The justified recommendation
The Excellence step
- Excellence in this standard is evaluating the possible solutions and making a fully justified recommendation on how the problem should be solved.
- The exam asks it as "Would you recommend…? Justify your recommendation, including any new information" or "Which of the two options would you recommend?"
- The schedules accept either option, in these words: "A recommendation for [the other option] is acceptable if suitably justified." There is no right answer. There is only a justified one.
The structure that works
- 1. State the recommendation in the first line. "Rāwhiti Tools should open a second distribution point in southern Europe." No preamble, no throat-clearing.
- 2. Give the rejected option its strongest case, with evidence. This is the step candidates skip, and it is the step that separates evaluating from justifying. Use the resource's figures. "Holding higher stock in Hamburg would cost nothing in new premises and could be implemented within weeks, and the resource shows warehouse space there is $2,400 a month cheaper than in the alternative location."
- 3. Explain why your option still wins. Name the criterion you are deciding on, and say why that criterion is the right one for this business. "But the problem is lead time, not stock volume — the stores run out because replacement takes five days, and holding more stock in Hamburg does not shorten that journey."
- 4. Add new information. Something that has not appeared in your earlier sub-parts: a long-term effect, a sustainability point, a risk, a capacity issue, a second-order consequence.
- 5. Say what would change your mind. One sentence naming the condition under which the other option would be correct. This proves the judgement rests on reasoning rather than preference.
Using evidence properly
- Quote the figures, then do something with them. A number copied out of the resource is not evidence; a number compared, totalled or converted into a rate is.
- "$2,400 a month more" → "$28,800 a year"
- "300 km versus 3 km from the port" → "594 km less trucking on every round trip"
- "140 units an hour versus 95" → "45 more an hour, about 47% more output from the same shift"
- Weave the evidence into the reasoning rather than listing it first. The marker is looking for integration.
What "fully justified" means in practice
- The schedules describe a justified answer as one that uses relevant evidence to justify the significance of the decision or the likelihood of success, and refers to an alternative course of action or new information.
- Read as a checklist:
- Is there a clear decision? ✓
- Is the alternative addressed rather than ignored? ✓
- Is evidence from the resource used, not just mentioned? ✓
- Is there something here that was not in my earlier answers? ✓
- Does it end on why this matters for this business's goals? ✓