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Proposal Management Feature Guide

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Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Essential Concepts .............................................................................................................................. 3

Creating a Proposal ................................................................................................................................. 4

Salesforce Opportunities .................................................................................................................... 5

Kimble Sales Opportunities ................................................................................................................. 7

Proposal Management Only ............................................................................................................... 8

Proposal Scope ........................................................................................................................................ 9

Breadcrumbs ..................................................................................................................................... 10

Proposal Card .................................................................................................................................... 11

Forecasting .................................................................................................................................... 11

Proposal Card Burger Menu .......................................................................................................... 13

Engagement Card .............................................................................................................................. 15

Engagement Card Burger Menu.................................................................................................... 15

Element Card ..................................................................................................................................... 19

Element Card Burger Menu: Configure Element .......................................................................... 20

Element Card Burger Menu: Change to Product Alternative ........................................................... 28

Component Elements ........................................................................................................................... 29

Proposal Menu ...................................................................................................................................... 30

Manage Opportunity (or Manage Sale, Manage Proposal) .............................................................. 30

Enter/Review Risks and Assumptions ............................................................................................... 30

Proposal Dashboard .......................................................................................................................... 30

Manage Bid Team ............................................................................................................................. 31

Actions, Events & Docs...................................................................................................................... 31

Flexible Product Model ......................................................................................................................... 32

Defining Mandatory and Optional Elements .................................................................................... 32

Component Products ........................................................................................................................ 34

Specifying Alternatives ...................................................................................................................... 36

Creating Alternative Group Product ............................................................................................. 36

Defining Extension Products ............................................................................................................. 39

Creating a Team Structure Product .............................................................................................. 39

Creating an Extension Production................................................................................................. 40

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Introduction In Kimble Release 1.22, Kimble introduced Proposal Modelling. This functionality was further

enhanced in Kimble Release 1.23, and this guide covers the functionality as is in Kimble 1.25.

A Proposal captures the services you are proposing to the prospective customer, including cost,

revenue, and timescale projections.

Kimble Proposal Management provides options for shaping your Proposal, with the power to

template in default and optional aspects, and the flexibility to shape the Proposal as you receive

more information through the sales cycle.

This guide will introduce the concept of a Proposal, and describe how a Proposal is generated. Then

it will define the components that make up a Proposal. Finally, it will analyze how some of those

components are templated in through Products and Product Groups.

Essential Concepts

Proposal Introduced in Kimble Release 1.22, a Proposal captures the services you are proposing to the prospective customer, including cost, revenue, and timescale projections.

Opportunity You may use an Opportunity to enter and track a potential deal with a prospect.

• If you do use Opportunities, you will continue to do so after Kimble Release 1.22; you will need to add a Proposal to the Opportunity in order to capture the services you are proposing.

• If you do not use Opportunities, you will use Proposals to enter and track a potential deal with a prospect, as well as the services you are proposing.

Delivery Engagement

Delivery Engagements represent a defined piece of work to be delivered to a client. The total scope of work defined in a Proposal is broken down into Delivery Engagements, usually to match the contractual arrangements of the deal. An Engagement is typically managed as a piece of work by one individual.

Delivery Element A Delivery Element is one of the products or services provided as part of a Delivery Engagement, of which there can be multiple.

Business Unit Business Units are set up to align to the financial structure of a company to support reporting of revenue and costs and resource allocation. Every Proposal – and its accompanying Engagements and Elements – must be assigned to a Business Unit.

Proposition Propositions describe the high-level bundles of products and/or services that your organization offers to its customers. To create a Proposal, you must select a Proposition, which can then default in the Engagements and Elements that are attached to it.

Product Group Product Groups act as containers for Products. Every Product Group that is added to a Proposition will become an Engagement on a Proposal.

Product Products determine the behavior of an Element. Every Product that is added to a Product Group will become an Element on a Proposal.

Bid Team Bid Team is where you should capture any work that Resources expend securing a sale (separate from billable work they do once a deal is won). You may know this as Pre-Sales work, or Solution Engineering/Architecture.

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Creating a Proposal When a possible engagement with a prospective customer is mature enough that you would like to

track it through Kimble, you will create a Proposal.

