Sitecore Development Services

Tender description

Summary of the work Sitecore development of venue and company listings based on data held and updated in a Salesforce CRM. The listings are to be displayed on multiple websites, for some of which this will be the first section to be migrated to Sitecore, and in multiple languages. Expected Contract Length 12 months if the work continues onto phase 2 & 3 Latest start date Monday 8 April 2019 Budget Range £41K to £125K (dependant on all 3 phases being completed) Why the Work is Being Done London & Partners have launched a new tourism membership model and need to allow members to add and update web listings for venues on the separate B2C and B2B websites. This is taking place part-way through a relaunch of the websites on Sitecore. Some of the affected site sections are already in Sitecore, others will be newly built. The work will be carried out in collaboration with the in-house development team. The work will be in 3 phases and the second 2 phases will be subject to the successful 1st phase." Problem to Be Solved "The MVP (min viable product) for phase 1 of the project is the display of the members' venue listing data on multiple websites. cope methods of fetching data from a Salesforce CRM to populate venue listings, and implement chosen method. Create dynamic page models that combine listing data with other records. Create templates and components to display data on websites. Extend existing search functionality to allow searching of listings by new data fields. Phase 2, 3 will focus on the display of company level listings and additional page and component types for rest of the websites beyond the listings pages." Who Are the Users "As a tourism member (i.e. a business who pays to join London & Partners), I need to update my web listings, so that the latest information about my business is presented to leisure and business tourists. As an event planner, I need to search web listings by capacity, style, etc., so that I can find suitable venues for my event. As an site editor, I need to approve updated web listings in a familiar environment, so that updates to our members' listings can be published quickly and efficiently." Early Market Engagement "London & Partners worked with NonLinear Creations (now Valtech) in 2017 to design and implement a Sitecore solution for multiple, multi-lingual websites. We have continued working with a Sitecore Architect from ThinkFresh Studios (and formerly part of NonLinear). Our Salesforce implementation is currently underway with partners Ceterna who are creating the Salesforce Community portal. The high level design of the integration for members' web listings have been discussed with Ceterna and the Sitecore Architect, and possible implementation approaches have been briefly discussed. Full scoping and prototyping have not yet taken place. London & Partners have had initial conversation with Ratio Partners about ways of joint working between our in-house team and Sitecore specialist agencies. As part of this conversation the members' web listings project was discussed in outline." Work Already Done "The Salesforce data structures are in progress and should be undergoing testing and stabilisation by the time Sitecore integration work begins. The data exchange framework and Salesforce connector is currently being installed and configured for sync of contacts. The high level design of the integration for members' web listings and possible implementation approaches have been discussed. Full scoping and prototyping have not yet taken place." Existing Team In house development team includes a Sitecore Certified Developer and a part time consultant Sitecore Architect (Sitecore MVP) alongside front end web developers, and a QA tester. Other in house resource includes a design team, content creators, and a Data Quality Manager who oversees the data in Salesforce. A Project Manager (12 month contract) is currently in recruitment. Agency resource involved with the project are our Salesforce implementation partners Ceterna. Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Sitecore Certified Developers with experience of Sitecore version 8.2 • Experience with the Data Exchange Framework, in particular the Salesforce connector • Modular architecture (e.g. Helix or systems based on similar principles) • Experience with the concepts of personalisation and A/B testing and can build a component based, XP ready solution • Experience with multi-site and multi-lingual Sitecore solutions • Experience with Team Development for Sitecore (TDS) and source control, specifically Git • Ability to create a high traffic volume site, performance factored into every aspect of the solution Nice to Haves • Official Sitecore Solution Partner • Ability to start work according to London & Partners' timescale, April 2019 • Experience with Solr • Experience with Sitecore Publishing Service module • Front end development skills - CSS (SASS, ITCSS) and JavaScript (jQuery) Work Location London & Partners is based at London Bridge. Development work should be done remotely. Working Arrangments Work should be delivered remotely with status meetings and workshops at our London office. Additional T&Cs Standard contract with additional schedule of work to be agreed No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Methodology for scoping and discovery • Approach to joint working • Technical solution • Estimated timeline for delivery • How documentation and knowledge sharing will be managed • Value for money Cultural Fit Criteria • Work flexibly in discrete periods and ensure that knowledge of the solution is maintained between phases • Adapt to London & Partners' existing tools, environment and processes. • Work collaboratively as one team with the London & Partners development team • Engage openly and transparently with stakeholders around London & Partners to refine requirements • Share best practice and experience with London & Partners • Innovative and flexible approach to problem solving Payment Approach Capped time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can you confirm the budget for all three phases? Is the £125 just for Discovery or to include Discovery, Alpha and Beta? The Budget covers all 3 phases of work 2. Is it acceptable for you to work with high class Sitecore developer without certification? We require the Sitecore developer to have Certification for this requirement 3. Will specific advice regarding what needs to be included in the presentation be provided in advance, or should the stated ‘proposal and cultural fit criteria’ be used for this guidance? we will inform the shortlisted suppliers of the content of the presentation but it will be a short 15 minute presentation with a Q&A session. 4. To confirm, will the only written responses required prior to the presentation be those submitted via this portal? as per the requirement we will require a written proposal, case study and references from the shortlisted suppliers as well as the presentation. the templates will be issued to the shortlisted suppliers on notification of shorlist 5. Is there any intention to upgrade to Sitecore 9.x in the near future? This is not on our roadmap at present. 6. Will the successful development support services partner be involved in the solution design, scoping and prototyping stages? Yes. We envision these phases to be compact on this project as we are adding to an existing solution. 7. Is there be any requirement for UX/design services as part of this tender, or will it all be handled by in-house resource? UX/design will be handled in house. We envision creating production ready HTML/CSS/JS in-house but may require some assistance creating these depending on timelines. 8. Are there any other 'jobs to be done' definitions, besides the three listed in the section 'Who the users are and what they need to do'? The listed jobs are the MVP for phase 1 of the work. Potential additional jobs for this phase and jobs for the 2nd and 3rd phases would emerge as part of the discovery process. Such jobs would include building the templates for the rest of the site around the mentioned listings search, and/or building somewhat similar listings on another site.