Building a Proposal

User Permissions

• Create and Update Proposal Documents - This permission allows you to create a new proposal and manage the proposals created by other users. You can also view the proposal template.
• Edit Proposal Documents (Sections) - This permission allows you to edit the selected sections in the proposal creation flow. A pencil icon will be displayed adjacent to the sections if this permission is enabled. This permission can be enabled only if Create and Update Proposal Documents permission is enabled.

 

Generating Proposals with Proposal Builder

Note: Before generating a proposal, please ensure the prerequisites mentioned here are fulfilled.

To start crafting a new proposal click Get Started.

If a proposal has already been built, you can click on New Proposal from any of the available tabs.

You can find proposals in the following statuses:

1. Draft - Proposals that are being drafted and not yet built.
2. Ready - Proposals that are built, but yet to be shared.
3. Redraft - Proposals that were edited after being built.
4. Shared - Proposals that are built and already shared.

You can view the quick help wizard by clicking  on the top right to get more information on the steps.

Building a proposal involves the following three steps.

1. Basic Information
2. Content Selection
3. Save & Share Proposal

Step 1: Basic Information

Enter the Proposal Name and, if desired, include a Description and Tags.

Building a Proposal Using a Template

Select a template from the Proposal Template Library. You can use the search and advanced filter options to find the template you want. 

 

Preview a template by clicking on it. The left side displays proposal details, including the creator, creation date, usage count, tags, section specifics, and dynamic fields from the template. The right side shows the template preview.

You can use the Previous and Next option to browse through the available templates. Click Use this template to select the template.

Then, click Next to proceed to the next step.

 

You will be prompted to add sections to the proposal. You can select them from your section templates or create a new blank section. 

 

• If you click Add sections from Library, you will be prompted to add sections from your section templates to the proposal. Click Open Section Library to see your section templates in a new browser window. You can search for the sections you want on the left side of the screen, see the available options in the middle, and the ones you have chosen on the right. When you are finished, click Done.

• If you click Create New Section, a panel at the bottom will appear. Enter the section information. You can save the new section as one of your section templates or use it only in this proposal.
  

You can click and drag a section's handle to reorder it.

Building a Proposal Without Using a Template

To set this up, go to Organization Settings > User Management > Manage Roles. Edit the role you want to have this permission. In the Proposal Builder settings, select Skip Proposal Template, and then click Save.

 

When building your proposal, click Skip Proposal Template instead of selecting a template (you can add a template later).

 

You will be prompted to add one or more themes. You can select Add for one of the listed themes, upload a new one, or click I'll do this later at the top of the page to begin with the default theme.

 

You will be prompted to add sections from your section templates to the proposal. Click Open Section Library to see your section templates in a new browser window. You can search for the sections you want on the left side of the screen, see the available options in the middle, and the ones you have chosen on the right. You can click and drag a section's handle to reorder it. When you are finished, click Done.

 

Step 2: Content Selection

Next, you can start updating the proposal content in the following ways:

• Update Dynamic Content
• Edit Section Content

Update Dynamic Fields

On the right pane, dynamic content like catalogs and merge tags in the sections are automatically identified and highlighted. You can differentiate them with color-coded lines: blue underlines for merge tags and deep orange lines for catalogs.

Merge Tag

To update merge tags, enter the replacement text in their respective fields. You will see the changes reflected immediately on the right pane.

Note: Merge Tags used within Catalogs are also listed on the left pane.

You can use and to navigate between merge tags within the sections.

Catalogs

To choose catalogs, click the Add button on the catalog card, select the catalogs you wish to include in the proposal, and click Apply when finished.

You can use and to navigate between catalogs within the section.

When a catalog has been reused in multiple sections, you can choose to apply the catalog selection to all subsequent sections.

Click Apply to all sections; a confirmation pop-up is displayed. On confirming, the catalog selection is applied to the subsequent sections.

Note: Edits are disabled and a lock icon is displayed for the subsequent sections. Click the lock icon to navigate to the catalog card where the selection has been made. Any updates made to the catalog selection will reflect in all the sections to which it has been applied.

To revert the catalog selection for all sections, clear the Apply to all sections checkbox. A confirmation popup will appear. Click Retain to keep the selected catalogs; this allows you to go back to each section and make individual changes to the catalog selection.

Alternatively, you can choose to clear the catalog selection for the subsequent sections by clicking Clear.

Unlink/Restore Dynamic Content

Merge Tag

To turn a merge tag into regular text, hover over the tag, click Unlink, and confirm by selecting Yes on the confirmation pop-up.

If there is only one instance of the tag, it will be substituted with the replacement text, and the placeholder tag will no longer appear on the list of dynamic fields on the left pane. In the case of multiple instances of the same merge tag, the selected instance is substituted with the replacement text, and the merge tag placeholder count is decreased on the left pane.

Note: You can unlink a merge tag only after specifying the replacement text.

Once the tag is unlinked an Edited label is displayed beside the section title.

To reverse the unlink action, click Revert from Template. A confirmation pop-up is displayed. Click Continue to revert the changes made to the section.

Catalogs

To turn the catalogs applied to a section into regular text, click  and confirm by selecting Yes on the confirmation pop-up.

Unlike merge tags, catalogs are grouped by sections. If unlinked, all catalogs within the section transition to regular text.

Note: You can unlink catalogs only after selecting them.

Once the catalogs are unlinked an Edited label is displayed beside the section title.

To reverse the unlink action, click Revert from Template. A confirmation pop-up is displayed. Click Continue to revert the changes made to the section.

Updating Theme’s Dynamic Fields

Dynamic fields introduced to the proposal via Theme files that are not a part of the selected section content can be updated through the pop-up that is displayed by clicking Save and Preview.

To update the content, enter the replacement text and click Save.

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Note: You can click to modify or update the values of the Dynamic Fields in the Theme. The icon is disabled, if the selected theme lacks any dynamic fields.

Edit Section Content

Click to edit the section content. Once edited, an Edited label will appear beside the section title.

To undo the edits click Revert from Template. A confirmation pop-up will be displayed. Click Continue to revert the edits.

Step 3: Save & Preview

Once the sections and contents of the proposal have been configured, click Save and Preview.

Once the sections are saved, click Build Proposal to generate the proposal.

The sections that you select in the Content selection step are displayed in the left pane. The sections could be from the template as well as from the content library.