RFP #03370 Data Warehouse Questions & Answersb.3cdn.net/glaser/d5535b52f8ac42c978_e4m6b8flk.pdf ·...

RFP #03370 Data Warehouse Questions & Answers

# Vendor Category Question Answer

1 Methodology Is the vendor expected to adhere to any particular methodologies related to data warehouse implementation, software development, and/or project management?

We would like to know what/if any methodology will be used.

2 Users What are the expected user volumes of the DW/BI infrastructure? The RFP notes 20-25 GP users and 400 CGIS users – are there others who will utilize the DW/BI solution?

500+/-

3 Data Volumes What are the data volumes from each source system that will be incorporated into the DW/BI solution?

GP is the largest data set currently at 10GB, CGIS data is stored in the Glaser database, which is about 25 GB. CGIS tables comprise about 32 MB of that. Travel DB is about 20 MB. The QB data sizes range between 4 to 10MB. Replicon data volumes will be a new addition for all countries.

4 Source Systems For each source system, what is the format of the backend database? (SQL Server, Access, Oracle, etc.)

SQL with API connections for Replicon QB

5 Reporting and Analytics How many reporting and analytical deliverables are expected? In addition to “static and ad-hoc” reports, are other delivery mechanisms desired? (Interactive dashboards, mobile information deliver, etc.)

40+ standard reports and the ability to do ad-hoc reporting. Dashboards and mobile reporting would be considered a plus.

6 Unstructured Data Can you please provide additional explanation around the ability to support unstructured data in the future?

No - this isn't required at this point.

7 Security What sort of data security capabilities are required (e.g. should data be secured dynamically by user account)?

By Country, Department, individual using AD

8 Environment Does/will the environment consist of a single Windows Active Directory domain?

AD

9 Environment Will all users be members of this domain?

Yes

10 Extranet Are there requirements for web-based access for external users?

For non-domain users no however with staff in different locations remote/web access is required

11 Engagement Type Is a fixed-price proposal a requirement?

No, we are also open to cost reimbursable, time and materials, etc.

12 Hardware Should the proposal include recommendations on supporting hardware / infrastructure and should the procurement and installation / configuration of this environment be included in this proposal? Do you have a preferred hardware provider (Dell, HP, etc.)

It should include recommendations on supporting hardware/infrastructure, but hardware prices wouldn't need to be included. If additional servers are required the Foundation would purchase those accordingly. We do not have a preferred hardware provider.


1 Reporting Platform Do you have a register of reports that you will want to produce from the data warehouse? Do you have a mapping of those reports to the source systems where the data would originate? If not, do you have an estimate number of reports that you will want to generate.

40+ standard reports and the ability to do ad-hoc reporting. The data mapping is to where the data currently resides.

2 Reporting Platform It is intended to replace the existing Report Manager application and Jet Reports? If so, what reports are being replaced?

We should have one central system for ad-hoc reports, which should replace both Report Manager (the GPC version) and Jet Reports.

3 Reporting Platform Should the reporting platform support both transactional reporting and analytical summarized data (eg. Data would be rolled up in a cube for faster reporting).

Yes

4 Reporting Platform Is the platform for only reporting, or should users have the ability to do data inquiry (ie. Ad-hoc reporting), data analysis (ie. Slicing/dicing across different dimensions), and write back to the data warehouse directly?

Yes, we want data inquiry and data analysis. Writing back to the DW is not in the scope

.5 Reporting Platform Do you want dashboards and scorecards? If so, do you have a list of metrics and KPI’s that you want to measure?

Dashboards would be beneficial - With standard nonprofit KPIs

6 Reporting Platform Should the reporting platform include visualizations? (ie. Graphs, charts, graphic kpi’s, maps, etc..). If so, what types and do you have examples of what you are looking for?

Yes, we want the ability to do visualizations.

7 Reporting Platform Do you need to ability to schedule reports and have them emailed out?

Yes

8 Reporting Platform Do you need the ability to export reports? What formats? (PDF, Excel, Word, XML, CSV)

Yes - excel, csv, pdf, word.

9 Reporting Platform Do reports need to be saved historically to be viewed at a later date? For example, an aging report from 3 months ago looks different today.

Beneficial but not required

10 Reporting Platform Does the data warehouse need to support as of date reporting? For example, an account may have been associated to a different account category in January, but in November they were changed. If you ran a report on account categories in January, that same report in November may have different results unless using as of date reporting.

Yes

11 Reporting Platform Are you looking for reports to be interactive or have drill down capability? If you are looking at a dashboard with a chart showing actuals over each period, would you want to be able to drill down to the specific GL transactions?

Yes, they should have the ability to drill down to the GL transaction.

12 Reporting Platform Do you have any complex calculations or formulas that you typically use in reporting? Typically these calculations might be used for KPI’s or in a scorecard.

Yes - Indirect & Fringe are two examples

13 Reporting Platform Do the reports need to support other languages besides English?

Depending complexity basic commands & headers would be helpful

14 Reporting Platform Do the reports need to support multi-currency? Or is everything USD?

Yes

15 Reporting Platform What business processes do you wish to report on, and what questions are you trying to answer? This will help us better understand the big picture.