From a Proposal, you will be able to:

• Add additional Engagements and Elements

• Enter a high-level forecast

• Forecast cost and revenue at the detailed level (through managing Assignments, Milestones,

Expenses, etc.)

• Manage Risks and Assumptions

• Manage a Bid Team

• Track Actions and Events and upload supporting Documents

All you will need to do to generate a Proposal is select a Business Unit and a Proposition. When a

Proposal is generated:

• any Product Group tied to that Proposition will automatically create an Engagement

• any Product tied to a Product Group will create an Element within the Engagement

o a Product can be set to be optional until it is added manually

Where you create a Proposal will vary depending upon whether your organization uses Salesforce

Opportunities, Kimble Opportunities, or Proposal Management only. Each of these scenarios is

outlined in the following three sections; please use the section that applies to your organization.

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Salesforce Opportunities If you are using Salesforce Opportunities, you will first create an Opportunity. Then, as part of

managing the new Opportunity, you will create a Proposal.

1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen.

2. Click .

3. Enter the details of your Opportunity

4. Click .

5. Locate the Kimble section of the newly created Opportunity. In Lightning, the Kimble section

will be in the Details tab.

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6. In the Kimble section, select a Business Unit from the Business Unit dropdown menu.

7. Select a Proposition from the Proposition dropdown menu.

8. Click .

You will automatically be taken to the Proposal Scope screen, which outlines the new Proposal

object.

You will need to click Manage Opportunity in the left menu to manage the Stage, Forecast Status,

and Close Date of the Opportunity. From the Proposal Scope screen, you will capture the services

you are proposing to the prospective customer, including cost, revenue, and timescale projections.

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Kimble Sales Opportunities If you are using Kimble Sales Opportunities, the Opportunity and the Proposal object are created

simultaneously.

1. Navigate to the Sales Opportunities screen.

2. Click .

3. Enter the details of the Sales Opportunity in the Opportunity Details section.

4. Select a Business Unit from the Business Unit dropdown menu.

5. Select a Proposition from the Proposition dropdown menu.

6. Click .

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Both the Sales Opportunity and the Proposal object are created. You will automatically be taken to

the Proposal Scope screen, which outlines the new Proposal object.

You will need to click Manage Sale in the left menu to manage the Stage and Close Date of the Sales

Opportunity. From the Proposal Scope screen, you will capture the services you are proposing to the

prospective customer, including cost, revenue, and timescale projections.

Proposal Management Only If you are not using Sales Opportunities, you will manage all sales to prospective customers through

Proposals. To create a Proposal:

1. Navigate to the Proposals screen.

2. Click .

3. Enter the Proposal details.

a. Account: Select the Account to which you are selling.

b. Short Name: Enter a name for the Proposal.

c. Business Unit: Select the Business Unit responsible for the Engagement.

d. Proposition: Select the Proposition that most closely describes the Proposal Model

needed.

e. Acceptance Date: Enter an estimated date that the sale will be accepted.

f. Forecast Status: Select a Forecast Status.

g. Description: Optionally, you can enter a description of the Proposal.

4. Click .

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You will automatically be taken to the Proposal Scope screen, which outlines the new Proposal

object.

You will need to click Manage Proposal in the left menu to manage the Forecast Status and

Acceptance Date of the Proposal. From the Proposal Scope screen, you will capture the services you

are proposing to the prospective customer, including cost, revenue, and timescale projections.

Proposal Scope Once you have created a Proposal, you will primarily manage it from the Proposal Scope screen.

Information on the Proposal Scope screen is structured hierarchically, with Cards representing the

overall Proposal, the Engagement(s) within it, and the Element(s) within the Engagement(s).

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The majority of this guide will focus on explaining each of the components seen on the Proposal

Scope screen.

Breadcrumbs Click the Account name in the breadcrumbs to navigate to the Account from the Proposal. On the far

right, they also show the screen you are currently on.

Hover over the Proposal name in the breadcrumbs to see details of the Proposal.

The breadcrumb on the far right reflects the screen you are on.

While an Engagement is still Possible or Probable, the breadcrumbs on the Engagement

include a breadcrumb for the originating Proposal.

Once an Engagement is firm, the originating Proposal no longer appears as a breadcrumb.

