Sunday, February 15, 2009

An example story from a real proposal

This was one of four scenarios presented not to Global Corp., but a large UK public sector body in a real business proposal.

John is an affiliated agent with Global Corp., based in London. As part of the getting to know about new procedures and initiatives, he is required to undertake a variety of training, delivered by a variety of means – face-to-face, on the job and through the new Global Corp. e-community portal.

Today, John needs to study some e-learning units in preparation for a classroom training session with Global Corp. Health and Safety investigators. These units cover the process for handling accident site evidence.

John has never done e-learning before and is apprehensive – he would rather get his hands dirty, and learn in the field. However, he has been asked to review the units before his meeting, so he logs on to the Global Corp. community portal, selects the “learning library” link and the “Handling accident site evidence” unit.

John likes that it tells him how long it will take to cover the unit, as well as the fact that he knows that it has been written by experts at Global Corp. He goes through the unit and finds that he enjoys the clearly presented information and finds it very easy to understand. He also likes that he can go through it at his own pace and whenever he likes.

At one point, John finds one part of the unit slightly ambiguous – as he has no-one around to ask he posts a question to his online mentor. The next day, he has a reply that clears up his problem.

At the following weeks training session, John realises how beneficial the e-learning unit was – all the attendees were up to speed on the different procedures and the practical training was much better as he could practice and improve rather than just learn the basics

As you can see, the walkthroughs aren't complicated, but help present a layman's viewpoint in your proposal that may very well be read and evaluated by people unfamiliar with the overly technical aspects of your proposal solution.

For more on how to write a business proposal see the Learn to Write Proposals proposal guide.

Next....schedules and project plans.

Visit www.learntowriteproposals.com for more RFP, tender and proposal resources.