I am not a developer, but looking for opinions on the best way to approach this to guide my team... It revolves around workflow, triggers, actions and maybe some rules.
A content type (call it bid) can be created with a nodereference to another content type (call it RFP)
The workflow has been created with the following steps:
(creation) - can be created by anyone with a vendor role(and some other "pre-qualifications") (done by workflow fields)
draft - Only Author can edit (done by workflow fields)
Submit - Only Author can edit (done by workflow fields)
Locked - No one can view or edit
Here is where I think some custom work needs to come into play...
At the submission deadline (in another content type call it RFP) all submitted bids for the RFP are moved to the next workflow state of Locked.
As of the bid opening date (in RFP) A user with Opening role will unlock Bids for an RFP which moves all bid records for that RFP to unlock 1 state. Another user with Opening role will unlock Bids for an RFP which moves all bid records for that RFP to an Opened state.
Unlock 1 - No one can view or edit
Opened - Agency personnel may view but not edit bids (handled by workflow)
The bid records probably will not be published.
Ideally I am looking for some modules that might help solve or minimize custom development on this or what type of programming approaches might be best to address this.
Open to any and all suggestions.