Questions to NEORSD Oracle Implementation Services RFP

Transcription

1 1. Oracle 2. Oracle ATTACHMENT F 3. ATTACHMENT F - Functional Requirements.xls 5 Proposal Requirements 4 Scope of Desired Services N/A Should the electronic copy of Response 11 - Documentation Samples be included on the same CD-ROM as the cost section and main proposal files or on a separate CD-ROM? The RFP states: The Respondent shall identify any customizations required to meet the desired functionality described within. These customizations should be listed separately in Attachment F, Functionality Worksheet, and alternatives rather than customization should be proposed, if possible. It is unclear in Attachment F where the customizations should be separately listed. Does the District want the vendor to create a second tab to Attachment F to separately list the identified customizations, and if so, what detail columns should be included? Req. ID # : Order #86 - Does the user want to query Purchase Orders by item master detail specified in Order numbers 87-93? Please clarify? How is this different than performing a PO inquiry from the PO summary form? 11 Documentation Samples should be included on the same CD-ROM as the cost section and main proposal. Where customizations are required to fulfill functional requirements, the Respondent should indicate such by selecting Customization Required in the Action column of the Functionality Requirements Worksheet Attachment F. Of those requirements where customization is necessary, include them separately in section #12 Customizations of the Cost Summary form. The District would like the ability to query an item and have values from number returned. Example, if searching for the item ABC, the District would like to know purchase order along with the description, unit price, unit of measurement, etc. 1

2 4. Attachments E, H, and J N/A Attachment H - Consultant Resume Form and Attachment J - Consultant Resume Worksheet appear to contain the same tables to be completed; however, Attachment J contains language that does not appear to pertain to this project: However, the Respondent should make every practical effort to propose the specific consultants that would be assigned to Englewood assuming an April 1, 2002 project kickoff. Disregard Attachment J. Attachment E Cost Proposal Worksheets #9 Backup & Recovery, #10 Technical Support, and #11 Post Services should reference Attachment H. All reference to Attachment J should be disregarded. Attachment J is also not included as a response section in RFP 5.2 Proposal Response Format. Attachment E - Cost Proposal Worksheets contains a reference to Attachment H on worksheets #2 - Project Management, #3 - Procurement to Payment, #4 - Inventory Management, #5 - Vendor Management, #7 - BPEL Process Manager, and #8 - BPEL Integration. Attachment E - Cost Proposal Worksheets 2

3 contains a reference to Attachment J on worksheets #9 - Backup & Recovery, #10 - Technical Support, and #11 - Post Svcs. 5. Oracle 6. Oracle Table of Contents 4.1 Procurement to Pay Please specify if we are to use Attachment H for all consultant resumes and as the reference in the Cost Worksheet in place of Attachment J. As one would expect, the table of contents contains references pages numbers for the RFP. However, the remainder of the RFP does not have page numbers. For ease of reference, would the District please add page numbers to the main body of the RFP? The District s to be environment requires that account distribution changes made to invoices within Oracle Accounts Payable be accurately recorded on the asset records within the Oracle WAM application. The Respondent should exhibit knowledge in the interactions between the Oracle WAM Application and the Oracle E- Business suite to ensure cost allocation The revised RFP will include page numbers. Work Order costs roll up to assets. 3

4 adjustments are accurately reflected. 7. Oracle 4.1 Procurement to Pay Can this be elaborated by District? Generally speaking, we have seen that WAM doesn t collect costs on assets (that normally would happen in a projects module) WAM typically collects costs per work order. The District will utilize the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes standards. The vendor will be responsible for entering the commodity codes into their vendor profile using the Oracle isupplier module. With this and other information, the Respondent should provide assistance in identifying and setting up standard vendor statistics and performance measures. District uses Oracle Discoverer and Noetix Web Query for reporting. Discoverer is preferred for Finance. However, the goal here is for the District to be able to evaluate supplier performance with the assistance in creating reports using standard vendor performance measures. 8. Oracle 4.1 Procurement Could the District please elaborate on the final sentence? Are you planning to use any Oracle reporting tools such as Business Intelligence or Discoverer in the future? The District desires the ability to capture service The District desires to a begin and end date field entry. It is information that is required for 4

