K- 12 Student Information System Software

Transcription

1 Request For Proposal K- 12 Student Information System Software Goochland County Public Schools 2/16/, 2004 K-12 Software RFP 2/16/2004 Table of Contents 1. SCOPE OF ACQUISITION Introduction General Definitions Acquisition Overview Mandatory Requirements INSTRUCTIONS TO VENDORS Vendor Communications Anticipated Timelines How To Submit A Response Response Format Number of Response Paper Copies Require Cost of RFP Response Preparation Responses Property of GCPS Proprietary Information Public Disclosure Waiver of Irregularities Errors in Response RFP Amendments Right to Cancel Best Offer No Obligation to Buy Withdrawal of Response Basis of Award VENDOR ORGANIZATION Vendor Identifying Information (Complete Form In Appendix B) Name & Address RFP Contact Principal Officers Federal Employer ID Vendor Status as A Virginia Business Customer References (Forms in Appendix D) Certifications and Assurances Maintenance of Agreement Ownership of Deliverables Non-Endorsement PRICING SPECIFICATIONS Presentation of All Cost Components Travel and Per Diem Rates Working Hours Labor Rate Schedule Advances in Technology... 8 Appendix A Certifications & Assurances... 9 Appendix B Vendor Identifying Information Appendix C Proposal Content Checklist Appendix D Customer Reference Letters

2 Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey SECTION 1 GENERAL REQUIREMENT'S Section 1.1 Vendor Information Section 1.2 Technology Specifications Section 1.3 Standard Fields Section 1.4 Functional Specifications Appendix F Project Plan and Pricing Matrix CHAPTER 1 SCOPE OF ACQUISITION 1. SCOPE OF ACQUISITION 1.1 Introduction Goochland County Public Schools (GCPS) is requesting proposals for a K-12 Student Information System (SIS), as described in this document. Sealed proposals will be received until 10 AM, (Eastern Time) on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 at: Goochland County Public Schools 2938 River Road West Goochland, VA All proposals shall be clearly marked to read K-12 Student Information System Software. 1.2 General Definitions Contractor: Individual or organization whose proposal has been accepted by GCPS and is awarded a Contract. GCPS: Goochland County Public Schools, may also be referred to as the District SIS: Student Information System Firm Sizes: Vendors who have in their employ (including participating owners), on the date of bid submission: - Small one to 10 technical employees - Medium 11 to 50 technical employees - Large 51 or more technical employees FTE: Full time equivalent students or staff members. Modules: Major system components of the student information system. Person Month: For purposes of this RFP, defined as 150 hours of service. Proposal: A formal offer made by the Vendor submitting proposals in response to a specific RFP solicitation. The terms proposal, bid, and quote may be used interchangeably in this document and shall all have the meaning stated above. Qualified Vendor: Individual or organization who meets the minimum grading or selection criteria. RFP or Request for Proposals: A documented formal solicitation process providing individuals and organizations an equal and open opportunity to submit proposals to do the work described in the RFP. Vendor: Individual or organization submitting a proposal in response to an RFP in order to attain a Contract through GCPS. Working Days or Business Days: Monday through Friday only except legal holidays observed by the public school districts business offices. 2

3 Year 2000 Compliance: Continued ability to enter, store, extract and report information from the system applications, regardless of century (20th or 21st). 1.3 Acquisition Overview The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals from qualified software vendors to provide Goochland County Public Schools with a comprehensive, fully integrated, operational Student Information System. The SIS must provide functionality to support classroom, school, and district student records administrative functions appropriate to a small to medium, complex K-12 school district. The application is required to be an existing, integrated software system that incorporates the operational functions described in this RFP. As part of this proposal vendors are asked to submit a recommended implementation plan and specify the areas where services will be provided as well as clearly specify the areas for which the District project team will be responsible. The District is interested in vendor recommendations on how to best utilize implementation services as a way to ensure project success, knowledge transfer, and positive system acceptance, while keeping project costs at reasonable levels. Proposals should clearly delineate how the software system can best satisfy the stated requirements of the District and how the implementation approach will minimize the risk of delayed implementation. The District expects the proposals to include recommendations for hardware to satisfy stated performance requirements. However, the District will acquire hardware in a separate process. All responses for the proposed SIS district solution must be the version currently in production for the configuration proposed. 1.4 Mandatory Requirements Any vendor proposal must meet all mandatory requirements to be considered: At a minimum, the SIS must provide functionality suitable for a small to medium school district in the following areas: Student demographics Enrollment admission, withdrawal, and transfers Attendance Scheduling Grade marking and grade reporting Graduation requirements & verification Course history maintenance Security Reporting, including reporting for transcripts and report cards. State reporting Special Programs System access from home Centralized system Web interface for access/input for all system users via standard browser (Safari, Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) Application supports Macintosh OS X and OS 9 clients It is required that the application be built on a relational database. ODBC compliant Proposals not meeting mandatory requirements or found to be incomplete will not be considered. Proposals not deemed within the competitive range will not be considered. 3

