esource ES RFQ 50300-575 Georgia Tech Web Redesign No. Questions Answers 1 We are a SDVOSB and we could very well be interested in submitting a proposal for your above titled listing. Could you please clarify something for me though on the 'rules' for the state of Georgia and a contract like this. We are registered with the state where we get notifications of opportunities but I want to make sure we are able to bid as while our company is incorporated through the state of Nevada, we have a location here in Warner Robins and regularly pay Georgia taxes. Does this give us the clearance to 'play' in Georgia bids like this one? Please visit the State of Georgia Procurement website: http://doas.ga.gov/suppliers/pages/supplierguide.a spx 2 3 Could you tell us more about the scope of the social media studies, brand perception surveys and collateral material you refer to in the SOW? Specifically, the audiences that were surveyed / studied, the number of surveys / studies that were conducted and when these studies were conducted? We are trying to determine whether or not to include additional external audience research in our recommended approach. SOW- 1. Organizational audit You state that the supplier must conduct interviews with Executive Leadership, content providers and representatives from the six colleges and the academic and administrative offices. Could you tell us how many people are included in this sample universe? How many interviews does your team anticipate being conducted? SOW - 1. Organizational audit Page 1 of 15 2010 Social Media study: Conducted by KD Paine and Associates. Provided overview of SM usage by key constituents groups. Provided an overall approach for reaching these audiences through SM. 2012 Reputation Survey: Conducted by KS&R. Looks at strengths, improvement opportunities and comparisons w/ peer institutions on key points. This survey is conducted every three years. Collateral material includes but is not limited to Georgia Tech Annual Report and the Strategic Plan. We will provide the awarded contractor with the necessary information. Approximate number of interviews: President and Provost (2) Core redesign project team (4) Web content contributors (5) Representatives of the six colleges (6) Undergraduate Admissions (3) Athletics (1) Information Technology (4) Administration and Finance (2) Research (2) Diversity (2) Professional Development (3) Institute Communications (5) Future Media (1)
4 5 What is your anticipated deliverable from the Organizational audit? SOW - 1. Organizational audit You state that the supplier should develop a map of existing design templates to the information architecture to identify gaps in the existing designs and overall design suite. Is it your intent to re-use any of the existing templates in the design suite or will this just be used to inform the development of new design templates? SOW - 2. Information Architecture Campus (Auxiliary) Services (4) Development (3) Alumni Association (3) The deliverable for this section is an executive summary outlining recommendations for how Georgia Tech should update its Web presence. The mapping will be used to inform the development of the new design templates. 6 7 8 In the SOW you state that the Supplier must provide search engine optimization services for gatech.edu plus two model sites. Will we be developing a search friendly infrastructure and development model for gatech.edu and 2 model sites that will then be replicated across the development of the additional 4 college sites or are the 2 model sites that you refer to the landing pages or subsections for Development and Admissions? SOW - 3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Your SOW states that a well-defined Web brand identity system will need to be implemented across all Georgia Tech pages and that levels of branding must be created for college level pages, school pages and assorted unit pages. Have these brand architecture identity guidelines for the sub-brands already been developed or is there a need to develop these constructs and guidelines within the scope of this project? SOW - 4. Interface Design- College Sites You state that the Supplier must provide 2 homepage design concepts, provide one revision and then a single concept will be selected. Then later you state that the Supplier must develop 3 homepage design concepts. Can you please explain this with a little more detail? SOW - 4. Interface Design - College Sites & 5. Interface Design - Top Level Site You will we be developing a search friendly infrastructure and development model for gatech.edu and 2 model sites that will then be replicated across the development of the additional 4 college sites. The visual identity guidelines exist, but we want to see how they work within the Web design. We are asking for 3 design options for the college level sites and 2 design options for the GT main home page. The college level site designs will be completed first. They will influence the design of the GT main site. Page 2 of 15
