THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Office of Procurement and HUB Program

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

RFP Number: RFP01-CIO-26-255

EMPLOYEE TRAINING LMS

PROPOSAL MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE:

2:00 P.M. Central Time on March 17, 2026

EMAIL PROPOSAL RESPONSES TO:

SOPROCUREMENT@TAMUS.EDU

SUBJECT LINE: CIO-26-255 Employee Training LMS

NOTE: Proposal response must be received by The Texas A&M University System Office of Procurement and HUB Program before the date and time specified for receipt of proposal as stated within Section 2.3 of this Request for Proposal (RFP). After the due date and time, only the names of respondents will be made public.

REFER INQUIRIES TO:

Jeff Zimmermann, Executive Director Procurement and Business Services | VetHUB Program

The Texas A&M University System soprocurement@tamus.edu

All proposals shall become the property of The Texas A&M University System and the State of Texas upon receipt. Proposals may be subject to public review after contracts have been executed. Refer to Section

4.6 for more information regarding confidential and proprietary information.

mailto:SOPROCUREMENT@TAMUS.EDU mailto:Soprocurement@tamus.edu

The Texas A&M University System RFP01-CIO-26-255 Page 2 of 49

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION _____________________________________________________________ 3

SECTION 2. INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDENTS _____________________________________________ 5

SECTION 3. SCOPE OF WORK ____________________________________________________________ 8

SECTION 4. PROPOSAL RESPONSE _______________________________________________________ 23

SECTION 5. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS ____________________________________________ 27

Exhibit A – Execution of Offer

Exhibit B – Non-Collusion Affidavit

Exhibit C – Insurance Requirements

Exhibit D – Software as Service (SaaS) Agreement (Draft)

Attachment: FY26 VetHUB Subcontracting Plan Form

The Texas A&M University System RFP01-CIO-26-255 Page 3 of 49

SECTION 1 – INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

The Texas A&M University System (A&M System) is requesting proposals for a training learning management system (“Solution” or “LMS”) that will be used by all member universities and agencies of the A&M System through A&M System’s single sign-on platform. Upon award, the successful respondent (hereafter referred to as Respondent, Provider, and/or Vendor) shall provide all software, training, documentation, and services as specified and listed in Section 3 of

RFP.

By submitting responses, each Respondent certifies that it understands this RFP and has full knowledge of the scope, nature, quality, and quantity of the work to be performed, the detailed requirements of the services to be provided, and the conditions under which the services are to be performed. Each Respondent also certifies that it understands that all costs relating to preparing and responding to this RFP will be the sole responsibility of the Respondent.

1.2 Background

The Texas A&M University System

A&M System is one of the largest and most impactful higher education systems in the country, with an annual budget of $8.1 billion. Its statewide network includes 12 universities, a comprehensive health science center, eight state agencies, Texas A&M–Fort Worth and the Texas A&M–RELLIS. A&M System serves approximately 175,000 students and reaches millions more through service, research and outreach programs each year. With nearly $1.6 billion in annual research expenditures, the A&M System fuels innovation, supports communities and drives Texas’ economy forward. More information about the Texas A&M University System and all of its Members can be found at the A&M System About page (https://www.tamus.edu/system/about/).

1.3 Calendar Of Events

Release of RFP ...................................................................................... February 11, 2026 Deadline to Submit Questions .............................................................. February 23, 2026 Release of Addendum (if applicable) ......................................................... March 2, 2026 Deadline for Receiving Proposals ............................................................. March 17, 2026 Evaluation of Proposals ............................................................................................... TBD Anticipated Award Date .............................................................................................. TBD

The A&M System will make every effort to adhere to the above schedule. The schedule, however, is subject to change. Schedule changes may be necessary for various reasons including but not limited to the need for further clarification of responses or terms of contract are in the best interest of the A&M System, and/or in the event the A&M System requires more time to assure that the selection of the Respondent is in accordance with its policies, rules and regulations, as well as actual timing needs.

1.4 Priorities/Expectations

Respondents should note the following priorities/expectations with regard to the possibility of the A&M System establishing a contractual relationship with any Respondent:

(a) Ensuring a Quality Level of Service. This priority encompasses the quality of the level of service that can be provided to the A&M System in a timely, cost-effective manner. The http://www.tamus.edu/about/ https://www.tamus.edu/system/about/

The Texas A&M University System RFP01-CIO-26-255 Page 4 of 49

A&M System is seeking a Respondent that will ensure the provision of such quality in its delivery of service through proven techniques and established metrics.

(b) Level of Experience and Expertise. Respondent must demonstrate its capabilities in providing the utmost level of experience and expertise to ensure services are performed as needed by the A&M System.

(c) Delivery Efficiency as it Relates to Total Costs. Respondent must demonstrate its ability to deliver the required services in a cost-effective and timely manner while not sacrificing the quality required by the A&M System.

