RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS AND REQUESTS FOR CLARIFICATION Updated 7/1/15 (Question 53 and 54) COLORADO HOUSING AND FINANCE AUTHORITY 1981 BLAKE STREET DENVER, CO 80202 REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL Intranet Replacement To facilitate a transparent and thorough RFP process, CHFA is responding to the following questions and/or requests for clarification, which have been submitted by one or more potential responders in response to CHFA s posted RFP. 1. Hardware a. Does CHFA have full access (permissions) to all the hardware/software resources? i. Yes b. Is the current server virtualized or on hardware? i. Yes - Virtualized c. Does CHFA own the hardware to support the SharePoint 2013 build out to specifications outlined? i. Yes d. Will the SP2013 production and development sites match specifications / configurations? i. Yes - mostly 2. Software a. Does CHFA already own a SharePoint backup tool that will work for the SP2013 environment? i. Yes - CommVault b. Does CHFA have preferred/premiere software vendors for SharePoint tools? i. No c. Is CHFA using Active Directory as their directory services? Federated with Azure and on-premise. d. Is CHFA using Exchange on-premises for email functionality? Currently on premise. Moving to Office 365 Exchange on-line e. Would the requirement be that the vendor be responsible for installing and implementing the Server level OS? i. CHFA would install any OS on our servers. f. Are there current Information Assurance requirements for installations above best practices? (i.e. STIG) i. No We currently do not have requirements for IA. ii. Would the vendor be responsible for IA scans and resolutions?
1. Not at this time. g. What version on Hyland OnBase does CHFA own? i. 14.0.0.10 h. Do you own any of the OnBase / SharePoint modules? i. Not yet. 3. Migration a. How many site collections? i. One Master Site Collection b. Subsites? i. 100-300 estimate c. Does CHFA have a document count? d. Does CHFA plan on migrating all the data form the MOSS site to the 2013 site? We plan on disposal and archival of data. e. Would CHFA be open to recommendations of purging stale content? f. Will both environments be within in the same domain? i. Yes g. What type of content existing in the MOSS sites? Office Documents, PDF, video files, Pictures, etc.? Office documents, PDF s, InfoPath forms, Sharepoint forms, News Feeds, pictures, a handful of videos. h. What type of workflows are being used? How many are there? i. Not many workflows used. 2-3? More are custom InfoPath forms. i. Are there any 3rd party products installed? j. Is there any custom code in the MOSS site? k. If yes, is there a requirement to migrate and upgrade solutions? i. n/a l. Is an SSL currently implemented on the current web applications? m. Is there a requirements for using SSL on the new environment? 4. Design a. How many departments would be participating in designing and planning of the site? i. 2-3 on core team. 10-12 departments would provide input to core team. b. Does the design have responsive or mobile requirements that are known? We would like the design to be responsive. c. Does CHFA have a current governance plan? i. There is not an official governance plan yet there is some structure and order to current site.
d. Is there a requirement to design and create a governance plan for the new environment? e. Has CHFA starting any documentation on Information Architecture and Management? f. Has CHFA done any branding design drafts? g. Is the requirement to recommend, plan, implement, and test disaster recovery/ business continuity in addition to the requirement of High Availability? (i.e. backup/restore strategy) h. Is there a requirement to have this system integrate with your loan origination package? i. Will the forms be available for the general public to download or fill-in online? i. This is an intranet so it will not be available to the general public. We would like to have consistency in forms used internally for staff purposes. j. We understand the importance of protecting personally identifiable information (PII). Is CHFA interested in leveraging a 3 rd party solution to prevent this information from being uploaded in the wrong areas? We are definitely interested in preventing this from occurring. 5. Requirements a. What type of SharePoint forms are required? i. We use both Sharepoint and InfoPath forms today. b. Please provide more details on custom InfoPath Forms that exist. i. 5-10 custom InfoPath forms. They are used internally for various business purposes. For example, we have a form that tracks employee wellness activities by month. It is fairly complex. We have another form that tracks complaints. We have other forms that collect data from a business unit and the data is used in reporting. Forms were built by CHFA staff developers c. Are there any other type of forms that will require to be converted? i. Sharepoint forms (10) d. What type and how many reports does CHFA plan on needing? i. Standard site analytics e. Does CHFA have any developed Taxonomy plan? 6. Logistics a. Does CHFA offer the possibility of some of the work to be performed offsite? b. Does this Bid include taking down the MOSS site? 7. What is the size and structure of the content in the current (SharePoint 2007) environment: content database size, approximate number of sites/site collections?
