Start with your high-level recommendation.

By the time you write your proposal, you’ll have plenty of background to share. Start with what you want leaders to approve: the platform, the capabilities you’d fund now, the investment, and when you need a decision.

Wait to write your executive summary until you’ve worked through the rest of your business case. It should give someone who hasn’t been involved enough context to understand why you chose this approach, without drowning them in the details.

Use these five questions to guide your executive summary:

• What are we being asked to approve?

• Which business problem will this address?

• What will leaders be able to see or do differently with connected talent information?

• What will it cost, including the time and work required internally?

• Why do we need to decide by this date?

Be specific about what changes for leaders. If you’re recommending connected performance and development tools, explain how a manager would use performance history to identify a development need and agree on a next step. Stick to capabilities you’ve seen demonstrated, and flag anything that requires an integration, another package, or a later phase.

Here’s an example adapted from a real proposal for a 425-person accounting firm.

Give readers the recommendation, cost, and expected value up front. They can check the supporting calculations in the appendix.

Explain what you’d buy right now—and why.

Choosing a connected talent platform doesn’t settle which capabilities to buy and implement first. Your proposal should explain what belongs in this investment, what you’ll keep in existing systems, and what can wait for the next phase.

Bring forward your reasons for choosing this approach over the alternatives you evaluated, such as the HRIS, general AI tools, or continuing as-is. Then explain which capabilities you recommend funding now and how they fit your longer-term talent strategy. Keep the expected benefits tied to what you’re actually buying.

Here’s an example adapted from a proposal for a 2,800-person healthcare business.

End the comparison with your recommendation and the reason behind it. Give leaders enough information to judge whether the additional connections are worth the cost and work now.

Show what supports your recommendation.

When someone reads your proposal, they should be able to tell where your claims come from. Use your organization’s data wherever you have it, and identify any estimates or customer examples you’re using to fill the gaps.

Relying on vendor materials alone can leave important questions unanswered. In Capterra’s 2025 Tech Trends Survey, 90% of HR software buyers who regretted their purchase said they were likely to buy based solely on vendor-provided information.

For each major benefit in your proposal, include the evidence behind it and anything the reader needs to know to judge it.

For example, if you expect managers to spend less time preparing performance reviews, explain how you estimated the time they spend today.

Describe the workflow the vendor demonstrated—such as bringing goals and 1-on-1 feedback into the review—and confirm that it’s included in your proposed scope.

Then label the expected time savings as an estimate—unless you’ve measured them in a pilot.

Asking your vendor for results from other customers can strengthen the case, too. Be sure to explain any differences that matter, such as company size, starting processes, or capabilities used. 

Finally, put detailed calculations and supporting documents in the appendix so readers can check them without losing the thread of your recommendation.

Be clear about what still needs an answer.

You don’t have to settle every detail before sharing your proposal. But leaders should know which questions are still open and whether the answers could change what you’re asking them to approve.

Suppose your recommendation depends on bringing performance history from an existing system into talent reviews. You’ve seen how leaders would use that history, but IT and the vendor haven’t confirmed how to transfer it or what the transfer will cost.

Say that in the proposal. Name who will confirm the requirement and when. If the answer could change the platform you choose or the funding you need, get it before asking for purchase approval. You can still ask for support to continue the evaluation.

Other details may need to be settled after approval. If you’ve confirmed the capabilities and cost but are waiting for an implementation slot, explain whether meeting your preferred date is a condition of signing.

Be specific about what approval lets you do next. “Approve the investment once IT confirms the data transfer and its cost” gives leaders a clearer decision than “approve subject to final details.”

If an outstanding answer changes the scope, cost, or expected value, bring the revised recommendation back before committing.

Show the full commitment.

The subscription price may be the easiest number to find, but it won’t tell leaders everything they’re committing to. Your proposal should show the cost over the full contract term and the work your organization will need to contribute.

In Capterra’s 2025 research, higher-than-expected total investment and excessive complexity were the joint leading product-related reasons for HR software purchase regret.

Show year-one costs alongside the total contract cost. Include implementation, integrations, training, support, and any period when you’ll pay for both existing and new tools. Identify the time needed from HR, IT, and managers, and confirm that those teams can commit to it.

Give leaders a short summary of the contract terms that could affect future costs or their ability to leave: renewal pricing, limits on price increases, cancellation rights, and what happens if implementation commitments aren’t met.

For a connected talent platform, ask how you would retrieve the performance, development, and feedback history you’ve built over time. Confirm what can be exported, in what format, and whether there’s a fee.

Before signing, check the final agreement against the approved proposal. If the scope, cost, or terms have changed materially, take those changes back to the approver.

Get a second read before you finalize the ask.

After spending weeks on the case, it’s easy to leave out something that feels obvious to you. Give the draft to someone who will challenge it. Ask what they don’t understand, what they don’t believe, and what would keep them from approving it.

If you’re presenting to someone you haven’t worked with closely, a colleague on their team may help you prepare.

Let your reviewer read the proposal before you walk them through it. Can they explain why you recommend buying these capabilities together and what leaders could do with the connected information? Can they tell what the investment includes and what still needs an answer?

Pay attention to where they hesitate. You may need to explain a connection more clearly, back up a benefit, or resolve a requirement. Making those changes now gives you a better proposal to bring into the approval meeting.

End with an approval request

End by telling leaders what you need them to approve and what you’ll do next. Include the amount, scope, timing, and any conditions that must be met before signing.

Here’s an example with hypothetical figures and dates.

Use a deadline tied to your budget process, implementation schedule, or an upcoming talent decision. Explain what approval by that date would allow you to do.

Include what success will look like, too. PMI’s 2025 Pulse of the Profession report cites research finding nearly twice the success rate for projects that defined success criteria upfront and had an established performance measurement system. Bring the target, measurement owner, and review date from your Part 4 plan into the proposal.

Send it with enough time for people to read and ask questions before the approval meeting. And if the answer is “not yet,” find out what’s missing. Agree on who will address it and when you’ll revisit the request.

Once you have approval, bring the proposal into kickoff. Your delivery team should be working from the same scope, commitments, and expected results that leadership agreed to fund.

Across this five-part series, you’ve defined the problem, built the financial case, worked through stakeholder concerns, planned the rollout, and put your recommendation into words. That’s a lot of work—and it gives you good reasons to feel prepared for the conversation ahead.

You don’t need an answer to every possible question. You need to explain why an investment in a connected talent platform matters, be honest about what you know and what you don’t know, and show how you’ll follow through. You’ve done the groundwork. Now you can make the ask!