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Proposal Card

A Proposal may contain one or more Engagements, each of which can in turn hold one or more

mandatory Elements, as well as one or more optional Elements. Much of what you will do while

managing a Proposal will be done at the Element level.

However, the Proposal Card surfaces some key details, as well as providing the ability to add

Engagements via its burger menu.

The color next to the Proposal name indicates the Proposal’s category of likelihood – Possible,

Probable, Closed – Won, or Closed – Lost. This can be configured to correspond to your

organization’s sales stages.

By default, the colors indicate the following:

Forecasting The panel in the Proposal Card displays the current Forecast Status of the Proposal as well as the

projected Contract Revenue and Contract Cost and the resulting Margin Percentage.

The Contract Revenue and Contract Cost are either:

• a direct reflection of the High Level Forecast, which you can manage from the Engagement

Card(s) burger menu

• or the totals of the Detailed Level Forecast information you have added to Elements within

the Proposal.

Colour Status

Possible

Probable

Closed – Won

Closed – Lost

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A toggle dictates whether this Proposal is currently forecasting at the High Level, or at the Detailed

Level. A High Level Forecast is an estimate of Cost and Revenue for the entire Proposal that does not

tie into any of the details in Elements. You might use a High Level Forecast at the earliest stages of a

sale, when you need forecasting figures to add to your pipeline but the details at the Element level

are not concrete enough to be an accurate metric. While forecasting at the High Level, you can enter

details at the Element level; these details will not be used for forecasting until you switch to the

Detailed Level Forecast.

To switch from High Level Forecasting to Detailed Level Forecasting:

1. Click the toggle.

A warning appears, confirming that once you switch to

Detailed Forecasting, you will not be able to switch

back.

2. Click Switch to Detailed Level Forecast.

The Proposal will reflect Detailed Level Forecasts.

Once a Proposal is forecast at the Detailed Level, you cannot return to High Level Forecasting; the

option for High Level Forecast no longer appears in the Engagement Card(s) burger menu.

A Proposal may default to using

Detailed Level Forecasting,

forgoing the High Level altogether.

This behavior is controlled by a

setting on the Proposition object

called Default Forecast At Detailed

Level.

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Proposal Card Burger Menu Proposals can contain one or more Delivery Engagements. To add an

additional Engagement:

1. Open the Proposal Card burger menu.

2. Click Add a New Delivery Engagement.

You will be taken to the Create Delivery Engagement wizard. The new Delivery

Engagement will have a Reference auto-generated.

3. Enter a Name for the Delivery Engagement.

4. Select a Product Group from the Product Group dropdown menu.

5. Click .

You will be taken to the New Elements step of the Create Delivery Engagement

wizard.

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Elements that appear by default are dictated by the Product Group you selected –

any Product set as IsDefault? in that Product Group will create an Element.

• Click to edit an Element.

• Click to remove an unneeded Element.

• Click to add a new Element to the Engagement.

o In the New Delivery Element window, enter a Short Name for the

Element and select a Product from the Product dropdown menu.

o Click to save the Element.

6. Once the Elements are set up, click to add the new Delivery Engagement to the

Proposal.

The additional Engagement is visible on the Proposal Scope screen.

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Engagement Card The Engagement Card consists of a header with a burger menu, and a body, which can contain one

or more Elements.

Changes you make to an Engagement and its Elements on a Proposal are reflected on the underlying

Engagement object, which was automatically created when it was added to the Proposal. You can

click the name on the Engagement Card to navigate directly to the Engagement Dashboard.

Some Elements within the Engagement might be set up as optional in the project template – these

are the Elements that are gray, without any revenue or cost information, and with appearing in

the upper right corner.

Click to add an optional Element to the Engagement. Until formally added, an optional Element is

not reflected on the Engagement Scope. It only appears on the Proposal Scope page as a suggestion,

often as a targeted upsell that can be added if the prospective customer is interested.

A setting on the Product Group determines the behavior – mandatory or optional – of Elements that

are created automatically when an Engagement is created. To learn more about setting up Products

on a Product Group, click here.

Engagement Card Burger Menu The Engagement Card burger menu allows you to:

• Add a New Element

• Edit this Engagement

• High Level Forecast (if Proposal is being

forecast at a High Level)

• Delete this Engagement.