4 CHAPTER 2 INSTRUCTIONS TO VENDORS 2. INSTRUCTIONS TO VENDORS Vendors submitting proposals for this acquisition shall follow the listed instructions. Even though they are administrative in nature, they are all mandatory. By signing the Certifications and Assurances (reference Appendix A) and submitting it with a response to this acquisition, Vendors agree to abide by all requirements in this RFP Vendor Communications Upon release of this RFP, all Vendor communications concerning this RFP should be directed to the individual listed below. Any communications will be considered unofficial and non-binding on GCPS unless issued in writing. Vendors shall rely only on written statements. Thomas DeWeerd, Director of Technology Goochland County Public Schools 2938 River Road West Goochland, VA tdeweerd@glnd.k12.va.us 2.2. Anticipated Timelines Event Date RFP published February 16, 2004 RFP responses due March 16, 2004 Evaluation complete March 31, 2004 Vendor Engagement and Site Visits April 12, 2004 Product Selection April 30, 2004 Data Conversion and Documentation May-July 2004 Full implementation of District August, How To Submit A Response Vendors may submit a response using the following format requirements Response Format Size RFP responses must be prepared on standard 8.5 x 11-inch paper and placed in a 3-ring binder Volumes Response material must be placed in two volumes: Volume 1: Technical Response (must include Certifications & Assurances in Appendix A, answers to Section 1 Requirements Definition and Survey in Appendix E) Volume 2: Organizational & Financial Response (must include answers to Requirements Section in Appendix F) No pricing information shall appear in Volume 1. A Vendor s proposal that includes pricing information in the responses to technical specifications may be eliminated from further consideration. This separation of documentation is necessary to ensure the integrity of the evaluation process Dividers Index tabs must be used to separate major sub-sections in each binder. Major 4

5 sub-sections (index tabs) for this RFP are: Volume 1 Technical Identifying Information, Appendix B Certifications & Assurances, Appendix A Requirements Definition and Survey, Appendix E Volume 2, Organization & Financial Identifying Information, Appendix B Project Plan and Pricing Matrix, Appendix F Identification Include a copy of the Vendor Identifying Information (reference Appendix B) at the beginning of each volume Tables and Charts Any tables and/or charts used must be numbered and referenced to correlate to the mandatory requirement, fold-outs containing charts, spreadsheets, oversize exhibits are permissible Footers Pages must include footer with the following information shown: Vendor Name Page No. Date Volume No. & Section Number of Response Paper Copies Required Four (4) copies of Volume 1, Technical Four (4) copies of Volume 2, Organization & Financial Although an electronic version of each document is available to assist vendors in preparing proposals, the proposal must be submitted in hard copy Four (4) copies of the Request for Proposal (RFP) in electronic format on a CD as an Acrobat.PDF file Cost of RFP Response Preparation GCPS will not reimburse Vendor costs associated with preparing or presenting any response to this RFP Responses Property of GCPS All materials submitted in response to this RFP become the property of GCPS. Selection or rejection of a response does not affect this Proprietary Information All bids received shall remain confidential until a Contract, if any; is signed by GCPS and the Qualified Bidder resulting from this RFP. After a Contract is signed, the bids shall be deemed public records. Confidentiality is available only to the limited extent allowed in State law. Any information contained in the bid the Bidder desires to claim as proprietary and exempt from disclosure must be clearly designated. The page must be identified and the particular exception(s) from disclosure upon which the Bidder is making the claim. Each page claimed to be exempt from disclosure must be clearly identified by the word confidential printed on the lower right hand corner of the page. Marking the entire bid as proprietary will be neither accepted nor honored and may result in disclosure of the entire bid. The Bidder must be reasonable in designating information as confidential, and GCPS cannot assure any confidentiality except to the extent contained by State law. Further, GCPS reserves the right to disclose information regardless of whether it is marked as confidential. 5

