When do you use it?
Open a row the day the pack or invitation arrives. Update the stage when the gate runs, when you lodge, and when the buyer decides. Do not wait for a monthly pipeline meeting to invent status.
The register is not a CRM redesign and it is not a qualification-quality dashboard. It is a small-team list that two people can keep honest. Shared stage names with the metrics page matter more than extra columns.
What goes in each field?
- Opportunity ID. A stable internal code. Do not reuse it when the buyer retitles the pack.
- Buyer. The legal buyer named in the notice, not the relationship owner.
- Market. Public Commonwealth, state, council, or private. Enough to know which rules apply.
- Stage. Received, In gate, Bid, No-bid, Submitted, Awarded, Lost, Withdrawn. One value.
- Receipt / close / decision dates. When it arrived, when lodgement is due, when you recorded the call or the buyer recorded theirs. Blank decision date means it is still pending.
- Gate status. Not started, Bid, No-bid, Review. Distinct from Stage: you can be Submitted after a Bid gate, or Withdrawn after a later reversal.
- Owner. The person who will update the row this week.
- Planned / actual pursuit hours. Planned is the budget at the gate. Actual is the timesheet. Do not overwrite planned with actual.
- Proposed delivery window. The months delivery would occupy if awarded. Used to see overlap, not to promise a start date.
- Next action. One concrete step with a date. Empty next action is how rows go stale.