Request for Information for Human Capital Management Solution Responses Due By March 25, 2014 5:00 PM PST
I. Introduction The Oakland Unified School District ( OUSD or the District ) is located in Alameda County, California. OUSD operates 86 schools with approximately 37,000 students and 4,200 staff. More information can be found at http://www.ousd.k12.ca.us/. The Human Resources Services and Support department at OUSD is committed to finding, keeping and growing extraordinary adults who are dedicated to providing incomparable instruction, services and schools for Oakland's children. In order to do this, HR is improving its processes around data and working to acquire a technology solution that allows for analysis related to turnover, performance, hiring pipelines, succession planning and more. As such, HR is looking for an existing or custom HR solution that will function as the sole method of data entry for the HR team, while also integrating with the existing finance/payroll technology, which will continue to be used by the District. HR s key areas of interest for this technology are in core HR, recruitment/applicant tracking, and employee self-service. This Request for Information ( RFI ) is the first in a two-stage process to help OUSD identify and select a partner for the design, development, and implementation of a human capital management system. This RFI will be followed by a Request for Proposal ( RFP ), from which a partner may be selected. OUSD strongly encourages those that intend to submit an RFP to participate in the RFI process. Please note that the project details outlined here are subject to revision, and participation in the RFI process in no way constitutes or implies a binding commitment on behalf of OUSD or the Responder. The District will not provide compensation to Responders for any expenses incurred in responding to this RFI. Responders submit proposals or responses at their risk and expense. All materials submitted in response to this RFI become the property of the District. Confidential and/or proprietary information must be clearly labeled as such and upon request will be returned. The District warrants and agrees that confidential and/or proprietary information shall not be disclosed beyond District employees who have a need to know. II. Project Scope HR has identified the need to implement an existing or custom HR solution to function as the sole method of data entry for the HR team, while also integrating with the District s existing finance/payroll technology. HR s current technology solutions are not meeting the Department s needs, particularly in the following five areas: 1. Data accessibility HR users currently have access to staff data through web and desktop 2
interfaces and through a library of pre-written reports. However, both avenues of accessibility are significantly limited. It is challenging for users to find information they need through the front end due to an unintuitive and inflexible layout. Users cannot see logic used to generate pre-written reports, and once a report is selected it often takes multiple hours to load. There is a high barrier to entry for creating new reports, and this is generally not done by HR end-users. 2. Data entry Historically, HR has not historically collected all information about our employees that we now want to track; for example, the hiring pipelines through which employees are recruited has not been tracked in the past, but this data can help HR better target recruitment strategies going forward. HR s current technology has a limited number of fields to maintain staff data, which are statically organized within the front end so that newly tracked fields must be stored in illogical parts of the front end; for example, employee hiring pipeline information cannot be viewed on the same screen as employee start date and other similar information. Currently, all HR data is entered by OUSD employees. Increasing data collection will require additional time devoted to data entry, so HR would benefit from an employee self-service module that allows applicants and employees to enter information themselves. Additionally, HR requires a solution that has the capacity to conduct effective data validation during data entry which ensure field completion and decrease the opportunity for data entry errors. 3. User experience HR s current technology has an outdated look and feel and requires significant prior knowledge to properly enter and consume data. Reports take multiple hours to load for users, and online accessibility is limited to Microsoft Explorer. 4. Longitudinal tracking HR needs a technology with a structure that allows for tracking employee lifecycles over time, from recruitment to separation, to produce key strategic metrics, such as turnover and retention rates. 5. Integration and interoperability HR currently uses one part of a technology that is a comprehensive Finance, Benefits, Payroll, and HR solution. HR s human capital management solution will need to have the capacity to integrate with that solution to ensure a single point of data entry for staff data. 3
III. Request for Information Please respond to the below questions using the form included as Appendix A. I. Business Description A. Company name B. Company address C. Company website D. Brief company history E. Main products/services F. Main market/customers G. Company location(s) H. Number of employees: total company as well as those supporting human capital management solutions I. Contact person responsible for answering this RFI: name, phone number, email address II. Functionality and Fulfillment of Needs A. Describe your approach to addressing the needs outlined in the project scope, touching on key areas of interest such as core HR, recruitment/applicant tracking, and applicant/employee self-service capabilities. B. How do you typically engage and support clients before, during, and after implementation of a solution? C. Data accessibility 1. Describe your design/user interface and how it contributes to efficiency, data accessibility and usability. Please include screenshots as examples. 2. Describe your approach to reporting. a) How do users author new reports? b) How is report logic communicated to end-users? c) How long would you expect it to take for a typical report to load? Please explain what unacceptable, average, and better than average load times would look like. D. Data entry 1. Describe the flexibility of your solution as it relates to adding/changing fields to facilitate expanded data collection. 2. Describe any employee self-service functionality which allows applicants and employees to enter information about themselves. 3. Describe your data validation functionality. E. Longitudinal tracking 1. Describe how the solution facilitates maintaining and analyzing staff data over time. 2. How do you maintain historic data that has since been updated? (e.g., changes to contract status or worksite) a) Can users access historic data through the front end? Through reports? Through another method? 4
F. Integration and interoperability 1. Describe how you would approach integrating your solution with OUSD s existing finance/payroll system in a way to ensure that HR has a single point of data entry for staff data into your solution. 2. Does your system offer an API? a) What type of API do you offer? (For example, REST, SOAP, etc. Please include any API standards that you support) b) Generally speaking, which features of your user interface are available through the API? What features does the user interface have that the API does not, and vice versa? 3. What platforms and applications have you successfully integrated with? 4. Do you offer professional services to implement integrations with your solution? G. Describe your approach to user training. Please explain audience and delivery methods. H. Describe the scope and duration of maintenance and support that you provide to clients. I. Describe your approach to security. J. Technical specifications 1. Describe which operating systems and database management systems are required to run the back end. 2. Describe which operating systems and browsers are supported for endusers. 3. Is your solution hosted or on-premises? 4. Will OUSD have direct access to the database? K. Describe your upcoming development plans. How can we expect your solution to improve over the next five years? L. Describe the pricing structure for: 1. License and upgrade 2. Systems integration 3. Training, maintenance, and support 4. Warranty III. Relevant Client Experience A. Provide details on three or more clients that OUSD may contact for reference purposes. Please include: 1. Client name, location, size, contact information 2. Project scope, year, duration, products and services provided, hardware and software platforms used 3. Number of people at client dedicated to implementation 4. Client s total cost of ownership B. How many total clients do you have? 1. How many clients (if any) are education-sector specific? 5
IV. RFI Process Submission Submit your response using the form provided as Appendix A in word-format by email to: Brigitte Marshall Associate Superintendent Human Resources Services & Support OUSD-HR-Human-Capital@ousd.k12.ca.us Responses must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. PST on March 25, 2014 Questions Please submit all questions regarding the RFI to OUSD-HR-Human-Capital@ousd.k12.ca.us no later than 12:00 p.m. PST on March 17, 2014. 6