ESBD_363295_1718631883904_RFI 24-001 - Student Information Systems (SIS).pdf

TARLETON STATE UNIVERSITY

PROCUREMENT SERVICES & HUB PROGRAM

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

RFI Number: RFI-24-001

Student Information Systems (SIS)

RESPONSE MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE:

3:00 PM Central Time, Friday, August 30, 2024

Email RFI Responses to:

luttrell@tarleton.edu

Subject Line: RFI-24-001

Refer Inquiries To:

Cori Luttrell, Manager

Purchasing & HUB Program Tarleton State University

254-968-1683 Email: luttrell@tarleton.edu

Response must be received in the Tarleton State University Procurement office before the hour and date specified. Late responses will not be reviewed.

All submissions shall become the property of the State of Texas upon receipt. Submittal documents may be subject to public review. Refer to Section 2.8 for more information regarding public information.

mailto:luttrell@tarleton.edu

SECTION 1

SUMMARY

Summary of Request for Information

Tarleton State University (herein referred to as Tarleton) is a public institution of higher education located in Stephenville, Texas. Tarleton is a member of the Texas A&M University System and subject to purchasing polices of the State of Texas.

Tarleton is seeking information from qualified vendors to explore student information systems (herin referred to as SIS) that can seamlessly integrate with Workday, the Texas A&M University System (herin referred to as TAMUS) Human Capital Management (HCM) system and FAMIS, the TAMUS custom-developed financial accounting system. The Student Information System (SIS) is a hub of data for all university processes and integrates with all supporting systems including our financial, housing, and learning management systems.

Tarleton’s information technology solutions support 15,000 students, and 1,500 faculty and staff.

Tarleton operates the Ellucian Banner cloud-hosted SIS and the SalesForce platform with the TargetX application supporting prospective student recruiting. TargetX is being replaced by the SalesForce Marketing Cloud in Fall 2024. Tarleton is supported by Texas A&M System who developed and maintains the FAMIS accounting system and the Workday Human Resources and Payroll system.

Tarleton is seeking information about integrated, enterprise resource productrs (ERP) solutions to support propspective student recruiting, student admissions, course information, scheduling information, catalog information, billing, student registration, student enrollment, student retnention, and grade information.

Tarleton seeks to understand the current market and availability of integrated solutions that can seemlessly integrate student, faculty, and staff data with financial information for improved data management, data consistency, and operating efficiency.

Tarleton seeks to understand the capabilities of Enterprise Resource Products (ERP) solutions available for Higher Education that can deliver capabilities to support students, faculty and staff as well as business services and employee services.

Any solutions presented will be required to integrate with Workday Human Resources and Payroll and the FAMIS Financial Accounting System developed and supported by Texas A&M System.

Tarleton is soliciting a written proposal, estimated cost for software and expenses for implememntation, and explanation of the software solution, capabilities, time to implement, and effort to maintain.

Tarleton is NOT seeking to enter a purchasing agreement at this time but would like to better understand the solutions on the market for long-term planning and strategy.

This RFI provides sufficient information for interested parties to prepare and submit proposals to the University.

SECTION 2

BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND

Tarleton was established in 1899 in Stephenville, Texas as John Tarleton Agricultural College, a private institution. In 1917, John Tarleton became a junior college and a member of The Texas A&M University System. The college was changed to a four-year, co-educational, senior college by an act of the Legislature in 1959. In 1971, the University began offering master’s level programs, and in 1973, the Legislature changed the name of the institution to Tarleton State University.

There are over 15,000 students at the combined sites of the main campus in Stephenville, Texas and the three “centers” in Fort Worth, Waco and Midlothian, Texas. Tarleton is a comprehensive university that awards over 70 bachelor degrees, 26 master degrees and 1 doctoral degree. The university strategic plan and current strategic enrollment plans include aggressive plans for student enrollment growth over the next ten (10) years. More information can be found at www.tarleton.edu.

Mission: Tarleton State University, a founding member of The Texas A&M System, transforms generations by inspiring discovery, leadership, and inclusion through educational excellence.

Vision: Tarleton will be the premier comprehensive regional university in the nation, with a keen focus on student success, teaching, and research.

Values and Statements:

Excellence – Tarleton Texans pursue greatness in all efforts, promoting a spirit of leadership, adaptability, and innovation for exceptional outcomes and a better world.

Integrity – Tarleton Texans hold to the highest ethical standards and commit to serving others through transparency and accountability in everything we do.

Respect – Tarleton Texans create an inclusive community by embracing diverse perspectives with civility, honoring tradition, and promoting teamwork so everyone thrives.

Please contact Tarleton State University’s Manager of Purchasing & HUB, at luttrell@tarleton.edu for assistance with completion of requirements as stated.

SECTION 3

OBJECTIVES

OBJECTIVES

The primary objectives of this RFI are:

Identify and Explore – Tarleton seeks a better understanding of the higher education technology market supporting student information.

Understand - Tarleton seeks to understand the functional capabilities, technical architecture, and integration options offered by the proposed solutions. Tarleton also seeks to understand the benefits and challenges with managing an ERP solution with integrations to Workday and FAMIS.

http://www.tarleton.edu/

Evaluate – Tarleton seeks to evaluate the vendor’s experience and expertise in implementing SIS solutions at Public Higher Education institutions with similar size and complexity to Tarleton.

Tarleton is also interested in identifying any public higher education insttitutions operating the vendor’s product in Texas as there are specific reporting requirements and obligations to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).

