Office Solution Accelerator for Proposals

Office Solution Accelerators deliver custom components for performing specific business tasks with Office client applications and servers. Shown here is a simplified solution for preparing sales proposals using the Microsoft Office Solution Accelerator for Proposals. The accelerator delivers components for assessing, coordinating, and editing proposals using InfoPath and Word 2003. It also delivers components for tracking the progress of proposals and for maintaining a library of content used in proposals (such as product information or legal boilerplate) with Windows SharePoint Services, a free add-on for Windows Server 2003. Solutions built with the accelerator also require SQL Server 2000 to store the content library and provide functions such as keyword search of proposals.

A typical solution would integrate with a customer’s existing systems, such as a customer relationship management (CRM) system; systems integrators and solution providers perform this integration. Partners can also create additional custom components, such as company-specific proposal templates, using the examples in the accelerator for guidance.