6 2.7. Public Disclosure In order to protect the integrity of the Contracting process, which is a vital State interest, bids will not be disclosed until after award and signing of the Contract. To the extent the law allows, GCPS will not disclose bids with other Vendors before a Contract is signed. This will ensure fair competition without undue advantage to any Bidder leading to private gain and public loss. The bids shall be deemed public records, excepting those portions, which have been designated by the Bidder as proprietary and as explained in this section Public Disclosure cont. Response to a request to view or copy a bid shall be according to agency public disclosure procedure. If any information is marked as proprietary/confidential in the bid, such information shall not be made available without giving the submitting Bidder an opportunity to seek a court order to prevent such disclosure. GCPS may choose to return bids or portions of bids to the Bidder at its sole discretion. However, GCPS retains the right to access or ask for documents back from Bidders. Cost of copying done by GCPS in response to requests for disclosures shall be charged to the requester Waiver of Irregularities GCPS reserves the right to waive proposal irregularities contained in any Vendor response as is done in comparable bidding business. Omissions of required authorizing signatures or entire sections or sub-sections will not be waived Errors in Response GCPS is not liable for any errors in Vendor responses. Vendors are liable for all errors or omissions contained in their responses. Vendors will not be allowed to alter response documents after the deadline for response submission. However, GCPS reserves the right to contact the Vendor for clarification of proposal documentation RFP Amendments GCPS reserves the right to change the acquisition schedule or issue amendments to the RFP at any time up to closing date and time Right to Cancel GCPS reserves the right to cancel or reissue this RFP at any time without obligation or liability Best Offer All proposals shall be deemed to be the Best and Final Offer. GCPS reserves the right to make an award that provides the best overall value to the district without further discussion of the response(s) submitted No Obligation to Buy GCPS reserve the right to refrain from contracting with any and all Vendors. Neither the release of this RFP nor the consequent execution of Agreements hereunder obligates GCPS, any of its agents or representatives, or any of its agents or representatives to make any purchases Withdrawal of Response Vendors may withdraw a proposal, which has been submitted at any time. After withdrawing a previously submitted response, the Vendor may submit another response at any time up to the submittal closing date and time Basis of Award 6

7 The District is seeking the SIS solution that will deliver the highest quality system that most closely meets the goals and directions of the District while delivering the best value, based on qualifications met, price, and other factors. The quality and approach of the proposed implementation will be carefully evaluated as well. The proposal will be evaluated by a committee utilizing the criteria of the RFP and the Proposal Content Checklist (reference Appendix C). CHAPTER 3 VENDOR REQUIREMENTS 3. VENDOR ORGANIZATION 3.1. Vendor Identifying Information (Complete Form In Appendix B) Provide the following information using the Vendor identifying information (Appendix B). Copies of this form must be placed as the first page in each volume of Vendor s proposal Name & Address Name, address, FAX number, principal place of business, legal status of the Vendor (e.g. corporation, sole proprietorship, etc.), and year established of legal entity with whom Contract is to be written RFP Contact Name; phone number, address, and FAX number of the official contact person for this acquisition. Clearly indicate if this information is different than indicated in the Letter of Intent to Propose Principal Officers Name, address, and telephone numbers of principal officers (President, Vice- President, Treasurer, Chairperson of the Board of Directors, etc.) Federal Employer ID Federal Employer ID number (FEIN) and Virginia State Identification Number issued by the Department of Taxation Firm Size Firms must be classified according to size of firm based on number of full-time technical employees, excluding contractors. Technical employees are defined as individuals that will actually do the work identified by purchasers; clerical and non-technical staff may not be included. Category Definition Small 1-10 technical employees Medium 11 to 50 technical employees Large 51+ technical employees 3.2. Vendor Status as a Virginia Business The Qualified Vendor must be registered with the Virginia State Department of Taxation, Department of Education, and any other required governmental entities. The Vendor must additionally agree to collect and report all applicable State taxes Customer References (Forms in Appendix D) Three (3) customer references from districts similar in size to Goochland County (2500 FTE), shall be provided by the Vendor s customers in a sealed envelope using the Customer 7

