Digital Dashboard RFP Questions & Answers

Transcription

1 Digital Dashboard RFP Questions & Answers

2 Summary 13 companies submitted an Intent to Bid. 10 companies submitted questions. 109 questions were submitted. Questions & Answers 1. Are there any incumbent vendors providing services in any of these areas already, and if so, who are they and how long have you been working with them? A. No. 2. Is it possible to provide further specifics on the selection criteria? And if so, is one aspect more of a priority than others (e.g. geographic areas vs. methodology vs. price)? A. Attachment B shows the relative weighting of all selection criteria- scope of work/methodology has the most weight. 3. Do you prefer a particular Dashboarding/Visualization product or are we open to recommending a leading- edge tool? A. We are open to suggestions 4. What are the standard SLA (Service Level Agreement) for Simple, Medium and Complex requirements - OR in other word story type that Visit CA is expecting? A. SLA is understood, but not sure what story type refers to. If you have multiple SLAs, please detail each and we can determine which is most appropriate. 5. How many users/licenses will be required for the dashboards (many of them have a per seat license fee but often costs are negligible)? Are the costs for licensing to be considered as part of the RFP, based on number of seats? A. We envision 5 users for in depth access and multiple (20) for top line access. These costs should be considered in the stated budget. 6. Cardinal Path has a wealth of experience in delivering training in multiple formats (i.e. webinar, live online, in- person); is there a preference? A. We are flexible 7. How many users are expected to require end- user training? A How many users are expected to require technical dashboard building/editing/manipulation training? A. 5 2

3 9. Do users require the ability to manipulate data in the dashboards in real- time, or are they intended to be for information- purposes only? A. Information only for the majority of users. Admin- level users should be able to manipulate dashboards. 10. Are you open to working with two tools? One for data- manipulation for advanced users and another for viewing and disseminating information organization- wide? A. Yes- that is preferred 11. Can you provide more clarity around the offline data and traditional media? What does this consist of and where is this data coming from? A. Visit California collects data detailing visitor counts, visitor spending, lodging occupancy and average rate, airport traffic, air service into the state, advertising awareness, and ad generated travel among other data points. These data come from syndicated data providers as well as other 3 rd party sources. Data formats vary from Excel to Word to PPT, but we will work with vendors to get data in importable formats for use in the dashboard. 12. What is the business intent of this work? A. To inform marketing and communications staff of campaign performance and progress, and to present executive staff with snapshot style reporting of Visit California s key performance indicators (see Q11). 13. Is the dashboard something that will always be or is it sporadic, and why? A. It will be ongoing as VCA programming has evolved into an Always On format 14. Can you please elaborate on the metrics related to performance of assets and programs (e.g. recognition, etc.)? A. Performance metrics will run from media delivery (online and offline) to brand recognition/recall and everything in between. Dashboards are expected to support any and all metrics. 15. Can you confirm the time frame for these metrics is consecutive? If so, over what period of time? A. Digital campaign metrics will be ongoing, while other reporting will be monthly, quarterly, or other 16. Please confirm if the historical data is time series for all data. If not for all, which data is time series? A. Historical data is for all metrics 17. Are there specific subgroups of interest? And what time frames? A. No. 18. Under data sources, is there an initial download of 12 months of historical data for all sources? If not all, which ones? A. Yes, at a minimum. Social media, industry research, traditional media and other offline data will have 3 years of historical data. 19. Can you please define the offline data source? Is this aggregate or respondent level? A. See Q11- data are in aggregate 3

