Improving the Productivity of Business Proposal Development Using Six Sigma Methodologies

Today's proposal development process is a critical activity in the business development lifecycle of an organization. In order to successfully meet the frequently changing and increasing requirements from customers and partners, the development effort and response time for building proposals has to be controlled effectively. The challenge is further enhanced due to teams and groups working across various geographies. This paper presents the Six Sigma approach to improve and streamline a proposal development process for organizations interacting globally.

Two CTQ objectives related to effort and schedule variance are considered for productivity improvement. Various Six Sigma tools such as T-Map, SIPOC, Process Map, FMEA, Process Control Plan etc. are used to develop the improved process.