8 Reference Form (Appendix D) and shall be submitted, unopened, by the Vendor in the Vendor Organization section of their proposal. The total of three references is required regardless of the number of service categories applied for. NOTE: Ensure the customer contact listed can be contacted with minimal difficulty at the phone number provided. The Vendor must grant permission to GCPS to contact all references provided Certifications and Assurances To be responsive, Vendors must indicate a willingness to enter into an agreement by signing the Certifications and Assurances form (reference Appendix A) and including the form in their proposal. Failure to sign this form may result in disqualification Maintenance of Agreement Information from Vendors will be maintained by GCPS to allow Purchasers to compare the service categories and rates Ownership of Deliverables All software, software applications and other deliverables developed for the Purchaser under Contracts resulting from this RFP shall be owned by the Purchaser (district) Non-Endorsement As a result of the selection of a Vendor to supply products and/or services to GCPS, GCPS is neither endorsing nor suggesting the Vendor s service is the best or only solution. The Vendor agrees to make no reference to GCPS, or the Purchase in any literature, promotional material, brochures, sales presentation or the like, without the express written consent of GCPS. CHAPTER 4 PRICING SPECIFICATIONS 4. PRICING SPECIFICATIONS Vendor shall include all costs that will be charged for performing the tasks necessary to accomplish the objectives of a Contract, if awarded Presentation of All Cost Components All elements of recurring and non-recurring costs that must be borne by the Purchaser must be included in the rates proposed in the Pricing Matrix as listed in Appendix F. GCPS will not be responsible for hidden or non-disclosed costs Travel and Per Diem Rates If the Purchaser requires travel away from the Purchaser s primary work site, it must be approved in advance. Reimbursement to Vendors will be limited to applicable State of Virginia Office of Financial Management travel regulations and rates. Purchaser will not reimburse Vendor employees for travel to and from Vendor s work site Working Hours Vendors standard rates for purposes of this RFP will be used for work performed Monday through Friday (excluding State holidays) normally between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Vendor and purchaser (districts) may establish alternative standard hours on a case by case basis Labor Rate Schedule The Vendor must provide the hourly fee(s) to be charged for each of the required skill categories as listed in the Pricing Matrix in Appendix F. With the purchasing district s approval, the Vendor may perform services on an overtime or premium time basis. The 8

9 vendor shall indicate in their staffing costs associated with their proposal what is considered regular time and what is considered overtime. Rates provided by Bidders must be guaranteed to remain in effect for one year from the execution of any resulting Contract. 4.5 Advances in Technology It is the Vendor s responsibility to specify and price all additional requirements for implementation of their administrative management systems. It is very important that the District have the ability to accommodate future advances in technology. Vendors shall detail the proposed system s ability to accommodate current and foreseeable technological advances, and include this in the pricing. Appendix A Certifications & Assurances The Vendor makes the following certifications and assurances as a required element of the response to which it is included, understanding the truthfulness of the facts affirmed here and the continuing compliance with these requirements are conditions precedent to the award and continuation of the Contract resulting from this solicitation document. Any exceptions to these Certifications and Assurances must be described in full detail on a separate page(s) and attached to this document. Represented districts reserve the right to determine if such exception is substantive and a basis for disqualification. 1. INDEPENDENT PREPARATION AND COST DETERMINATION Prices and/or cost data have been arrived at independently, without consultation, communications, or agreement with any other Bidder or with any competitor for the purpose of restricting competition. Unless otherwise required by law, the prices and/or cost data submitted have not knowingly been disclosed by the Bidder and will not knowingly be disclosed by the Bidder(s), prior to award, directly or indirectly to any other Bidder or to any competitor. No attempt has been made nor will be made by the Bidder to induce any other person or firm to submit or not submit a response for the purpose of restricting competition. NOTE: In order to ensure fair and equal competition between all Bidders, the development of responses with the assistance of organizations or individuals outside the Bidder s organization must be declared in the response and the name(s) of such organizations or individuals provided. Failure to acknowledge such assistance and to identify those providing it may result in the disqualification of the response. No contingent fees for such assistance will be paid under any Contract or grant resulting from this procurement solicitation. HOWEVER, the Bidder may freely join with other persons or organizations for the purpose of presenting a single response. 2. PRICE WARRANT The costs quoted for services in response to this procurement solicitation do not exceed those charged any other client for the same services performed by the same individuals. 3. PREPARATION COSTS Bidder understands GCPS will not reimburse for any costs incurred in the preparation of this bid. All bids become the property of GCPS, and Bidder claims no proprietary right to the ideas, writings, and items or samples unless so stated in the bid. 4. BIDDER MEETS MANDATORY QUALIFICATIONS 9

10 The Bidder certifies they meet the minimum qualifications listed in this procurement document. 5. PROPOSAL EVALUATION PERIOD The attached bid is a firm offer for a period of 120 days following receipt, and it may be accepted by GCPS without further negotiation (except where obviously required by a lack of certainty in key terms) at any time within the 120 day period. In the case of protest, the protesters bid remains valid until the protest is resolved. 6. COOPERATIVE PURCHASING Vendor shall indicate whether it will agree to allow other public agencies to participate in this agreement per its terms and conditions for the life of the contract. 7. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS The Bidder, by submission of a response to this Request for Proposal, accepts all the terms and conditions of the RFP and agrees to abide by all the requirements outlined in the solicitation document as part of their final Contract, if selected. The person(s) signing below warrant all of the foregoing certifications and assurances are true to their best of their knowledge after reasonable efforts to obtain the truth. Said persons further warrant that they have the legal capacity and authority to obligate their firm to the terms and conditions of a contract which may flow from this proposal. Signature Date Title Firm 10

