| Course | BU 245 Business Communication |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Proposal |
| Length | About 940 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BS in Business Management |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for BU 245 Unit 6
A 90-Day Route-Planning Test on the South Route: A Proposal Asking for $790 and One Decision by February 27
Student Name
Business, Herzing University
BU 245: Business Communication
Instructor Name
February 20, 2026
A 90-Day Route-Planning Test on the South Route: A Proposal Asking for $790 and One Decision by February 27
The Request
Decision requested: approval to spend up to $790 for a trial of stop-sequencing software on the south route, March 2 to May 29, 2026, and permission to change that route's stop order during the test. Decision needed by: Friday, February 27, so drivers can be trained the week before the test begins. Requested of: Ellen Brandt, Owner, with Marcus Hale, Director of Operations, as the test's sponsor.
The Problem
The fourth-quarter delivery report found that Lakeshore Bread Company's south route was late 97 times in 1,020 scheduled deliveries, a rate of 9.5 percent, compared with 4.0 percent on the other three routes combined. Route sequencing and traffic caused 44 percent of all late deliveries across the company, and the south route's stop order has not been revised since two stores were added in 2024. Drivers currently follow a printed list and adjust by memory. On several late mornings the driver crossed the same highway interchange twice. Both chains with April renewals have stores on this route and both asked about on-time performance in January. Lakeshore is a composite Milwaukee bakery used for this course.
The Proposed Work
The test would use a commercially available route-planning subscription that takes a list of stops, delivery windows and the depot location and returns a suggested stop order and a turn-by-turn route on a phone. Planning the order of stops for a vehicle with time windows is a well-studied problem in operations research, known as the vehicle routing problem with time windows, and software built on that research is widely sold to small fleets (Toth & Vigo, 2014). The test would proceed in four steps.
First, in the week of February 23, the operations coordinator would enter the south route's 11 stores, their delivery windows and typical unloading times into the software and compare its suggested order with the current list. Second, on February 26 and 27, the coordinator would train the south route's regular driver and the backup driver, about two hours each, and run one practice route on a quiet afternoon. Third, from March 2 to May 29, the south route would follow the software's suggested order each morning, with the driver free to override it for road closures and to record why. Fourth, in the first week of June, the coordinator would report the results to the owner and recommend whether to extend the software to the other routes, keep it on the south route only or end it.
What the Test Includes and Excludes
The test includes only the south route, its two drivers and the stop order. It excludes the other three routes, which will continue with their current lists so they can serve as a comparison. It excludes any change to customers' delivery windows, which are set by contract. It excludes a long-term purchase; the subscription is month to month and can be canceled at the end of the test. It also excludes connecting the software to invoicing or ordering systems. Stating these limits now prevents a later disagreement about what the test promised. Guidance from the Project Management Institute (2021) describes scope as defining what a piece of work will and will not deliver, and treats unclear scope as a common source of project failure.
Cost
The cost is broken into its components in the table below. Labor is priced at Lakeshore's current hourly rates for the people involved.
The largest cost is staff time, not the software. If the owner approves the test, the $790 would come from the operations budget, which has room this quarter because the January truck rental was the only unplanned expense so far.
| Item | Basis | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Route-planning subscription | 2 driver seats at $49 per month for 3 months | $294 |
| Coordinator setup and reporting | 8 hours at $28 per hour | $224 |
| Driver training | 2 drivers, 2 hours each, at $24 per hour | $96 |
| Phone mounts for the truck | 2 mounts at $35 | $70 |
| Contingency | About 15 percent | $106 |
| Total requested | $790 |
Schedule and Measures
The schedule runs from setup in the week of February 23 to a final report in the first week of June. Success would be judged on three measures drawn from the dispatch log, the same source used in the fourth-quarter report. The primary measure is the south route's late rate, with a target below 5 percent for the test period. The secondary measures are total miles driven on the route each week, taken from the truck's odometer log, and the number of driver overrides and their reasons. The other three routes' late rates will be tracked as a comparison, so that a mild spring is not mistaken for the software's effect. A monthly one-paragraph update will go to the owner on March 31 and April 30.
If the Proposal Is Declined
If the test is not approved, the south route will continue on its printed list, adjusted by the driver's memory. Based on the fourth quarter, Lakeshore should expect the route's late rate to remain well above the other routes' rate, although spring weather will likely lower it somewhat. The April contract conversations would then rely on the Truck 2 replacement and the new loading schedule alone to show improvement. Those changes address vehicle and loading problems but not route sequencing, which caused the largest share of late deliveries. Declining the proposal therefore leaves the largest cause untouched, and it forgoes the low cost of finding out whether a better stop order would help.
