web-redesign_bid-questions_13JAN2016_smcm.pdf

RFP web design bid questions closed 1/11/2016

• Are you open to using Drupal as the CMS for the new site?

o If the agency awarded the bid can successfully demonstrate a greater benefit to implement a new CMS over the cost associated with retraining and acclimating both technical and non-technical users across the college, we are open to any CMS that will better align with MWCC’s goals and objectives, and can integrate with our digital ecosystem (as outlined in the RFP) as well as or better than WordPress.

• Are you open to partnership proposals in which one team would propose on the branding/marketing/design and another team would propose on the CMS implementation?

o yes

• What's the ballpark budget range for the project, just to get a sense of order of magnitude? Is it in the $25-50K range, the $50-100K range, the $100-250K range, the $250-500K range or above $500K?

o This will be discussed with the awarded agency. Please craft your proposal based on your best solution to our request rather than a set price range.

• Are you open to working with a NY state vendor rather than one in MA?

o yes

• Does MWCC have a current communications agency of record? If so, can you cite the name of the agency/firm, the extent of the relationship and what work has been produced by this firm within the past 1-2 years?

o We do not have an agency of record

• What firm/agency developed the current MWCC site?

o The current MWCC site was developed internally by the Marketing & Communications Division

• Who does MWCC consider to be its top-three competitors?

o This will be discussed with the awarded agency.

• Who from MWCC will be the lead contacts during this engagement?

o Please refer to RFP under MWCC Resources for this information

• The RFP cites that there are a few pages of the site that are in Spanish. Is a multi-language site a firm requirement? Can you elaborate a bit more on the College's expectations in this regard?

o Translation capabilities are preferred.

• Besides the agency requirements/qualifications cited in the RFP, what other attributes would

FAU like to see with its potential web design partner? In other words, what will make for a successful partnership/engagement from your perspective?

o FAU is an unfamiliar term to us. We are not able to answer this question.

• Inbound Campaign o IN REFERENCE TO (page 6): Recommend and, upon approval, implement, manage, and report on an inbound marketing campaign which can include, but is not limited to:

email, PPC, remarketing, search, video pre-roll, etc. to promote new website as an enrollment tool o QUESTION (#1): This sounds like you want to outsource an Inbound campaign in its entirety. Does this mean you want content created for the various methods of marketing? If so, for what duration? Is it all based on the recommendation? Who is the audience of this objective?

This is specific to the website redesign and launch itself. Content would be created by MWCC in collaboration with awarded agency. Duration will be discussed with awarded agency. It will be based on the recommendation. The audiences are prospective students, internal stakeholders, and community partners.

• Email Marketing Tool o IN REFERENCE TO (page 6): On-board an email marketing/drip campaign service such as

Pardot to support enrolment initiatives and fully articulate with a Salesforce-based CRM solution; include this in pricing details o QUESTION (#2): To clarify, you’d like a third part email marketing tool to integrate with your CRM built on SalesForce.com?

Information subsequent to the release of this RFP supersedes this need. A third party email solution is no longer required.

• Other Web-based systems o IN REFERENCE TO (page 6): Provide easy access to web-based systems (see list above) o QUESTION (#3): Does this mean just provide a link to the system, or are you looking for deeper integration, or will it vary by product? (If it’s more than just a link, there could be quite a lot of variability in the scope of this item because providing a link is much different than a custom integration.)

It may vary by product. We currently provide links to most systems, while a few are integrated into the existing website through use of iframes or JavaScript.

• Alternative Home Page o IN REFERENCE TO (page 6): Develop an alternate streamlined homepage that can be quickly launched during emergency situations to reduce loading wait time o QUESTION (#4): Do you mean deliver the exact same content but with a “lighter” footprint (maybe without images, etc.), or will the content also be different?

We would like abridged content with a light footprint; fewer images and/or whatever is necessary to reduce the load time as well as the ability to quickly include emergency-related information.

• Other Questions o QUESTION (#5): What are your current challenges with workflow? Is it just for approving content? What features would you like for it?

Current challenges with workflow include: permissions for editors on a site level;

no automated approvals; no flagged or schooled reminders for updates or review. Preferred features include: more granular permission, automated approval workflow, ability to schedule reminders and tasks.

o QUESTION (#6): Can you clarify what you would like done for Search Engine Optimization? For example, landing pages, keyword research, on-page, off-page, etc.

For How Long? What has been done to date?