9 10 11 12 13 14 You state that the Supplier must conduct focus group testing on the homepage concepts for both the College and Top-Level site pages. Can you tell us the goals of this research? SOW - 4. Interface Design - College Sites We have no experience with the Mercury Content Syndication System. Is experience with this system a significant factor in the vendor selection? SOW - 9. News / Content Syndication System - Mercury v.2 Can you tell us why you would continue to use the Mercury system for content creation / platform presentation with responsive Drupal templates? SOW - 9. News / Content Syndication System - Mercury v.2 What would be the best way to provide costs for the calendar integration at this stage in the proposal process? Would it be possible to provide a range of costs for calendar feed integration with a fixed cost to be determined after a discovery period and the development of calendaring technical and functional specifications? SOW - 10. Calendar Configuration In addition to the Institute Communications Web Development Team, who are the stakeholders that would be included in the decision and approval processes during the project? Do you have an anticipated budget for this project? Overall perceptions, brand alignment, content hierarchy, clarity of navigational naming conventions. Prior experience with Mercury is not a significant factor. It is a Drupal-based system that syndicates content via XML. Prior experience with XML formatting and content syndication within the Drupal framework would suffice. Mercury only distributes content to sites. It does not play a factor in the presentation of that content. Mercury allows users to publish once and distribute everywhere, and is already integrated into multiple sites across campus. We must have a single cost figure not a range. VP, Communication and Marketing AVP Creative Strategy & Brand Management Sr, Dir. Creative Strategy & Brand Management Executive Leadership: President, Provost, VP Cabinet Web development Lead Directors of college communications The budget will not be disclosed. 15 16 Will vendors outside of the state of Georgia be given equal consideration as in-state vendors? What factors do you anticipate having the greatest impact on the progress of this project? Page 3 of 15 Georgia does not have a percentage preference law; however, we do reciprocate based on other states or preferences of other states. Resident suppliers in the State of Georgia are to be granted the same preference over suppliers resident in another state in the same manner. This preference is used for evaluation purposes only. State-by-State Reciprocal Preference Data: http://cms.oregon.gov/das/egs/ps/pages/reci procal_detail.aspx Vendor experience in higher education. Vendor responsiveness.
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Has an overall budget or budget range been discussed or established for the project? General question, no relevant section of the erfp Has a timeline been discussed or established for the implementation of this project? Is there a rollout plan that has been discussed or established? General question, no relevant section of the erfp The RFP makes reference to a Bidders/Offerors Conference. Has a determination been made as to if there will be a Bidders/Offerors Conference? And if so, has a date/time been established for this conference? ES-RFP-50300-575, Page 4, Section 2.1.4 Attending Bidders/Offerors Conference The RFP describes the scope of the project as being the redesign of the Georgia Tech Website. Does this project also include any auxiliary or microsites related to the college? (For example,www.ramblinwreck.com) If yes, what microsites or auxiliary sites will be included in the scope of work? ES-RFP-50300-575, Page 1, Section 1.1 Purpose of Procurement In the Calendar Configuration section of the Statement of Work, reference is made to recommended commercial and open source calendar systems will be provided separately. Does Georgia Tech have commercial or open source calendar systems that they currently use or have a preference towards? Statement of Work, Page 3, Section 10 Calendar Configuration In the overall RFP section, reference is made to the development of a sophisticated interactive campus map. Does Georgia Tech have examples of other interactive maps that they either like or would like to model their map after? ES-RFP-50300-575, Page 1, Section 1.1 Purpose of Procurement, Paragraph 5 With respect to the content contained on the current and newly redesigned website, does the scope of work for this project include: 1. The writing of new content for newly created/recommended pages? 