Proposal Management Software--Assessment and Comparison

Proposal Software

Nothing will replace the effort required to personalize a proposal and make it an effective sales tool, but clearly partners and senior associates who have heavy client service schedules do need help in streamlining the process and making the best use of their valuable time.

The biggest failing of these programs on the whole is that they are geared toward government contract proposals.  In government proposals and academic grants, the RFPs are highly technical and require a proposal document that is specifically structured to stated requirements.  This means that databases of standardized answers to specific information requests can be built and reused conveniently. 

Most of the proposal products cannot seem to distinguish between ``boilerplate" text sections and proposal archives--and the need to be able to maintain them separately, yet cross-refer to them.  Most of them cannot target the topic of text you are interested in using and retrieve it--they bring in the whole associated document.  It wastes time to have to search and cut out the section that you want from an entire file.

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that while there are some excellent proposal database-building tools available today, the only winning solution for a professional services firm is still to create its own proprietary response system.   In the personal service business, ``canned" answers are not effective at selling the work. 

Nevertheless, a good proprietary system may be built based on some existing products.  Certainly some of the largest law and accounting firms have used specially created proposal databases using Lotus Notes, or a combination of Microsoft Word and Access.   Over the past year I have evaluated the currently available commercial proposal software options.  If you are considering purchasing a proposal program to help organize your own firm's process, here are some observations on each that may help you as you try to find the right solution.  If I can help you, let me know.

I've also provided a list of questions that you might want to ask before signing on the dotted line.  Every firm's requirements will be a little different. Click here to go to the questions. You may want to print them out for easy reference.

Leading Proposal Software Packages

FolioView Infobase
(Open Market, Inc. About $1,200.)  http://www.folio.com/

FolioViews is intended as a multiuser product for LAN or Intranet, and provides end users with tools to create personal 'views' of information in its databases.  It is primarily for storing and retrieving information, which is one of the first proposal functions that most firms grapple with.  It can be useful for such applications as large numbers of resumes, proposal archives and proposal summaries and features near instantaneous searching, custom query templates, highlighters, sticky notes and bookmarks to make even a large database more accessible.

Proposal Master
Sant's people conduct site visits where they build a customized data base for their customers.   Their consultants then populate the package with the industry and company-specific information to be used by the program.  Output is a Microsoft Word document that can be edited further.   Additional components include ProposalTracker, PresentationBuilder and RFPMaster.  A downloadable demo is available from http://www.santcorp.com .

Advantage Consulting http://www.acibiz.com/tools/pss01.html

Automates the proposal process from planning through production. It integrates your expertise with their proposal methodology in a LAN/Windows environment.   The program provides tools for analyzing an RFP or set of requirements, building a Proposal Cross Reference and using project management, storyboard and text templates. PSS was developed in MS Visual Basic and integrates MS Word, Project and Access.  May be more appropriate in a large firm or government contracts environment. 

RFP for Windows
http://www.rfp4win.com/PROD01.HTM

Designed primarily for the architecture, engineering, construction, and environmental  professions integrates all of your marketing information into one centralized database. RFP's user-friendly interface simplifies data entry, proposal generation, and Report Writing.

RFP Machine
 

The RFP Machine is one of the leading contenders for proposal management.  While primarily a database application that can store and categorize information, it has two interesting features that make it a cut above the field.   First, a simple artificial intelligence that makes subsequent searches for various information more precise, and secondly, easy updating of existing RFP Machine text as changes are needed.  Many financial service organizations (banks, insurance companies, etc.)  use it for their proposals, as do some of the larger government contracting companies.  The program may be less useful in a grant/contract environment or a large multi-user environment. A downloadable demo is available from http://rfpmachine.com.