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Sourcing Management Request for Information
FOR
Business Process Mapping Software
May 2011
United States Department of State
(IRM/BMP/GRP/SM)
UNCLASSIFIED
TABLE OF CONTENT
| 1. | Introduction | 3 |
| 1.1 | Purpose of this Document | 3 |
| 1.2 | Background | 3 |
| 1.3 | Scope | 3 |
| 1.5 | How to Respond | 4 |
| 2. | Acronyms and Abbreviations | 5 |
| 3. | Requirements | 6 |
| 3.1 | Business Requirements | 6 |
| 3.2 | Functional Requirements | 6 |
Introduction Purpose of this Document The purpose of this document is to perform market research for the Department of State (DoS) to make decisions regarding development of strategies for obtaining Business Process Mapping (BPM) tools to capture and streamline its business processes. The DoS is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to gather information to assist in requirements formulation and to identify qualified vendors that are able to meet our requirements. The DoS is open to additional ideas and respondents are encouraged to provide information about alternatives that can help to better define the requirements and solutions that meet the Department’s needs.
Background The Sourcing Management Division (SM) resides within the Information Resource Management, Business Management and Planning, Governance Resource and Performance Management Office (IRM/BMP/GRP). SM seeks to identify strategic sources of information technology technical tools, as well as human resources. SM strives to provide unrivaled service to our overseas and domestic customers to help them achieve their business needs in the most cost effective manner while at the same time guiding them to meet security, legal and other Information Technology (IT) guidelines. SM is working on behalf of the DoS to collaborate with vendors and obtain information regarding BPM technology and seeks to identify qualified vendors who might be able to meet our current and future requirements related to BPM.
The DoS is currently utilizing BPM technology to improve and evolve application development methodology. The employment of BPM has brought advancements in IT closer to the business of the Department and has assisted organizations to develop business process-based applications more rapidly. BPM technology brings “added value” to an organization as one or more of the following increases: number of business process-based applications and the complexity of business processes each implements; frequency of business process changes (changing requirements, improvements, etc.); and the need to monitor and report on workload performance metrics and adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operating Level Agreements (OLAs). The ability to accommodate these needs with the flexibility of implementing changes within a process without any major overhead highlights the value of BPM tools within the Department.
Scope
The scope of this RFI is to obtain relevant information from commercial vendors regarding a potential BPM software tools. In coordination with the Office of Acquisitions (AQM), SM plans to obtain information about available BPM tools via one or more Requests for Information (RFI). The RFI will detail the basic requirements that apply to a select range of functions and other factors. If vendors who review the initial RFI require additional information it will be provided via a more refined RFI. If information obtained from vendors is too vague, wide ranging, or insufficient, another RFI will be released with more detailed specifications. The RFI is intended to be a living, on-going process until such time as SM deems the information obtained meets the needs of the Department, at which, a formal Request for Quotation (RFQ) will be initiated.
1.4 Disclaimer
This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation nor does it commit or obligate either party in any way. In accordance with FAR 15.202(c), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will not be returned.
1.5 How to Respond
Please submit your response to this RFI via electronic mail only, to Evelyn Stewart at stewarteg@state.gov. Questions are due no later than July 14, 2011, and final responses are due no later than July 28, 2011. Questions and Answers will be posted to Fedbizopps prior to final responses due date. Documents submitted should be in Microsoft or Adobe formats. Respondent need only send marketing information pertaining to the product/s requested in this RFI.
1.6 Description of Information Requested
All vendors with an appropriate product relating to the requirements set forth in Section 3 ‘Requirements’ of this document are invited to submit a Capability Statement, contact information and any other specific and pertinent information that would enhance the Department’s understanding of the information submitted. Also, vendors with a GSA schedule should provide their contract number for that schedule.
