Enterprise proposal management system

• US 7,506,001 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2006
• Issued: 03/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: I3solutions
• Original Assignee: I3solutions
• Inventors: Johnson, Christopher, Branson, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo; James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Moser; Bruce M
• Application Number:
  US11/590,755
• Publication Number:
  US 20080114628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 867 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 707/792
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1053 Employment or hiring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A system and method for managing an enterprise is provided. The system and method may be based on a layered architecture including a data center that may store all documents and data abstractions for an enterprise. One or more services may interact with an enterprise resource planning system and/or a customer relationship manager to facilitate interaction with the documents and data abstractions. A client access point of the system may include a graphical user interface that includes one or more enterprise management functions for managing the enterprise documents and/or data abstractions. The enterprise management functions may include a user proposal manager, an enterprise proposal manager, a proposal library, a content health manager, an archive library, a bid center, a contracts manager, a resume manager, a debriefing center, and/or a projects manager. The enterprise management functions may re-engineer business processes and enable users to manage all aspects of an enterprise using a single unified interface.

Claims

1. A method for managing proposal related tasks and proposal related data for an entity using an enterprise proposal management system, the proposal related tasks including one or more tasks for managing a proposal lifecycle, the proposal related data including data stored in one or more data repositories derived from one or more past, present, or anticipated proposal opportunities, the method comprising:

receiving information describing a proposal opportunity at a graphical user interface coupled to the enterprise proposal management system;

developing business strategies for the proposal opportunity using the data stored in the data repositories, wherein developing the business strategies includes generating a win score to provide information about whether the entity should pursue the proposal opportunity, wherein the generating the win score includes;

identifying at least one issue for the proposal opportunity;

assigning a weight to the at least one issue;

identifying an ability of at least one competitor to respond to the issue;

identifying an ability of the entity to respond to the issue;

identifying at least one technique to differentiate the entity'"'"'s ability to respond to the issue from the competitor'"'"'s ability to respond to the issue; and

generating the win score using a weighted result derived from relative competitive positions for the competitor and the entity in relation to the issue;

automatically updating the data stored in the data repositories to include information relating to the proposal opportunity, wherein automatically updating the data repositories includes;

storing the information describing the proposal opportunity in the data repositories as a data abstraction for the proposal opportunity; and

associating the data abstraction for the proposal opportunity with the win score generated for the proposal opportunity;

managing development of a proposal if the entity pursues the proposal opportunity, wherein managing development of the proposal includes using the data stored in the data repositories to develop the proposal; and

controlling delivery of the proposal if the entity wins the proposal opportunity, wherein controlling delivery of the proposal includes interacting with the data stored in the data repositories to coordinate one or more areas for the entity'"'"'s delivery of the proposal, wherein the data stored in the data repositories is automatically updated to include information relating to the entity'"'"'s development and/or delivery of the proposal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically updating the data stored in the data repositories includes:

receiving a request at the graphical user interface coupled to the enterprise proposal management system;

communicating the request to a first service layer associated with the enterprise proposal management system, the first service layer including one or more services for managing the proposal related tasks and the proposal related data for the entity;

communicating the request from the first service layer to a second service layer associated with the enterprise proposal management system, the second service layer including at least one data service and at least one document service; and

communicating the request from the second service layer to the data repositories to automatically update the data stored in the data repositories based on the request.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data repositories include at least one operational data repository and at least one data warehouse, wherein the data stored in the data repositories includes information relating to at least one of an enterprise resource planning system or a customer relationship management system associated with the entity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data stored in the data repositories includes data abstractions for one or more of proposals, contracts, resumes, debriefings, projects, content health, or documents, wherein each of the data abstractions include one or more metadata fields.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein managing development of the proposal further includes one or more of displaying or updating information relating to at least one of the data abstraction associated with the proposal opportunity, one or more documents associated with the proposal, and/or one or more tasks associated with the development of the proposal.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising closing the proposal based on an outcome of the proposal, wherein closing the proposal includes:

collecting information describing the outcome of the proposal;

summarizing one or more issues leading to the outcome of the proposal;

uploading one or more documents used in the development and/or the delivery of the proposal, wherein the one or more documents are uploaded to the data repositories;

