Financial Information System (FIS) And Material Management Information System (MMIS) Replacement Project

Transcription

1 Financial Information System (FIS) And Material Management Information System (MMIS) Replacement Project Request for Information Questions & Responses May 1, 2017

2 Table of Contents 1.0 Questions and Responses Schedule and Conditions Terms and Conditions Schedule and Contact Information... 3 i

3 1.0 Questions and Responses 1. Is it mandatory to respond to this RFI to be eligible to bid on RFP that will be issued in the near future? a. No, it is not necessary to respond to this RFI to be eligible to bid on the RFP. These (RFI, RFP) are separate, distinct activities. 2. Are you asking the vendors to respond to all of the essay questions in the first 20 pages of the RFI, as well as responding to all the requirements in the appendix? a. Yes, we d like you to respond to the essay questions and the requirements in the appendix. 3. Would EBMUD consider providing 2 months or more for the responses in order to ensure that you receive quality responses? a. At this point, we are not extending the deadline. 4. Would you please indicate how many end-users use FIS & MMIS? a. The FIS system has 191 users, and the MMIS system has 637 users. 5. Does new FIS need to come from a provider who could also replace MMIS? a. For the replacement system, the provider of our financial solution need not be the same provider of our procurement solution, but they must demonstrate how they would interface with the procurement and other software systems. (page 3 in RFI) 6. Would you require selection/evaluation services for this project? a. Not at this time. 7. Budgeting users you indicate that there are 15 departments that are involved in the creation of EBMUD s budget. How many people within those 15 departments would you envision using the new system to perform budgeting activities such as the development of a budget plan or controlling against actuals? a. The number of Budgeting tool users varies from department to department. However, our current Budgeting tool has a total of 226 users. Taking retirement and new hire into account, we estimate the total new Budgeting tool users be 226 +/- 10%. 8. Can you provide a high level description of how the IBM Maximo application is being used today? For example, are you using any modules beyond work orders, such as their procurement or inventory modules? a. The IBM Maximo application is currently used by Wastewater System to track work orders, schedule maintenance work, and plan jobs. It is also used as an asset management tool, but is not being used for procurement or inventory control. 9. Does EBMUD have any technology standards or preferred technologies? a. EBMUD s relational database management standard is Oracle. For software development, we use a variety of technologies including Java,.Net and Ruby-on-Rails. Other technologies include CAS/SAML and/or Active Directory for Single Sign-On, and REST/JSON for Web Services. 1

4 10. While being respectful that this is an RFI, can you provide some information on a potential procurement process that may result from this RFI? In other words, does EBMUD already have a budget in place for such a replacement, or would a budget request need to be submitted for the next biennial budget? a. The Board of Directors is currently reviewing our next biennial budget. Project implementation is part of the budget request. 11. EBMUD previously issued an RFI for the replacement of the MMIS system only. What were the more important factors that encouraged EBMUD to consider this greater scope? a. Though MMIS Replacement and FIS Replacement are distinct projects, it was determined that synergies in resource utilization and planning could be achieved by synchronizing some aspects of the projects. Also, since financial functionality is incorporated in both applications, addressing District financial needs holistically would lead to more efficient solutions. 12. Are the business requirements listed in this RFI a blend of the Water, Wastewater, Retirement System, and JPA requirements? Put another way, would EBMUD envision these four areas to be configured more or less as departments within an overall organization, or configured as completely separate organizations? a. Water, Wastewater, Retirement System, and JPA are separate entities. They will be configured as separate organizations. 13. Regarding budgeting, does the District want to utilize categories and sub-categories to track transactions and perform budgeting activities at a more granular/extended level than just reporting at the chart of account level (e.g. operating expenses, revenue, etc.)? a. Yes. 14. Referencing section , requirement # 1A, can you please explain what an Operating Program is currently used for, or provide some examples? a. Operating programs are used to record activities associated with the District's day to day operations such as labor, supplies, and material expenses. For example, Administrative & General is a program used by organizations to record supervisory, clerical, and office services and support. 15. Referencing section , requirement # 3A, can you please explain what an Internal Customer is to the district, and perhaps provide a brief scenario of how such a customer could ask EBMUD for a payment? a. The District has Water and Wastewater Systems which are two separate legal entities that have its own Budget and financials. They bill one another for the completed work. Water System can be a customer to the Wastewater System and vice versa. Both can be internal customers to the District. 16. Referencing section , requirement #3B, can you please explain further the two nice to have bullet points? For example, does the District desire for the proposed system to read a scanned image and electronically transfer that information into a payment request? a. Yes, the District has desire for the proposed system to read a scanned image of an invoice and electronically transfer the key information such as invoice amount and payee name into a payment request. These are very nice to have. 2

5 2.0 Schedule and Conditions 2.1 Terms and Conditions This RFI requests information regarding potential product and services and no contractual obligations on behalf of EBMUD whatsoever shall arise from this RFI process. The Respondent shall be solely and fully responsible for all costs associated with the development, preparation, transmittal and submission of any material in response to this RFI. Responses to this RFI become the exclusive property of EBMUD upon receipt. Responses received in response to this RFI may be subject to the California Public Records Act. The Respondent may designate elements in the response which are defined as business or trade secrets and plainly marked as Confidential, Trade Secret, or Proprietary. 2.2 Schedule and Contact Information Please see schedule below. Submit your responses to the address below. (electronic documents) and/or hard copies are acceptable. To ensure all vendors have equal access to information regarding this RFI, please submit any questions or requests for clarification to Raymond Lee, IT Project Manager, via at and Susan Leiga, IT Supervisor, at Event Dates RFI Release COB, April 3, 2017 Questions Due By COB, April 17, 2017 Answers Posted By COB, May 1, 2017 Responses Due By COB, May 15, 2017 Thank you in advance for your interest in this request. Send RFI responses to: Or responses to : East Bay Municipal Utility District Attn: Raymond Lee, IT Project Manager th Street, MS #302 Oakland, CA raymond.lee@ebmud.com and susan.leiga@ebmud.com 3