4 20. How many users will there be? (number of SSO s required) A. See Q7 and Can you please confirm PowerPoint format is fine for proposal delivery? A. PPT is fine for building the proposal but see Section 9 of RFP for delivery details 22. Who is the desired audience? A. Managerial marketing and communications dept. staff; executive staff 23. Is it the internal marketing department? A. Yes, and agency partners 24. What level of digital marketing understanding will users command? A. Detailed for 5 users, high level for others 25. Will the database reside with Visit California? Or stored/maintained internally at Partner (as determined by RFP)? Are you opposed to a cloud based solution? A. We prefer some level of connection to the database, but ask for vendor to host as per RFP 26. Please define Normalized Data. A. Data that has been cleansed of duplicates/redundancy, dependencies, or errors. 27. What data normalization is expected? Does this mean metrics are adjusted for seasonality? Estimated data points where/when data drops occur? Clarification into normalization of data sets is required. A. See #25. Potential for seasonality adjustments and data estimation, yes. 28. How often should the data be updated/refreshed? A. Real time for social and digital campaign metrics; monthly for others 29. Responsive design is needed; what devices are we going to be supporting? What OS versions? A. Treat similar to designing for general Internet use with mobile, tablet, and desktop systems. Essentially, compatibility should not be restricted. 30. Can you please clarify what 5 metrics / 5 reports refer to with the Scope? 5 distinct dashboard views? 5 different subject matter focuses? Could this refer to different date ranges? Please clarify. A. Metrics in the sense of a data point and reports being where metrics are displayed. Dashboards may contain multiple reports and reports may contain multiple metrics. Yes, reports could be different date ranges depending on data, but mostly a dashboard will contain a single date range. 31. The end- product training should be focused on the customer s ability to create new metrics, reports, and dashboards; the end goal being to allow infinite customization for Visit CA? A. Customization options should be robust but specifics can be discussed once a contract is awarded 32. Create/Publish/Compare Metrics: This sounds like the job of a more traditional analytics tool and not necessarily a dashboard. Can you clarify the function the dashboard will serve? A. Inform marketing and communications staff of campaign performance, serve as visualization tool for all major KPIs for Visit California 4

5 33. What does publish custom dashboards mean? Are we simply combining metrics and segments into a graph/table and saving, or is it more in- depth than that? A. Dashboard should have click- through capabilities to allow for deeper dives into the data 34. Would you want the user to drill down through their physical actions or could these activate a carousel or rotation of data views? A. Drill down is our intent, but we would consider the other if robust enough 35. Will we have access to Visit California s website CMS? If not, how are we going to integrate dashboards into the website? A. Yes 36. Are you looking for basic community size metrics (Fans, Followers, and Subscribers) or detailed campaign based information? A. For social sites, we are also looking to include campaign information. 37. Does Visit California already have API access for the data sources listed? Also, there is an approval process with many of these data sources (which could impact timing)? A. Most APIs are already in use, yes. 38. What options are available to Visit CA to send customer- supplied data? A. Most can be delivered via API, with others coming via FTP. 39. Where do the following data sources come from and in what format are they delivered? A. See Q Is Visit California a paid Google Analytics Premium customer? If yes, is the data ex- tractable form Google Big Query? If no, does Google Analytics currently sample visit traffic and should the proposal include the gathering of un- sampled data? A. No, standard Google Analytics with the expectation of avoiding data sampling. 41. Is the configuration of Google Analytics and/or simply measured within the scope of this project? A. No, these sources should already be configured to our needs and vendor would just need to pull data. 42. Can we use a system/service to collect Facebook, Twitter, Instagram metrics? (Such as Datashift) A. Open to it. 43. Do we need to gather and store text elements such as posts, tweets, images? A. No 44. Will it be required to mine text for metrics? (i.e. sentiment analysis, post groupings) A. No 45. Can the solutions utilize third party for dashboarding, ETL, and/or API management? (Systems such as Tableau, Qlik, GoodData, Datawatch, etc.)? A. Yes 46. What format will the following data be in: Industry Research, Offline, Traditional Media and other non- API? (CSV, API, FTP) A. See #11 5

