How to help generating a proposal with copilot?

[Torsten_Damberg]

Hi all,

I want copilot to assist me, writing a proposal.
The requirement is the following:
1) I have a pool of documents (example proposals that are quite similar to the one a want to create, some general information like project management methods etc.)
2) I have a summarized requirements document from the customer, which describes his needs.

Now I want copilot to help me writing a proposal in Word that is structured like the expample porposals and taking the requirements from the customer in account as the main leading document.

Do you have any ideas how to set this up with copilot?

Thanks in advance
Torsten

[#2]

Hello Torsten,

I have not tried this myself (I am very new at CoPilot for M365 myself, received access just yesterday), but I would think that it should be able to do exactly what you are asking for here. The structure of your case is quite straight-forward.

Can you say something about the quality of the output when you prompt Copilot about this? Is it a case of not working at all, or is it simply not good enough / hallucinating?

Once I get more experienced with CoPilot myself, I will definitely try a similar case based on former emails or word documents.

Good luck!

[#3]

Well, the main issue here is, that copilot can not address two fifferent data sources at once.
He first has to read my prompt.
Then he has to check the proposal template library for that specific paragraph I was asking for and after that he has to take in account the customer requirements document to rewrite that paragraph depending on the customer needs.
It is a context problem.

[#4]

Thanks for explaining the context problem!

I think this is an excellent case, and I am pretty sure that someone will find a way to solve it, or that Microsoft finds a way to develop the Copilot product to assist these kinds of cases.

[#5]

Hello Torsten
I'm also interested by this use case and trying to develop it.
Did you succeed to find a way to work?
On my side, it appears to be difficult to be able for copilot to work with to huge document.

[#6]

Hi Torsten, I was just curious if you’ve found a solution for getting Copilot to create proposals? I’m looking into a similar case right now.

[#7]

On my side, it appears to be difficult to be able for copilot to work with to huge document.

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@pascallambert - just on this, there are some limitations. In practice, I've found that it can max out at 12-20 pages for Word docs. But check out this link: Keep it short and sweet: a guide on the length of documents that you provide to Copilot - Microsoft ...

[#8]

Hi Torsten, I was just curious if you’ve found a solution for getting Copilot to create proposals? I’m looking into a similar case right now.

@Nicboo227 hey, we're several months in and there have been some updates. My go-to is using Business Chat in Teams. I'd also tackle this as a multi-turn prompt, with some specifics.

In this example, I have the client's requirements in a RFP, I have a summary of our services, and two past proposals all saved to SharePoint/OneDrive.

I'd start with a prompt similar to.

Act as a pre-sales agent. Today we're going to create a proposal for a client based on their requirements in ther RFP document. We'll also use our adoption and change management service offering document to make sure we match their requirements. Then we'll use two previous proposals as templates for the new one. I'll share the documents with you next. Please tell me when you're ready for the docs.

Then, it will confirm and I'll share the docs:

Ok, first - here is their RFP [file]our change offering is[file] and the two examples are [file] and [file]. Before you begin creating the proposal, confirm the task with me.

It'll confirm the process and likely give you a short summary of each file. That way you know it has picked up the files. It'll likely ask you to proceed. Next, I'll prompt:

Yes, let's begin the process. We'll work through the structure of the document one section at a time.

This way I can guide it as I go, or you can just see what it produces. But play around with it and see how you go. You could be more specific and guide it more, but this should get you started.