Assignment 2:3 – Memorandum Formal Report Progress

Memorandum

To: Dr. Erika Paterson, ENGL301 Professor

From: Tamara Oman, ENGL301 Student

Date: October 28, 2021

Subject: Assignment 2:3 Formal Research Outline for the Proposal for reducing the environmental footprint at the Keller Williams Realty VanCentral office in Vancouver

 

Please find this memorandum as an update to my research proposal which has been posted on my team forum. Attached to this memo is the Realtor surveys as well as the interview questions to office staff.

Intended Audience:

Operating Principle Roland Kym and Managing Broker Connie Buna, investors of the Keller Williams Realty VanCenral brokerage. As primary shareholders of the business, the operating principle and the managing broker have authority to implement recommendations.

Purpose of the Report:

The goal of this report is to evaluate the current volume of paper used and wasted in a Real Estate office and to recommend transitioning to online software.

Significance of the Report:

Deforestation is a contributor to greenhouse and gas emissions. This report proposes a solution to reduce the environmental footprint of a typical Real Estate office’s contribution to this issue by offering an alternative to physical documentation management.

Problem:

• A Real Estate office in nature produces a substantial amount of printing documentation for filing purposes. 
  • There are printers in each Realtor office, as well as the industrial sized printer at the front desk.
  • A large portion of this goes to waste.
• Other stationary such as files and dividers are used to store all documentation for each transaction and then stored in cardboard boxes.

Scope:

The following areas of inquiry will be assesd to determine the feasibility of adopting online administrative solutions:

1. What are the current costs of buying, maintaining a printer at the current level of paper production?
2. What is the cost of decreasing printing production and the addition of online subscriptions?
3. Are Realtors willing to learn using online solutions?
4. Are clients flexible to the idea of e-signatures?
5. What are some other potential solutions to decreasing the use of paper in the office?

Methods:

• Primary Data Sources
• Survey respondents: Realtors & their assistants
  • Sent to 30 office Realtors/assistants: Survey
• Operations interview: office staff
  • Asked in person to front desk, the office manager and the market center administrator
  • Interview Questions
• Secondary Data Sources
• Articles published from software companies
• Solution
• Interpretation on data collected from primary sources
• Interpretation of operational costs at current printing production versus the cost of investing in online software

Qualifications:

• Director of operations for the KymBuna Real Estate group for over three years

Writing Schedule:

• October 29: Formal report outline & progress report 
• November 2: Send survey to Realtors by email & interview staff members
• November 5: Obtain operational cost data & interpret primary data 
• November 7: Analysis and interpretation of secondary data
• November 12: Organize data in a rough draft
• November 14: Finalize first draft
• Nov 16: Post draft of on team forum
• Nov 19: Implement edits from peer review
• Nov 22: Edit and finalize second draft
• Nov 26: Finalize draft and post final report on team forum