REQUEST FOR GREAT PLAINS PROPOSAL (RFP)

NOTICE OF SOLICITATION

RFP: MICROSOFT DYNAMICS GREAT PLAINS IMPLEMENTATION SERVICES AND MANAGED SERVICES

Proposal Submittal Requirements – Proposals shall be submitted under the title “Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Implementation Services and Managed Services.”

AIA Inc. must receive proposals no later than JULY 31, 2019  

Proposals received after the time set for opening of proposals shall not be considered.

Face of Envelope/Package/Container – The proposals must be addressed to the following:

CEO

Argyle International Airport Inc.

Argyle Gardens

St Vincent

RFP – Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Implementation Services and Managed Services.

AIA INC may, in AIA INC’s sole discretion, waive any informalities or reject any and/or all proposals. Proposals may be submitted by fax machine, or electronic transfer (e-mail) or courier. Any proposal may be withdrawn by the bidder prior to the above scheduled time for the opening of proposals, or authorized postponement thereof.

Communications Concerning this RFP – This RFP is issued by the CEO of AIA INC. The AIA INC Contracting Officer named herein or appointed by the AIA INC CEO is the sole point of contact that may be utilized by the bidder regarding this RFP, beginning from the date of release of this RFP until the selection of successful bidder. If a bidder attempts to contact other AIA INC personnel regarding this RFP, AIA INC may, in AIA INC’s sole discretion, reject that bidder’s proposal.

Bidders are invited to submit written questions regarding the contents and requirements of this RFP to the AIA INC Contracting Officer. Bidders are encouraged to submit any such written questions via email, but bidders may also submit questions via fax, postal mail, or other carrier. In the event that AIA INC provides responses to any questions, those responses will be written. No questions will be considered by AIA INC unless those questions are presented (1) in writing and (2) prior to the question submission deadline.

The timeline for submission of all written questions is as listed in the Schedule of Events.

Schedule of events and statement of work can be located at: www.svg-airport.com

The contact information for the AIA INC Contracting Officer is as follows:

CEO

Argyle International Airport Inc.

Argyle Gardens

St Vincent

Email: aiaceo@svg-airport.com

 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
       

This RFP will be governed by the following schedule:
     
     

Content

  

Date and Time *

RFP release

  

July  5, 2019

Q&A #1 – Deadline for written questions

  

July 16, 2019

Q&A #2 – Deadline for written answers; amendment issued (if required)

July 23, 2019
   
     

Deadline to submit bidder’s proposal

  

July 31, 2019

Evaluation, clarification, and legal review period

  

August  1st  through August 31, 2019

Negotiations for Best and Final Offer

  

TBD – To Be Determined

Notice of Award posted to the AIA INC’s website/Mailed

  

TBD – To Be Determined

*AIA INC reserves the right to revise the schedule without advance notice.

  1. STATEMENT OF WORK

 

   Definitions

A.1.1.      Amendment – A written change, addition, alteration, correction, or revision to this RFP issued by AIA INC.

A.1.2.      Bidder – A business entity submitting a proposal in response to this RFP. When used in this RFP, bidder is synonymous with “seller”, “offerer”, “provider”, “supplier”, “vendor”, “proposer”, “consultant” or other similar term.

A.1.3.      Change Order – A written change, addition, alteration, correction, or revision to the contract resulting from this RFP. It is used interchangeably with “Addenda/Addendum”, “Contract Amendment” or “Revision”.

A.1.4.      Clarification – An additional explanation on all or parts of a solicitation that does not change, alter or supplement the solicitation.

A.1.5.      AIA INC – Argyle International Airport Inc., St. Vincent & the Grenadines International. When used in this RFP, AIA INC is synonymous with “AIA Inc.”.

A.1.6.      Implementation Services – Professional services that provide the full range of software solution implementation phases:

Design, planning, scoping, development, training, testing, and deployment, in a manner consistent with the terms of this RFP.

A.1.7.      Managed Services – A service that provides a single point of contact for application operations and maintenance and functional support of the Dynamics environment, usually commences after implementation.

A.1.8.      May or should – Denotes that which is permissible, not mandatory.

