California Community Colleges Educational Planning Tool (EPT) & Degree Audit System (DAS) Request for Information (RFI) Education Planning Initiative Project Description This initiative will develop the transcript, articulation, and curriculum inventory elements necessary to facilitate existing college education planning and degree audit systems. For those colleges without these systems, a low/no cost education planning and degree audit solution will be made available. The initiative will use centralized and integrated technology solutions that will deliver information to better guide students to define and achieve their educational goals, while streamlining the process and providing support to faculty and staff that use the system. www.cccedplan.org Goals With structured pathways provided through a student services portal and education planning system, governance provided by inclusive and multi- tiered committees from across the system, and integrated professional development for student services professionals, the Education Planning Initiative will fulfill the needs identified below: Help students make informed choices Clarify educational goals and plan for success Assist under- resourced counseling services For Students There is clearly a need to help students clarify their short and long term goals, build a structured plan to meet their goals, share that plan so there is accountability, and track students progress with appropriate follow- up and guidance. To meet this need, the Education Planning Initiative will: Help Students Make Informed Choices To be successful, students need access to information in a streamlined and ordered fashion that is presented in the context of their individual needs and where they are in the matriculation and education processes. Clarify Educational Goals and Plan for Success One in five students entering community college indicate they are undecided. Many more students change majors multiple times while in community college. How choices are presented to the student is important. For Colleges and Staff Technology cannot solve the fundamental issues behind the California Community Colleges counseling
shortage, such as budget cuts and the 50% law, where under tight budgets it becomes difficult to add counselors without also adding instructional faculty. However, technology can be a fulcrum to gain leverage to address the symptoms of the shortage and give counselors the ability to reach more students effectively. Assist Under- Resourced Counseling Services With a ratio of only 1 counselor for every 1800 students across the system, counselors are hard pressed to make a dent in the success rates of students. The sheer numbers of students mean that it is very difficult for counselors to provide personal guidance with many students. By way of the structured portal system, the EPI will allow students to gain access to information and make headway on preliminary goals and planning before seeing a counselor; thus allowing the brief time they may have together to be spent on modifying and optimizing the education plan with the student. This tool will also help counselors identify and monitor the progress of at- risk students in order to maximize success gains by applying effort to those students who are more likely to need help. Coordination within and between Colleges Improved coordination between Colleges The California Community College system is built on a decentralized model based of 72 districts. Local governance is paramount, but efforts in working together to achieve savings and better serve students, make the model problematic. Each district has total control over what student information system (SIS) they use, what counseling and advising tools they use, what data elements they include in their electronic transcripts, what courses they will accept for articulation, etc. Despite the dissimilarities among colleges (sometimes with campuses that are only separated by a few miles), students swirl within the CCC system as though there were cohesive bonds between the colleges. Students may attend several CCCs in an effort to reach their education goals, and sometimes even two or three in the same semester. This swirling behavior suggests the need for better coordination of services between colleges: CCC to CCC Course Articulation Acknowledgement and visibility of Education Plans from other colleges A common transcript format with common California data elements
Coordinated Student Services Integration between statewide systems and local SIS Improved Coordination within a College In many colleges there is little interface between instructional faculty, counseling, and student services in working with students. To ensure success for the student, colleges need to have technology- based systems that promote a holistic approach where instructional faculty, counseling, and student services can work together for the benefit of the student. Procurement Objective This RFI is part of a procurement process that will result in the purchase of an Educational Planning Tool (EPT), and/or Degree Audit System (DAS) and related counseling and student support services to be deployed and used by the community colleges in California. We are looking for a partner that will be able to deploy, evolve and innovate a state- of- the- art EPT and DAS for use by the colleges in the California Community College system. Procurement Timeline (Tentative) Event Release RFI RFI Responses Due Release RFP RFP Responses Due Contract signed System Deployed for Migration / Training / SIS Integration Go Live Date June 6, 2014 July 7, 2014 August 1, 2014 September 2, 2014 December 31, 2014 February 1, 2015 June 1, 2015 Mandatory requirements (Tentative) A full set of mandatory and desired requirements for the Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems will be included in the RFP. At a minimum, the chosen partner must meet the following requirements: Be able to scale up to support 112 community colleges regardless of Student Information Systems Have significant experience developing Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems including supporting a large customer / client base of colleges / universities Be willing to work with the California Community Colleges (CCC) EPI project office in developing future enhancements to the system to meet CCC requirements Be fully accessible to students with disabilities