a. 15 GB, One site collection 8. How customized the current implementation is: design, functionality, third party components, customs solutions or webparts, forms etc.? a. There is very little customization. Vast majority is out of the box. 9. Any requirements regarding high-availability/redundancy for the new SharePoint farm? Basic system availability. 10. Any scenarios when you exchange information with external parties (that can be potentially carried by Office 365)? a. Yes. Board members, other parties interested in particular transactions / departments within CHFA. 11. Which version of Hyland OnBase are you using, and what do you use for the integration now (redirect URL to their ActiveX component perhaps)? a. 14.0.0.10 no current integration with OnBase at this time. 12. Could you provide the vendors with a more detailed overview of the current SharePoint 2007 intranet? a. Content? i. Office documents, PDF s, InfoPath forms, Sharepoint forms, News Feeds, pictures, a handful of videos. b. Users? i. Est. 165 c. Server Architecture? i. See below. (One front end server (2003 R2), one back end server (SQL 2008 R2)) d. 3 rd party tools? i. None e. Custom code i. None. f. Use of metadata i. None currently. Want to use in future. g. # of workflows i. 2-3 h. # site collections/sites i. One site collection 13. Could you provide the vendors with a more detailed overview of the current forms (both SharePoint and InfoPath)? a. Data collected? i. See answer to 5.b.i above. b. Number of fields? i. See answer to 5.b.i above. c. Integration points? i. See answer to 5.b.i above. 14. What activities, if any, related to the public website should be included regarding the scope of the proposal? a. None at this time. We would be interested in a secure Board portal for our Board members which may be in scope.
15. How many business units (i.e. Finance, Marketing, HR, etc) will use the new intranet? a. 14 divisions 16. Will the branding on the CFHA Public Website (chfainfo.com) be used as the basis for branding the intranet? 17. Is CHFA familiar with the Agile Software Development methodology? a. Yes. 18. If so, does CHFA have a preference between Waterfall and Agile software development methodologies? a. Agile. 19. Is CHFA aware that Chrome does not fully support SharePoint? a. Yes, but we are not concerned. 20. If not, can CHFA provide new browser requirements? a. We currently use IE 11 internally as default and are expanding to add Chrome. 21. Creating and modifying master pages, without a third party tool, will require custom code experience. What level of coding experience do those who will be trained to create and modify new Master Pages have to begin with? a. We have one web master in our Marketing Team that has experience and can modify Master pages. Intermediate level coding with HTML and Java script. 22. How important is a local Denver presence? a. For on-site work, the reduced travel costs are preferable. 23. In 5.06, CHFA asks for average license costs (if applicable CHFA is licensed for Office 365). Does this mean that CHFA already has O365 licenses and only needs licensing prices if going online? a. Yes. We have Office 365 E3. 24. Section 6 asks for software and hardware requirements, much of this will be dependent on decisions CHFA makes during the design process. What detail of information is CHFA looking for the vendor to provide at this point? a. High-level estimates of costs in the two scenarios (installed on-premise vs. hosted) 25. Section 2.23 references preventing the uploading of personally identifiable information. Would the personally identifiable information be part of documents that are in SharePoint, or are you looking for a more general control that would prevent uses from typing identifiable information into SharePoint in any form (i.e. Newsfeed Posts, comments, blogs, wikis, etc.)? a. Both. 26. What is CHFA's openness to a. 3rd party tools or products i. We are open to them once we know what they are and we can be involved in the tool decision making process. b. Solutions created via custom code i. We are open to custom code within reason. Meaning we do not want significant customization that would make it harder to be cost-effective, efficient and easier to flow with on-going product releases from Microsoft. 27. The RFP mentions Describe your ability to integrate with third party applications notably Hyland OnBase which implies that there may be other third party applications that you want to integrate. If other integrations will be addressed as part of this project, can you name them?