2. The revision of content for existing pages? Or will Georgia Tech coordinate the writing/revision of all content? Statement of Work, Page 1, Section 2 Information Architecture The budget will not be disclosed. Seven to nine month completion date from the time the contract is awarded. We will not be having a Bidders/Offerors conference. The scope of the redesign includes top-level web, the six colleges and two auxiliary units. Auxiliary sites may include Alumni Assoc., Research (GTRI) or the Auxiliary units site. Georgia Tech currently uses the EMS/Master Calendar system. The Duke Campus map is representative of what Georgia Tech is looking for in an interactive, 3D map. http://myatlascms.com/map/index.php?id=21 Georgia Tech will be responsible for the writing of content. Some guidance on content direction will be requested from the vendor. Page 4 of 15
24 25 26 27 Similarly, with respect to content, will the supplier be responsible for migration of the content to the new site? Or with the training outlined in the Statement of Work will the supplier provide the training for migration and Georgia Tech will provide the resources to migrate content to the newly designed site? Statement of Work, Page 3, Section 10 CMS Training In the Information Architecture section of the Statement of Work, reference is made to the Supplier must make recommendations for top-level navigation, audience navigation, tactical navigation, footer navigation as well as a home page wireframe Are any sublevel/lower tier page architectures and content inventories required? If so, how many levels of the website should the architecture and content inventories represent? Statement of Work, Page 1, Section 2 Information Architecture In the Search Engine Optimization section of the Statement of Work, reference is made to the Supplier must provide search engine optimization services for gatech.edu plus two model sites What are the two model sites referenced? Statement of Work, Page 1, Section 3 Search Engine Optimization With respect to design concepts, please clarify what is required of the supplier. In the Statement of Work, there are multiple reference to designs to be provided: a. The Supplier must provide homepage and five subpage designs for six college sites as well as two auxiliary unit sites Statement of Work, Page 1, Section 4 Interface Design-College Sites, Paragraph 1 b. The Supplier must provide two homepage design concepts, with one round of revisions for each concept Statement of Work, Page 1, Section 4 Interface Design-College Sites, Paragraph 4 c. The Supplier must develop five subpage HTML templates for each college and unit Statement of Work, Page 2, Section 4 Interface Design College Sites, Paragraph 5 d. The Supplier must provide three homepage Page 5 of 15 Content migration will be managed by the Georgia Tech. Navigation should cover home, second level and third level navigation. The two model sites are TBD, but could be either an auxiliary site or a college site. College Sites For each of the six colleges and two auxiliary units we will need the following. Concepts: Two college home page design concepts. One design concept for each of the five sub-pages. Sub-page designs will be a variation based on the home page design. Final: One home page design. Five sub-page designs. Delivery of designs will include responsive design HTML templates. Top-level Web For the top-level web we will need the following. Concepts: Three home page design concepts. One design concept for each of the five sub-pages.
design concepts. Statement of Work, Page 2, Section 5 Interface Design-Top Level Site, Paragraph 3 e. The Supplier must provide five subpage templates and a universal template with HTML Statement of Work, Page 2, Section 5 Interface Design-Top Level Site, Paragraph 4 Sub-page designs will be a variation based on the home page design. Final: One home page design. Five sub-page designs. Delivery of designs will include responsive design HTML templates. 28 One of the main goals identified in the RFP was a need for increased brand cohesion throughout the site and continued the most noticeable is the variety of styles employed by the colleges and schools. It further continues with the guiding principle (for the redesign) of One Georgia Tech the site will reflect an organization that is unified, focused and innovative. Based on this, is it the expectation of Georgia Tech that each college site will have its own unique template structure? Or rather that the site will have an overarching template structure with the flexibility to adjust the design elements for each college, or subpage? ES-RFP-50300-575, Page 1, Section 1.1 Purpose of Procurement, Paragraph 4 and 5 There will be one overall design approach for toplevel Web and the auxiliary units. The college level pages will have a consistent structure similar to toplevel Web but will allow for some flexibility. 