................................................................. 5

Overview of the Project (heading style 2) ...................................................................... 5

Review of Current State Design / Literature Review ..................................................... 5
Project Deliverables ........................................................................................................ 6
Project Scope .................................................................................................................. 6
Assumptions and Methodology .......................................................................................... 7

Results and Discussion ....................................................................................................... 7

Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 7

Impact/Financial Benefits ................................................................................................... 8

Summary/Conclusions ........................................................................................................ 9

Appendices .......................................................................................................................... 9

References ........................................................................................................................... 9

Other Sections (Optional) ................................................................................................... 9

General Guidelines for Writing Reports: .......................................................................... 10

Sample Formats: Figures, Tables, Equations, Footnotes .................................................. 12

Note: May also include lists of tables and figures.

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Executive Summary
An Executive Summary gives an overview of the major information contained in the
report. Its readers are typically managers who need a broad understanding of the project
and how it fits as a coherent whole. These readers do not need a detailed understanding of
the various steps taken to complete your project. The intent of the Executive Summary is
to allow readers to learn the essence of the report without reading the entire document.
Subsequently they will determine whether the report is relevant to their needs, or gain an
overview before focusing on the details. We consider a concise (typically one-page) and
comprehensive Executive Summary to be a critical element of a research report.

The Executive Summary should be limited to 1-2 pages. This summary should be self-
contained and NOT include references, terms, abbreviations, or symbols unfamiliar to the
reader. It should not contain any information that is not found in the report. Readers
should understand the content of the Executive Summary without reading the full report.

The Executive Summary should include:

 Problem Statement/Improvement Opportunity

 Summary of Approach (methodology or methods used to solve the problem)
 Major project results/findings presented quantitatively
 Estimated financial benefit in annual saving based on US dollars and/or other
intangible gains
 Recommendations and implementation plan

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Introduction (heading style 1)
Briefly discuss the subject, purpose, and scope of the report, repeating information from
the executive summary. You should describe the improvement opportunity (Opportunity
Statement or Problem Statement) and include relevant background information on the
product and/or process being examined. Specifically, this section should include the
following sub-sections.

Overview of the Project (heading style 2)

Give an overview of your project. Explain the company or audience needs and reasons
why this topic is selected. Identify the potential benefits. Deliberate and build your case
on “what is the problem?” and “why is it important?”.

Review of Current State Design / Literature Review

For this sub-section, one must perform one or more of the following:
 Summarize prior work in your topic area (e.g., work related to your project done
by your company or another student).
 Perform a benchmark comparison analysis between the current design and state-
of-the-art. Here, one needs to identify the best-in-class product, process or
technology and compare with a current state design condition. To do this, one
may use a literature review, survey, interview, competitive product benchmark
analysis, and/or market analysis. If you are redesigning an existing system, you
should include an assessment of the current design or system performance.
 Perform a literature review related to the product, process, or technology being
improved (e.g., a project on increasing energy storage might include a review of
advantages and disadvantages of different substation-level storage technologies).
 Perform a literature review on an analysis tool, technique, or method being used
(e.g., a project involving a new forecasting model might include a review of
different forecasting techniques. Similarly, if a project involves development of a
new methodology or analysis method (e.g., new simulation model), students may
include a review of related methods.) Of importance, this literature review should
support why you have chosen a tool, technique, or method for your project.

 NOTE: Literature reviews should go beyond a simple Google search. The

University of Michigan Library offers extensive databases, such as the ProQuest
and Engineering Index/Compendex.

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Project Deliverables
Discuss the goals and intended deliverables for your project. This section should include
the measures (metrics) you will use to assess success of your project. For example,
projects may be focused on improving one or more of the following:

 Optimization of a key product performance measure(s)

 Improved manufacturability of a product design
 Improvement in quality (reduction in defects/scrap)
 Reduction in processing time
 Reduction in cost or improved return on investment

If you are redesigning an existing system, you should include a brief assessment or
summary of the current design performance.

Project Scope
Discuss what is included and excluded in your project.

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Assumptions and Methodology
First, discuss any assumptions used in conducting your capstone project.

Next, describe your approach including measurement system, testing methods, sampling
strategy, set up for any experiments and how you collected data. This section should be
sufficiently detailed such that others could duplicate the procedures used in your
investigation.

Note: One may conduct their project using a Standard Problem Solving Methodology
such as DMAIC, IDDOV, 8D, etc. In this section, one should describe the steps of the
methodology used and a summary of what was done for each step during this project.

Results and Discussion

Present the findings/results and discuss their implications/significance. This section is
likely to be your longest and should include several tables and figures.

Recommendations
Restate the main findings of your research project and provide recommendations for
moving forward. You should include a list of alternatives considered and the criteria used
to make your recommendations. You may also want to suggest additional areas of study.

Note: While the hope is that project recommendations are implemented and result in a
measurable financial benefit during the project period, this is not a hard requirement. If
implementation of recommendations are not feasible within the project period, students
should be able to provide supporting information as to their potential benefits.

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Impact/Financial Benefits
Discuss the impact (or potential impact) of adopting your recommendations and any
financial and/or lead time benefits derived quantitatively.