Our current site follows best practices for SEO, such as having main topics of a page in headers/page titles, hyperlinks that are titled with what the links actually lead to (instead of “click here” for example), and meta tags with appropriate keywords/descriptions. We would like to maintain or improve this level of optimization with a redesign.

o QUESTION (#7): How open are you to remote usability testing, e.g., tests conducted via screen-sharing and/or with unmoderated tools for category sorting?

We are open to remote usability testing.

o QUESTION (#8): What are the current issues with providing content in other languages, and what are this project's localization requirements?

Current issues include: quality translations, lack of implemented functionality to translate on the fly by user demand.

o QUESTION (#9): Are you looking for comprehensive ADA compliance testing?

The redesigned MWCC website should be fully ADA- / 508-compliant.

o QUESTION (#10): Can we assume that MWCC staff will provide all new and edited content, or does the vendor need to provide writing assistance?

MWCC staff will provide content, but prefers insights on best practices from awarded vendor.

• Can you please provide some clarification as to what the “3D cart for non-credit course registration” is as listed on page 4 of the RFP?

o 3dcart is a hosted shopping cart platform that we use to sell our non-credit courses online. More information about the product can be found on their website at www.3dcart.com

• Can you describe the content authoring workflow process you have in place now? If it will continue to be utilized or if there are pain points your new implementation should consider.

o There is very little formal workflow for content authoring. Pain points include quality assurance of content, approvals, editing, and timely updates.

• In addition to Spanish what other language should be considered for this release?

o Translation capabilities should allow site users to choose their language from a standard list of global languages according to web best practices. In addition, a small number of pages will require quality content written in Spanish. Please refer to current mwcc.edu website for Spanish language content.

• Should screen reader testing be included in this scope of work?

o The redesigned MWCC website should be fully ADA- / 508-compliant.

• Will MWCC share its new brand guidelines with the team for consideration as we build out the response?

o yes

• Are you wanting the system to print full web pages or convert the information to a printable

PDF file?

o Conversion to PDF is preferred, but not a requirement.

http://www.3dcart.com/

• Have you engaged a service for accessibility testing or should the proposal include cost and recommendation for full accessibility testing services?

o The proposal should include cost and recommendation for accessibility testing services.

• Which stakeholders from MWCC will be involved in the decision-making process? What will staff involvement be like?

o Please refer to RFP under MWCC Resources for this information. Other staff will be involved as needed.

• What do you want visitors to your site to think about MWCC?

o Please refer to the “About MWCC” and “Expectations” sections of the RFP for this information.

• What web properties will be included in the scope of work? Will there be maintenance required for these other properties?

o Mwcc.edu is the scope of the project

• Are there current brand guidelines that will be shared? Are these brand guidelines up to date or is there any branding efforts going on?

o Yes, up to date brand guidelines will be provided

• Are there current use cases or personas that will be provided?

o yes

• Is there a budget range that should be considered?

o This will be discussed with the awarded agency. Please craft your proposal based on your best solution to our request rather than a set price range.

• Do you see MWCC publishing daily/weekly content (e.g. blog posts)?

o MWCC published content on a bi-weekly basis in our NewsCenter and other content as needed on an annual basis.

• A lot of the systems listed are fairly market specific applications. Which of them will simply be linked to and have no direct integration with the site vs. deep integration?

o We currently link to most of these applications. A few applications, such as Active Data Calendar, Library databases, and FinAidTV, are simply using JavaScript and iframes to embed content from those systems and are not complex integrations. Integrations, although preferred, are not a requirement of the redesign, but they are listed to make known of our current systems. We would like to utilize these systems whenever possible rather than creating duplicate content on the website.

• What languages does the website need to be translated to?

o Translation capabilities should allow site users to choose their language from a standard list of global languages according to web best practices. In addition, a small number of pages will require quality content written in Spanish. Please refer to current mwcc.edu website for Spanish language content.

• What flexibility in templates is needed? Do some content owners need the ability to deviate from set brand parameters?

o Some flexibility is needed. Some content owners will need to ability to deviate from set brand parameters.

• Will you make your Google Analytics account accessible to the winning bidder?

o Yes

• There are a large number of pages on the current site. Is the expectation to migrate all, cut down on number of pages or pull the entire site as is?

o The expectation is to migrate all content, with a process of review and editing, if necessary. Depending on the awarded agency’s design and overall template proposal, content may be abridged or changed.

• Considering section 508 compliancy, is there any expectation of compliance? If so, to what extent?

o The redesigned MWCC website should be fully ADA- / 508-compliant.

• What are you assuming MWCC’s involvement is regarding usability testing?

o Please refer to the “Expectations” section of the RFP for this information.