Additionally, if there is more than one Engagement on the Proposal, you will be able to designate an

Engagement as Lost from the Engagement Card burger menu.

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Add a New Element

To add a new Element to the Engagement:

1. Open the Engagement Card burger menu.

2. Click Add a New Element.

The New Delivery Element window opens.

3. Select a Product from the Product dropdown menu.

4. Enter a name for the new Delivery Element.

5. Click .

The new Element will be visible on the Proposal Scope screen, within the Engagement.

Edit this Engagement

Clicking Edit this Engagement opens the Edit Delivery Element window. From this

window, you can rename the Engagement, amend the Reference, or change the

Product Group.

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High Level Forecast

This option is only available while the Proposal is being forecast at a High Level.

To add or amend a High Level Forecast:

1. Open the Engagement Card burger menu.

2. Click High Level Forecast.

3. Add or edit Forecast details:

• Contract Revenue

• Contract Cost

• Start Date

• End Date

4. Click .

Changes to the High Level Forecast Revenue and Cost are reflected on the Proposal Card, while the

Start Date, End Date and Revenue are reflected on the Engagement Card.

Delete this Engagement

To delete an Engagement from a Proposal:

1. Click Delete this Engagement in the Engagement Card burger menu.

You will be asked to confirm your decision.

2. Click .

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Lost

When a Proposal has only one Engagement, losing a deal means losing the both the Proposal and

the Engagement. However, when you have more than one Engagement on a Proposal, you might

lose a deal for one Engagement while the other Engagement(s) – and, accordingly, the Proposal –

remains open. To set one Engagement to Closed – Lost while leaving other Engagements and the

Proposal open:

1. Open the Engagement Card burger menu of the Engagement that has

been lost.

2. Click Lost.

3. In the Delivery Engagement window, select a Reason from the Reason dropdown menu.

4. Enter a Narrative describing the circumstances of the lost deal.

5. Click .

The Engagement is now designated as Closed – Lost (with black Forecast Status indicators), while the

Proposal remains active.

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Element Card Element Cards are arranged within the appropriate Engagement Card.

If an Element Card is gray, it has been templated in as an option. Click on the optional Element

Card to apply the Element.

Product Sale Element before clicking Product Sale Element after clicking

Once an Element

Card is applied,

what appears on

the card – Revenue

items, Cost items,

or both – will be

determined by the

Element’s

underlying Product,

which can be seen

immediately below

the Element name.

Clicking the Product

name in an Element

Card will take you

to the Product

object.

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Clicking the amount to the right of Services Contract Revenue will take you to the Engagement

screen relevant to Revenue Generation.

Clicking the amount to the right of Services Contract Cost will take you to the Engagement screen

relevant to Cost Generation.

Where these links take you will vary depending on the Revenue Generation method or the

Cost Generation method. As an example, for Revenue Generation, a Fixed Price Element will

use the Milestones screen, while a Time and Expense Element will use the Assignments

screen.

You will not be able click the amount next

to Services Contract Revenue or Services

Contract Cost if Cost or Revenue are

derived from a parent Element.

This is indicated by the following icon:

This will only be the case for Component

Elements, which are covered in a separate

section below.

There are no links associated with the amounts to the right of Expenses Contract Revenue or

Expenses Contract Cost. To manage Expense Forecasts, open the Edit Delivery Element window by

clicking Configure Element in the Element Card burger menu.

Element Card Burger Menu: Configure Element The first option in the Element Card Burger Menu is

Configure Element.

Clicking Configure Element opens the Edit Delivery

Element window.

What you see in the Edit Delivery Element window will

depend on the underlying Product.

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Editing a Component Element (like the Element based on the Risk Cost Product) involves overriding

the default Rate of a Rate Card Item that drives the Element’s Service Contract Cost. (Covered more

extensively in a separate section below.)

Some Elements are not resourced. Editing the Element based on the Product Sale (no cost) Product

involves adding and managing Milestones.

Most commonly, you will be working with an Element that is resourced. When this is the case, the

Edit Delivery Element window will have two tabs: Assignments and Expenses.

This guide will focus on the actions you can take while working in the Assignments tab. For

information on Expense Forecasting using the Expenses tab, please see the Expense Configuration

and Forecasting Feature Guide.

