VT Docs Erfahrungen

VTDocs as a Critical Part of the Process

Vorteile:

We use VTDocs to review all new solicitation documents in order to identify risks to our organization. Being able to customize our risk profile and our key words to the department reviewing is critical.

Nachteile:

There is some friction importing documents into VTDocs in order to use all of the features, but I know that the team at VT is working on reducing this!

I love VT Docs!

Kommentare: My experience with VT Docs has been great so far. As an example of what a time saver it can be, I was working with an Excel spreadsheet with over 2100 line items on it to figure out specific procurement data. It took me six days to do the first four categories, then I remembered I could use VT Docs to search through it for me. I created four quick dictionaries for my four remaining categories, and it took me an hour and a half to finish the same amount of work I'd done in the previous six days. Talk about a time saver! And that's just ONE story. I have more!

Vorteile:

I'm a big fan of VT Docs for a number of reasons. I love the searchable database. In the past, trying to find the document(s) I was looking for was a pain. Searching on my computer with Microsoft's search brought up so many hits that were just flat wrong. Now, when I search in VT, I get EXACTLY what I want. I love the dictionaries and document readability feature too.

Nachteile:

Sorry, but it's hard to think of anything I don't like about it. It's already been a great help to me!

VT Docs, Outstanding Proposal Automation tool

Kommentare: Excellent. Customer Success team and company leadership remain engaged and caring, one year into contract - true business partners

Vorteile:

Automated creation of Requirements Traceability Matrices necessary for Compliance checks, Discovery tool using dictionaries, compare Docs and Readability scoring with suggestions. All improve efficiency and effectiveness of proposal teams

Nachteile:

Limitations on ability to align proposal sections with L and C requirements and track compliance

New User Thoughts

Vorteile:

Flexibility and easy usability with tons of features

Nachteile:

Don't have any cons yet, still getting used to using the platform more in my work.

Doc Upload causes Workspace "Brain Freeze"

Kommentare: Overall, the VT team has been great. The quarterly meetings help to show and tell features and best practices...plus enable our team dialogue with the client success managers to get the most out of our instance.

Vorteile:

There are so many great time saving tools: Doc Comparison, Acronym tool, review of the doc via a Concept Dictionary.

Nachteile:

Doc upload disables the ability to work in your workspace. Highly recommend moving that into a background process that still allows other workspace processing. We also would love to have a round table to ideate on how to improve the discovery to creation of a concept dictionary. There has GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY!!!

VT Docs is Amazing!!

Kommentare: Now that I've been exposed to these wonderful tools, I'm not sure what I'd do without them!

Vorteile:

The tools are so easy to use with the simplicity of the website. The development team continually improves what was already great. The customer service and support are phenomenal; quick to respond to issues.

Nachteile:

I have yet to find anything I don't like.

Proposal Professionals' Best Friend

Kommentare: My experience with VT Docs is always positive. It makes very tedious jobs, like creating a compliance matrix or comparing documents, a lot pleasant.

Vorteile:

VT Docs is a time saving tool and constantly evolving to meet the trends.

Nachteile:

The loading speedy when a document is being uploaded.

BRCG Loves VT Docs!

Kommentare: VT Docs has been a lifesaver to me in a SB proposal shop where the staff size can decrease quickly, leaving me to do MOST of the work.

Vorteile:

The comparison functionality! See the differences from numerous Amendments and such is worth all the $$.

Nachteile:

Nothing really, I'm excited to see what comes next from your talented Engineers!

A "must" for tech reviews

Kommentare: Once I learned the program, it became an asset for creating acronym tables, identifying duplicate words, finding missing definitions, and simplifying the reading level.

Vorteile:

Creating acronym tables, identifying duplicate words, reading grade level

Nachteile:

Dashboard setup could be a little more user friendly

VT Docs for the WIN!

Kommentare: Positive, productive, informative, helpful, time-saving.

Vorteile:

There are so many incredibly effective features of VisibleThread. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface. One standout is the document comparison feature, which reduces hours of work to less than 30 seconds. Identifying key customer keywords through their frequency in an RFP and incorporating them into our proposals is immensely valuable. You can create a repository of proposals, resumes, past performances, etc. and search against a new RFP to see what to use to raise your PWIN! As a Proposal Manager, the amount of time I save is invaluable. The customer service is impeccable – responsive and friendly. Overall, it is an impressive tool.

Nachteile:

I wish it could create proposal outlines for me!

Useful Tool for Proposal Development

Kommentare: It's been a positive experience. Before going through the VT University classes and attending the Summit, I didn't know as much about using all of the features. As I gain more experience, it just gets better and more useful.

Vorteile:

The feature I use the most is the Compliance Matrix, and I recently started using the Quality Analysis/Readability features. The Discovery and Concept Tracking features are most helpful in determining which corporate experiences are relevant to new RFPs/Solicitations. The Resume comparison is also very valuable and time saving.

Nachteile:

The Discovery and Concept Tracking are a little complicated to get a streamlined output that is easy to compare. I used it to develop a list of key words to match to the proposal content. It took some time to get it right.