The Capability Statement should discuss the product’s capabilities and the product’s system requirements against the requirements in this RFI. Respondent should provide a response to Section 3 ‘Requirements’ section in table format indicating the product (brand, model#, etc.) and if the vendor’s product meet the mandatory minimum specifications and if there is any other technical consideration, option, or exception that would apply. Vendors are encouraged to include in their response any questions that they would require prior to submitting a reply, in the event that a solicitation is issued. No pricing information is requested at this time.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
AQM – Office of Acquisitions Management BMP – Business Management and Planning BPM – Business Process Mapping BRD – Business Requirements Document CCB – Change Control Board DoS – Department of State FAR – Federal Acquisition Regulations FRD – Functional Requirements Document GRP – Governance, Resource and Performance Management Office GSA – General Services Administration IRM – Bureau of Information Resources Management IT – Information Technology MRD – Market Requirements Document RFI – Request for Information RFP – Request for Proposal RFQ – Request for Quote SBU – Sensitive But Unclassified SM – Sourcing Management
Requirements Business Requirements
The Department is assessing assorted application suites that would allow for the design and development of BPM solutions. The solution would incorporate open architecture and would include or be able to accept input in the following categories:
· Process modeling, standards, and import/export;
· Process administration, monitoring, auditing, and management;
· Project workspace, customization, interacting with process instances and development tools;
· Rules engine, maintenance, and user interface;
· Business activity monitoring, events, alerts, and exceptions
· Connectivity and interoperability;
· Resource management, access control, authentication, and authorization;
· Process engine, transactions, availability, and platforms;
· Process versioning;
· Process reporting.
The Department is employing the RFI to gather additional information to help DOS to understand the capabilities of BPM suites and related software packages and to identify qualified vendors who might be able to meet our future requirements.
Functional Requirements Minimal Specifications
Business Process Mapping (BPM)
(H=High) (M=Medium) (L=Low) Mandatory (Y/N) Comments and/or Requirements
The graphical representation of the workflow, which can be either information or an actual document in a business process.
| Workflows can be graphically designed |
| H |
| Y |
| Top-level status diagram (for business users) |
| L |
| N |
| Detailed technical diagram (for implementers) |
| M |
| Y |
| Drag-and-drop of workflow components |
| M |
| Y |
| Can be designed by non-technical users |
| M |
| N |
| Requires third party IDE |
| M |
| Y |
| Integrated Development Environment (IDE) |
| Design stored in structured repository |
| M |
| Y |
| Swim lane representation |
| M |
| N |
| Can be designed by non-technical users |
| M |
| N |
| can be imported from a designer application into a development workspace |
| H |
| Y |
| Can start from different types of stages |
| H |
| Y |
| Can support if/else logic |
| H |
| Y |
| Flow can be dynamically calculated |
| H |
| Y |
| Different workflows can be triggered in parallel |
| H |
| Y |
| Workflows can be assigned to individuals or groups |
| H |
| Y |
| Able to represent patterns of activity |
| M |
| N |
| Can support functions |
| H |
| Y |
| Can support hierarchy |
| M |
| Y |
| Can support multiple start points and end points |
| H |
| Y |
| Transformation calculations |
| H |
| Y |
| Transformation by people |
| H |
| Y |
| Transformation by system |
| H |
| Y |
| Can have different steps |
| H |
| Y |
| Supports different types of measurement |
| H |
| Y |
| Can be called from different projects |
| M |
| Y |
| Can be called from external sources |
| M |
| Y |
| Can interact with databases |
| H |
| Y |
| Can interact with network resources |
| M |
| N |
| Can interact with system resources |
| M |
| N |
| Can interact with web services |
| M |
| Y |
| Can inherit functionality from libraries |
| H |
| N |
1.3 Events
| Supports different types of events |
| H |
| Y |
| Human Interaction events |
| H |
| N |
| Triggered externally from other systems |
| M |
| Y |
| Events as web services |
| L |
| Y |
| Triggered based on time |
| H |
| Y |
| Triggered based on calculation/formula |
| H |
| Y |
| Triggered based on conditional |
| H |
| Y |
| Triggered based on change within process |
| H |
| Y |
| Can be used on start, middle end of step |
| M |
| Y |
1.4 Task Allocation
| Allocated by individual |
| H |
| Y |
| Allocation by step in process |
| H |
| Y |
| Can use Active Directory groups |
| H |
| N |
| Can trigger notification |
| H |
| Y |
| Can be reassigned to a different user |
| H |
| Y |
| Can be reassigned to alternate when primary not available |
| M |
| Y |
1.5. Business Rules
| Can be captured in decision points |
| M |
| Y |
| Integrate workflow with business rule via GUI |
| M |
| N |
1.6 Business Controls
1.7 Data Modeling
| Capture data relationships |
| M |
| Y |
| Interact with data definitions |
| H |
| Y |
| Map data objects to forms |
| H |
| Y |
| Map data objects to roles |
| L |
| Y |
| Map data objects to events |
| M |
| Y |
| Generate relationships between objects from different sources |
| M |
| N |
1.8 Process Variable Binding
A binding is an association between a name and a value. Identify how a binding can be assigned a new value.