1.5 Performance Period

Should A&M System, in its sole discretion, enter into an agreement with the successful Respondent as a result of this RFP, the initial term of the resultant Agreement is expected to be effective upon execution for three (3) years, with the option to extend for two (2) additional two

(2) year terms, provided all parties mutually agree in writing on the extension. Any extensions shall be at the same terms and conditions plus any approved changes to be determined by the A&M System and negotiated in writing with the successful Respondent. The A&M System reserves the right to amend the terms of the Agreement as necessary to meet state or federal requirements.

An alternate time period for the term(s) of the resultant Agreement may be proposed by the Respondent to A&M System for consideration and discretion whether to accept, if additional discounts and/or savings are available.

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SECTION 2 - INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDENTS

2.1 General Information

The A&M System is seeking proposals from qualified Respondents who can provide a training learning management Solution that will be utilized by the A&M System as specified and listed in Section 3 of this RFP. While it is the intent of the A&M System to effectively establish an agreement as a result of this RFP with a single qualified provider for this Solution, there is no guarantee that an award will be made and an agreement executed.

Submitted proposals are to be in accordance with the outline and specifications contained herein and are to remain in effect a minimum of 120 days from the date of submission and may be subject to further extensions as negotiated. A statement to this effect should be contained in the Respondent’s cover letter submitted with its proposal.

This RFP contains specific requests for information. Respondents are encouraged to examine all sections of this RFP carefully, in that the degree of interrelationship between sections is critical.

In responding to this RFP, Respondents are encouraged to provide any additional information they believe relevant.

Clause headings appearing in this RFP have been inserted for convenience and ready reference.

They do not purport to define, limit or extend the scope or intent of the respective clauses.

Whenever the terms “must”, “shall”, “will”, “is required”, or “are required” are used in the RFP, the subject being referred to is to be a required feature of this RFP and critical to the resulting submittal.

In those cases where mandatory requirements are stated, material failure to meet those requirements could result in disqualification of the Respondent’s response. Any deviation or exception from RFP specifications must be clearly identified by the Respondent in its submittal.

Expenses for developing and presenting proposals shall be the entire responsibility of the Respondent and shall not be chargeable to the A&M System. All documentation submitted with the proposal will become the property of the A&M System.

2.2 Examination of the Request for Proposal

Before submitting, each Respondent will be held to have examined the A&M System requirements outlined in Section 3 and satisfied itself as to the existing conditions under which it will be obligated to perform in accordance with specifications of this RFP.

No claim for additional compensation will be allowed due to unfamiliarity with the specifications and/or existing conditions. It shall be understood that the Respondent has full knowledge of all the existing and/or revised conditions and accepts them “as is.”

2.3 Proposal Submission Instructions

All proposals must be received by the A&M System no later than 2:00:00 p.m. Central Time, March 17, 2026 electronically via email to soprocurement@tamus.edu with the subject line of:

“CIO-26-255 – Employee Training LMS”.

The sent time indicated within the A&M System email server shall be used for the receipt and acceptance of the response. Late proposals will not be considered under any circumstances.

Telephone and facsimile proposals are not acceptable and will not be considered under any circumstances.

mailto:soprocurement@tamus.edu

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Submittal Format:

Submission shall be saved as two (2) separate files in Adobe Portable Document Format (“PDF”) according to the items listed below and named as such; I) “company name – Forms, and II) “company name – Proposal”.

2.4 Proposal Components

The following documents are to be returned as part of your proposal response. Failure to include these documents may be the basis for response disqualification.

I. Forms

Signed Execution of Offer (Exhibit A) Non-Collusion Affidavit (Exhibit B) signed and notarized VetHUB Subcontracting Plan (Section 4.6)

II. Proposal

Proposal Response (Sections 4.2 – 4.4) Pricing Proposal, (Section 4.5)

NOTE: Additional information regarding the Execution of Offer and Non-Collusion Affidavit.

• Execution of Offer: The signature in the Execution of Offer within the electronic copy shall serve as the official signature of record. Signature can be done electronically with DocuSign, Adobe or another similar tool.

• Non-Collusion Affidavit: The Respondent signature and notary on this document may be done electronically with an e-signature tool with that capability. An agreement may not be executed with the awarded Respondent until this document is fully signed and notarized.

2.5 Inquiries and Interpretations

All questions concerning this RFP are to be directed, in writing, to Jeff Zimmermann at soprocurement@tamus.edu. Respondent may not contact other individuals at the A&M System or Texas A&M University to discuss any aspect of this RFP, unless expressly authorized by the A&M System Procurement & HUB Program office to do so.

Responses to inquiries which directly affect an interpretation or change to this RFP will be issued in writing by addendum. If you would like to receive addendums or any other notices regarding this RFP, email your interest to soprocurement@tamus.edu. Deadline for submission of questions is February 23, 2025. The A&M System will publish all questions in the form of an addendum with responses according to the schedule in Section 1.3.

