Effective Investigation Reports

Deliver objective findings

We work with regulators, auditors, ombudsmen, administrative law bodies, review boards, and other investigation and compliance bodies to create strong decisions and investigations.

Whether you’re investigating a safety incident, a harassment complaint, financial wrongdoing, or crime, your report must capture the essential information. This course teaches how to:

distill and organize evidence
write fair, evidence-based findings
communicate complex issues clearly and concisely
report impartially
deliver a report that works for multiple audiences

Some of our clients

Alberta Human Rights Commission
British Columbia Financial Services Authority
British Columbia Securities Commission
Canada Energy Regulator
Canadian Human Rights Commission
Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization
Cities of Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Vancouver, and more
Civilian Review and Complaint Commission for RCMP
Office of the Veterans Ombudsman
Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments
Workers’ Compensation Board

Workshop details

We customize our workshops to your organization, team, documents, templates, and style guides

- In-person—1 day (8 hours)
- Live webinar—2, 3.5-hour sessions on Zoom (split over a few days or a week).
Any writer or reviewer involved with investigation reports will benefit from this session.
The course is applicable to:
- beginners learning to write reports
- experienced writers who want to be able to draft faster and create stronger analysis
- reviewers and leaders who assess reports and give writers direction
1. We meet with you to discuss your group's challenges and goals
2. You send us a series of representative documents
3. We analyze your documents
4. We customize our course material using excerpts from your documents

Communicate clear findings, recommendations, and evidence

What you’ll learn

Improve readability and accessibility

Apply a step-by-step process to create strong investigation reports
Learn common problems in investigations and how to resolve them
Capture a strong relationship between mandate or law, evidence, and findings
Strengthen analysis and rationale to reduce unwarranted appeals
Shorten report length, eliminate repetition, and increase clarity
Know what information goes where and the right level of detail to include
Write effectively for legal, technical, and lay audiences
Write in a clear, accessible style
Reduce and explain technical and complex language for lay audiences
Shape the right tone
Learn a leaner, more orderly drafting and review process
Use templates effectively
Meet much shorter timelines
Improve consistency across documents with multiple writers

Write in a balanced and objective tone

The resources are unbelievable. These sessions have helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel. They gave me something concrete to work towards and feel successful at.

— Investigator with Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments

I appreciated the tailoring of the workshop materials to our organization, using real-time, current writing examples to analyze and improve. It was readily applicable to my work and very professionally done.

—The Civilian Complaints and Review Commission for the RCMP

Content was spot on. Instructors are obviously highly skilled. Presentation was professional, yet friendly and personable. Best $$ spent by the Commission!

— Alberta Human Rights Commission