5 9. Oracle 10. Oracle 11. Oracle 12. Oracle to Pay 4.1 Procurement to Pay 4.1 Procurement to Pay 4.1 Procurement to Pay Cost Proposal Worksheets period upon entry of an invoice Please elaborate is this desired to a begin and end date field entry, or just the invoice date itself. What does District do with this information? Is it reported later, or just kept in case questions arise later District desires to import bank reconciliation files to reconcile AP checks. Has the District previously set up any parts of the Cash Management module? Does District utilize Evergreen or any third party formatting tools for AP checks today? Please explain how Oracle is producing AP checks now. Are you using Oracle reports solely? Does District maintain any items that are considered kits or bill of material grouped items, or any parent/child items? Can District please elaborate on what is meant by the tabbed sections 9 and 10? those invoices where there is a period of time the payment represents. Cash Management is fully implemented for both manual and interfaced bank reconciliations. Accounts Payable checks are created in house using XML Publisher (BI Publisher) The District maintains bill of materials in the District s Work Order System, Oracle WAM, and will continue to do. Tab #9 Back up and Recovery and Tab #10 Technical Support was initially designed to capture what is necessary from a disaster recovery and the necessary technical support from the 5

6 13. Oracle 14. Oracle 15. Oracle Procurement to Pay Is the District planning on licensing and using the Sourcing module from Oracle? Some of the functions described in section 4.1 are part of the Sourcing module. Does the District desire to keep the Oracle system basically vanilla, with a preference for standard Oracle capability versus customized, non supported modifications. Does NEORSD plan to use the EBS Supply Chain model after implementing Purchasing and INV? 16. What reporting tools are used today within Oracle? standpoint of BPEL. BPEL is very new to the District and expertise knowledge is necessary to build and complete a knowledge transfer to the District s technical staff. However, it may also need to be considered for this same approach for the application side. This would provide the Respondent the opportunity to provide the information. That was not the plan, however, if the Respondent finds much of the business requirements could be fulfilled with the usage of the Sourcing module, the opportunity exist to outline solution in the proposal. The District has a preference for standard Oracle capability versus customized, non-supported modifications. No, not at this time. Oracle EBS: Noetix EUL installed The District can write reports off on either 10G Discoverer or

7 Noetix Web Query [NWQ] and use a small group of canned Oracle Reports within EBS. WAM Discoverer, in the past have used Oracle Reports, but Discoverer is now preferred 17. Is Discoverer owned and utilized? If so, how many users are licensed and what version of the Discoverer product(s)? Noetix is also mentioned. Is it utilized today? If so, what views have been purchased? Discoverer is preferred for Finance. Yes, 10G [ ] for both EBS and WAM, Noetix is also utilized for EBS only. Purchased AP/GL/HR/BEN views from Noetix 18. Is a fax server currently owned by NEORD and is it hooked up to the Oracle EBS system currently for faxing other documents (e.g., AR Invoices)? 19. Does NEORD currently utilize workflow within the application and/or notifications or approval workflows (e.g., GL approvals or AP approvals)? 20. Was the PO Contracts module evaluated? Yes 7 No approval workflows are used currently. However, workflow is currently being utilized within Oracle WAM. It should be noted, however the notification processed was recently disable due to technical difficulties.