All such addenda/amendments issued by the A&M System prior to the time that proposals are received shall be considered part of the RFP, and the Respondent shall consider and acknowledge receipt of such in their proposal. Only those A&M System replied to inquiries which are made by formal written addenda shall be binding. Oral and other interpretations or clarification will be without legal effect.

2.6 Selection Process

The evaluation of the proposals shall be based on the information provided that the A&M System

The Texas A&M University System RFP01-CIO-26-255 Page 7 of 49 deems to represent the best value to the A&M System. The RFP provides the information necessary to prepare and submit proposals for consideration by the A&M System. All properly submitted proposals will be reviewed, evaluated, and ranked by the A&M System. The A&M System will rank the Respondents in the order that they provide the overall best value to the A&M System based on an evaluation of the responses to the RFP. The A&M System may interview one or more of the top ranked Respondents as part of the evaluation process.

After proposal tabulation and such investigation of Respondents as the A&M System deems appropriate, an award may be made to the Respondent whose proposed Solution it judges to represent the best value to the A&M System. In determining what is the best value, the A&M System may consider (as applicable) but is not limited to the following: ability of the proposed Solution to meet the needs of the A&M System, information provided in response to Sections 3 and 4, experience and qualifications of the Respondent, timeline for implementation of the Solution, on the reasonableness of the proposed fees for the Solution; Respondent's past relationship with A&M System; and any other relevant factor that A&M System deems relevant and would consider in selecting a Respondent for award. Final determination for award of the contract will be made on the overall best value to the A&M System.

By submitting its proposal in response to this RFP, Respondent accepts the evaluation process and acknowledges and accepts that determination of the best value Respondent will require subjective judgments by the A&M System.

The selection of the successful Respondent may be made by the A&M System on the basis of the proposals initially submitted, without discussion, clarification, or modification. In the alternative, selection of the successful proposal may be made by the A&M System on the basis of negotiation with any of the Respondents. The A&M System shall not disclose any information derived from the proposals submitted by competing Respondents in conducting such discussions.

All proposals must be complete and convey all of the information requested to be considered responsive. If a proposal fails to conform to the essential requirements of the RFP, the A&M System alone will determine whether the variance is significant enough to consider the proposal susceptible to being made acceptable, and therefore a candidate for further consideration, or not susceptible and therefore not considered for award.

The A&M System may perform reference checks and seek further information, as needed from all Respondents whose proposals the System, at its discretion, considers viable, based on the initial evaluation and scoring. The Respondent’s response to this requirement officially authorizes the A&M System to contact these organizations to discuss the Solution and other considerations which the Respondent has provided to such organizations and authorizes the organizations to provide such information to the A&M System and Respondent shall and hereby does release and hold harmless the A&M System, the state of Texas, and the organization of any and all liability whatsoever, in connection with providing and receiving all such information. Any negative responses received from reference checks may be grounds for disqualification of the proposal.

The A&M System reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and re-solicit for new proposals, or to reject any or all proposals and temporarily or permanently abandon the project. The A&M System makes no representations, written or oral, that it will enter into any form of agreement with any respondent to this RFP for any project and no such representation is intended or should be construed by the issuance of this RFP.

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SECTION 3 – SCOPE OF WORK

3.1 Introduction

The A&M System is requesting proposals for a single learning management solution that supports training of both employees and outside personnel for all member universities and agencies (collectively referred to as “Members”) of the A&M System. The Solution should be a SaaS based application that can support a multi-institutional configuration with over 50,000 users and allow for automatic course assignments as well as a training records management system that integrates with other training platforms.

The Respondent’s proposal shall also include services for implementation, training and ongoing support and maintenance of the proposed Solution.

Each of the areas listed in the below sub-sections (3.2 – 3.8) are included in the scope of this RFP for the Solution needed. All items within these sub-sections shall be addressed within the Technical Proposal, Section 4.3 A to this RFP.

3.2 System Administration

3.2.1 System overview

1. What hosting methods do you offer? Is your system self-hosted? If not, who provides the computing resources on which it runs? Does any part of a hosted solution operate outside of the United States?

2. Does your platform support a multi-institution configuration?

a. Do you have any current contracts with other higher education systems? If yes, which ones and who can we contact to learn more about how they use your system?

3. Which web browsers do you support? Which web browsers do not work well or are not recommended, and why?

4. What forms of learning does your platform support (asynchronous, synchronous, in person, hybrid)? Please describe each type.

5. Does your system support in classroom courses and section management including:

a. Course files

b. Waitlists

c. Announcements

d. Evaluations

6. How many users can concurrently be in the system without negatively impacting LMS performance?

7. How many user profiles, including historical records, can be contained within the platform?

a. Can user accounts be managed and synced from multiple systems?

