Proposal Managers use a Responsibility Matrix for defining a team’s roles and responsibilities as part of the proposal creation process.
RACI is an acronym that stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. The first stage is creating a Responsibility Matrix, to see who is responsible for which task. It’s usually the first step after agreeing to bid, it’s certainly the most time-consuming but it’s also essential. It allows the Proposal Manager to get a handle on who needs to contribute what element to the proposal. They can then share tasks with relevant teams, and ask them to report back. They can make sure that every responsibility is accounted for, and that no task is missed.
The problem is, Proposal Managers typically spend hours manually creating a Responsibility Matrix for their RACIs. They need to search the document for key terms or phrases that apply to various roles and departments. They must double-check everything. And when the solicitation is hundreds of pages long, this can dominate their workload. Sometimes, other teams jump in and do their own RACIs. The various RACIs may not overlap. Things can easily fall through the cracks.
That’s why we built a Responsibility Matrix feature that automates the process. It can really speed up time spent reviewing a proposal. And it also offers a number of other compelling benefits for Proposal Managers.
How does VT Docs’ Responsibility Matrix work?
First, the Proposal Manager creates a dictionary that assigns keywords to relevant teams. For example, she might assign responsibilities including the words “price” and “cost” to the Pricing Team.
When she’s ready to run a Responsibility Matrix, she selects the proposal in VT Docs. The solution then scans the solicitation for these keywords. Within seconds, it automatically generates a Responsibility Matrix in MS Excel. It highlights instances of those keywords broken down by team. The Proposal Manager shares this file with relevant team members, who can filter on their tasks.
Why create a Responsibility Matrix using VT Docs?
It saves time
This process shaves hours off the time it takes to create a Responsibility Matrix by hand. The solution does all the work of extracting responsibilities, and of splitting tasks by teams. And it literally takes a few seconds.
It also saves other teams time as they can easily filter on their responsibilities. They don’t need to look at any part of the proposal that isn’t related to their work. They have more time to focus on addressing their tasks, and coming back to you with an action plan.
It allows you to build your team more effectively
Using the Responsibility Matrix, you can easily see who needs to input to the bid. Previously, you would search through the solicitation, noting down who needs to contribute to the proposal.
The automated process also allows you to see clearly where you have gaps. You can quickly identify when you need to involve a new teaming partner, and start your search immediately. By running a Responsibility Matrix, you and your teams are more prepared to start working on the proposal.
It catches responsibilities that you could easily miss
As long as you create your dictionary with the correct keywords, the Responsibility Matrix ensures you miss nothing. It scans the whole document, and catches every instance of that keyword. So if there is a mention of pricing on p.3, and then another on p.503, the Responsibility Matrix will flag both instances for your Pricing Team.
It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re working quickly. Especially when you have long proposals to review. VT Docs minimizes the chance of these errors happening.
A quick and easy way to get the ‘R’ in your RACI
VT Docs’ Responsibility Matrix gives you the ‘R’ in your RACI. It also makes it easier to then define who is accountable, consulted, and informed on each task. And then you’ve got your complete RACI.
Automating your Responsibility Matrices reduces effort, time spent, as well the risk of missing errors. It allows you to concentrate on collaborating effectively with your teams, and winning the bid. In a recent virtual session, we spoke to Karnita McElveen of ISCI who did just that. She used VT Docs to save time, allowing her to focus on winning proposals. She won 100% of the proposals she worked on in the first six months of joining the company. This helped her to secure a promotion.
That’s the beauty of VT Docs’ Responsibility Matrix. It can help you excel at your job, as well as saving time that you can spend elsewhere. Just think – how will you spend the hours you save?