| Processes can have their own temporary values |
| M |
| N |
1.9 Manual or User-Initiated Tasks
These tasks can be initiated manually by users as opposed to automatically by the system.
| Tasks can be assigned to dynamic users or hard coded people. |
| H |
| Y |
1.10 Due Dates
| Due dates by each component |
| M |
| N |
2.0 Security Management
2.1 Roles and Users
| Process-specific roles |
| H |
| Y |
| Role-based access control |
| H |
| Y |
| Just-in-time assignment |
| M |
| Y |
| 2.2 |
| Role Management |
| H |
| Y |
| Define, manage, and integrate, assignment of roles to objects. |
| 2.3 |
| User profiles |
| H |
| Y |
| Query, manage, define, categorize and group users by role and correlate with which objects they have what type of access to. |
| 2.4 |
| User Assignment Algorithms |
| H |
| Y |
| Design, query, reuse and define assignments |
| 3.1 |
| Check-in/Check-out |
| M |
| Y |
| To allow the designer to produce, distribute, and update the solution |
| Workflow designers can check-in/check-out workflow documents |
| L |
| Y |
| Workflow administrators can lock workflow documents to prevent further changes |
| L |
| N |
| Workflow designers can display all versions of a workflow that are available for download/check-out |
| M |
| N |
| Workflow designers can download a particular workflow version |
| M |
| N |
| Assigns comments to any particular version on check-in |
| H |
| Y |
| Select upon checking in for a minor revision or a major revision |
| L |
| N |
| Stores the name, group, and role of author, the date/time, within the version of the workflow version |
| L |
| N |
| Requires 3rd-party version control software |
| L |
| N |
| 3.2 |
| Versioning |
| M |
| Y |
| Maintain, compare, add and retrieve multiple versions of a solution. |
| 3.3 |
| Simulation/Validation |
| M |
| Y |
| Ability to run a simulation of events to test logic, performance and validation controls. |
| 3.4 |
| Export Format |
| M |
| Y |
| Provide what formats the solution can be exported to. For workflow design, database relationships, roles, etc. |
| 3.5 |
| Import Format |
| M |
| Y |
| What formats can be imported into the solution. |
How are the forms maintained in your product?
| 5.0 |
| Workflow Portal |
| H |
| Y |
| Please list what type of frameworks it can integrate with. |
| Monthly overdue tasks |
| L |
| N |
| 5.2 |
| Watch List |
| H |
| Y |
| Listing of active processes that you user can follow-up on, without being assigned the task. |
| 5.3 |
| Reports |
| M |
| N |
| Any built-in reporting mechanisms to support real-time, ad-hoc and near real-time. |
| 5.4 |
| Search and Query |
| M |
| N |
| Ability to locate processes by keywords or by dynamic syntax generation. |
| 5.5 |
| Task Information |
| H |
| Y |
| Information related to the quantity, assignment, start and end time of the task. |
| 5.6 |
| Collaboration |
| M |
| Y |
| Create a dynamic workspace shared among different groups |
| 5.7 |
| User Time Zones |
| M |
| Y |
| Support regionalization by front end, and/or by backend components. |
| 5.8 |
| User Account Management |
| M |
| Y |
| 6 |
| Monitoring and Management |
Ability to monitor individual instances for errors, for logging purposes, for any critical flags.
| Users can pause or resume instances |
| H |
| Y |
| Users can restart instances |
| H |
| Y |
| Users can delete instances |
| L |
| N |
| Users can abort instances |
| L |
| N |
| Users can manually override instance data |
| L |
| N |
| 6.2 |
| Workflow Initiation |
| H |
| Y |
| 6.3 |
| Workflow Monitoring |
| M |
| Y |
| 6.4 |
| Workflow Statistics |
| M |
| Y |
| 6.6 |
| Resource Organization |
| M |
| Y |
| Duration of each workflow step |
| H |
| N |
| Number of revisits to each workflow step |
| L |
| N |
| 7.2 |
| Trend Analysis |
| M |
| Y |
| By way of reporting, allow for data mining to capture trends in historical data |
| 7.3 |
| Optimization |
| M |
| Y |
| Identify areas where code can be optimized for better performance, and capture bottlenecks. |
| 8 |
| Product Technology and Support |
Define what type of support is offered.