11 Appendix B Vendor Identifying Information CONTRACT ENTITY Name: Address: FAX number: Place of business: Legal status: Year established: RFP CONTACT Name: Phone number: Address: FAX number: FIRM's PRINCIPAL OFFICERS List title: Address: Phone number: List title: Address: Phone number: List title: Address: Phone number: FEIN number: UBI number: Firm Size: SUB-CONTRACTOR Name: 11

12 Address: FAX number: Place of business: Legal status: Year established: FEIN number: VA tax ID number: Firm Size: GCPS SIS Request for Proposal SUB-CONTRACTOR Address: FAX number: Place of business: Legal status: Year established: FEIN number: VA tax ID number: Firm Size: Appendix C Proposal Content Checklist Award, if any, will be made to the responsive and responsible bidder whose offer is most advantageous to the district for the products and services described herein, over the contract period, based upon factors, including those listed below: Company stability and vision Product specifications Network and workstations requirements Site visits and reference checks Product flexibility, scalability, and architectural design Ease of use Total Cost of Ownership Availability and accessibility of support during implementation Availability and accessibility of on-going maintenance support Ease of integration with existing SIS-related applications The responses to the documents in the appendices will be a key tool for determining how well the Vendor s proposal matches the District s needs in the areas listed above. Those appendices are listed below, in order of importance. Section No. Section Title Appendix B Vendor Identifying Information (mandatory) Volume 1: Organization and Financial Response, Appendix A Certifications and Assurances (mandatory) Volume 1: Technical Requirements Response, Appendix E Section 1. General Requirements Volume 2: Organization and Financial Response, Appendix F Project Plan Volume 2: Organization and Financial Response, 12

13 Appendix F Pricing Matrix Appendix D Customer References Appendix D Customer Reference Letters REFERENCES: Please complete and return Part I only to the Director of Purchasing. PART I - TO BE COMPLETED BY BIDDER 1. Bidder/Consultant 2. Customer (Company Name) 3. General Description of Services Performed PART II- TO BE COMPLETED BY THE CUSTOMER REFERENCE 4. Name of Person Completing Form 5. Title of Person Completing Form 6. Is the information shown in items 1-3 accurate? If not, please correct For items 7, 8, 9, and 12 please circle the value, which best represents your experience with the Bidder and provide any explanatory comments. Please use the following definitions: 1 =Poor 4= Good 2 = Below average 5 = Excellent 3 = Average 7. How satisfied were you with the services provided by the Bidder for this engagement? (E.g. was on time, in budget, delivered the product desired, and provided good customer service) Did the Bidder provide quality service? (E.g., teamwork, commitment to getting the job done, and commitment to customer service) Please rate

14 9. Did the Bidder possess the technical skills/expertise to successfully complete the services for which you Contracted? Please rate What are the Bidder s principal strengths? 11. Discuss the Bidder s weaknesses, if any. (E.g., Bidder did not deliver Contractors needed, did not interact well with customer, or did not deliver product needed). 12. How strongly would you recommend this Bidder to other organizations? How many schools and total students are part of the Bidder s system(s)? Number of employees Number of concurrent users Number of schools Number of students 14. Any other general comments you may wish to provide. Appendix D Customer Reference Letters cont. Customer Reference Signature Title District Name Date District Address Phone Customer Reference Signature: Title: District Name: Date: District Address: Phone: 14

15 Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey INSTRUCTIONS Please answer the following questions in Sections 1.1 through 1.4. Section 1.1 through 1.3 has both fill-in and attachment answers. In Sections , each item must be responded to, even if the response is No Response, Not Available or some similar phrase. The items in these sections must be addressed in order and the responses must make reference to the item number (e.g ). Section 1.4 should be answered in the right hand column by either: - Yes ( Yes ) - No ( No ) - Other with qualifications and written explanation ( Qualified Yes ) Vendors may remove or copy RFP pages to answer questions by hand and re-insert into their formal response documents. Please label attachments accurately. SECTION 1 GENERAL REQUIREMENT'S Section 1.1 Vendor Information Organizational Experience and Stability Provide a brief history and evolution of the proposed application software. 15