Assess – Tarleton seeks to assess the vendor’s ability to provide a seamless integration between the SIS and Workday as well as FAMIS to ensure data consistency and efficient processes.

Gather – Tarleton seeks to gather information about the vendor’s implementation approach, timeline and estimated costs. This is not a purchasing proposal and Tarleton recognizes that cost estiamtes submitted are for evaluation and budgeting purposes and not for vendor selection or contractual obligation.

Please contact Tarleton State University’s Manager of Purchasing & HUB, at luttrell@tarleton.edu for assistance with completion of requirements as stated.

SECTION 4

REQUESTED INFORMATION

REQUESTED INFORMATION

Vendors are requested to provide the following information in response to this RFI:

Company Overview – Vendor should provide a brief history and background of the company;

explain financial stability and strength, and elaborate on experience in higher education SIS implementations with integrations with Workday and customer expeience with Texas Public Higher Education institutions.

Proposed Solution – Vendor should describe the proposed solution including defining functional capabilities (e.g., student records, registration, advising, financial aid, reporting, admissions, enrollment, recruiting, retention, etc.). Vendor should provide the technical architecture and integration capabilities. Vendor should provide the data migration and implementation approach.

Vendor should provide examples of the reporting and analytics capabilities; mobile accessibility; and user experience. Vendor should also provide information about security (HECVAT), cloud-hosting (TXRAMP/FEDRAMP Certification) and accessibility (VPAT). Finally, Tarleton is seeking vendor’s feedback and comments on the environment and recommendations that may provide benefit to Tarleton that have not already been identified as there may be solutions and implementation strategies that we are not aware of that vendor can recommend.

Implementation Approach – Vendor should provide information about the implementation strategy and approach incluidng typical timelines and phases; project management and change management methodologies; training and knowledge transfer processes; and post-implementation support and maintenance strategies.

Service Expectations – Vendor should provide information on the available service and support levels including incident response, resource availability and capability, and availabilty. Tarleton seeks to understand how the vendor will address 99.99% uptime in a fast-paced, high support higher education environment.

SECTION 5

CLARIFICATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS

CLARIFICATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS

NO DIRECT AWARD WILL BE MADE AS A RESULT OF THIS RFI. THE RFI ALSO

DOES NOT BIND TARLETON STATE UNIVERSITY TO ANY SUCH FUTURE RFP, NOR

TO MAKE ANY PURCHASE FOR ANY SERVICES.

QUESTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS – Vendors shall restrict all questions regarding this RFI to the named individual representing the Procurement department for Tarleton State University. Any clarifications or intepretations of this RFI that materially affect or change its requiremensts will be issued by Cori Luttrell as an adendum.

SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS – Vendors shall submit all responses by August 30, 2024 by 2:00 PM CDT. Any responses received after this date and time may not be reviewed by Tarleton. All responses should be submitted via email to the Tarleton Office of Procurement and Hub Program on or before the time and date specified. All responses shall be submitted using the Subject Line “RFI- 24-001” to the following contact person: Cori Luttrell, Manager, Procurement and Hub Program, Tarleton State University. Lutrell@tarleton.edu

SUBMISSION FORMAT – Vendors shall submit WORD or PDF formatted responses.

OBLIGATIONS OF PARTIES – Vendors understand and acknowledge by submitting a response that any and all costs incurredd by the Vendor as a result of the efforts to participate in this RFI shall be at the sole risk and obligation of the Vendor. Tarleton will not provide any compensation or reimbursement for expenses incurred related to the preparation or delivery of this response or any subsequent meetings to discuss the responses.

PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT – Vendors acknowledge that Tarleton is obligated to strictly comply with the Public Information Act, Chapter 552, Texas Government Code, in responding to any request for public information pertaining to this RFI, as well as any other disclosure of information requied by applicable Texas law.

SECTION 6

QUESTIONNAIRE

QUESTIONNAIRE

Vendors shall complete the following questionnaire and include it with the submission.

1. What specific services would your company provide to Tarleotn State University employees and retirees?

2. How would your company coordinate your services with our existing providers (Workday, Texas A&M, Ellucian, SalesForce, etc.)? Do you have a current relationship with any of these providers?

3. How are your services different than other providers? What would be the benefit/advantage of using your services versus another provider?

4. How can your company provide these services at a lower cost than our existing Preferred Providers?

mailto:Lutrell@tarleton.edu

5. Are there any initial startup costs to utilize your company’s solution? If so, please describe how those are calculated and how are they allocated? Note that we are not asking for firm numbers, but rather information to understand potential costs, value and savings.

6. What is your vision to service Tarleton students, facutly and staff in respect to current locations and future locations?

7. If your services are on-premise, please indicate any required hardware and software. If your services are cloud-hosted, please provide the location of your data centers.

8. Does your company use any subproviders or subcontractors to provide this service? Please disclose the providers. Do you perform background checks? What qualifications are required of your providers? How are your providers credentialed?

9. Will you follow all federal, state and local guidelines includding Texas A&M and Tarelton policies?

What resources do you have in place to ensure compliance?

10. Tarleton supports studetns in every county in the state of Texas, all 50 states, and other countries. Is your company able to provide services 24 hours per day, 7 days per week?

11. What involvement would be required from Tarleton to implement and support the vendors solution in terms of number of resources and skill sets?

12. Are there additional administrative fees for services? We are not asking for firm numbers, but rather information to understand potential costs for budgeting and business case purposes.