Enterprise Content Management Request For Information
Issue Date: October 18, 2013 Table of Contents Request for Information: Purpose, Scope, and Objectives 4 Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS). 5 RFI Key Contact and Date Information.. 6 LASERS Current Document Management Environment 7 LASERS Existing Technology Infrastructure 8 RFI Response Requirements. 9 Vendor Qualifications. 9 Vendor Contact Information.. 9 LASERS ECM Implementation and Conversion Services Information Request.. 10 Page 2 of 13
RFI Submission Information 12 RFI Response Evaluations.. 12 RFI Response Administration. 12 Page 3 of 13
Request for Information: Purpose, Scope, and Objectives The Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS) is requesting information from vendors that will be able to provide implementation and conversion services for a move from IBM s Content Manager for iseries version 5.4 to Content Manager P8 in the Windows environment. Requirements for the Request for Information (RFI) are contained in the following pages. The RFI provides an overview of the current content management environment at LASERS and requests responses from vendors that will allow LASERS to determine the scope, content, and approach for negotiation for acquisition, issuance of a Request For Proposals (RFP) and/or sufficient information to initiate the budget planning cycle required for this agency. LASERS will consider all reasonable implementation and conversion approaches to take advantage of changes and improvements in technology as well as vendor experience. The vendor may provide information for any or all of the project installation, conversion, or implementation components. Vendors should consider it their responsibility to provide additional information that would improve the probability of a successful project, if the vendor feels they have a unique approach that may not be covered by the specific information requested below. Each vendor should complete the requested information as fully as possible. If the vendor is not responding to a particular question, it should be so noted. Additional information will not necessarily provide an advantage unless it specifically addresses a need at LASERS. A final budget for this project has not been determined or encumbered. Initial and future goals of this project include the following: Provide consistent management of LASERS content from documents to member emails Page 4 of 13
Provide improved front end work item applications for business users Provide improved management of workflows with faster implementation of new and enhanced processes Implement capability for data driven workflows in addition to document driven workflows Provide improved data capture directly from documents and web submissions Identification and automation of retention rules Improved workflows and integration with other systems Louisiana State Employee s Retirement System (LASERS) The Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS) is a single employer defined benefit plan, established by the state legislature in 1946. A profile of the agency can be found on our website at http://www.lasersonline.org/site51.php. The agency's 137 employees are housed in the Retirement System Building, located at 8401 United Plaza Blvd. in Baton Rouge, LA. LASERS Information Technology staff supports the infrastructure and business critical applications that enable the work being performed in nine divisions. These divisions are as follows: 1. Member Services 2. Investments 3. Audit Services 4. Legal Services 5. Public Information 6. Information Technology 7. Fiscal 8. Human Resources 9. Executive Page 5 of 13
RFI Key Contact and Date Information Agency LASERS 8401 United Plaza Boulevard Baton Rouge, LA 70809 Issue Date October 18, 2013 RFI Response Due Date November 14, 2013 LASERS Agency Executive Mr. Lance Armstrong Director, Information Technology Division LASERS ECM Project Manager Mr. Eric Schoonmaker IT Application Manager LASERS Deadline for Vendor Questions Noon (CST) on Monday November 4, 2013 Email Address for Questions LasersECMProject@lasersonline.org Send questions to the email address listed above no later than the date and time specified. Questions will not be accepted by telephone. All questions will be answered by 5:00 p.m. on November 5, 2013. NOTE: LASERS reserves the right to change this schedule of RFI events, as it deems necessary. Page 6 of 13
LASERS Current Document Management Environment LASERS scans documents and stores them as TIFF images (only format supported). These documents are placed in index classes and routed to various workbaskets for processing. Business users monitor workbaskets and perform tasks associated with each workbasket. When the task is finished the document is either routed to another basket for additional work or the process is completed. LASERS processes approximately 1,000 documents per day with an existing database of almost 11 million images taking up about 3 TB of storage. An additional 4 million documents are stored utilizing the IBM ondemand solution (since 2008 no new documents have been stored with the ondemand product). Content Manager and ondemand are integrated to provide the current ECM solution for LASERS. The ECM Workflow Inventory spreadsheet, located at https://selfservice.lasers.state.la.us/imagingworkflowinfo.xlsx, provides supporting information on the current inventory of document classes, work items, workbaskets, etc. to be used in responding to this RFI. Software o IBM Content Manager image storage and basic workflow processing o IBM ondemand cold data storage (typical for form type images such as Federal 1099s and report data) o Folder Inquiry custom, in house front end for LASERS users; provides advanced workflow processing and better user interface than IBM product o Kofax document scanning package o EIS External Imaging Service; custom, in house application that transmits documents to imaging for storage and starts workflow processes Page 7 of 13