Technology Platform
Standards Compliance
Section 508 compliancy will be linked to the following sections of the 508 standard listed in the column cells below:
| Buttons |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a), (c) | 1194.22(a), (n) |
| Calendar |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a) | 1194.22(a), (l), (n) | 1194.31(a), (b), (f) |
| Dialog Box |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a), (c) | 1194.22(l) |
| Error Handling |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a), (c) | 1194.22(a), (n) |
| Input Controls |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a), (c) | 1194.22(a), (l), (n) |
| Search |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a), (c) | 1194.22(a), (l), (n) |
| Timeout |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a), (c) | 1194.22(l), (n), (p) |
| Basic |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(b), (g), (j) | 1194.22(a), (l) |
| Basic Form |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a), (c) | 1194.22(l), (n) |
| Basic Page |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(b), (c), (d), (j) | 1194.22(i), (l), (o) |
| Links |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(c) | 1194.22(a) |
| Menu |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a), (c), (d) | 1194.22(a), (l) |
| News Slider |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(a), (c) | 1194.22(a), (l) |
| Basic |
| H |
| Y |
| 1194.21(c), (d) | 1194.22(g), (h), (l) | 1194.31(a) |
| 10.0 |
| Additional Section 508 Requirements |
| Process Modeling |
| H |
| Y |
| Dialog Box, Input Controls, Images, Tables Basic |
| Graphical Designer |
| H |
| Y |
| Buttons, Images Basic, Layout Basic form, Layout Basic Page, Input Controls |
| Workflow |
| H |
| Y |
| Dialog Box, Input Controls, Images Basic, Navigation Links, Tables Basic |
| Events |
| H |
| Y |
| Error Handling, Dialog Box, Links, Input Controls |
| Task Allocation |
| H |
| Y |
| Dialog Box, Tables Basic, Navigation Links, Navigation Menu, Forms Search, Forms Timeout, Forms Input Controls, Forms Error Handling, Forms Buttons, Forms Calendar |
| Business Rules |
| H |
| Y |
| Dialog Box, Input Controls, Buttons |
| Business Controls |
| H |
| Y |
| Buttons, Calendar, Dialog Box, Error Handling, Input Controls, Layout Basic Form, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, Tables Basic |
| Data Modeling |
| H |
| Y |
| Images Basic, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, Navigation Links, Tables Basic |
| Process Variable Binding |
| H |
| Y |
| Forms Input Controls, Navigation Menu |
| Roles and Users Management |
| H |
| Y |
| Forms Input Controls, Navigation Menu |
| Simulation/Validation |
| H |
| Y |
| Forms Input Controls, Navigation Menu, Forms Error Handling |
| Form Types |
| H |
| Y |
| Forms Buttons, Forms Calendar, Forms Dialog Box, Forms Error Handling, Forms Input Controls, Forms Search, Layout Basic Form, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, Navigation Links, Tables Basic |
| Workflow Portal |
| H |
| Y |
| Dialog Box, Input Controls, Images Basic, Navigation Links, Tables Basic, Forms Search, Forms Timeout, Images Basic, Layout Basic Form, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, News Slider |
| To-do List |
| H |
| Y |
| Dialog Box, Input Controls, Images Basic, Navigation Links, Tables Basic, Forms Search, Forms Timeout, Images Basic, Layout Basic Form, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, News Slider |
| Watch List |
| H |
| Y |
| Dialog Box, Input Controls, Images Basic, Navigation Links, Tables Basic, Forms Search, Forms Timeout, Images Basic, Layout Basic Form, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, News Slider |
| Reports |
| H |
| Y |
| Images Basic, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, Navigation Links, Tables Basic, Forms Input Controls |
| Search and Query |
| H |
| Y |
| Images Basic, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, Navigation Links, Tables Basic, Forms Input Controls, Forms Search |
| Task Information |
| H |
| Y |
| Forms Input controls, Navigation Menu, Forms Dialog Box |
| Process Analytics |
| H |
| Y |
| Images Basic, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, Navigation Links, Tables Basic, Forms Input Controls, Forms Search |
| Performance Data |
| H |
| Y |
| Images Basic, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, Navigation Links, Tables Basic, Forms Input Controls, Forms Search |
| Trend Analysis |
| H |
| Y |
| Images Basic, Layout Basic Page, Navigation Menu, Navigation Links, Tables Basic, Forms Input Controls, Forms Search |
U.S. Department of State Business Process Mapping Software 2 May 2011
UNCLASSIFIED
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