A.1.9.      Must or shall – Denotes that which is mandatory.

A.1.10.   Non-Responsive – Responses that fail to provide all required information, documents, or materials.

A.1.11.    Proposal – The offer a bidder submits in response to this Request for Proposal. It is used interchangeably with “RFP response”, or “solicitation response”, “bid response”, “offer”, “bid”, “response” or other similar term.

A.1.12.    Request for Proposal (RFP) – A type of solicitation AIA INC provides to bidders requesting submission of proposals for acquisitions. Request for Proposal, Project and Solicitation are synonymous under this RFP and may be used interchangeably.

A.1.13.    Successful Bidder – The bidder that is awarded a contract. It is used interchangeably with “Contractor”, “Successful Vendor”, “Successful Supplier”, or “Successful Consultant”.

Purpose of Intent

Implementation Services: The Argyle International Airport (the “AIA Inc.” or “AIA INC”) is seeking proposals from qualified vendors for implementation services of the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains  software solution. The QuickBooks 2017 Software infrastructure is in use by AIA INC. Bidders must propose a MICROSOFT DYNAMICS SOFTWARE PACKAGE and comprehensive implementation effort for a centralized software solution that encompasses core financial management, purchasing, and human resource management.

AIA INC intends to begin implementation of the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains solution in December 2019, in accordance with this RFP. Except as otherwise provided, the specific schedules, deliverables, and roles and responsibilities between AIA INC and the successful vendor are negotiable. Vendors are encouraged to provide a “best practice” solution for their implementation methods, and all implementation methods must comply the requirements of this RFP at a minimum.

Managed Services : AIA INC intends to partner with the same implementation vendor for at least 5-years, with such vendor providing managed services and a single-point of contact for all issue resolutions (all Tier-level support, remote, 24/7) for the implemented Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains  application modules, databases, (Development, Test, Production).

 

Vendor Eligibility Requirements

Vendors must have completed recent1 implementations of the Microsoft Dynamics solution for at least two (2) companies in the Caribbean. The ideal vendor will have implemented this solution for a company with a similar profile to AIA INC’s (implementing a first-ever centralized enterprise core business solution). Vendors must provide companies references, which may also include past performance documentation/testimonials.

AIA INC strongly prefers for Vendors to be authorized and accredited Microsoft Gold Partners2 for Enterprise Resource Planning, Dynamics, or Cloud solutions.

Vendors must have an established3 Caribbean based support team.

Background

Argyle International Airport (AIA) is the newest gateway to St. Vincent & the Grenadines and the newest International Airport in the Eastern Caribbean following the commencement of Operations in February 2017. With Modern amenities and an extremely high marketing potential for Local, Regional and International entities and persons alike, AIA is set to attract more visitors to SVG as well as Direct Foreign Investors. AIA aims to deliver high quality aviation services by providing customer focused and efficient operations through industry best practices with an innovative and dedicated team committed to ensuring the mission and vision of AIA is kept.

AIA INC currently employs approximately 320 individuals in a wide range of positions, including security, ground handling, operations, information technology, environmental management, human resources, finance, and other administrative functions.

After developing a Needs Assessment Study and undergoing several product demonstrations of enterprise solutions, AIA INC selected Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains, due in part to its interoperability with existing systems and its ability to meet AIA INC’s organizational needs with minimal customizations and within a robust infrastructure environment.

AIA INC seeks to perform this implementation with professional assistance and service from a vendor who has strong technical and organizational change management skills. AIA INC requires long-term managed services to support this application and its environments

  • recent = within the last three (3) years, except for good cause shown by the vendor.
  • vendors must provide proof of current Gold accreditation status with Microsoft.
  • established = all necessary skillset levels for supporting Dynamics GP environment within the Caribbean

 

Existing Environment

AIA INC currently uses a combination of commercial off-the-shelf systems, custom developed systems, general office applications, and manual processes to support its business operations. AIA INC uses QuickBooks 2017 to support many of its financial activities, with modules including general ledger, accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), banking module and budget variance reporting. In addition, AIA INC uses PAY PAK to manage its payroll functions and Manager Plus to support inventory management, procurement, fleet maintenance, and some work order management. Further, AIA INC utilizes legacy custom applications to support its operations, and numerous manual, non-integrated systems (such as paper forms, Access databases and Excel spreadsheets) to manage AIA INC’s administrative transactions.