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If you make any changes in the Configure Element window, be sure to click .

Above the Assignments tab and Expenses tab, you define the name of the Element using the Short

Name field.

There are also fields that display the overall Services Contract Revenue, Services Contract Cost,

Expenses Contract Revenue, and Expenses Contract Cost of the Element.

Services Contract Revenue and/or Services Contract Cost will not be editable unless the Generation

Method is driven by something other than Resource Rate.

• In the example above, Revenue is generated through Milestones, which means that the

Services Contract Revenue can be manually edited. Changes made here will affect the

Expected Revenue set in Milestone Forecast Mode on the Engagement’s Milestones screen.

Managing Assignments in the Assignments Tab

When first viewing the Assignments tab, you may find existing Assignments. These have been

templated in by the Activity Assignment Template associated with this Element’s underlying Product.

To delete an Assignment, click .

To add a new Assignment:

1. Click .

A new row appears, with a blank

Resource field.

2. Search for a Resource in the blank Resource field.

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3. Edit details for the newly assigned Resource.

Alternative Team Structures

It may be the case that Alternative Team Structures have been set up for your use on this Element.

An Alternative Team Structure is an Activity Assignment Template – distinct from the one which

populated the Activity’s Assignments by default – that has been created to be leveraged in specific

situations.

As an example, you may have a standard Team Structure that consists of a Project Manager and

three Business Analysts. You might make minor adjustments to this structure – add or remove one

Assignment for instance – but in most cases, this will be the configuration of your team.

• However, depending on the preferences of your client, you might also manage this Activity

using an Agile methodology – using a shorter timeline for all involved Resources.

• Or you might conduct the entire Activity using an Onsite Team – a smaller team that’s

engaged for a longer timeline.

These Alternative Team Structures will have been attached to the Element’s underlying Product

using an Extension Product. To learn more about configuring Team Structures on a Product, click

here.

When selected, an Alternative Team Structure, replaces the current set of Assignments on an

Element.

To switch to a pre-defined Alternative Team Structure:

1. Click to the right of the Product Extension field.

The Lookup interface will open in a pop-up window.

2. Click to bring up all available Alternative Team Structures.

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3. Select a Team Structure.

The selected Team Structure replaces the existing Assignments.

Usage Forecast Mode

Usage Forecast Mode determines which fields you can edit for a Resource in the Edit Delivery

Element window. Each Usage Forecast Mode uses certain fields to drive the behavior of others.

You will likely use the three Usage Forecast Modes in the order in which they are presented.

• First you will use Target Margin to see what level of Usage will be required to achieve your

Target Margin (%).

• Then you will use Expected Usage to see how a realistic amount of Usage will affect the

Target Margin.

• Finally you will use Usage Item to finesse the Usage for each assigned Resource.

You should not go back to using Target Margin or Expected Usage once you have begun forecasting

by Usage Item.

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Target Margin

Target Margin calculates the Usage for each Resource needed to achieve a selected Target Margin.

When Target Margin is the selected Usage Forecast Mode:

• You must enter a Target Margin (%).

• You must enter an Assignment Percentage (%) for each Resource. These percentages should

add up to 100%. This is the amount of the work on the Delivery Element the Resource is

expected to handle.

• You must enter a Start Date for each Resource.

• You must confirm the Utilisation of each Resource.

Together these factors will determine the Usage for each Resource that will achieve the Target

Margin (%).

• A Resource’s Start Date, Usage, and Utilisation will determine that Resource’s End Date.

• The Usage for each Resource will roll up into the Expected Usage field.

Expected Usage

Expected Usage calculates the Usage for each Resource based on a total Expected Usage for the

Delivery Element. When Expected Usage is the selected Usage Forecast Mode:

• You must enter Expected Usage.

• You must enter an Assignment Percentage (%) for each Resource. These percentages should

add up to 100%. This is the amount of the work on the Delivery Element the Resource is

expected to handle.

• You must enter a Start Date for each Resource.

• You must confirm the Utilisation of each Resource.

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Together these factors will determine the Usage for each Resource.

• A Resource’s Start Date, Usage, and Utilisation will determine that Resource’s End Date.

• The resulting Services Contract Cost and Services Contract Revenue will affect the Target

Margin (%).

