1. Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Application RFP No. 2016-008 Questions & Answers April 28 th, 2016 Is COMPASS looking for replacement of SAP or integration/enhancement of current SAP system? The lacking functionalities can be integrated/enhanced within SAP itself. The District is an independent special California District. The District intends to move away from its current contracting arrangement with the Sacramento County and its COMPASS system, with the purchase and implementation of the District s own ERP system. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. If there was a feasibility study done before the RFP, it will be helpful to have the results or major recommendation from it. Any pain points that COMPASS is facing with the current ERP other than Integration? Will the ERP vendor oversee implementation or provide resources for implementation? Will the City use the services of an outside agency to help oversee Q&A of the implementation process? If so who? Are you looking to move from SAP by choice or is this a mandate? No feasibility study was conducted prior to the development of this RFP. The District does not own the current ERP system we use the County s ERP implementation, which the County calls COMPASS. Therefore the biggest limitations are that the system does not map holistically to our business processes, and the limited opportunity to configure and customize it to the District s needs. The ERP Vendor will oversee the Implementation. The District will assign a Project Manager to work with the ERP Vendor s Project Manager for facilitating any meetings, securing calendars, being a liaison with the District Management, etc. The District has posted an RFP on its website to hire a consultant to advise and assist the District during the ERP implementation, including documenting requirements and recommending to-be processes based on best practices. The District is moving away from COMPASS (the County s SAP system) by choice. No decision (whether positive or negative) has been taken for any product. The District expects the ERP Vendor to propose a product that would best fulfil the requirements laid out in the RFP Page 1 of 12
7. Has the District had any internal discussions to date around various ERP options and vendors? No, the District has not discussed any specific ERP applications or Vendors. 8. Has the District participated in demonstrations or education sessions of vendor solutions that can address some of the solution outlined in the RFP? If so which vendors? The District has not participated in any sessions where a specific ERP product was demonstrated/ discussed. 9. Do you have a database preference for your new ERP System? The District uses SQL Server for its current internal applications. Therefore, the District prefers to go ahead with an ERP system that supports SQL Server. However, the Vendor is welcome to propose a different platform if they feel it would suit the District s requirements better. In this case, the Vendor is expected to include rationale for continuing with two database platforms. 10. How many users on this system currently? 5 11. Has the District contracted with an outside agency to assist with the selection process outlined in the RFP. If so, Who? The District has not contracted any external agency to assist with the selection process. 12. What are the main manual processes behind the statement a system with enhanced functionality to allow for more efficient Accounts Payable/ Accounts Receivable reconciliations, as well as budget planning, fund and grant management, and procurement capabilities. Examples include (but are not limited to) the use of Spreadsheets for tracking Contracts and expenses by Programs. The budget, year-end accruals, and financial statements are all created using spreadsheets and Word. Page 2 of 12
What are the main functions where spreadsheets are currently being utilized 13. 14. Please describe the budget range that has been approved, or you feel would be acceptable for your project to include software and implementation services based on the scope of your RFP. Under a. $500,000 b. $500,001 1,000,000 c. $1,000,001 1,500,000 d. Over 1,500,000? Have you determined how many full time equivalents will be dedicated to the project and has the District identified who these individuals will be? The District has estimated a budget range of $400,000 - $500,000 for the software and implementation costs. No staff from the District will be completely dedicated to this project. However, Subject Matter Experts will be made available as and when required. The District expects the ERP Vendor to provide their expectation of the level of District staff s involvement. 15. What experience does the District have with Cloud or Hosted solutions? Please provide a list of current Cloud or Hosted solutions that the District utilizes. The District currently self-hosts its own servers. The District does not use any cloud or hosted solution right now. However, the District is open to considering a proposed solution hosted externally or on the cloud. 16. Will the District assign a project manager to the project to work alongside the vendor s project manager? The District will assign a Project Manager to work alongside the Vendor s Project Manager. The assigned PM will divide their time between this project and 2-3 other related projects running concurrently. 17. Do you employ your own DBA s for Oracle and or Microsoft? Please describe. The District does not employ any DBAs. Basic DBA tasks related to existing SQL Server databases are executed by our IT staff. The District expects the Vendor to provide all the DBA Staffing requirement for the project. Page 3 of 12
