Attachment_E_Support_and_Maintenance.docx

Attachment E: Support and Maintenance System Requirements ALIMS Maintenance and Support (Annual) Background (propose hourly rate to provide support and maintenance) The Automated Licensure Information System (ALIMS) is a regulatory management software platform owned by the State of Minnesota

The ALIMS v3.0 platform consists of a common core code base with custom extensions developed to meet each board’s unique statutes, rules and procedures. As the platform continues to grow, the boards recognize the need for a common support infrastructure that can meet the needs of individual boards, maintain commonality of the core system, and allow each board to benefit from bug fixes, enhancements and new features developed for other boards. They also recognize the need to coordinate efforts among boards to ensure changes for one board do not negatively impact others and that the system as a whole is managed for the common good.

To this end, the boards using ALIMS will form a steering committee consisting of executive directors empowered to make decisions on behalf of the ALIMS group. Each ALIMS board executive director will appoint staff member(s) to a user group that holds training sessions, makes recommended common functionality changes, and reports to the steering committee. MN.IT @ HLB will provide staff to the steering committee to act as technical and contract advisors as needed. The support vendor will attend meetings as required at the discretion of the committee.

Support Goals Agencies, MN.IT @ HLB and the vendor will work cooperatively under the guidance of the ALIMS Steering Committee to achieve the following goals for support of the ALIMS platform:

· Maintain the viability of the platform for the long term

· Manage the platform in a manner that serves the interest of all agencies

· Maintain commonality of the code base

· Coordinate efforts and enhance sharing of resources among boards

· Ensure all boards have the opportunity to benefit from all enhancements and new features

· Maintain flexibility to allow for emergent, emergency or other high priority issues

· Provide a timely and effective means to resolve issues to be addressed under a support agreement.

· Minor enhancements without the need for contracting processes

· Provide a framework for larger enhancements that will minimize contracting processes

· Normalize the release process to provide a regular and predictable schedule

· Required out of cycle releases on a limited basis to correct high priority issues ALIMS Platform Architecture The platform consists of four main areas:

WebAPI/Entity Framework Data Access A common code base that all agencies share but also has provider based code for each agency to implement agency specific legislation, rules, data access needs, and unique data features.

Internal Application (thick client) The internal application provides access to regulatory data through the WebAPI architecture. All agencies have a common User Interface with ability to configure features and functionality for each agency. The agencies’ respective staff are the users of the internal application.

Online Application The online application is the public facing portion of the platform, providing services to applicants, licensees, employers, and the public. It provides services through the WebAPI architecture. All services use a wizard approach process that tracks activity and responses from the online user. The online application uses token-based authentication along with a reverse proxy for access. Services provided through the online application include licensure transactions for applicants and licensees, license lookup/verification for employers and the public, and public data retrievals as well as other public facing services. It is also integrated with USBank, the state’s contracted real-time payment vendor.

Reporting A reporting environment using Microsoft Reporting Services has been integrated into the internal application and may be used with the online application. Reporting services provides enhanced data retrieval in support of agencies’ operations and will provide data retrieval services to the public.

Types of Support Support requirements covered under the annual fee:

Normal application support Support emails sent by HLB staff will be routed to the ALIMS support inbox, where it will be determined if the email request requires a Team Foundation Server (TFS) work item assigned by support vendor or that MN.IT @HLB staff create a help desk/remedy ticket. See process flow chart. Response times will depend on the assigned priority. Priorities are defined in Appendix 2: Priorities and Required Response Times.

High volume support Every agency has certain high volume months. Typically, the high volume periods are known well in advance. Additional monitoring and support hours will be available during these times. Higher priority levels associated with shorter response times will be granted to ensure a higher level of response time.

Bug fixes A bug is defined as functionality that is not functioning according to its original requirements after an agency has completed its initial project/implementation. Email requests that are deemed a bug will be added as work items into the current TFS. The bug list will be categorized as an initial assessment by support vendor and prioritized by the Steering Committee. The items will be grouped into a release and then fixed, tested and deployed based on the regular release schedule.