Three basic examples are Lack of real-time access to financial/budget reports for staff in US and Africa. Lack of access to transaction- level data for all transactions. This data includes (Actual expenditures, Commitments, Sub-Agreement obligations). Users do not currently have the ability to drill down on any given one of those amounts, particularly actual expenditures and sub-grant obligations, to view the detail behind it. Lack of ability to track commitments, including purchase orders. One key area here is there should be a place where commitments can get recorded AND automatically liquidated as the actual expense is incurred (which may or may not involve a cash payment).

1 ETL and Data Warehouse Do you have any documentation on the data elements that you want to bring into the data warehouse from each system?

No - a high level concept

2 ETL and Data Warehouse The future configuration schematic mentions Data Mapping from each source system into the data warehouse. Has any of this data mapping been accomplished to date?

Comprehensive data mapping has not been done, but we have a good idea how many of the systems intersect.

3 ETL and Data Warehouse Besides eConnect, are you using any other tools from data integration and transformation. (ie SSIS).

We are currently using SSIS for the ETL process from GP to CGIS. We are considering a Crestwood solution for bulk importing.

4 ETL and Data Warehouse Do you currently use any custom developed analysis cubes, or use DynamicsGP Analysis Cubes?

Yes - Dynamics GP cubes

5 ETL and Data Warehouse How much data is in the source systems? How big are the databases for each source system? This will help us better estimate the amount of time for an ETL process.


1 Security Reports and dashboards can be controlled through security. However, if a user has access to run a report do you also want to limit that report to only data the user can see? For example, when running a sales report, it may be required to only allow the salesperson to see sales data for the territory they own. The same report is used by everyone, but the data is filtered through the report based on the user running the report.

Yes

2 Security Do all users running reports have domain accounts? Or will the reports need to be accessible to non-domain users?

AD

3 Security Do you have an organization structure for running reports? E.g. Finance, Sales, etc. Will report access be controlled through this type of structure?

Yes, currently we use AD Groups and some custom tables to define who should see which reports.

1 Training and Documentation

Besides a basic user manual and a technical design document, is there any other documentation you would like?

No


Do you want live onsite training or training via the web?

Slight preference towards onsite training, but either could work


Do you want recorded training?

Not Required but a nice to have


Should training be geared towards “Train the trainer” or do you want to have all users across all offices trained?

Train the Trainer


Once the system is deployed, you would like to maintain it. What level of expertise around BI do you have on staff? Do you have SQL Developers, BI analysts?

We currently have 3 developers

1 Technical Information Do you intend on purchasing a new server(s) for the data warehouse solution, or do you plan to utilize an existing server. If so, what are the specs of that server?

We are willing to purchase new servers or to create new VM servers (EMC).

2 Technical Information A major component of the Microsoft BI stack is SQL Server. With each new version, comes additional BI functionality. You are currently using SQL 2008. Do you own or have any plans to upgrade to SQL 2008 R2 or SQL 2012?

We are on 2008 R2 and are willing to move to 2012.

3 Technical Information SharePoint is another major component. Do you own or plan to implement SharePoint Server?

We are willing to consider implementing SharePoint.

4 Technical Information Are all of the source systems on separate servers? What are the versions of OS, SQL Server, and IIS being used for each?

Source Systems are on separate servers. All servers are running MS server and on SQL 2008+, Except Replicon and QuickBooks.

5 Technical Information The RFP indicates reports will be available to all offices via a web interface. Do you plan to expose a server to the outside world, or will users need to use a VPN connection? Or will users use remote desktop to a terminal server?

We are willing to have experts recommend best practice to us. We are willing and able to have either a VPN access or open server

6 Technical Information What OS are the users on? Windows only, or do Mac’s and tables need to be supported?

MS7, MS8, Tablet however MAC most likely will not be needed

7 Technical Information What browsers are users using?

IE - chrome, firebox and other major browsers if extra effort isn't too great

8 Technical Information How many users will be using the reporting system at peak time? How many on average?

Max 100 with an average of 25-40 at any given time

9 Technical Information How are the offices outside of DC connected? Is Quickbooks data copied over a secure VPN or secure FTP? Or via webservices?

The office with acceptable internet will be moved to online QB and then QB data would need to be copied down. Offices with slower internet would require QB files to be uploaded. (QB data will need to be integrated


1 What is the underlying database for Replicon? If a vendor proprietary, is it accessible in the cloud through a data driver?

API

2 Is Replicon in used in by the field locations, or are there plans for the field locations to use this system?

We are moving Replicon to the field and all offices will be using it by Feb 2014.

3 What is the underlying database for BIS?

SQL


1 Are there any SDLC or other processes/policies to which the contractor must adhere?

We would like to know what/if any methodology will be used however the contractor is not required to work from a preapproved list from the Foundation.