The scope for this procurement is summarized in the following figure:

Financials, Procurement, Human Resources

General Ledger

Purchasing

Human Resources

  

-Project Accounting

-Inventory

-Vendor Management

-Customer Contract Management

-Time & Attendance

-Employee profiles

-Leave tracking

-Training tracking

-Disciplinary Matters

-Letter Generation

-Recruitment – including application tracking

-Health and safety

  

-Budget Development

-Accounts Payable/Receivable

-Fixed Assets

Integration with Existing Systems (QuickBooks 2017)

  

Business Intelligence/Dashboard Reporting

  

AIA INC has identified the following objectives associated with implementing the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains solution, and all proposals must address methods to accomplish these objectives:

  • Information Sharing. AIA INC needs to share information across multiple departments. For example, project information is important to business operation, budget preparation, budget control, and financial reporting to the Board. However, the current systems lack support for project-based accounting. Managers need to be able to access and integrate data across business lines in order to improve service, decision making and overall operations;
  • Integrated Processes. AIA INC needs to utilize integrated operational processes. For example, the budget development and preparation process is a laborious manual process conducted using a combination of QuickBooks 2017, and Excel. In addition, AIA INC needs an automated system for managing requisition and purchase orders. The requisition process is manual at AIA INC, and conducted separately from the purchase order (PO) process. Managers need to be able to integrate these workflows into Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains ;
  • Fixed Asset Tracking. AIA INC also needs one system to track fixed assets and their associated attributes, such as depreciation Excel spreadsheet is used to track fixed assets and associated depreciation;
  • Analytical Environment. AIA INC needs a software environment that will produce useful analytics. Transitioning from a transactional environment to a more analytical environment will enhance operations and allow for richer data insight, which will aid in strategy implementation; and
  • Workflow Efficiency. AIA INC needs consolidated workflow management and control. AIA INC’s current system requires manual review and approval of certain workflows. As a result, staff must continually communicate with one another about work pending in the system. A consolidated workflow process, including user-based security and audit trails, would allow AIA INC to more effectively manage the data in the system and report on how it changes over time.

Five-to-Ten-Year Vision

AIA INC’s long-term vision for its business systems is to maximize its data management capabilities, increase business efficiencies, and reduce dependency on paper and dissimilar interfaces between systems. This will result in a single, integrated system, focused on the delivery and use of real-time data. The primary goal is to move AIA INC from a transaction-focused environment to one that utilizes its data for analytical purposes. Typically, where business processes are dependent on paper and multiple, unconnected systems, the focus is on completing a transaction and not on the underlying information that is the substance of the transaction, or how it can be used to improve business operations. When a technical solution is found to automate the transactional process, staff is able to elevate their focus on data analysis, which in turn improves the business decision-making process.

The long-term vision for AIA INC is based upon the following, and all proposals must address methods to accomplish these objectives:

  • Business, Employee and Manager Self-Service: Pushing data entry and data management out to the driver or owner of the process, thereby substantially increasing efficiencies in business processes;
  • Data Driven Decision Making: Reducing transaction time enables staff to focus on analyzing business information;
  • Real-Time Reporting Capability: Utilizing dashboards of key performance indicators with drill down capabilities to provide management with at-a-glance awareness of current business performance, and facilitate better decision making;
  • Improving and Strengthening Internal Controls: Increasing audit controls of financial transactions enables proper process controls and strengthens overall business continuity, financial accountability, and transparency;
  • Mobile Computing: Understanding that technology is rapidly changing, and that the ubiquitous use of tablets and smart phones enable users to access systems from multiple platforms; and
  • Online Options and Transparency: Focusing on providing online data management options for both internal and external
  • Data Security: AIA INC considers the privacy of its employees, clients and partners to be of utmost importance and requires that all systems take into account the security of data at rest and in transit through the network

Scope of Services

Implementation Services: AIA INC seeks the full scope of product and Implementation Services with a qualified vendor who has met the eligibility requirements as stated in Section A.3 for the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains software solution. The Implementation Services must include, but are not limited to, the following phases: (1) planning/requirements; (2) design; (3) development; (4) build; (5) testing; (6) training; and (7) deployment and parallel run with current system.