29 30 Drupal Questions: o Are all sites, with the exception of third party applications such as the calendar, currently in Drupal? o What version of Drupal is currently installed? If not Drupal 7, are there any plans to upgrade? o How many Drupal developers do you currently have in-house? What is their general skill levels (entry, mid or advanced)? o Are specifications of the Mercury content syndication system available? May we review them prior to bidding? In section 2 ( Information Architecture ) you state the supplier must map existing design templates to IA, identify gaps in existing design and overall design suite. Do you mean mapping to current design templates that already exist, or map to the design templates that the Page 6 of 15 Not all sites are in Drupal, and those that are in Drupal 6.x will not need to be upgraded. There are three advanced Drupal developers in house. Specifications of the Mercury content syndication system are not available. See question #5
31 32 33 34 supplier will be creating in sections 4 and 5 ( Interface Design - College Sites and Interface Design -- Top Level Site )? In section 4 ( Interface Design - College Sites ), you ask for up to four focus groups for testing the homepage concepts. Is this one set of focus groups for all seven sets of homepages for college and unit sites? Or is the desire to have four focus groups for each individual set of homepage designs? Regarding Section 4 ( Interface design - College sites ), can you clarify the sites and structure to be covered? The RFP refers to providing SEO and/or design for gatech.edu (Section 3), 2 model sites. Then Section 4 refers to 6 college sites, and 2 auxiliary unit sites. Will two of the college sites be used as model sites? Or are those two different things? From Section 4 ( Interface design - College sites ): The supplier must provide 2 homepage design concepts. Is this 2 designs for each of 6 college site homepages and 2 auxiliary unit homepages (16 total) or 2 total that will be applied across all sites? Similarly for the 5 subpage templates -- is this 40 total or 5 total? Would there need to be 3+ versions of each template (desktop, tablet, and mobile) to address responsive design needs? Do you foresee any problem working with an out-ofstate vendor? Conduct focus group testing on the 2 homepage concepts. There must be 4 focus groups made up of a minimum of 8 participants each. Two of the college sites will be used as SEO model sites. 2 home page concepts for each of the 6 colleges and the 2 auxiliary units. Total of 16 concepts. See answer to question no. 15 35 36 37 On the mandatory scored requirements and mandatory questions worksheets there are several very precise questions around number of years experience in certain fields and specific awards won and work done. Is an agency automatically disqualified if they fail to reach the exact number required in the questions? Is Georgia Tech currently working with an agency whether it is for digital or traditional advertising? Are brand standards published? 38 What is the timeline for project completion? 39 Who will be responsible for providing content for the web redesign? 40 Who will be responsible for migration of the content? Yes. No. Yes, http://www.gatech.edu/specialevents/sites/gatec h.edu.specialevents/files/pdfs/visual_identity_g uidelines.pdf Seven to nine months from the time the contract is signed. Georgia Tech will provide content for the site. Georgia Tech will be responsible for migrating content. Page 7 of 15
41 Approximately how many pages of content need to be migrated? Georgia Tech will be responsible for migrating content. 42 Is there a budget set for the RFP? The budget will not be disclosed. 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Mandatory Scored Response Worksheet Is the following a mandated requirement for the RFP and if a vendor does not meet this requirement will the proposal be considered non-responsive? (Demonstrated design and strategy expertise through receipt of awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and University and College Designers Association (UCDA)) Mandatory Scored Response Worksheet Does the vendor need to provide actual resumes of principal officers and employees or would bios match the requirement being asked? Organizational audit Is there a specific deliverable Georgia Tech expects from the audit of print and web assets? Are there specific questions Georgia Tech would like answered through the audits? Organizational audit Will the vendor be conducting interviews