2 Can the Foundation please confirm the following sources are the only sources to be included in the data warehouse for this contract: • Sage Millennium • CGIS AM/PM module • CGIS Request for Proposal module • GLASER Can the Foundation prioritize the data sources in order of importance?

Webtime, GP, QB, CGIS, ADP, AM/PM and budgeting software. As well as key excel files.

3 Will there be an opportunity for oral presentations?

No

4 Bullet 2 Can the Foundation please provide the Foundation’s policy documents on "preferences and restrictions on access to and sharing of data"?

Follow up questions throughout this Q&A document should help define the restrictions on access to and sharing of data.

5 Bullet 1 Should the contractor’s proposal include specific reporting tool recommendations (e.g. Microsoft BI Stack), or should tool selection be part of the engagement?

Can be part of the engagement, but including them the proposal is fine.

6 Bullet 4 What type(s) of unstructured data does the Foundation anticipate incorporating in the future?

No - this isn't required at this point.

7 Bullet 5 How many existing “standard reports” will need to be developed?

40+

8 Bullet 5 Can the Foundation provide samples of the "Budget to actual reports by department and agreement" and "Grant agreement pipelines and burn rate analysis" reports?

Yes - see attached for examples

9 Criterion 2 If installation/configuration of software is required, will these activities be performed by the contractor or by the Foundation resources?

Both

10 Criterion 2 Is the Foundation expecting a completely fixed price cost or can there be a time and materials component to the cost?

Fixed price is our preference, however some of the reports & building can be a T&M

11 Proposed Timeline At what time should each document be sent to the Foundation?

All proposal documents should be sent at the same time by the close date.

12 Proposed Timeline In what technology format would the Foundation like the documents (such as PDF or Word)?

Word is preferred but all both are acceptable

13 Proposed Timeline Does the Foundation have any specific formatting guidelines on font size, diagrams, etc for submission documents?

No

14 Appendix 1 What RDBMS/format does the GLASER program database use?

SQL Server 2008R2

15 Appendix 1 What kind of data elements (examples) does the Foundation want to pull from the GLASER program database?

Glaser is our programmatic data system but will not be included at this time

16 Appendix 1 What RDBMS/format does the Contract & Grants & AM/PM system use?

SQL Server 2008R2

17 Appendix 1 What kind of data elements (examples) does the Foundation want to pull from the Contract & Grants & AM/PM system?

AM/PM is the system we use to keep track of our incoming awards (deliverables, timelines, approved travel, budget, award dates) and CGIS is the system we use to keep track of our outgoing (sub) awards. It provides us a complete picture of our money coming in and going out, but needs to be better tied in with Great Plains.

18 Appendix 1 What RDBMS/format does the Travel DB use?

SQL Server 2008R2

19 Appendix 1 What kind of data elements (examples) does the Foundation want to pull from the Travel DB?

The Travel DB keeps track of who is going where and when, as well as details on purpose and statements of work.

20 Appendix 1 What kind of data elements (examples) does the Foundation want to pull from QuickBooks/Great Plans?

Detailed transactions included in the general ledger (and analytical accounting as appropriate), payables, encumbrance management.

21 Appendix 1 Does the Foundation expect any system changes or new systems to be introduced into the existing system architecture?

Yes - budgeting system

22 Appendix 1 Are the subscriptions pulled from or pushed into the report system?

We currently use subscriptions with our SSRS reports. They are hard-coded now, but we would like to move to data driven subscriptions.

23 Appendix 1 What are the current and projected data volumes for each of the source systems?


24 Appendix 1 Apart from ad hoc and canned reports, is there any need to do what-if analyses in this phase of the data warehouse effort?

Yes, that would be ideal.

25 Appendix 1 Will the contractor have access to the Foundation’s servers? At what level, such as for development, testing, and/or production? How much access and support will be provided?

Yes - total support & access will be provided

26 Appendix 1 How does the Foundation envision testing will take place? Who will approve test results and sign off on the deliverables? Does the Foundation have response time SLAs for the reports and how will they be stress tested for sign off?

We will need to have a variety of user’s test the reports (from each relevant department) and Dave and Tashma will need to sign off.

27 Report Manager In what technology is the GPC Report Manager written?

Not relevant to this project as that data will not be included in the data warehouse because we are hoping the reporting functionally will replace the need for it.

28 Report Manager Does the Foundation envision the new data warehouse solution completely replacing the existing Report Manager?

A final decision on Report Manager has not been made, but its use will diminish greatly once the data warehouse is in place since the only data captured there is from Great Plains.

29 CGIS What ETL tool is currently used for the CGIS system?

SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services), but it needs to be rewritten and simplified from its current state.

30 Will the 20-25 GP users (maximum of concurrent 12-15 users) and the 400 CGIS users be the expected audience of the data warehouse and reporting solution? If not, what is the expected number of users?

500+/-

31 User population What is maximum number of concurrent CGIS users logged in at a time?

200

32 What is the expected growth of users over the next 3,5,10 years?

No sure at this time

33 Is there any bandwidth on existing servers to satisfy some of the requirements or will the contractor need to spec out an entirely new set of development, test, and production hardware and software?

