New website

Tender description

Summary of the work We are looking for an enthusiastic, creative team of digital experts to work with us to develop a new corporate website. The site will provide our customers as well as other visitors with an outstanding online experience that is accessible, responsive, reliable, helpful and knowledgeable. Latest start date Wednesday 1 November 2017 Why the Work is Being Done We have ambitious plans to transform our business using technology. Our digital strategy and governing digital principles support the delivery of eight key objectives within the business strategy. We are looking for an enthusiastic team of individuals who share our digital principles and will bring energy and creativity to the project. The ongoing development and seamless integration with other systems will support the delivery of other digital projects. We want all of our website visitors to have an excellent experience when accessing our services online. We want them to rate the website as accessible, responsive, reliable, helpful and knowledgeable. Problem to Be Solved Current website stats • 10,000 visits per year (50% new) • 60% visit using a mobile device • Bounce rate 40% • Goal conversion rate 15% Issues: • Navigational issues with tabbed sections • Problems tracking user journeys/conversion paths due to third party systems • Data analytics reporting on page sections problematic • Property search function unreliable • Mobile performance e.g. screen jump, image size, responsiveness • Unable to carry out a property search on some mobile devices • Unable to print forms • Unable to make online payments except rent • Insufficient interactive content • SEO ranking (non-livin search) Who Are the Users As a prospective tenant, I want to search for a home on any device, so that I don’t go elsewhere for my next home As a tenant, I want to be directed to what I’m looking for without having to think, so that I don’t have to ring livin As a community partner I want to be directed quickly to the support livin can offer me and my clients, so that I can get in touch As the regulator I want to understand livin’s business strategy and performance so that I am reassured of their rating Existing Team Business Visionary – Alan Boddy, Executive Director Housing and Business Development Business Sponsor - Helen Darby, Head of HR and Business Development Project Manager and User Researcher - Anna Robson, Digital Transformation Manager Business Ambassador - Lauren Thompson, Marketing and Sales Manager Technical Advisor - Dan Evans, ICT Infrastructure Manager Business Analyst and Technical Coordinator - Graham Dutton, ICT Applications Development Manager Content Designer – role to be fulfilled by supplier User Experience Designer – role to be fulfilled by supplier Solution Developer – role to be fulfilled by supplier Solution Tester – role to be fulfilled by supplier Current Phase Not started Skills & Experience • Agile project management experience involving third party clients • Knowledge of a range of website platforms • Client-centred approach to platform selection • Ability to build low-maintenance websites • Ability to maximise features while minimising ongoing maintenance • Evidence of user research carried out or involved in • Evidence of content design skills to optimise conversions • Evidence of user experience techniques used • Evidence of SEO techniques used in website development • Evidence of knowledge of current CRO best practices in the context of new website design • Expert in Google Analytics and experience in the setting up and achievement of goal conversions • Experience of designing solutions for users with low level digital literacy • Understanding of non-functional requirements and experience of building these into a web project i.e. usability, security, accessibility, interoperability, reliability, maintainability, availability, scalability, portability and compatibility • Experience in facilitating user testing throughout a web project • Experience of working with a number of different web platforms • Experience of delivering website projects both in the housing sector and private sector • Examples of pro-actively suggesting or trying new/emerging technologies with clients Work Location Farrell House, Arlington Way, DurhamGate, Spennymoor, County Durham, DL16 6NL. Working Arrangments Ways of working will be agreed at the beginning of the Alpha phase, suggested as follows: • Sprint length – 2 weeks • Phases – discovery, alpha, beta (private), beta (public), live • Stand-ups – weekly • Show and tells – end of sprint • Retrospectives – end of phase • Face-to-face meetings – end of phase and as required in between • Tools – Trello, Yammer No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Technical solution • Approach and methodology • How the approach or solution meets user needs • How the approach or solution meets your organisation’s policy or goal • Estimated timeframes for the work • How risks have been identified and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them • Team structure • Value for money Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers and partners • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Take responsibility for your work • Share knowledge and experience with other team members • Challenge the norm Payment Approach Time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 10% Price 40% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can you please advise on your ballpark budget for this project? We have not specified budget at this stage as it will depend upon the solution. 2. Do you have a completion date in mind for this project or are there any key dates we need to be aware of? We aim to go live in April 2019, subject to Discovery phase. 