8. Do you provide a test/sandbox environment for post-implementation? Describe how it is kept current with the live instance of the application.

9. Does your system have first-class support for a multi-institution implementation?

10. Does your system allow users to interact in an ‘offline’ mode with materials and activities and then sync upon connectivity being re-established?

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3.2.2 Implementation

1. What data elements can be imported from our existing LMS? Describe the methods, roles, and responsibilities for the data import process(es).

2. Describe the experiences you have had importing materials and activities from other LMS systems into your system. Please include the following items in your answer:

a. Problems you have encountered with historical completion data

b. Problems you have had regarding user profile data

c. Incompatibilities with SCORM packages that have been published using different settings than your system requires

d. Incompatibilities with SCORM packages that include specific Articulate 360 features

3. Describe any “white glove” additional services you provide for a successful implementation. Include the cost in the Cost section of this RFP. If there is no additional cost, include that as well.

4. Do you support the LMS implementation directly, or is it contracted out to an implementation partner? If so, who?

5. What level of technical support do you provide for implementation?

6. What level of change management support do you provide or provide through a third party?

7. What type of documentation do you have to support implementation?

8. How long does implementation typically take?

9. What personnel resources do your customers typically assign to successful implementations, and how many?

3.2.3 System security and Disaster Recovery

1. What security measures are in place for each hosting method?

2. How do you monitor system security?

3. How do you communicate security issues or events with the customer?

4. What is your system’s security implementation regarding data-in-transit and data-at-rest?

5. Do you have a published disaster recovery plan?

6. How often do you test your disaster recovery plan?

7. Do you coordinate disaster recovery tests with the customer?

8. What reports do you provide relating to disaster recovery plans and tests?

9. What services or tools are available to LMS administrators and course owners to recover from accidental deletion? Include the steps for recovering all course content.

10. Are the actions taken by users of your system logged for audit purposes?

a. Which actions are logged? Are any actions not logged?

b. Can the audit log be reported on? How far back in time?

11. Describe the process to alert customers of potential security issues with third party

The Texas A&M University System RFP01-CIO-26-255 Page 10 of 49 vendors.

3.2.4 System Access, Roles and Capabilities

1. Does your system support SAML 2.0 or OIDC authentication? Can the system use TAMUS’ Universal Identification Number (UIN) as the primary authentication identity?

2. What are the predefined LMS roles and their descriptions and access to functionality?

Do any of these roles:

a. Allow a manager to see an employee’s work across multiple courses and multiple jobs?

b. Allow the individual to see employee records across schools and agencies within the entire A&M system other than an LMS admin?

3. LMS Administrators.

a. Is there an administrator role with overarching access and capabilities for managing the system on site?

b. Can system administrators create custom roles? What is the process? Can any of these roles be View-Only? If yes, describe what they are able to view.

i. Employee records

ii. View course progress of employees

iii. Reports

iv. Assignment rules

v. Course equivalencies

c. What tools are available for LMS administrators to review user access and permissions?

d. Can LMS administrators view who has which roles, who assigned them and when?

Is there a way to document why the role was given?

4. What level of customization can be done to the course site by the LMS administrators on site? This might include colors, logos, fonts, CSS, list of available tools, names of tools, placement of tools, and messaging from tools.

a. Can this customization be done differently per institution?

b. Are administrators able to configure the LMS to restrict visibility of courses to certain users based on user attributes? E.g., employing institution

5. Does the system also support managers, and learners with roles in multiple institutions?

a. If yes, for learners belonging to multiple institutions, can their data be reported according to institution?

b. Can managers see all of their employees’ data or only those for which he or she is the primary manager?

6. Does your system support non-employee use?

a. If yes, If a non-employee uses the system and then becomes an employee, can the data from their use while not an employee be merged with their employee record?

7. Can roles be granted at subordinate levels of the organization such as college or department?

8. Does your system have pre-built integrations with IAM (identity and access

The Texas A&M University System RFP01-CIO-26-255 Page 11 of 49 management) software such as Sailpoint? If so, which ones?

9. Describe how learners can be added to your system? Is there a batch upload possibility? Can it automatically create and remove users based on HRIS data?

10. Describe how terminated employee data and access is handled within your system.

Include how long the data is available and the process for if that individual is rehired.

What customized options are there for removing access when employment ends?

11. Learner groups. What kinds of learner groups can be created and then edited?

a. Is there a way to automatically assign an employee to a group based on user attributes? If so, which attributes can be used?

b. Is there a way to automatically remove them when criteria for group assignment have changed?

c. If automaticity is not available:

i. Can this be done manually and with ease?

ii. Does an API exist through which this functionality could be implemented externally?