Current hardware (servers) is believed to be able to handle this but if the Foundation needs to increase our resources we will assist with new specs.


1 Where is QuickBooks installed and how is it accessed?

Currently QB is installed in country and sent to DC (via dropbox). In the future, countries with acceptable bandwidth can move to online QB and those without will remain with QB.

2 The below list of servers from the RFP are assumed to be source system servers. Are any of these going to be used for the Data Warehouse?

2.1 Application Server

2.2 Remote Desktop and Domain Controller

DW should be built on its own VM server

2.3 Remote Desktop (primary for report users)

DW should be built on its own VM server

2.4 Remote Desktop (Virtual) DW should be built on its own VM server

2.5 SQL Server 2008, GP DW should be built on its own VM server

2.6 Development (Virtual) DW should be built on its own VM server

3 If EGPAF servers listed in the RFP will not be used for the Data Warehouse and components of this solution, is EGPAF open to a cloud/hosted solution? Yes

4 For each of the data sources listed in the RFP, what are the expected volumes of data?


5 Under the Contractor Deliverables section there is a bullet regarding the design and development of desired reports and other outputs. Approximately how many reports need to be developed? 40+

6 Regarding your security and privacy concerns, are there any specific standards that need to be adhered to?

No. The data we are concerned about is salary, country level and departmental data.


1 How many data feeds are expecting to integrate into DW?

QB, GP, Replicon, ADP, Travel DB, CGIS, AMPM, Budgeting

2 Can you provide details of various data feeds and sample data associated with each data feed?

3 Can you provide the frequency of data ingestion for each data feed and expected size of each load?

We haven't narrowed the time down but we at least nightly.

4 What is the total data size that would be consolidated into DW initially?


5 What is the expected rate of data growth per month/year? Don't know

6 How many quickbooks installations are there in the field? 20

7 What is the relations between Sage Millenium and Dynamic GP?

Sage Millennium houses private donation data. Donations and pledges are imported in to Great Plains.

8 Which BIS system are you using? BIS 2.0

9 Is GLASER part of the request for proposal or is it separate? If it is, how many users, concurrent users are expected to use the GLASER? Separate

10 How many reports are you expecting to be developed? What is the frequency of various reports generation? (Adhoc, Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly?) 40+

11 Do you prefer fixed price bid or are you open for T&M?

Fixed price is our preference, but we are open to cost reimbursement. Some of the reports could be a secondary proposal.

12 Are you considering utilizing one service provider for the entire engagement or will you be considering more than one service provider? One


Overall What is the overall structure of the project and stakeholder team?

team will include: 1x PM 4x SME (FP&A, A&C, Fin, Budget) Foundation's lead developer Testers as required

Overall Can you estimate the overall number of end-users?

500+/-

Overall Who is the audience for this project?

Foundation's Corp. Services (Fin, A&C, FP&A, IT) both in USA & Africa

Overall Are there any licensing considerations that we should be aware of that might influence our choice of infrastructure?

No however we currently run Office 365 and are considering E3.

Overall What is the purpose of the data warehouse information as far as reporting is concerned?


Overall What is the technical infrastructure of the existing environment?

Primarily Microsoft with SQL databases

Technical Information Are current db systems colocated or remote?

Both

Technical Information Is CGIS, Replicon, and BIS built on Microsoft, Oracle, or other RDBMS? Which version?

SQL Microsoft

Technical Information Is the expectation to buy new hardware to support the DW or repurpose or muli-home an existing machine?

We are open to purchasing new hardware if required (the price shouldn't be part of the response).

Technical Information Can you elaborate on some examples of unstructured data that might need to be managed. Also, is it envisioned that unstructured data be merely stored or also parsed and analyzed?

No but we would like to have links to documents

Technical Information Can you describe the QuickBooks databases? Are the QB Online Plus dbs self-hosted? If self-hosted, what is the DB platform?

Each country uses their own QB file and some have a US and Local currency file

Technical Information Is the custom Report Management tool going to remain in service? How is this system deployed? Is the intention for it to host the reports sources from the proposed data warehouse?


Technical Information What is the regional/central networking environment? VPN? Leased line?

A complete Foundation AD and each country/office is setup on in their own network with Riverbeds connecting back to the DC office.

Technical Information What is the high/low bandwidth and throughput of the regional offices? Typical uptimes? Are there any concerns about uptime and bandwidth consistency?

1MB/3MB

Technical Information Is data warehouse scalability desired for depth (i.e. amount of data), width (i.e. future dimensions, hierarchies, attributes, etc), or architectural complexity (i.e. data sources, DW virtualization, operational data stores, additional OLTP capacity)?

All three

Technical Information Is there a desired DW replication scheme for uptime and/or availability? Is replication desired for backup purposes or maximum uptime?

Undecided

Technical Information What is the typical system backup regimen? Are backups regularly taken on both a system and a DB level?

Yes

Technical Information Is there a system administration staff to look after machines and handle outages and patches?

