Reference

Glossary

The vocabulary of AEC pursuits, proposal production, and design presentation technology, defined plainly.

Pursuits and business development

AEC: AEC stands for architecture, engineering, and construction, the collective term for the industry that designs and builds the built environment. It is used to describe software, services, and market segments that serve all three disciplines rather than one.
Pursuit: A pursuit is a specific opportunity a firm is trying to win, tracked from first awareness through submission and selection. The term is preferred over 'proposal' in business development because it covers the whole campaign, including research, relationship building, and interviews, not just the document.
Go/no-go: Go/no-go is the decision point at which a firm commits to pursuing an opportunity or declines it. A structured go/no-go assesses fit, competitive position, relationship strength, and cost to pursue before any writing starts, which is the highest-leverage moment in the process because declining a poor fit recovers the entire cost rather than a fraction of it. A go/no-go framework →
Capture plan: A capture plan is the strategy a firm builds for a specific pursuit before the RFP is issued, covering who the decision-makers are, what they care about, who the competition is, and how the firm intends to be positioned by the time the opportunity formally opens.
Win rate: Win rate is the proportion of submitted proposals that result in a win, usually expressed as a percentage over a defined period. It is most useful when broken down by project type, client type, and whether the firm had a prior relationship, because a single blended number hides the variables that actually explain performance. What counts as a good win rate →
Shortlist: A shortlist is the reduced set of firms carried forward after a first round of evaluation, typically to an interview or a second submission stage. Being shortlisted signals that qualifications passed the threshold and that the decision has shifted to fit, team, and approach.
Selection committee: A selection committee is the group of people who collectively decide which firm is awarded a project. In institutional and public work it usually spans several functions, such as facilities, finance, procurement, and end users, each with different priorities, which is why a proposal is rarely read by a single reader with a single set of concerns.
Stakeholder mapping: Stakeholder mapping is the practice of identifying everyone who influences a decision, along with their role, priorities, and relationships to one another. In an AEC pursuit it matters because the named RFP contact is frequently not the person whose objection decides the outcome. Stakeholder networks →
Win/loss debrief: A win/loss debrief is a structured review conducted after a decision, ideally with the client, to establish why a firm won or lost. Its value comes from feeding conclusions back into the go/no-go step, without which the same pursuit tends to be lost repeatedly for the same reason. Building a debrief system →

Proposal documents

RFP (request for proposal): An RFP, or request for proposal, is a formal solicitation inviting firms to propose an approach, team, and fee for a defined scope of work. It typically prescribes the submission format, the evaluation criteria, and the deadline, and non-compliance with those instructions is a common cause of disqualification independent of the quality of the design. How to write an RFP response →
RFQ (request for qualifications): An RFQ, or request for qualifications, is a solicitation that asks firms to demonstrate relevant experience and capability rather than propose a fee or a detailed approach. It is frequently used as a first stage to produce a shortlist, with a full RFP issued only to the firms that pass.
SOQ (statement of qualifications): An SOQ, or statement of qualifications, is the document a firm submits in response to an RFQ. It presents firm history, relevant project experience, team credentials, and capacity, and is judged on demonstrated competence for the specific project type rather than on proposed design ideas.
Fee proposal: A fee proposal is the commercial portion of a submission, setting out what the firm will charge and on what basis, such as a percentage of construction cost, a fixed lump sum, or hourly rates against a not-to-exceed ceiling. It is often submitted separately from the technical proposal so that qualifications can be evaluated before price is revealed. How to price architecture services →
Boilerplate: Boilerplate is standard reusable content that appears in most of a firm's submissions, such as firm history, quality assurance procedures, insurance details, and standard approach language. Maintaining it centrally is what converts proposal production from authorship into assembly.
Project sheet: A project sheet is a single-page summary of a completed project used as evidence of relevant experience, typically covering imagery, scope, size, cost, schedule, the firm's role, and a client reference. A well-maintained library of these is the most reused asset in proposal production. Project portfolio library →
Digital sales room: A digital sales room is a shared, trackable online space where a buying committee reviews everything relevant to a decision. The term originates in enterprise software sales; applied to design work, it describes a single link holding the proposal, visuals, and supporting material, with a record of who engaged with what. Digital sales rooms for design firms →
Interactive proposal: An interactive proposal is a proposal delivered as a browser-based experience rather than a static file, which the recipient explores directly by moving through a 3D model, playing video, and navigating sections in their own order. Because it is served from the web, it can update in place and report which stakeholders engaged with which sections. Guide to interactive proposals →
Proposal analytics: Proposal analytics is the measurement of how a proposal is read after it is sent, covering which people opened it, which sections held their attention, how long they spent, and when new viewers appeared because it was forwarded. It is only possible when a proposal is delivered as a web link, since a file cannot report on itself. Proposal insights →

Visualization and presentation technology

BIM (building information modeling): BIM, or building information modeling, is the practice of designing with a data-rich three-dimensional model in which elements carry information about material, dimension, cost, and phase rather than being drawn as lines. Revit is the most widely used BIM authoring tool in architecture.
glTF and GLB: glTF is an open file format for transmitting 3D scenes efficiently over the web, and GLB is its single-file binary form. Both are designed for fast loading in a browser, which is why they are the usual export target when a model authored in Revit, Rhino, or SketchUp needs to be presented to a client online.
Real-time rendering: Real-time rendering is the generation of images fast enough to respond immediately to changes in the model or the camera, rather than processing a frame over minutes or hours. Enscape, Twinmotion, D5 Render, and Lumion are the tools most commonly used for it in architecture. How these tools compare →
Archviz: Archviz, short for architectural visualization, is the discipline of producing images, animation, and immersive media that communicate a building before it is built. It is practiced both inside architecture firms and by specialist studios working on commission. Foveate for archviz studios →
360 panorama: A 360 panorama is an image capturing the full sphere of view from a single fixed point, which a viewer can look around from inside using a browser, a phone, or a headset. It gives a strong sense of a space without the file size or production cost of a fully navigable model.
Walkthrough: A walkthrough is a moving experience of a space, either as a pre-rendered video following a fixed camera path or as a navigable model the viewer controls themselves. The distinction matters commercially: a video is watched, whereas a navigable walkthrough lets a client look at whatever they are actually worried about. 3D walkthroughs →
Previsualization (previs): Previsualization, usually shortened to previs, is the practice of simulating a production in 3D before it is built or staged, so that sightlines, scale, equipment placement, and audience experience can be tested in advance. It originates in film and is now standard in live events and experiential production. Previs for live production →
Engagement tracking: Engagement tracking records how a recipient interacts with content that has been sent to them, such as which sections of a proposal they opened and how long they spent in each. In a pursuit context its purpose is to replace guesswork in follow-up with a response to something the client demonstrably read.

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