The value of "quantitative" financial benefits must be presented in both the Executive
Summary and body of the report. Executives may not know the technical details but they
certainly understand the "potential" financial benefits. Please state the overall benefits of
the project in annual saving in US dollars where feasible. In this section, you should
include the estimation method with detail calculations, and potentially different scenarios
of estimated cost savings. Below are two sample statements from two prior 503 reports.

[Example 1] Field to Proving Ground Durability Correlation Study

Faster reaction for data analysis when comparisons between parts lifecycle on field and
proving ground needs to be evaluated with a reduction of labor hours which means
around $xxxx per analysis. As history it is common to do this kind of analysis for
durability vehicles around xx times per year for each program which means $xx,xxx
savings for each program per year.

[Example 2] Reduce 2MIS (2 Month in Service) Warranty Claims related to V8 Engine

Spun Cam Bearings at General Motors, Romulus Engine Assembly Plant
Actions included installing ... which targeted debris removal in the cam bores and oil feel
lines. Provided the current processes continue to operate at this current state, the plant is
expected an annualized savings of $xxx,xxx in warranty costs.

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Summary/Conclusions
Briefly restate your problem, approach, and findings/recommendations. You should
include the potential benefits for your recommendation. If your results or
recommendations are incomplete or sensitive to your company, please try to discuss them
in relative terms. (e.g., 20% reduction in defect rates or a 10% cost savings).

If appropriate, explain any further research or action that needs to be taken. In this
section, you may wish to identify opportunities to apply your recommendations to other
similar processes and discuss lessons learned.

Appendices
Use appendices to present information that is too extensive to be presented in the body of
the report or only of interest to a few readers. For example, large diagrams or charts,
computations, software package graphics, test data, and texts of supporting documents
should appear in appendices. Only use an appendix when the precise data might be of
interest to only some readers. We expect most if not all tables and graphs to be in the
main report.

Appendices have the following characteristics:

 Titled "Appendix," not "Figure" or "Table"

 Usually lettered rather than numbered
 Referred to using appropriate points in the body of the report, so that they are
accessible to the readers who wish to reference them

References
Your reference list should appear at the end of your report. It provides the information
necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any secondary source you cite in the body of
the report. Each source you cite in the report must appear in your reference list; likewise,
each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text. Use the formatting style in the
sample report. A simple guideline for a sound reference is that any readers in the future
will be able to independently use your reference citation to find the information.

Other Sections (Optional)

In addition to the above, you may include any of the following:
 List of Symbols, Abbreviations, and Acronyms
 Glossary
 Index

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 General Guidelines for Writing Reports:
The following list presents reminders to help you write reports that are easy to read and
understand. You do not have to follow every one of these recommendations. How you
present your written argument depends on your situation. These tips are offered as basic
guidelines. For more information about techniques for writing clearly, consult a writing
handbook or a writing website such as: http://www.plainlanguage.gov/

 Know your audience and purpose when writing.

 Choose and organize your content around your purpose and audience.

 Use well-placed, informative headings and subheadings. Headings and

subheadings help readers preview and review the major sections of information.

 Divide material into short sections.

 Introduce the sequence of sections that follow to let readers know what's coming
in the report.

 Limit each paragraph to one topic.

 Vary structure and length of sentences. However, prefer short, direct sentences.

 Use "you" to speak to the reader. Use "I" or "we" to refer to events in which you
were involved. Note: Using "I" or "we" is now widely accepted in technical
writing.

 Be concise. Avoid unnecessary words.

 Select appropriate diction. Prefer clear, simple language. Avoid inflated,

obscuring words.

 Prefer active voice. Use the passive voice only when the identity of the agent is
irrelevant.

 Be consistent in tenses. Prefer present tense.

 Prefer active verbs to abstract nouns.

 Use terms consistently to refer to the same object.

 Use lists.

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 Use parallel grammatical structure for ideas or facts of equivalent importance
(often presented in lists). For example, instead of: “Accidents can be either
personal injury producing or cause property damage.” write: “Accidents can
either produce personal injuries or cause property damage.” or: “Accidents can
either injure people or damage property.”

 Use visual cues to guide readers, such as:

 Bullets or numbers to signal items in a list
 Indented lists
 Boldface to emphasize key points

 Use good document design: Use plenty of white space; avoid all uppercase letters
and underlining; use serif typefaces (such as Times New Roman used here); and
use left justified, ragged right margins.

 Display material suited to visual presentation in well-designed, clear visuals such

as tables, charts, and diagrams.

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Sample Formats: Figures, Tables, Equations, Footnotes
Listed below are suggestions to format tables, figures, equations, and footnotes.

Table 1. Random number generators1 (put labels above tables)

Distribution Probability density function Random number generator

Uniform 1 x  a  b  ar
f ( x)  ,a  x  b
ba
Exponential f ( x)  e x ,0  x   x
1
ln r

Normal  1  x   2 
 
1
f ( x)  exp    ,
 2  2     x1   2 ln r1 cos2r2    
  x  

100%

90%

80%

70%
Percentage of Tails

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Trials

Figure 1. Simulation of a coin flip. (put labels below figure)

F ( x)  1  e x (Eq. 1)

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Random number generators may be obtained in numerous software packages such as Excel or Minitab.

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