Proposals Tab of the Projects Form

Project proposals are the primary tools that you use to sell your firm's services and win new business. Proposals contain all the information about your firm, your employees, and your previous work that prospective clients want to know before they award a contract. Use the Proposals tab on the Projects form to enter a project's background or history information, including project codes, descriptions, awards received, and associated proposals.

This tab displays only if the CRM module or the CRM Plus module is activated. If the CRM module is activated but CRM Plus is not, the Description and Awards grids are available, but the Project Codes grid and the Proposals grid are not.

Note that proposal information applies to the project as a whole. If you navigate to a lower work breakdown structure (WBS) level, you can still make updates to proposal information, but those updates are not specific to the currently selected lower level WBS element.

Contents

Much of the information for Vantagepoint is entered and displayed in grids on various forms. For information about using grids, see Working with Grids.

Reorder columns and sort record rows in a grid to suit your viewing preferences. Changes that you make to the order of columns and rows are remembered from session to session. For information about how to reorder columns and sort records in a grid, see Sort Grid Row Order and Select Columns for a Grid.

Contents: Description Grid

Use the Description grid to add or delete descriptions of the work performed for a project. You can later use the descriptions when you create proposals for similar projects.

Field Description
Category Select a description category (for example, Brief Description or Detailed Description).
Description Enter the project description that you would like to appear in proposals. Click in this field to display the full description in the Descriptions dialog box where you can make changes to the text and apply formatting.
Default Select this check box to make a description category the default description that is used for the project when you build custom proposals.
To copy or delete a description, hover over the grid row, click this icon at the end of the row, and select Copy or Delete.

Contents: Awards Grid

Use the Awards grid to enter information about awards for a project. You can record any recognition your company receives from industry or other organizations for work performed on a project. You can then use this information when you create proposals for similar projects.

Field Description
Description Enter a description of the award.
Institution Enter the name of the institution that granted the award.
Awarded Enter the date on which the award was made.
To copy or delete an award, hover over the grid row, click this icon at the end of the row, and select Copy or Delete.

Contents: Project Codes Grid

Use the Project Codes grid to enter the project codes associated with a project. Project codes allow you to break out the types of work you performed on the project and enter fee amounts for each type of work.

Field Description
To change the sequence in which project codes display in proposals, hover over the row for a project code that you want to move and use this icon to drag the code to a new location in the sequence.

You can also change the sequence by entering sequence numbers for the project codes in the Seq column.

If you set a sequence either by dragging and dropping grid rows or by entering sequence numbers in the Seq column, Vantagepoint sorts the project codes on proposals by sequence. If you do not set a sequence, the codes are sorted by description.

Project Code Select a project code that applies to the project.
SF330 Code If there is an SF330 code associated with the project code that you select, the SF330 code displays in this field.

SF330 codes are defined in the Vantagepoint Desktop Settings > Organization > Proposal Firms.

Description The description for the project code displays in this field.
Fee Enter the fee that you expect to earn for the work associated with the selected project code.
Seq If you set a sequence either by entering sequence numbers in this column or by dragging and dropping grid rows, Vantagepoint sorts the project codes on proposals by sequence. If you do not set a sequence, the codes are sorted by description.
+ Add Project Code Click this link to display a blank grid row so you can select another project code for the project.

Contents: Proposals Grid

This grid displays if your enterprise uses CRM Plus and the Vantagepoint Proposals application. Use this grid to view the proposals that are associated with the project, either through the Proposals application or when you create a proposal log for the project. You can also use this grid to add a new proposal for a project, or to make changes to an existing proposal.

Field Description
Proposal Name This column displays the name of the proposal.

To view or edit a proposal, click the name to display the proposal form in the Custom Proposals application Proposals > Custom Proposals). If the proposal name displays without a link, the proposal was created from a proposal log with SF330 appended to the name.

Number This column displays a number or other ID associated with the proposal (a client number, for example).
Type This column displays the proposal type (for example, Letter of Interest or Statement of Qualifications).
Organization

If Vantagepoint is set up to use organizations, this column displays the organization that is preparing the proposal. You can drill down into the organization structure to select a unit at any level, such as a specific regional office or department.

Proposal Manager This column displays the employee who is coordinating the proposal process.
Source This column displays the way in which your company heard of the Request for Proposal. This proposal source can differ from the source of the project.
Status This column displays the status of the proposal (for example, Won or Pending).
Date Advertised This column displays the date of the notice for the Request for Proposal.
Submittal Date This column displays the date on which you submitted or plan to submit the proposal.
Award Date This column displays the date on which the project was awarded or on which you expect it to be awarded.
Fee This column displays the fee that you expect to earn if the client accepts your proposal.
Notes This column displays any additional information about the proposal. Click in this field to display the full note in the Notes dialog box where you can make changes to the text and apply formatting.
Proposal Type This display-only field lists the type of proposal, Custom or SF330. Custom proposals are generated from the Proposals application and SF330 proposals are generated from the Proposals application in the Vantagepoint desktop application.
+ Add Proposal To add a new proposal for the project, click + Add Proposal below the grid and use the New Proposal dialog box to enter the proposal's general information, including name, number, and due date. The current project defaults in the Project field. Click Continue to open the proposal in the Vantagepoint Proposal application, where you can build the remainder of the proposal. See the Create a New Proposal help topic for more information.