AIA INC would acquire the necessary software licenses and hosted infrastructure from the Vendor. Vendor shall plan for and implement the solution onto a minimum of three environments: (1) Development; (2) User Acceptance Testing; and (3) Production environments.

Managed Services: AIA INC seeks a 5-year term Managed Services arrangement with a qualified vendor who has met the eligibility requirements as stated in Section A.3 for the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains software solution. The Managed Services must include a single-point of contact for all issue resolutions. Once the Dynamics application environment is successfully implemented, functional day-to-day issues, bug fixes, updates, enhancements, the selected vendor will manage process review and optimization, and overall Dynamics (Dev, Test, Prod) operations and maintenance functions.

A.7.1.      Communication Plan

Vendor shall conduct weekly stand up meetings with AIA INC to facilitate project status, priorities, and establish near-term milestones.

Vendor shall conduct weekly Project Status Meetings with AIA INC to review progress of assigned tasks. These meetings will facilitate an update on overall Project status; identify obstacles, and provide assistance and coaching. Assigned tasks, issues and risk will be reviewed during these meetings.

Vendor shall conduct weekly Steering Committee Meetings with AIA INC to address project metrics and a brief status of each major phase, as well as updates on key issues, risks, and change requests.

Vendor shall distribute meeting documents in advance of meetings, to permit AIA INC an opportunity to review the documents and attend the meeting with a reasonable level of understanding and inquiries.

A.7.2.      Planning and Requirements Phase

Vendor shall assess AIA INC’s business processes, gather necessary requirements, document the requirements, define the business processes, which the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains will support without any modification (“FITs”), and define the business processes, which would require modification to support the business processes (“GAPs”). Vendor must collaborate with AIA INC regarding each of these tasks, and must identify solutions that satisfy AIA INC’s objectives.

Vendor shall provide best practices referencing industry standards and out of the box capabilities within the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains environment, and shall assist in the event of any resistance to changes, to ease the transition, and to identify opportunities for improvement.

Vendor shall, at a minimum, conduct the following activities and produce the associated project deliverables as part of the Planning Phase:

  1. Environment Planning;
  2. Project Roles and Responsibilities;
  3. Communication Plan;
  4. Project Kick-off;
  5. Project Schedule (draft);
  6. Core Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Workshop Training for up to 5 users per session (functional area);
  7. Project Issue, Risk, Change, Decisions Log;
  8. Requirements Documents (draft);
  9. Business Process Flows/Models;
  10. Gap/Fit Assessment; and
  1. Solution Design Document (draft);

Vendor shall, at a minimum, deploy the following functional areas:

  1. Core Financials – GL, Budgets, Fixed Assets, AP/AR;
  2. Procurement and Contracts – Purchasing, Project Accounting, Vendor Management, Banking, Inventory Management;
  3. Human Resource Management

A.7.3.      Design Phase

Vendor shall configure AIA INC’s system through a combination of specific workshops and parameter setups. Vendor, with assistance from AIA INC as reasonably necessary, will conduct data management workshops and build the environments using Microsoft’s Dynamics Great Plains. Vendor must collaborate with AIA INC regarding each of these tasks, and must identify solutions that satisfy AIA INC’s objectives.

Vendor shall, at a minimum, conduct the following activities and produce the associated project deliverables as part of the Design Phase:

  1. Data Conversion Workshops;
  2. Data Conversion Plan;
  3. Functional Design Documents (FDDs) for any customizations identified;
  4. Technical Design Documents (TDDs), as needed;
  5. Prototypes (as needed);
  6. Development of user dashboard prototypes
  7. Development & Configuration Backlog;
  8. Business Process flows/models;
  9. Finalize Solution Design Document; and
  10. Finalize Project Schedule.

A.7.4.      Development and Build Phase

Vendor shall continue the data conversion activities to develop approved customizations per the Fit Variance Assessment and per the approved FDDs and/or TDDs. Vendor shall verify that the configuration satisfies AIA INC’s requirements.