3. Are hosting, support and maintenance to be included? Yes. 4. Do you have CMS platform(s) in mind? No, we would like the successful supplier to recommend a platform that best suits our needs. 5. What content migration is envisaged? We envisage that the top level headers will remain the same, but the content within each page/section will be reviewed and in some cases re-written or re-created using other types of media. Not all content will be migrated as we want to remove some of the content on the current site. 6. Can you elaborate on the other systems we will need to integrate with please? At day one, the website would need to integrate with Campaign Monitor and with a new sales CRM (not yet in place). In addition there will be conversion paths that will visit linked third party domains, and this needs to be seamless. There are aspects of integration that we would like to implement in the future, but not necessarily for live. 7. Is all of the work expected to take place on site in County Durham or can some of the work take place remotely? The work can take place remotely, however we would ask that the successful supplier attends site for meetings as required. 8. Are you looking for the supplier to work onsite with you? No. The supplier can work remotely but will be expected to attend site for meetings as required. 9. Are the chosen supplier able to work remotely? Yes, but we would expect that they attend meetings on site as required. 10. Your current site is built on the Umbraco CMS. Has it met your needs, or do you have a preference to move to a different CMS? There have been some limitations with the current CMS however on the whole this been sufficient for the current website. We are wed to this system and are open to suggestions in terms of a flexible CMS that will meet our needs both now and in the future. 11. 1. We understood that there will be a new CRM system to be purchased before the commencement of this project? Is that correct understanding? And can you please indicate if you have shortlisted or have preference of a CRM system/s? 2. As we are not familiar with your budget (not even indicative budget range). Could you please clarify if you are open to purchase a commercial CMS or would you like to stick to an open source CMS system? That is correct. This is for new home sales CRM only at this stage. We have not yet selected a supplier for this but have looked at Salesforce and Contact Builder. Our corporate CRM system is currently supplied by Orchard. Although at this time we do not have plans to integrate this with the website it may be a requirement in the future either via the existing system with Orchard or a new CRM. We are open to expert recommendations in terms of a CMS and it’s suitability to meet our needs both now and in the future. 12. You mention “Unable to make online payments except rent” as a pain point. Can you detail the type of online payments you would like customers to be able to make? Do you have a preferred technology stack? Which payment provider(s) do you use for processing payments? Is there a shortlist of CRM platforms you're evaluating? Will the new website need to provide data feeds to your apps/third party services? Which website(s) are included in the phase 1 project? E.g. secure.livin.co.uk Is the housing information curated within the main website? If not can you provide details of the housing information platform. We use WorldPay for online rent payments but will eventually need to integrate with new systems e.g. for house purchase deposits. CRM – for home sales - Salesforce/ContactBuilder. Corporate CRM is Orchard but may be replaced. Websites included in phase 1 are the main corporate site and five mini-sites. Phase one the website won’t need to provide a data feed into other systems but this is something to be developed e.g. into CRM. Housing management data is held within the Orchard Housing Management system which is integrated with our self-serve portal (separate to the website). 13. What is the volume of content/functionality that is hidden behind login access? (relating to the current website - as a rough proportion.) The log in areas - tenant log in and Durham Key Options log in are links to third party systems therefore none of the data accessed via these is housed in the website. 14. We note that there is a livin mobile application. Is this to remain a separate entity, or may the project incorporate a refresh of that experience? This will remain a separate entity. 15. Is there a plan to incorporate alternative language content into the new website? We plan to have a translation service on the website to make sure that it is accessible to all. 16. Please could you clarify your answer to Q.10. which states "We are wed to this system and are open to suggestions in terms of a flexible CMS that will meet our needs both now and in the future." Is this meant to read as "We are [NOT] wed to this system and are open to suggestions....." ? Hi - yes! That should have said we are NOT wed to this system. Apologies. 17. You previously state that you expect the project to go live in April 2019, subject to the discovery phase. This suggests an 18 month design and development cycle. Do you anticipate the supplier team members to be available and active throughout this process? That should say April 2018. Apologies. 18. Your have previously stated that you are open to a new CMS, however you mentioned that the current system is built in Umbraco. Do you have an internal development team, and if so would these influence the final CMS selection, in terms of PHP vs .Net, etc. Our ICT team would not be involved in the development of the website, although they will be involved in the evaluation process. 19. Please note amend below to the "Problem to be solved". The current website receives approximately 10,000 visits per month, not per year.