My Experience with VT Docs

Kommentare: I am extremely satisfied with VT Docs. Their customer support is amazing. They are always there to answer questions and ensure you are getting the most out of their product.

Vorteile:

The acronym list is extremely helpful; but the most useful tool is the document comparison. In many cases we receive amendments from customers that do not show the differences in the documents. The document compare feature allows us to see the changes in a matter of seconds - saves a significant amount of time!

Nachteile:

While the concept of the sample compliance matrix, now known as Simple Shred, is nice. Actually, turning the output into a compliance matrix, still takes a considerable about of manual labor. VT is aware and is working to resolve.

VT Docs is AWESOME and a MUST HAVE!

Kommentare: This is great product! I can't imagine working a proposal without it! The Team at Visible Thread is amazing and always a pleasure to work with!

Vorteile:

The Compare Docs, Readability Statistics, Compliance Matrix Creation and Acro List Function. (Not in this order). The personal service I got with [sensitive content hidden] was AMAZING!

Nachteile:

Nothing! They are always making improvements!

A handy timesaver

Kommentare: My experience has overall been very positive. VT Docs allows our team to create effective planning products and save valuable time.

Vorteile:

The shredding capability saves valuable time in the proposal planning process.

Nachteile:

At first, dictionaries were confusing and difficult to use. Much of this has been alleviated in the latest release.

Must have tool for any document development

Kommentare: Using VT docs helps our processes run smoother and quicker. I've enjoyed the support from the Customer Success team most of all; they help ensure we're getting the most from the tool.

Vorteile:

The low learning curve and intuitive interface make it easy to ramp up and get the most from VT Docs. The output from the various features is also so easy to comprehend and analyze it makes improving documents and making decisions that much more efficient.

Nachteile:

Going to a separate site to access the tool is not the most convenient and is more challenging to sell to teams who already have multiple sites to go to for their day-to-day activities.

Extremely useful tool for proposal teams

Kommentare: Has helped understand differences between multiple drops at different times of numerous proposal versions through use of document compares. Also useful in creating requirements traceability matrices.

Vorteile:

Ability to create compliance matrices from customer documents, creation of document comparison reports, and self created dictionaries.

Nachteile:

Nothing really. The tool has numerous features that I continue to explore and lean new ways to be efficient with the tool.

Compare/Dictionary feature are very useful!

Vorteile:

The compare feature is the most helpful as I can easily and quickly compare hundreds of pages between two documents without having to shifting through it manually.

Nachteile:

Some of the other features are not easy to navigate nor user friendly such as the dictionary feature.

Frist impression

Kommentare: The more I learn, the better it gets. It becomes easier to navigate.

Vorteile:

Unlimited possibilities once I learn how to best use it.

Nachteile:

Control of the output document format. The consistency is hard to control.

Great customer service and great product!

Vorteile:

The customer service from demo through product sustainment has been outstanding! The VTDocs team has been very friendly, easy to work with, and shows a genuine concern for ensuring we're satisfied.

Nachteile:

I do not have any cons to mention at this time.

Great for RFP responses

Kommentare: Great product; definitely added value to our proposal efforts and we were complimented on how easy our response was to read

Vorteile:

Shred RFPs and review answers for compliance.

Nachteile:

Had to set it up on AWS for us due to sensitivity of documents we create/answer/ have as a database

Great Tool!

Vorteile:

As being new to the contracting word, it has really helped me break down and understand what I'm learning.

Nachteile:

No major cons since again, I'm new to the contracting field.

Great time saver for capture and proposal teams

Vorteile:

New user to VT Docs, but have found the tool to be a real time saver, especially for shredding an RFP to create a first-pass compliance matrix, comparing docs (e.g., draft vs final RFP), and building acronym lists. There is also a nice amount of output tailoring you can do prior to analyzing a document. And customer support is terrific, both in terms of initial implementation and ongoing support.

Nachteile:

Haven't found any real cons to share yet. I would suggest that the RFP compliance dictionary (extended version) be pre-loaded during initial set up/configuration versus the basic version.

If you want to save time/money on your proposal work, VisibleThread (VT) is definitely your answer!

Kommentare: I am a 7-year user and have watched a wonderful evolution of VT. My work group and I have made numerous suggestions, which, to my delight, have been incorporated into VT. I feel honored and privileged that VT personnel would listen to me AND create a software update that does exactly what I suggested. I love that and feel honored. In addition, I LOVE going to the yearly VT Conferences in VA ... they are always entertaining and enlightening. It doesn't hurt, either, that the workers and [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] of VT know me by name. That is thrilling to me.... I know someone who is IMPORTANT! Yee Haw!

