Proposals and Project Budgets in Drum
This document explains how to create proposals and manage project budgets within Drum, covering the key concepts and their interaction.
Understanding Proposals
A Drum proposal represents the document or information presented to a prospective client. It's a concise and digestible summary of the project, including key deliverables and pricing. Think of it as the client-facing version of your project plan. It is not where detailed pricing calculations are done.
Proposal Structure: Proposals can be divided into stages, each containing one or more line items. This allows for a clear breakdown of the project scope and associated costs. For example, a project might have "Planning" and "Implementation" stages.
Proposal Content: The proposal focuses on what the client needs to see. It presents a high-level overview of deliverables and their respective costs, culminating in a total project price.
Proposal Templates: Drum allows you to use pre-designed proposal templates to ensure consistency and efficiency in your sales process. These templates can be customized to fit your specific needs.
Adding a Proposal: Navigate to the relevant opportunity in the sales pipeline area of your Drum account. Click on the "Proposals" option in the top navigation bar, then click "Add Proposal" and select a template. Drum will generate a proposal and a corresponding project budget based on the chosen template.
Understanding Project Budgets
The project budget is the engine room for project pricing in Drum. It's where you define the detailed cost breakdown for your project. It's separate from the proposal document itself.
Detailed Pricing: The project budget allows for granular cost allocation to individual tasks and deliverables. You can specify roles, rates, and estimated time for each task.
Rate Cards: Drum integrates with rate cards, allowing you to easily apply pre-defined rates for different roles and services. This ensures consistent pricing across projects.
Project Templates and Quote Templates: You can use existing quote or project templates to quickly structure your project budget. This saves time and ensures consistency.
Budget Structure: The project budget can be structured with phases and deliverables, providing a comprehensive view of project costs.
Task Allocation: Within the project budget, you can allocate specific tasks to team members (roles) and estimate the time required for each task.
Syncing Budgets and Proposals
While distinct entities, proposals and project budgets are linked. The proposal should reflect the pricing calculated in the project budget. Drum offers several ways to synchronize these two:
Sync Budget Options: Drum provides different synchronisation options, allowing you to control how budget data is displayed in the proposal. Options include single-stage conversion of deliverables to lines, and other more granular options.
Manual Adjustments: You can also manually adjust pricing within the proposal. Drum will display a warning if the proposal price differs from the budget, allowing you to maintain consistency. This is useful if you want to present a slightly different price to the client while maintaining the detailed budget internally.
Budget Difference Indicator: Drum provides a clear indicator if the proposal and budget prices don't match. This helps you avoid discrepancies and ensures accurate pricing.
Converting a Proposal to a Project
Once a proposal is accepted, you can convert it into a live project within Drum.
Accepting a Proposal: Change the proposal status from "Draft" to "Accepted". This signifies client approval and triggers the project creation process.
Project Conversion: Drum automatically converts the accepted proposal into a project, transferring the budget information and creating the project structure.
Project Templates for Custom Fields: Ensure a project template is associated with the conversion to allow Drum to correctly assign any custom fields to the new project.
Project Plan (Optional): Depending on your account settings, you may see a project plan stage during conversion where you can project project revenue.
Key Interactions and Workflow
Opportunity: Start with a sales opportunity in Drum.
Proposal Creation: Create a proposal from a template.
Project Budgeting: Develop a detailed project budget, allocating costs to tasks and deliverables.
Budget Synchronization: Sync the project budget with the proposal, ensuring consistent pricing.
Proposal Acceptance: Obtain client approval by changing the proposal status to "Accepted."
Project Conversion: Convert the accepted proposal into a project, transferring the budget and creating the project structure.
Project Management: Manage the project based on the defined budget and tasks.
This document provides a comprehensive overview of proposals and project budgets in Drum. Remember to refer to the support documentation or contact the support team for further assistance.