Purchasing Services SVC East Fowler Avenue Tampa, Florida (813)

Transcription

1 Purchasing Services SVC East Fowler Avenue Tampa, Florida (813) Web Address: October 19, 2016 Invitation to Negotiate No GC Entitled: BUDGETING SYSTEM Information Due Date: November 1, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. Addendum No. 1 Please review the following clarifications based on submitted questions to the Request for Information (RFI) No GC Budgeting System. Section 5. Vendor Response is replaced with the following: 5. VENDOR RESPONSE Vendors submitting a response to this RFI should address the following elements. Additional information regarding your budgeting software solution is welcome. Responses should include this document and be organized and tabbed as follows: 1. Organization: Please furnish the following information to include but not limited to: company name, parent company (if applicable), office locations, years in business, number of similar customers (such as higher educational institutions). Page 1 of 7

2 2. References: Please furnish a list of references (s) and information that we may contact concerning your proposed products and services. 3. Websites: Please furnish any websites that we may visit to obtain additional information on your firm concerning this RFI. 4. Describe your software product and services addressing all elements described in section 4 above including estimated pricing for solutions. Questions/Responses: 1. Should you move forward with the procurement, when would you like to acquire a solution? As the RFI articulates, a Budgeting System solution has been identified as a current system need, but a specific timeline has not been developed. Information collected through this request will help make the timing determination. 2. Where would funding come from? When would you request money and when would you expect to know if the request was granted or not? Funding is possible from a variety of sources. This RFI is in part to develop a funding request. 3. Do you have any sort of cost threshold for the project at this time? At this time the RFI is being done to establish the range of costs. No threshold of costs has been assumed. 4. Do you expect to procure anything else related to this project, including, but not limited to: specs development services, external project management, iv&v, gap analysis, integration services, etc.? At this time, the scope is limited to a budgeting system/software solution. Information provided via this request has the potential to change the scope. 5. Has the University viewed budget solutions before the release of the RFP document? (Within the last 2 years) If so, which solutions? For clarification, this is an RFI (Request for Information) not an RFP. The university has reviewed many budget solutions at a glance but not in detail. 6. Has a budget been set aside for this project? If so, how much? A specific budget has not been established. 7. Can you provide an overview your general organizational structure as it relates to budgeting? For example, below is a common organization structure: a. 10 Divisions - 50 Departments Cost Centers (budgeting done at this level, then rolled up) Three campuses 20 colleges 40+ departments several hundred cost centers (Budget done at this level and rolled up) 8. Can you provide an example of the GL account string such as FFF-LLLDD-OOOO where F = Fund, L = Location, D = Dept and O = Object OOO-FFFFF-DDDDDD-PPPPPP-IIIIIII-AAAAA where O=Operating Unit, F=Fund, D=Department, P=Product, I=Initiative, A=Account Page 2 of 7

3 9. Are Departmental Allocations needed? For example, some Departments (Cost Centers) allocate all of their expenses to other Departments or Cost Centers in the budgeting process. These are often referred to as Internal Service Providers or ISPs. A common example of an ISP can be the Information Technology (IT) department. ISP budgets are developed in detail just like any other department, and then their expenses are allocated out to other budget elements other departments. Yes. 10. Can you describe how many licenses (users) are required for each module, as below: b. How many Capital budgeting user licenses are required? c. How many Operating budgeting user licenses are required? d. How many Salary/Position budgeting user licenses are required? e. How many Performance (KPI s) Measures user licenses are required? A division of licenses in not known for possible modules of products. 11. Do department managers (or the equivalent) manage all budgeting data for each position s costs (salary, wages, benefits, etc.) within their department? Or alternatively, is the salary & benefit budgeting done by a smaller group (maybe within Finance or HR) on behalf of the departmental users? If the latter, how many individuals (users) would need access to the salary and benefit data for all staff? These scenarios are to be determined. 12. What is the total number of positions (staff) at the University expressed as FTE s? Greater than 5, For the majority of positions, are staffing costs calculated based on Steps and Grades (a matrix or grid)? If not, can you explain how position costs are calculated? Not relevant detail at this time. 14. Is your preference to have the software installed on your premise (your server) or, in a hosted environment? If your preference is to have an off-site hosted or SaaS service, are there any requirements for the hosting site? Open to either 15. What are your project timing expectations? A specific timeline has not been established. 16. Can you help set our expectations on the evaluation for a new budgeting solution after the RFI? RFP, Demos, Customer References? Responses to this RFI will help us determine next steps which may include a public solicitation including demonstrations, customer references, etc. 17. Have you established any target Go-Live dates? If so, when. A specific timeline has not been established. 18. What are the main reasons you have decided to evaluate budgeting solutions? (1) Distribution and collection of templates, (2) Forecasting, (3) position control, (4) Consistent reporting, (5) Capital us analysis, (6) Responsibility Center Management (RCM) roll out will benefit from integrated budgets and financial systems. Page 3 of 7