16 1.1.2 State the nature and scope of your firm s business endeavors How long has your company been licensed to do business? What are your standard length Purchase and Maintenance agreement or options? How many employees are there in your company? Briefly describe the organization structure of your company and identify the groups and number of employees dedicated to existing and future SIS products. Describe how these functional groups work together, both internally and with the client, to achieve and implement a comprehensive district solution Describe your project management process including the roles and responsibilities of those individuals during the initiation, planning, implementation, and postimplementation phases. Please include detail on the typical workload of a project manager regarding number of simultaneous projects managed, the process for how project issues are communicated and resolved and the frequency with which the district will have contact with the individual(s) assigned to the project, as well as the technical expertise and certifications required for members of this team." Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey cont It is assumed that there are clients who are already scheduled to be implemented during the same timeframe that Goochland would be. Additionally, it is assumed that there will be additional clients added during Goochland s implementation. How will the vendor manage growth and the stress that this will place on the vendor s resources during the next 3+ years as the District would be implementing and stabilizing on the vendor s application? How will the vendor ensure that the District receives full support both during and post implementation? How does your company s business plan address the need for planned strategic growth over the next five years, and how will this growth be managed? Vendors must include their most recent audited financial statement and any other pertinent financial data relating to the company including fiscal history, investment history and cash flow. If the Vendor is not a publicly held company, financial information will be kept confidential if identified by the Vendor as confidential If your company has been in the Student Information System business for some time, the product has most likely undergone many changes or generations. Please describe the product evolution and note the timeframe associated with each generation, including planned releases for the next months. 16

17 What provisions are in place to protect customers, and the viability and future of the SIS product, if the top 3 people in the company left? Is there any pending litigation against the company? If yes, explain fully Provide the following excerpts from your last annual audited financial statements: Balance sheet Operating statement Notes to financial statements Audit report This information should be placed at the back of this section. Installation Base Provide a representative list of current K-12 customers that are running the proposed version of your SIS application in production. For each, list the following: The name of the organization The size of the district (total number of students and number of schools) The number of schools currently using the SIS The software release they are running in production The date the SIS was implemented Whether the software is installed locally in the organization or installed using an Application Service Provider (ASP) service The modules they are running. Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey cont Which of the customers listed in the above question are using the teacher module in their classrooms? Indicate if their teachers are taking attendance on the system, and/or using the integrated grade book Which of the customers listed in above are using your parent-access module to allow their parents access to student information from the SIS system? How many of their schools are using it? Provide a complete list of current K-12 clients that have purchased your SIS product and are in the process of implementing it in all of their schools. For each, list the name of the district, total number of students and schools, the date of SIS purchase, the stage of their project, and number of schools already in production, and number of schools remaining to be implemented in production. Also indicate if the organization is planning to host the software on-site or if they will be using an ASP service Describe one example of an organization that purchased the SIS and were unable to 17

18 successfully convert and implement the system. What were the issues that impeded a successful transition to the new system? What lessons were learned from that experience? How many years has your company provided services to districts with more than 2500 FTE students in the K-12 education field? How many different districts, schools and students are using your products today? Districts Schools Students FTE) In how many districts with 2500 or more active students (FTE) is your product being used? How many districts with 5000 or more FTE? Differentiators What are the three strongest points of the proposed SIS and what are the three areas needing the most improvement? What differentiates your firm from your competitors regarding the strengths of the application and the strengths of your organization? Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey cont. Section 1.2 Technology Specifications Please answer the following questions as part of your response. These questions will be used to evaluate necessary services and products. This information is requested to establish the Vendor s ability to provide information technology solutions and resources. For the Vendor s proposal to be considered qualified, it must fully respond to the following questions. If the Vendor responds to these questions and meets all other mandatory requirements in this RFP, the proposal will be considered and evaluated Provide a detailed description and associated diagram describing the system application architecture. As part of this description, answer the following questions: a. Is this system a client-server system? If so, is it 2-tier, 3-tier, or n-tier? Describe each of the application tiers and what runs at each tier. b. Is the system Web-based or Web-enabled? If so, describe exactly why you consider it one or the other and what software services are run at each point. 18

