How to Energize a Custom Workflow Graphic with Subject Matter Experts

Technical approaches in a government proposal can become complex as you demonstrate how your team can fulfill the customer’s goal better than your competitors. Usually written by technical experts, the technical approach demonstrates your understanding of the PWS and of the customer; shows the steps to accomplish the work; details associated risks and mitigations; and provides experience proof points—all of which point to the benefits of your approach for your customer.

Sometimes, technical approaches can turn into long paragraphs of detailed information that may be difficult to read and understand. You can energize your technical approach with a customized technical workflow graphic that is easy to read, understand, and evaluate. A custom workflow can provide detailed data to support the narrative content, can replace long paragraphs of text, and can also be used as a training or quick reference guide.

How to Create a Technical Workflow

Proposal Managers can work with PWS subject matter experts (SMEs) to create an outline, then expand a workflow for their department, group, or PWS element. This technique is especially useful when SMEs have limited time or limited proposal writing skills. This process may be faster than asking a technical expert to create a compelling narrative or a graphic that conveys very technical information to a non-technical audience. This technique works with most kinds of work – customer call center, manufacturing department, engineering group, or others.

To create a draft workflow, you will need a lot of data from the SME, which they may provide verbally in an interview, or they may provide written answers to specific questions. They create the draft workflow, have SMEs validate it, and then make revisions based on their inputs. Repeat this process until all details are accurate and they are logically represented in the workflow. After the graphic is complete and validated, you can tailor narrative to support the graphic as you detail the tools, interfaces, innovations, and results expected with your technical approach. Technical experts can review and validate your final narrative and technical workflow graphic together before that section goes to a review team. A list of questions to build a technical workflow is included at the end of this post.

You may use this technique to illustrate the current approach and then look for areas where you can make improvements. Visualizing the process may reveal bottlenecks or areas where minor changes can improve the process, such as running some processes in parallel rather than in sequence.

You can use this graphic in your proposal and note improvements with a specific color or icon to make it easy for evaluators to see your proposed improvements.

A completed workflow graphic may look something like the one shown here. Work with a graphic artist to include appropriate icons, proposal colors, and make the graphic as easy to understand as possible.

Energize your technical approach with a custom workflow that you develop in conjunction with SMEs, which will demonstrate your deep understanding of complex processes and set you apart from the competition. You will then be well on your way to winning technical approach!

Download our Proposal Management Toolkit, which includes templates a team overview graphic, technical approach format, past performance examples, and other tools for proposal managers.

Questions to Develop a Technical Workflow Process

 Receiving Work Assignments

• How is work assigned to employees?
• Who assigns the work?
• How are employees notified of work?
• Do they pick up a work package and scan a work order?
• What is the form number for the work order?
• Do employees often pass work through multiple personnel, stations, or department?
• How is this accomplished?
• Who determines project or work priorities?
• Is there a priority process that supersedes routine processes?
• Is a specific software program used to assign work?
• Does anyone create a job estimate for work? If so, how, what software, is there a review of this estimate?