At the discretion of the state and based on an evaluation and coordination between the support vendor, steering committee and MN.IT @ HLB application support staff, bugs may be deemed too urgent to wait for the next regular release. In this case MN.IT will work with the vendor to deploy an out of cycle fix with timing such that it meets the agency’s need. Out of cycle deployments will be used sparingly and will be limited to high priority or emergency situations, as determined by the state, where an agency is unable to perform one of its critical functions.

Enhancements Enhancements are generally performed via separate workorders. There are situations where small efforts that are enhancements may be conducted as part of support. Generally, those efforts aren’t more than 8 hours of vendor time. These efforts would be defined and agreed to by each party ahead of time.

Feature rollback/activation from other projects Some features that are configurable may be deployed to customers that requested it. But that feature may only be turned on for a subset of boards. There are times when a feature has existed in ALIMS for other boards, but one or more boards is interested in turning it on. These requests can range from low effort to larger efforts to turn on modules for boards. These efforts also may be addressed under the support agreement, or if too large will need a separate work order.

Routine Communication The support vendor will respond to routine communication from each agency as needed. This communication will be considered part of the annual normal application support. Agency staff, the support vendor and MN.IT @ HLB will be involved in application support communications to ensure that each party is aware of all issues. The vendor will answer questions, and may initiate actual work based on ALIMS support emails and bug trackers.

At various times, the vendor will be expected to supply a representative to meet with the steering committee, agency staff, or MN.IT staff. The vendor will also be expected to assist MN.IT staff/steering committee with triage of issues, setting priorities, and creating cost estimates, project plans and other efforts needed to support the platform.

ALIMS Maintenance and Support Program Process Flow

Support Costs The level of support outlined in this document allows agencies to receive fixes, smaller enhancements, and new functionality from other projects on a consistent and predictable schedule, regardless of which agency requested support. It also allows higher service levels and readily available developer support during normal operations as well as extended hours during high operational volume periods. Finally, it ensures that all agencies using ALIMS are consistently moving forward and continually benefiting from fixes, enhancements and new functionality.

A platform approach to support ensures that both MN.IT @HLB and vendor resources familiar with the ALIMS architecture and code base are readily available to address the respective issue/requirement. These resources can assess and fix the issue/requirement quickly and safely according to the defined priorities and release schedules.

See Table on next page for relative usage level and size of ALIMS Boards:

· Number of License Types

· License Count

· Does the agency do renewals during a set period each year or year-round?

· Number and complexity of board unique features

Table 1: Current and Projected ALIMS Boards/Business Units

**All boards *Case Count

Table 2: Priorities and Response times

Description Vendor/MN.IT @ HLB Response Communication

Definitions

1. Response.

a. The vendor has responded when the email request has been evaluated and determined what will be required; (1) track work and communicate to the agency staff who submitted the email request or (2) that MN.IT@HLB staff, or vendor create a MNIT help desk ticket.

b. Response does not mean that the issue is fixed, but does require that the agency has been presented with a plan and timeline for correcting the issue.

2. Business hours. Business hours are defined as Monday to Friday, 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM on non-holiday weekdays during normal support periods. During an agency’s defined peak periods, business hours for that agency are as indicated in Table 4: High Volume/Enhanced Support Periods by Agency.

Table 3: Roles and Responsibilities

Notify MN.IT Contracting, Support Contract State Representative, the agency, and the support vendor that the project is complete and the agency is ready to transition from development to support status.

State Representative/Program Manager (support contract) Serve as the primary liaison between the vendor, the agencies and the steering committee and MN.IT.

Present any proposed changes in ALIMS architecture or any changes that impact multiple boards to the steering committee and obtain approval before proceeding.

Review or delegate review to MN.IT @ HLB Application Support team of all deliverables under the contract.

