Student Journey Transformation: design and implementation of Salesforce CRM

Tender description

Summary of the work A collaborative partner to: • Support the cultural change to move a diverse range of stakeholders to a group CRM approach • Implement Salesforce (Sales/ Service/Marketing/Community Cloud) for key Student Journey phases (International and Home) • Collate information into a single cust-view via significant interface development with existing/3rd party systems Expected Contract Length 1 year plus one optional 1 year extension Latest start date Friday 29 June 2018 Budget Range Circa 1.25 M - this total must include expenses and VAT. (The software will be purchased seperately) Why the Work is Being Done Coventry University Group are investing in Salesforce CRM to support its vision to attract, retain and develop lasting relationships with its customers across the entire student journey.  We are seeking an implementation partner to lead this transformation, challenge business processes and to implement the technology platform.  The platform will include: a single customer view, self-service portals, marketing automation, contact centre and sales functionality. Key milestones: *Project initiation, solution design and initial configuration – (by July 18) *Pre-applicant journey (events, marketing and enquiries) – (Jan 19) *Admissions workflow (international direct/UCAS) – (May 20) *Student Engagement Centre (contact centre) – (Jan 20) Problem to Be Solved • Develop a consistent Group approach – reduce number of systems and processes and develop a single view across the Group; to enhance visibility across the Group, improve cross selling and reduce duplication of effort. • Improve insight into the conversion funnel – link data throughout the student journey. • Improve self-sufficiency – enable staff to make system changes; not rely heavily on a supplier. •Enhance process automation. • Improve the user experience – enhance visibility for the customer. • Improve personalisation – enable messages to be easily be targeted e.g. specific groups, stage in the journey or personal characteristics. Who Are the Users •International agent- need to complete, co-develop and manage applications to meet targets. •Recruitment - need to manage conversion activities e.g. events and understand return on investment. •Marketing- need to send out targeted, personalised contacts to increase enquiries/applications •Applicant- need to apply for courses online and track progress. •Admissions -need to oversee and manage applications to convert to offer holders. •Enquirer - need to contact the University via a channel I choose •Contact centre- need to manage workload to provide great customer service. •Senior manager - need to view dashboards to develop strategy. •Academic - need occasional access to approve applications. Early Market Engagement Deliberately left blank Work Already Done •Salesforce has been identified as the product with the strongest functional fit - the University is now looking for an implementation partner to roll this out. (Licenses to be bought) •A project team and board are established. •Requirements, project scope and outline implementation plan have been developed. •Work has begun to develop the ongoing CRM team - currently a Product Owner CRM is out to recruitment. •Business analysis work and process mapping have taken place to understand the 'as is' processes and in some instances an indicative 'to be'. •A list of must have and desirable interfaces has been developed. Existing Team Existing team: Project Manager, Business Analyst, Business contacts per area of implementation (project team), Project Executive, Project Sponsor (Project Board members). Team in development/recruitment: Product Owner - CRM (1 FTE), Technical Developer; interfaces (1 FTE), System Managers; configure the solution (x2 FTE), Analyst support (1 FTE), Solution Architect (0.2FTE only) In the first 6 months the University will rely heavily on the team provided by the supplier but aim to bring in additional internal staff and train them up throughout the project. A number of interfaces will be with third parties but most contact will be done via the University. Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Registered Salesforce partner (can evidence) with high levels of accredited staff • Demonstrable experience of designing and architecting solutions based on Salesforce technology which are futureproofed (implementation will develop beyond the initial scope) • Demonstrable experience of implementing and configuring Salesforce at scale specifically: Marketing Cloud, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and Community Cloud • Demonstrable experience of configuring complex workflows within the Salesforce e.g. Admissions • Demonstrable experience of complex data migration from legacy systems • Demonstrable experience of developing a single customer view within Salesforce bringing together data from a range of systems • Demonstrable experience of complex system integrations (approx 20 internal and external) with a range of solution architect roles or equivalent • Demonstrable experience of driving complex technology enabled business change, using robust change management processes to ensure workforce engagement • Demonstrable experience of business process challenge and re-engineering • Knowledge, policies, accreditation’s that demonstrate GDPR compliance • Demonstrable experience in leading an agile team as well as to coach, mentor and upskill people in agile techniques and roles to build capability within existing teams • Proven experience delivering ongoing support for Salesforce technology • Can evidence co-working within a client delivery programme with internal client