Vendor shall, at a minimum, conduct the following activities and produce the associated project deliverables as part of the Development Phase:

  1. Master Data Loads;
  2. Functional Testing with test scripts to be written by vendor and defined by AIA INC;
  3. Backlog Grooming;
  4. Completed configurations in the Scoped Software per the approved Functional Requirements Documents;
  5. Customizations as specified in the approved Fit Variance Assessment and corresponding approved FDDs and TDDs;
  6. UAT Plan;
  7. Data templates provided for all legacy data conversion per Data Conversion Plan; and
  8. Complete Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Operations environment with master data available to AIA INC for UAT.

A.7.5.      Testing Phase

Vendor shall develop a Test Plan, subject to the review and approval of AIA INC’s approval, which will include assessment criteria, quality assurance, and user acceptance. The test plan shall provide for the effective and efficient testing of the configuration to assure the successful implementation of the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Operations, including unit, integration, and user acceptance testing. Such activities include testing of all scenarios end-to-end planned for go-live; logging defects and issues, and resolving those issues prior to User Acceptance Testing (UAT). In addition, vendor shall complete project documentation and support AIA INC regarding that documentation. Vendor shall be cognizant of responsive support; in the event of any defects or issues found, they must be resolved in a timely manner to ensure high user adoption rate of this system. Vendor shall create the Cutover (go-live) plan for the Roll out (Deployment/Transition) phase, subject to the review and approval of AIA INC

AIA INC shall provide reasonable staff to adequately perform testing. Vendor shall provide guidance during the testing phases.

Vendor shall, at a minimum, conduct the following activities and produce the associated project deliverables as part of the Testing and

Training Phase:

Testing:

  1. Roles and Responsibilities Matrix for Testing Phase;
  2. Feature Testing;
  3. Integration Testing;
  4. Data Migration Testing;
  5. User Acceptance Testing Plan for all configurations, development and reporting;
  6. User Acceptance Test scripts in module-based approach with core team (can be jointly developed with AIA INC);
  7. Organizational Change Management (OCM) Plan;
  8. Detailed Implementation Plan (for Go-Live); and
  9. Post-Go-Live Support Plan.

A.7.6.      Training Phase

During the Planning Phase, System Orientation training of core Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Operations capabilities will be given to functional area leads and other key stakeholders to establish a common foundation of Dynamics Great Plains capabilities out-of-the-box. This is a precursor to actual training in that it orients key users to the system to equip them to make informed decisions about where extensions or customizations might be needed. Minimal AIA INC data will be used for this training session.

Vendor shall perform user training on the configured solution using AIA INC data during Testing Phase. Vendor shall utilize a “train-the-trainer” approach to equip key AIA INC Power Users and targeted AIA INC General Users with a deep understanding of how to use system. Vendor’s training must equip AIA INC to adequately complete subsequent training activities.

All Training sessions must be scheduled by the Vendor at AIA INC facilities, during normal business hours (8AM to 4PM) Monday through Friday.

Vendor shall develop Training Material specific to AIA INC’s environment in a format acceptable for online learning (SCORM) so that AIA INC can incorporate this training material into its Learning Management System as an online course to assist with knowledge sharing among AIA INC’s 320 employees, who will interact with this system at varying levels.

Vendor shall grant AIA INC an irrevocable, royalty-free, perpetual license to use any training material completed by Vendor under this RFP.

Vendor shall use the developed Training Material to conduct onsite final training for the AIA INC’s Core Team, as well as targeted power and general end user training.

Vendor shall, at a minimum, conduct the following activities and produce the associated project deliverables as part of the Training Phase:

Training:

  1. Workshop for all in scope modules (core team, targeted power and general users);
  2. Training Material based on AIA INC’s environment, in online learning format;
  3. Organizational Change Assessment; and
  4. Onsite End User training for larger group of targeted power and general users.

A.7.7.      Transition (Rollout) Phase

Vendor shall conduct the final data load (entry and migration) into the system. Vendor shall prepare for go live with final end- user training, and UAT following the go live checklist. Finally, based on the rollout plan, vendor shall conduct go live and transition to post go-live support, and transition to remote support (long-term managed services) after conducting post go live activities.

