Proposals and counter-proposals

Before reading this article, it may be helpful to take a look at the following articles:

• Introduction to the ADR Notable Noteboard
• Adding a Note to my Noteboard
• Working with Notes to reach resolution

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The Proposals category and Proposal Notecards include some unique features that you won't see on the Notecards in the other categories. 

You may recall that you can change the names and/or remove any of the lanes in your Noteboard except for Proposals.  This is because the information from the Proposals lane will ultimately populate your term sheet. 

With Proposal Notes, you have the ability to:

1. record counter-offers made to the original proposal,
2. pull up the history of each proposal and the related counter-proposals, and
3. designate when a proposal has been accepted, enabling the most recent version of the proposal to be pulled into the term sheet. 

Let's take a look at these unique features in the context of one of the proposals from our sample Landmark Mall Development case:

1. Recording counter-proposals

In our example, Alex Hoefer, who is serving as the spokesperson for the Landmark homeowners, has proposed that the Farmers Market that has been held on this property on Saturday mornings be allowed to continue to operate in the courtyard area of the new mall.  Jamie Dorn is sensitive to this issue (and the goodwill that could come his way by agreeing to this) but is skeptical that the courtyard is a large enough space and is worried about the traffic flow during what is potentially a prime shopping time. 

The mediator, Donna, sees the Note that she had linked earlier and reminds the participants about the proposed covered valet parking area.  Jamie Dorn jumps at this and proposes it as an alternative to the mall courtyard.  Catherine, another homeowner, suggests that there should be signs for the Farmers Market in the courtyard on Saturdays and that there should not be any rent charged to the vendors. 

Donna adds these counter-offers by clicking on the  icon at the top of the proposal Notecard each time she wants to make a change to the proposal:

The Notecard now shows the text of the most recent proposal and that two counter-proposals have been made to the original proposal:

Hint:  When adding a counter-proposal, the text of the most recent offer will automatically appear in the text box.  Depending on the offer, you may want to clear that text out and start with all new text OR you may want to go to the end of the old text and append something ("...and add signage to courtyd...").  A shortcut for getting to the end of the text is to use the FN + right arrow keys on your keyboard.  All keyboards differ, but it may look something like this:

 

2. Viewing the proposal history

To view the progression of proposals and counter-proposals, open the Notecard menu (the three dots in the upper right corner of the Notecard) and select Proposal History.  A window will appear on the right of the screen showing each proposal, when it was recorded, and who made it:

3. Recording an accepted proposal

When the current version of a proposal has been accepted, click on the "thumbs up" icon in the Notecard.  The icon will change color and a checkmark will appear on the left side of the Notecard:

If a proposal is rescinded, click on the icon again and the process will be reversed.

You will also see checkmarks appear on any Issues and Facts that were linked to the Proposals.  This is an easy way to keep track of whether the Issues that you have noted have been addressed.  Move them around with your mouse or touchscreen to keep the outstanding issues together at the top of your list.

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You may now want to read about how to create a term sheet.