CRM Addendum Responses to QuestionsRFT 2017/18 003

This document sets out the responses to questions received from prospective tenderers to the Australia Council for the Arts.

Question 1:

Question: In terms of contracting, what contract structure is the Australian Council for the Arts planning to implement? Specifically, is it expected that two contracts will be struck, one with the software vendor, and then another with the implementation service provider?

Response:In terms of contractual arrangements AC expects to enter into direct service agreements with Microsoft or Salesforce for use of the service as part of the ultimate contractual arrangements.

Question 2:

Question: In schedule 2 and 3, are you able to give examples of the types of service management requests and incidents that maybe raised? This will help understand the type of support you will need.

Response:Australia Council is issuing a separate RFT for Infrastructure as a Service and centralised support services. The CRM Tenderer is expected to work in conjunction with this primary service desk to help resolve any issues related to the CRM system, including online services that the primary service desk cannot resolve, and has determined relate directly to an issue with the CRM service. Accordingly a formal Service Management process and system for managing and resolving service requests is expected.

In terms of the online grants function a direct service for customers to be able to access for assistance is preferred. Currently applicants contact Australia Council for assistance.

Question 3

Question: In terms of final users, is it expected that there will be 100 users internally (50 core users and 50 business users)

Response: Yes this is the total number of internal users.

Question 4

Question: For external users, and the specific modules listed in section b, 7.1, is it expected that the external users will have access to the same full functionality for each respective module that the core and business users have?

Response:In terms of external CRM usage, external users must be able to:

  • Register and maintain their own details including banking details for applicants
  • Lodge and review applications and acquittals
  • Purchase event tickets and pay for donations
  • Participate in any of the defined “Community Hubs” as set out in the specification

Council expects large organisations will be able to manage their own users and so licence arrangement based on login numbers or the like is preferred, as associating specific licences to external users will not be practical

Question 5

Question: Row 15 in the migration requirements tab states that“Migration and go live is expected to occur in April through July 2018 and will require the migration of a variety of client data sources including grant recipients, peers and donors.” Can we get an indication in terms of number of data sources, formats (e.g. SQL), and size (record count and GB’s) please?

Response:Australia Council data sources include an Oracle Data base that holds historical grants data records since 1985, donor records that are currently held in the eTapestry system where data can be extracted in a csv form and other various spreadsheets that contain contact information.

All of these sources except for the grant records are low volume. For estimate purposes 100,000 grant records and 100,000 contacts will be migrated and 200 Gb of grant data.

Question 6

Question: Part B - P76. Table lists the number of users for each module. Please confirm the role of the business users and how their use will differ from internal users

Response:The business users are expected to have restricted access to functions for example be able to view rather than full create, update, delete capability. This split is intended to provide a more cost-effective licencing option for occasional users of the CRM.

Question 7

Question:Part B - P76.Tablelists the number of users for each module. Please confirm if these users are mutually exclusive or if they represent the total for each module. If not mutually exclusive please provide the numbers for the cross use of each module.

Response: they are the total for each module, but are not mutually exclusive. The total number of internal users is 100.

Question 8

Question: Part B requirements refer to different rounds of assessments with workflow to route assessments to individuals and assessment teams. Are there any process maps that outline the detailed assessment processes currently taking place? eg (Gen4, Gen21)

Response: The proposed solution must be configurable to handle varying assessment processes and the configuration of these should be allowable as part of detailed design.

The grants funding process is documented via

Four year funded applications are an example of this process. Here is the explanation from the web site.

See the Grants section of the web site for details on:

  • Eligibility checks
  • How to apply
  • Assessment processes
  • Peer assessor role and nominations
  • Grant acquittals.

Question 9

Question: Migration Requirements refer to a number of data sources that need to be migrated. What are the number of Applicants, Applications, Grants, Payments, Donors and Transactions that need to be migrated?

Response:

See answer to question 5 above. Peer assessor details are explained here

Question 10

Question: MAC 2 - Refers to approximately 37M outbound emails p.a. Please re-confirm this number. Possibly our understanding of this might be unclear.

Response: AC current sends between 170 – 200 unique emails a year to approximately 185,000 recipients. Total number of emails is 185,000

Question 11

Question: MAC 9.5 - Refers to Web-basedpersonalisation - What are the requirements of the CRM/Grant management solution for this requirement?

Response:

This is a future requirement where campaigns use specific contact attributes and contact history to tailor messages to specific interests.

Question 12

Question: GAS 1 - What is peer recruitment? What are the system requirements for this?

Response:

Please see answer to Question 8 above. “Nomination” and “recruitment” are synonymous.

Question 13

Question: GAS 2 -What is the relationship between peer assessment meetings, fees and contracts (from a system point of view)?

Response:

Please see answer to Question 8 above. Contract is used to agree assessor fees prior to their participation in an evaluation round.

Question 14

Question: GINT1 - What are the detailed requirements of a split grant?

