procure.ohio.gov 1... · Web viewSpring – ODE offices review three-year plans and provide feedback and support Early Summer – Educational organizations submit consolidated formula

Supplement 1:Part1: ODE Overview

Part 2: ED STEPS System Overview

Part 3: Scope of Work

State of Ohio Department of Administrative ServicesED STEPS – RFP 0A1265On behalf of the Ohio Department of Education Page 1

This supplement describes the Work and what the Contractor must do to complete the work. It also describes what the Contractor must deliver as part of the completed Work (the "Deliverables"). Additionally, it gives a detailed description of ODE and the Contractor’s Work’s schedule.

PART 1: ODE OVERVIEW

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) is the State Education Agency (SEA) responsible for public primary and secondary education in Ohio. ODE oversees the state’s public education system, which includes public school districts, joint vocational school districts and charter schools. ODE also monitors educational service centers, other regional education providers, early learning and child-care programs, and private schools. ODE’s tasks include administering the school funding system, collecting school fiscal and performance data, developing academic standards and model curricula, administering the state achievement tests, issuing district and school report cards, administering Ohio’s voucher programs, providing professional development, and licensing teachers, administrators, treasurers, superintendents and other education personnel. ODE is governed by the State Board of Education and the administration of ODE, led by the superintendent of public instruction. For more information visit the State of Ohio Department of Education website at http://education.ohio.gov.

One of the core functions of ODE is to ensure the state and its Local Education Agencies (LEAs) adhere to state and federal requirements, including the planning for and use of federal resources. However, ODE is more than a compliance agency. Recently, Ohio launched Each Child, Our Future, the state’s co-created strategic plan for education. A key part of this vision is to drive transformation and collaboration across the education community so that each child is challenged, prepared and empowered. A strategy to accomplish this vision is being called the Department of Education’s System of Tiered E-Plans and Supports (ED STEPS) Project. ED STEPS is intended to improve the way ODE and Ohio’s schools and districts coordinate, collaborate and communicate in addressing their goals and plans for success.


PART 2: ED STEPS System Overview

Proposed Solution

ODE’s solution to the business and technology issues is ED STEPS. First and foremost, ED STEPS is a business transformation process for continuous improvement involving both human capital and the technological tools. The ED STEPS project includes cross-office collaboration within ODE to address stakeholder questions, provide supports services, improve communications, and align and streamline the technological tools used by internal and external customers. ODE is working to reduce the fragmented processes spread throughout the program offices. Under ED STEPS, all needs assessments will be consolidated into a single needs assessment. That needs assessment will be used to create a single plan to inform the district how to leverage all available funds effectively to address their unique needs. This will create a culture of efficiencies and using resources to “fund the plan” rather than “planning to fund”. This plan will be evaluated for quality and approved by ODE’s key program offices. The districts will be able to apply for funds using streamlined and consolidated applications for both formula and competitive funds. Furthermore, the needs assessment and planning process will be transitioned from an annual process to a three-year cycle. After this change is implemented, LEAs will only have to conduct a needs assessment and write a plan every three years. During that three-year period, every year LEAs will need to apply for funding using the streamlined application which minimizes the additional information they must provide. At any point in the three-year process, the LEA may update their needs assessment and plan as needed but will require a revision and approval of their annual budget.

Each of these business processes must be supported by a technological component. The design, development and deployment of the One Plan and the Consolidated Formula and Competitive Funding Applications technology tool components to support this business transformation process is the subject of this RFP. These components must be developed including dashboard and reporting functionality. In 2014, due in part from user-feedback, ODE began exploring improvements to the system. In the summer of 2015, ODE started an analysis of the CCIP, particularly around the planning component. The analysis spanned two years and identified what customers liked and didn’t like about the system, and their ideas for improvements. During the analysis, Congress enacted a reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as the Every Student Succeeds Act. This Act generally moved away from federal prescription in place of state determinations for complying with the federal requirements. More responsibilities were added on states to develop their own “play book”. The timing of the reauthorization reinforced ODE’s efforts to redesign and align the various e-planning systems, improve cross-agency collaboration, breakdown programmatic siloes and focus on supports and quality of plans.

The ED STEPS technology system must support this business transformation and meet all statutory and federal requirements. The ED STEPS Project is all about ODE’s partners – who ODE thinks of as the customer. ODE systems will be built for and designed by the customers. ODE wants these customers to use ODE’s systems because their customers want to, not because they are required to use them. ODE has included stakeholders in the conceptual design of the project over the last five years. In early 2017, ODE created the ED STEPS Steering Committee and formed subcommittees around all the components of the system. External resources were retained to help develop the vision and conceptual blueprints, facilitate committee discussions, and gather other internal and external feedback. An external ED STEPS Advisory group was formed to receive updates and give input into the conceptual designs. In early 2018, the ED STEPS Steering Committee and ODE’s Information Technology Governance Committee approved the blueprint for the technology system. The Contractor must understand the importance of collaboration with all of the partners of this project as well as the input of a subject matter expert of federal requirements and grants throughout the entire life of the project.

Technology Solution Requirements

The ED STEPS system design will be flexible enough to adapt to statutory, regulatory and business changes. The components are all inter-connected and will have up-to-date data sharing. Eventually ODE anticipates linking other operational systems with ED STEPS systems. The five components of the final ED STEPS technology system and a basic description of the components’ purposes are listed below. Please note, for this RFP, only the One Plan and Consolidated Formula and Competitive Applications with their dashboard and reporting functionality will be in scope. The remaining components are not in the scope of this RFP.


First Five Components of ED STEPS IT system

Dashboard and Guidance Library

The landing site for all interconnecting parts of the system. Communication hub, including important grant-related announcements;

alerts; clickable communications, district-specific award notices, letters, materials, and messaging.

Home of a three-year, high-level overview of the district’s needs, plans and grant funding that is understandable, visually appealing and printable, offering public access to a high-level overview and summary with statistics.

A repository for all Department information documents, training videos and resources for grant administration.

Note: The dashboard and its functionality including reporting will be designed and developed as part of the components that they support. For example, the One Plan dashboard and reports will be included in the Interval Deliverable Agreements (IDAs) for the design and development of the One Plan component.

One Needs Assessment

The only needs assessment required for the state, districts and schools. Easy to use, including required and suggested questions which are

generated based off both state and local data along with clickable answers or optional narrative responses.

Will allow districts and schools to address all needs, not just academic needs.

Will require use by districts only once every three years but allow for regular updates if needed.

Provides the foundation for a district to develop a quality three-year plan and apply for annual competitive and formula funds that truly address its unique needs.

Note: This component is not within the scope of this RFP. One Plan Intended to capture all planning needs in one location – not just federal

requirements. Allow for comprehensive three-year planning. User-friendly and intuitive. Flexible for a district to address all its unique goals and strategies and

includes features like pre-populated fields with drop-down selections to minimize writing.

Will require SMART goals with quantifiable outcomes the district may select from a listing of goals and strategies or write in.

Offers a selection of grants showing allowable activities to help with funding the strategies and actions of the plan.

Note: This component is within the scope of this RFP. Consolidated Formula and Competitive Applications

For the Consolidated Formula (Entitlement Grants) Application: The one-year funding applications will be linked to the three-year plan. The budget details section will require only basic information needed for approval to request entitlement funds.

For the Competitive Grants Application: The district’s needs assessment and goals will be pre-populated if a district elects to apply for any competitive grant.

Answers from one grant application for the same questions will be pre-populated if the district applies for any additional grants.

There will be a streamlined application process with standardize scoring and reviews.

The system will include a list of competitive grants with grant details and eligibility requirements.


There will be a Consolidated Competitive Application (CCA) optional to eligible districts applying for multiple competitive grants.

The CCA will focus on the quality of the district’s needs assessment and plans, not the quality of the grant writing.

Note: This component is within the scope of this RFP.Financial Connection and Linkage to Compliance Systems

Upgrades to the linkage with the project cash requests, final expenditure reports and other reports and payments functions

Migration and connection to the Compliance and Progress Monitoring systems.

Note: This component is not within the scope of this RFP.

The following is a summary of the workflow and interconnection of the components. The Dashboard will serve as the entry point and the landing page for the subsequent workflow which will be accomplished by the LEAs and the internal ED employees functioning as program consultants. Taking input from the district report cards and other data sources including district and local data sources, the One Needs Assessment allows the district to perform a more focused Needs Assessment based on the eight (8) broad data categories and their sub-categories. Based on a series of insightful questions the district can identify their primary areas of concern also known as priority needs. These, in turn, feed the One-Plan where priority needs are converted to goals, strategies, implementations and funding sources. The funding sources are realized by the Consolidated funding applications (competitive and formula) where district representatives apply for grant funding. The entire process is simplified and streamlined

This process must be performed in a specific order with the completion of certain steps before the LEA can move forward.

Additional information is provided in Supplement 4 the ED STEPS Vision Document. Appendix G of this supplement contains flowcharts and process flows to show the gathering and use of data components and define in more detail how the system will work. It is a pictorial representation of the narrative that follows in the Vision document. These documents will be useful in the design phase of this project to guide the identification of program components, modules, tables, and data files or databases.

Primary Objectives

Improve the user experience by creating an intuitive system used for identifying needs, developing comprehensive quality plans and leveraging all available resources to fund the quality plans;

Reduce the time and resources the districts and state devote to developing and submitting plans and funding applications by streamlining the process and adopting a three-year planning cycle with annual funding applications;

Create a system to assist in breaking down programmatic silos and fostering collaboration across the staff who administer the programs;

Create a system that helps create a culture of efficiencies and using resources to “fund the plan” rather than “planning to fund;”

Streamline the plan and funding application submission and approval process, so districts can access federal resources earlier; and

Improve the method and mechanism ODE uses to communicate with districts and schools regarding state and federal requirements, and the plans and funds used to address needs.

Summary of the Current Work

ODE has established a framework to support this transformational project that encompasses the business processes and technology system. The input of all stakeholders is a vital component of this project as it must provide improvements for both internal and external customers. One communication avenue for sharing information about this


project with ODE stakeholders is the ED STEPS website which can be found at http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/District-and-School-Continuous-Improvement/Federal-Programs/EDSTEPS.

Internally, ODE has established committees composed of members from all program offices. These groups include the Steering Committee and sub-committees for each of the components (Dashboard, One Needs Assessment, One Plan, the Consolidated Applications and financial linkage). The Steering Committee is responsible for establishing the direction of the overall project. Each component sub-committee is responsible for developing the business processes and working with the Contractor in the development of the system component.

Externally, ODE has been seeking input from the districts and other organizations it serves through a variety of methods including presentations at conferences and seeking input from a group of LEA representatives. ODE is partnering with a group of forty LEAs to pilot the processes associated with ED STEPS and provide feedback on system components as they become available for testing.

In 2015, an analysis of the existing CCIP planning tool and the variety of business processes that surround it was conducted by a company known as Proteam Solutions, Inc (PSI). The PSI team, through interviews with both internal and external stakeholders created a document, Supplement 5 ODE CCIP Application Assessment, which detailed an assessment of the CCIP planning solution at the time. In 2016, the information provided in Supplement 5 ODE CCIP Application Assessment was evaluated and used by PSI to create Supplement 6 To-Be Model Execution. The purpose of the To-Be Model Execution was to provide ODE with a plan for the future-state of the CCIP application.

The ED STEPS Vision document, created in 2018 by the subcommittees and approved by the Steering Committee, provides a comprehensive overview of ED STEPS. It delivers an outline of the process, elements, management structure and component functionality of the ED STEPS system to internal stakeholders including technical and non-technical ODE personnel. It defines the top-level business rules, workflow, collaborative approaches and interface components.

The purpose includes:

To enumerate, at a high level, each of the elements and components identified as part of the system and how these elements and components are processed (related). These element details are leveraged (implemented, discussed) by one of four ODE sub-committees and a chairperson.

To explain the technical foundation that has guided the design and service of each component within the CCIP system.

To provide comprehensive guidance to internal stakeholders and solution providers seeking to implement management structure, tool functionality, and to set expectations as to how these elements will function.

The PSI Analysis documents, ED STEPS Vision document, Dashboard Design Presentation, Decision Framework Presentation, One Plan Application Presentation and Competitive Consolidated Application Presentation contain historical information regarding the current systems and conceptual designs for the ED STEPS system (See Supplements). These documents are intended to provide the Contractor with background information and a high-level introduction to the project. Since the development of these documents, there has been significant work performed by ODE. Over the last few years, internal subcommittees have met to identify the comprehensive business requirements for the One Needs Assessment tool as well as state and federal planning components. Part of the required work for the Contractor includes gathering and verifying the accuracy, necessity and completeness of the inventory of requirements identified by ODE for the One Plan and Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Application to meet business objectives and ensure the final requirements used for the ED STEPS system components satisfy and meet the spirit of all state and federal laws and regulations for planning and allocation of resources.

