A global aerospace and defense engine manufacturer selected i3solutions to build a centralized, real-time proposal management system with Power Apps, SharePoint, Teams, Dynamics, Power BI, and Flow on the Office 365 platform. Proposal preparation time fell 35%, from 10 days to 6.5, win rate rose 5%, and the program delivered $1M in annual preparation savings plus more than $50M in additional awarded contracts within the first year.
How a Global Aerospace and Defense Engine Manufacturer Transformed Proposal Management
Case Study
Transforming Proposal Management
for a Global Aerospace and Defense Engine Manufacturer
with a Centralized Proposal Management System
The Customer
And Their Challenge
The client is a global aerospace and defense engine manufacturer that designs and builds advanced aircraft engines and auxiliary power systems. The company serves a diverse clientele that ranges from commercial airlines to military and business aviation. The company faced a persistent challenge: delivering on-time, compliant, and competitive proposals. In aerospace, winning contracts often hinges on presenting detailed proposals that stand out for both quality and timeliness.
The lack of a centralized system for managing proposal information led to bottlenecks, delays, and increased risks in the company’s proposal development process. They needed a system that fit this process and could adapt to their specific requirements. They sought a real-time system of record for proposals, customizable down to the finest detail.
The Solution
A Custom Real-Time Proposal Management System
After an exhaustive search, the company selected i3solutions to build a custom proposal management system tailored to meet their specific proposal development needs. The system is the single place where users find everything they need for proposals, including templates, historical data, and best practices. It also carries the cross-team communication tools, so the departments involved in a proposal work from the same information at the same time. To further refine the system, i3solutions applied Business Process Management (BPM) to analyze the company’s existing proposal development workflows. By mapping out each process, we identified bottlenecks, redundant tasks, and opportunities for automation. Based on these insights, we recommended process changes that improved efficiency. i3solutions reviewed the company’s list of requirements to ensure we would deliver the right solution.
Our team committed to addressing all their concerns and needs in order to achieve the best possible results. We worked inside their working patterns and industry constraints, and designed the system around the parameters that drive successful proposal delivery. BPM also left the company a roadmap for continuous improvement, so the system can change as the proposal process changes.
The same BPM work defined accountability and transparency across the proposal development lifecycle. Clear roles, responsibilities, and workflows let the company monitor progress in real-time, identify any deviations from the plan, and make informed decisions swiftly. This structure reduced the time needed to prepare and submit proposals and improved the quality and consistency of the outputs.
Technologies
Used in the Solution
i3solutions built the system on the Microsoft platform the company already owned. i3solutions leveraged several Microsoft
technologies to bring the system to life:
Dynamics provides advanced CRM capabilities that aid in tracking and managing customer relationships and engagements. This is their overall system of record that manages the business development pipeline and tracks proposal win/loss ratios.
Power BI offers interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities and is used to generate extensive reports from Dynamics and SharePoint on all business development related tasks. The reports detail the status of opportunities, show the overarching pipeline, and provide the master schedule of due dates.
Office 365 integrates existing productivity tools into one working application and keeps the system current by taking advantage of the latest Microsoft code updates. It provides web access to the team and allows the company to apply advanced security rules for SharePoint Online and GCC High.
Flow is used to create and automate workflows and tasks in the cloud for better integrations and workflow management. It controls all data sharing between Dynamics, SharePoint, Teams, Dataverse, Office 365 and other internal systems, and is responsible for maintaining the business logic of how the system should function.
Power Apps is used to create custom applications designed to meet the company’s unique business requirements. This includes the interface that allows them to manage opportunity details such as due dates, task completion percentage, approval processes, workflows, milestone date tracking, and planned vs. actual date reporting and tracking.
SharePoint acts as the backbone of the system to store all proposal and estimate related documentation. It automatically provides a standardized folder structure for each proposal to keep processes/content consistent and serves as a valuable tool for team collaboration.
Teams is used for real-time collaboration and communication across different groups. It is a critical distribution tool that allows access to the full functionality of the system including a unified experience with SharePoint. It also takes advantage of native tools like chat, OneNote, Planner, and more.
The system also carries no vendor patch cycle. Hosted entirely on
Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, the system automatically updates whenever
Microsoft releases new features for the Office 365 platform, eliminating the need for
manual, vendor-specific software updates.
“This process improvement is going to streamline adding users and reduce wasted time all around.”
Visual Communication Project Analyst,
a global aerospace and defense engine manufacturer
“i3solutions is leading the way and providing functionality essential to sustaining and managing the expanding VPC environments.”
Principal Specialist, Product Management,
a global aerospace and defense engine manufacturer
Measurable Benefits
and Business Impact
The system improved
the company's proposal development process in four measurable areas:
Accelerated Proposal Development
The system centralized all proposal resources, cutting preparation time by 35% (from 10 days to 6.5). Teams reclaimed $800K annually in redeployed staff capacity and improved on-time delivery across hundreds of bids.
Enhanced Collaboration and Visibility
Integrated communication tools and real-time dashboards connected engineering, pricing, and capture teams. The result: 40% faster document access, fewer bottlenecks, and leadership visibility that improved decision-making and accountability across departments.
Improved Compliance and Proposal Quality
Automated validation workflows reduced rework by 30% and boosted compliance audit scores by 20%, minimizing late corrections and improving proposal accuracy.
Proven ROI and Contract Growth
Efficiency gains and higher quality submissions drove a 5% increase in win rate, delivering $1M in annual prep savings and more than $50M in additional awarded contracts – a clear ROI realized within the first year.
The company now exceeds its key performance indicators for proposal delivery. Submissions that used to take 10 days of preparation now go out in 6.5, and delivery targets that used to slip are now met as a matter of routine.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much faster is proposal preparation with the new system?
35% faster: preparation time fell from 10 days to 6.5. Teams also reclaimed $800K annually in redeployed staff capacity and improved on-time delivery across hundreds of bids.
What technology stack does the system run on?
Microsoft cloud end to end: Power Apps for the custom interfaces, SharePoint as the document backbone, Teams for real-time collaboration, Dynamics as the CRM system of record, Power BI for reporting, and Flow controlling data sharing and business logic across the platform, all on Office 365 with advanced security rules for SharePoint Online and GCC High.
How was the return on investment measured?
In the first year: $1M in annual preparation savings, $800K in redeployed staff capacity, a 5% increase in win rate, and more than $50M in additional awarded contracts. Compliance audit scores also rose 20% while rework fell 30%.
Can our team maintain the system after delivery?
The system is hosted entirely on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure and updates automatically as Microsoft releases new features for the Office 365 platform, so there are no manual, vendor-specific software updates. The Business Process Management engagement also produced a roadmap for continuous improvement as needs evolve.
The system worked because it was built on the Microsoft platform the company already owned, shaped by BPM analysis of how proposals actually moved through the company. Nothing in the delivery depended on exotic tooling: the system runs on the same Power Apps, SharePoint, Teams, and Power BI stack your organization may already license. If proposal development at your company still depends on scattered documents and heroic effort, a working session will map what a centralized system would look like on your stack: which pieces you already own, what a BPM pass would examine first, and comparable engagements to support the internal case. Talk to a senior SharePoint architect
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