8 21. Was the Services Procurement module evaluated? No 22. The last bullet on page 24 that continues onto page 25 appears to have text cut-off at the end. 23. The RFP mentions "Accounts Payable needs templates for normal repetitive entry such as utility bills. These templates should default descriptions, vendor name and address and account/project coding." - are recurring invoices utilized in AP today? 24. Oracle The RFP mentions "The District needs to process Accounts Payable payments through Automated Clearinghouse (ACH). It also needs to generate a positive pay file to send to its bank. The District receives a.txt file from its bank of all checks that have cleared. The District would like to load this file into the system so that it can automatically reconcile its outstanding checks." - (1) ACH and other electronic forms of payment not made out of AP today? (2) The positive pay functionality is not utilized in AP? (3) How is the Cash Mgmt module utilized today? Are bank statements manually entered versus electronic interfacing? 8 Which area are referencing. We weren t able to identify directly. No, invoices are currently entered into WAM and interfaced to Oracle for payment. 1. No, electronic payments are made through Oracle, just recorded in Oracle. 2. Positive Pay is being implemented currently 3. Cash Management is fully implemented for both manual and interfaced bank reconciliations.

9 25. Oracle 9 The RFP mentions "The District would like to be able to print Accounts Payable checks from plain paper with a MICR printer for all three bank accounts." - Today, are checks printed on preprinted and pre-numbered stock? 26. Are the 3 bank accounts that are referred to in the RFP all with the same bank? National City/PNC? 27. Has upgrading to R12 been evaluated? Is there an aversion to upgrading as part of this project? 30. Oracle 28. How is 1099 reporting handled today? Is any of the functionality within Oracle AP around 1099s utilized? 29. The RFP requests 60 days of post production support. Are you requesting a full time resource be dedicated or that support be provided asneeded? Due to requirements laid out in the RFP, we assume it is necessary to also maintain vendor records in WAM moving forward? Therefore, Oracle will be the vendor master with an interface to WAM to keep WAM up to date with new vendors and/or changes? Or will WAM be the Checks are printed on preprinted and prenumbered stock. Checks are printed out of one Controlled Disbursement account at Key Bank. The District upgraded the Oracle application to version less than 6 months ago. There is no plan to upgrade to R12 for at least another year. Yes, the District currently run the 1099 s out of Oracle Accounts Payable. In addition, non-oracle supported 1099 types are manually generated. The District is requesting a resource to be available as needed. Oracle will be the Vendor Master.

10 10 vendor master? 31. Does NEORD utilize the UPK production for documentation and training? If not, are any products or software packages used today for this purpose? 32. Do you have up to date configuration and setup documents on the existing Oracle modules in use today? 33. Is formal class room training for the end users desired to be administered by the respondent along with training materials and user guides or is a train the trainer approach desired? 34. Are any aspects of the SOA/BPEL platform and components installed and/or in use today? 35. Was Attachment J in the zip file provided in error? Are the requirements listed there all geared Vendor toward the use of the isupplier module? Management 37. What is the estimated volume of WAM Inventory Details (e.g., Items) to be converted? The District does not utilize UPK for documentation and training. However, the District did acquire the older version, Tutor, which has limited usage. Yes The District is interested in the most cost effective model while still maintaining a thorough training exercise for all core members. It should be noted, however, the train-the-trainer approach has been successfully utilized previously. None of the SOA/BPEL platform is utilized today. Yes, disregard Attachment J Yes 1. WAM Catalog: 30,000 records, 26,000 actives 2. WAM Storeroom: 40,500 records, 34,250

11 actives 38. Is it possible to have routine clones throughout the project at key milestones? E.g., pre-crp configuration and pre-uat configuration 39. Are there peak or heavy periods of Financial or operational activities that could impact the project? 40. What level of resourcing (super users and SMEs) will be provided on the Functional side of the project from NEORD? On the technical side? 41. Will NEORD own the DBA work or does the respondent need to provide DBA assistance as part of the implementation efforts? E.g., patching 24,266 part numbers or 34,165 SKU s Yes Nothing significant outside of annual audit season (March-April) which should not have an impact to the Oracle. The District will allocate four (4) functional Core Team members that consist of two purchasing resources, one inventory resource and one application analyst. In addition, two technical resources are included as dba and Programmer/Developer. Finally, a total of two SMEs will be added when necessary. This role should not be expected to participate at 100% such as the Core Team. NEORSD will own the dba tasks 11