resources and other suppliers to facilitate collaborative decision making and development; upskilling internal resource • Proven experience of implementing a comprehensive approach to testing • .Proven experience of embedding change within an organisation; delivering training and supporting communications strategy • Experience of advising customers on the best value for money approach to buying Salesforce licenses. • Experience of developing dashboards and reports within the system. Please provide an example of a report developed for a previous implementation which highlights your expertise. • Demonstrable experience of managing complex transformation projects bringing together a range of stakeholders to a common goal and aligning inconsistent business processes. Nice to Haves • Experience of implementing within the Higher Education sector • Platinum or global strategic Salesforce Partner • Experience of integration with Tableau • Experience of implementing 3rd party tools to augment a contact centre - Cisco integration • ISO 27001 accreditation or equivalent • Experience of recommending relevant products from AppExchange that would complement the Salesforce suite of products especially around events • Experience of implementing for a global company Work Location Coventry University, Alma Building (1st Floor), Alma Street, COVENTRY, CV1 5AQ. Some work may also take place at London and Scarborough offices. As the project progresses more work can be done remotely. Working Arrangments Expectation that an iterative approach will be followed.  Preference to decrease on-site activity during the project as internal staff up-skill. However, prior to the start of each deliverable there will be a more intensive on-site period for design/ to agree acceptance criteria.  We propose: - 2 months (initiation, design, set up) 3-4 days p/w - Pre-applicant journey (3 days) by Jan 19 - Enquiry management and direct admissions (2/3 days) by July 19 - Enhancements to enquiry management/admissions (including UCAS) (1/2 days) by June 20 Expenses must be included. Other: -Weekly project calls - virtual -Monthly performance meetings – on-site Security Clearance BPSS (Baseline Personal Security Standard) would be preferred Additional T&Cs Additional terms to be provided at next stage as appropriate. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Outline how you would implement/configure Marketing Cloud to automate and personalise contacts. Provide an example of how you have configured Salesforce to enhance return on investment • Outline how you would implement/configure Service Cloud to manage enquiries/provide greater opportunities for self-service. Provide an example of how you have configured/utilised Salesforce to enhance contact centre operations. • Outline how you would implement and configure Sales Cloud to enable us to drive conversion activity. Provide an example of how you have configured/utilised Salesforce to enhance conversion rates. • Outline how you would implement and configure Community Cloud to provide portals for occasional users/customers. Provide an example of how you have configured/utilised Salesforce to enhance customer visibility. • Provide an example of a complex configuration (not coding) you have undertaken that reflects your Salesforce expertise. (Please see the Admissions process we would like to develop within the system). • Please detail the migration services you would perform and provide an example from a previous implementation. • Please specify your approach to testing, providing a test strategy or policy that you deem relevant for the delivery of the project. • Outline how you would propose to design the solution in conjunction with Coventry University Group and ensure stakeholder acceptance/engagement and ownership for the business process changes to follow. • Outline your approach to business change management. Provide evidence of managing a complex Business Change/Transformation (processes and technologies) including pre-transition, transition and post-transition activities, including benefits mapping and realisation • Outline your approach to challenge our business processes and re-develop these to meet strategic requirements. Provide an example where you re-engineered a poor process: the outputs, outcomes and benefits realised. • Please outline your proposed approach to training/knowledge transfer and provide an example from a previous implementation that is appropriate to this project • Outline the key dependencies and risks you foresee, and propose your approaches to manage them • Please provide a proposed implementation plan (including an estimated timeframe) and a written summary of the approach you would expect to be taken. • Please detail the proposed team structure and members you would allocate to this work (please include all roles technical/non-technical) and include a summary CV for each staff member • Please outline your proposed project management and associated development approach. • Please outline your expectations of the resource requirements that the Group will need to provide internally. • Outline your support model including; elements covered and how these would be different to Salesforce’s offering. Include; SLAs, support hours, escalation routes. Provide an example from a previous implementation. • Please detail how you will monitor your performance and comply with key performance metrics. • Please outline what key aspects will be considered as part of the design and set up of this project/solution to ensure compliance with GDPR and how you will meet these. • Provide an example project where the solution developed has various interfaces to provide a single view. Include interfaces developed and your role in development. Outline