3.2.5 Change Management and Data Retention

1. What is your data retention process?

2. For how long are course design elements made available?

3. For how long are learner submissions, activity click streams, and scores made available?

4. For how long is user account information and user centric activity made available?

(Examples include first name, last name, log in history, and email inbox.)

5. Describe your process for applying updates and the frequency of updates being applied.

6. What is your process for classification of changes?

7. What is the threshold for a change to be considered large?

8. Do you have a separate workflow for large changes vs small?

9. Discuss how The Texas A&M University System will play a part in deciding your roadmap.

a. What is the process for how The Texas A&M University System will participate in this process and impact design decisions?

b. Do you have a formal change request process with the ability for customers to view and follow up on enhancement requests?

10. Is there a public, or quasi-public way, for end-users to register requests and vote requests up or down?

11. Describe your approach to addressing bugs reported by clients and other vendors.

What is your process for bug reporting (who can report it, how must they report it, to whom do they report it)? How do you prioritize bug fixes? How do you communicate to clients and end users about bugs and bug fixes?

12. Describe workflow when issues are communicated to client LMS administrators but not for public knowledge.

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13. Describe your “user group” made from your organization clients, how many members does it have, how often does it meet, who do they interface with in your company, and how is this forum integrated into your change request, product development, and release management cycle?

3.2.6 General Support

1. Discuss the general support you provide to LMS administrators, course instructors/developers. If there is an additional cost for your system to provide different levels of support, then please specify in the cost criteria of this RFP. Specify if the support has been outsourced to a third party.

2. Is your support 24/7 or extended weekdays?

3. Is there a limit on the number of people that can open tickets?

4. Does your support process include real-time chat? If so, who can access that function?

5. What opportunities for training are provided to LMS administrators?

6. What opportunities for training are provided to course instructors, course developers?

7. What training opportunities are provided to learners?

8. What types of online communities and forums are available for customers?

9. Do you offer self-help materials in the form of text, images, and captioned videos for LMS administrators?

10. Are your support technicians domestic or outside of the United States?

3.2.7 Content and Product Integration

1. Please describe how you integrate with the following standards, protocols, and providers.

a. REST Web Service API

b. Shibboleth

c. Shibboleth with InCommon federation.

d. Do you support CMI5?

e. Do you support the Experience API (xAPI), a.k.a. Tin Can API?

f. Are you an LTI Consumer? LTI Provider?

g. Can you import/export Common Cartridge?

h. Which SCORM version(s) do you support?

2. Does your system support integration of course, learner, assignment, completion, and other data types from external systems such as LinkedIn Learning? Describe the tools available in your system to accomplish this integration.

3. Does your system support integration of course, assignment, completion, and other data types to external Learning Record Systems (LRS)? If so, which ones have you successfully integrated with?

4. Describe how you integrate with the following list. Include in your answer: What do they send back to you and what do they read from your system? If you only do an LTI integration and no API data is included in the integration, then please specify. If you

The Texas A&M University System RFP01-CIO-26-255 Page 13 of 49 have native functionality in your system that you are including in your RFP response that is doing similar work to these applications, then specify that as well.

a. Web conferencing (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex)

b. Audio discussion tools (e.g., VoiceThread)

c. Video hosting sites (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo)

d. Survey Tools (e.g., SNAP, Qualtrics)

e. Google Apps for Education (GAFE)

f. Exam Generating Tools (e.g., Respondus 4.0, TestGen)

g. E-Portfolio Tools

h. Video Platform integration (e.g., Kaltura)

i. Lecture Capture Tool (e.g., MediaSite, Panopto, Echo360)

j. Contact Resource Management (e.g., Salesforce, Radius)

5. Describe any relationships and processes you have with third party vendors that require the export and upload of LMS data into their systems for integrated analytics.

6. If there is an additional cost for your system to provide exports of data to specific third parties, then specify within the Cost criteria of this RFP?

7. How is your system able to manage user records coming from multiple external systems such as completions?

3.2.8 Courses and Course Registration

1. Could you please define what is considered a ‘course’ within your system?

2. How can your system be used for annual compliance training where employees retake the same course on a cadence to comply with state and or federal regulations?

a. Can an online course be repeated and additional completions be documented within the system either through a transcript or by way of a certificate and then reported on for compliance purposes?

3. How does a learner register for an in-person, or synchronous course where the instructor needs to know who is participating?

4. How does a learner enroll in a course? Is enrollment required to take any kind of course? Can enrollment/registration be customized?

a. If yes, are there any limitations, or can this apply to all kinds of courses?

b. Can enrollment/access for one course depend on completion of another

(prerequisites)?

c. Can prerequisites be waived?

5. Does the system allow for the purchase of registrations for courses? If yes, describe how this works, what payment options are built-in, and if other third-party applications are included, and any additional cost required.

a. Can course registration follow an approval flow? Can this be automated?