Vorteile:

I LOVE every bit of this software! Shreds take 15-20 minutes to complete instead of 2-3 weeks. Compares take 10-15 minutes, the results come back in 1 Excel document with the 2 original side-by-side ... and take less than 10 minutes to completion, instead of 2-3 weeks. Acronyms take somewhat longer due to undefined acros, but still take 30-60 minutes to complete. Readability takes less than 5 minutes to get the report. Without fail, no matter what you do in VT, uploading the documents into VT takes longer than getting any of the reports. Why? because the upload involves scrutinizing/analyzing the document as it goes into VT. I love the fact that we can now use folders inside folders. I love the "new" dashboard as you have click only to do what you need/want to do. Everything about VT is wonderful, time-saving, and FUN!

Nachteile:

I have no trouble with the Excel macros because I am an Excel expert .... but many people have trouble with macros simply because they do not understand or know Excel all that well. Thanks for this wonderful feature, no matter if it is somewhat difficult to use. Other than this, there is NOTHING I dislike about VT! nothing at all!!!!

Visible Thread's Unexpected Utility & Value

Kommentare: Absolutely amazing. It's been a huge time and effort saver - its value greatly outweighs its costs. I have convinced all of my past three employers to buy and use it, and it remains in place. So it isn't just me. It requires creativity to get the most out of it, and my investment of time devising creative uses has driven my success using the tool. It is uniquely useful in the Government Contracting field. It has made my Business Development, Capture, and Proposal Writing efforts easier, better, and much more successful. All of the big wins I brag about involved using VT to scrub teammates, to develop themes by efficiently analyzing many lengthy documents, and instantly producing error-free compliance matrixes to ensure I didn't miss anything.

Vorteile:

Value: proposals involving a dozen staff in 2011 now involve 2 or 3. This tool makes those fewer people competitive with the output (quality and quantity). Everyone has to do more with fewer people to help. This tool helps fill that gap. Time-saving - not all time is equal in the Gov. contracting industry, and VT saves a lot of time in critical moments: after solicitations are released and after amendments are issued. The tool allows instant creation of comprehensive compliance matrices, which can be quickly edited down. If you develop a variety of dictionaries that are specific to various things (pricing, timelines, etc.), you can instantly produce CMs for specific proposal team members. Also, you can directly compare a solicitation and its amendments, instantly identifying what was changed and immediately shifting to dealing with those changes, rather than wasting time finding them - and potentially missing one. Flexibility: we spend hours and hours comparing all kinds of documents. If you think about that, you find all kinds of unexpected VT uses in Government contracting/proposal writing. Examples: resumes vs. requirements; teammate/company capability statements vs. contract requirements; current/past contract SOW vs. solicitation (to help you decide how to write the Past Performance summary); proposal narrative vs. proposal themes (to see where and how often you hit the customer's hot buttons); the list is endless.

Nachteile:

You have to know who in your organization does what - they're used to doing things the hard & slow way. Your recruiter can use this to 'scrub' scores of resumes at a time against a specific requirement - but you have to know VT can do this and explain how to adopt the tool into their process. The same goes for every member of a proposal team and members of your corporate staff. In the same way that Excel does not do an accountant's job for them - it changes the nature of their work. They no longer worry about arithmetic, but they do have to worry about formulas, etc.

Provides significant capability to quickly identify actionable information across many documents.

Kommentare: What used to take hours and days of reading, tagging and extracting key / actionable information from solicitation packages now takes us just seconds or minutes. As a user for about 2 years, it is obvious that the VisibleThread team continues to release new features and improve the others at a good pace. To speed up proposal reviews and improvements - we do this using the concept tracking features to make sure we addressed all of the specific contracts' specifications, instructions and evaluation factors. We use the compliance matrix features to speed up the process of making content and review assignments to team members. We use the content grammar and readability grading feature to quickly spot areas where we can be more concise and make our proposals easier for the average reviewer to understand. We run scripts that quickly identify deliverable / CDRL requirements to support transition planning, and; once we have won a contract, we use VisibleThread to quickly prepare briefing packages for the transition/implementation teams as we move from opportunity to contract in execution. While it takes your experts to setup the system to do these things, once configured, you can have anyone on your team run the analysis to perform any of the tasks I've described. My only wish - is that more contracting officers and procurement shops were using the tool to put out better and clearer/complete solicitations to industry.

Vorteile:

This is an experts' product that provides so many useful tools, that there is no way I can even begin to address them all in the word limit this survey allows. We continually come up with new methods to automate portions of our analytical and document preparation work with VisibleThread. We are a bid /proposal management firm supporting customers on over 100 proposal projects each year across a wide range of contract types that include construction, utility system privatization, public transit automation, security services, background investigation, and administrative services contracts with the Federal Government, and State and local governments as our primary focus areas. With VisibleThread, we have created many customizations (which are easy to implement) to specifically hone in on requirements and information specific to each type of industry and contract / bid opportunity we manage. Specifically, we can quickly breakdown information in solicitation documents and exhibits/specifications into sets of information that are directly relevant to each of the departments, operational groups and subject matter experts who are contributing to each bid / proposal effort. Examples; for construction and heavy civil projects, we breakout information IAW MasterFormat divisions to call out all Bid Items and speed up getting bid packages to estimators and subcontractors. We then use it to automatically inspect subcontractor bids and to compare them against each other (in seconds).