ODE is currently undertaking pilot programs to support the ED STEPS project. The first pilot is a prototype One Needs Assessment System. This system incorporates some of the functionality to be included in the final ED STEPS system. The feedback received for the prototype system will be collected and used by ODE to implement enhancements that align with the ED STEPS vision. The second pilot focuses on the transition from one- to three-year needs assessment


http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/District-and-School-Continuous-Improvement/Federal-Programs/EDSTEPS

and planning. This pilot consists of forty pilot districts that will use the prototype One Needs Assessment system and write three-year plans that will undergo a Department cross-office review and approval process. The One Needs Assessment Presentation and the Pilot One Plan Presentation describe the functionality of the current One Needs Assessment Prototype and the connections to the planning component that must be considered during the design of the One Plan application. The Contractor itself or in coordination with a firm familiar with state and federal education laws and regulations, should be able to analyze the proposed functionality and planning components assembled by ODE and from this pilot work to determine if all business objectives are met or if other statutory or regulatory components should be added.


PART 3: Scope of Work

Table of Contents

1. ED STEPS Vision and Strategy.....................................................................................................................................................................111.1 Current Situation Overview.............................................................................................................................................................111.2 General Scope and Objectives.......................................................................................................................................................111.2.1 One Plan Component.....................................................................................................................................................................121.2.2 Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Application Component......................................................................................121.3 Strategy..........................................................................................................................................................................................121.4 First Body of Work (IDA 1)..............................................................................................................................................................131.4.1 ED STEPS System Overview.........................................................................................................................................................141.4.2 Explanation of the One Needs Assessment....................................................................................................................................141.4.3 Summary of the Current One Needs Assessment Work.................................................................................................................151.4.4 Explanation of the One Plan...........................................................................................................................................................161.4.5 Current Work on the One Plan.......................................................................................................................................................171.4.6 Summary of Goals of the One Plan................................................................................................................................................171.5 Key ED STEPS Functions..............................................................................................................................................................19

2. Solution Requirements..................................................................................................................................................................................202.1 User Experience.............................................................................................................................................................................202.2 Innovations and Value-Added Services..........................................................................................................................................202.3 ODE and State Architecture...........................................................................................................................................................20

3. Process Requirements..................................................................................................................................................................................213.1 Organizational Change Management (OCM)..................................................................................................................................213.2 Federal Requirements and Grants Subject Matter Expert..............................................................................................................213.3 Document Convention: Deliverable Identification...........................................................................................................................223.3.1 Deliverables and Activities..............................................................................................................................................................223.3.2 Identified Activities..........................................................................................................................................................................233.3.3 Scope and Planning: Project Management Planning......................................................................................................................233.3.4 Scope and Planning: Project Initiation............................................................................................................................................253.3.5 Scope and Planning: Scope and Architecture.................................................................................................................................263.3.6 Development and Testing: Analysis................................................................................................................................................263.3.7 Development and Testing: Design..................................................................................................................................................263.3.8 Development and Testing: Develop................................................................................................................................................273.3.9 Development and Testing: Test......................................................................................................................................................273.3.10 Development and Testing: Develop Training and Materials Plan....................................................................................................283.3.11 Development and Testing: Project Reporting.................................................................................................................................283.3.12 Deployment and Transition: Production Deployment and Stabilization...........................................................................................293.3.13 Deployment and Transition: Knowledge Transfer...........................................................................................................................303.3.14 Deployment and Transition: Solution Support.................................................................................................................................30

4. Project Management......................................................................................................................................................................................314.1.1 Offeror Project Manager Requirements..........................................................................................................................................314.1.2 Project Management Requirements: Key Tasks.............................................................................................................................314.1.3 Project Management Tool...............................................................................................................................................................324.2 Offeror Project Team Requirements...............................................................................................................................................324.2.1 Contractor Project Team Availability...............................................................................................................................................324.2.2 Key Contractor Project Team Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications.......................................................................................324.2.3 Additional Contractor Project Team Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications..............................................................................404.2.4 Project Staffing and Time Requirement..........................................................................................................................................424.2.5 Staff Resumes................................................................................................................................................................................434.3 State Project Support Team...........................................................................................................................................................434.3.1 State Team Requirements..............................................................................................................................................................434.3.2 State Project Manager Support.......................................................................................................................................................444.3.1 State IT Support.............................................................................................................................................................................444.3.2 State Project Resource Groups......................................................................................................................................................44

5. Managed Services..........................................................................................................................................................................................465.1 Technology, Process, and Services Optimization...........................................................................................................................46


5.2 Steady-State Run Services.............................................................................................................................................................465.2.1 Technical Incident / Problem / Change (IPC, ITIL) Management....................................................................................................465.2.2 Data Archive and Purge Considerations.........................................................................................................................................475.2.3 Break/Fix Support...........................................................................................................................................................................475.2.4 Solution Support.............................................................................................................................................................................485.3 Master Release Calendar...............................................................................................................................................................495.4 Transition Assistance Services.......................................................................................................................................................49

6. Deliverable Summary.....................................................................................................................................................................................51


1. ED STEPS Vision and Strategy

ODE is seeking a cloud-based system that will support ODE and LEAs in identifying LEA needs and developing quality plans to address those needs; and streamlines the process of applying for fiscal resources (grants) to fund those plans and allocates the awarded fiscal resources. This system will align with the development and goals of internal Department processes to improve cross-agency collaboration to focus on support and approving quality plans. These two pieces, the internal support processes and the system, are the foundation of the ED STEPS concept. The goal of ODE is for LEAs to want to use the system due to its ability to further LEA’s efficacy in serving the children of Ohio, not because they are required to do so. ED STEPS must also improve on ODE’s manner and method of communicating with LEAs and providing the technical assistance they deserve. The focus of this RFP is the design, development and implementation of two components of the ED STEPS system that supports the ED STEPS process which will henceforth be referred to as the Solution. The two components that the Contractor will be responsible for in this RFP are the One Plan component and the Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Applications component including dashboard and reporting functionality.

1.1 Current Situation Overview

Currently, the systems and grant associated activities required by ODE are disconnected. ODE uses a variety of systems and tools to support LEAs in their needs assessment, planning, application for funds and fund allocations. Within ODE, different program offices require LEAs to complete different Needs Assessments and Plans. A consolidated application for entitlement funds exists within the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP) system. Competitive funds are currently sought using individual applications within the CCIP and other systems rather than through a single consolidated competitive application. The CCIP also houses fiscal functions including allocation of awarded fiscal resources and LEA submission of reports including Project Cash Requests (PCRs), Final Expenditure Reports and 9/30 reports. Other ODE systems such as Grants Lifecycle (GLC) and the Ohio Education Directory System (OEDS) interface with CCIP. A system known as the Decision Framework was formerly used for needs assessments. ODE is currently piloting a prototype needs assessment tool named the One Needs Assessment. The One Needs Assessment is part of the ED STEPS process, please see the One Needs Assessment sections below for more detail. This summary is only a brief overview of the current pilot work being implemented. ODE will continue enhancing the One Needs Assessment tool internally and this component is not in scope for this RFP. ODE is also piloting the transition from one year to three-year needs assessment and planning with approximately 40 LEAs. The feedback received from this pilot will influence the design and development of the ED STEPS system including the One Plan and Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Applications.

1.2 General Scope and Objectives

The objective of this RFP is to obtain a State owned and managed Azure PaaS cloud-based system from a Contractor who can provide a proven solution that aligns with the ED STEPS process and contains the following components with dashboard and reporting functionality:

One Plan Funding Applications

o Consolidated Formula Applicationo Consolidated Competitive Application

The Contractor must work with ODE to ensure that interfacing between the Contractor developed components and ODE developed components is compatible and the appropriate connections are in place. For example, connections between the One Needs Assessment and One Plan component as well as financial linkage between the CCIP and Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Applications component.


Additional information on all ED STEPS system components including the above refenced components can be found in the ED STEPS Vision Document (Supplement 4). This supplement is intended to be used for providing the Offeror historical knowledge on proposed designs for each component. The final designs will be provided by the awarded Contractor after collaboration with internal and external customers. Regarding the One Needs Assessment , for any conflicts between the historical ED STEPS Vision Document and more recent information provided for the ODE-developed system, the more recent information shall prevail.

1.2.1 One Plan Component

An explanation for the One Plan component can be found in section 1.4 First Body of Work (IDA 1). Design of the One Plan will be the first focus of the Contractor.

1.2.2 Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Application Component

A high level explanation for the Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Application Component can be found in Supplement 4 – ED STEPS Vision Document and Supplement 10 – Consolidated Competitive Application Presentation. Within Supplement 4 – ED STEPS Vision Document refer to section 8 Component 4: Consolidated Competitive Application (CCA). These are historical documents for the Contractor’s reference. The Contractor must work with ODE to develop the finalized requirements for this component. ODE anticipates this component will be the major body of work for this contract including migration of data from the current e-grant system (CCIP) and improvement of integrations with current systems such as the financial linkage within the CCIP. Financial linkage within CCIP is the system that provides the funds for the approved applications which includes the project cash request (PCR) and final expenditure report (FER) management. In addition, the One Plan component must have linkages to the Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Application Component that streamlines the process of applying for funds that the user has identified to support their plan.

1.3 Strategy

The work to be completed for this RFP will be performed using an IDA approach. For the purposes of this RFP, the ED STEPS system project will be divided into major components which will be defined in IDAs for the Offeror to complete work. Each IDA will outline the requirements and deliverables for its successful completion.

To complete the two (2) major components of the ED STEPS system including dashboard and reporting functionality, the Contractor must understand ODE’s current system including its components, integrations with other systems and workflow. ODE’s current system includes various technology systems such as the CCIP, the One Needs Assessment prototype and the Compliance tool. These integrations and workflows will be improved as part of the ED STEPS process design and development.

The work for each of the two (2) major components will be the subject of two (2) IDAs. The first IDA will require the Contractor to complete businesses requirement gathering and provide a high-level design of the proposed component. The data garnered from the business requirement gathering will drive the high-level design. This high-level design must be proposed and presented to ODE in a visual format such as wireframes. The Contractor will work with the ED STEPS subcommittees, other ODE staff and external customer groups to perform the business requirement gathering and when creating the high-level design. A deliverable for the first IDA is an estimate of the time and cost needed for the Contractor to perform the work included in the next IDA which may include the development, rollout, training and OCM for the proposed design and the business requirements gathering and design of the second component. The second IDA for each of the two (2) major components will cover the development, rollout, training and OCM for the proposed design. Work performed in both types of IDAs (1 – business requirement gathering and design, 2 – development, rollout, training and OCM) must be completed with the input of a federal requirements and grants subject matter expert. The decision to award the Contractor the second IDA lies with the State. ODE and Contractor will work together to define the requirements and deliverables for each IDA.


Due to the expectation that the work will be performed in an Agile format with continuous cycles of design and development, a single IDA may include the design and development elements described above for multiple components. For example, the second IDA may include the deliverables for the development, rollout, training and OCM for the One Plan component and the requirements gathering and design for the Consolidated Competitive and Formula Application (CCFA) component. Please see the Tentative Timeline chart below for potential overlap of work.

The Contractor will also be responsible for the following bodies of work. These tasks will be included in IDAs throughout the course of the overall project as they are needed.

The Contractor will be responsible for pulling the data from the CCIP Oracle database and moving it to the State’s MS Azure SQL.

The Contractor will be responsible for completing Enterprise Application System (EAS) Framework functionality outlined in Supplement 15 – EAS Overview and Supplement 16 – EAS Visio Diagrams and that is determined to be needed for the in scope components of this RFP. The exact functionality to be completed by the Contractor will be determined during the analysis stage and included in the appropriate IDA(s).

The Contractor will be responsible for all deliverables included within the IDAs.

The following chart contains a tentative timeline for the design, development and rollout of the One Plan and Consolidated Competitive and Formula Application components covered in this RFP. The final timeline will be established with the input of both ODE and Contractor. There will be an incremental roll out which is demonstrated in the table below. While the final agreed upon timeline may be different than the tentative timeline below, the roll out must be timed with business office timelines associated with the processes that these components support. It is critical that the One Plan component be deployed in January 2022. The Consolidated Competitive and Formula Applications component must be deployed in May 2022. The typical annual schedule for the processes that educational organizations must complete is as follows:

Fall through Spring - Educational organizations complete a needs assessment. Winter through Spring – Educational organizations complete three-year plans based on priorities identified in

their needs assessment. Spring – ODE offices review three-year plans and provide feedback and support Early Summer – Educational organizations submit consolidated formula funding applications to support the

three-year plans. Organizations must submit by June 30th.Note – Work is ongoing to continue consolidation of funding application submission timelines. Additionally, funding applications for grants may be released at any time during the year depending on extenuating circumstances (for example, emergency relief grants).