Yes

Technical Information What does the existing storage infrastructure look like? SAN? Fibre-channel? What level of RAID configuration is in use? Are SSDs in use for system disks on currently deployed systems?

ENC VNX5300

Technical Information Is the data warehouse intended to be located in a data center or onsite?

Undecided

Technical Information Does the Foundation currently employ an end-user ad-hoc query tool capable of OLAP and/or MDX queries?

Not really but we do basic report building with Jet & Excel

Technical Information Is the end-user tool currently deployed favored by users or could improvements be made?

No

Technical Information Is there a desire for development and management of organizational KPIs supported by the data model?

Yes

Technical Information If so, will KPIs be monitored via a dashboarding tool by decision-makers? Is there a dashboarding environment currently employed by the Foundation?

Yes

Technical Information Is there a desire to perform foward looking data analytics on the DW for forecasting and scenario planning?

Yes

Technical Information Will there be a need to segregate data along time periods for comparisons throughout the year?

Yes

Technical Information What is the basic unit of granularity desired for modeling, i.e. project, grant, donor, contract, etc?

Undecided

Technical Information If new hardware is needed for the project, what is the approval, procurement, and installation process for such? Is hardware paid for out of a capital budget or intended to be part of the project estimate?

Hardware costs do not need to be included in the project estimate, but to the extent an outlay is required please highlight it in your response.

Technical Information Are servers deployed via virtual machine or discrete hardware? What is the preferred configuration for a new project?

Currently a mix of both

Technical Information Is there a need to consume this data via a mobile platform?

Possibly.

Technical Information Is there a desire to consume the data outside the controls of the internal Foundation network?

Yes (however they will have AD access)

Technical Information Are network rights and permissions managed via Active Directory or LDAP?

AD

Technical Information Are there any special encryption or authentication requirements that must be adhered to for transmission of data between offices, other than a VPN or leased line?

Not at this time

Technical Information Is there a need to segregate data visibility within the organization, and if so, along regional lines, functional lines, individual departments, etc?

Yes - Regional, functional and departmental access depending report.

Technical Information Can you provide row counts for each of the input systems? Which transactional system has the most data?


Technical Information When was the last schema change to any of the input systems?

CGIS and AM/PM and Travel DB are generally changed annually.

Technical Information How often are architectural changes or other updates made to the custom systems (CGIS, BIS, etc)?

CGIS and AM/PM and Travel DB are generally changed annually.

Technical Information Are there other OLAP systems currently in place at the Foundation?

No

Business What is the estimated number and organizational level (analyst, manager, director, VP, etc) of concurrent users?

500+/-

Business What are the typical technical strengths of the average user?

Ave

Business What is/will be the distribution of Super-users vs. regular?

1 to 10 at best

Business How will master data be managed and controlled in the organisation?

Not decided

Business Reporting changes - does the organization desire to self-manage the reporting environment, i.e. add/remove/edit reports from the report server? Will this be done by someone with strong technical skills?

Yes

Business Is there a regional financial process that must occur to provide inputs to the central office? Will this impact the design or use case of the data warehouse and associated architecture?

QB must be approved and uploaded before a month can close however open month QB data should still be in the DW

Business What is the primary business driver for this project, i.e. what kind of reports are immediately identified as being produced by this project?

Three basic examples are Lack of real-time access to financial/budget reports for staff in US and Africa. Lack of access to transaction- level data for all transactions. This data includes (Actual expenditures, Commitments, Sub-Agreement obligations). Users do not currently have the ability to drill down on any given one of those amounts, particularly actual expenditures and sub-grant obligations, to view the detail behind it. Lack of ability to track commitments, including purchase orders. One key area here is there should be a place where commitments can get recorded AND automatically liquidated as the actual expense is incurred (which may or may not involve a cash payment). Examples of report Country Monthly Financial Report Department Monthly Report Incoming Agreement Report Fundraising Revenue Report Senior Leadership Report Frequent Ad-Hoc Requests Webtime Reports BTA/Pipeline

Business Will inputs need to be made to the data warehouse directly by business staff (i.e. read/write vs. read-only) or will the DW server only as an analytical reporting platform?

No

Business Can you provide any examples of identified shortcomings of the current financial platform?


Business Are there any other internal improvement initiatives that could influence the design or functionality of this data warehouse?

Perhaps Crestwood or more detailed imports of QB data

Business What are the training requirements for this project? How many staff members will need training, and what is the timing for their availability? Are there any busy periods of the year that will preclude their training?

The primary group to be trained will be around 2-5, with a focus of train the trainer. That group will then train Foundation staff.

Business What is the desired timing of delivery for this project? Are there any major temporal business drivers?

No later than Nov 1, 2014

Business Is it acceptable to run the existing financial platform and the new platform concurrently during UAT?

Yes

Business What is the time and budget size of the largest custom development project undertaken by the Foundation to date?

Information not required

Business In general, how experienced are Foundation staff and stakeholders with bespoke development and software engineering?