Usage Item

When forecasting by Usage Item, you will manage the Usage for each Resource. Each change in the

Usage column affects the overall Expected Usage above it. Target Margin (%) is not calculated in this

Usage Forecast Mode.

Before Usage change for Project Manager

After Usage change for Project Manager

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Average Margin Insight

In Kimble Release 1.25, Kimble introduced the Average Margin Insight, which appears on the

right side of the Proposal Scope page.

Hovering over the Insight while on the Proposal Scope screen shows the average Margin

Percentage for Delivery Engagements on the Account.

Hovering over the Insight while in the Resourced Activity’s Edit Delivery Element window

shows the Average Margin by Resource Type.

• You can click the Insight to open the

Average Margin by Resource Type data

in a pop-up window. Click to close

the pop-up window

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Element Card Burger Menu: Change to Product Alternative If any Product Alternatives have been set up for an Element’s underlying Product, these alternatives

will be available in the Element Card burger menu, below Configure Element. To learn more about

how Product Alternatives are added to a Product, click here.

Selecting a Product Alternative from the Element Card burger menu will replace the Product of the

Element with the selected Product. The Element will still be the same outside of the change to the

Product on which it is based – its name will not change and any changes you have made to the

Element will be preserved if possible.

• Some changes will be lost as a consequence of switching Products. For example,

when switching from a Fixed Price Product to a Time and Expense Product, Revenue

projections will not be preserved.

To change to an Alternative Product:

1. Open the Element Card burger menu.

2. Select a Product Alternative (Change to [Product Name]).

3. When asked to confirm, click .

The Element is now based on the selected Product.

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Component Elements Kimble allows you to couple Products so that the calculated values in a Parent Product may be used

to drive the forecast Cost or Revenue in another Product. The resulting Component Element, which

derives its values from a Parent Element, sits within that Parent’s Element Card. It is designated by

the following symbol: .

A Component Product (such as Risk Cost in the above example) uses a field in the Parent Element to

inform what percentage of the Parent’s Revenue or Cost will be added to the Component.

In the Risk Cost example, each possible Risk Level corresponds to a default Rate. A Risk Level of

Medium corresponds to a rate of 0.05. The Services Contract Cost of the Component (USD 1,401.32)

is 5% of the Services Contract Cost of the Parent (USD 28,026.32).

You can override the default Rate(s) of a Component Element. To edit a Component Element.

1. Open the Element Card burger menu of the Component.

The Edit Delivery Element window opens.

2. Tick the Override checkbox for the Rate Card Item you would like to edit.

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3. In the editable field that appears in the Rate column, edit the Rate. The original Rate

appears in a non-editable field below.

Changes to the Rate affect the Services Contract Cost field. A new field, Standard

Services Contract Cost, reflects the value if Rates had not been overridden.

To learn more about how Component Products are associated with Parent Products, click here.

Proposal Menu There are plenty of actions you can take on a Proposal outside of the Proposal Scope screen. Use the

Proposal Menu to perform other actions on the Proposal.

Manage Opportunity (or Manage Sale, Manage Proposal) Your Manage option – Manage Opportunity, Manage Sale, or Manage

Proposal – will vary depending on your organization’s configuration. Use

this option to change Close Date and to manage Forecast Status.

• Once a Proposal is Closed-Won, you will continue to manage

its Engagement(s) at the Delivery Engagement level.

• If Closed – Lost, the Proposal details are retained for future

reference.

Enter/Review Risks and Assumptions For details on Kimble’s Risks functionality and Assumptions functionality,

please see the Managing Risks and Assumptions Feature Guide.

Proposal Dashboard The Proposal Dashboard shows financial data for each Engagement on the Proposal below the

Proposal Card. Below the Financials, the Risk Level of the Proposal is displayed.

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Manage Bid Team The Manage Bid Team sub-menu contains screens that pertain to managing sales activities – these

are activities your Resources may need to carry out in support of selling the Proposal. A Bid Team’s

work is a Resourced Activity in its own right. As such, it has its own Activity Details, Approval Rules,

Expense Categories, Time Categories, and Ownership & Access rules.

Actions, Events & Docs You can review and log Proposal-related actions and events on the Actions, Events, & Docs screen.

