Request for Proposal Development of St. Cloud Technical & Community College Website April 2015 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Questions were submitted via email by vendors or asked at the Q&A on April 14. Answers were given by St. Cloud Technical & Community College website redesign committee members. 1. Can companies from Outside USA apply for this? (From India or Canada) Yes, companies from outside the USA can submit proposals, but we prefer that the vendor is accessible and able to meet with us in person when necessary. 2. Do we need to come over there for meetings? We prefer to meet the selected vendor(s) in person. 3. Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA? (From India or CANADA) Again, we prefer that the vendor we choose is accessible. 4. Can we submit our proposals via email? The responder shall submit five (5) copies of its RFP response and an electronic copy via email in Microsoft Word format. One copy of the proposal must be unbound and signed in blue ink by an authorized representative of the vendor. Please refer to [Section 5.1 Submission] of the RFP for further detail. 5. Are you using analytics (Google or otherwise) on your website currently? If so, how many people are using the search feature? Yes, we are using Google Analytics. We are not able to track usage of the search function on our website using Google Analytics, although we currently have limited tracking capabilities of the site- wide search using the Top Search Words Drupal module. The data generated by this module does not provide comprehensive usage statistics. 6. Have you done any user testing? If so, have you specifically done any testing around when / why people use the search? We have limited tracking capabilities using Top Search Words Drupal module as explained in question 5 above. 7. Has a budget been allocated for this project? If so, can you provide the budget range? 8. You request "Three (3) separate conceptual designs; the College to select one to develop further." We are happy to provide samples of our past work, and discuss projects and clients. We are also open to a smaller, paid discovery phase where this work could be completed. We do not do spec work, however, such as designing concepts without a contract. Is this a strict requirement, or are you open to change? Samples of past work will be acceptable for this component. 9. Do you have a budget that you are willing to share? 10. Are you considering re-organizing the site with a new site map and navigation?
Yes, we are open to re- organizing the site with a new site map and navigation. However, we prefer to keep the existing URLs and URL structure. 11. Is your goal to migrate page content automatically or do you want content strategy and editorial services? The goal is to migrate the content as- is. The College would like the vendor to help facilitate content migration. We will not require content strategy and editorial services. 12. Should a proposal include copywriting? No. 13. Will there be a team at SCTCC reviewing content? Yes. 14. How many pages are on the site? There are just over 1,400 pages on the site which includes basic pages, landing pages, event pages, news articles, and redirects. 15. Is there integration with external services or databases? Please describe. Yes. Currently we are using a Microsoft SQL database. With the new site we would like to move to MySQL database for the backend database. There is some integration with multiple data sources including course and program descriptions (see http://www.sctcc.edu/courses as example), Human Resources job listings (see: http://agency.governmentjobs.com/sctcedu/default.cfm), and the Bookstore (http://bookstop.sctcc.edu/home.aspx) 16. The first bullet on page 9 says that you "require the ability to embed php into CMS pages." What do you need to accomplish? We need the ability to embed PHP scripts into pages on our website to pull information from multiple data sources and display on the web pages. Example: http://www.sctcc.edu/courses. 17. Do you have one site or multiple websites? Section 2.4 in the RFP mentions "events sub sites." We have one website. 18. In Section 2.3, you note both general layouts as well as specific landing and program/departmental pages. Approximately how many unique pages need to be built? Will the chosen vendor work with a single point of contact at the College or with each departmental staff? Approximately 10 unique layouts will need to be built. The chosen vendor may work with multiple points of contact at the College depending on area of expertise. Members of the IT department or the Marketing/Communications department will act as communications liaisons between the vendor and departmental staff. 19. In Section 2.4, the timeline provided does not leave substantial time for content development and quality assurance. Are you open to adjustments within the schedule? What is driving the March 18, 2016 launch date? We are open to adjustments within the schedule. The March 18, 2016 launch date was identified as a good time for the College so that the launch would not interfere with or greatly hinder normal business operations. 20. What is the anticipated budget for this project?
21. Please provide a list of all third party databases that must be integrated into the new website? MySQL. We currently have Microsoft SQL which we would like migrated to MySQL. 22. We are being asked to deliver, as part of submission, 3 conceptual designs. What is the definition of a Conceptual Design? More specifically, do these refer to structural / functional options? Or Visual design? The College is asking for three separate conceptual designs. These designs can be wireframes or visual design concepts showing navigational and formatting ideas. We are not requiring each vendor to provide fully functional webpages at this stage. 23. Should we assume the e-services content is out of scope? (course search, student login, etc.) Yes, eservices content is out of the scope of this project, but functional links to eservices will be very important throughout the site. 24. If e-services is out of scope, are you looking for template designs for this content? No, template designs are not needed for eservices. 25. Are there any integrations we should be aware of, meaning, content that is displayed on the website, but is managed outside of the website (Events?) There is some integration with multiple data sources including course and program descriptions (see http://www.sctcc.edu/courses as example). 26. Does SCTCC have a desired budget or budget range that has been approved for the redesign of the website? If so, can that budget or range be shared? 27. On page 5 December 2016 is referred to as the end of the contract, but on page 10 the suggested schedule references the site launching in March 2016. Can you explain the difference in timing? Our desired launch date for the website is March 2016, but we understand there may be additional work required after the launch. The vendor can propose adjustments to the schedule as they deem necessary. 28. The schedule on page 10 also does not account for Information Architecture or HTML (front and backend). Is there a reason for this? Although it is not explicitly stated in the schedule, it is assumed that HTML and information architecture work would be included throughout various stages of the process. 29. Does SCTCC have any interest in Content Strategy or Testing opportunities? SCTCC will consider content strategy and testing opportunities. 30. Is there a set budget for this project or a not-to-exceed amount? 31. Can the work be performed off-site with some on-site meetings? Yes, the work can be performed off- site with some on- site meetings. 32. Do you have a preference for any specific CMS (Drupal, Joomla, SharePoint etc.)? If yes, please specify (We see that the current site is in Drupal).