6. Can access to enrollment for a course depend on employee vs non-employee?

7. Can we batch upload/remove enrollment? Is there a limit?

8. Is there a limit to how many learners can be enrolled in an online course or program at a time?

9. Can courses be stacked, cross-listed, or merged?

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3.2.9 Course/Program Assignment

1. Can courses and programs automatically be assigned to employees?

a. Can assignment be based on a set of criteria or group membership?

i. What user attributes can be used in the creation of assignment rules and group membership?

b. Can we schedule an assignment rule for a future date?

c. Is there a cap on how many users can be assigned to a single course or program?

d. Can assignment rules be customized to create exceptions to courses assignments based on additional criteria?

e. Can those course assignments be automatically removed based on a change in the criteria?

2. Can course assignments be prevented if the employee has completed an equivalent course? within a specified number of months?

3. Can course assignments be prevented if the employee currently has an open assignment for the same (or equivalent) course?

4. Can course assignments be automatically cancelled when an employee is terminated or has an otherwise status change such that the assignment no longer applies?

5. Can new course assignments be paused or deferred when an employee is not working, e.g., a faculty member on a 9-month appointment?

6. Does your application provide an API to create and remove course assignments?

7. Can we upload files to add and remove course assignments in bulk?

3.2.10 Mobile Capabilities and Application

1. Describe your mobile application, the platforms with which it is compatible and the audiences it targets.

2. Describe the authentication process on a mobile device.

3. Please describe how the 10 most popular tools in your system function on smart devices (iOS and Android phones) and tablet native applications.

4. Please describe what portions of your native mobile applications are accessible through the device’s built-in accessibility features (VoiceOver and Zoom on iOS and TalkBack on Android).

5. Please describe what can be done through HTML5 or a web responsive design in a browser on an iOS or Android phone or tablet.

3.3 Promotion and Communications

3.3.1 General Communications

Does your system allow for email communications on member/course specific training events such as assignments, upcoming due dates, past due, and certain completions that are customizable?

3.3.2 Curriculum/Course Promoting

1. Describe how courses and learning programs are promoted to employees within the

The Texas A&M University System RFP01-CIO-26-255 Page 15 of 49 system.

a. Can courses be recommended to users by admin, managers or others? If yes, who can do this and how does it work?

2. Describe how a user searches for courses and or learning programs within the platform.

a. Can courses be categorized or tagged with multiple tags to support search by tag?

3. Can learners view course information using a catalog and save those they are interested in for later?

4. Can learners make recommendations for courses to other potential learners?

Describe how this works.

5. Can a training package be created to include a series of courses and possible additional tasks to be completed outside the platform?

6. Is there a way to make the course description and agenda of a course publicly viewable outside of the LMS? How would the learner go about discovering the link for the course description or agenda of a particular course? Is there an API for the course URL so that the URL can be utilized on websites as part of promoting?

3.4 Learner Functionality

3.4.1 Types of Learners.

1. Employees. All employees must be allowed to use the new LMS.

a. How do employee profiles get created in your system?

b. Can the ability for employees to edit their user profile be restricted to admins?

2. Non-Employees. Does your system support non-employee learners as well?

a. How do these learners’ profiles get created? Is there a mechanism to do this in bulk?

b. How can non-employees log in to your system?

c. Can the record of non-employees be associated with an A&M member institution? How does an update occur if they change their affiliation?

d. Can non-employees be limited in what courses they can access?

3.4.2 Courses

1. How do learners find courses in your system?

2. Describe how learners can self-enroll for courses.

3. Does your system allow employees to be assigned a required course?

4. Describe how learners discover how they have required training to complete.

5. Does your system allow learners to see progress on courses they’ve started?

3.4.3 External Training

1. Does your system support integration with external LMSs for integration of a learner’s training taken elsewhere?

2. Can learners manually record training taken elsewhere in your system? E.g., conferences, academic courses, professional development, et al.

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3. Can users be assigned training activities within your system to be completed outside of the system? If yes, by who? E.g. Managers? Admins? Can this be done in batch?

3.4.4 Transcript

1. How does a learner view their transcript within the LMS?

2. Does your system record learner completion for all courses?

3. Are these completions retained indefinitely?

4. Does your system allow for the printing of a certificate for a course completion/program?

a. For courses/programs that provide a certificate, can that certificate be re-printed on-demand?

b. Can a new certificate with date and time of completion be created for subsequent completions of the same course?

