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?
Oren Sreebny 