REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. # for Decision Support and Performance Management System

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1 PURCHASING DEPARTMENT 6330 W. THUNDERBIRD ROAD GLENDALE, ARIZONA REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ISSUED: October 9, 2014 RFI NO. DUE DATE & TIME: # for Decision Support and Performance Management System October 31, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. OPENING LOCATION: Peoria Unified School District #11 District Administrative Center Purchasing Department 6330 West Thunderbird Road Glendale, AZ In accordance with School District Procurement Rules in the Arizona Administrative Code (A.A.C.) promulgated by the State Board of Education pursuant to A.R.S , Information for the material or services specified will be received by the Peoria Unified School District #11, at the above specified location, until the time and date cited. If you need directions to our office, please call (623) Information shall be in the actual possession of the District, at the location indicated, on or prior to the exact time and date indicated above. Late responses shall not be considered. The official time will be determined by the clock designated by the school district. Information may be hand delivered, faxed, ed or mailed. All responses must be written legibly in ink or typewritten. Additional instructions for preparing a response are provided herein. RESPONDERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO CAREFULLY READ THE ENTIRE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. All questions regarding this Request for Information Anita McLemore, Director of Procurement should be directed to: Phone (623) Fax (623) amclemore@peoriaud.k12.az.us Anita McLemore, C.P.M. Director of Procurement & Distribution Page 1

2 RFI # SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS 1. Purpose PUSD has a Decision Support System (DSS) in place that has been operational and in use for over 12 years. The application has served the district well but has come to the end of its capability with more demands for tiered analysis. DSS Next Generation is serving as the name for the potential replacement of the current system. The overall intent for DSS Next Generation is to provide transparency and accountability for academic achievement and related interventions and support services for students throughout the district. To that end, DSS NEXT GENERATION must enable the setting of achievement at an individual student level and provide the ability to track progress of students toward meeting those expectations. DSS NEXT GENERATION must also provide direct support for the identification of students at risk and the tracking of interventions taken to address those students needs. The District is comprised of 7 high schools, 1 alternative high school and 34 elementary schools, serving approximately 37,000 students. PUSD has approximately 2000 teachers and close to 4000 employees. 2. Questions about the RFI Process Questions regarding the RFI process should be submitted in writing to Anita McLemore, Director of Procurement & Distribution Services, at the following (preferred method) amclemore@peoriaud.k12.az.us. All questions should be submitted no later than 7 days prior to the specified closing time and date. 3. Notice A. In accordance with the Arizona Administrative Code, R (B), responses to a request for information are not offers and cannot be accepted to form a binding contract. B. Information supplied in the response to this Request for Information shall be withheld from public inspection until after a subsequent procurement award is made or the procurement is terminated. C. The District shall not be liable for any cost incurred by a person or firm responding to this RFI. 4. Response Formats The Request for Information response shall include at a minimum the following information: Title Page Please include a title page that identifies the RFI number and the subject; the Bidder s name, address and telephone number; the name and title of the contact person. Tab 1 Tab 2 Overview of Company Provide a general overview of the firm, including location, history, size, number of staff members by level, staff turnover rate in the last two years and range of activities performed. Provide 3-5 references (Arizona School District s preferred) of similar size/scope to this project (30,000 students or higher). Include any other accomplishments relative to this solicitation. User Functionality and Access Describe how you characterize the proposed solution, e.g., a Decision Support, Performance Management, Analytics & Reporting, etc. Describe a typical district s main targets of the system are, e.g., academics, achievement, operational efficiency, etc. Describe the primary users of the proposed solution in a typical large District Page 2

