For more about proposals and progress reports, see Ch. 11 and Ch. 12.
A recommendation report can be the final link in a chain of documents that begins with a proposal and continues with one or more progress reports. This last, formal report is often called a final report, a project report, a recommendation report, a completion report, or simply a report. See the sample recommendation report continuing the series about tablet computers at Rawlings Regional Medical Center presented in Ch. 11 and Ch. 12.
A recommendation report can also be a freestanding document, one that was not preceded by a proposal or by progress reports. For instance, you might be asked for a recommendation on whether your company should offer employees comp time (compensating those who work overtime with time off) instead of overtime pay. This task would call for you to research the subject and write a single recommendation report.
Most recommendation reports discuss questions of feasibility. Feasibility is a measure of the practicality of a course of action. For instance, a company might conduct a feasibility study of whether it should acquire a competing company. In this case, the two courses of action are to acquire the competing company or not to acquire it. Or a company might do a study to determine which make and model of truck to buy for its fleet.
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A feasibility report is a report that answers three kinds of questions:
Questions of possibility. We would like to build a new rail line to link our warehouse and our retail outlet, but if we cannot raise the money, the project is not possible. Even if we can find the money, do we have government authorization? If we do, are the soil conditions appropriate for the rail link?
Questions of economic wisdom. Even if we can afford to build the rail link, should we do so? If we use all our resources on this project, what other projects will have to be postponed or canceled? Is there a less expensive or a less financially risky way to achieve the same goals?
Questions of perception. Because our company’s workers have recently accepted a temporary wage freeze, they might view the rail link as an inappropriate use of funds. The truckers’ union might see it as a threat to truckers’ job security. Some members of the public might also be interested parties, because any large-scale construction might affect the environment.