The RFP explicitly indicates Drupal as the desired CMS. Please see section 2.2 of the RFP. 33. Do you expect the vendor to address the content migration to the new site? We expect the vendor to help facilitate content migration to the new site, but SCTCC staff will be likely be handling the majority of the content migration. 34. Are there any third party integrations in the site apart from the ones mentioned in the RFP? There is some integration with multiple data sources including course and program descriptions (see http://www.sctcc.edu/courses as example). 35. Do you prefer purchased ready-made theme or creative designing for the design part? We will consider either a ready- made theme or a unique design created by the vendor. 36. What key factors are important to you that may not be clearly outlined in your proposal? Responsive design, improved search engine, better backend database structure, ability to have development environment (or sandbox) in addition to production site. 37. Have you recently performed a website audit? If so, is there a way to see the documentation? No, we have not recently performed a website audit. 38. Who are all the major stake holders of the site? Prospective students, current students, college faculty, college staff, parents of students, community members, and business partners. 39. What is the site's current traffic? SCTCC.edu website currently averages about 200,000 sessions monthly, with about 60,000 unique users and 550,000 total page views. These number include both internal and external visitors. 40. Do you prefer our consultants doing onsite visit for the requirement gathering? An onsite visit for requirement gathering is preferred, but not required. 41. Do you have any model/reference sites for the proposed one? No, we are open to vendor suggestions. 42. Content management technology - Do you want to limit the display of content that needs to be managed to the specific administrative groups? a. For example, will each administrative group only be able to see the content for their department? Yes, we would like to limit administrative rights to specific departments or individuals, depending on their status or affiliation within the college. Multiple content editors should have permissions to edit the same page or group of pages. 43. Management of pages - To manage the content of the pages how granular do you need to manage the content? Administrator and content editor. Multiple content editors should have permissions to edit the same page or group of pages. 44. Mobile - What considerations should we plan for in regard to making the website mobile friendly? SCTCC would prefer that the new website is entirely mobile and tablet friendly.
45. How many different mobile layouts are expected? SCTCC would prefer the following responsive layouts: Smartphone, Tablet (landscape) and large desktop. 46. How many different teams would be interfacing with the website? There will be 2 website administrators, and approximately 8 additional content editors. 47. Do you have source control currently? Yes, we currently have source control. 48. Emergency Alerts: do you want any functionality for this? a. E.g. School shooting or tornado warning. Could be prominently displayed at the top of all pages when active, not present when inactive. If this could be integrated with our emergency alert system, then yes, this would be desired functionality, but not required. 49. Any localization/multilanguage needs? No. 50. User groups & research a. Which user groups are primary? User groups include prospective students, current students, college faculty, college staff, parents of students, community members, and business partners. b. Are there any barriers to accessing them? i. Legal ii. Regulatory iii. Others? No. 51. Do you currently track website traffic data? If so, will we be able to have access to it? Yes, we track website traffic data using Google Analytics. The chosen vendor will be granted access to this. 52. Are there any limitations on integrating small pieces of code into the current site? (Some tools that make it easy to get user input rely on this.) We currently integrate PHP and PERL scripts, but experience some limitations because it needs to link to a local database. Our hope is that with a new site we ll have more flexibility with adding custom scripts. 53. Content management process - Which department is accountable for the content on the website? The Information Technology (IT) and the Marketing/Communications departments share accountability for content on the website. 54. Is there a current editorial workflow for putting content on the site? We do not have a structured workflow in place currently. Content requests and submissions are sent via email to the webmaster or marketing department to publish to website. 55. Who removes content that has expired?
Expired content is removed manually by website administrators. 56. Browsers What browsers do we need to support? a. Examples i. IE11 ii. Google Chrome iii. Firefox iv. Safari All browsers listed above need to be supported including the most current version and one version back of each browser. 57. Are you using an updated version of Drupal? We are running Drupal 7.12. 58. Do you have specific target browsers you are going after? Chrome, Firefox, IE and Safari. (go back one version of IE) 59. What kind of content are mobile users are going after? What does someone need to access when they are on their mobile device verses their laptops? We believe they are all looking for the same types of information, just using different devices. 60. Visual brand guides. Located on our website http://www.sctcc.edu/media 61. What percentage of perspective students are adult learners vs. traditional students? 62. What is SCTCC s student population? Annual credit based: Approx. 6,000. FYE: 13,000 Common age: 25 Majority of students are 17-25 63. What is your library look like for videos and photos? Our current library of photo and video is not that extensive 64. Does the current site have an ecommerce built into it? No, the current site does not have ecommerce built in. We do not plan to add that feature. 65. How many Drupal modules do you have? We are currently using 52 enabled Drupal Modules.