Vendor shall, at a minimum, conduct the following activities and produce the associated project deliverables as part of the Transition Phase:

  1. Successfully execute Implementation Plan, including onsite support for minimum of 4 weeks;
  2. Successfully execute OCM Plan (AIA INC) with support from vendor;
  3. Transition to Managed Support after post go-live support term;
  4. Issue Management and resolution of issues;
  5. Begin Warranty Period;
  6. Evaluate future needs or subsequent phases;
  7. Project Closeout; and
  8. Project Survey.

Brief Description of Current Environments and Forecasted Process Improvements

The following is a brief description of AIA INC’s current environments and our goals to improve upon these various processes (in order of implementation priority):

  • General Ledger (G/L) – AIA INC currently uses QuickBooks version 2017 for its General Ledger. Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to use Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains, with extensive integration with PAYPAK and Manager Plus; to assist with project based accounting, inventory management and asset accountability. Vendor’s proposal must streamline, simplify, and align AIA INC’s processes with its chart of accounts.
  • Budget Management – Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to use Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains for the budget preparation, forecasting, capital project-based accounting and funds tracking, operations and maintenance projects, along with reports providing varying detail. Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to standardize budget approval process with workflow visibility, integration with other modules such as HR, forecasting tools, and conduct capital improvement plan budgeting using best practices.
  • Payroll – AIA INC will continue the use of the PAYPAK payroll software but requires summary data to be uploaded and accepted for future use
  • Accounts Payable (A/P) – AIA INC currently uses QuickBooks 2017 for accounts payable functions. Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to match Purchase orders (POs) to invoices and other documentation, such as Receiving and Inspection reports, using workflow approval routing and auditing.
  • Accounts Receivable (A/R) – AIA INC currently uses QuickBooks 2017 version for limited accounts receivable functions. Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to utilize Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains to process receipt of all payments (including the ability for batch payment) for the various services that AIA INC provides to its customers, along with GL integration and the ability to produce reports of varying detail for revenue reporting.
  • Fixed Assets – Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to use Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains to track fixed assets, create a master asset list, and automate depreciation and overhead calculations using industry practices. Vendor’s proposal must also allow AIA INC to track asset Retirement Obligations as well as estimated values, actual salvage values, and removal costs.
  • Treasury Management – Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to use Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains to integrate with bank applications for cash disbursements, operating funds, wires online, ACH, and direct deposit.
  • Debt/Investment Management –. Vendor’s proposal must allow the use Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains to assist AIA INC with managing investments.
  • Customer contract management –Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to utilize a single system of record for all customer contracts that details contact information with data fields describing the products/services consumed, as well as provides the ability to produce various reports which, among other things, describe contract renewal purposes, track rate schedules, and maintain EAR (Estimated Annual Revenue) calculations. The proposal must also provide for automated flagging for reconciliation to capital cost of service.
  • Human Resources. Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to centralize and integrate all personnel information into the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains solution. Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to handle the entirety of the employee experience, and be the system of personnel record. Vendor’s proposal functions must include, but are not limited to: creation and management of employee profiles, benefits administration, performance management and appraisal, tracking of training, workforce management, succession planning, applicant tracking, skill management (certifications), job classifications, pay increases, position control, and disciplinary actions, employee appraisals, tracking attendance, generation of letters (job letters and embassy letters, etc.), tracking leave, with the ability to provide reports of varying detail.
  • Integration with Manager Plus – AIA INC’s primary asset management system is Manager Plus for work orders, inventory, and issues. Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to integrate Manager Plus with the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains solution primarily to manage the financial aspects of the assets; however, AIA INC intends to maintain Manager Plus for its asset management function. Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to carve out the Purchasing and Inventory functions from Manager Plus, and transition to Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains solution with only integration back to Manager Plus for tracking the asset maintenance and life-cycle information. Alternatively, the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains solution should include a method for the creation of work orders that enable engineers and stores clerks to work in tandem for the release of goods, maintenance of assets and Project Management
  • Dashboard Reporting/Business Intelligence – Vendor’s proposal must allow AIA INC to use Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains to produce reports and dashboards with drill-down capabilities of varying detail to provide overall analysis, oversight, progress, and performance metrics regarding the financial and operational posture of AIA INC as an organization.