Tentative Timeline

Phases One Plan Consolidated Competitive and Formula Application

Design January 2021 - March 2021 March 2021-September 2021

Development March 2021-September 2021

September 2021-March 2022

Training September 2021-December 2021

March 2022-June 2022

Rollout January 2022 May 2022Solution/Production Support

January 2022 – January 2023 June 2022 – June 2023

1.4 First Body of Work (IDA 1)

ODE anticipates the first body of work which will be the subject of the project’s first IDA to include a high-level ED STEPS system design of the in-scope components and their integrations with systems they impact and the business requirements gathering and design for the One Plan component. The deliverables for each IDA including this one will


be developed in collaboration between both the State and Contractor. IDAs will not be finalized until approved by the State. It is ODE’s intent to finalize the first IDA within 30 days of contract award.

This section is not, nor is it intended to be, inclusive of all business requirements for the One Plan.

1.4.1 ED STEPS System Overview

In order to design and develop the in-scope components* of the ED STEPS system, the Contractor must understand the intent, purpose and vision of the ED STEPS process, the current systems that ED STEPS will replace and the connection of the future system components to the ED STEPS process vision. The in-scope components of the ED STEPS system will replace some of the current ODE system components in part and others in entirety. Some existing components will remain but must be integrated with the new ED STEPS system components. The Contractor is expected to complete a gap analysis through review of the reports completed by PSI of the as-is system (Supplement 5), supplementary review of the current systems and review of materials describing the vision for the ED STEPS system. The gap analysis will give the Contractor an understanding of the current systems including their process workflows and the integrations between their various components. The process workflows and system integrations that will transition into the ED STEPS system must be maintained and/or improved by the Contractor. The Contractor will provide a high-level design concept for the in-scope ED STEPS system components including known points of integration between the multiple components. This design will be a required deliverable for the first IDA.

* in-scope components” is defined as what the Contractor must complete as part of this RFP, including the two components described under 1.21 and 1.2.2. As outlined in the PART 2: ED STEPS System Overview, Technology Solution Requirements and Section 1.1 there are some components that will be developed in-house and other components that may be the subject of a future RFP.

1.4.2 Explanation of the One Needs Assessment

The One Needs Assessment lays the foundation for the planning process that the One Plan component continues by walking the educational organization through developing a three-year plan that addresses the priority needs. The Contractor must understand the integrations and workflow between the two components to successfully design and develop a One Plan component that meets the intent and purpose of the ED STEPS vision. The following high-level explanation of the One Needs Assessment is provided to assist the vendors in understanding this component. However, the expectation remains that as part of the business requirements gathering for the One Plan, the Contractor will gain additional understanding of the One Needs Assessment component through activities such as review of supporting documentation and the One Needs Assessment system.

A system known as the Decision Framework was formerly used as a particular needs assessment for certain LEAs and other end users. ODE is currently piloting a prototype needs assessment tool named the One Needs Assessment. The One Needs Assessment is the tool used by ODE and LEAs for assessing their needs. A needs assessment is a requirement for specific state and federal laws to receive federal funding. The concept is for the One Needs Assessment to be the only needs assessment that educational agencies within Ohio will be required to complete to secure state and federal funding. It will be used by ALL educational agencies including public school districts, public buildings/schools, community schools. To accomplish this, the needs assessments from all program offices must be incorporated into this system. Additionally, as with all ED STEPS components, the One Needs Assessment must be flexible and allow enhancements to be made efficiently and intuitively to incorporate any program office requirements which may change based on state and federal law.

The One Needs Assessment is conducted using data that demonstrates an educational agency’s performance and status in different areas. This data includes but is not limited to curriculum scores (mathematics, reading, etc.), student attendance, student demographic data and professional development data. Data may be housed in various locations including the District Report Card that is distributed by ODE, the Education Management Information System (EMIS), county health rating index reports and district universal screening data.


This data is used by triggers within the system to categorize questions for each organization. For example, based on an organization’s data, a question will be categorized as either required, recommended or optional. If required, the organization will not be able to complete their One Needs Assessment without answering this question.

This data is used to answer a series of questions designed to demonstrate whether or not the educational agency has a need in different areas and identifying issues at the root cause of those needs. The educational agency can use this assessment to identify the priority needs on which they would like to focus with the support of state and federal funding.

These priority needs must be transferred from the One Needs Assessment to the planning tool in the CCIP where the educational agency can develop a strategy for addressing those needs over the next three years. The One Plan component will replace the planning tool in the CCIP.

1.4.3 Summary of the Current One Needs Assessment Work

In January 2020, ODE unveiled a prototype comprehensive needs assessment tool. This new “One Needs Assessment” component is designed to get all users accustomed to identifying all their needs in a single location within a standardized timeline. The beta testing version of the One Needs Assessment component is intended to assist in the design and development of a final One Needs Assessment component to be a part of the Education Department’s System of Tiered E-Plans and Supports (ED STEPS) system. ODE’s expectation is that feedback gathered from users of the prototype will be used by ODE to continue enhancing this component.

The current One Needs Assessment prototype has several primary goals. These goals include the following:

Development in the State’s Microsoft Azure tenant in the ODE Enterprise Application System (EAS) Framework (See Section 2.3 ODE and State Architecture for additional detail).

Consolidating all current Needs Assessments used across ODE and through other systems into a single Needs Assessment.

Transition to requiring all educational entities which includes Building, District, Community School, Join Vocational School District (JVSD), Career Technical Planning District (CTPD), Educational Service Center (ESC), Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) and Developmental Delay (DD) to complete the One Needs Assessment rather than only specific districts, schools and community schools. The total number of all educational entities is around 6,000.

Transition from a one-year needs assessment to a three-year needs assessment. The ability to aggregate and disaggregate data and run and print summary reports. User-friendly internet accessible with optional answers to questions and drop-down responses for less

narrative where applicable. The ability to quantify and capture data for state level summaries and to develop state level needs from the

local needs assessments. Creation of an intuitive system that lays the foundation for a quality improvement plan with the following

functionality:o Question Triggers – Questions will be labeled as either required, recommended or optional based on

performance data and scoring criteria developed by the ODE program offices.o Dependent Questions – Answers to a question can trigger the presentation of additional questions to

the educational entity. o Data Presentation – Educational entities will be able to access their data from the Needs

Assessment. This may be initially addressed by providing a link with the questions, but the goal is to have data graphics and charts presented within the question.

o External Data Upload – Educational entities will be able to upload data sources to which ODE does not have access. This data will be used by question triggers. The system should have the ability to refresh the questions based on the loaded data.

o Internal Data Upload – The current system has loaded data manually from multiple existing systems (CCIP, EMIS and OEDS) and external data in Microsoft Excel format from the Office for Exceptional Children. The data loading process from other system/sources needs to be automated.


o Sections – Questions will be organized into eight sections – Curriculum/Instruction and Assessment, Community/Family Engagement, School Climate and Supports, Fiscal Management, Professional Capital, Leadership/Administration/Governance, Operations, and College and Career Readiness.

o Question Group – Within the eight sections, questions relating to similar topics will be grouped together under sub-categories. For example, under the Fiscal Management improvement area section, the question groups are Internal Controls, Financial Management, Budgeting, and Procurement.

o Root Cause – For each priority need question group, a root cause question will be provided. o Priority Needs – Educational entities will be able to select a question group as a priority need and

have the identified priority need populate in a separate tab named Priority Needs. o Core Improvement Areas – For an identified priority need, the core improvement area is the

improvement area section from which the priority need originated. For example, if Budgeting is identified as a priority need, the core improvement area is Fiscal Management.

o Additional Improvement Areas - For each priority need, the educational entity will have the ability to select any improvement areas that will be used to address the need.

o Export to One Plan – Educational entities will be able to review the items they have selected as Priority Needs and select which items will be exported to the One Plan. The export will include the priority need name, the root cause answer, the core improvement areas, and the additional improvement areas. There is a hard link between the One Needs Assessment and One Plan. Consideration for how the output of the One Needs Assessment will be used during planning is critical to the success of the project.

o Comments – Educational entities and ODE staff must have the ability to add comments.o Document upload – Educational entities will have the ability to upload documents.o User Interface – Update user interface following State of Ohio Standards. o Reports – Ability to generate user friendly reports.

Data Analysis – Ability to identify themes across all educational entities data and generate reports.

The One Needs Assessment Prototype User Manual (Supplement 13) provides more detail around the current system. Additionally, the One Needs Assessment Questions and Triggers Document (Supplement 14) contains the questions and triggers used in the current system. The One Needs Assessment Prototype Presentation (Supplement 11) and the Pilot One Plan Presentation (Supplement 12) describe the functionality of the current One Needs Assessment Prototype and the connections to the planning component that must be considered during the design of the One Plan component.

1.4.4 Explanation of the One Plan

Currently districts and schools in Ohio have multiple plans that are required under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, federal and state grant requirements, district and school accountability labels, and local expectations. Examples of required plans are Schoolwide Title I plan, District Improvement Plan, Reading Improvement Plan, Equitable Access to Effective Teachers plan and many others. The One Plan along with the One Needs Assessment is a process that enables districts to bring all required plans for a district or school along with local plans together into a single plan that is supported by available resources and focused on continuous improvement.

Currently, districts develop plans that focus on compliance resulting in plans that fall short of addressing the needs and implementing an improvement process. The One Plan will provide a structure in the planning cycle with the foundation based on the priority needs selected by the district or school as the focus for improvement over the next three years. The plan no longer is about compliance, but about addressing needs; and no longer about spending down funds, but about aligning available resources to address identified needs with a focus on district and school improvement.

The One Plan system continues the process started by the One Needs Assessment component. The following high-level explanation of the One Plan is provided to assist the vendors in understanding this component. However, the State of Ohio Department of Administrative ServicesED STEPS – RFP 0A1265On behalf of the Ohio Department of Education Page 15

expectation remains that as part of the business requirements gathering for the One Plan, the Contractor will gain additional understanding of the One Plan component.

The following information will be sent from the One Needs Assessment component to the One Plan component: priority needs, improvement areas and root causes. The One Plan component will then guide users step-by-step through the process of converting this information into a cohesive three-year plan. This will include writing SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely) goals, selecting evidence-based strategies, creating action steps for implementation of the goals and strategies, and identifying and aligning estimated resources for carrying out the plan. Throughout this process, the system will track the user’s progress towards completing the plan development. The final step of the plan development process is ODE’s review and approval of the plan. The system will support this process including a communication system for both internal external users. Users will have the ability to amend the plan as needed throughout the life of the three-year plan.

After the plan is developed, the system will support users by allowing them to monitor progress in implementing the plan. The One Plan component will integrate with the Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Application system component to support the funding process and ensure the fiscal resources are correctly aligned to and support the plan.

1.4.5 Current Work on the One Plan

A One Plan subcommittee exists to develop the vision of the ED STEPS One Plan component. This includes identifying the various plans that districts are required to develop and the required criteria in those plans, develop a single quality improvement plan, and foster collaboration amongst the various Department offices in the development of this process. The One Plan subcommittee, composed of representatives from ODE’s various offices, most recently focused on the ED STEPS three-year transition pilot. The ED STEPS three-year transition pilot is a collaboration between ODE involving offices throughout the agency and a collection of diverse LEAs.

The goal of this pilot is to develop the process for creating a quality plan that addresses all plans required of a district or school along with transitioning from a one-year plan to a three-year plan. This includes LEAs using the One Needs Assessment to identify the priority needs, conduct root cause analyses, and identify improvement areas for each priority need. The three-year plan provides districts an opportunity to focus on addressing their priority needs, the time to implement and monitor the progress of the improvement plan and a point in time to evaluate their plan before beginning another three-year plan cycle. Offices throughout ODE will review the three-year plans for required criteria and provide support for districts and buildings. All districts and entities that receive federal and state funds will develop three-year plans. Educational organizations are assigned to one of three One Plan cohorts. Each cohort is associated with a separate starting year. In each starting year, the organizations that are part of that cohort will begin three-year planning to include three school years. The initial phase of the ED STEPS three-year transition pilot was completed including implementation of three-year needs assessment and planning with ODE review of the three-year plans. Feedback was collected from the pilot members on the process and members will continue to be involved in the design and development of the ED STEPS system.

The One Plan subcommittee works closely with the One Needs Assessment subcommittee on the transition from the One Needs Assessment to the planning component. Once districts have identified their priority needs with root cause analysis and improvement areas, they can then begin to develop their SMART goals, student and adult progress measures, strategies with action steps, and align resources to each need. Currently, the planning system used by the LEAs is the CCIP Planning Tool. The CCIP Planning Tool is an older system that lacks the stretch needed by districts, schools and the offices across ODE to embed various plans and criteria into one cohesive plan while allowing for the differentiation needed based on the district’s or school’s needs and requirements. Minor enhancements are being made to the CCIP Planning Tool to connect it to the One Needs Assessment and to facilitate the cross-Department review process. Significant system development work remains to fully implement the ED STEPS process. One of the


primary goals of this RFP is to develop the One Plan component that will replace the CCIP Planning Tool which aligns with the ED STEPS vision of the planning process and provides the flexibility to address needs and required criteria.