5. Can your system print a transcript of all learning, including courses, external training, and other types?

6. Can the transcript show multiple completions with date and time stamps for each completion?

7. Is a transcript available for employees and non-employees?

8. Can a transcript be printed for a time frame (start and end dates)?

3.5 Manager Functionality

3.5.1 Relationship

1. How is the employee-manager relationship defined in your system?

2. Can this relationship be established manually?

3. Can it be defined via Workday integration?

4. Can employees be linked to multiple managers within your system?

3.5.2 Training Records

1. Can managers review their employees’ training records?

2. Can they review the status of courses in progress?

3. Can managers get a complete report of their employees’ training completions?

4. Some employees hold 2 or more positions at the same time. Can all managers of such an employee view training records?

5. Describe the level of access for the management chain with regards to transcripts.

3.5.3 Assignment

1. Can managers assign their employees training courses?

2. Can managers recommend training without requiring it?

3.6 Course Instructor and Developer Tools

3.6.1 Course Instructors

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1. Course level Communications

a. Discuss your system’s approach to communication. Some of the items to include are email, SMS messages, RSS feeds, push notifications, pull notifications, and the use of commercial Calendar tools to consume calendar events. What tools in your system utilize these communications, and which tools do not?

2. Course Management

a. How are in-person course sections managed within your system.

b. Does your system support the export of course content and gradebook information for instructor archive. If so, describe the process.

c. Describe how courses can be set up to be self-paced? In what ways can an instructor create learning paths within their courses.

d. Describe how an instructor can scaffold the learning process by gatekeeping stages based on completion of prior stages.

i. What are the types of conditions available for releasing content gatekeeping?

e. Are you limited to start dates, end dates, and an on/off manual switch?

f. Do you have a graphical representation on the course site that shows instructors and learners where they are in the structured process and what the complete course looks like?

i. For materials that learners do not yet have access to, can learners see these items so they know they exist, with a message that explains why they are not yet available, or are these “future” materials simply absent from the learners’ screens?

g. Is there a status bar that explains where the learner is in that subset of material and activities?

h. How does an instructor declare what is in that subset of conditionally released materials?

i. For materials that learners have already completed, can your system mark those materials as completed or partially completed by using icons or a color marking system?

j. Does your system support gamification of course content such as leaderboards, badges, or point totals outside the gradebook? If so, describe the functionality.

k. What does your system provide related to the ideas of adaptive learning, individual learning, mastery learning, and competency-based education? Please provide examples.

3. Course Participant Management

a. Describe features of in-person course management, such as:

i. Can an instructor/admin download a class roster?

• What information is provided in the course roster?

• What formats?

• Are they editable?

ii. Attendance tracking

• What are the ways in which attendance for a classroom training can be updated by the instructor or admin?

• Can it be done by a batch upload?

iii. Completion reports and file formats

4. Collaboration, discussions, groups (in course)

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a. Are discussions shown on homepage/dashboard? If so, can users respond from homepage/dashboard and still have the activity tracked?

b. Can the instructor grade within the discussion posts?

c. How are discussions displayed/filtered? (i.e., preview mode, nested, by name, by date and time, etc.)?

d. Does your system have the capability for video or audio discussion posts?

e. Does your system support assigning learners in the course to working groups?

f. Can discussion forms be assigned to specific learner groups?

g. Can the instructor create and assign groups for learners?

h. Can your system auto-assign learners to groups?

i. Can learners create self-forming groups?

j. In what ways can groups of learners collaborate to create materials through the tools in your system?

k. In what ways can groups collaboratively work on creating presentations?

l. In what ways can an instructor provide feedback to a group and in what tools can group feedback be provided?

m. Describe any other collaboration tools your system implements.

n. Does your system allow instructors and learners to create video and/or audio messages?

i. Please describe how learners can leverage MP4 and MP3 recordings in your system.

ii. Does your system have the ability to record, edit, and caption the recordings?

iii. Can they be submitted as part of a Quiz, discussion post, or dropbox/assignment submission?

5. Assignments, Assessments, Quizzes, and Tests

a. How does your system handle the grading of quizzes and exams involving large question libraries and randomized question sets? How does the instructor:

i. Find a mis-keyed question to edit/rekey it?

ii. Go from finding the item to editing the text or properties of the item?

iii. Regrade the existing learner attempts (correct the grading)?

iv. Ensure that the edited/corrected item is stored in the question library?

v. Upload multi-media content (provide list of compatible file types)?

b. Can errors be fixed while learners are taking the quiz with their screens being updated? Describe the learner’s experience and how the instructor can do this?

c. How often is an exam/quiz auto saved while taking the exam/quiz?

d. Can the instructor see in real time who is currently taking the exam?

3.6.2 Course Developers

1. Course Development

a. Describe the native functionality available using your platform to create and deliver learning content. For example, describe the types of course content, media, or interactive content that can be created with the course authoring tool.

b. Are there accessibility tools available such as accessibility checkers and remediation capabilities?

c. Describe any interactive elements available to course developers that contribute to both learning and assessment.

d. What course metadata attributes does the system support? For example, can

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e. Does your system support import/export/copy/clone of entire courses from other courses, master courses, or development shells? If so, describe the process.

f. What media types are supported in the course authoring tool?

g. What media sources are supported in the course authoring tool (e.g., YouTube)

h. Describe the types of course documents that can be uploaded to the course authoring tool (e.g. .docx, .pptx, .pdf). Include any capabilities to batch upload, upload via .zip files, and drag-and-drop file uploads.

i. Does your system contain a learning object repository (LOR) or do you have a partnership with a specific LOR that integrates with your product?

j. Can learning objects including purchased training content be deleted to comply with expired licensing agreements?

