apmp - automation support for proposal development
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Automation Support forProposal Development
Association of Proposal Management Professionals
Chesapeake Chapter
May 25, 2017
Your Panelists and HostName/Organization Highlights
Erik JohnsonGeneral Dynamics Information Technology
• Extensive experience managing and producing proposals
• Leading implementation of tools• Wrote government contract requirements for
RFPs
Fergal McGovernVisibleThread
• Extensive experience with marketing and proposal software tools
• Perspective of how industry is using tools
Tracy WitmerNorthrop Grumman
• Extensive experience managing and producing proposals
• Technical and Program perspective
Melisa PayeMPM Writing Services
• Extensive experience writing and editing compelling proposal content
• Develop tools and recommended technologies to support proposal development
Agenda
• Automation: Features and benefits
• Tool Demonstration
• The Burning Questions
Proposal Development Process
• Analyzing and comparing
RFP versions
• Managing and locating
content
• Translating content
• Assembling documents
• Formatting documents
• Understanding agency
mission and needs
• Formulating the message
• Differentiating the
organization
• Drafting targeted content
• Building in quality
RFP Analysis and Proposal Generation Activities
20%
Strategic Tactical
80%
How Can Automation Help?
02468
1012
Manual
Automation
Day
s Sp
en
t
Thirty Day Proposal Effort
Automation shifts the time allotment among proposal process activities.
Automation Benefits
• Focus efforts on value-added solutions
• Start with a basic RFP burst vs cut-and-pasting a compliance matrix from scratch
Time
• Consistent formatting and content
• Increased qualityConsistency
• Supports and automates process management
• Provides a consistent experience regardless of proposal team role
Coordination & Efficiency
• Analyze performance against outcome
• Identify strengths & weaknesses for continuous process improvement
Insights & Analysis
Demonstration Overview
• Technology – overview and “state of the state”
• Functions we will review today:
1. Shredding RFP into Compliance or Responsibility Matrices
2. Comparing RFP Versions
3. Acronym Integrity
4. Readability and Clear Language Evaluation
5. Use Discovery for Resumes and Qualifications
6. Win Theme Usage and Consistency
1. Shredding RFP –Compliance & Responsibility Matrices
• Highly manual copy/paste process – can take hours/days
• OR if using MS Word macros, prone to error
• e.g. RFP Sections L&M, SOW, System Spec, Model Contract
• Automation can’t think for you but it can cut down the heavy lifting
• Beware – which automation approach
• Option 1: Training the tool by prepping the content.
Pitfall, energy and time required to prep can be prohibitive
• Option 2: Ingest the doc as is. Get quick results but need tweaking
80-20 rule (get 80% there with 20% of effort)
1. Shredding RFP –Compliance & Responsibility Matrices
2. Comparing RFP Versions
• I’ve used MS Word to compare a draft RFP against the final revision of the RFP.
2. Comparing RFP Versions
• I’ve used MS Word to compare a draft RFP against the final revision of the RFP.
2. Comparing RFP Versions
• I’ve used MS Word to compare a draft RFP against the final revision of the RFP.
Some issues with Microsoft Word Compare :
designed to merge documents, not compare differences side-by-side
difficulthard to seeread all ofthe merged documents paragraphs
hard to identify and line up the related paragraphs in each document revision
Word performance seems to be a problem
once important changes are identified, how do you assign tasks & manage the workflow ?
Let’s see how VisibleThread “compares”…
2. Comparing RFP Versions
2. Comparing RFP Versions
Easy to read side-by-side comparison
Compares text changes only, ignores formatting
Quickly see which paragraphs have changed – Identical, Modified, Deleted
Use Excel to filter on Modified, Deleted paragraphs
Add additional columns to manage workflow e.g. status, owner
Ability to exclude text/patterns from the comparison e.g. page numbers, dates, renamed products, entities
3. Acronym Integrity
• Checking for correctly defined Acronyms painful
• Time consuming.
• Simple search fine, but…also need to consider:
• Conflicting definitions
• Usage before definition
• Repeated definitions
• No definitions
3. Acronym Integrity
4. Readability & Clear Language Evaluation
• Need single tone of voice
• Not all SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) write well
• How to ‘score’ and fix in an objective way?
4. Readability & Clear Language Evaluation
4. Readability & Clear Language Evaluation
5. Use Discovery for Resumes & Qualifications
• Finding the right resumes to put into a Proposal can be tricky, & labor intensive
• Who has the right Clearance Levels (TSI etc.)?
• Who has the PMI certification or has done Agile projects?
• Who knows Java or is a cyber expert?
• Etc.
5. Use Discovery for Resumes & Qualifications
6. Win Theme Usage & Consistency
• Are we aligned with the customer?
• Using the right language & mirroring their approach?
‘Risk Abatement’ versus ‘Risk Mitigation’
• Addressing all factors/sub-factors?
• Emphasizing our win themes?
6. Win Theme Usage & Consistency
Final Questions or Comments?
Thank You!
With the greatest appreciation to you and your organization!
Erik Johnson, Senior Proposal ManagerGeneral Dynamics Information Technology
Tracy Witmer, Senior Proposal ManagerNorthrop Grumman
Additional Information:
Fergal McGovernCEO, VisibleThreadfergal.mcgovern@visiblethread.com | 301-793-1355
Melisa Paye, MPM Writing ServicesAPMP Chesapeake Chapter (Past Chair)mpmws@outlook.com | 410-804-9143
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