1.4.6 Summary of Goals of the One Plan

Currently, there are several primary goals for the One Plan component. These goals include the following:

System guides the users through the step-by-step process of converting the results of their needs assessment into a cohesive plan including required components of a quality plan. This process includes writing a SMART goal based on the priority need, selecting evidence-based strategies from identified improvement areas and creating time referenced action steps for implementation of strategies and goal completion.

System functionality that tracks progress towards plan completion. System functionality that allows districts and buildings to monitor progress in implementation of strategies

through adult behavior measures and student achievement levels. System frameworks that differentiates between district level plans (parent) and building level plans (child)

while maintaining common goals and strategies. System notification functionality that creates alerts for plan development, planning completion, status

changes, evaluation measures for implementation, office-to-office and office-to-district/school communications.

System functionality that uses district and school data triggers to evaluate whether the plan meets all require criteria.

Reporting functionality that provides the following reporting options: summary of the improvement plan, filtering for embedded plans (ex. transportation plan) and required components, and plan progress.

Resource Alignment Integration – System functionality that links estimates for cost of items in the plan to identified resources for final budgeting (ex. federal entitlement program funds, state and federal grants, and local identified funds).

Change Tracking – Mechanism for demonstrating to ODE Staff when the educational entity makes a change to the One Plan after its initial completion.

Integration with One Needs Assessment and Consolidated Applications – There must be consideration for how changes to the One Needs Assessment will affect the One Plan and if any items will be required to be exported from the One Needs Assessment to the One Plan based on state and federal requirements. There must also be consideration for how changes to the One Plan will affect the Consolidated Funding Applications.

User Interface – Update user interface following State of Ohio standards, to make consistent with other ED STEPS’ system components.

Administrator Mechanism for Updates – Mechanism based on administrative permissions that would allow for system updates using an interface rather than requiring new code.

Currently, some high-level requirements have been identified for the One Plan component with the expectation that they will be completed by the Contractor and will be further defined through the IDA process. Those requirements are as follows:

The system must assign permissions based on assigned user roles. The representative or the consultant (any user with appropriate rights) must be able to view prior year plans. The representative or the consultant (any user with appropriate rights) must be able to edit only the current

three-year plan. It will be clearly defined who is required to complete a plan and what are the required items to be included in

the plan. The representative or the consultant (any user with appropriate rights) must be able to edit

(change/add/remove) at any time while the plan is open including the goals, strategies and action steps. The district level plan is the foundation for the building level plan. The building is able to customize their plan

to meet their specific needs including editing the goals as well as selecting and modifying strategies and action steps.


The One Plan must have a lifespan that is prominently displayed (fiscal year - start and end) and provide where the entity is in the planning cycle.

The system must allow for an upload of progress measures to demonstrate evidence of effectiveness and progress of a plan.

There must be a rule for schools with monitoring intervals. The process must align funding to the plan components. The process must ensure alignment across all plans. While a single student indicator/measurement is required, the system must allow for multiple student

indicators under the same goal. While a single adult measure is required, the system must allow for multiple adult indicators under the same

strategy.

Additional business requirements for the One Plan will be the responsibility of the Contractor to identify and address.

The Contractor must complete business requirements gathering for the One Plan component including review of the One Needs Assessment component and materials, feedback from the ED STEPS 3 year transition pilot, and review of materials describing the vision for the ED STEPS system along with discussions with members of the One Needs Assessment and One Plan Subcommittees. The Contractor must provide a high-level design concept for the One Plan component including known points of integration between the multiple components. This design will be a required deliverable for the first IDA. These activities must be performed with the input of the Federal Requirements and Grants Subject Matter Expert.

1.5 Key ED STEPS Functions

The Solution must not only address the functionalities and processes described in this document and the RFP but also bring specific capabilities that provide the following high-level functions to ODE:

Increase ability to implement the Ohio Strategic Plan for Education, Supplement 18;

Support and facilitate internal Department communication and collaboration;

Simplify and streamline processes for ODE customers into a tool they want to use;

Built by and for the customers with input from both internal and external customers;

Bring focus to “fund the plan, don’t plan to fund” mindset of improvement-driven planning;

Compliance with statutory and federal requirements;

Flexibility of system to adapt to statutory, regulatory and business designed changes; and

Support a three-year planning cycle with aligned one-year funding applications.

Offeror Note: Proposals must address all aspects of the proposed solution including team, technology, services and State technology components available for use and must clearly illustrate throughout the response how the State’s Vision, Strategy and Key Functions are achieved.


2. Solution Requirements

The Contractor must provide a fully functional, production-ready system of the in-scope components.

The Contractor must follow these requirements in the performance of the work contained in this RFP and any resultant IDA.

2.1 User Experience

The Solution must provide a user experience that is simple, direct and effective. Characteristics of this experience must include, at a minimum:

Solution must be configured such that the user is automatically tracked and resumes where they had last logged out or exited;

Intuitive navigation that guides users to the appropriate Solution component with as few clicks as possible;

Visible timeout warning and autosaving;

ADA compliant;

Compliant with State and Department stylistic requirements;

Compliant with all State and Federal education laws and regulations;

Meets the intent and purpose of all grant and program requirements;

Dashboard functionality that informs users and supports users viewing their information;

Solution must support multiple current browsers;

Ability for users to navigate to the previous page using the “Back” button or equivalent alternative solution; and

Intuitive communication processes between various stakeholder groups.

2.2 Innovations and Value-Added Services

In addition to the stated requirements, the State seeks creative innovations and value-added services not contemplated in the scope of work contained in the RFP. In responding to this section, offerors must provide a detailed narrative that describes any additional proposed innovations and value-added services as well as the benefits and outcomes the State would realize. Offerors must be prepared to demonstrate these benefits and outcomes.

Offerors must indicate if any of the innovations or value-added services are at an additional cost.

2.3 ODE and State Architecture

The Contractor must develop the ED STEPS system in the State’s Microsoft Azure PaaS cloud environment using a .Net framework using the architecture set forth in the architecture documents in Supplements 2 (State IT Policy Standard and Service Requirements), 3 (State Security Privacy and Data Handling), 15 (EAS Overview) and 16 (EAS Visio Diagrams). Additionally, Contractor must adhere to ODE’s database structure found in Supplement 17 (ODE Database Standards). ODE understands that the vision document provided as Supplement 4 (ED STEPS Vision Document) is at such a high level that it will need to be converted to an architectural system design document describing each component of the system in detailed technical terms showing components/services/modules/data configurations. ODE also believes that while using an Agile scrum methodology, many of the finer details of the project will be better defined during the development sprints.


3. Process Requirements

As a response to this RFP, the Offeror must submit a proposal that addresses the Solution, with each section containing a specific approach, methodology and project plan. The Contractor must successfully deliver the complete solution for the in-scope components using the new platform.

3.1 Organizational Change Management (OCM)

Due to the projected widespread adoption and impact of the ED STEPS system, OCM is critical to the success of this project. The Contractor will be responsible for working with the State in the development and implementtion of OCM throughout the life of the project starting with planning, business requirements gathering and design through training and rollout. The Offeror must provide a detailed plan describing their OCM approach to support all customers and stakeholders, both internal and external, affected by the shifts in the business processes and implementation of the new system. The final OCM plan will be developed in collaboration between both the State and Contractor.

3.2 Federal Requirements and Grants Subject Matter Expert

The content and processes of ED STEPS system must be consistent with federal regulations and guidance. Therefore, the State requires the development of ED STEPS to include on-going consultation with a national education law firm or individual(s) familiar with federal education laws, regulations and procedures. The national firm or individual(s) must be considered a subject matter expert (SME) with federal grants planning and management. The Offeror may arrange the SME through a method of their choosing, with approval of ODE. Possible methods include assigning one of the Offeror’s current employees with relevant expertise to be the SME for the project or sub-contracting with a recognized national education law firm such as Brustein and Manasevit, PLLC or the Federal Education Group, PLLC to give consultation throughout the phases of design and development.

The Offeror must provide the qualifications, skills and experience of the proposed SME. The Offeror must also provide a plan detailing the engagement and involvement of a SME for this project.

The State requires the SME to have at a minimum, background, knowledge and expertise in the following:

Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act

Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V)

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards

Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR)

Familiarity and interaction with U.S. Department of Education

State educational agency e-grant and planning systems

The State requires the involvement of the SME to include, at a minimum:

Work with the ODE ED STEPS team, program staff on the committees and the Contractor to distinguish between the legally required or necessary components of the system versus best practices and preferred components for the system.

Offer recommendations for features and components to enhance the state and district ability to meet the intent and purpose of the federal programs, planning requirements and adhere to uniform guidance, and fiscal compliance.


Prior to finalization and development of each component of ED STEPS, the SME must review, provide feedback and attest to the appropriateness of the proposed development plans as established by the ODE and Contractor.

3.3 Document Convention: Deliverable Identification

All items in this Supplement that are marked with the sequentially numbered red identifier (e.g., Deliverable 000) will be considered potential deliverables, inclusive of the elements of the deliverable, to be included in the IDAs. This list is not meant to be all inclusive, additional deliverables may be required by the State and Contractor. The Contractor must engage the State early with development of formal deliverables. The State reserves the right to require the Contractor to provide drafts of deliverables for State review prior to submission. Throughout the IDAs, the elements of each deliverable may include a Work Product, designated with (WP), which requires State review prior to submission of the formal deliverable.

The Offeror must note that the State is concerned with the delivery of positive and successful implementation results. While meeting deadlines for completing milestones and deliverables are important and should not be missed, the State is interested in outcomes of the project activities that provides an acceptable level of quality, meets customer expectations, gains effective functionality and positive experience for the State users of the new Solution.

3.3.1 Deliverables and Activities

The below deliverables and activities have been identified as potential items to be completed throughout the course of the project. However, the deliverables and activities for each IDA will be defined in collaboration with the Contractor as part of the IDA development process. Through this development process, it may be determined that some of these deliverables and activities do not need to be included. This will be decided with the agreement of both the Contractor and State.

Due to the expectation that this project will include the design, development and roll out of two components (which will include dashboard and reporting functionality), some of the deliverables described below may be included in multiple IDAs as they apply to the separate components. For example, the deliverable for Functional and Technical Design Documents may be needed for each component and therefore found in multiple IDAs.

The deliverables and activities identified by the State have been grouped into 3 main categories and subcategories:

Scope and Planning

Project Management Planning

Project Initiation

Scope and Architecture

Development and Testing

Analysis

Design

Develop

Test

Develop Training and Materials

Project Reporting

Deployment and Transition

Production Deployment and Stabilization


Knowledge Transfer

Solution Support

3.3.2 Identified Activities

The activities outlined below are based on the activity groups hierarchy identified above. Each group of activities will produce at least one defined deliverable, or more as indicated.

3.3.3 Scope and Planning: Project Management Planning

The Contractor is responsible for creating a detailed Project Plan, which must include:

o Project Work Plan and Schedule

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Work Plan including Gantt charts and a project schedule in Microsoft Project.

The Work Plan must be maintained throughout the life of the project and will be updated as necessary (weekly at a minimum) to reflect the accurate status of the project.

o Work Breakdown Structure

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) as a preliminary step in the preparation of a project work plan and schedule that encompasses all activities from Project Initiation to Project Closure. The WBS must define the project’s overall objectives by describing the project tasks and deliverables. The WBS must include:

A consolidated view of the activities, activity descriptions, and activity durations assigned to the State and Contractor project teams;

Resources assigned to each activity;

A list of deliverables tied to project milestones;

A way to track the project schedule against the planned schedule; and

Deliverable approval periods.

o Project Scope Management Plan

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Scope Management Plan which documents the project vision and goals, items that are in-scope and out-of-scope and their prioritization, dependencies between the scope items, and risks associated with the inclusion and removal of items from scope. The plan also defines the process used to modify project scope.

o Project Schedule Management Plan

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Schedule Management Plan which must include:

Project schedule variances reporting;

Corrective actions to address schedule variances during the life of the project; and

Process, roles, and responsibilities involved when making changes to the project schedule.

o Project Cost Management Plan

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Cost Management Plan that reports how project costs are incurred, controlled, and reported. The plan must include the agreed and finalized cost and budget for the project. Cost-related progress reports will be developed and included by the Contractor, consistent with State requirements and format, with inputs from the State and must include a tracking of costs to the project budget baseline.


o Project Quality Management Plan

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Quality Management Plan, which must include:

Defined quality assurance responsibilities;

Detailed definition of all deliverables by phase and associated acceptance criteria;

Defined deliverable review process;

Disciplined deliverable review process; and

Regularly scheduled reviews of key project phases and milestones.

o Project Human Resource Management Plan

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Human Resource Management Plan which must include:

Definition of project roles and responsibilities of team members; and

A project organization chart in the responsible, accountable, consult, inform (RACI) format.

