# How EngiProse works, from RFP to a recorded outcome

URL: https://engiprose.com/help/get-started/how-engiprose-works
Updated: 2026-08-31
Audience: all

The eleven-stage lifecycle every proposal moves through, and which stages your admin has turned on.

Every proposal in EngiProse moves through the same lifecycle, shown as a rail
of numbered stages at the top of the proposal. This article explains the full
stage list, which ones your organization actually uses, and the two ways a
proposal finishes.

:::checklist title="What you'll do"
- See the eleven canonical stages and their three phases
- Understand which stages are on by default, and which an Organization Admin or Admin can add
- Know the two ways a proposal reaches its outcome
:::

## The three phases

The rail groups stages into three phases, each with its own color: Setup,
Write, and Finalize.

- **Setup** covers everything before a first draft exists: uploading the RFP,
  filling in details, building the section list, and generating a draft.
- **Write** covers editing the draft, and, if an Organization Admin or Admin
  has turned it on, sending it for review.
- **Finalize** covers marking the proposal final, exporting it, and recording
  the outcome.

:::annotated-figure src="/help-figures/get-started/how-engiprose-works-1.png" alt="The lifecycle rail on a proposal, showing the Setup, Write and Finalize phases with numbered stages" caption="A proposal at stage 5, Edit, out of 10 visible stages" route="/proposals/$proposalId"
1. **Setup**, the blue band on the left: Upload RFP, Details, Sections, Generate
2. **Write**, the violet band in the middle: Edit, Send and Reviewer
3. **Finalize**, the green band on the right: Final, Export, Outcome
:::

## The eleven stages

In order, the canonical stages are: Upload RFP, Details, Sections, Team,
Generate, Edit, Send, Reviewer, Final, Export, Outcome.

Three of these are optional: **Team** on its own, and **Send** and
**Reviewer** as a pair. An organization starts with both options switched off, which gives every new proposal
an eight-stage rail: Upload RFP, Details, Sections, Generate, Edit, Final,
Export, Outcome. An [Organization Admin or
Admin](/help/set-up-your-firm/lifecycle-options) can turn on the Team step (to
assign people to a proposal) and the review step (Send and Reviewer together)
from Settings.

:::note
The figure above shows a proposal in an organization where review is turned on
but Team is not, so its rail has ten stages instead of eight or eleven.
:::

## Two ways to finish

Because Send and Reviewer are optional, every organization finishes proposals
one of two ways:

- **Finish in Word.** With review off, a proposal goes straight from Edit to
  Final, then Export. Nobody reviews it inside EngiProse; your team reviews the
  exported Word file however it already does.
- **In-system review.** With review on, a proposal moves to Send, then
  Reviewer, before it can be marked final. An assigned approver reviews it
  inside EngiProse, with tracked changes and comments, before it goes to Final.

Finishing in Word is the default for a new organization. In-system review is
something an Organization Admin or Admin opts into.

::::faq title="Common questions"
:::q question="Why don't I see a Team stage on my proposals?"
An [Organization Admin or Admin](/help/set-up-your-firm/lifecycle-options) has
not turned on the Team step. It's an addition to the default eight-stage rail,
not something removed.
:::
:::q question="What happens if an Organization Admin or Admin turns on review after I've started a proposal?"
The stage rail updates to include Send and Reviewer for that proposal, and it
now needs to go through review before it can be marked final.
:::
:::q question="What happens if an Organization Admin or Admin turns on the Team step after I've started a proposal?"
The rail is computed from your organization's current settings every time a
proposal is opened, not fixed when the proposal was created. So the stage
rail gains the Team step for that proposal too, and loses it again if the
setting is turned back off.
:::
::::