Tracy Futhey is leading a conversation on SaaS requirements for higher education.
Spent summer gathering docs on shared services from various campuses. In August started looking at email and hosting. Engaged a team from NACUA in October. Came up with email Issues matrix in November and worked out a model contract in March and a draft RFP model in April.
Strategies adopted by sub-team
- Avoid hardcore Technical Requirements list. (outsourcing service/function is not dictating technical solutions)
- Recognize/Leverage limitations on free services (build RFP with expectation of payment for services)
- Assume reuse; organize materials accordingly
- Admit Rumsfeld was right: “there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know”.
Issues spreadsheet – five big issues – Data Stewardship, Privacy, Integration, Functionalities, Service Level
Working with Educause to distribute as open source documents.
What may be next?
- Assess interest in glomming RFP (CSG + …?)
- Finalize plan for Educause to hold docs
- Issue common RFP in June/July?
- Responses in August?
- Campus discussions in fall? Vendor negotiation? (not clear vendor(s) will be responsive to our concerns, or that we will like the responses)
- Decisions by Jan 1, 2011?
- Pilots during spring 2011?
- Fall 2011 go-live dates?
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