Evaluating and Implementing Meridian

The benefits are huge in the amount of administrative time this will save proposal managers and coordinators in developing annotated outlines, compliance matrices, and other functions that can take hours/days to accomplish.

Pros

The price of this product versus the time savings overall will save serious money spent on administrative tasks throughout the year. The software makes it possible to pick up on nuances that might be missed by the old school hand jamming into an excel spreadsheet. It also allows for searching on key words and generating lists of items such as CDRLs or DIDs called out in a PWS. So far this is huge for any proposal group to use and highly recommended.

Cons

So far I am not happy with the upgrade function which might be more an internal IT process than the vendor. My upgrade did not work so my software is stalled at the moment. Other than this small issue, I have not found anything that I do not like.

Terrific for RFP Analysis

We use this software to do RFP analysis, create outlines, templates, and cross reference matrices.

Pros

This is a Microsoft based software that's easy to use to shred proposals, create cross reference matrices.

Cons

We don't always need to update the software when Meridian updates it so we didn't purchase software support. However, when we got new laptops, we could not download the software version we already had.

Meridian RFP

Pros

Did a good job shredding the RFP and creating a draft compliance matrix

Cons

Somewhat expensive for an individual to purchase.

Review of Meridian for RFP Analysis

Overall this is the best software to save time and effort to efficiently prepare compliance matrices and distribute amongst the subject matter experts. Most of the time they are surprised how quickly I can have the compliance matrices ready for them to start working on.

Pros

I love how this software is able to analyze RFPs and within seconds prepare compliance matrices. No more copy & pasting! I use it all the time and required my new employer to purchase it when our company was acquired. The recognized text feature is great to extract those important, will, shall, provide, or any custom phrases for the pursuit.

Cons

What I least like is that the Heading numbering remains in the Text description column after the RFP has been analyzed either by sentence level or paragraph level. It is ok for it to remain in the first column location. But due to time constraints I usually leave it in the 2nd column description of the heading and it does look messy. Only if there is time, it is a very time consuming process to remove all the heading numbering in that second column. On certain .pdf documents the text disappears and I never know if it has been removed or it has become a part of the prior line item. Sometimes this happens and I need to be sure to check that all text belongs in the right line item with the correct heading numbering.

Meridian for RFP Analysis

Providing efficiencies to our proposal department

Pros

This is a great product that does just what it says it will do - makes the time-consuming laborious process of shredding an RFP systematic and complete. Your end products include a comprehensive compliance matrix, a working outline for your proposal with all references captured, and auto-populated storyboards and writing tools for preparing your response. All the work is done up front when you shred the RFP and create your worksheets; from that point, you can use your own template to build reports, outlines, and so forth. The support team is proactive, engaged, and available to help you through the learning curve both one-on-one and in regularly scheduled interactive webinars. The team is also constantly evaluating their product, asking for user input, and making improvements and changes based on these needs.

Cons

Not the software's issue, but learning curve - finding the time to use it enough to get proficient.

Meridian for RFP Analysis

Pros

Provides a great way to rapidly itemize and parse all RFP requirements to create multitudes of templates, requirements matrices, storyboards, capabilities matrices. The software enables us to standardize our proposal processes and templates for consistent proposal execution.

Cons

Using the software is not intuitive to beginning users, and unless a user has the opportunity for frequent use, steps to use are hard to retain. However, the available video training and frequent webinars mitigates some of this. I have been using the software for almost 10 years, but I'm seeing that new users in my company struggle in the beginning.

Easy document evaluation, great reports

I am solving a timing and accuracy issue. I used to do all my analysis and matrices by hand, but using Meridian, I am able to automate the process which ensures accuracy and saves loads of time.

Pros

I love the ease of use - it allows me to do with documents in mins what would normally take hours.

Cons

I have not had any issues to complain about.

Great Tool

Pros

RFP scanning, outlining, storyboards - everything.

Cons

Was a little complicated to use in the beginning.

Evaluation of Meridian RFP

Pros

The price compared to other products is cost efficient and could help save money perhaps if this was to be implemented.

Cons

Not too intuitive for those who are not used to using this product.

Proposal Software That is Great for End Users and IT Support Teams

Pros

My IT Team has not had to provide much support this software for our teams that use it in the past year, it has enabled them to send in successful proposals and require very little support from us.

Cons

No cons at this time, from an IT perspective we have not needed to support this software or reach out to Capterra for support which is amazing.

I have been using the product for the past 8 years and have found it a wonderful time-saver

The software enables me to create checklists and cross reference tables from RFPs in a fraction of the time it would take to do it any other way. It ensures accuracy and completeness, both difficult to achieve with a manual approach. It enables me to spend my time on substantive issues instead of "cut and paste." Technical support has been rapid and responsive and the software has continued to improve over time based on user input.

Cuts my time by 70%

I have been using Meridian since 2008. I am a consultant, partnered with my husband at TNT Capture & Proposal Services. I mention this because we are a small start-up and we didn't hesitate to make sure Meridian was part of our start-up costs. I will not use any other method for shredding a RFP and building the matrix as well as resulting outline.

Meridian for RFP Analysis

Pros

The system enables you to effectively extract, store, and manage proposal and RFP content.

Cons

The user interface is slightly difficult to get used to at first, but after a few uses it becomes second nature.