Moderately experienced - The Foundation engaged a group to advise us on how to consolidate financial data for reporting. We have key developers on staff as technical advisors as well

Business For projects and annual budgets, which system shall input numbers to the data warehouse? The Future Configuration Schematic in the RFP appears to show budget numbers being sourced from both BIS and Excel simultaneously.

Currently budget data is stored in BIS (board approved) however reallocations within that budget are stored in Excel. Depending on the new budget tool this could change.

Business Have the source systems been selected with a particular kind of decision support in mind? In other words, can you elaborate on how stakeholders wish to view Payroll vs. Grants vs. Operating Budgets?

See attached report examples

Project/Engagement What internal organizational levels (analyst, director, etc) will participate in the project?

The internal team will include: 1x PM 4x SME (FP&A, A&C, Fin, Budget) Foundation's lead developer Testers as required

Project/Engagement How large will the project team be, and is there commitment from management to staff the internal project team with stakeholders from both the business and IT?

Yes - and 6 to 8 people

Project/Engagement Is there an internal PMO? No

Project/Engagement Will project management, IT, or the business control requirements and budget?

PM but with support from all

Project/Engagement Is there internal IT and/or business systems support? If so, are they aligned with the requirements for this project, even to the level of accepting its necessity?

Yes

Project/Engagement Will internal IT be required to support the new data warehouse? If so, does the Foundation employ staff members with sufficient skills in data warehousing, business intelligence, ETL, or database administration?

Yes

Project/Engagement Has the Foundation considered using internal development and IT resources to build the data warehouse? If so, why was the decision made to use outside contractors?

Yes - Not enough current bandwidth for a project of this size.

Project/Engagement Has the budget for this project already been set? If so, can you share it?

We have developed a tentative budget and that information will be shared with the partner selected.

Stakeholder At what level is the budget held for this project?

Sr.. Director

Stakeholder Is there stakeholder support at the highest level of DOA for this budget?

COO

Stakeholder How is accountability distributed in Glaser? By region or function, or both?

Not part of this phase


Replicon a. Is the database schema available?

Replicon b. What are the expected output or report requirement from Replicon?

Employee, Time and Billing codes

Replicon c. What are the expected output or information from replicon that will be linked to GP?


Replicon d. What are the expected output or information from replicon that will be linked to ADP?


CGIS a. Is the database schema available?

Yes - for the partner that is select.

CGIS b. Do you have specific report requirements from CGIS?

Yes

CGIS c. What are the expected output or information from CGIS that are going to be linked to GP?

Obligations, amendments, etc

QuickBooks a. What information do you need from QuickBooks?

Detailed transactions, vendors, accounts

GLASER a. Is the database schema available?

NO

GLASER b. What are the report requirements for this?

None currently

ADP a. What information do you provide for ADP?

username, time, payments, employee ID

GP a. What are the information do we need from GP (GL, AP)?

GL, AP, AA, Encumbrance Management

General 7. Do you foresee data reporting on individual data sources before they are aggregated?

Yes

General 8. Do you foresee reports that requires aggregation from a group of data source like Replicon and ADP before it is aggregated to other source like GP?

Yes

General 9. Do you have existing reporting platform?

Yes - SSRS, Report Manager, SmartList, Excel Reports and Jet

General 10. What is your preferred reporting platform?

We would like our partner to help decided.

General 11. How will the web reporting be exposed? Will it be an internet based with a basic authentication or will it be windows authentication? Will it be on a VPN? Will it be on a premise or hosted solution?

We are open and willing to consider VPN, hosted or whatever the partner feels is best. Currently using windows authentication and are extremely happy with that.

General 12. What's the volume of their databases and estimated size growth in period? Is there a data retention? Do they purge data?


General 13. List existing standard reports and description of the reports. If possible provide metadata of the report, like data source and field definition. For existing ad-hoc report, what type of questions are being answered when users analyse data. (example: How many contracts in a given period)

Examples are Country Monthly Financial Report • Automated pull of Budget by the following: o Incoming Award o Expense Category o Budget Location • Expenses by the following: o GL Account Segment 1: Account Code o GL Account Segment 2: Base Location o AA: IA Subcomponent o AA: Budget Location o AA: Incoming Award o AA: Subaward Number o AA: Activity Code o Transaction Date • Automated pull Sub-Award Obligations by the following: o Incoming Award o AA: Subaward/Outgoing Agreement Number o Transaction Date/Month Department Monthly Report • Expenses by the following: o GL Account Segment 1: Account Code o GL Account Segment 3: Department Code o AA: Incoming Award o Transaction Date • Automated pull Budget by the following: o Expense Category o Department Code o Incoming Award Incoming Agreement Report • Expense by the following: o GL Account Segment 1: Account Code o Transaction Date o AA: Incoming Award o AA: Budget Location • Automated pull Budget by the following: o Incoming Award o Expense Category o Budget Location Fundraising Revenue Report

• Revenue by the following: o AA: Campaign Code o GL Account Segment 1: Account Code o GL Account Segment 5 o Transaction Date • Automated pull Budget by the following: o Campaign Code o Temporarily Restricted/Unrestricted o Month Senior Leadership Report • Expenses & Budget by the following: o GL Account Segment 3: Department Code o GL Account Segment 1: Account Code o AA: Incoming Award o AA: Funder Type o AA: Budget Location o Transaction Date Frequent Ad-Hoc Requests - Webtime Reports o Number of Hours booked by person; § Department; § incoming award o Amount of Salary booked per person: § Department § Incoming Award - Payments and Commitments by Vendor o Department o Incoming Award - Trip Details by person: o Dates o Destination o Traveler Name o Department o Incoming Award o Total Amount


General Are there any other sources of data held in spreadsheets which could be included?

