A recommendation report starts from a stated need. From there, it offers a selection of solution options, presents a detailed comparative analysis of the options, and then recommends one, some, or none. For example, a company might be looking at grammar-checking software and want a recommendation on which product is the best fit for them. As the report writer on this project, you could study the market for this type of application and recommend one particular product, two or three possible products (differing perhaps in their strengths and weaknesses), or none (maybe none of them are appropriate for the client’s specific needs). The recommendation report answers the question “Which option should we choose?” (or in some cases “Which are the best options?) by recommending Product B, or maybe both Products B and C, or none of the products. These recommendations might arise from questions such as

• What should we do about Problem X?
• What is the best way to provide Function or Service A?
• Should we use Technology X or Technology Y to perform Function Z?

In this chapter you will learn how to compose a recommendation report. Specifically, you will learn about the expected content and format for a recommendation report and a related genre, the feasibility report. This chapter also includes a breakdown and discussion of typical sections of recommendation reports. Finally, the chapter concludes with advice on how to use criteria, decision matrices, and decision trees to objectively evaluate solutions, products, or services in recommendation and feasibility reports.

Typical Contents of Recommendation and Feasibility Reports

The major difference between recommendation and feasibility reports is whether you are researching and devising potential solutions to a problem or evaluating a variety of predetermined solutions for logistics, efficiency, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness. Both recommendation and feasibility reports end in a section that makes a recommendation for a decision or course of action. Whatever variety of feasibility or recommendation report you write, most of the sections and the organization of those sections are roughly the same.

In the research-based type of recommendation or feasibility reports, you provide not only your recommendation, choice, or judgment, but also the data, analysis, discussion, and conclusions leading to it. Your readers can use this information to check your findings, logic, and conclusions, thus ensuring that your methodology was sound and that they can agree with your recommendation. Your goal is to convince the reader to agree with you based upon your careful research, detailed analysis, rhetorical style, and documentation. Without sufficient understanding of your project design and methods, your audience may not trust your final conclusions and recommendations, or they may do at least some of the work over again before making a decision or implementing your recommendation.

The general problem-solving approach for a recommendation report entails the steps shown in Table 20.1 below. These elements may be in various sections of the report, depending on the report’s scope and structure.

Table 20.1. Typical recommendation report elements.