2. Assignments, Assessments, Quizzes, and Tests

a. Describe the assessment types supported by your system. Does your system have a native exam authoring tool? Can an exam be created from an external data source (e.g., Word or PDF document)?

b. Describe the types of questions supported in your system’s quiz and test tool.

c. Does your system handle question banking (the act of randomly pulling questions for each learner from question pools)?

d. How does the system manage versioning with assessments?

e. Can a developer see in real time who is taking an assessment or completing an activity within the course?

f. Does your system support adaptive testing, meaning that the test adapts to the performance of the learner each question at a time?

g. Does your system provide a native e-portfolio tool? If so, describe its functionality.

h. What happens to learner e-portfolio materials upon course completion and subsequent termination from employment? Can it be archived and/or exported?

3.6.3 Grading, Transcripts and Completions

1. Describe the grade tool in your system LMS and the ease of its use for both instructor and learners.

2. Describe the ways a course can be configured to trigger a completion.

3. What types of grading options are available?

4. Does your grading system offer competency-based grading in addition to traditional points and percentage grading?

5. Can the Gradebook dynamically record score by: last attempt, most recent, highest score, and/or average of attempts?

6. Can an Instructor or other role bulk upload course completions/grades from an external spreadsheet into the grade book?

7. Can grading be done in groups (i.e., the instructor’s grade on a group project automatically applies to the learners within that group)?

8. Rubrics. Describe your system’s ability to support a grading rubric tool. Be sure to include versioning, any options for peer evaluation, visibility to learners, reuse in other courses and for which activities it is available.

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9. Can one course be designated as a course equivalency to another?

3.7 Analytics, Surveying, and Reporting

3.7.1 Reporting Data

1. Does your system support reporting on system events in real-time? If so, does this apply to all reports, including analytical reporting? If not, what amount of latency is present (and in which types of reports)?

2. To the extent that external course/learner data can be integrated into your system, which types of reports can external data be present on? Which types of reports, if any, do not support the use of externally provided data?

3. Can your system report out on employees and non-employees separately? How can we report on users based on different characteristics?

4. How often can external data get fed into your system?

5. What kind of Billing reports are available and what formats are they in?

3.7.2 Survey creating and Reporting

1. Does your system have a native capacity for creating, hosting, and analyzing online surveys or do you have a partnership with a vendor that integrates these capabilities?

3.7.3 Analytics and Reporting – Tool and Course level

1. Can reports be scheduled? Can they be shared via FTP or email?

2. Can we generate or custom build:

a. Assignment reports with assigned date, due date, number of reminders sent, manager email

b. Completion reports including employee name, affiliation info, assignment due date, completion date.

3. Are reports updated in real time? Can I export data at will, daily, weekly, monthly?

Provide a list of file formats that data can be exported as (i.e. .csv, .xls, .pdf, etc.). Can these reports be run at a hierarchical level?

4. Describe the types of analytics and reports your system provides at the tool level and at the course level, including:

a. Can we run a report on courses that were assigned and by whom?

b. Is there a report on administrative activities that have taken place in the system and on a course and items within a course?

c. System usage by course managers (instructor, developer, etc) Will it tell us who updated tools, items in the course and when?

d. Course and System log in history of a user

e. Learner/Instructor activities in the LMS

f. Time on task – (i.e., per question on each quiz, duration of actually interacting with content.

g. Grades from quizzes or gradebook

h. Exam Level statistics – overall and question level

i. Time stamp verification on submissions and activities such as discussion boards, at initiation and completion

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j. Are there any limitations to the size of your reports (performance limitations, based on population size)?

k. Can metric scales be adjusted to create a better understanding of what happened?

l. Analysis across courses and cohorts of learners

m. Learner-facing indicators of progress toward course completion to include instructor and learner progress dashboards

3.7.4 Analytics and Reporting – Degree and Institutional Level

1. What types of analytics and reports does your system provide at organization, company or system levels?

2. Can an administrator or instructor tie together a set of courses as being part of a learning program and then see analysis across courses as it relates to completion?

3. What is available to administrators to demonstrate system usage to campus executives?

4. Describe your company’s learning analytics capabilities.

3.8 Add on Products, Services and Tools

3.8.1 What additional add on products services or tools do you provide? Describe the capabilities of each and include a cost breakdown in the cost section. Samples of add-on products, services, and tools may include:

1. Media storage and streaming

2. Lecture capture and/or streaming

3. Accessibility…