Hardware o Content Manager resides on the IBM iseries platform o Kofax scanning resides on a VMware Virtual Windows 2008 R2 server o Folder Inquiry resides on each Windows 7 SP1 client workstation LASERS Existing Technology Infrastructure LASERS has a technical infrastructure consisting of 68 virtual servers running on 14 HS21, 4 HS22, and 3 HS23 physical IBM blade servers in 2 blade center H chassis 95% running Windows 2008 R2. Tape backup for the Windows environment is provided by an IBM model 3576 tape library with 5 LTO4 fiber tape drives. The storage area network is an IBM N Series 6040. It contains 24 600 GB SAS Drives, 28 1 TB SATA drives, 24 2 TB SATA drives and 84 300 GB Fiber drives for a total allocated space of 30 TB on Filer A and 34 TB on filer B. The iseries, running the current IBM Content Manager system, is a model 720 with 32 GB of memory, 2 six way I5 processors with 2 LPARS and 14.75 TB of storage of which about 1.5 TB is used by Content Manager. Tape backup for the iseries environment is provided by 2 IBM Model 3576 LTO5 tape drives. Page 8 of 13
RFI Response Requirements Vendor Qualifications Qualifications to be addressed and included are the vendor s company background, size, resources, and details of the vendor s corporate experience relevant to the anticipated recovery services. The vendor qualification information should include the following: 1. Date that vendor s services were established 2. Ownership (i.e.; public company, partnership. subsidiary, etc.) 3. Total number of full time employees 4. Client bases served 5. Vendor partnerships, if applicable 6. Annual Report or similar financial information. 7. Annual growth over the past five years 8. Vendor certifications, if applicable 9. Expansion or contraction plans that could affect long term support either positively or negatively. Vendor Contact Information Vendor Name: Address: Phone #: Fax #: Submitted by: Page 9 of 13
Title: Additional Contact Information: Email Address: Web Site Address: LASERS ECM Implementation and Conversion Services Information Request Vendors should provide answers to the following questions in their responses to the RFI. The technology infrastructure section of the RFI should be used to identify any technology acquisitions recommended for this project. Responses are to be identified with the same question number as the list below. If any attachments are required to respond to a question the attachment should be numbered to match the question(s) that are referenced. 1. Experience with iseries Content Manager to P8 conversions 1.1. Hardware and Software installation 1.2. Data conversion and reconciliation 1.3. Implementation and configuration 2. Conversion client references and contact information 3. Description of conversion project management approach 3.1. Project Initiation 3.2. Planning 3.3. Requirements Gathering 3.4. Execution and Control 3.5. Post implementation and close out 4. Training recommended and training delivery approach 4.1. Technical 4.2. Business users Page 10 of 13
5. Change Management approach 6. Testing approach 7. Conversion approach 7.1. Images 7.2. Configuration (e.g. work items, workbaskets, etc.) 7.3. Reconciliation 7.4. Staging and duration 8. Typical documentation provided by vendor 9. Considerations for staying with Kofax vs. IBM Data Capture or other alternative for document scanning 10. Experience with and considerations for implementing OCR/ICR 11. Experience with and considerations for implementing web based forms for data capture 12. Typical opportunities for client improvements from prior conversion engagements 13. Based on available information: 13.1. Potential range of project costs 13.1.1. Hardware acquisition 13.1.2. Software acquisition 13.1.2.1. ECM components 13.1.2.2. System software (e.g. SQL Server licenses) 13.1.3. Professional Services 13.1.4. Training 13.2. Potential duration of project activities 13.3. Recommended project team size 13.3.1. Vendor 13.3.2. LASERS 13.3.2.1. Business 13.3.2.2. Technical Page 11 of 13
RFI Submission Information RFI Response Evaluations LASERS, at its sole discretion, may conduct further discussions with one or more vendors after the RFI responses have been received. Any aspect of a vendor s RFI response, including estimated costs, may be subject to negotiation. LASERS may request vendors to revise either or both their technical and price responses for resubmission during contract negotiations, if they take place at a later date. The request, if made, may be made in the form of requesting a Best and Final Offer setting forth the result of additional discussions or negotiations that may occur after the RFI responses have been received. LASERS reserves the right to enter into a contract without further discussion of the proposal submitted based on the initial submissions received. LASERS reserves the right to contract for all or a partial list of services offered in the submissions. RFI Response Administration An electronic version of your response is required in PDF format on CD ROM. The response should be placed in a sealed package and clearly labeled with your company name and LASERS ECM Project Request for Information Response. All responses are due in house at LASERS by 2:00 p.m. (CST) on the due date as stated in the RFI Key Contact and Date Information section at the following physical address: Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System (LASERS) 8401 United Plaza Boulevard Baton Rouge, LA 70809 Page 12 of 13
To the attention of: Mr. Eric Schoonmaker, IT Applications Manager Responses received after 2:00 p.m. (CST) on the due date may not be accepted. U.S. Postal Service date stamp does not constitute receipt in house at the LASERS office in Baton Rouge. Issuance of this RFI in no way constitutes a commitment by LASERS to award a contract. LASERS reserves the right to accept or reject, in whole or part, all proposals submitted or to cancel this announcement if it is determined to be in the best interest of LASERS. Page 13 of 13