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Modifying and Adding Content to a Proposal

After you create and view a draft of a proposal, you may decide to change the order of its sections, or add new sections.

The following procedures describe how to view, modify and add content to the proposal:

Viewing the Structure of a Proposal

You can view the structure of a proposal in the Proposal Table of Contents view, which lets you see the hierarchy of sections and components that make up your proposal when it is generated.

Sections are the headings that appear in your proposal. Sections can contain subsections and components. Components consist of the actual written information that appears in your proposal. A component can contain multiple files.

To view the structure of a proposal

  1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, and in the Opportunities list, select the opportunity associated with the proposal.
  2. Click the Proposals view tab, and in the Proposals list, select the proposal.
  3. In the proposal record, drill down on the hyperlink in the Name field.

    4. The Proposal Table of Contents appears, showing the structure of the proposal.

    Click the plus sign (+) next to each section to expand sections and components.

    The following figure shows an example of the Proposals Table of Contents, with the explorer pane on the left showing the sections and components of the proposal, and the Sections pane on the right showing a list of sections.

Click for full size image

Adding Content to the Proposal

If an administrator has created optional sections in the Proposals Library, you can customize the proposal by adding one or more of these sections. The Edit Layout command allows you to add content to your proposal using the Proposal Library.

To add content from the Proposal Library

  1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, and in the Opportunities list, select the opportunity associated with the proposal.
  2. Click the Proposals view tab, and in the Proposals list, select the proposal and click Edit Layout.

    3. The Template Layout dialog box appears. To display more items in the Content Library list, clear the Show Recommended Only check box.

  3. In the Template Layout dialog box, move items from the Content Library pane to the Table of Contents pane, and then click Save.
  4. In the Proposals list, drill down on the proposal name to open the Proposal Table of Contents view to see the new content.

Changing the Order of Sections in a Proposal

When you add a section to a proposal, the sequence numbers are not automatically regenerated. if you insert a section within the current sequence, you must modify each sequence number. The sequence numbers in the Proposals list determine the order in which sections and components appear. There are two methods that you can use to resequence proposal sections and components:

To use Edit Layout

  1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, and in the Opportunities list, select the opportunity associated with the proposal.
  2. Click the Proposals view tab, and in the Proposals list, select the proposal and click Edit Layout.
  3. In the Template Layout dialog box, use the sequencing arrows to change the order of the sections.

To use Proposal Table of Contents

  1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, and in the Opportunities list, select the opportunity associated with the proposal.
  2. Click the Proposals view tab, and in the Proposals list, select the proposal.
  3. In the proposal record, drill down on the hyperlink in the Name field.
  4. In the Proposal Table of Contents explorer, click the plus sign (+) to expand each section.
  5. In the Sections list, change the number in the Sequence field for each selected section.

To remove sections in a proposal

  1. Navigate to Opportunities screen, and in the Opportunities list, select the opportunity associated with the proposal.
  2. Click the Proposals view tab, select the proposal, and in the proposal record, drill down on the hyperlink in the Name field.
  3. In the Proposal Table of Contents explorer, click the plus sign (+) to expand each section.
  4. In the Sections list, select the section, right click with the mouse, and choose Delete Record.

    5. NOTE:  You can also use the Edit Layout command to remove content from a proposal. For more information, see To use Edit Layout.

Adding a Component to a Proposal

Section components are the boilerplate text that make up your proposal. To add components, components must already be associated with the section. You can add components to sections from the Proposals Library, from the Siebel Encyclopedia, or from another location, such as your local hard drive. You can add more than one component to a section.

The Proposal Library offers a hierarchy structure that administrators can use when designing literature components that can be associated with a proposal. Using the Proposal Library, you can navigate to a section or subsection, and then select the component file associated with the section. If the component is relevant to your proposal, click Add Components.

To add a component to a proposal

  1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, and in the Opportunities list, select the opportunity associated with the proposal.
  2. Click the Proposals view tab, and in the Proposals list, select the proposal and then drill down on the hyperlink in the Name field.
  3. In the Proposals Table of Contents explorer, click the plus sign (+) next to show the hierarchy of the proposal you want to change.

    4. The Sections folder appears.

  4. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the Sections folder.

    5. Each section associated with the proposal appears in the Sections list.

  5. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the section that will contain the new component.
  6. In the Sections list, click Library.

    7. The Proposals Library view appears.

  7. In the Proposals Library Explorer, click the plus sign (+) for Proposals Library.
    1. Click the plus sign (+) next to the Sections folder.
    2. Click the plus sign (+) next to the section where the proposal is located.

      3. The list of components for that section appears.

  8. In the Components list, click the plus sign (+) next to the Components folder, select the component in the list, and then click Add Components.

    9. The component file is added to the Components folder located in the section you selected.

To add a Siebel Encyclopedia component

  1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, select the opportunity associated with the proposal, and then click the Proposals view tab.
  2. In the Proposals list, select the proposal, and then drill down on the hyperlink in the Name field.
  3. In the Proposal Table of Contents explorer, click the plus sign (+)to expand the proposal contents.
    1. Click the plus sign (+) next to the Sections folder to expand the folder.
    2. Click the plus sign (+) next to the section where you want to add a new file from the Encyclopedia.
    3. Click the plus sign (+) next to the Components folder.
  4. In the Components list, click the menu button, and then choose New Record.

    5. The Add Sales Tools dialog box appears.

  5. In the Add Sales Tools dialog box, select each record you want to add, and then click Add.

    6. NOTE:  Only .doc and .txt files can be added as components directly into a template section.

To add a component from another location

  1. Navigate to Opportunities screen, and in the Opportunities list, select the opportunity associated with the proposal.
  2. Click the Proposals view tab, and in the Proposals list, select the proposal.
  3. In the proposal record, drill down on the hyperlink in the Name field.
  4. In the Proposal Table of Contents explorer, click the plus sign (+) next to the proposal to expand the proposal.
    1. Click the plus sign (+) next to the Sections folder.
    2. Click the plus sign (+) next to the section where you want to add a new file.
    3. Click the plus sign (+) next to the Components folder.
  5. In the Components list, click the menu button, and then choose New Record.
  6. In the Add Sales Tools dialog box, click New.
  7. In the Components form, enter a name and sequence for the file, and then click the select button in the File Name field.
  8. In the Add Attachment dialog box, click Browse, navigate to the file, and click Open.
  9. In the Add Attachment dialog box, click Add, and in the Components form, click Save.

Modifying a Proposal Component

You can modify a component file if you have Microsoft Word for Proposals installed locally on your computer. You must have the same application that was used to create the component.

To modify a component

  1. Navigate to Opportunities screen, select the opportunity associated with the proposal, and then click the Proposals view tab.
  2. In the Proposals list, select the proposal record, and then drill down on the hyperlink in the Name field.
  3. In the Proposal Table of Contents explorer, click the plus sign (+) next to the proposal.
    1. Click the plus sign (+) next to the Sections folder.
    2. Click the plus sign (+) next to the section where you want to add a new file from the Encyclopedia.
    3. Click the plus sign (+) next to the Components folder.
  4. In the Components list, select the component, and then drill down on the File Name hyperlink.
  5. In the file, make any necessary edits.
  6. When you are finished, save the file on your local drive.
  7. In the Components list, select the component (saved locally), click Edit, and then use the select button to browse your desktop for the modified component.
  8. Select the modified component and add it.

    9. The old component is replaced with the new one.


 Siebel Sales User Guide 
 Published: 18 April 2003