A Staffing Management plan which must include:

o When and how human resource requirements will be acquired and, as necessary, replaced;

o The timeline for when resources are needed and may be released; and

o Training requirements for any resources with identified gaps in required skills.

o Project Communication Management Plan

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Communication Management Plan which details the varying levels and needs of the project’s stakeholders for information regarding the project, status, accomplishments, impact on stakeholders, etc. The Communication Management Plan must include:

Communication vehicles, participants and schedule;

Target stakeholders, messaging and frequency of communication; and

As part of Communication Management, issues must be logged and reported weekly and the plan must detail the escalation mechanisms for Issue resolution.

o Project Risk Management Plan

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Risk Management Plan which will be updated on an ongoing basis which must include:

Risk Assessment Log

Anticipated and identified risks

Identification of the severity and quantification of the potential impact of each risk

A quantification of the probability of each risk

Support of the development of risk mitigation plans for each identified risk

Providing guidance for assessing the efficacy of risk mitigation actions

Description of work products and processes for assessing and controlling risks


Detailed escalation mechanisms for risks

o Project Change Management Plan

The Contractor is responsible for creating a Change Management Plan which describes how the project will manage the process for review, acceptance and rejection of change requests

In the Change Management Plan, change requests will be:

Drafted by the Project Team

Reviewed and edited by the Project Manager

Approved or Rejected by the State Project Sponsor with direction from the Project Management Team and the Program Office / Core Team, as necessary

Implemented by the Project Team, as necessary

The Contractor must perform updates to the project schedule and cost estimates when change requests are approved

Organizational Change Management Plan

o The Contractor is responsible for creating an Organizational Change Management Plan which describes how internal and external customers will be transitioned to the new ED STEPS system and its components.

Deliverable 001 Detailed Project Plan

Deliverable 002 Organizational Change Management Plan

3.3.4 Scope and Planning: Project Initiation

Create a project kickoff-presentation focused on familiarizing project team members with the project, including the following components:

o Project Overview

o Project Schedule (high level)

o Objectives and Definitions

o Process

o Artifacts

o Roles and Responsibilities

o Keys to Success

o Next Steps

o Questions and Answers (Q&A)

o Resources

The Contractor and ODE will conduct a kick-off meeting within 10 business days after the issuance of a Purchase Order.

The Contractor must also provide a meeting agenda to the ODE Project Manager at least two (2) business days in advance of the Kickoff Meeting.

Conduct project kick-off meeting (one-time event) -

Deliverable 003 Project Kickoff Agenda


Deliverable 004 Project Kickoff Presentation

Deliverable 005 Project Kickoff Meeting

3.3.5 Scope and Planning: Scope and Architecture

Conduct scope discussions in consultation with State team

Confirm and elaborate upon documented in-scope requirements, to be confirmed by the State

Finalize scope and schedule

Develop a Project Scope Document, to include at a minimum:

o Definition of future state business processes

o Definition of solution architectural components

o Key project objectives

o Key project deliverables

o Key project milestones

o High level project requirements

o Assumptions and exclusions

o Known issues or risk

o Acceptance criteria

Deliverable 006 Project Scope Document

3.3.6 Development and Testing: Analysis

Perform business requirements gathering/gap analysis as defined through each IDA to develop high-level features.

User story development

Define application functionalities to enable efficient business journey for all user groups and implement standardized application approach.

Validate requirements for in-scope capabilities and review as-is business processes as applicable to the scope.

Deliverable 007 User Stories/Requirements

3.3.7 Development and Testing: Design

Design to-be business processes (process mappings) as applicable to the scope.

Create Functional Design Document (FDD) for Application & Application Components & other related components as applicable to the scope.

o Screen mockups/wireframes

o User flow

o Functionality including integration with existing systems (ex. CCIP) and data migration of historical information (ex. former plans and funding applications)

o Operational aspects


Create Technical Design Document (TDD) for Application & Application Components & other related components as applicable to the scope. This document may include:

o List of all hardware, software and other elements required to support the design, development, testing, deployment, and operation of the system

o Plans for architecture, infrastructure and setup development, test, UAT and performance test environments including integration with existing systems (ex. CCIP) and data migration of historical information (ex. former plans and funding applications)

o Definitions for project development, coding, configuration, naming convention and documentation standards

High-level timeline of implementation, resource identification, cost and risk identification (add as deliverable)

Deliverable 008 Functional Design Document

Deliverable 009 Technical Design Document

3.3.8 Development and Testing: Develop

Develop solution requirements as applicable to the scope.

o Infrastructural setup – Development, Quality Assurance and Production Environments

o Include integration with existing systems (ex. CCIP) and data migration of historical information (ex. former plans and funding applications)

Sprint Planning

Resource Plan

Quality Assurance/Unit Testing including regression testing

Leverage pre-built requirements as applicable to the scope.

Augment pre-built requirements as applicable to the scope.

Deliverable 010 Development Completion Document for State approval that represents completion of the development phase and all requirements and delivery artifacts as well as documentation as required in this Supplement.

Deliverable 011 Version Control Management, an approval document that represents that version control mechanisms are installed, functional and that all development activities (that are subject to version control) are managed by the environment.

3.3.9 Development and Testing: Test

Create Testing Environment.

Create Solution Testing Plan detailing System, User Acceptance, Automated and Performance Testing, as applicable to the scope.

Conduct System, User Acceptance, and Performance testing.

Support user acceptance testing of in-scope business processes and business scenarios.

Identify all defects identified during all phases of testing and deploy code fix and get State’s approval on outcomes.


Complete Defect Resolution, and Test Results.

Ensure all the requirements defined in this document are met.

Testing environment system must be available to ODE.

Develop a Testing Plan that details the software testing strategy, processes, standards, and guidelines for each type of testing to be conducted.

Test phase acceptance for State approval process that documents outcomes of all phases of testing, represents completion of the test phase and all requirements and delivery artifacts as well as documentation as required in this Supplement.

Testing Methodology that outlines the process that will be used to capture and document the steps taken to address System, User Acceptance, Automated and Performance testing

Deliverable 012 Testing Plan

Deliverable 013 State Approval of Test Phase Acceptance

Deliverable 014 Testing Methodology

3.3.10 Development and Testing: Develop Training and Materials Plan

Design, develop, and produce learning materials and resources for Department staff and external users for example including PowerPoint presentations, FAQs, user manuals and webinars.

Contractor must receive approval of all training materials from the ODE ED STEPS team and the ODE Office of Communications;

All tools, trainings and materials must be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and accessible in compliance with Section 508 Law (http://criterion508.com/WebAccessibility), which gives disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to access available to others;

Contractor must train ODE staff in providing training to external customers (Train the Trainer).

Attend scheduled regional trainings alongside ODE staff with external customers.

Development of application wide user Training and Help Contents including within the developed system.

Design implementation support and rollout to the field/LEAs alongside ODE staff and program specialist personnel.

All training materials developed throughout this project will be the sole property of ODE and must be available in an electronic format that can be loaded into ODE’s learning management system.

Deliverable 015 Training and Materials Plan

Deliverable 016 Training Materials

3.3.11 Development and Testing: Project Reporting

Project status will be tracked and reported on an ongoing basis. Contractor staff must be available to participate in project-related meetings as scheduled by the State. The Contractor's management approach to the Work must adhere to the following meeting and reporting requirements:

Immediate Reporting: Immediately report any staffing changes (in accordance with Attachment Four: Replacement Personnel).

Attend Status Meetings: Contractor staff team members must attend weekly status meetings, which will follow an agreed upon agenda and allow the Contractor and the State to discuss any issues that concern them. At a


minimum the Contractor’s Project Manager must be in attendance. Additional Contractor should must attend on an as-needed basis depending on the agenda topics.

Status Reports: The Contractor must provide written status reports in an agreed upon format at least one full business day before each status meeting. The Contractor's proposed format and level of detail for the status report is subject to the State’s approval.

o Project health

o On-going activities

o Sprint summary including completed tasks and sprint failures

o Upcoming milestones and releases

o Personnel/staffing issues

o Project slippage

o Risk identification and mitigation plan

o Action items

ED STEPS Steering Committee meeting: The Contractor will attend the monthly Steering Committee meetings. The Contractor will provide a status update to the Committee around work completed. The Contractor will also discuss any risks and concerns with the Committee. Proposed agenda items must be submitted to the ED STEPS Business Owner two days prior to the scheduled meeting.

Monthly Status Reports: The Contractor must submit a written monthly status report in an agreed upon format by the fifth business day following the end of each month. At a minimum, monthly status reports must contain the following:

o A description of the overall completion status of the Work in terms of the approved Work Plan (schedule and cost);

o Updated Work schedule;

o The plans for activities scheduled for the next month;

o The status of any Deliverables;

o Time ahead or behind schedule for applicable tasks;

o Any measurements required for evaluating SLA performance;

o A risk analysis of actual and perceived problems; and

o Strategic changes to the Work Plan, if any.

Quarterly Status Report: The Contractor must submit a written quarterly status report in an agreed upon format by the fifth business day following the end of each quarter. At a minimum, quarterly status reports must contain the following:

o Overall project status

o Sprint failures

o Metrics reporting

o Supporting reasons for metrics deviation

o Results of SLA review (e.g. scope, metrics, etc.)

Deliverable 017 Weekly Status Reports

Deliverable 018 Monthly Status Reports

Deliverable 019 Quarterly Status ReportsState of Ohio Department of Administrative ServicesED STEPS – RFP 0A1265On behalf of the Ohio Department of Education Page 28

3.3.12 Deployment and Transition: Production Deployment and Stabilization

Build and execute production deployment and stabilization support plan including a detailed view of the implementation methodology as it relates to delivering the system to the State and supporting post-deployment stabilization.

Ensure production deployment readiness and go-live readiness checklist is in place and approved by the State.

Receive State approval for production deployment.

Execute go-live production deployment as defined in the scope. Deploy to production environment including integration with existing systems (ex. CCIP) and data migration of historical information (ex. former plans and funding applications).

Support the solution from initiation through full delivery (all end users will adopt Solution).

Deployment Acceptance for State approval that represents completion of the production deployment requirements as required in this Supplement.

Post go-live execution following the stabilization support plan.

Post-Implementation Stabilization Acceptance for State approval within 60 days of implementation that represents completion of all phase requirements and successful production operations as required in this Supplement.

Deliverable 020 Deployment and Stabilization Support Plan

Deliverable 021 State approval for production deployment

Deliverable 022 State approval for completion of production deployment

Deliverable 023 State approval of post-implementation stabilization

3.3.13 Deployment and Transition: Knowledge Transfer

Plan that outlines how Knowledge Transfer will occur

Execute knowledge transfer to State employees and/or state designated representative, as applicable to the scope of the project.

Deliverable 024 Knowledge Transfer Plan

Deliverable 025 State approval that represents completion of the Knowledge Transfer and Training requirements

3.3.14 Deployment and Transition: Solution Support

The Contractor will be required to support the solution from the initiation phase, through full delivery, through the one-year maintenance and support period following the release of each component (the One Plan Component and the Consolidated Competitive and Formula Funding Application Component) and State final acceptance of the complete Solution. The Contractor must provide support that results in effective issue and problem management and meets the Service Levels established in this Contract. Upon State final acceptance of the complete Solution, the warranty will commence. Please see Attachment Four for further detail regarding the warranty. However, the State will require the Contractor to perform Knowledge Transfer throughout delivery of the complete Solution.


4. Project Management

4.1.1 Offeror Project Manager Requirements

The Offeror must detail their project management approach and methodology. The Offeror’s approach must follow Project Management methodologies consistent with the State guidelines and the Project Management Institute Project Management Methodologies stated in the Project Management Body of Knowledge.

The Offeror must provide a full-time, PMP certified Project Manager for the Work. The Offeror must employ the proposed Project Manager as a regular, full-time employee on the Proposal submission date and throughout the term of the Contract, including all renewals of it. The Project Manager will be responsible for ensuring that the project comes in on time, within budget and meets all requirements. The Offeror must include the proposed Project Manager’s name and biographical information/resume, including any relevant credentials held, as part of the response. The Offeror Project Manager may be required to work on-site for the duration of the project. If onsite is required a workspace will be provided for the Project Manager at 25 S. Front St., Columbus OH, 43215. It is expected that the Project Manager will be available between the hours of 8:00AM-5:00PM. Details will be confirmed during contract negotiation.

