Using Six Sigma Principles in RFP
Posted by: meikah | 29 January 2008 | 9:48 pm
Am I talking about Six Sigma being applied to writing? Yes! I learned that Six Sigma principles can actually help you formulate your business proposals.
By definition an RFP, or a request for proposal, is a document that an organization posts to elicit bids from potential vendors for a product or service. For example, a new business or a business moving from a paper-based system to a computer-based system might request proposals for all the hardware, software, and user training required to establish and integrate the new system into the organization. Another business might draft an RFP for a custom-written computer application they wanted to outsource.
Where does Six Sigma come in?
The world of Six Sigma Quality Improvement provides some guidance for ideal RFP operation. The first three steps in Six Sigma are define, measure and analyze, and that is precisely what the RFP should do. The first step in RFP creation is to prioritize the objectives of the business and, by extension, the project. You then take the prioritized project criteria and determine how they may be best measured. Lastly, the RFP document provides a mechanism for analyzing the measured criteria.