with the parties stated in the RFP throughout the redesign? Or will all interviews be conducted during the Research & Discovery phase at the beginning of the project Organizational audit- How much time does Georgia Tech anticipate the interview phase taking? Interface Design - College Sites; Interface Design - Top- Level Site- Who will be responsible for finding participants for the focus groups? Will the focus groups be conducted on campus? Interface Design - College Sites; Interface Design - Top- Level Site- For the responsive design of the site. Can Georgia Tech list all of the platforms / environments they prefer testing? Also, who will be responsible for providing the devices used for testing? Interface Design - College Sites; Interface Design - Top- Level Site- Can Georgia Tech be more specific with Homepage Design Concepts? Is Georgia Tech referring to actual designs? Or concepts before a design is delivered? If the vendor does not meet the requirements they will be disqualified. Leadership bios are sufficient. See question #4: The deliverable for this section is an executive summary outlining recommendations for how Georgia Tech should update its Web presence. Interviews of stakeholders will happen before the redesign begins. It is estimated that interviews could be conducted over a 4 to 5 week period. Georgia Tech will organize the participants of the focus groups. Platforms include desktop, laptop, mobile and tablet. The vendor will be responsible for testing the responsive design on these devices. Top level Web: Three concepts (PhotoShop mock ups) and one final design w/ HTML College level Web: Two concepts for each of the six colleges and two auxiliary units (PhotoShop mockups) and one final design for each college and auxiliary unit w/ HTML Page 8 of 15
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Interface Design - College Sites; Interface Design - Top- Level Site- Subpage templates Can you please clarify if you mean 5 templates total? Or 5 templates for each college Site Search Implementation- How long of a contract does Georgia Tech have with Google Mini? As you may be aware Google Mini is now discontinued. Is Georgia Tech considering other options? Implementation- What version of Drupal is Georgia Tech running? Implementation- If Georgia Tech is running version 6, is an upgrade part of the redesign effort? Implementation- What third party services are being used? Implementation- What 3rd party/legacy/in-house applications/services will need integrated into the site? CMS Training (all sessions conducted via online meeting) Generally this is provided by the provider of the CMS. Will the vendor be responsible for training Georgia Tech on how to use the Drupal CMS? Or is Georgia Tech asking the vendor for training on applications developed by the vendor being used by Drupal CMS? What areas of experience does Georgia Tech value the most from a vendor on this project? What stakeholders from Georgia Tech will make the final vendor decision? How will Georgia Tech be hosting the new site on internal infrastructure? If not, is the expectation that vendor provides hosting options? What Drupal experience does Georgia Tech personnel possess? What resources, if any, will Georgia Tech provide to support the project? Does the Institute have any Section 508 (accessibility) requirements? If so, can you elaborate and note expectations on the role of the vendor? Page 9 of 15 Five subpage templates for each college and two auxiliary units. Total of 35 subpages. We do not have a Google Mini. We have a Google Search Appliance model GB-1001, and plan to renew our service contract when the current one expires. 7x and 6x. No upgrade to existing Drupal 6x sites will be required. None None The vendor will be responsible for providing a twohour session for site administrators, a two-hour session for software developers, and a two-to-four hour session for content editors focusing on how to enter and manage content in Drupal 7. Project management, user experience, design and Drupal implementation. There is an evaluation committee that will review the RFP responses. The site will be hosted by Georgia Tech. The Georgia Tech Web team are experts in Drupal. Georgia Tech will work collaboratively with the selected vendor. We will provide direction, staff time and expertise to a number of different areas including IA development, Drupal implementation, content direction, brand and design direction, development of the campus map and the faculty database. Yes. Georgia Tech is a State agency and is required to develop a site that is 508 compliant. The vendor will design and build with these requirements in mind. We have an in-house accessibility resource that can provide guidance to the vendor through the design process.