18. What is your disposition regarding the same vendor responding to both RFPs? Do you intend to select different vendors for financial consulting and ERP, or do you see value in selecting the same vendor for both i.e. to have a vendor who is familiar with the new ERP system also do the financial consulting? As noted in the RFP for the Finance Consultant, the successful firm awarded that contract will be ineligible to bid on the District s ERP Project. 19. What is the extent of your fleet management needs? Is it just to track the assets (acquisition, depreciation, disposal, etc.) or are you looking for a full-blown fleet management solution (scheduling, dispatching, GPS tracking, route optimization, reporting, etc.)? Fleet Management needs are limited to tracking of assets and their depreciation, maintenance, etc. and assigning them to staff. 20. How many of your employees will be users in the ERP system? How many will need access just for time entry or other basic data entry tasks? What are the roles of the users? Refer answer to question #43. 21. For your Travel & Expense requirements, it sounds like you expect the ERP system to handle online travel requests within the system. Would you consider integration to another application, like Concur? The District is open to considering integration with external applications. However, integration with airline systems, car rentals, hotel reservation systems, etc. is not in scope. The District expects the ERP application to provide functionalities to create requests, route them for approval, reconcile them and post payables/ receivables. 22. The schedule allows for just a week between the proposal due date and interviews of the finalists. Are you anticipating building product demonstrations into the schedule? When would those take place? The District does not expect any Product Demonstration to serve as a Proof of Concept or Pilot. However, the District may request a demo of the Vanilla product as part of the interview process. Page 4 of 12
23. Do you have a need for ERP Integration with Records Management? The District is looking for best practices & recommendations from the ERP Vendor, based upon the solution. 24. What is the budget range? The District has estimated a budget range of $400,000 - $500,000 for the software and implementation costs. 25. Does the District have a preference for the ERP system to installed on servers in the District s own data center, or provided as a Cloud based application? The District does not have any preference. 26. Will the District consider using a Best and Final Offer (BAFO) process once the full details of the system requirements, user counts, device types and counts, etc. are known at the end of the Requirements & Fit/ Gap Analysis process? The RFP allows for a BAFO process, and it is likely that the District will exercise this option. 27. Does the District contemplate using existing Finance, HR, IT staff for the implementation including the possible need to back-fill certain positions to allow the implementation team to remain focused on delivery, or will the consultant need to provide all project implementation personnel? 28. How many people will be accessing the system in the following areas: Finance professionals performing finance specific tasks Example creating transactions such as AR, AP, Payroll Human Resource professionals performing HR specific tasks Example Employee On The District will make existing Finance, HR & IT staff available partially as and when required, including but not limited to, Requirements Analysis, Fit/ Gap, Acceptance Testing, Production Cutover, etc. There is no current plan to backfill any positions during this project. #Finance Users: 7 #Requisition/ PO Approvers: 5 #Supervisors/ Managers: 10 #Basic Users: 50-60 The ERP Vendor should note that the District uses ADP for management of its Page 5 of 12
29. 30. 31. and Off Boarding, Benefits Administration Management use across the whole organization Example A manager approving a PO or checking budget vs actual expenses Data Entry / Transaction Creation across the whole organization Example Creating a Purchase Requisition, Creating a Travel Request, Receiving against a Purchase Order, etc. Is there any desire for Management Self Service capabilities? Example District managers initiate employee requisitions, budget development, performance reviews, etc. Is there any desire for Employee Self Service capabilities? Example Emergency Contact administration, Training / Licensing administration, Benefit enrollment, etc. Is there any desire for Mobile device support in the ERP System and if so how many devices and what types will need to be supported? payroll/performance management. To the extent the ERP can provide other HR solutions, the