CorasWorks

Discovering Ideas for and Preparing RFPs with Idea Management

Supplementing Existing Response System

One of our customers is a large government systems integrator who devised a unique approach to using our Idea Management solution to supplement their existing proposal management solution (which was also created by using CorasWorks on SharePoint). In this scenario, Idea Management is used to tap into their broad workforce to get crucial technical, delivery and operational ideas, as well as input and information up front and throughout the proposal process. The objective is to improve their proposal, increase their chance of winning and their success in delivery and making money doing it.

Four Steps to Refining The RFP Process with Idea Management

1. Response Site Created - Within this scenario, once a RFP comes in from the prospect, a response site is created within their system, and the introductory steps to prepare an RFP take place.

 

2. Community Created in the Form of a Challenge - Then, the response team creates a community within our Idea Management solution. The goal of the community is to get feedback from a selected audience. The community is set up in the form of a challenge: there is a limited time frame (often, about two weeks to a month), during which time community members contribute, rate, comment, and augment ideas.

 

3. Ideas With Potential Return to Response Site - After this stage the ideas are screened. Ideas with potential go back to the response team site to use in the process of preparing the RFP.

 

4. Continue To Push Important Points Back to the Community During The Process - As new issues or topics come up in the process of refining the RFP, some may need valuable community input in order to resolve or refine them further. For example, if questions arise about the availability of resources for the project being proposed while creating the RFP, that issue may need to be sent back to the community for further discussion. The information that subsequently arises from community feedback on that particular point is then drawn from to futher hone the details of the proposal.

Create Your Own RFP Response Process with CorasWorks Idea Management and SharePoint

You can create a similar type of process with our Idea Management Solution and SharePoint. Start with the use of simple native SharePoint collaborative sites for proposals. CorasWorks integrates and allows for downstream integration with any SharePoint-based site. In addition, you can integrate this process with third-party Proposal Management solutions. You can set this up in one of two ways: in the first scenario, you can simply access selected information from the third-party app, and in the second, more interactive scenario you can actually push or pull the information into the database of the third-party app.

Interested in learning more about how to create a customized RFP response process at your organization? Contact us to request a demo and find out how your organization can streamline and improve its RFP response process with the powerful addition of our Idea Management solution.