64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 What does the Georgia Tech team anticipate as the biggest overall challenges? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, erfp, Section 1.1 Can you define what the targeted timeline to launch will be; is there any particular event that is driving this deadline? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, erfp, Section 1.1 Will the chosen vendor be needed to provide post- - launch support and maintenance -- should support be factored into the proposal? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, erfp, Section 1.7 Is Georgia Tech receptive to firms collaborating and submitting a joint response? RFP# ES-- RFP- - 50300-- 575, erfp, Section 2.2.3 Is this an approved initiative (budgeted & approved) for the 2012 calendar year or is approval pending RFP responses followed by an additional approval process? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, erfp, Section 5.2 Could Georgia Tech provide a further breakdown of the scoring for Criteria 3. Mandatory Scored and/or Additional Scored Responses? RFP# ES-- RFP- - 50300-- 575, erfp, Section 6.4 Line 4 in the Mandatory Questions Spreadsheet states the vendor Must have demonstrated experience working with clients in the areas of recruitment, alumni relations, and fundraising. Will non-- Higher Ed experience be considered compliant with this requirement? If not, is experience in each area required or will experience in two of the three meet this requirement. RFP# ES--- RFP-- 50300-- 575, erfp, Section 6.4 The Mandatory Scored Spreadsheet awards specifically from Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and University and College Designers Association (UCDA), will awards from organizations receive points for this requirement. RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, erfp, Page 10 of 15 Vendor responsiveness. See question #18: Seven to nine month completion date from the time the contract is awarded. No event is driving the deadline. No post launch maintenance is required. The firm responding to the RFP will be responsible for managing all collaborative partners. The contract will be awarded to one firm only. The initiative is approved and budgeted. Mandatory: Must have. Is a pass/fail or yes/no question. Offeror is disqualified from participating if they do not answer. Mandatory scored: Differentiates one Offeror form another. Requires a narrative description. Offeror is disqualified from participating if they do not answer. Additional Scored: Nice to have. Requires a narrative description. Offeror is NOT disqualified from participating if they do not answer. The vendor of choice must be higher education experience to be considered. All the areas are required. We will only be considering CASE and UCDA awards. We will be giving points based on the number and level of awards and their relevance to this project.
Section 6.4 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 How will Georgia Tech define success of this project? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 1 Is any new content required to meet the completion of the new site deployment? If so, is vendor expected to co-ordinate the editorial of that content? RFP# ES- - RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 1 Given the interrogative and collaborative nature of the content audit, site design, focus group interactions and usability testing, we believe regular, interactive, in-- person participation would be required from a number of key stakeholders across different schools and units within Georgia Tech. Is the Institute prepared for this level of commitment of time and resources to adequately develop scope and refine design elements? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 1 Who on the Georgia Tech staff will be involved with validating information architecture, the design mock- - ups and the final feature set? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300- - 575, SOW, Section 1 Does Georgia Tech have a preference for vendor working on-- site or offsite? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575 Can Georgia Tech provide an inventory and breakdown of content types and files formats of the content of the current site(s)? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300- - 575, SOW, Section 2 Does Georgia Tech have specific SEO requirements that to which we need to pay special attention to? RFP# ES-- RFP---50300-- 575, SOW, Section 3 Will a style guide be provided by Georgia Tech to assist with mock-- ups and design efforts? RFP# ES- - RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 4 Does Georgia Tech expect the vendor to create original branding or other graphic assets or will the Institute provide that in its entirety? RFP# ES-- RFP- - 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 4 Can Georgia Tech elaborate on the number of pages anticipated to be included in the mock-- ups? Is there a need to show anticipated responsive design variations based on platform (e.g. iphone 5, iphone4, Android4, Android 2.x, ipad, low bandwidth, ambient light, orientation, etc) RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 4 Page 11 of 15 A highly useable site that clearly conveys the value of Georgia Tech, and is delivered on time and under budget. Georgia Tech will be responsible for content. Yes. Georgia Tech will organize and manage key audiences and stakeholders so that they may participate in the testing of design approaches. AVP Creative Strategy & Brand Management Sr, Dir. Creative Strategy & Brand Management Web Development Lead Directors of college communications No. Yes. No. Yes, a style guide will be provided to the awarded contractor. Brand elements will be provided to the vendors. Design concepts should show layouts for desktop, mobile and tablet formats.