Response:

Ability to split and track applications/grants by different stages of the grants cycle – application, assessment, approval, monitoring and acquittal.

Question 15

Question: GROE 1 - Please provide more detail or examples of what this requirement means

Response:

Please see answer to Question 8 above. AC has a range of grant and other opportunities that applicants can apply or register an expression of interest for. These can be for funding or for participation in AC program. AC also makes awards. System must be configurable to handle the wide range of application and recipient types.

Question 16

Question: GROE 8 - Are progress reports linked to payment milestones?Can you provide examples of the fields required for a progress report?

Response:

Please see answer to Question 8 above. See successful applicants for acquittal details that vary based on the type and timing of grants.

Question 17

Question: GBUD4 - Please provide details of what is required by the system for 'what if' budget planning

Response:

AC needs the ability to model the reallocation of funds between artistic disciplines to assess the impacts of revised allocations on the number, type and possible outcome of grants. Impacts include the number and value of grants funded across each artform panel, or by artform practice, or by state and territory (location of applicant or location of proposed activity), or by particular target groups under the AC’s cultural engagement framework (e.g., Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Young People, Disability, etc.) This is part of the final recommendation process.

Question 18

Question: GBUD8 -Please provide details of what is required by the system for this budget estimation

Response:

Multi-year grants are subject to CPI adjustments in forward years

Question19

Question: GBUD11 -Please provide details of what is required by the system, for representing multi-year budgeting

Response:

Please see question 8 above. See Multi year funded organisations details as an example.

Question 20

Question: CH 1.2 - What numbers ofState and Industry users are expected to access the system? The user number in 7.1 of Part B refer to 1,000 but this will also include other community hub users

Response:

Please see the total number of external users. It is for tenderers to determine if community hub licences are separate to grant applicants. Community hub users will include state and industry representatives,

Question 21

Question: Approximately how many contact spreadsheets do you believe will need to be migrated into CRM? What is the expected total volume of contacts to load across all spreadsheets?

Response:

Please see Question 5 above. These are low volume and will be cleaned up by AC prior to migration

Question 22

Question: Approximately how many Organisation/Group/Partner spreadsheets do you believe will need to be migrated into CRM? What is the expected total volume of Organisation/Group/Partner to load across all spreadsheets?

Response:

Please see Question 5 above. These are low volume and will be cleaned up by AC prior to migration

Question 23

Question: Does AC currently have an engagement, stakeholder, content, web, or UX strategy that CRM should adhere/feed into?

Response:

Please see requirements for Stakeholder Engagement in section 3.3.

Question 24

Question: Referring to 3.7 & 3.8: Does AC currently have a mobile engagement strategy? (3.7- reference to Events mobile App, 3.8- Reference to grant applicant mobile updates)

Response:

AC currently uses a range of mobile event applications depending on the event type and marketing tools but these are not integrated or part of the required CRM based solution

Question 25

Question: Could you provide a list of organisational and technology efforts that will be taking place in parallel to the CRM project?

Response:

Please see system overview in Section 2.2. All systems except HR are being migrated to cloud based services.

Question 26

Question: Referring to 2.3: Could you provide some examples of rule based eligibility checks as mentioned in Section 2.3?

Response:

Please see question 8 above. Eligibility checks is an example that can be reviewed on line on the Australia Council website.

Question 27

Question: "GEN 19: Vendor to support grant applicants directly 24 x7 during grant rounds": Is this intended as both functional and technical support?

Response:

Yes both.

Question 28

Question: Could you provide a list of payment transaction types the system is expected to directly support?

Response:

Please see question 8 above.

Question29

Question: Referring to 2.5: Could you tell us more about how the Council currently uses Alteryx and how they intend to use it in the future?

Response:

Alteryx is used for data extract, transformation and will be used for analytics.

Question30

Question: Referring to 3.6: You mention AC sends between 170-200 unique emails a year to approximately 185,000 recipients. How many individual emails does that mean per year? (This will influence your email volume pricing)

Response:

Please see response to Question 10 above

Question 31

Question: Referring to 3.7: EM 2.3 "Manage logistics, room bookings": Could you provide an overview of how you currently manage event logistics and room bookings?

Response:

AC uses cloud based event apps for this purpose.

Question 33
Question: Referring to 3.7: You mention "manage event coordinators and presenters, including travel, bios, presentations, payment through integration with other CRM functions and other business systems" what are the other business systems currently handling this function? At which of the recommended implementation stages do these systems needing to be integrated?

Response:

Tenderer to determine timing based on suggested applications. This is seen as an example separate app to the core functionality, compared to actual course delivery.

Question34
Question: Referring to 3.8: "Grants and Other applications cover a wide range of application types including course applications and peer nominations, many of which do not involve payments, but attendance at courses and the like." Could you provide a stock take of application types (or at least a rough number of application types that are significantly different)?

Response:

Please see question 8 above.