RFI Responses Due All responses are due by 4:00 pm on Friday, July 7, 2014 Online at EPI@CCCNEXT.NET, Attn: Carlo A. Santos Do not embed or include marketing materials or other documentation within the response. Marketing materials must not be a substitute for written responses. Any supplemental collateral or brochures must be attached in a separate file with the response. Please fully answer all questions relevant to products and/or services in the template to receive consideration in those subject areas. Do not direct reviewers to supplemental materials instead of responding to the questions in the template. RFI Response Format Portions of the RFI document are protected Microsoft Word document that includes data entry fields for each response area and question. Input fields are highlighted gray. Each Comments field allows for the inclusion of free- form text without size limitation. While the input field is unlimited, please be succinct. An additional free- form text field is provided at the end of each section to allow for optional general comments. This section is intended for comments that further explain the suggested solutions within the corresponding section. Vendors must address all information specified by this RFI. All questions must be answered completely. Butte Glenn Community College District reserves the right to verify any information contained in the vendor's RFI response and to request additional information after the RFI response has been received. Statement of Interest At this time, do you have an interest in responding to a California Community Colleges RFP for the acquisition of the Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems? The RFI response must be accompanied by a cover letter, signed by an individual authorized to certify the accuracy of responses. Information Requested We are soliciting your assistance to help us understand the capabilities and functions of the current and future state- of- the- art Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems design and functionality. Please provide a written response to the following inquiries. Detailed, but highly concise and focused answers will be most helpful. The responses will be reviewed by software engineers from the CCC Technology Center as well as by a team of faculty and administrative users, experienced in using Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems, and will develop the RFP.
In the narrative, please address: Vendor Company Profile Please provide a company profile to provide context for the role that its products and/or services can provide to the project. Include the following: 1) Company Name: 2) Type of Industry/Business: 3) Physical Location of Operations: 4) Primary Contact: 5) Primary Contact Phone: 6) Primary Contact E- mail: 7) Provide a company history, including years in operation, governance structure and other major milestones: 8) Describe the products, services and scope of work the company provides: 9) Describe the company assets, including number of employees, number of knowledge workers and specific numbers of IT or other assets relevant to the RFI: 10) Identify and describe the credentials of the individuals who will be working with BGCCD on this project. 11) Describe or explain your work with other community colleges in or outside of California. EPT and DAS System Design What are the critical success factors in designing future Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems for colleges to consider? System architecture User experience Functional capabilities Integration of associated services Scalability Portability 508 compliant / W3C requirements accessibility standards Other: Please describe Software Development Process Describe the software development process (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/software_development_process) you use to develop and evolve your EPT and DAS system. What makes your software development process different (and perhaps better) than that of other developers?
Technology Stack Describe your current technology stack (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/technology_stack) for your EPT and DAS. How will your technology stack change in your future plans as your EPT and DAS evolves or is replaced? EPT and DAS Development - Roadmap Describe your future Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems development plans with regard to milestone events (major revisions to the technology stack, functional capabilities, and integration of third party components) Are you planning for your Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems to evolve (e.g., applying continuous improvements) or leap frog (e.g., implementing occasional, dramatic and substantial changes to architecture, functionality)? How do you plan to improve the capabilities of your EPT and DAS with regard to: New functional capabilities New functional services Workflow management Integration of third- party services Flexibility to add new components from external developers Predictive analytics for messaging students Recommender system for students / Pathway support or template Support for enrollment management / class scheduling Verification/authenticity of EPT and DAS Multiple GPAs Model different scenarios What ifs / Multiple tracks Accommodating a super- numbering system for courses Support at the High School level
Associated Support Services Do you provide or are you planning to provide support services to enhance and facilitate the use of your Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems, such as: Call Center / Help desk for faculty & students & technical personnel Migration tools & services for faculty Development tools & services for faculty SIS integration tools & services Articulation of courses in to and out of institutions Early Alert Motivational elements / persona graph / messaging tool Overall Competitive Advantage What do you consider to be the differentiators in your Educational Planning Tools and Degree Audit Systems and associated support services (as compared to other competitive systems) with regard to generating more success for the faculty and students using your system (considering student access to instructional content, student to faculty communications, analytics, etc.)? Procurement Process Please add any questions or comments that you have regarding this procurement process, timeline, etc.