4.1.2 Project Management Requirements: Key Tasks

The following table and subsequent key tasks tables throughout this Supplement contain at a minimum, the list of tasks, activities and responsibilities for the State and Contractor. For purposes of the Project, “Perform” means that the party assigned the task has the duty and ultimate responsibility to take all appropriate steps to complete or facilitate the identified task unless otherwise provided for between the parties, subject to the Supporting party completing its interdependent responsibilities. The term, “Support” means that the party has the duty and responsibility to provide ancillary support or assistance which may be necessary to enable the party providing the “Perform” task to complete that task unless otherwise provided for by the parties. The Contractor’s Project Manager is responsible for the coordination and delivery of the Project and must obtain State approval on all integrated project plans and deliverables. Additional key project management tasks include, at a minimum, the following:

Key Tasks State Contractor

Ensure project is appropriately staffed Support Perform

Risk Assessment, Tracking and Mitigation Support Perform

Apply standard, modern project management principles (e.g. PMI® knowledge areas) Support Perform

Establish the activities, processes, and procedures for ensuring a quality product upon the conclusion of the project

Support Perform

Implement and maintain a mutually agreed upon project management tool that provides access to all project team members, approved project stakeholders and participants

Support Perform

Exercise effective change control Support Perform

Manage specific task areas to ensure appropriate cross-team communication and delivery Support Perform

Collaborate among specific Project dependencies to ensure appropriate cross-Project communication and delivery

Perform Support

Conduct project meetings, including weekly status meetings and project check points Support Perform


Produce weekly/monthly project status reports in a form approved by the state and provide it at least I business day in advance of the meeting.

Support Perform

Adhere to prompt reporting of project issues or changes, including staffing changes Perform Perform

Maintain Project document library and collaboration pages and version control Support Perform

Ensure documentation of the solutions developed, particularly functional solutions, integrations, and interfaces, in accordance with State-approved standard, professional methods

Support Perform

At the conclusion of the project, or upon request of the State, ensure that the State is provided a readable, comprehensive backup of the document and project libraries

Support Perform

4.1.3 Project Management Tool

The Contractor will utilize ODE standard tools and templates to facilitate and automate wherever possible project management task scheduling and tracking, risk, issues, and decision tracking, and all other project management related activities.

4.2 Offeror Project Team Requirements

4.2.1 Contractor Project Team Availability

Contractor staff must be available to participate in project-related meetings as scheduled by the State. On-site work must be performed during normal business hours, 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM Eastern Time.

4.2.2 Key Contractor Project Team Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications

While the State will allow the Offeror to propose the roles it feels necessary to perform the work associated with this project, the State believes the following Offeror roles and responsibilities are critical to the success of the Project.

The Offeror, as part of its proposal, is required to identify which of the Offeror’s resources will fulfill the responsibilities of the key roles outlined below. The following table describes the roles and qualifications the State expects these members of the Contractor’s team to have. These Key Project Team Roles will be scored as part of the Technical Proposal and their corresponding Hourly Rates must to be included in Cost Proposal (see Attachment 10, SOW Cost and Rate Card) . They will also be used in the scoring of the cost proposal.


Offeror KeyProject Team

RoleProject Team Role Description, Responsibilities and Qualifications

Business Analyst / Documentation

Description:

Works with the Offeror’s and the State’s Project Manager and teams to identify, project, coordinate, and implement tasks, risks, issues, time estimates, and all other relevant Project activities through completion of the Project in all areas of the Offeror’s solution functionality

Captures all business requirements, takes notes and maintains all documentation for each IDA.

Coordinates functional requirements reviews, validation, and mapping to the Offeror’s Solution functionalities

Coordinates systems functionality testing, and verifies traceability to the originating requirements

Coordinates systems integration testing, and verifies integration accuracy Coordinates systems custom development testing, and verifies custom development and

functionality accuracy Act as the key interface between the users and the Project Manager, gather information,

document processes, and confirm the final documents with users. Performing detailed requirements analysis, documenting processes, and performing

some user acceptance testing. Should have an analytical way of thinking and be able to explain difficult concepts to non-

technical users. Evaluating business processes, anticipating requirements, uncovering areas of

improvement, and developing and implementing solutions. Leading ongoing reviews of business processes and developing optimization strategies. Performing requirements analysis Gathering critical information from meetings with various stakeholders and producing

useful reports. Ensuring solutions meet business needs and requirements. Updating, implementing and maintaining procedures. Servicing as a liaison between stakeholders and users. Responsible for proofreading, revising, rewriting, and editing technical information to

produce technical publications.Minimum Qualifications:

A bachelor’s degree in business or related field. Minimum of 5 years of IT experience. Minimum of 5 years of experience in the role of business analyst and using Agile

methodology Minimum of 5 years of experience performing detailed requirements analysis. Minimum of 5 years translating business requirements into detailed system requirements

and technical design specifications. Minimum of 5 years of experience documenting processes Minimum of 5 years of experience creating user stories. Minimum of 5 years of experience writing Functional requirement documents. Minimum of 5 years of experience leading Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions

for requirements gathering Exceptional analytical and conceptual thinking skills. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, capable of communicating with highly

technical teams. The ability to influence stakeholders and work closely with them to determine acceptable

solutions. Advanced technical skills. Excellent documentation skills. Experience creating detailed reports and giving presentations. Excellent planning, organizational, and time management skills. A history of leading and supporting successful projects.State of Ohio Department of Administrative Services

ED STEPS – RFP 0A1265On behalf of the Ohio Department of Education Page 32



Change Management / Training Lead

Description:

Play a key role in ensuring projects (change initiatives) meet objectives on time and on budget by increasing employee adoption and usage

Focus on the people side of change, including changes to business processes, systems and technology, job roles and organization structures

Create and manage the Training Strategy, which includes the State’s approved approaches for communication, readiness, and training

Create and manage the Training Communication Strategy Approve and oversee the execution of the Training Needs Analysis, Training Strategy,

Training Materials, Training Deployment Plan, and Knowledge Transfer Plan Work with the Project Manager, key leaders and project teams to integrate training

activities into the overall Project Plan Coordinate development of all training communications and training materials Report training readiness status to Project Manager Ensure that leading training practices are implemented Resolve or escalate issues that are raised by the Training Team Prepare instruction manuals, journal articles, and other supporting documents to

communicate complex and technical information Develop, gather, and disseminate technical information among customers and IT team

members Focus on the people side of change, including changes to business processes, systems

and technology, job roles and organization structures Conduct presentations and participate in meetings, as appropriate

Minimum Qualifications:

Minimum of 3 years’ experience related to the successful delivery of change management work in the disciplines of change management methodology, stakeholder engagement, sponsorship alignment, communication planning, training/performance support and organizational readiness

Minimum of 3 years’ experience in developing and implementing end-user training strategies.

Previous experience with large IT implementations Minimum of 3 years’ experience in developing and executing Strategic Communications

initiatives in a consulting or government setting Minimum of 3 years’ experience developing training materials Minimum of 3 years’ developing and implementing large-scale training plans

Preferred Qualifications:

Change Management Certification




Database Designer

Description:

Use specialized software to store and organize data and is responsible for defining the detailed database design, including tables, indexes, views, constraints, triggers, stored procedures, and other database-specific constructs needed to store, retrieve, and delete persistent objects.


Minimum of 3 years of experience working with Business office on requirements gathering and needs assessment with the ability to translate need into Logical/Physical data model.

Minimum of 4 production projects (not classroom, research or pilot projects) involving data base modeling for online applications.

Minimum of 5 years of experience working with MS SQLServer. Minimum of 3 year of experience working with 2014 version or later and a minimum of 1

year with SQLServer Azure preferred. Minimum of 5 years of experience data modeling Erwin.


Minimum of 3 years with R9 versions or later preferred. Minimum of 1 year of experience with Azure DevOps. Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field. Partial credit will be

awarded for Bachelor degree or higher in any field.

Federal Requirements and Grants Subject Matter Expert (SME)

Description:

Work with the ODE ED STEPS team, program staff on the committees and the Contractor to distinguish between the legally required or necessary components of the system versus best practices and preferred components for the system.

Offer recommendations for features and components to enhance the state and district ability to meet the intent and purpose of the federal programs, planning requirements and adhere to uniform guidance, and fiscal compliance.

Prior to finalization and development of each component of ED STEPS, the SME shall review, provide feedback and attest to the appropriateness of the proposed development plans as established by the ODE and Contractor.


The State requires the SME to have at a minimum, background, knowledge and expertise in the following:

o Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act

o Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V)

o Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)o Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)o Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements

for Federal Awards o Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR)o Familiarity and interaction with U.S. Department of Educationo State educational agency e-grant and planning systems




Project Manager

Description:

The Offeror Project Manager provides Project oversight for the Offeror team through completion of the Project

Works with the State Project Managers to create and manage the Project Plan and Schedule

Manages the Offeror Project Team Members Manages overall quality and timeliness of the Project deliverables and services Assures the quality of the processes used to manage and create Project deliverables Manages Project Issues and Risks Facilitates Project reporting activities, including weekly/monthly Status Reports and

weekly Status Meetings Acts as the Point of escalation for Project issues Collaborates with State Project Manager and manages project-specific communications


Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) Minimum of 5 years of experience as a Certified Scrum Master overseeing Agile

development projects Minimum of 10 years of experience in the IT field. Minimum of 10 years of experience organizing and facilitating planning and coordination

ceremonies including release / PI planning, iteration planning, daily stand-ups, iteration review/demos and retrospectives.

Minimum of 10 years of experience working creatively and analytically in a problem-solving environment.

Minimum of 10 years of experience with all facets of software development lifecycle (requirements definition, system design, development, testing, deployment, support).

Minimum of 10 years of experience mentoring and motivating development teams to perform well and achieve the best outcomes for the project.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate at all organizational levels in a highly collaborative fashion.

Good technical knowledge to understand the various technical touchpoints to understand dependencies.

Ability to excel in a highly dynamic environment and flexible to change direction as needed.

Proactive and ability to think downstream and plan and recommend improvements and assist in changes to best practices where appropriate.

Proficient in Microsoft Office tools (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Project and Visio)


Minimum of 2 years of experience with Azure DevOps Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field. Partial credit will be





Solution Architect

Description:

ODE has already selected the Azure tools/resources that will be used for this project. The solution architect for this project should have experience in the Azure tools/resources used by ODE.

Responsible for designing and implementing short and long-term strategic goals for managing and maintaining systems and software

Provide expertise and architectural assistance to other IT personnel IT architecture, infrastructure, and cloud development DevOps and CI/CD setup Works with the Offeror’s and the State’s Project Manager and teams to identify, project,

coordinate, and implement system’s technical related tasks, risks, issues, time estimates, and all other relevant Project activities through completion of the Project in all areas of the Offeror’s solution functionality

Manage design, development, testing and deployment of system interfaces, data conversions, workflows and other custom objects (RICEF-W)

Leads the Offeror’s efforts in all technical areas of the Solution Manages the overall quality and timeliness of deliverables in the impacted technical

areas Serves as an expert resource to mitigate or resolve Project issues and risks Manage technical team resources including technical architecture, database

administration and infrastructure management supporting the Project Plan for and manage Performance Testing activities


Minimum of 3 years of experience using Microsoft Azure. Minimum of 2 years of experience in developing cloud architecture and adoption strategy

for Azure. Minimum of 2 years of experience in developing/maintaining IT systems in a hybrid mode

(Azure cloud and on-premise system). Minimum of 2 years of experience in developing/maintaining Azure cloud native IT

systems OR in migrating existing .NET application to Azure. Minimum of 2 years of experience in Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery in

Azure. Minimum of 2 years of experience in Azure Technologies (e.g. Azure function, Azure Batch/Web Jobs, Service Fabric, Service Bus, Key Vault).

Minimum of 2 years of experience with VSTS Online. Minimum of 10 years of experience in developing/maintaining IT systems using Microsoft .NET 2.0 and above (C# preferred).

Minimum of 8 years of experience in Relational database technologies (MS SQL (preferred) or Oracle).

Minimum of 8 years of experience in architecting IT systems using Microsoft .NET 2.0 and above (C# preferred).

Minimum of 5 years of experience in leading teams through multiple stages of software development (from system analysis to deployment).

Minimum 3 years of experience in Microservice Architecture. Minimum of 5 years of experience in Test Driven Development and test automation. Minimum of 5 years of experience in Agile Development Methodologies using TFS. Minimum of 5 years of experience with other web UI development tools/languages

(JavaScript, jQuery, Ajax, MVC). Minimum of 1 year of experience with .NET CORE 1.0/2.0 using C#. Minimum of 3 years of experience using ORM Tools (Entity Framework (preferred) or

equivalent). Total IT experience: 15 Years


Minimum of 2 years of experience using Angular 2.0 or above with TypeScript, State of Ohio Department of Administrative ServicesED STEPS – RFP 0A1265On behalf of the Ohio Department of Education Page 36



Automated / Manual Tester (T) / Quality Assurance (QA)

Description:

Lead the testing team Quality & test advocacy Testing resource planning & management Resolution of issues that impede the testing effort Responsible for: Building up and leading the Testing Team Ensure that the system meet defined thresholds of acceptability Plan, direct or coordinate quality assurance programs and formulate quality control

policies Responsible for designing testing scenarios for usability testing Responsible for conducting the testing, analyzing the results and submitting observations

to the development team


Experience as a .NET Tester. Minimum of 7 years professional experience in testing and/or software applications in

complex end user environments. Minimum of 5 years of experience performing all aspects of software test management

(test plan, test case creation, test cases execution, defect tracking, capture testing metrics).