AIA INC’s anticipated user types within the Dynamics application, descriptive purposes only:

Type of User

  

Description

    

Estimated Number of
     
             

Named Users*

Full

Utilize  the  system  for  inquiry  and  standard

reporting purposes (e.g., looking up account

balances, invoice status, vendor payments, Approval of POs, Employee data entry and manipulation etc.)

30

Limited

Enter and revise journal voucher/ entry

  

23
           
     

Enter requisitions and direct PO’s

    
           
     

Enter  and  process

personnel  requisitions  and

personnel action forms

      
     

*Named users = approximate users in total. Concurrency will be determined at a later date

 

Potential Interfaces

The vendor shall evaluate the following list of likely interfaces. Vendor shall include best estimates for the development of these integrations in their price sheet, or describe how this integration already exists using the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains solution.

The Integration and Interface phase covers the design and delivery of ongoing information flow among the Microsoft Dynamics product and other systems.

  • Integration requirements focus on processing and coordination of information among systems, applications and 3rd
  • Interface requirements focus on the means of communication for sending information to and receiving from a system, application or 3rd

Gathering requirements will directly influence the Integration Strategy. The Integration Strategy includes determining such things as how much of the integration requires automation versus manual implementation, and what products, tools and technology will be used to implement interfaces and middleware integration.

 

Function

Purpose/Use

  

System/Platform

  

Nature of

Interface
     
     
   

General Ledger

and Accounts Receivable

  

AIA Inc.’s bank to process electronic wire

transfers and post to the GL and process

receivable transactions

  

AIA INC’s Bank service provider

      
         

One Way
                 
                 
                                 
   

Inventory

    

Materials and Supplies Inventory tracking

  

Manager Plus

  

Two Way
   

Management

        
                               
                             
                                   

Data Conversion and Data Migration

For purposes of determining level of effort for data conversion, vendor’s proposal shall assume conversion of at least the following

 Data, and provide best estimates for this data conversion and data migration within their price sheet:

Source System

Data Element

Years Retained

QuickBooks 2017

Financial  balances  and  budgeted  values  (rollover

balances plus 3 years of summary level balances and

transaction history)

AIA INC would prefer 3 years of historical mapped monthly trial balance amounts AND 3 years of transactional history.

HR Access Databases and excel files

  

Employee data, and Absence history

All
 

Manual

Purchase Orders and receiving history

All open and 3 years of transactional history
 

QuickBooks 2017

Vendor File, Payment History, and Invoice History

Active vendors and 3 year history for those vendors
 

QuickBooks 2017

Fixed Assets

No history available in either system; only Excel

spreadsheets
 

QuickBooks 2017

Accounts Receivable

All transactional history

  
     

QuickBooks 2017

Accounts Payable

All transactional history
 

QuickBooks 2017

Vendor Registrations Listing

All vendors ; AIA INC to refine data
         

Data Migration

The Data Migration Requirements documentation will provide high-level data source information as a starting point for field-level data mapping.

Vendor’s migration strategy must also evaluate the quality and general state of data and determine Data Cleansing Requirements. The data mapping documentation should cover all identified fields in Microsoft Dynamics.

Ideally, the standard Extract (E), Transform (T) and Load (L) or E-T-L approach is recommended; however, if the data cannot migrate using this method, vendor must produce and develop data migration templates. Vendors should include those development estimates in their price sheet.

Data Validation

Vendor shall assist AIA INC in creating validation reports to ensure overall integrity of the converted data. Vendor shall ensure the accuracy of the data. Vendor will develop validation routines during the workshop process, and modify those routines as necessary, subject to the consent and approval of AIA INC. Vendor will establish benchmarks in conjunction with the validation process to ensure the integrity of the conversion process.

