In writing any business document, the most important concepts to be addressed are the writer’s purpose, the audience(s) to whom the message is directed, and the structure or organization of the document as a whole.

Business documents are written either to inform or to persuade.  In short, the writer wants an audience to know something or to do something.

The purpose of a document always answers the question, What do I want my reader(s) to know or to do after reading my document?  A writer’s first task, then, is to determine whether he is writing merely to inform, or whether s/he also wants the recipient(s) to take an action.

The surest way to arrive at  a clear purpose is to write it in a simple, declarative sentence.  I can not overemphasize the importance of this exercise.  Once it has been done, a check of purpose can be accomplished by asking, If my reader knows X, or does X, will that satisfy me?  Any answer other than an unequivocal ‘yes’ indicates that the writer needs to further refine his or her purpose.

The sentence that constitutes the writer’s purpose may or may not appear in the document, depending on considerations having to do with audience.