4 19. What issues/challenges do you face? Main challenge is cultural change USF business officers are hardworking and talented with spreadsheets, but many will need education on the use of a formal planning and expense management system. 20. Can you give us an estimate on user count for the solution so we can put together estimated software license costs? We assume most of the users are in the Tampa/FL area? USF System is regional: Tampa colleges plus Health medical colleges; Sarasota/Manatee region in Bradenton; St. Petersburg region in St. Petersburg. 22. What role does executive management play in the process? Sponsoring and funding. 23. What role does IT play in process? IT will be part of both the evaluation and implementation teams. 24. What role will IT play in eval? IT will be part of the evaluation team There are many different models and functional areas we can address. As the basis for the RFI we are looking for some guidance on what you would like to us to estimate and give you estimates for. See RFI in short, USF is interested in an inexpensive budget system that could be expanded. Information about the modules available and a path to add them over time is desired. 26. How many individual users do you anticipate will be accessing the system? In sections F and A.4 under Company Information, the RFI mentions Vendor and Contract Management capabilities. Is USF looking for an additional procurement management system, or only as it may integrate with the Planning & Budgeting? Can you please elaborate? At this time, the scope is limited to a budgeting system/software solution. Information provided via this request has the potential to change the scope. 28. What are your project timing expectations? A specific timeline has not been established 29. What budgeting areas are you looking to automate? (Compensation, Expenses, Revenue, tuition planning, capex, others?) Initially Compensation and position analysis (with direct feeds from our host systems), Expense and revenue budgeting including appropriations, tuition, grants, etc. 30. What are the various components that are included in the completed budget? Salary Planning, Expense, Revenue, Capital, Travel? Please describe in more detail if possible. Typical expense and revenue line items. 31. Are any of the budget components Driver Based budgets? P*Q = $ or do you simply budget the whole dollar amount? Yes, several elements may be formula driven 32. Is your budget a Zero Based Budget or do you prepopulate your budget with prior year or prior budget numbers? Do not do zero based Page 4 of 7

5 33. How many end users provide input/contribute data to the models? What field in your organizational structure would security be applied? Department? Department or college 35. In your security structure, do you plan to use Active Directory Users? Active Directory Groups? TBD 36. What are the various roles or responsibilities of the End users? Input, edit, submission, reporting. For some users hierarchy maintenance. 37. Do end users all see the full model? Or do various subsets of users need access to different pieces of the model? Most likely will need to vary based on access rules. 38. Please describe budget process - who is involved, start date, amount of time, review process etc. Fiscal year is July 1-June 30. Uses RCM formula. Dependent upon state appropriation decisions in early Spring and enrollment assumptions by semester. Start around mid-feb with full year forecasts and early new year budget. Budget review process is done over approximately 3 month period beginning in April. 39. Are your current reporting capabilities adequate in terms of analysis? No 40. What kind of reports are needed to support the budgeting process? A significant number will be needed 41. What are the various data sources for the budgeting model? Peoplesoft, HCM, Banner (various modules), others. 42. Is the budget for dollar amounts only? Or does it include other metrics such as students, FTE, or other non-financial data? Other metrics are also needed for budgeting such as FTE, SCH, etc. 43. Do you need to be able to load the completed budget back into any other systems? Potentially into data warehouse 44. Is there a requirement for narrative reporting? No 45. Do you plan for just one budget year, or do you plan multiple years at a time (strategic planning)? Multiple is desired although currently only budgeting one year at a time 46. Do you plan your budget down to the month, or just annual numbers? Monthly 47. Can a faculty/staff member be budgeted for in multiple departments (costs allocated in multiple departments)? Yes Page 5 of 7

6 48. What are your biggest challenges with the existing budgeting solution? Limited distribution/collection tools. No formulaic forecasting capability. Limited integration with HR data and student data. 49. What product are you using for your existing budgeting activities? Internal developed tools 50. Would there be any consideration for an on-premise solution, and if so, what would be a key factor? Yes. Price and cost to implement and maintain. 51. How many users are expected to enter budgeting data into the system? Do you have a preferred reporting tool against this new budgeting solution? No 53. Does USF have an appointed Executive sponsor for the project? Not at this time 54. Is the project funded? Not at this time. The information collected is to aid that purpose. 55. Is there a desired system go live date/month? Not at this time. 56. Do you envision any logical phasing for the project implementation? Yes, by campus and college/unit 57. Who will be involved in the selection process? An evaluation committee consisting of a variety of stakeholders from administration and colleges 58. When might you expect to take demonstrations? A specific timeline has not been determined 59. Is there any desire to review the current state and any potential process improvements? That process is not planned 60. Does the new system include academic units only, including the School of Medicine, or will it also include clinical healthcare units? To be determined 61. Can you describe USF forecasting requirements in more detail including the number of years, frequency and level of detail compared with the operating budget? Up to three years. Done twice per annum. Similar detail as operating budget. 62. Are there any specific budgeting needs required by each unique campus or even within schools/units within a campus? Most unique need would be centered on grants and contracts budgeting 63. Which systems are currently used for pre and post Grant award tracking? Internally developed systems 64. In your security structure, do you plan to use Active Directory Users? Active Directory Groups? No we will not be using Active Directory users or groups. At USF we use CAS authentication. Page 6 of 7

7 Note: Please note receipt of this addendum by signing and returning with your response. Authorized Signature & Date Print Name Company Name Page 7 of 7