Summary
For $790 and three months, Lakeshore can learn whether software can bring its worst route in line with the others before its largest customers renew. The test is small, reversible and measured against a comparison. In line with the advice Minto (2009) gives, to state the answer first and support it afterward, this proposal has placed the request at the top; the decision it needs is a yes or no by February 27.
References
Minto, B. (2009). The pyramid principle: Logic in writing and thinking (3rd ed.). Pearson Education.
Project Management Institute. (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute.
Toth, P., & Vigo, D. (Eds.). (2014). Vehicle routing: Problems, methods, and applications (2nd ed.). Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
BU 245 Unit 6 instructions, in plain terms
The Unit 6 instructions ask you to write a business proposal, solicited or unsolicited, that requests approval or resources for a specific plan. Expect to state the request clearly, define the problem, describe the proposed work, give a schedule and a cost breakdown and explain how success will be measured. Many rubrics also ask for scope, what is and is not included, and for the consequences of doing nothing. Proposals are judged as documents a reader must respond to, so the ask should be easy to find. Length depends on the section, and citations in APA 7 support any claims about methods or standards. Small, reversible requests are easier to approve, so consider framing a large idea as a limited test with a report date, as the sample does.
How the BU 245 Unit 6 example is put together
The sample opens with a request block naming the decision, the amount, the deadline and who is being asked. The problem section draws its numbers from the earlier report and explains why the route's stop order is suspect. The proposed work section describes the software briefly, links it to established routing research and lays out four dated steps with owners. A scope section lists inclusions and five exclusions. A cost table itemizes subscription, labor, equipment and contingency to reach $790. The schedule section names a primary measure, two secondary ones and a comparison group. The final sections describe what continues if the test is declined and restate the decision needed.
BU 245 Unit 6 rubric: what full points look like
The rubric for proposals typically scores the clarity of the request, the problem definition, the plan and scope, the cost and schedule, and persuasiveness. Clarity earns full points when the reader meets the ask, cost and deadline first. Problem definition rewards quantified, sourced statements in terms the reader recognizes. The plan and scope criterion looks for specific steps with owners and dates and for explicit exclusions, which the sample lists. Cost and schedule score highest with itemized figures and a basis for each. Persuasiveness is judged by honest measures of success and a clear account of what happens without approval. APA citations and professional formatting support the final points.
Common BU 245 Unit 6 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Students often hide the request at the end of a proposal, forcing the reader to search for what is being asked. Another common problem is a problem statement with no numbers, which makes the need hard to judge. Many proposals describe the idea but not the work, leaving out who will do what and when. Scope is frequently missing, which invites disagreement later. Costs are given as a single total with no breakdown. Some proposals promise results without saying how they will be measured. Finally, remember the consequence of saying no; explaining what continues without approval helps the reader weigh the decision fairly.
Get a BU 245 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
Forward the Unit 6 instructions with the BU 245 rubric your classroom uses, plus the scenario and any budget the assignment supplies. We write a custom example that opens on the ask and the cost, states exclusions with the scope, itemizes the money, dates the schedule and covers the declined case. First custom sample free, returned in 24 to 48 hours.
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BU 245 Unit 6 questions, answered
Should the proposal be solicited or unsolicited?
Whatever the instructions specify, and the difference changes the opening. A solicited proposal answers a request and can assume the reader already accepts the problem, while an unsolicited one has to establish that a problem exists before the ask makes sense. If the choice is yours, say which you are writing in a line, because a marker reads the opening against that expectation.
How detailed does the cost section need to be?
Detailed enough that a reader could remove a component and see what it saves. Break out labor, materials, licenses and contingency separately, keep the arithmetic visible, and label every figure an estimate built on stated assumptions. Where the scenario gives no prices, say what the components are and describe how a real quote would be obtained rather than inventing amounts.
Can a proposal be for something at my workplace?
Build it as a constructed situation instead. Real budgets, staffing levels, vendor terms and internal problems belong to the employer, and a proposal is exactly the document that carries them. Keep the shape if it helps you write, alter every identifying detail, and say plainly that the organization is composite. The document is graded on its construction, not its provenance.
Where can I find a free BU 245 Unit 6 sample paper?
The complete BU 245 Unit 6 proposal, with its request block, cost table and scope section, is available above for free. To get a proposal written for your own project, submit the prompt and you will receive a custom example at no cost, usually within about two days.
Does the BU 245 Unit 6 proposal need a scope section?
Most rubrics expect one, and it often separates strong proposals from average ones. The sample lists what the test covers and five things it does not, such as other routes and customer delivery windows. Stating exclusions prevents a reader from assuming the proposal promises more than it does.