evaluating one or more vendors that collaborated on the proposal; and

associating the data abstraction for the proposal opportunity with the collected information, the summarized issues, the uploaded documents, and the evaluated vendors.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein managing development of the proposal further includes assembling a proposal document for the proposal, wherein assembling the proposal document includes:

selecting one or more templates for the proposal document;

specifying an order for the one or more templates; and

merging the one or more selected templates in the specified order to assemble the proposal document.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a proposal library, that includes one or more active documents or one or more inactive documents, wherein the inactive documents include documents closed after a predetermined date;

maintaining an archive library, that includes one or more inactive documents closed before the predetermined date; and

managing content health, wherein managing content health includes one or more of displaying content that has expired or content that will expire within a predetermined amount of time.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising handling one or more contracts for the entity using the enterprise proposal management system, wherein handling contracts for the entity includes one or more of displaying or updating information relating to at least one of a data abstraction associated with a contract, one or more documents associated with the contract, or one or more tasks associated with the contract.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein handling contracts for the entity further includes:

receiving information describing the contract at the graphical user interface coupled to the enterprise proposal management system; and

automatically updating the data stored in the data repositories to include information relating to the contract, wherein automatically updating the data repositories includes storing the information describing the contract in the data repositories as a data abstraction for the contract.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein handling contracts for the entity further includes:

selecting one or more templates to be included in a document for the contract;

specifying an order for the one or more templates;

merging the one or more selected templates in the specified order to assemble the contract document;

uploading the contract document and one or more documents used in one or more of developing or delivering the contract, wherein the contract document and the one or more documents are uploaded to the data repositories;

collecting information describing an outcome of the contract; and

associating data abstraction for the contract with the uploaded contract document, the one or more uploaded documents, and the collected information.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising handling resumes for one or more employees of the entity, wherein handling resumes for the employees of the entity includes:

receiving information describing an employee at the graphical user interface coupled to the enterprise proposal management system;

automatically updating the data stored in the data repositories to include a profile for the employee, wherein automatically updating the data repositories includes storing the information describing the employee in the data repositories as a resume data abstraction for the employee; and

managing a proxy for the employee, wherein managing the proxy for the employee includes associating the employee with one or more proxy employees who act as points of contact when the proxied employee is unavailable.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising supervising a debriefing session that includes deconstructing an outcome of the proposal, wherein supervising the debriefing session includes:

identifying one or more requirements for the proposal;

identifying the entity'"'"'s responses to the requirements for the proposal;

identifying one or more competitors'"'"' responses to the requirements for the proposal;

associating the data abstraction for the proposal opportunity with the identified requirements and the entity'"'"'s responses to the requirements; and

storing the competitors'"'"' responses to the requirements in a customer relationship management system associated with the entity.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising handling one or more projects for the entity, wherein handling projects for the entity includes one or more of displaying or updating information relating to at least one of a data abstraction associated with a project, one or more documents associated with the project, or one or more tasks associated with the project.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein handling projects for the entity further includes:

receiving information describing the project at the graphical user interface coupled to the enterprise proposal management system;

automatically updating the data stored in the data repositories to include information relating to the project, wherein automatically updating the data repositories includes storing the information describing the project in the data repositories as a data abstraction for the project;

uploading one or more documents used in one or more of developing or delivering the project, wherein the one or more documents are uploaded to the data repositories;

collecting information describing an outcome of the project; and

associating the data abstraction for the project with the the one or more uploaded documents and the collected information.

16. A method for managing proposal related tasks and proposal related data for an entity using an enterprise proposal management system, the proposal related tasks include at least including one or more for managing a proposal lifecycle, the proposal related data including data stored in one or more data repositories derived from one or more past, present, and/or anticipated proposal opportunities, the method comprising:

receiving information describing a proposal opportunity at a graphical user interface coupled to the enterprise proposal management system, wherein the proposal opportunity includes a solicitation for one or more bids;

developing business strategies for the proposal opportunity using the data stored in the data repositories, wherein developing the business strategies includes generating a bid score to provide information about whether the entity should pursue the proposal opportunity, wherein generating the bid score includes;