3 RFI # SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS Describe the proposed solutions data loading/extracting, transformation and load (ETL) process, including the ETL process and technology and what types of systems and data are typically included in projects Describe how a typical district user will interact with proposed solution (IT Analyst, District Administrator, School Administrator, Teacher, District Wide Curriculum Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and Grade Level PLC) Describe the benefits district users will realize by using the proposed solution Describe how the proposed solution provides a self-service model to the user community Provide recommended strategies to assure proposed solution is embraced by district users Describe the proposed solutions data model/architecture, including if the data model is fixed or can the District add District specific fields and/or tables, is there a limit to the number of user defined fields and/or tables that can be added during the initial implementation, and what process will the District use to add an additional field/table in the future. Describe how information can be tracked in the proposed solution by detail level, i.e., individual student performance on specific objectives, class level, grade level, school, district grade level and district level Describe the proposed solutions reporting/visualization tools, providing samples of out of box report and dashboards the proposed solution can produce, if a 3rd party reporting tool is utilized, how will the district insure that it is using the latest version, how the District can create its own reports and dashboard, what skills are required to create such reports/dashboards and will training be provided to develop these skills. Describe the proposed solutions scalability for a district the size of Peoria Unified School District for Web Server(s), Application Server(s), Database Server(s), Loadbalancer(s), Server Virtualization Options and Vendor Hosting vs. District Hosting Options Describe how the proposed solution will interact with other applications. Describe the proposed solutions ongoing enhancement model and approach Tab 3 Tab 4 Recommended Support Solutions Describe the proposed solutions implementation approach; including typical project phases and tasks, typical project duration by major task area, typical vendor team organization, roles and responsibilities, amount of time team spends on site during implantation and possible risks as well as suggestions on how to mitigate these risks. Describe the proposed solutions training model and include duration of training classes for Technical Training, Power User Training, Casual User Training and Other (effective use of the data in a K-12 environment and teacher utilization to improve student performance) Describe the proposed solutions availability of vendor-created online training modules Provide a list of documentation and training materials provided under the proposed solution Describe the anticipated role and participation of district staff/resources in implementation for the Project Manager (FTE %), Technical/DBA (FTE %), Business/SME (FTE %) and End User/Stakeholder (FTE %) Describe the proposed solutions typical operating model at a client site, including FTE s, role, etc. Describe the proposed solutions vendor based support model Response to Specifications/Scope of Work Describe how proposed solution meets outlined specifications and desired usability features Page 3

4 Specifications/Scope of Work PEORIA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT #11 RFI # SPECIFICATIONS/SCOPE OF WORK Peoria Unified School District is researching information on commercial solutions that aggregate and integrate source data systems, and generate dashboards and analytical reports using the information required for DSS NEXT GENERATION. The District is evaluating possible data warehouse and business intelligence solutions which will allow users within the District to intuitively, quickly, and flexibly manipulate data using familiar terms, in order to provide analytical insight and decision support. Peoria Unified School District requires a central repository of information that is created by integrating data from our disparate sources of operational and transactional data. The system will: store current as well as historical data; be used for reporting outcomes, both at the detailed level of individual student, teacher, and program, and at the aggregate level of school and district (to include grade level specificity); measure student, teacher, program, school and district performance (to include grade level specificity) including the effectiveness of interventions on student outcomes; have the ability to determine cause and effect relationships; assist in determining if the District is achieving its goals to enhance the educational opportunities of students. Benefits expected from such a solution include: Aggregates and integrates data from multiple sources into a single data model and storage system so a single query engine can be used to access and present all needed data. Maintains data history, even if the source transaction systems do not. Integrates data from multiple source systems, enabling a central view across the district. Improves data quality by providing consistent codes and descriptions, flagging or even fixing bad data. Stores and presents the organization's information consistently. Provides a single common data model for all data of interest regardless of the data's source. The data model explicitly captures key relationships and performance indicators that serve to connect across source system boundaries. Restructures the data so that it makes sense to users at different levels. Stores the data so that it delivers excellent query performance, even for complex analytic queries, without impacting the operational systems. Provides a loosely coupled integration model that allows the District to replace aging transactional systems in a controlled and less disruptive manner. Enables easy and secure access to district data by parents, the public and state agencies. As a large urban school district, Peoria Unified School District has a number of existing systems that collect and maintain source data that are relevant to DSS NEXT GENERATION requirements. The DSS NEXT GENERATION solution has to provide a comprehensive framework to integrate source and transaction systems data. This includes data that is hosted by other vendors. Some of our major systems are below and others are in the accompanying table. Student Information System: The District uses Edupoint s Synergy Student Information System and Synergy Gradebook. Enterprise Resource Planning: The District currently uses T y l e r Munis, but is in the process of converting to Tyler Infinite Visions for our business and human resource demands. Assessment System: In addition to the State summative assessment, currently AIMS for high school cohort 2015 and 2016, which will be replaced by a different assessment in the school year, the District uses Moodle for a district-wide assessment system coupled with paper and pencil scanning capabilities. Our district assessments are scored using item response theory and basic statistics. These are used for benchmark and growth assessments. Page 4

5 RFI # SPECIFICATIONS/SCOPE OF WORK Learning Management: The District does not yet have a comprehensive Learning Management System. Over recent years, schools have independently licensed a wide variety of software applications to address instructional and intervention needs. Some of these include Study Island, Read 180, and others. We do plan on possibly adding other online resources and need flexibility and compatibility with varying systems. Statistical Reporting: The District maintains an internally developed reporting system (PUSD D S S ) that addresses a wide range of student information demographics, site and program enrollment, AIMS test results, State-assigned school and district letter grades, etc. The system has a browser interface and produces reports from an integrated relational database containing extracts from source systems and State provided data. PUSD has a Research Department that produces additional statistical analysis that can possibly be replaced by a more robust system than that which current exist. Page 5