a. Hyland OnBase is the primary on of interest in this scope especially for archival purposes. b. K2 for workflows could be another. 28. For purposes of scoping, can you give approximate numbers for customizations that you anticipate the new intranet will require, such as custom web parts or apps, InfoPath forms, workflows, and other types of functionality that are not generally considered out-of-the-box for SharePoint? a. A handful if any. 29. For example, how many different functions would you envision being required for integration with Hyland OnBase only one the performs upload/download functions similar to a SharePoint library, or also others for administrative tasks, reporting tasks, etc.? a. The modules below could be added over time. Not all need to be integrated immediately. These are not in priority order. It could be possible to also use the Hyland Unity API. i. The OnBase Archive Services for Microsoft SharePoint (15) transfers SharePoint content into OnBase to take advantage of advanced enterprise content management, including complex workflow processing, centralized records management and robust storage solutions. ii. The Content Connector for Microsoft SharePoint (15) automatically links documents batch processed into OnBase to related items and records managed in SharePoint, providing users with immediate access to all of the content they need from within their familiar SharePoint environment. Based upon rules defined by a SharePoint site owner, relevant OnBase content is made accessible as item list attachments and document library items. iii. The OnBase Integration for Microsoft Search (15) enables OnBase content to be indexed and searched directly within Microsoft SharePoint Server or Microsoft Search Server products. As users perform searches, results are returned in a single relevance-ranked list, regardless of whether the documents or content resides in Microsoft SharePoint, OnBase or other enterprise repositories and sites. iv. Web Parts for Microsoft SharePoint (15) allows OnBase users to search, retrieve, view and interact with the OnBase content, automated business processes and functionality they need to perform their day-to-day job responsibilities from within their familiar SharePoint environment 30. Will SharePoint workflows need to work with objects or events in integrated third-party systems? a. Not at this time. Migration work 31. The RFP mentions current CHFA IT Architecture includes To Be replaced --SharePoint 2007 (intranet). How much of a migration project do you anticipate the Intranet Consultation and Implementation project will include? In other words, would it include just an evaluation and recommendation of migration approaches and tools, or also the next steps to analyze and plan the migration, or also the next steps to execute the migration? a. All of the above are needed.
32. Can you give a ballpark estimate of how much data would be migrated to the new intranet? For example, 100 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, etc.? a. 15 GB Secure Access 33. Will all of the users of the intranet have CHFA identities in your corporate directory, or will you also want external users (partners, customers) who are not in your corporate directory to be able to securely access the system? a. Yes. It will be people in our Active Directory. b. Even external people have accounts in our AD. 34. Will CHFA employees require secure access to the intranet from outside CHFA firewalls without relying on a VPN solution? Request for information (RFIs) to CHFA 34. What customizations are currently in place? a. Not much if any. 35. What service applications are you using? a. Excel services 36. Are we hosting the servers and providing license? 37. What service applications do you require in 2013? a. We are looking for recommendations from the vendor. 38. Do you have any farm solutions that will need to migrate? 39. What license are you currently using and what license do they require for 2013? (foundation standard enterprise) a. 2007 Enterprise 40. Do you own the servers for their 2013 public website? a. Yes 41. What is that license and server topology look like for their 2013 public web site? Server Role Hardware Requirement Software Requirement Front End Servers (2) CPU 4 Cores Batch Processing Servers (1) (Application Server) Content Database Servers (1) Memory Hard Disk (X:) CPU Memory Hard Disk (X:) 12 GB 80 GB 4 Cores 12 GB 80 GB Windows Server 2012 SP1 SharePoint 2013 Enterprise Windows Server 2012 SP1 SharePoint 2013 Enterprise CPU 8 Cores Windows Server 2012 SP1
Memory Hard Disk (X:) Hard Disk (Y:) 64 GB 80 GB 200GB SQL Server 2012 42. How much data will be migrated? a. 15 GB or less after archival and disposal 43. Do you have custom master page, page layouts or web parts? a. No 44. Do you require incoming email to lists? a. Potentially. 45. What type of authentication do you use? a. Active Directory and Azure 46. Do you require connections to external data? a. News feeds. RSS 47. Do you require Alternate Access Mapping? 48. Do you require custom managed paths? 49. What specific performance and security concerns need to be met? a. Search functions well and results are relevant and fast. b. We need to follow best practices for secure data management. c. Proven ability to be backed up and restored. 50. Is there any future state governance compliance that need to be met- PCI, FDA, FHA, VAA, Reporting/Analytics? a. None at this time. 51. Are there any future state security compliance concerns- ACI, User Attestation? a. None at this time. 52. If your site is hosted, do you have a requirement for private cloud hosting a. We would be comfortable with Microsoft s cloud hosting as long as certain requirements are met. Open to multi-tenant. 53. What version of K2 do we have? a. 4.6 54. Would CHFA want to use search and index capability with OnBase? a. Yes