The number one request from both our PMAPS users and benefit consultants was to respond more efficiently, reliably and consistently to RFIs and renewals. Our software engineers, along with our research staff and PMAPS user group, set out to accomplish this task.

We interviewed the top benefit consultants and found that even though many of them are changing the medium (via the Internet or proprietary programs) for which you respond to their proposals, the core mathematical models they use to analyze your data remains consistent among each consultant.

There are two problems with this process.  First, there are no proposal standards, as yet, between the consultants.  This means that for every RFI/Renewal, you need to research each question every time it is asked.  Second, even though the RFI/Renewals are essentially requesting the same information year after year, the consultants do not take into account how much time it takes you to complete their proposals.  If you take a typical RFI with 500 questions and multiply that over 10 consultant’s RFIs, that means searching a minimum of 5,000 times.  Each RFI or renewal can take weeks to complete.

One solution to this process would be to use the proposal information from the past year.  The obvious flaw with this is that you don’t know if any information has changed over the year. 

Since you already have a very powerful tool to respond to proposal in PMAPS®, wouldn’t it be nice to use this existing architecture to solve the RFI and renewal problem.

Introducing SmartBuilder Technology. With a few clicks of the mouse you can now track every RFI/Renewal.  The process is very similar to the way PMAPS® currently works. 

• You start by entering the current RFI/Renewal in the “Triage” screen. 

• You next search for each question and insert, using PMAPS® v6.0/Financial new insert options, the answer into your RFI/Renewal.

• Using the new SmartBuilder Technology, you simply enter the question number being asked.

The following year when the same RFI/Renewal arrives on your desk, you simply select last years RFI/Renewal from the “Triage” screens and select SmartBuilder Assembly. 

• PMAPS® will list, in the order of question number, all the Q&A from the previous year, with all information automatically updated.

• You simply insert the appropriate data into the new RFI/Renewal one by one, saving hours of searching.

If new questions are asked or question numbers changed, you can quickly update the SmartBuilder engine to take these new changes into account.

The following table displays test results in our training center using a 577 question RFI.
You’re result times may differ.