You can also add notes and attach files.

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Flexible Product Model Kimble allows you to define complex Engagement structures using a flexible bill of materials

structure. This section of the Feature Guide will focus on how to:

• include Products as part of a Product Group structure, creating optional or mandatory

Elements when a new Proposal is created

• include Products as Component Products of other Products. These Component Products may

have their costs/revenues driven from the Product with which they are associated.

• specify Alternative Group Products which may be substituted with an alternative when the

Proposal is created.

• specify Extension Products which are applied to Products included in a structure, to default

Assignment or Milestone Templates.

Many of these new capabilities are enabled by two concepts that Kimble introduced in 1.23.

• Abstract Products – These are placeholder Products that can be included as part of a Product

Group structure (the template used for building your Proposal), but which are substituted

with real (or Concrete) Products when you create a Proposal.

• Behaviorless Products – These Products derive their behavior from the Product that they are

attached to, and do not have behavior of their own (i.e. are not assigned to a Product

Domain), simply acting as a container for Assignment or Milestone Templates. Specified as

part of an Alternative Group, they allow you to extend a Concrete Product with alternative

structures.

The table below outlines whether some typical Product scenarios will involve an Abstract Product

and/or a Product with no Behavior.

Is Abstract Has Behavior

Product which may be included as is in a Proposal

No Yes

Placeholder in a Bill of Materials structure, e.g. Warranty Choices

Yes No

Alternative Member to be substituted into a Bill of Materials structure

No Yes

Placeholder for alternative Team Structures Yes No

Team Structure to extend existing Product No No

Defining Mandatory and Optional Elements When creating a Proposal, you select a Proposition. Any Product Groups connected to that

Proposition become Engagements, and any Products in those Product Groups become Elements.

But not all Elements need to be mandatory. You can also generate optional Elements that appear on

the Proposal, but are not truly added to the Proposal or the underlying Engagement until you click

them.

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You will decide whether a Product will become a mandatory Element or an optional Element when

you add it to a Product Group.

To add a Product to a Product Group:

1. Navigate to the Product Group.

Existing Product Group Products are displayed. If you are using Lightning, Product

Group Products are managed from the Related tab.

2. Click New. (In Salesforce Classic, click New Product Group Product.)

3. Enter details of the Product Group Product.

a. Product – Select the Product to be included as part of the Product Group structure

from the dropdown menu.

b. Is Default? – If you tick this checkbox, the Element based on this Product will be

created by default when the Proposal is created. If this checkbox is left unticked, the

resulting Element will be optional.

c. Display Sequence – Defines the order in which the Product will be displayed in the

Proposal structure.

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Component Products You can add Component Products to a Product. These Component Products create Elements that

will have their Cost or Revenue driven by the Cost or Revenue of the Element based on the

associated Product. A field on the associated Element determines the Cost or Revenue of the

Component. The Cost/Revenue of the Component rolls up into the overall Cost/Revenue of the

Proposal, allowing you to see how the Component will affect the margin.

As an example, a Risk Cost Element will use the Risk Level of the associated Element to determine its

Cost. A Risk Level of Critical might dictate that 10% of the associated Element’s Cost be added to the

Component.

The Generation Mode and Forecast Mode of a Component Product is a function of its Product

Domain. The field it uses to determine its Rates, and the Rates it uses as defaults come from a

Flexible Rate Card.

If you would like to create a new Component Product for which a Product Domain and

Flexible Rate Card do not already exist, please have your Kimble System Administrator log a

ticket with the Kimble Support Desk or contact your Customer Success Manager.

A Component Product is added to a Product as a Child Product.

To add a Component Product to a Product:

1. Navigate to the Product.

2. Click Child Products in the Product menu.

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3. Click .

The Add Forecast Child window opens.

4. Select a Product from the dropdown menu.

5. Click .

6. On the Child Products screen, define whether the new Child Product will be mandatory or

optional.

If the Is Mandatory checkbox is ticked, the resulting Element will be effective when

the Parent Element is created. If the Is Mandatory checkbox is not ticked, the

resulting Element will be optional.

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Specifying Alternatives On the Proposal Scope screen, an Element’s burger menu shows any available Product Alternatives

to which you can switch. These Alternative Products are defined in an Alternatives Group Product

that is connected to the original Product.