82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 Can you elaborate more on your mobile expectations? Does Georgia Tech anticipate providing (a future) platform for native mobile apps based on content from the website (e.g. class registration app, phonebook app, interactive calendar app, etc)? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 4 What browsers does Georgia Tech support (i.e. will IE6/7 required)? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 8 How will content import or migration be handled? By Georgia Tech or the vendor? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 9 Can you describe the typical publishing approval workflow required for news and blog articles with Mercury? RFP# ES--- RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 9 What is the planned breakdown between feeds/commodity content, original content and aggregated social content for the site? RFP# ES-- RFP- - 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 9 Will event/calendar data originate from the CMS or will it be ingested as a feed? RFP# ES- - RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 10 Does Georgia Tech desire the Faculty Profile / Faculty Database to be integrated with the Institute s Human Resources? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 11 Approximately, how many Georgia Tech stakeholders will require Drupal training? RFP# ES-- RFP-- 50300-- 575, SOW, Section 12 The interface design is broken into two sections (4. and 5.); to be clear, this means there are intended to be 5 total home page concepts: two for the college sites and three for the main site? Statement of Work Sections 4 & 5. Are you open to additional or alternative forms of research besides the focus groups and interviews, such as usability testing, online methods, surveys etc.? Statement of Work Section 4 & 5. Each interface design section states four focus groups as a requirement; does this mean there will be a total of 8 groups? Statement of Work Section 4 & 5. No plans are currently in place to generate use case specific mobile layouts or platforms. The latest Mozilla and Webkit base browsers, plus IE 8 and above. Georgia Tech will manage content migration There are two levels of user access in Mercury: Publisher; and Author. Authors may generate content, but content will not be available for syndication until it has been approved by a Publisher. The vast majority of the content will be original content. Ingested as a feed. No. The vendor will provide two-hour session for site administrators, a two-hour session for software developers, and a two-to-four hour session for content editors. The number of participants for these groups is unknown at this time. Yes. Yes. There will be 4 focus groups to test the home page concepts, and 4 focus groups to test the college level concepts. Total of 8 focus groups. Page 12 of 15
93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 Are the four focus groups mapped to specific target audiences? Are there expectations about the composition of these groups in terms of the demographics and psychographics of the people in them? Statement of Work Section 4 & 5. What version of Drupal is Georgia Tech using? Do all college and offices use the same version of Drupal? Statement of Work Section 1. For the implementation, is this for the main Georgia Tech site only, or also for some individual college or office sites? Statement of Work Section 8. Does Georgia Tech currently use a Google Mini for site search? If so, what version is in use? Statement of Work Section 7. What types of sources will be available via the Mercury content syndication system? Are these primarily external news sources? Statement of Work Section 9. A well-defined Web brand identity system will need to be implemented across all Georgia Tech pages. - Does a Web brand identity system need to be created also? If so, do there need to be separate guidelines created for the College sites vs. the Top-Level site? Statement of Work Section 4 & 5. Are the listed awards the only ones that should be included, or can these be substituted for other relevant awards? Mandatory Scored Response Worksheet, Requirement # Regarding the minimum number of educational sites, can equivalent work be substituted? Mandatory Scored Response Worksheet, Requirement #4 Are there a) any new sections being added or b) any sections not being maintained that we ll need to provide SEO recommendations on? Statement of Work Section 2 The Supplier must provide search engine optimization services for gatech.edu plus two model site What is meant by two model sites? Statement of Work Section 3 Supplier must also provide guidance on developing naming conventions that are relevant to key audiences Is this referring to URL structure? Category/subcategory designations? Statement of Work Section 3 What is the scope of the Analytics we ll be providing? Simply identifying/benchmarking KPI or providing custom reports or developing Page 13 of 15 Focus groups made up of specific audiences will be use to test the college and top-level design concepts. Major sections of top-level web are in Drupal. Some of the colleges are in Drupal as well, although different versions mainly a mix of 6 and 7. We have a Google search appliance, but it is a GB- 1001 version 6.14.0.G.28 No, sources will primarily include internally generated news and events. Georgia Tech has an established brand identity. In the course of the redesign we are looking to establish some consistent standards for how the brand is executed at the college and school level. Only CASE and UDCA awards will be considered. No. No. Two sites, either college or auxiliary units. Yes. General analytics for all redesigned pages. Goals and KPIs for specific pages.