6 47. Are there any requirements to the database that data will be stored in? (MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Hadoop)? A. No requirements, vendor to provide data storage. 48. Have personas for dashboard users already been identified? Will each type of user have their own dashboards? A. Yes 49. Have the metrics within the dashboard already been chosen or should the proposal include a measurement strategy session? A. Please include a strategy session. 50. We are based outside of the US, can we still bid for the project? A. Yes 51. Is there a preference for U.S. or California based companies? A. No, but must be accessible on our time zone. 52. Can you describe the main purpose of this dashboard implementation and the minimal goal you want to accomplish by implementing this dashboard? A. See Q Can you describe the different user groups who are going to work with the dashboard? A. Executive: high level snapshot of performance and trends; Marketing: overview of initiatives and marketing efforts; Content: overview of content performance within social environments and owned channels; Webops: Monitoring and performance stats for all web properties and related elements; Industry: Share select, curated information with the industry. 54. What are their management tasks that should be supported by the new dashboard? A. See # Which level do they belong to: operations, tactical, strategic level? A. Executive: Strategic; Marketing: Tactical and strategic with slight operational; Content: Tactical and strategic; Webops: Most operational, but also strategic and tactical; Industry: Strategic, some tactical. 56. Are you looking for a dashboard that provides an overview or should the dashboard also be able to drill down into a lot of details? What level of detail is required? Can you give a rough example for one of the data sources? A. Drill- down capability required for some users. Ideally down to raw rows. For example, Google Analytics session trending. Ability to drill down to identify a spike in sessions to determine what contributed to the spike. Such as all traffic sources (source or medium) that day. 57. Are there any kind of restrictions / guidelines / laws you have to consider when implementing a software technology? A. No, however our IT team will be involved and will want to discuss data security. If solution requires hosting on our side, it will need to be compatible with existing infrastructure. 58. Is mobile support required? If yes for what user group? 6

7 A. For viewing, mobile for all. For editing and manipulation, mobile is not a requirement but preferred. 59. Do you want to follow up on insights / results? Is any kind of action planning and progress management required? A. Not an explicit requirement, but interested in your capabilities and recommendations in this area. 60. Can you please explain in more detail what kind of insights you expect to gain by using the listed data sources? A. See Q How are these data sources connected to your daily work, management tasks and decisions? A. Some data informs on- going optimizations of digital campaign initiatives. Other data is used in on- going marketing program planning. 62. Who will be responsible for creating insights from the respective data source? A. Combination of VCA staff and agency partners. 63. Who shall take care of the entire analytical part of a dashboard? A. A subset of VCA staff and agency partners. 64. Is consultancy required from the dashboard provider or do you already have clear ideas or a third party who will be responsible for this part? If yes, can you share some of them with us? A. There may be ad hoc requests for analysis based on selected partner s capabilities, but bulk of on- going analysis will be done by VCA staff and agency partners. 65. Do you want to process unstructured data such as text? A. Not currently a requirement, but clarify on how unstructured data would be handled. 66. Do you need text mining capabilities in the dashboard? A. No. 67. Can Visit California share with the bidders the user scenario for these reports and expected format for these? Example reports would be helpful. A. See #52. We are flexible on report format and looking for bidders to provide thinking on the best way to synthesis data inputs to create digestible reports. 68. Custom Dashboards: Ability to create and publish custom dashboards analyzing any data point against another with a common denominator. Can Visit California share some examples of this usage? A. One example would be looking at website visitation by geography and comparing on site behaviors. 69. Do you see this as a cross login from your Visit California site with single sign on - or would you want to embed the dashboard in an i- frame on your site? A. Open to either. 7