• Is it acceptable to provide a technical development cost range as we normally do a detailed functionality expectation discovery?

o yes

• How many user levels are you expecting for the CMS?

o We are looking to have this recommendation provided by the awarded agency based on discovery. Please refer to the “Expectations” section of the RFP for this information.

• What CMS features do you wish to be scalable? Editorial control, file management, calendar system with multiple contributors at varying levels, etc.? And how many users do you expect for each feature?

o All CMS features should be scalable. Our current number of users varies between 25 – 50.

• Should the user levels reflect the current decentralized governance (i.e., admin account for each college or department’s head of IT)?

o yes

• Will the migration plan include past and expired content (e.g. theater shows, athletics schedule, etc.)? If so, will the content need SEO?

o Yes. Yes.

• Under “Detailed Project Plan,” bullet #15 in reference to the identification and training of content providers – is this in effect a request for a web governance plan, in which we will define the roles, develop a process, and train the current staff/faculty content creators?

o Yes, in collaboration with MWCC staff

• Under “Layouts,” will the form templates require the user to upload files? If so, what kind of files are expected (enrollment application, employment, transcript request, apply for dorm room, etc.) and will the files be required to be saved in a specific server location?

o Form templates allowing file upload is not required

• Will you need an eCommerce application (pay for enrollment application, technology fees, dorm rooms, parking permit, etc.).

o No, but a recommendation is preferred

• Under Phase 2: Mock-ups/Site Architecture you state “three to five prototypes.” Is that a request for three to five wireframes or HTML templates?

o HTML mock-ups that can be presented to non-technical stakeholders are requested

• Under Phase 5: Deliverables you ask for “a minimum of six page layouts.” Are you looking for six separate designs to choose from our different page layouts (homepage, second-level page, contact page, about us page, etc.)?

o yes

• Strategy:

o Does the strategy phase of the project include any properties other than the EDU website (i.e.: Student/faculty portal, Alumni portal, HR portal, campus kiosks etc.)

no o Does the strategy phase of the project include a complete assessment of MWCC’s technology landscape to make recommendations for integrations and consolidation?

Yes – the strategy phase should include an assessment of MWCC’s technology landscape. We are open to recommendations for integrations and consolidation whenever possible.

• Branding:

o How much of the brand guidelines have been adopted by the college? Will the selected vendor be expected to validate the guidelines?

The awarded agency is not expected to validate brand guidelines o What deliverables have been created as part of the brand platform project? Will the selected web agency be provided research results from the branding initiative?

Reports and survey results were created. They will be available to the awarded agency.

o Are there any branding elements (logo, color palette, etc.) that need to be created by the selected digital agency?

No

• EDU Redesign:

o What role do you expect the selected digital agency to play in the following:

* Website governance plan and policy? Craft recommendations based on discovery and write formal report

* Content development and content migration no content development; full content migration

* SEO Strategy and ongoing SEO develop and implement SEO strategy, develop ongoing maintenance plan for MWCC implementation

* Social media strategy advisement on best practices

* Website Training collaborate with MWCC to create and implement

* Post-launch Website Performance Monitoring & ongoing Support collaborate with MWCC to create and implement; propose ongoing support service plan

* Hosting – do you have a preference for a hosting solution? Please refer to the “Technical Environment” section of the RFP for this information o What are the systems/databases that need to be integrated with the new website (if known) (similar question above – same answer) We currently link to most applications. A few applications, such as Active Data Calendar, Library databases, and FinAidTV, are simply using JavaScript and iframes to embed content from those systems and are not complex integrations. Integrations, although preferred, are not a requirement of the redesign, but they are listed to make known of our current systems. We would like to utilize these systems whenever possible rather than creating duplicate content on the website.

o Is there a budget or budget range set for the redesign?

This will be discussed with the awarded agency. Please craft your proposal based on your best solution to our request rather than a set price range.

o How many vendors have been notified of the RFP and/or how many agencies do you expect to submit proposals?

We have no predetermined expectation of submissions. It was posted to

COMMBUYS.

o How many current content pages exist?

The number of pages indexed by Google on our site is 9,310.

o The current website is on WordPress, is there a preference to stay on that platform?

Please refer to the ”Content management system” section of the RFP for this information.

o To better understand ongoing support, what technical skillset does your team have?

The Marketing & Communications Division skillset includes: graphic design for print and web; coding HTML/PHP/JavaScript/CSS; managing MySQL databases;

running/maintaining a web server; content writing and editing; and others.

o What are the major 3rd party integrations we need to be considering for this project?

Major integrations include: Active Data Calendar; a CRM built on Salesforce; 3D cart