Take a Three-Dimensional View

To get a complete view of the impact of any changes you make, measure results in terms of three goal areas—business performance, process improvements, and customer satisfaction. This will give you a three-dimensional view of your success, which is much more likely to be accurate and meaningful for you.

Business results are typically measured in financial terms or in terms of productivity. In looking at your proposal processes, you might measure the gross revenues you win, or the total number of proposals prepared per center employee, or the total dollar volume won by your proposal center on a per employee basis.

Second, look at the impact of technical improvements to your proposal process. Technical improvements usually produce process efficiencies that can be measured in terms of reduced time or effort. They might overlap with business results, but not always.

The third area where you should measure results is customer satisfaction. You obviously have one all-important customer—the one who signs the contract and sends you the check. But it's possible you have other customers, too. For example, if you're a proposal writer who supports sales-people, those folks out in the field are your customers, too. Are they satisfied with the work you do?