District would want to consider those functionalities. At a minimum, the ERP will need to interface with ADP for the transfer of employee expenses. The Basic Users are expected to primarily use the system for initiating transactions related to Contracts and T&E. Yes, the District expects to use the ERP solution s MSS functionalities to the maximum extent possible. However, the ERP Vendor should note that the District uses ADP for management of its payroll/performance management. To the extent the ERP can provide other HR solutions, the District would want to consider those functionalities. At a minimum, the ERP will need to interface with ADP for the transfer of employee expenses. Yes, the District expects to use the ERP solution s ESS functionalities to the maximum extent possible. However, the ERP Vendor should note that the District uses ADP for management of its payroll/performance management. To the extent the ERP can provide other HR solutions, the District would want to consider those functionalities. At a minimum, the ERP will need to interface with ADP for the transfer of employee expenses. The ERP solution should support a responsive layout for mobile devices. Existing ios and Android apps are preferred. Page 6 of 12
32. 33. Will potential bidders have an opportunity to see and understand the various SharePoint integrations that will need to be interfaced prior to submitting a bid? What is the approximate volume of Historical data that will need to be extracted from the County s ERP system? Specifically, how many records / transactions and / or how many Gigabytes. The District s SharePoint solution is being built as of now, and therefore it will not possible for any Vendor to see it prior to bid submission. The District expects to use a number of forms on the SharePoint platform as a front-end to initiate transactions with the ERP database, e.g. to initiate Contracts. The tools used to create these forms is expected to rely upon APIs/ Web Services for interfacing with external applications. The District does not have this information. However, the quantum of data to be extracted will be determined during the Project execution. 34. Does the same vendor allowed to submit their proposal for both the RFP s, we are referring the RFP for Consulting Services and the RFP for ERP implementation? Refer answer to question #18. 35. What are the driving factors for you to move out from your existing financial system (COMPASS) to new financial system implementation? Refer answers to questions #1, #3 & #6. 36. Did you procure your new financial system licensing? If so, what financial system (Ex: SAP, Oracle, etc.) you are planning to implement? The District has not procured licenses for any system. Page 7 of 12
37. What is the database system (ex: Oracle, SAP HANA, or MS SQL Server) that you will be using to host your new financial system? Refer answer to question #9. 38. 39. In the RFP, we were not able to locate sufficient details on data conversion and data migration and data integration, does data conversation and data migration is in scope of this financial system implementation? If data conversion is scope, then what are the source system (ex: COMPASS) that may be involved in the data conversion process? Data Migration, Conversion and Integration is in scope. Data to be extracted and migrated is in multiple places: - SAP (COMPASS) - Spreadsheets - Some functionalities, e.g. Billing, are currently served by MS Access databases Refer answer to question #38. 40. What is the release and version of your current financial system COMPASS (SAP) system? Release: 12.1.0.2.0 Version: 6.0 41. What is the duration for the consulting services or how long you are planning to procure the consulting services? The Duration of the Finance Consultant Contract is intended to mirror the duration of the Contract for the ERP Application Project. Initially, this is expected to last 1 year, but may be changed based upon the progress of the ERP project. It is expected that the majority of the Consulting services will be used during the Discovery, Design & Testing phases of the project. Page 8 of 12
42. 43. Which of the following financial functions that are in scope both in the current state (COMPASS -SAP) and future state (new system)? Financial Accounting GL (Gender leader accounting) Financial Accounting AP (Accountants Payable) Financial Accounting AR (Accounts Receivable) Financial Accounting Bank Account Financial Accounting Asset Accounting Controlling Cost Center Accounting Controlling Profit Center Accounting Controlling Cost Element Accounting Controlling Profitability Analysis Controlling Product Costing What is your user volume and growth rate? The following functions are in scope in the current system: - Financial Accounting GL (General ledger accounting) - Financial Accounting AP (Accounts Payable) - Financial Accounting AR (Accounts Receivable) - Budget (Funds Management) The following functions are expected to be in scope with the new ERP System: - Financial Accounting GL (Gender leader accounting) - Financial Accounting AP (Accounts Payable) - Financial Accounting AR (Accounts Receivable) - Financial Accounting Bank Account - Financial Accounting Asset Accounting - Controlling Cost Center Accounting - Controlling Profit Center Accounting - Controlling Cost Element Accounting - Budget - Grants management No. of key users: About 15. No. of basic users: 50 60. Expected growth rate: Minimal growth. 