Yes - one example is the Foundation's current expense report forms


General Commercial Inquiries

Please confirm that the single RFP document entitled Data Warehouse Implementation downloaded from your website on 12/4/13 is the correct version and that it contains all the RFP information.

There have been no revisions.


Please confirm that there are no additional terms and conditions documents or commercial terms documents in addition to the downloaded RFP document.

No changes


Will you require that the chosen contractor sign agreements concerning data security?

Yes


Will responses to the RFP be accepted from contractors in the US or globally?

Globally

Contractor Deliverables “It may eventually also incorporate data from nonfinancial systems.” – Is it envisioned that the data warehouse will be required to accommodate Big Data workloads?

No - that is beyond the scope of this project.

Contractor Deliverables “…ensure the data warehouse is robust enough to accommodate this progress.” – Are you able to provide a roadmap to quantify the growth of these outputs?

The biggest addition to the data warehouse would be Glaser data

Contractor Deliverables “Microsoft BI Stack” – Are you including SQL Server, SharePoint and Office as components of the Stack? Is Office 365 Power BI part of the Stack for this RFP? What versions and licenses do you own? Do you own the premium versions of the Stack?

Currently only Office 365 exchange however we would/will consider E3

Contractor Deliverables “Design for the data warehouse that accommodates existing needs and is scalable for future growth” – Are you able to provide a roadmap to quantify the expected scalability? What are the SLAs for performance?

No - we have basic ideas but we would like to work with contractor on this.

Contractor Deliverables “Adequate resources to build, manage, and support the development and delivery of the data warehouse” – Please clarify. Are you requesting that the RFP responses include a staffing plan and does this plan need to include your staff resources as well as our resources. What are your expectations for your resources that will support this initiative? If your staff is planning to participate in the initiative; to what extent is your involvement and what skills will your staff bring to the initiative?

The RFP response should include a staffing plan. Our staff needs to be involved the development in order to take over the system once it is completed. We currently have three developers comfortable with the Microsoft BI stack.

Contractor Deliverables “A data warehouse that is populated by data from our current sources and is scalable to support structured and unstructured data from future sources (such as statistical or donor relations data)” - Is it envisioned that the data warehouse will be required to accommodate Big Data workloads?

No - unstructured data does not need to be supported.

Contractor Deliverables “The design and development of desired reports and other outputs based on Foundation requirements. This will include ad-hoc and standard canned reports.” – Are you able to quantify the number of reports and average complexity (simple, average, complex) of these reports?

5-10 complete, 15-20 ave, 1-15 simple

Contractor Deliverables “Creation of a data dictionary which includes:” – Is there a requirement that the data dictionary have automation capabilities or is it permissible to create a data dictionary that will be manually supported for future changes?

Automation would be great however it is believed to be complex. It would be great to have, but is probably a lower priority. We would like to find out more about it but most likely this priority wouldn't be part of the scope.

Contractor Deliverables “A full documentation of ETL processes, custom programming, query logic and other design elements for the final data warehouse” – Will you provide a specification for this documentation or is documentation based on our standards to be included in the RFP response?

Documentation is based on contracts standards to be included in the response.

Contractor Deliverables “Development of comprehensive documentation and training for the operation and maintenance of the data warehouse solution that allows the Foundation to assume these functions in totality and without reliance on the vendor.” – Are you able to provide information about your staff that will assume this responsibility, in particular, what data warehousing experience does your team currently have so that a baseline for training can be established.

We currently have three software developers comfortable with the Microsoft BI stack.

Contractor Qualifications “Extensive experience supporting cross platform compatibility” – Please clarify. Do you require that the contractor have experience with the Microsoft BI Stack, Solver’s B1360, and IBM Cognos BI or across one of the options listed in your RFP? How will you rank the contractors qualifications for supporting cross platform compatibility? Are you envisioning supporting more than one platform?

The contractor should have experience in the tools present in their proposal. This is not limited to what we have listed in the RFP.

Contractor Qualifications ” Experience supporting both the use of and report creation with Analytical Accounting” – Please clarify. Because you have capitalized Analytical Accounting, please provide a definition.

Analytical Accounting is a module in Great Plains that allows greater reporting flexibility. The Foundations is tied to the AA module and it should be integrated throughout the RFP response.