dashboards? Statement of Work Section 6 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 Will we be responsible for writing any SEO content that will exist on the pages of the new site? If not, will we be responsible for auditing/providing recommendations on any content from the current site that will be maintained? Statement of Work Section Will we be responsible for any SEO as it pertains to GATech subdomains? ie if new URL structure is implemented will we be responsible for the strategy of reconciling all other GATech assets to reflect this? Statement of Work Section, general You ask that we include personnel resumes do you mean actual work history resumes or biographies? Mandatory Scored Response Worksheet, Requirement #5 Interface Design College Sites / Top Level site- How do you see the schools within the colleges sharing the college templates (like School of Architecture versus School of Science?)? Interface Design College Sites / Top Level site - Can you describe what you mean by auxiliary unit sites? Interface Design College Sites / Top Level site - Does each of these 9 sites expect to pull from a family of templates designed (appears to be about 12) or are they expecting completely different but related designs? Interface Design College Sites / Top Level site - Are the 6 college sites, 2 auxiliary sites and top level site all encompassing or will be there a roll out of additional sections/sites over time? Interface Design College Sites / Top Level site - Is there any other information regarding the guiding principle of One Georgia Tech? Interface Design College Sites / Top Level site- Are we working within existing brand guidelines? Interface Design College Sites / Top Level site- Do you have a preference on how focus groups are tested on the concepts? Page 14 of 15 The vendor will provide search engine optimization services for gatech.edu plus two model sites. Specifically the vendor must provide unique page titles, meta-descriptions, headline and subheads, and alt tags for key central Development, central Admissions, and the Georgia Tech main page. The vendor must also provide guidance on developing naming conventions that are relevant to key audiences. We will be looking for SEO for top level pages such as Admissions, Development, GT home and Research. Leadership bios are sufficient. The goal is to get the college sites to share a common site structure as far as placement and size of headers, footers, and navigation. We d like to build one template that had these consistent elements, but has some flexibility in the content areas. Auxiliary sites may include the Alumni Assoc., Research and Auxiliary services. Top level web pages will be built around a common template. The college sites will have a similar template but with slight modifications to reflect the individual colleges needs. The site roll out will start with top level web and the colleges. Additional sections will be updated over time. One Georgia Tech means that the Institute is aligned as an organization and headed toward a common goal. The design of the site needs to clearly convey this idea. Yes. Georgia Tech has well defined brand guidelines. No. This is up to the vendors discretion.
114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 SEO - Do you have an existing SEO program in place? SEO - Do you expect keyword research? Analytics - What do you currently do in Google Analytics? Do you have baseline metrics, tracking mechanisms and codes already in place? Functionality / CMS / CMS Training - Are you making the switch to Drupal in full or are you still using Cascade? Functionality / CMS / CMS Training - How many content contributors will need to be trained? There was no mention of content development in this RFP. What are the expectations for copywriting? How does this affect the existing School of Business RFP? What are the results you are hoping to achieve? Do you have a sense of timing for this overall project? Is there a budget range in mind? No. Yes. Top level Web pages are currently tracked in Google Analytics. Georgia Tech only provides support for the Drupal CMS. See question #89: The vendor will provide two-hour session for site administrators, a two-hour session for software developers, and a two-to-four hour session for content editors. The number of participants for these groups is unknown at this time. Content will be provided by Georgia Tech The Scheller College of Business redesign is a separate project. Since one of the goal of the redesign is to bring alignment between the main Georgia Tech site and the college level sites there may be some intersection around the design of these sites. A fully responsive, sustainable site design that provides superior user experience through high quality content that clearly communicates the value of Georgia Tech to its constituents. See question #18: Seven to nine month completion date from the time the contract is awarded. The budget will not be disclosed. Page 15 of 15