The Public Bids / Competitor Tracking window helps you make sure that no bids are missed because you forgot to get the bid in. Aside from tracking bid due and awarded dates, this window also shows you how many times you have competed with other companies for business and if you collect the public bid prices published after the bid is awarded, you can track the difference in your pricing against individual competitors over time. If you log your competitors and who won a project without it being a bid, you will still compile how many times your company won or lost over time.
You can open the Public Bids by right clicking on a project from any grid or tree where projects are listed going to the Modules sub menu and choosing "Public Bids" or you can open the project information window and then click on Modules on the left “hamburger” menu panel of the Project window and choose Public Bids / Competitor Tracking.
Regardless if this is a bid or you are just tracking your competition, you must fill out the information below, as it is required. Even though you might not have a Bid Due Date, you will still need to fill this out along with the specs available . The project type is what e-manage|ONE uses to compare apples to apples. Only those product types from other projects that match the project type of this project will be compiled. Do not fill out the Bid Submitted unless it is a bid and you have submitted the bid. Your bid amount will be your actual bid amount after you submit the bid.
Filling out this portion of the form will put the project on the Bid / Competitor Tracking on the Today pop-out panel from the right side of the e-manage|ONE main window. See here for additional details.
After you have created the initial Bid information, next you will want to add your competitors. If this is a bid, you can add competitors when you first know which companies you are competing with, then after the bid is awarded, fill out the Bid Amount for each competitor and if one of your competitors has the winning bid, check the Winning bid checkbox for the competitor. If not a bid, simply choose the competitor and save, and after you know who won the project, check the winning bid on either the left side of the window (you won) or the winning bid for the competitor on the right side (they won).
Whether or not you are working on an actual bid or just tracking your competition you must fill out the awarded date and check the Winning bid checkbox on either your side or click on a competitor that won the project and click the winning bid on their side. With public bids, the bid amounts are published data regardless of who won. This is a great way to get to know your competition in a way that you cannot keep in your head.
You can change the Compile Info drop down list box to view data from different periods of time to see if you are getting closer to your competition (or winning more projects against them) over time.
You can also track this information directly in the Current Opportunities grid in the Today Panel to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Most fields can even be made editable to adjust information directly in the grid.
