Lookahead & bid schedule

Create shared project views for near-term bids, upcoming lettings, and pursuit follow-through.
5 min read · Reviewed

Create a set of shared Projects collection views that carries opportunities from early review through the bid decision and post-letting follow-through.

Plan a small set of working views

A useful bid schedule can contain more than one table. Give each stage of the workflow its own saved view while keeping every view connected to the same Projects collection.

  • Near-term lookahead: Projects with a bid or letting date inside the team's immediate review window and work that matches the team's scope.
  • Upcoming lettings: A broader window for assigning an owner, confirming scope, and deciding which opportunities deserve attention next.
  • Post-letting views: Saved views for outcomes such as submitted, awarded, no-bid, missed, or bid results.

Place the views in a shared section that follows the team's lifecycle—for example, Pre-letting and Post-letting. This gives the team one predictable place to work before and after each bid date.

Create the first Projects view

  1. Select New in the workspace header.
  2. Choose Table.
  3. In Select a Dataset, choose Projects.
  4. Replace Untitled with a name that describes the window, such as 30-day lookahead.
  5. Confirm that project records appear in the table.
  6. Keep the page private while you configure it, then move it to the team's shared pre-letting section.

The page is another view of the Projects collection—not a separate list of projects. Editing a project in the schedule updates the shared project record, and opening that project shows the same details everywhere else in Bidlo.

Show the fields the team uses to decide

The strongest working schedules combine project context, scope fit, and pursuit ownership. Show existing Projects fields such as:

  • Identify the work: Project name, location, route, owner or letting agency
  • Understand timing: Bid or letting date, proposal published date, and working days
  • Confirm scope fit: Quantity fields for the team's major work types, with their units
  • Manage the pursuit: Pursuit status, assigned teammate, and notes
  • Check bid context: Planholders or bidders and current project value

Hide fields that don't help the review. If the needed information doesn't already exist on Projects, confirm the team's data model before creating a new field so the schedule doesn't duplicate an existing date, quantity, status, or assignment.

Filter the near-term lookahead

  1. Select Filter.
  2. Add the bid or letting date field and choose the team's immediate relative window—for example, Next month.
  3. If the team works from a particular project owner, letting agency, market, or source, add that as another condition.
  4. Add a condition for each scope quantity field that makes a project relevant, such as Scope quantity — barrier is greater than 0.
  5. Configure the scope conditions so a project can match any of them. A project should qualify when at least one relevant work quantity is present.
  6. Select Sort, sort the bid date by Oldest first, then add a second sort such as location from A → Z.

The view now answers two questions at once: which bids are coming soon, and which of those bids contain work the team performs.

Create the broader upcoming view

Create another Table backed by Projects, then give it a broader window—for example, the next 45 or 60 days. Use this view to make assignments and pursuit decisions before projects reach the near-term lookahead.

  1. Filter the bid or letting date to the broader upcoming window.
  2. Add the owner, agency, market, or source condition used by the team.
  3. Filter the pursuit status to the active stages used before bid day—for example, Review, Bidding, or Ready.
  4. Sort by bid date Oldest first, then by location A → Z.
  5. Include assignment and notes fields alongside the scope quantities and bid context used during review.

When a project field changes, the project appears or stops appearing according to each view's saved filters. The team can maintain the project once while the near-term, upcoming, and outcome views stay focused on their own stage.

Review the underlying project

Select the project's name in the schedule to open its shared project record. Review Details, Items, and Files as needed.

Return to the schedule with the pursuit status, assignment, or note that helps the next person act. Keep supporting project detail on the project record.

Run the bid review from the schedule

During a review:

  1. Start with the near-term view and work from the earliest bid date forward.
  2. Confirm that the owner, date, and scope quantities are current.
  3. Update pursuit status, assignment, and notes on the shared project.
  4. Use planholder, bidder, value, and working-day fields when they affect the decision.
  5. Open the project record when the team needs files, items, or deeper context.
  6. Review the broader upcoming view and assign work before it enters the immediate window.
  7. Use the appropriate post-letting view to record the outcome after bid day.

This creates a rolling bid workflow: the upcoming view supports preparation, the near-term view supports final pursuit decisions, and the post-letting views support follow-through.

FAQs

Do separate schedule views create copies of a project?

No. Each view can use different filters, fields, and sorting while remaining connected to the same Projects collection.

Why is an expected project missing from the schedule?

Check the view’s filters and the project’s date and status fields. Avoid creating a duplicate until you confirm the original record does not exist.