8 70. Some vendors do not support retrieval of 3 yrs. of historical data. Would you accept historical data based on what is available from the vendor platform? A. Yes. 71. How many users do you expect to have on the platform? A. See #5 72. Are there specific dimensions and metrics that need to be accessed through each of these Data Sources? For example, does "Facebook" imply social metrics like page views and likes or advertising metrics like impressions and clicks? A. Yes, when referring to social, advertising metrics included. 73. Which data source from DoubleClick does Visit California use? DoubleClick for Publishers, DoubleClick for Advertisers, or something else? A. DFA/DCM 74. At what granular level are you looking to pull data in from these sources? A. By day and by unique ad permutation largely, the most granular. 75. How are Offline data and Offline Data funneled through spreadsheet different? A. See # What traditional media would you be integrating? A. See # How would the data representing traditional media be sent across? A. See # For all sources, what is the data frequency from each? Daily, weekly, monthly, or cumulative aggregates? A. Daily as available for sources with an API, less frequent for offline or research data. 79. How much history is needed upon initial download, is it 12 months or 3 years? A. 12 months initial download with ability to house three years. 80. Will this product be purely internal for employees of Visit California? A. No, access will be provided to Visit California agency partners. 81. Will all users have all permissions? Meaning, can any user that logs in have the ability to manage data source settings, other users, etc.? A. No, managing dashboards will be limited to 5 users. 82. What is the Number of Unstructured and Structured Data Sources? A. Data via API will be structured (about 8) with offline, research, and traditional media being structured as much as possible before delivery. 83. Total Volume in terms of Entities & Attributes per Data Source? A. TBD 84. Total Volume in terms of Rows per Data Source? A. TBD. Less than millions. 85. Expected Data Quality (Data Cleansing efforts will depend on this)? A. Data stored should be cleansed of duplicates/redundancy, dependencies, or errors. See Q25 and Q26. 8

9 86. What is the Data Refresh frequency (One time load \ Day 0 Load and Day- to- day load)? A. Following initial load of data, API data sources should be refreshed daily with offline/industry/research data loaded/refreshed less often. 87. Number of Dashboards? A. 5 core dashboards, but the possibility for many additional ad- hoc dashboards. 88. What is the Split between Dashboards? A. TBD 89. What is the Split between MIS Reports? A. TBD 90. Any Data driven Subscription required? A. Not currently, no. 91. Who is Target Audience, number of users, types of users, frequency of access / concurrency? A. See Q52. Low concurrency required (expected 5 or less). 92. Is this a: Security Internet based solution / Intranet based solution? A. Industry data will be public- facing on industry site, otherwise private access. 93. Is there a Technology Stack preference? A. Any that plays well with others. 94. Is it possible for AQ to receive a sample of performance metrics and details on assets and programs? A. See #11 for offline metrics. Typical digital metrics are impressions, engagements, views, visits, time on site. 95. Our understanding is that the scoring document for the proposal is Attachment B as there is no Attachment C in the RFP. Please confirm. A. Yes, there is no Attachment C. That is a typo. It should read Attachment B. 96. Are these reports (5) to be delivered as a final deliverable? A. Yes. 97. Is it possible to get samples of the existing reports / metrics? A. See #93. Offline data is available at industry.visitcalifornia.com/research 98. We will be able to integrate 3 years of historical data. Please do confirm if all data sources have 3 years of historical data. A. Yes, with the exception of Instagram, all sources contain at least three years of data. 99. What s the size of historical data you currently have and what is the size of the data by each source? A. Exact size unknown, but not hundreds of millions of rows of data Does the Visit California website need to be updated real time from the dashboard? If not, then what will be the frequency of data update? A. No, monthly or bi- weekly updates at most Do you want single- sign on whereby you can log into the dashboard with an existing set of credentials? 9

10 A. Yes, SSO preferred Are you looking for a mobile app or a website which renders well on PC, Tablets and phones? A. The latter. If a mobile app is available, it may be useful Please do let us know if you will be able to share sample metrics of the listed data sources. A. See #93. Offline data is available at industry.visitcalifornia.com/research 104. How do you want to read the data? A. Combinations of tables, charts and graphics 105. What level of integration do you need? A. API integration for most, database connection support, and flat file (CSV, SV, Excel) import In what format will all data be available? A. Machine readable format (CSV, TSV, Excel) or through APIs Do you use any tools currently for pulling data from various sources? If yes, please provide details. A. Only tool aside from direct API access is Simply Measured for social data We re assuming that the budget of $180,000 is for Year 1 only. Please clarify. A. Yes, includes both set up and Year 1 management How many people will need to be trained on usage of the dashboard? Are they all in the same location? A. See #7 & 8. Not all in the same location but can be coordinated with enough lead time. 10