44. We are trying to better understand the scope of your financial system implementation scope Number of chart of account that s currently in scope Number of GL account that s currently in scope Number of Bank of account that s currently in scope Number of Bank interface that s currently in scope Number of Entity/Company interface that s currently in scope Number of Bank interface that s currently in scope Page 9 of 12 By currently in scope, District assumes the Vendor is seeking information about the business process as it exists today. Number of chart of account that s currently in scope: 1 Number of GL account that s currently in scope: 285 Number of Bank of account that s currently in scope: 1 Number of Bank interface that s currently in scope: 0 Number of Entity/Company interface that s
Number of primary Cost Element that s currently in scope Number of secondary Cost Element that s currently in scope Number of Customers that s currently in scope Number of Venders that s currently in scope currently in scope: 0 Number of Bank interface that s currently in scope: 0 Number of primary Cost Element that s currently in scope: 5 Number of secondary Cost Element that s currently in scope: 0 Number of Customers that s currently in scope: Not known. Number of Vendors that s currently in scope: Less than 100. 45. Are you planning to use different solution for planning, budgeting and funds management? No. The District desires all these functionalities to reside in the same system. 46. In the current state (COMPASS -SAP), how many number of reports that s currently in scope? There are about 5-10 reports that we use, but there are many in COMPASS that are available that we are not using. 47. In your current system, do you have any batch jobs running and how many batch jobs you are running? The District does not have this information. The County runs batch jobs in COMPASS, but the District does not. 48. Do you have any project management methodology that you expect the vendor to follow? The District is open to considering the Vendor s Project Management Methodology of choice. In the absence of any such methodology, the District expects the Vendor to follow the standard waterfall/ iterative waterfalls models. Agile methods may be considered if the Vendor can provide compelling rationale for their use. Page 10 of 12
49. In the Proposal, Does the vendor can use their own project management methodology, approach and delivery framework? Or Would you expect the vendor to use your own project management methodology, approach and delivery framework? See answer to question #48. 50. Do you have any security management tools and methodology that you expect the vendor to follow in the proposal? The District does not have any Security Management Tools/ Methodology. 51. Do you have any external reporting system (ex: SAP Business Objects, Oracle OBIEE, etc.) in scope? The District does not own any external reporting solution. The District is open to considering both external reporting systems, as well the built-in reporting capabilities of the ERP application. 52. 53. Is training in scope? If so, what are the different training you are expecting to conduct? Has the District seen presentations from any vendors or evaluated any solutions related to the scope of this project within the last 12 months? Training is in scope. The District expects the Vendor to conduct training sessions for all key users as well as for a subset of the basic users. Additionally, the Vendor is also expected to train the District s IT staff in basic maintenance tasks for the upkeep of the system. The District has not seen any Vendor Presentations, nor has it evaluated any specific solution related to this project s scope in the last 12 months. 54. Has the District estimated a budget for this project? Is the District willing to share an estimated price range to ensure that only reasonable bids are submitted? The District has estimated a budget range of $400,000 - $500,000 for the software and implementation costs. Page 11 of 12
55. Is there a preference between hosted cloud or on premise server based? Please refer the answer to #15. 56. 57. What is the current application portfolio today? What are in-house applications and business functions that proposed ERP will be replaced with? The District uses some functionalities in the County of Sacramento s SAP system (please refer the answers to #1 and 3). In addition, the District also uses a combination of spreadsheets, manual processes and some functionalities served by MS Access Databases. The ERP Vendor should also note that the District uses ADP for management of its payroll/performance management. To the extent the ERP can provide other HR solutions, the District would want to consider those functionalities. At a minimum, the ERP will need to interface with ADP for the transfer of employee expenses. Will there be any migration from old/legacy applications to the proposed ERP? Please refer the answer to #38. Page 12 of 12