Creating Alternative Group Product The Alternative Group Product is an Abstract Product that has no behavior. To create an Alternative

Group:

1. Navigate to Products.

2. Click New. (In Salesforce Classic, New Product.)

3. Enter details for the Product:

a. Product Name – Unique name for the Alternative Group (e.g. Warranty Choices).

b. Business Unit – The Business Unit to which costs/revenues are allocated (depending

on the Product Domain Cost/Revenue Allocation Model).

c. Product Domain – Leave blank. This Product has no behavior, but is simply a

placeholder.

d. Description – Meaningful description of the Product.

e. Is Active? – Tick this checkbox to make available when creating Proposals.

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4. Tick the Is Abstract? checkbox.

The fields on the screen will change. A new Abstraction Type dropdown field will

appear.

5. Select Alternative from the Abstraction Type dropdown menu.

6. Click .

The new Product is created. For the Product to be available as an Alternative Group

Product, you must add Alternative Products.

7. Click Alternative Products in the left menu.

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8. On the Alternative Products screen, add the Products that should be available as Alternatives

in the Element Card burger menu when this Alternative Group Product is used. To add a

Product:

a. Click .

b. Select a Product from the dropdown menu in the Add Alternative window.

c. Click .

9. Once you have added all needed Alternatives, click .

Once Alternatives have been added to the Alternatives Group Product, you can select the

Alternatives Group Product on any Product that has Product Domain behavior. When creating a new

Product, or when editing an existing Product using Maintain Product, select the Alternatives Group

Product from the Alternatives Group dropdown.

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Defining Extension Products An Extension Product derives its behavior from the Product that it is attached to, and does not have

behavior of its own – it is not assigned to a Product Domain. The Extension Product simply acts as a

container for Team Structure Products.

Creating a Team Structure Product A Team Structure Product is not abstract, and has no behavior. It exists only to hold an Activity

Assignment Template.

1. Navigate to Products.

2. Click New. (In Salesforce Classic, New Product.)

3. Enter details for the Product:

a. Product Name – Unique name for the Extension Product (e.g. Agile Team).

b. Business Unit – The Business Unit to which costs/revenues are allocated (depending

on the Product Domain Cost/Revenue Allocation Model).

c. Product Domain – Leave blank. This Product has no behavior.

d. Description – Meaningful description of the Product.

e. Is Active? – Tick this checkbox to make available when creating Proposals.

f. Is Abstract? – Do not tick this checkbox.

4. Click .

The new Product is created. Click Activity Assignment Templates in the left menu to

add Assignments to the Team Structure.

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Creating an Extension Production An Extension Product provides the means by which many Team Structure Products are held together

and provided as options when editing a Delivery Element. To create an Extension Product:

1. Navigate to Products.

2. Click New. (In Salesforce Classic, New Product.)

3. Enter details for the Product:

a. Product Name – Unique name for the Extension Product (e.g. Alternative Team

Structures).

b. Business Unit – The Business Unit to which costs/revenues are allocated (depending

on the Product Domain Cost/Revenue Allocation Model).

c. Product Domain – Leave blank. This Product has no behavior, but is simply a

placeholder.

d. Description – Meaningful description of the Product.

e. Is Active? – Tick this checkbox to make available when creating Proposals.

4. Tick the Is Abstract? checkbox.

The fields on the screen will change. A new Abstraction Type dropdown field will

appear.

5. Select AssignmentExtension from the Abstraction Type dropdown menu.

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6. Click .

The new Product is created. For the Product to be available as an Extension Product,

you must add the Products that hold Team Structures as Alternative Products.

7. Click Alternative Products in the left menu.

8. On the Alternative Products screen, add the Products that should be available as Alternatives

in the Element Card burger menu when this Alternative Group Product is used. To add a

Product:

a. Click .

b. Select a Product from the dropdown menu in the Add Alternative window.

c. Click .

9. Once you have added all needed Alternatives, click .

Once Team Structures have been added as Alternatives to the Extension Product, you can select the

Extension Product on any Product that has Product Domain behavior. When creating a new Product,

or when editing an existing Product using Maintain Product, select the Extension Product from the

Extension dropdown.