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Turn discovery notes into a first-draft proposal

Hand Cowork your discovery notes and proposal template, then review a structured first draft instead of assembling the proposal from scratch.

Stage: Cowork · For: End user, Champion · Level: Intermediate · Time: 15 min

When to use this

You have notes from discovery calls, customer emails, and a standard proposal template, but the first draft is still stuck in your head. Cowork can do the multi-step work of extracting the problem, mapping it to an approach, shaping scope, and leaving the commercial details ready for your judgement.

Use this when you need a solid proposal starting point quickly and you are prepared to verify the facts, commitments, and pricing before it leaves your organisation.

What you'll need

  • M365 Copilot license with Cowork access
  • Discovery notes, call transcripts, customer requirements, and the proposal template or prior approved example you want Cowork to follow
  • Your boundaries for scope, assumptions, timeline, and any pricing language that must remain a placeholder

Try it now — the prompt

Give Cowork the discovery material and the template constraints:

Using [discovery notes], [customer emails], and [proposal template], draft a
first-pass proposal for [customer or project]. Include problem statement,
current situation, recommended approach, scope, out of scope items, timeline,
assumptions, risks, success measures, and a pricing placeholder. Preserve the
template structure where it helps, cite the source for important claims, and flag
anything that needs human confirmation before sharing.

Why this works: it tells Cowork to use the template, extract the proposal logic from discovery, and separate confident draft content from items you still need to validate.

Step by step

  1. Choose the right source set. Include the notes that capture the customer's words, the constraints you heard, and the approved proposal pattern.
  2. Send the prompt with the files attached or referenced. Cowork reads the inputs, maps discovery themes into proposal sections, and drafts the first version.
  3. Review problem and scope before style. Confirm the proposal is solving the right problem and not adding commitments that were never discussed.
  4. Replace placeholders deliberately. Add pricing, dates, owners, and legal or procurement language only after you have checked the source and approval path.
  5. Ask Cowork for a revision pass. For example: 
    Tighten the executive summary for [decision maker], make the scope table more
specific, and list the top open questions I should resolve before sending.

Screenshots

We deliberately don't ship screenshots that go stale — the Microsoft Copilot UI changes often. Follow the numbered steps above, which we keep current. Maintainers can regenerate fresh captures with the Playwright tool in tooling/screenshots/.

Make it better

Turn the first draft into a proposal package: - Adapt to the buyer. "Rewrite the executive summary for [persona] and focus on outcomes they care about." - Add a decision path. "Create a short mutual action plan from this proposal with owner, milestone, and dependency columns." - Stress-test the scope. "Identify where the scope is vague, risky, or missing acceptance criteria." - Prepare the send note. "Draft the email that introduces this proposal and calls out the sections I want feedback on."

Watch out for

  • Do not let Cowork invent commitments. Treat scope, dates, service levels, discounts, and pricing as placeholders until approved.
  • Discovery notes can be biased. If only one stakeholder was present, Cowork may over-index on that point of view.
  • Templates matter. If the template includes required legal or compliance language, verify it remains intact after the draft.

Where this leads (the ramp)

After Cowork can turn discovery into a proposal draft, the next step is an agent that monitors new discovery notes and prepares draft proposal packages on a trigger. That pattern belongs in Stage 5 · Autopilots.

Next: Autopilots → Track deliverables across workstreams

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