19 1.2.2 What Technology Platforms do you provide/support? a. Server Hardware b. Client Hardware c. Operating System Software d. Database e. Network Topology and Protocol f. ODBC Standards g. Internet/Intranet Tools Describe both the minimum and recommended hardware, equipment and system software for the District to deploy in order to efficiently operate the proposed system here at Goochland County Public Schools. Specify the quantities of each type of equipment required. For servers, identify the number of processors, the amount of memory, and the hard disk space required. (Note: The vendor is not expected to procure or install the hardware and associated equipment.) Describe where the equipment would be in order to support the school and administrative locations throughout the district. Also describe what software will run on each piece of equipment Are 3rd party middleware and tools deployed as part of the system? If so, how are they used? Does the SIS integrate with the following 3rd party applications? If so, how is the data shared? If not, what 3rd party applications are provided in their place that the SIS will integrate with and how is the data shared? Please indicate specifically if integration is full or an import/export process and add any additional educational applications that are fully integrated: IEP Online Accelerated Reader Alexandria (Library Services) Food service POS Does this recommended configuration address the need for multiple support environments for development and testing, training, and production? Would the nonproduction environments be installed on different server(s) than the production installation? If you offer a teacher module please describe the application architecture for this module. Where is the data stored? Is it run on a different instance of the database than the core SIS? If you offer a parent access module for parents to access student information from the Internet, please describe the application architecture for this module. Where is the data stored? Is it run on a different instance of the database than the core SIS? What is located outside the firewall and what is run inside the firewall? What ports must be open through the firewall? What security provisions are included in the system to protect the data from unauthorized access? What are your Software Upgrade policies/procedures? 19

20 Will source code be provided to the District? If not, under what conditions would source code be provided? Database The district recognizes the need for the SIS district solution to be based upon a robust, modern, relational database. Describe the proposed database solution for the District including the database product(s) and version(s), the database server operating system(s), and the number and purpose of different database instances to be used to run the system for all of our schools Do you stay current with the database vendor s releases? How often is the SIS product updated to use a more recent version of the database? Is the licensing required to use the database to run the SIS included with the purchase of SIS, or will it need to be purchased separately? Does the regular SIS maintenance fee include database upgrades and database support? Which vendor will provide support for the database product, the software vendor or the database vendor? Please provide Entity Relationships Diagrams (ERD s) and/or a list of all standard fields that are included in the systems you are proposing Does the database architecture support district-wide access and real-time data access? Web Browser Access Which functions/modules of the system can be accessed from a Web browser instead of from a traditional client? Will any user from a school office be able to exclusively use a Web-browser to access the system? Will a teacher in a classroom be able to exclusively use a web-browser to access the system? Explain which modules the teacher would have access to via the webbrowser Do any of the web clients require a plug-in or add-on software product? If so, describe Which web browsers and associated versions are currently supported? Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey cont. Network Usage Does the application system use TCP/IP for network communication between all required components? Does any part of the application require a protocol other than TCP/IP? What network bandwidth is required in the recommended configuration? Describe the bandwidth utilized between clients, between a client and a server, and for web clients. What speed of the network connection is required for the clients? What speed of network connection is required for the servers? What data is transported over the network and where on the network would the heaviest loads be placed by the SIS system? 20

21 Workstation Requirements What is the minimum workstation configuration needed for the application (Windows and Mac OS X)? What is the recommended workstation configuration, assuming the user will be operating an client and Microsoft Office applications at the same time as the SIS? System Management Tools What tools are provided in this proposal for sizing the application (database, hardware, etc.)? What system management tools are provided in this proposal (source code management, load balancing, environment management for development, test, training and production environments)? What tasks will require programming in order to implement the new system? What mechanisms do you provide to make it easy for the technology group to do the following tasks: Create user views for ad-hoc reporting Convert legacy data into the new system as part of the implementation project Does the system provide a facility to extract the system data for use in data repositories, or needed by reporting tools to simplify end-user reporting? Is an automated testing tool included in the development tools proposed in the application? Please elaborate Is the system linked to a utility that can be run to identify all the programs that access a particular file or table element? Is the system linked to a utility that can compare test and production version coding to isolate any differences? What mechanisms does the system provide for data archiving? For database compaction? Software Implementation Tools What software tools are provided to assist with the implementation process (interface development, testing, conversion, fit analysis)? Does the software vendor provide a documented methodology that can be used by implementation teams to improve the speed or quality of the implementation? If so, describe. Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey Cont. Printing What types of printers are supported? Does the application recognize and print to network laser printers and postscript laser printers? Can users print to attached printers from SIS? Does the system utilize the full capabilities of laser printers including fonts and graphics? Describe the process of setting up a new printer to be used with the system by a specific group of users. 21