Question 35

Question: Referring to 3.8: GAW-4: Could you provide a list of types and number of contracts the AC issues per year?

Response:

Please see question 8 above.

Question 36

Question: Referring to 3.8: GAW-4: How are contracts currently accepted and/or signed by recipients? Do you require an e-signature functionality?

Response:

Acceptance is currently electronic based on register login and check box acceptance. Digital signatures are not required.

Question37

Question: Could you provide the schema of the original Dynamics instance?

Response:

Not available

Question38

Question: Referring to 3.8: Could you provide a sample of common decision rules applied to applications based on type of application?

Response:

Please see question 8 above.

Question39

Question: Referring to 7.1: Could you provide the minimum and maximum internal and external estimated user base given the delivery of the full set of requirements? (Noting the numbers provided in section 7.1)

Response:

Pricing should be based on total number per Section 7.1

Question40

Question: We understand via the AC website that Great Plains is the current financial system being used. What version and/or add-ons are currently being used? Is this the system to be used in the future?

Response:

Separate RFT has been issued for Financials and to be evaluated in parallel with CRM tender.

Question 41

Question: Does the financial system or any extension thereof have a standard API that can be used for integration?

Response:

See question 40 above

Question 42

Question: Referring to 3.8: "The module must also allow multiple fund sources to be applied to a specific application, recording this allocationfor later account integration at time of payment (the current system requires two separate line items to support this – which must be avoided)." How many fund sources are applied to applications? What are they? Do they differ by application type?

Response:

Two only per application.This is an exceptional occurrence where the funding for the grant comes from two separate funding pools in Council. An example of this is where we have directed funding from the Australian Government for a particular initiative that is applied to supplement funding from our normal funding program within the one grant. So for a $10K grant there may be $5K from directed funding and $5K from our discretionary funding program. It is important that we can track both sources of funding for reporting in commitments and expenditure, but that for the grant recipient it appears as only one grant from the Australia Council.

Question43

Question: Referring to 3.8: You've outlined 18 grant categories on your website and the following application types in the RFT:
GO 1.1 • Current Council grant rounds M
GO 1.2 • Ad hoc EOI applications M
GO 1.3 • EOIs and other applications supporting strategic programs delivered by Capacity Building and International teams) M
GO 1.4 • $0 Other Proposals and EIOs. M
GO 1.5 • Peer recruitment M
GO 1.6 • External awards and fellowships M
GO 1.7 • Nominations for courses M
Could you describe how these relate to oneanother (if at all)?

Response:

Peer recruitment is not a grant. These are separate and managed by different sections of the organisation based on the relevant program. Generally speaking the programs do not relate to one another – however the AC needs to be able to cross check which clients are applying to different categories and opportunities across the organisation.

Question44

Question: Referring to 3.8: What is your current learning management system?

Response:

None. This is expected to be an add on function. Microsoft Teams is to be trialled for sharing course materials.

Question45

Question: Referring to 3.8: How many training courses are offered per year? What are typical enrolment volumes? Is this expected to increase significantly over time?

Response:

Please see question 8 above. Volumes are relatively low.

Question 46

Question: Referring to 3.8: What information is tracked for learning offerings? E.g. assessments, learning outcomes, learning pathways, etc.

Response:

See question 45.

Question47

Question: How does the Australia Council for the Arts currently engage in microfinance activities and how does it see itself facilitating this in the future?

Response:

This is planned for the future

Question48

Question: Referring to 3.8: For the Stage 3 implementation, is the expectation that all application types will be available by the start of the target date range (e.g. by mid-April), or will application types be progressively rolled out over the whole timeframe? If gradual, what application types need to be delivered by what dates for the trial to run as expected?

Response:

Progressive with low volume grants and other applications done first.

Question 49

Question: Is there a requirement to maintain eTapestry for donation management?

Response:

The CRM is to replace this function by providing donations and fundraising functionality.

Question 50

Question: Referring to 3.2: GAOC 15: Does this requirement refer to searching ACNCs register, or checking against a file extract hosted by AC of A?

Response:

Check the register in real time.

Question 51

Question: Referring to 3.2: GEM 7: Can you elaborate further on "Outbound Email Method"? Is this a function a user should be able to execute or a general requirement of the CRM?

Response:

Users should be able to generate outbound emails directly from the CRM/ Grant and Application Management system without having to access MS Outlook.

Question 52

Question: Referring to 3.2: GEM 10: Is there a specific file format these emails need to be captured in?

Response:

Msg format is acceptable.

Question 53

Question: Referring to 3.2: GEM 10: Does this apply to emails sent to or received from contacts?

Response:

Currently emails are saved to TRIM as records. AC is implementing SharePoint Online as a compliant information management platform but CRM can be used as a record keeping systems based on ISO 16175 Part 3. Tenderer needs to ensure that grant emails are saved inmanner that meets record keeping standards such as ISO 16175.