your approach to this requirement Cultural Fit Criteria • Working within an environment which is yet to fully embrace agile ways of working • Working as one project team; sharing knowledge and experience to upskill internal resource in order for us to become self-sufficient • Experience of working in a HE/public sector environment • Ability to challenge our approaches, business processes and add value from previous implementations • Working with/leading a diverse range of stakeholders (technical/non-technical) who have previously worked in a siloed approaches • Ability to work with co-locational offices to ensure that a more standardised approach is adopted fully within these locations • Ability to be flexible to changing/uncertain requirements • Quickly joining teams and understanding their needs • Guide and support the team to understand new technologies and enhancements that are in the pipeline and to lead discovery workshops to determine whether these would develop the solution Payment Approach Capped time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 15% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers 1. Is the project milestone for Admissions Workflow intended to be May 19 – not May 20 as listed? This covers the full admissions process (for direct applications and UCAS) which includes replacing internal systems across multiple business lines with the final end date being May 20 2. The project milestones are listed as: a. *Project initiation, solution design and initial configuration – (by July 18) b. *Pre-applicant journey (events, marketing and enquiries) – (Jan 19) c. *Admissions workflow (international direct/UCAS) – (May 20) d. *Student Engagement Centre (contact centre) – (Jan 20) This suggests significant gaps between the milestones during which the delivery team would not be required, is this correct? If yes, please can you elaborate as to why this approach is required? The milestones are key dates when we would expect the work to be done by - delivery and implementation would happen during the time leading up to the milestones therefore we would expect the delivery team to be working with Coventry University to help deliver the functionality required 3. Have licences been bought for all the SF clouds mentioned or is the finalisation of the platform and/or its components still pending? Licences will be bought separately however the platform has been decided. We are looking for the implementation partner to help in determining the best value for money approach in purchasing Salesforce licenses. Assistance will be required from the implementation partner to determine whether additional software is required especially regarding event management software 4. How will user adoption, change and training be handled? As part of the essential skills of the implementation partner, we are looking for someone with experience of business change and embedding this change within the business. We are also requesting an experienced implementer who can deliver training 5. Is the contract for the Discovery phase only or for the entire programme of work? Entire programme of work 6. What proportion of the delivery will be located in the Scarborough offices? The majority of the work will take place at Coventry University, Coventry. For information, some work may take place at both the Scarborough and London offices however we believe this would be a small proportion of the overall delivery 7. Is the indicated £1.25M budget for Year 1 only or to cover both years of the intended project? This would be the total budget across the 2 years 8. Who will provide ongoing support after Go-Live of each phase and into run? The relevant IT technical teams would provide support depending on the nature of the issue with additional support from platform supplier as required. We would expect support from implementation partner in delivering functionality until internal expertise is achieved. 9. What is the expected composition of the delivery team: Fully Onshore? Or will the university allow the use of resources at offshore? The composition of the team would be determined by the implementation partner however we would expect on site visibility of staff prior to the start of each deliverable. Resources utilised by the implementation partner can be on shore, near shore or off shore 10. Regarding data migration, how much data do you have, and in what format? The data migration required would be determined during initial phase with data being available through different formats e.g. interfaces, data uploads via CSV etc. 11. How are you managing your admissions now? Which system? Admissions are managed via an internally developed admissions system. 12. What are the expected total number of users? Internal full access? Internal restricted access? Community cloud total annual logins? External and internal users for the system. Internal users - up to 300 users of core CRM and 50 marketing users by end of year 2, 150 contacts within the system. External users - 1200 recruitment based staff, 85,000 + applicant/end users, 1300 faculty staff. External users would be expected to use Community Cloud. User numbers need to be scalable. 13. You state that, “A list of must have and desirable interfaces has been developed.” Can you please supply access to this list? The list of interfaces to both in-house and external systems will be made available at the proposal stage 14. Why has the budget reduced from the June 2017 invitation? What have you learned since that has led to this decision? As we are looking for only an implementation partner, the licence costs have been removed from the stated budget. Additionally the scope has been reduced to conform to the maximum 2 year time period of contract.