Minimum of 5 years of experience with manual testing (functional, regression and performance).

Minimum of 3 years of experience with automated testing (functional, regression and performance).

Minimum of 2 years of experience in developing/testing web applications on the Microsoft ASP.Net Framework.

Minimum of 2 years of experience with Visual Studio 2015/2017 for Software Testers (Test manager)

Minimum of 2 years of experience with automated testing tool (e.g. Selenium, Protractor)


Minimum of 2 years of experience in writing SQL queries and relational database (Oracle is preferred).

Knowledge and professional experience of XML, nUnit, Web Service, and ASP.NET 4.0 is preferred.

Experience in leading, developing and growing QA team is preferred. Minimum of 1 year of experience using SCRUM Agile development methodologies (or

SCRUM Master certification as equivalent). Minimum of 1 year of experience with Azure DevOps Goals-oriented proactive team player with the ability to multi-task and prioritize technical

tasks in a fast-paced, professional environment. Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field. Partial credit will be





UI Architect / Angular Sr. Developer

Description:

ODE is using Angular 7.0/8.0 for the UI development. Lead UI/Angular architectural decisions Angular Component design, development and testing Coordinate code reviews


Minimum of 5 years of experience in architecting UI/Front End using scripting languages/frameworks (e.g. Angular 2.0, Angular 1.0, React). Having experience with multiple technology set preferred.

Minimum of 2 years of experience using Angular 6.0 or above with TypeScript, Bootstrap, Jasmine, Karma (or other Angular testing framework).

Minimum of 8 years of experience in developing UI/Front end using various scripting languages (e.g. JavaScript, TypeScript). Having experience with multiple scripting languages preferred.

Minimum of 10 years of experience in IT System Architecture. Minimum of 5 years of experience in mentoring and code/design review. Minimum of a total of 15 years of IT experience. Minimum of 2 years of Cloud experience (Azure).


Experience with Node.Js are preferred. Minimum of 2 years of experience in Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery in

Azure Minimum of 3 years of experience developing/maintaining IT systems using

Microsoft .NET 2.0 and above (C# preferred). Minimum of 3 years of experience using Relational database technologies (MS SQL

(preferred) or Oracle). Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field. Partial credit will be





UI / UX Designer

Description:

Transforms business requirements, interprets customer feedback, and incorporates research to turn a creative vision into tangible UI

Creates and provides detailed low and high-resolution wireframes, user flows, story boards, prototypes, and a wide range of UX assets and deliverables while incorporating best practices and branding.

Front-end Web Development: Create and develop front-end web components and code for use within the Project UX and interface guidelines, design.

Mobile Reviews responsiveness, developer and code general for UX/UI functionality. Concerns including but not limited to accessibility requirements, style and branding.

Follow State of Ohio UI/UX standards


Minimum of 8 years of experience working with Business office on requirements gathering and needs assessment with the ability to translate need into UI mockups/wireframes.

Minimum of 5 years of experience working with HTML, CSS and Media Queries Minimum of 3 year of experience working with Bootstrap or Angular Material Minimum of 3 year of experience working with UI Mockup tools (e.g. Fireworks, Adobe

Creative Suites) Minimum of 2 year of experience working with Visual Studio


Minimum of 1 years of experience with Azure DevOps Minimum of 1 years of experience with Angular UI coding Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field. Partial credit will be


4.2.3Additional Contractor Project Team Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications

ODE has identified additional required resources and the expected level of experience for these roles. The following table describes the roles and qualifications the State expects these members of the Contractor’s team to have. These roles will only be included in the scoring for the cost proposal.


Contractor

Project Team Role

Project Team Role Description, Responsibilities and Qualifications

Cloud .NET Developers X 3

Note: ODE anticipates 3 of these roles will be needed to appropriately accomplish the goals of this project.

Description:

Coding and unit testing of software components Participate in code reviews Work closely with the Solution Architect and UI Architect


Minimum of 10 years of experience developing/maintaining IT systems using Microsoft .NET 2.0 and above (C# preferred).

Minimum of 10 years of experience using Relational database technologies (MS SQL (preferred) or Oracle).

Minimum of 3 years of experience using Test Driven Development and test automation.

Minimum of 5 years of experience in Agile Development Methodologies using TFS Minimum of 5 years of experience using other web UI development tools/languages

(JavaScript, jQuery, Ajax, MVC). Minimum of 1 year of experience with .NET CORE 1.0/2.0 using C#. Minimum of 2 years of experience using ORM Tools (Entity Framework (preferred) or

equivalent). Preferred Qualifications: Minimum of 2 years of experience in Angular 4.0 or above

with TypeScript, Bootstrap, Jasmine, Karma (or other Angular testing framework). Minimum of 2 years of experience using Microsoft Azure. (cloud native IT systems,

hybrid solution or migration of existing system to Azure) Minimum of 2 years of experience in Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery in

Azure. Minimum of 1 year of Azure Technologies (e.g. Azure function, Azure Batch/Web Jobs,

service Fabric, Service Bus, Key Vault). Minimum of 1 year of experience with Azure DevOps. Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field. Partial credit will be

awarded for Bachelor degree or higher in any field


Contractor

Project Team Role

Project Team Role Description, Responsibilities and Qualifications

Power BI Report Developer

Description:

Meet business users to understand and analyze their processes Build Reports in Power BI Logical database design for Data marts ETL using Informatica or Azure Data Factory


Minimum of 8 years of overall experience in IT Minimum of 5 years in Business Intelligence Report development (Cognos,

Microstrategy, SSRS, Crystal Report) Minimum of 3 years in PowerBI/Tableau development (PowerBI preferred) Minimum of 2 years in in Microsoft SSIS/Informatica for ETL Minimum of 5 years in data warehouse design / maintenance (Oracle or SQL

preferred) in each skill listed below:o Meeting business users and analyze the requirements for the dimensional

purpose.o Star-Schema Modeling, Snowflake Schema Modeling, Fact and Dimension

tables.o Experience in designing dimensional data models/facts from scratch.


Minimum of 3 years of experience in writing SQL queries and relational database (Oracle or SQL)

Minimum of 1 year of experience with Azure DevOps Minimum of 1 year of experience with Azure Data Factory Minimum of 1 year of experience using Agile development methodologies Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field. Partial credit will be


ETL / Data Integration Developer

Description:

Meet business users to understand and analyze their processes ETL using Informatica or Azure Data Factory Creates, executes, and documents unit test plans for ETL and data integration

processes and programs.


Minimum of 8 years of overall experience in IT Minimum of 5 years in in Microsoft SSIS or Informatica for ETL Minimum of 2 years of experience in writing SQL queries and relational database

(Oracle or SQL)


Minimum of 1 year of experience with Azure DevOps Minimum of 1 year of experience with Azure Data Factory Minimum of 2 years of experience with ODS, EDW and DataMarts Minimum of year of experience using Agile development methodologies Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field. Partial credit will be



4.2.4 Project Staffing and Time Requirement

The State requires the Offeror to employ an effective and efficient staffing and team structure for delivering the Solution. As part of the response, the State requires a full and detailed description of the Offeror’s staffing approach for development and delivery of the Solution. We expect that the staffing plan will include the resources included in section 4.2.2 Key Contractor Project Team Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications and section 4.2.3 Additional Contractor Project Team Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications.

The Offeror’s Staffing Plan and Time Commitment response must include the following information:

An organizational chart including any subcontracted and key management and administrative personnel assigned to this project

A contingency plan that shows the ability to add more staff if needed to replace existing staff and/or to ensure meeting the Project’s due date(s)

The number of people onsite at State location(s) at any given time to allow the State to plan for the appropriate workspace

A statement and a chart that clearly indicates the time commitment, inclusive of the Project Manager and the Offeror’s proposed team members for this Work during each stage of the Project and the System Life Cycle

A statement indicating to what extent, if any, the candidates may work on other projects or assignments that are not related to the State during the term of the Contract

The Offeror must commit technical and support staff toward meeting the customer service needs resulting from the proposed Scope of Work

The State may reject any Proposal that commits the proposed Project Manager or any proposed Key Project Personnel to other projects during the term of the Project, if the State believes that any such commitment may be detrimental to the Offeror’s performance.

4.2.5 Staff Resumes

Resumes must be provided for all Key Project personnel (section 4.2.2 Key Contractor Project Team Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications) and additional resources (section 4.2.3 Additional Contractor Project Team Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications) in order to supplement the descriptive narrative provided by the Offeror regarding their proposed project team. Resumes must be provided using Attachment 8: Personnel Profile Summary.

The resume must include:

Candidate’s Name

Proposed Role on this Project

Three (3) references for completed projects that are comparable to this Project or required similar skills based on the candidate’s assigned role and responsibilities in the Project, including the following details:

o Project title and description

o Beginning and ending dates

o Client/company name for which the work was performed

o Client contact information for references

o Detailed description of the person’s role/responsibility on the project that are in line with those to be provided as part of this project

Education


Professional Licenses/Certifications/Memberships

4.3 State Project Support Team

4.3.1 State Team Requirements

The Project is comprised of an internal team of state resources as active participants. The Offeror should assume that the State has limited full-time resources available and plan accordingly for appropriate staffing.

Many of the State participants on this Project will be made available part time. As their time is limited, advance notice is expected for all State required support. However, the State understands that its participation is critical to ensure the goals of the project are accomplished. To help the State better plan to have the right resources available in the right quantities at the right time, the Offeror must include the following in its response to this RFP:

Nature and extent of State support required in terms of staff roles, percentage of time available

Assistance from State staff and the experience and qualification levels required to successfully accomplish the goals of the project

Desired State participation by module, including the staff role, estimated effort and duration

Other support requirements

The State may not be able or willing to provide the additional support the Offeror lists in this part of its Proposal. The Offeror therefore must indicate whether its request for additional support is a requirement for its performance. If any part of the list is a requirement, the State may reject the Offeror's Proposal, if the State is unable and unwilling to meet the requirements.

4.3.2 State Project Manager Support

It is important for the Offeror to recognize the importance of effective project management for this Project. The Project comprises an internal team of State resources as active participants in the project. These resources include at minimum a State Project Manager who manages the State-side project work, monitors the contractual agreement with the Offeror and assists the Offeror in obtaining appropriate resources, assists the Offeror in understanding and managing the effects of dependent projects and provides feedback at key points in the Project progress.

The State Project Manager will perform the following:

Serve as an advocate for the State’s Business Sponsor(s) throughout the Project to ensure that the proposed solution meets the State’s business requirements

Oversee all aspects of the deployment of the new system within the State including business process alignment with the State’s future state, enterprise readiness and organizational change management and managing user acceptance testing

Coordinating with State as required for any technical work required in terms of other State systems for replacement, data conversion and interfaces

4.3.1 State IT Support

The system architeure, high level design and other technical artifacts will be reviewed and approved by ODE’s Director of Application Development or his/her designees.

UI design will be reviewed and approved by the ODE’s UI designer and ensure State standards are followed.

ODE IT staff will provide technical expertise about the ODE’s Enterprise Framework.

ODE IT staff will hold periodic design and code reviews to ensure allignment with the ODE’s Enterprise Framework.


The database design will be reviewed and approved by ODE’s Dataservice Manager or his/her designees.

4.3.2 State Project Resource Groups

The state has already done significant work and logistical preparations for this project. ODE has several resource groups in place to guide this project work.

ED STEPS Steering Committee – Provides direction and expectations for the overall project and subcommittees. Consists of business owner, Senior Executive Directors, Executive Directors, Chief Fiscal Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Financial Manager of Grants Management.

ED STEPS Subcommittees – Business office subject matter experts for ED STEPS process development and system functionality. Individual subcommittees exist for each component – One Needs Assessment, One Plan, Funding Applications, Dashboard. The Contractor will work with these groups to identify business requirements for the system.

ED STEPS External Customers – Ohio educational organization representatives responsible for providing external stakeholder feedback on the ED STEPS process and system functionality.


5. Managed Services

The Contractor will be responsible for providing the overall delivery of Managed Services described in this RFP.

The Contractor must follow proven quality assurance processes and procedures for the delivery of services to the State.

The Offeror should note that Managed Services and Operational Support responsibilities will begin with the initial release of functionality into the Production environment.

Even though ODE is following the iterative model, the systems will be fully supported by the Contractor during the development and deployment period. For the year following the release of each component, it will be the primary responsibility of the Contractor to maintain the system and begin the support/maintenance transition process with ODE. Following the completion of the maintenance and warranty period, ODE will assume the primary responsibility and maintain a team to support the system. Please see the tentative timeline chart in the Strategy section (1.3) for further details.