Review all vendor invoices for accuracy and acceptability of the work.

Coordinate release schedules, both regular and out of cycle, to ensure all requirements are met with a minimum of disruption.

Communicate enhancements or new features to ALIMS boards that MN.IT @ HLB believes will have an impact on the platform beyond the board that requested it. [moved from Steering Committee section]

Document and report bugs and issues to MN.IT @ HLB through the HLB ALIMS support email.

Keep MN.IT @ HLB Application Support apprised of changes to legislation, rules etc. that may require enhancements or new features in a timely manner.

Ensure that vendor/MN.IT @ HLB Application Support is kept apprised of expected or emergent peak activity periods.

Work with vendor/ MN.IT @ HLB Application Support to set realistic priorities.

Assist MN.IT @ HLB and the vendor in testing fixes, enhancements and new features prior to release.

Provide additional funding for their new features or larger enhancement requests that exceed the limit for an enhancement.

Work with agencies and vendor to establish priorities.

Respond to remedy/tickets when MN.IT @ HLB resources are available and have the appropriate skill sets, and can fulfill the request without an official release.

Monitor vendor progress and assist the vendor in testing and deploying releases as needed.

Provide feedback on enhancements or new features that vendor/MN.IT @ HLB believes will have an impact on the platform beyond the board that requested it.

Initiate joint projects when needed to achieve new functionality for multiple boards.

Reach agreement on funding issues for projects, features, and enhancements outside the scope of the support contract.

Provide resources sufficient to meet the priorities.

Respond to bugs and other issues according support emails and bug tracker work items.

Provide assistance to MN.IT @ HLB support staff in resolving issues when necessary.

Respond to requests for proposed enhancements and determine whether the enhancement falls within the scope of the support contract or requires additional hours to complete.

Respond to normal communications with ALIMS boards according to the support contract, and ensure MN.IT @ HLB is included in all correspondence and discussions with agencies.

Track the hours spent on support efforts by employee(s) and by effort/response and report to the state so we can understand workload in response to support requests.

Table 4: High Volume/Enhanced Support Periods by Agency

Table 5: Definitions

1. Minor data corrections that are not the result of a coding bug

2. Configuring reports

3. Adding or modifying checklists

4. Modifying text or verbiage in ALIMS or on the board’s website that are configurable by editing database tables

5. Migrating documents into ALIMS

6. Setting up or modifying correspondence

7. User account/permissions setup and removal

8. Creating and indexing database tables

9. Routine maintenance, updates, security patches etc. to the ALIMS servers

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Microsoft_PowerPoint_Slide.sldx Staff Submits HLB ALIMS Support Email

Fix bug and communicate

Determine if email is for Consultants, HLB IT staff or an Urgent Case?

IT staff

Create bug tracker work item, move emails to bug tracker folder.

Bug

Enhancement

Task

Prioritize and group into release schedule

Finish item and communicate

Consultant

Reply to staff with bug #, priority, schedule to resolve the problem via Email.

(Follow up as needed)

Move emails to each designated Boards Subfolders under the “MNiT staff” folder

Inform HLB Staff that problem was resolved; move emails to “Resolved” folder.

IT staff and consultants can discuss solution(s) as needed

No

Close out, Release note, Reply to staff with bug # via Email

ALIMS Support Inbox

Shape Color:

Red: HLB Staff

Blue: IT staff & developers

Yellow: developers

Green: HLB IT staff

Grey: MNiT Central Teams

Consultant to analyze email and determine if a bug tracker work item is needed?

Yes

Urgent Case

MNiT Central, HLB IT and Consultants communicate to resolve the problem.

Close ticket after completion.

Create as needed MNiT ticket(s) for network/server/ helpdesk support. ( Use HLB IT staff or consultant as contract). Move email to IT staff folder.

IT staff resolves the problem and/or create MNiT ticket.

Consultant resolves the problem.

Development process, track in bug tracker

Triage team review