Microsoft Dynamics Consultant

Tender description

Summary of the work Stabilising the Council’s Microsoft Dynamics365 CRM platform and the development of the product’s roadmap. Providing remedial work to Dynamics365 and migration of the ADX My Account and transactions as per the roadmap. Work will also be delivered for online transactions, integrating with back office solutions, and digitally enabling/automating internal processes. Specialist role Technical Architect Expected Contract Length 3 months Latest start date Monday 9 July 2018 Maximum Day Rate Circa £50k 3 months (60 days) Who Speclialist Work With Work will be undertaken with the Council’s ICT team, led by a senior manager in ICT or a senior member of the Architecture team. A jointly agreed plan and delivery dates will be established at the commencement of the contract. It is accepted that the full plan will be developed as the investigation progresses. Progress updates will be provided to the Head of ICT on a weekly basis as a minimum, with more regular updates dictated. It may at times be necessary to attend project or programme board meetings. What Specialists Work On The Dynamics 365 platform captures and manages requests from citizens for services provided . All forms of communication channels are available to citizens, with telephony being the primary channel. Channel shift ambitions have resulted in the development of a citizen My Account with some online transactions, most being payment related. This web portal presence was built using the ADX functionality associated with Microsoft Dynamics, however the ADX functionality will be deprecated from the 1st August 2018. Although the web portal will not fail immediately, the risk of future failures will heighten over time. The proposed work will mitigate this risk. Skills & Experience • Experience of working on full life cycle implementations across multiple versions of Dynamics CRM 365. • Significant Experience of working in Customer Service, and (optional Sales, Marketing) Modules. • Creative thinking with CRM solutions • Dynamics CRM Configuration, Customization, Java Script, Plug Ins, Workflows/Custom Workflow Activity, ASP.Net, C#, WCF, SSIS & SSRS, ADX Portals. • Implementation of MS CRM data migration jobs & custom reports using SSRS, knowledge of Kingsway toolkit is preferred. • Providing in-depth knowledge of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform and evaluating customers business processes against the standard CRM functionality. • Experience in portal development using ADX Studio, Optional Dynamic 365 Portal and Web API’s. • Design & Development of new modules in Dynamics 365 CRM. • Object Oriented Programming and Design experience. • SQL Programming knowledge. • Experience in quick resolution of production issues/bugs in a 24 X 7 support program • Take care of production deployments of New changes/ Enhancements / Bug fixes etc. • Work on production support activities and trouble shoot issues as and when required. • Discuss with business on requirements/ bugs/ changes and prioritize the work item • Work on the application problem management and improve the stability and performance of the application. • Good team working.Excellent communication.Will be required to develop technical documentation and carry out hand over. • Extensive experience of ADX, Dynamics Portals, .net and web technologies, supporting the identification of robust, clear, evidenced based criteria for the appropriate application of each technology • Experience of defining, documenting and communicating technical architectures, technical strategies and specific product roadmaps for an organisation • Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 architecture, product set, best practice development guidelines and roadmap • Demonstrable knowledge and experience of Microsoft Dynamics 365 security and entity models Nice to Haves • Have worked within the UK public sector. • Have worked specifically within the UK Local Government Sector on similar projects. • Business analysis and project management Work Location Onsite work will take place at the Civic Centre in Wolverhampton Working Arrangments The exact nature of the work will be agreed once the roadmap, extent of the remedial work and requirements for new online services are defined. All expenses should be included within the budget envelope of the proposal. Additional T&Cs Please note if you have not accepted the CCS GDPR variation we will not be able to appoint your organisation. Please note we will not apppoint an organisation operating as a recruitment agency. No. of Specialists to Evaluate 5 Cultural Fit Criteria Approach and methodology – working with others in the way that is determined by the client Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 65% Cultural fit 5% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. What is the IR35 status for these opportunities? The services under the framework are outside the scope of IR35 2. It is stated that you will no operate this contract with a recruitment agency - why is this? We were advised the following by CCS "Suppliers have been made aware that services under the DOS2 are outside the scope of IR35 when they signed a declaration at framework award. However, despite that declaration, there were still a few recruitment agencies awarded to the framework which have been trying to offer their services." We only wish to deal direct with companies and not recruitment agencies, City of Wolverhampton Council have our own recruitment agency. 3. Regarding the comment about "recruitment agencies" - should we take this to mean you wish to operate on a payment by outcomes / deliverables model, as opposed to a contingent (time and material) supply? Not we were advised the following by CCS "Suppliers have been made aware that services under the DOS2 are outside the scope of IR35 when they signed a declaration at framework award. However, despite that declaration, there were still a few recruitment agencies awarded to the framework which have been trying to offer their services." We only wish to deal direct with companies and not recruitment agencies, City of Wolverhampton Council have our own recruitment agency. 4. These appear to be a re-release of DOS notices #7074, #7076 and #7077 which were cancelled - what has changed? Due to advise from CCS the previous requirements listed were cancelled and have now been readvertised outside of IR35. 5. If a supplier has the governance and process to run outcome based contracts but are deemed to be a 'recruitment agency' will this change the stance of precluding recruitment businesses from applying for these contracts? No as advised in previous responses we will not be working with recruitment agencies. We are not looking to appoint individuals for the development work we are looking to appoint companies with defined experience in the area we require. Suppliers have responsibility and liability for the work done by their specialists. 6. Is the start date Monday 9 July 2018 flexible? We have some felxiability but only in days and not weeks or months. 7. Previous Q&A - "Is the start date Monday 9 July 2018 flexible? We have some flexibility but only in days and not weeks or months." The closing date for applications is Tue 3rd July which needs to be followed by shortlisting, then assessment (interviews, etc), and finally award. When do you envisage these stages being completed? The initial asessment and shortlisting will be completed on Tuesday 3rd with interviews/presentations being completed as soon as possible after this date. 8. We fully understand and welcome you wish to appoint a specialist supplier with experienced staff for your requirements (not a recruitment agency). The potential assessment methods for all of the 3 opportunities include: Work history, Reference, Interview & Presentation. Is each specialist for the 3 opportunities expected to do a presentation or would there be one presentation about our company with only interviews and work history (CVs) for each specialist we submit? If your organisation is bidding for all 3 opportunities we would not expect you to attend 3 separate presentations however, we would expect all of the potenetial specialists to be present to discuss requirements etc. 9. It was stated, "The initial asessment and shortlisting will be completed on Tuesday 3rd with interviews/presentations being completed as soon as possible after this date." The closing date for applications is midnight Tue 3rd July so this won't be possible. Even if shortlisting is completed on Wed 4th July, is completing interviews, etc, and starting on Mon 9th July or a few days later realistic? The statement about the completion on Tuesday should have read Wednesday, sorry typo. We are looking to complete as soon as possible we appreciate this is a short timescale and it may overrun but we are aiming tobe as close to the target date as possible. 10. One of the essential criteria to which suppliers have to respond is, "Good team working.Excellent communication.Will be required to develop technical documentation and carry out hand over." That is really three separate criteria, as stated for Developer roles. Are you wanting suppliers to respond to all three criteria in max 100 words or will you update the listing so it is three separate criteria (like Developer)? We cannot split out this requirement as we are at the limit of essentil criteria and had to combine so criteria for the developer to add in the addtional requirements for the consultant. PLease answer to the best of your ability in the limited requiremnt and we can pick this up further at presentation phase.