22 Describe the process of setting up a default printer for a specific user or group of users. Can users change their default themselves? Response Time & Performance Does the system provide the ability to gracefully terminate on-line inquiries, and does this ability protect against waiting for processing of incompletely defined, run away inquiries to terminate? Are there specific reports, screens or processes which should be expected to take a long time to run due to the nature of the function being performed, for example scheduling all students into courses for a school? If so, which ones and what are typical run times? Does the system allow for setting of time-out thresholds and when would they be applied? What performance issues should be anticipated when every teacher in the District is using the system for attendance and other functions? Backup and Recovery For each of the following questions, differentiate between backup and recovery features of the database management system and other system components What is the recommended method of backing up the database? Are users typically locked out of the application during backup? How long does the backup take given a n estimated FTE of 2500? Can the system be backed up by third-party backup software? If the system uses a distributed model where each school has their own set of tables or files, what procedures are needed to keep all data backed up in a consistent manner to ensure system-wide data integrity? Does the system have facilities for easily restoring backed up data from tape or disk? Does the system support rollback and restore for complete recovery of the database in the event of hardware or software malfunction? Does the database management system provide for audited transactions with rollback/roll-forward recovery? Is this the recommended practice? Does the system have another (non-database) journaling capability to prevent loss of data from system crashes? Can this journaling capability be turned on and off by the System Administrator? Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey cont. Phone Machine Compatibility Do you interface with any auto-dial phone systems to provide an integrated solution for out-bound parent notification regarding attendance or other school issues? If so, please provide information about the phone system vendors certified to work with the student information system. 22

23 Do you interface with any phone systems to provide in-bound solutions for either providing SIS information to students/parents via the phone, or even collect information from the caller for use in the SIS system (e.g. collecting course requests)? Please provide details. Bar-coding Capabilities If the system has any bar coding capabilities, please describe how this capability is used in the system. Technical Support As part of the software maintenance agreement does the vendor provide application and technical support to customers on an ongoing basis? Does the vendor provide a "hotline" or "help desk" service to assist users with system problems? If so, what days and hours (Eastern Standard Time) is this service available? Does the help desk provide both application help as well as technical support? How many vendor staff people provide technical support and what is the experience level and skill sets of your help desk and technical support staff? How many District people will have direct access to vendor technical support? If third-party products are part of the proposed SIS solution, describe the process for gaining technical support specific to those products or services? Does the vendor provide remote programming and operations support to diagnose and correct system problems? If so, what method is used (e.g., dial, Internet, etc.)? How quickly will we get a fix to a bug or problem that is causing production problems for our users? Technical Documentation Does the system have complete technical documentation (including systems and operations manuals) for the exact system that is being initially proposed? Will updates of data dictionaries and entity-relationship diagrams be provided with system upgrades? Are they easily available on-line within the system? Describe the documentation manuals (hardcopy and online) which will be delivered with the system and indicate if the following information is included in the documentation: Screen lay-outs, including informative descriptions of screen fields, any related edits and what tables and files are read to obtain the data? Table layouts, including field descriptions and how the tables are used by which programs, screens, etc.? Report layouts, including field descriptions and intended purpose, frequency of production and targeted users? Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey cont. File layouts and database schematics, including field descriptions and pertinent interrelationships to screens and programs? Flowcharts of system processes and programs? Clear system operations procedures, including the sequencing in which programs should be run? 23

24 Upgrade Releases and Patches What is your current release number and the date of its release? When is your next product release or update scheduled? What is the current development cycle (time between upgrades)? Please provide the schedule of releases for the prior 18 months and the release notes for the most recent major upgrade as well as the most recent minor upgrade Describe the upgrade process and any tools provided to assist with upgrading the application software to a new version or release How long does it typically take to upgrade the product to a new major release of the software, assuming a small amount of customizations have been put in place? For a minor upgrade? When and how are fixes or patches released? Describe how they are installed How are upgrades and patches distributed? On what media? What is the testing process used by the vendor to ensure new releases and patches do not introduce new bugs or problems? Do you use an automated testing tool? If so, which one? What practices are in place, which will allow the school district to modify certain aspects of the product for use specific to the district? If this is allowed, how are system upgrades handled to support these custom modifications? SIS User Group & Enhancement Request Process What is the mechanism for customers to provide input for enhancements to future releases? Do the users have input into product development and enhancements for future releases? Describe any mechanisms that are in place to give customers visibility to all enhancement requests and bug fix requests and the priority and schedule for completion? Is there an online customer discussion group for customers to share ideas on how best to use the system and/or work-around to any issues they are experiencing with the system. Future Technology Direction How many Vendor technical staff are assigned full-time to support and enhance the proposed student information system? Appendix E Requirements Definition and Survey cont How many district staff are recommended to support the application? What are their required skill sets, certification, and expertise requirements? Please describe the roles and responsibilities of these recommended staff. 24