Contractor Qualifications “Background in developing and deploying a strong data rights framework, particularly as regards efforts to prevent any data misuse (such as fraud, marketing or other purposes)” – Is it a requirement that this framework include policy development or are you requesting a technical approach? Does the technical approach need to include monitoring, analyzing and reporting on possible occurrences of data misuse? Or, is an identity management and data security framework expected? Will the contractor be required to build identity management and data security into the data warehouse solution or will you build this based on the framework provided?


Contractor Qualifications “History of successful solution implementations using efficient project management and software development approaches” – Do you have a preferred approach? Is Agile with Scrum an approach that is part of your software development experience? Have you identified the Product Owner for this data warehouse and is the Product Owner staffed outside of IT.

We do not have a preferred approach but we would like to know what/if any methodology will be used. The PO will outside of IT in Fin.

Logistics “Contractor will perform the work at its place of business, except for meetings at the Foundation’s DC office” – Will it be necessary to conduct web meetings with staff outside of Washington, DC and will these meetings be affected by multiple times zones?

Possibly.

Logistics Will you set up access to data sources? What are the contractual requirements for granting access. Will we need to sign any USA healthcare industry business partner data usage agreements?

Yes, we will set up access to data sources. A nondisclosure agreements will be required

Evaluation Criteria And Submission Requirements

“Timeframe of implementation” – The implementation plan will be affected by the number of your staff that will participate. Will you provide a list of staff, their roles, capabilities, and percentage of time they will be contributing? For example, will your staff do the quality and testing processes for the data warehouse or will the contactor be expected to provide QA? If the contractor is to provide QA, will you provide subject matter experts that will validate QA tests?

The internal team will include: 1x PM 4x SME (FP&A, A&C, Fin, Budget) Foundation's lead developer Testers as required

Proposed Timeline Is there an overall timeline for completion of the data warehouse? Have any expectations been set internally for when this data warehouse and the reports will be ready for users to use?

We have developed an internal timeline, but it is very tentative and will be finalized by the contractor selected. The target deployment is no later than Nov 1, 2014

Proposed Timeline Do you expect that this data warehouse will contribute to operations success in a way that can be quantified? For example, have you worked through the IT investment process of determining answers to: § What are you doing now that you will want to stop doing once the data warehouse is available? § What are you doing now that you will be able to do more effectively after the data warehouse is available? § What would you like to do know that you can’t do without the data warehouse?

Manually compiling data from various sources to craft reports.

Proposed Timeline Is the envisioned timeline for the data warehouse tied to a ROI and are the benefits of having this data warehouse and associated outputs (reports, dashboards, scorecards, etc.) quantified such that this investment will have more than a $1 million effect on your overall operations? Is this ROI based on lowering cost of operations, increasing revenue or operations efficiency or both? Given industry reports that this type of business analytics investments yields up to a 10:1 benefits to cost relationship have you determined whether investing in the data warehouse will accomplish these results for you? How?

No

Technical Information o Future Configuration Schematic

Technical Information § The data warehouse schematic does not address unstructured data sources, yet the envisioning information requests that unstructured be considered. Please clarify.

Unstructured data will not be included in the data warehouse at this time however we want to make sure what is built can support this kind of data in the future.

Technical Information § Based on your schematic that shows a Reporting Platform is a Reporting Server sufficient as a data warehouse architecture?

We would need a recommendation from the contractor.

Technical Information o Report Manager

Technical Information § This is not shown in the Future Schematic or is it part of the Reporting Platform?

Report Manager only captures Great Plains data currently and will not populate the data warehouse.

Technical Information o Jet Reports

Technical Information § Which version of Jet Reports do you own?

12

Technical Information o User population 10

Technical Information § Have you calculated the number of concurrent users?

500+/-

Technical Information General Technical Questions

Technical Information o What are the parameters for the data warehouse and would you please fill out the table below?

See Chart

Technical Information o You have not specified an architecture for the data warehouse? Should we assume the simplest architecture?

No

Technical Information o Do you require ETL from the source systems to create a Star-Schema data warehouse or have you considered alternate designs? Which do you prefer?

Perhaps

Technical Information o Does the data warehouse fill a historian role? If yes, will slowly changing dimensions be required as part of the design?

No

Question Answer

now many AA dimensions and account classes?

12 AA

How many concurrent users of the reporting system? 500=/1

Is common master data references conformed across all systems, or will the new system be expected to conform data for reporting? Yes

All GL account segmentation rule and segment values do not clash with other instances, e.g. from QB to GP (Y/N) No

All cost center codes are unique and do not clash (Y/N) Yes

There is a single financial calendar throughout the organization (Y/N) No

All values extracted are converted to USD in the respective source systems (Y/N) No

Reporting only supports one language (Y/N)

Currently yes but it would be nice have (common header/functions)

Why would QB be in scope if the TB is loaded to GP?

We want data from the 'open' month included. Only closed months will be in Great Plains.

How many reports are to be recreated? 20+

How many axis or criteria are included in your information rights policy? N/A

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