5.1 Technology, Process, and Services Optimization

The Contractor must review the current environment inclusive of operating processes, hardware, network, software, infrastructure, security, back-up and other ancillary technical components that comprise the solution no less frequently than quarterly and maintain a Technology, Process and Service Optimization plan with the State. As part of the overall operational responsibility for the existing environments, the Contractor’s plan must demonstrate that it will meet service levels, operational performance, technical and personnel (both State and Contractor) capacity to ensure that the State is provided a high level of service value, operational reliability and stability as well as best use of the resources that comprise and operate the solution. The Contractor is required to keep the underlying technology of each component current through each component’s one-year warranty.

5.2 Steady-State Run Services

The Contractor must manage, operate, maintain and provide on-going support of the Solution, as implemented and deployed by the Contractor, during the term of the Contract.

From time to time the State may have exception processing requirements referred to in this RFP as either a Peak Period or Black-out Period during which time no changes will be permitted to operational systems that may introduce unintended slow-downs, service interruptions or diminished service levels. During these periods the Contractor is expressly prohibited from making any changes to a production environment without State approval with the exception of those changes as required to affect the restoration of service in a declared emergency or outage condition.

Run Service notification requirements include, at a minimum:

Establish and maintain an emergency notification process to notify key State staff of pending problem areas, for example virus or malware infection, to escalate problems.

Provide a periodic status notification to the State for service outages of mission critical systems as required by the Service Level.

5.2.1 Technical Incident / Problem / Change (IPC, ITIL) Management

Consistent with an ITIL service delivery model and as appropriate to driving a high-quality service, the Contractor must:

Provide a point of contact for technical IPCs.


Implement and manage procedures for proactively monitoring, logging, tracking, escalating, reviewing, and reporting (historical and predictive) of IPCs, as set forth in a State of Ohio specific technical operations manual or other supporting documents.

With the State, implement a process that establishes, to the extent reasonably possible, end-to-end responsibility and ownership of IPCs in a manner that helps reduce redundant contacts and helps eliminate the need for the Users to describe the IPC multiple times to different Contractor or State personnel.

Categorize and document the relative importance of each IPC according to the severity levels as set forth by the State.

Monitor and manage each IPC, including IPCs associated with changes, and report on the status of resolution efforts until it is corrected or resolved, and an authorized User confirms such resolution, as set forth in a Run Book or other supporting documents.

Perform trend analysis at the State’s request, and no less frequently on a quarterly basis when not otherwise requested, on the volume and nature of IPCs in order to identify possible areas for improvement.

Implement measures to help avoid unnecessary recurrence of IPCs, by performing root cause analysis and event correlation.

To the extent an IPC is due to errors or defects within an in-scope environment, supported server or in-scope software element licensed by a third Party to the State, assist the State by referring such IPC to the appropriate third-Party entity for resolution and coordinating with the third-Party Contractor as appropriate to help minimize the State role in problem management.

Ensure that all IPC tickets handled by the Contractor have sufficient detail as to understand the incident/problem or change requested, have timing to allow reporting as to start, stop and duration, include details as to the root cause and resolution to the problem and be structured in the Help Desk software to serve as the basis of applicable SLA reporting and service improvement statistical analysis; and

Assist the State with review and maintenance of outstanding IPCs, to include prioritization.

5.2.2 Data Archive and Purge Considerations

The Contractor Archive and Purge processes must be executed in accordance with the relevant State document retention schedules (https://apps.das.ohio.gov/RIMS/GeneralSchedule).

5.2.3 Break/Fix Support

The Contractor must:

a) Track, monitor and provide remediation for in scope solution defects and issues;

a) Identify any defects or issues being resolved for other Contractor clients;

b) Identify and implement required system or configuration changes to address solution defects;

c) Maintain solution documentation (technical specifications and testing documentation) as well as a compendium of common problems, root causes and remedy to aid in the identification and remediation of underlying system issues;

d) Test changes to confirm resolution of defects;

e) Identify, specify and system test as applicable third Party supplied patches and fixes for third Party supplied packaged systems software (including OS, BIOS, microcode, patches, service packs and similar), as well as new releases;


f) Support the State in performing applicable acceptance testing or review of any changes arising as a result of break/fix or patch/release; and

g) Ensure compliance with any new State legislation mandate, State security mandated patches, or system levels and system enhancement turnaround time required. Given the nature of the security mandate the Contractor must report to the State in writing any risks or issues that the Contractor becomes aware of in providing service to the State. For example, patches designed to address immediate or active security issues may be scheduled for a near-real-time release, where other less pressing releases may be implemented during a scheduled maintenance or outage period.

5.2.4 Solution Support

For the solution, inclusive of all performance, technical, integration and functional aspects, the Contractor must:

a) Maintain the performance, availability and stability of the Solution. The Contractor must schedule its implementation of changes so as not to unreasonably interrupt State business operations.

b) Contractor will make no changes that would materially alter the functionality of the systems used to provide the Services or materially degrade the performance or SLAs as established of the Services, without first obtaining State approval. In the case of an emergency, and in keeping with State security policies in effect, the Contractor may make temporary changes at any time and without State approval, to the extent such changes are necessary, in the Contractor’s judgment, (i) to maintain the continuity of the Services, (ii) to correct an event or occurrence that would substantially prevent, hinder or delay the operation of State critical business functions; and (iii) to prevent damage to the Contractor’s network. The Contractor will promptly notify the State of all such temporary changes. At the conclusion of the emergency the Contractor will restore any changes to the pre-emergency state, and if the change is deemed necessary for normal operation of the system, a corresponding change request must be initiated for State review and approval. The Contractor must review and perform a root-cause analysis of any deviation from any scheduled or failed changes.

c) Prior to using any software or equipment to provide the Services, Contractor must perform all necessary testing to verify that the item has been properly installed, is operating substantially in conformance to its specifications, and is performing its intended functions in a reliable manner in keeping with the defined Service Levels in effect at the time of the change.

d) Reasonably accommodate the State testing, review and approval processes prior to promoting these Solution components in the production environment.

e) For all Production and Non-Production environments (including environments that support systems development, testing, training, demo, QA and otherwise) monitor those environments, apply patches, and administer the system logs.

f) Upon the creation of any environment for State use, the Contractor must (unless excused in writing by the State) include these environments in regularly scheduled backup, maintenance, update/upgrade, patching, monitoring/reporting functions prior to productive use by the State and until the use of this environment is no longer required by the State.

g) Identify to the State any issues that may adversely impact the State in-scope environment and operational requirements and that require analysis of the technical components of the system, including the applications, databases, ancillary and systems software and hardware.

h) Conduct post-mortem reviews with the State for corrections to performance, functional, integration or technical issues with in-scope environments or operations and incorporate resulting changes into ongoing continuous improvement initiatives.


i) Perform technical activities including but not limited to: system code/object migrations, patch implementations, testing, performance tuning, log administration, data copies and exports, integrations and scheduled reporting/ETLs, and responsibility for issue resolution such that migrations into production will be executed at agreed periodic intervals and other production changes will be scheduled during the maintenance window. The Contractor must follow a mutually agreed, formalized and published methodology for migrations into production.

j) Application and system software/hardware upgrades for in-scope services must not impair the Contractor’s ability to meet the Service Levels.

k) Monitor system use/capacity, forecast capacity and review the State growth plans during quarterly service review meetings, and if requested due to an unforeseen requirement, participate in the required number of ad-hoc reviews coinciding with these new requirements and infrastructure needs to correctly plan for capacity – periodic capacity increases as well as burst requirements.

l) Monitor all third-party software vendors and vendor services for proactive notification of all applicable patches and updates. When new impacting items are released they must be tested by the Contractor in its protected test environments, and jointly scheduled with the State for installation during the next scheduled maintenance window. A priority update window may be required in advance of schedule if a patch or fix is deemed to be critical or security related.

m) Manage the security functions related to the solution including administrative access and passwords and the related security controls to maintain the integrity of the solution, based on the Contractor’s standard security processes.

5.3 Master Release Calendar

The Contractor will develop, and thereafter maintain and publish on a monthly basis a Master Release Calendar that includes a schedule (with dates) of:

Major Scheduled Releases, Upgrades, Updates and Enhancements

Implementation of Minor Enhancements

Scheduled Maintenance Windows and Planned Outages

Infrastructure Related Upgrades, Updates, Patches and Enhancements

Major and Minor Project Key Dates (i.e., Start, SDLC Gate Completion, Production Release, Completion) whether Contractor delivered or otherwise

Major Processing Events such as fiscal year end processing to close out open purchase orders

Audit and SSAE-18 Key Dates

Other pertinent dates that require end-user notification or coordination

5.4 Transition Assistance Services

The Contractor must provide Transition Assistance Services to the State, or at the State’s request to the State’s designee to allow contracted services to continue without interruption or adverse effect and to facilitate the orderly transition to a new service provider.

Transition Assistance Services must commence as follows:

No less than six (6) months prior to expiration of this Contract or on such earlier date as the State may request; or

Upon notice of termination/partial termination; or


Upon notice of non-renewal of this Contract.

For a period of up to three (3) months following the effective date of expiration, termination or non-renewal, at the State’s request, the Contractor will continue to provide Transition Assistance Services.

Upon State request, the Contractor must provide Transition Assistance Services that include, at a minimum:

Provide assistance, cooperation and information as is reasonably necessary to help enable a smooth transition of the applicable Services to the State or its designated service provider.

Provide information as the State may reasonably request relating to the number and function of each of the Contractor personnel performing the Services.

Transfer State-owned data, information, deliverables, work products, documentation, etc.

Identify any dependencies on the new service provider necessary for the Contractor to perform the Transition Assistance Services.

Assist the State in the identification of significant potential risk factors relating to the transition.

Assist the State in designing plans and contingencies to help mitigate identified risks.

Submit a Transition Plan, for approval by the State, which includes a timeline for successfully completing the Transition Assistance Services.

A schedule and plan for Contractor’s return to the State of (i) the State service locations then occupied by Contractor (if any), and (ii) the State Confidential Information, the State Data, documents, records, files, tapes and disks in Contractor’s possession.

The Contractor must provide a single point of contact who will be responsible for Contractor’s overall performance of the Transition Assistance Services.


6. Deliverable SummaryDELIVERABLE 001 DETAILED PROJECT PLAN 24

DELIVERABLE 002 ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT PLAN 24

DELIVERABLE 003 PROJECT KICKOFF AGENDA 24

DELIVERABLE 004 PROJECT KICKOFF PRESENTATION 25

DELIVERABLE 005 PROJECT KICKOFF MEETING 25

DELIVERABLE 006 PROJECT SCOPE DOCUMENT 25

DELIVERABLE 007 USER STORIES/REQUIREMENTS 25

DELIVERABLE 008 FUNCTIONAL DESIGN DOCUMENT 26

DELIVERABLE 009 TECHNICAL DESIGN DOCUMENT 26

DELIVERABLE 010 DEVELOPMENT COMPLETION DOCUMENT FOR STATE APPROVAL THAT REPRESENTS COMPLETION OF THE DEVELOPMENT PHASE AND ALL REQUIREMENTS AND DELIVERY ARTIFACTS AS WELL AS DOCUMENTATION AS REQUIRED IN THIS SUPPLEMENT. 26

DELIVERABLE 011 VERSION CONTROL MANAGEMENT, AN APPROVAL DOCUMENT THAT REPRESENTS THAT VERSION CONTROL MECHANISMS ARE INSTALLED, FUNCTIONAL AND THAT ALL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES (THAT ARE SUBJECT TO VERSION CONTROL) ARE MANAGED BY THE ENVIRONMENT. 26

DELIVERABLE 012 TESTING PLAN 27

DELIVERABLE 013 STATE APPROVAL OF TEST PHASE ACCEPTANCE 27

DELIVERABLE 014 TESTING METHODOLOGY 27

DELIVERABLE 015 TRAINING AND MATERIALS PLAN 27

DELIVERABLE 016 TRAINING MATERIALS 27

DELIVERABLE 017 WEEKLY STATUS REPORTS 28

DELIVERABLE 018 MONTHLY STATUS REPORTS 28

DELIVERABLE 019 QUARTERLY STATUS REPORTS 28

DELIVERABLE 020 DEPLOYMENT AND STABILIZATION SUPPORT PLAN 29

DELIVERABLE 021 STATE APPROVAL FOR PRODUCTION DEPLOYMENT 29

DELIVERABLE 022 STATE APPROVAL FOR COMPLETION OF PRODUCTION DEPLOYMENT 29

DELIVERABLE 023 STATE APPROVAL OF POST-IMPLEMENTATION STABILIZATION 29

DELIVERABLE 024 KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PLAN 29

DELIVERABLE 025 STATE APPROVAL THAT REPRESENTS COMPLETION OF THE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