12 42. Are Expenses to be included in the fixed fee bid or billed separately as incurred? Travel and expenses are billed separately along with applicable receipts. Reimbursement for lodging and meal expenses shall not exceed the maximum per diem rates in effect at the time of travel as prescribed for the Cleveland, OH locality as set forth in 48 CFR Part The current prescribed per diem maximums are $109.00, not including taxes, for lodging and $56.00 for meals and incidental expenses. Mileage charges, when authorized, shall be at the current corporate rate but in no event to exceed the amount set forth by the IRS, currently at forty-four and one-half cents ($0.55) per mile. The charge for any rental car shall be at the lowest available rental price exclusive of all incidental charges including gasoline and shall be subject to the prior approval of NEORSD. Air travel by common carrier shall be reimbursed in an amount limited to the actual cost of a coach or economy class ticket, except if no such ticket is available and the travel is necessary, then at the actual cost of the available ticket. 12

13 43. What was the reason or rational behind the expectation of a 3 month implementation? 44. Do we have a firm business driver for a go live date? 45. From the core team members noted in the RFP, what amount of time will they dedicate to the project? 46. Should it be expected that a training instance would be available? 47. Will the District provide e-business Suite dba function? 48. On Attachment F Functional Requirements, what are the indicators C, MS, and M mean? From the advice received, it was only an estimate that the implementation would take approximately 3-4 months. If the Respondents experience has shown a longer process, it should be outlined in the project schedule to be provided. None at this time. Of the core team members noted, 100% of their time should be expected to participate in the project. However, it should be noted that other subject matter experts will be participants only as needed. Currently the District has two separate instances from the production environment. The two instances are development and train. The training environment would be of the most current version necessary. Yes, however, there may be a need for assistance from the Respondent s support team. Disregard 13

14 49. Is iprocurement in scope at this time? No 50. If the Respondent feels iprocurement would be a No better fit for the requirements of the District, would it prevent from making suggestions? 51. Is the District licensed for iprocurement? No. Software licensing would need to be made with the selected solution 52. Can 1099 consultants be considered as subconsultants? 53. What is the District s calendar and fiscal year? January 1 through December 31. The District does not have a formal shut-down during the holiday period of Christmas and New Year. 54. Will the consultant be required to stay onsite? The Respondents are to provide the most cost effective solution to the District. If the consultant is able to complete their assignments remotely, it would be necessary to show the approach to be taken within the proposal, and demonstrate how this approach would not hinder the success of the project. 55. Was backup and recovery for BPEL and SOA? Yes, we have Compellent SAN which should make the backup easier. 14

15 56. Attachment E has a column for Validation Testing, describe the District s view. 57. How many suppliers will be converted? 5,000-10, Of the selected vendor, will the identified resources need to be onsite to complete the interviewing process? 15 The validation testing would be completed by the District to ensure what was expected is what is actually received. The District will determine and signoff on all validation testing. 58. Will Core team members be responsible for Yes training other end users? 59. Will the Core team produce end-user documents? No, The Core team will provide input to the documents but the consulting team will be responsible for creating and building of all project documentation. 60. Does the District use seeded reports? The District utilizes some by not much of the seeded reports provided by Oracle. 61. Can there be an extension for the RFP due date? Taking the consideration of Oracle Open World, the District will allow for Respondents to provide proposals no later than 4:30pm, Friday, October 16, With this change, the project kickoff / implementation schedule has also changed to November 30, The District would prefer to conduct on-site interviews; however phone interviews can be arranged.

16 63. Of the 3-5 finalists, can the Respondent request an interview time slot? 64. The District will arrange blocks of time for the Respondents to select from; first-come, first served. Due to the consideration to change the due date of the proposals, the Finalists need to be prepared to meet with the District the sometime during 10/26 10/28. 16