LaunchTime and costs of every bid
Proposals cost time and money. Know exactly how much.
Every hour the bid team spends on an opportunity is logged and costed, just like project work. You see what each bid costs to win as it is written, and how much of your people's time goes into winning work across the business.
Logging time to a bid
On step 1, Setup, add the bid team under People working on this proposal and give each person a role. The opportunity then shows on their timesheets, and they log their hours to it like any project:
- To its activities: Review RFP, Estimate the project, Proposal and any you add.
- To your organization's Opportunity codes, the time codes kept for bids, for example meetings, site visits or presentations.
What each bid costs
The bid team table on Setup keeps a running total for every person:
| Column | What it shows |
| Mission role | The role they are working in, which sets their cost rate. |
| Approved hrs | Hours approved on their timesheets for this bid. |
| Cost | Those hours at their cost rate. |
Open a person to see their role and cost rate. Only approved hours count, so the figures match your timesheet approvals.
Tip: Put the cost of writing the bid next to the profit at your bid on Estimating to see what a win is really worth.
Across the business
- Time tracking → Analytics in the Organization workspace shows Business development: the hours invested in opportunities for the period. The time breakdown puts them beside client projects, internal work and leave.
- In the Data Grid, set the project type to Opportunity to list your bids with their figures.
Effort against outcome
Set the hours and cost behind your bids against what the Opportunities board shows you won and lost. Over time you see which clients, departments and kinds of work repay the effort, and where your bid time is best spent.