developing a first score for the entity based on qualifications of the entity in relation to the proposal opportunity;

developing a second score for the entity based on competitive factors relating to the proposal opportunity; and

generating a bid score indicating a relative likelihood of the entity winning the proposal opportunity, wherein the bid score is derived from the first score and the second score;

managing development of a proposal if the entity pursues the proposal opportunity, wherein the proposal includes a bid in response to the solicitation and wherein managing development of the proposal includes using the data stored in the data repositories to develop the proposal; and

controlling delivery of the proposal if the entity wins the proposal opportunity, wherein controlling delivery of the proposal includes interacting with the data stored in the data repositories to coordinate one or more areas for the entity'"'"'s delivery of the proposal, wherein the data stored in the data repositories is automatically updated to include information relating to the entity'"'"'s development and/or delivery of the proposal.

17. An enterprise proposal management system for managing proposal related tasks and proposal related data for an entity, the proposal related tasks including one or more tasks for managing a proposal lifecycle, the system comprising one or more data repositories for storing proposal related data derived from one or more past, present, or anticipated proposal opportunities, the system further comprising one or more processors collectively configured to:

receive information describing a proposal opportunity at a graphical user interface coupled to the enterprise proposal management system;

develop business strategies for the proposal opportunity proposal using the data stored in the data repositories, wherein developing the business strategies includes generating a win score to provide information about whether the entity should pursue the proposal opportunity, wherein generating the win score includes;

identifying at least one issue for the proposal opportunity;

assigning a weight to the at least one issue;

identifying an ability of at least one competitor to respond to the issue;

identifying an ability of the entity to respond to the issue;

identifying at least one technique to differentiate the entity'"'"'s ability to respond to the issue from the competitor'"'"'s ability to respond to the issue; and

generating the win score using a weighted result derived from relative competitive positions for the competitor and the entity in relation to the issue;

automatically update the data stored in the data repositories to include information relating to the proposal opportunity, wherein automatically updating the data repositories includes;

storing the information describing the proposal opportunity in the data repositories as a data abstraction for the proposal opportunity; and

associating the data abstraction for the proposal opportunity with the win score generated for the proposal opportunity;

manage development of a proposal if the entity pursues the proposal opportunity, wherein managing development of the proposal includes using the data stored in the data repositories to develop the proposal; and

control delivery of the proposal if the entity wins the proposal opportunity, wherein controlling delivery of the proposal includes interacting with the data stored in the data repositories to coordinate one or more areas for the entity'"'"'s delivery of the proposal, wherein the data stored in the data repositories is automatically updated to include information relating to one or more of the entity'"'"'s development or delivery of the proposal.

18. An enterprise proposal management system for managing proposal related tasks and proposal related data for an entity, the proposal related tasks including one or more tasks for managing a proposal lifecycle, the system comprising one or more data repositories for storing proposal related data derived from one or more of past, present, or anticipated proposal opportunities, system further comprising one or more processors collectively configured to:

receive information describing a proposal opportunity at a graphical user interface coupled to the enterprise proposal management system, wherein the proposal opportunity includes a solicitation for one or more bids;

develop business strategies for a proposal opportunity using the data stored in the data repositories, wherein developing the business strategies includes generating a bid score to provide information about whether the entity should pursue the proposal opportunity, wherein generating the bid score includes;

developing a first score for the entity based on qualifications of the entity in relation to the proposal opportunity;

developing a second score for the entity based on competitive factors relating to the proposal opportunity; and

generating a bid score indicating a relative likelihood of the entity winning the proposal opportunity, wherein the bid score is derived from the first score and the second score;

manage development a proposal if the entity pursues the proposal opportunity, wherein the proposal includes a bid in response to the solicitation and wherein managing development of the proposal includes using the data stored in the data repositories to develop the proposal; and

control delivery of the proposal if the entity wins the proposal opportunity, wherein controlling delivery of the proposal includes interacting with the data stored in the data repositories to coordinate one or more areas for the entity'"'"'s delivery of the proposal, wherein the data stored in the data repositories is automatically updated to include information relating to one or more of the entity'"'"'s development or delivery of the proposal.