Data Migration Iterations

Vendor’s shall, at a minimum, conduct the following activities and produce the associated project deliverables as part of the Data Migration effort:

Three (3) iterations (including Go-Live) are defined. The iterations include:

  1. Role and Responsibility Matrix for ETL approach;
  2. Conversion to DEV;
  3. Conversion to User Acceptance Testing (UAT);
  4. Conversion to Production Environment (Prod);

  

 Current Functional Statistics

The following table contains information regarding AIA INC’s current operations by function.

HR/Payroll:

    
   

Number of Active Employees

    

Approx. 320

      

General Ledger: 

    

Number of Accounts – active

    

309

      

Number of Journal Entry /Month

    

80

      

Fixed Assets:

                

Office Equipment

45

    

Computer Equipment

80

    

Intangible – Computer Software

14

    

Furniture & Fittings

90

    

Motor Vehicle

34

    

Buildings

26

    

Plant & Machinery

65

    

GH Equipment

72

    

Accounts Receivable:

      

Number of Invoices/Year

1407

    
   

Accounts Payable:

      

Number of Vendors

397

      

Number of Invoices/Year

3268

      

Number of Checks/Year

1687

      

Purchasing:

      

Number of PO’s/Year

3500

    

Number of Requisitions/Year

4250

      
                           

Project Activity and Management

Resources

Vendor shall identify and mobilize the appropriate resources with the necessary skillsets to meet the requirements. Vendor shall appoint a Project Manager as the point of contact who will be responsible for understanding the requirements, acquiring the appropriate resources with the necessary qualifications, monitoring the status and quality of the Deliverables, and administering the project.

AIA INC shall provide the vendor partner -access to the QuickBooks, Manager Plus and Pay Pak hosted environment that shall be used for this project for all three (3) environments (Dev, Test, and Prod). The infrastructure, application, and database for all three (3) environments must be tested by the vendor, with validation from AIA INC and fully functional prior to the commencement of services.

AIA INC shall provide the vendor a Project Manager, System Owner, and a dedicated project team that shall consist of subject matter experts with the AIA Inc. to resolve any issues throughout this project.

Vendor’s Project Manager shall develop project work plans and project schedule at the beginning of the project. The plan shall be reviewed with AIA INC and any changes must be agreed upon by AIA INC before they are incorporated into the plan. The plan shall be maintained by the Vendor’s Project Manager throughout the duration of the project and a final copy provided to AIA INC.

The Vendor shall coordinate all technical and functional work efforts, including training sessions with AIA INC Project Manager.

Vendor must schedule and attend all meetings during normal business hours, which are Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM.

Change Control Process

Vendor shall establish standard project scope change process and necessary documents (i.e. Change Request form). Any changes to the project scope will be managed by the vendor’s Project Manager and shall require AIA INC’s review and approval prior to being implemented.

All parties must sign the approval portion of the Change Request form to authorize the implementation of any change that affects the Project’s scope, schedule or price. Furthermore, any such changes that affect the scope of this SOW (Statement of work), schedule or price will require that an amendment to the SOW be executed between the parties.

Vendor shall respond in writing to a Change Request within [10] business days of receipt of the request to include a quote for the work required to complete the change, stating the estimated number of hours of effort, an estimated delivery date, and details of the technical approach for the proposed change and the period of validity of the quote (“Change Quote”).

AIA INC shall respond within 10 business days from receipt of a Change quote, unless additional approval time is required due to AIA INC’s statutory requirements. This may be either approval (for the analysis or development to proceed), cancellation or notification that further time shall be required by AIA INC to consider the quote.

Any change orders must be approved through AIA INC’s Board of Directors. On receipt of a duly signed change order, vendor shall supply the services that are the subject of the request, and such services shall be deemed services in accordance with this Schedule.

Inspection and Acceptance

Final System Acceptance will only occur after all terms and conditions of the contract negotiated with the Contractor have been successfully completed, all testing has been successfully completed and the System has operated in a live environment for a ninety

  • Business day consecutive period without Material Defects. AIA INC will retain 20% of the total amount billed, which will be paid to Contractor upon the final system acceptance and proof of payment of all subcontractors and associated release from all subcontractors. In the event of noncompliance, contractor is to correct the System in conformity with the requirements of the RFP, at no additional cost to AIA INC.