National Course Manager Discovery - Trainee Information Systems

Tender description

About adding context and requirements test Which phase the project is in Discovery Existing team We will put in the following resources: - A representative lead from Maxcourse and Accent Course Manager who will act as the representative point of contact. - A single “product manager” as initial point of contact Address where the work will be done There are national offices across Health Education England. If an office is required, then this could be the nearest NHSE office to the supplier by agreement. Working arrangements We want the supplier to take a flexible approach rather than working at set times in a set office. We will want the team to work on dedicated, pre-planned and pre-approved research activities with planned outcomes, with regular feedback to the Course Management community. Work on Maxcourse and Accent Course Management can be done separately, as the groups may have different needs, but there must be a mechanism to bring work together to identify group similarities which may inform the recommendation. The supplier will propose how to do this work, while bringing together work for recommendation. We are open to working with suppliers from any location. The supplier will need to propose an approach which connects with all teams to optimise engagement. Provide more information about your security requirements: No security clearance needed Latest start date 2024-01-08 Enter the expected contract length: 2 months Extension period: 1 month Are you prepared to show your budget details?: Yes Indicative maximum: 65,000.00 Provide further information: £65,000.00 (ex VAT) Confirm if you require a contracted out service or supply of resource Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply Summary of work TIS - Discovery to capture user needs and make recommendations for a doctors/dentist in training course management system, or systems. The discovery will help us determine whether we reprocure the existing system, or systems or procure an entirely new course management system. Where the supplied staff will work No specific location (for example they can work remotely) Who the organisation using the products or services is NHS ENGLAND Why the work is being done Over the last few years, teams have moved towards common course management systems, principally two online systems namely Accent Course Manager and Maxcourse. • Accent is held under a national contract and is the majority system in use. • Maxcourse is a managed through several team-based contracts and is used by less team. • They may be another niche system in use that will be found as part of this proposed discovery. Internal studies have shown that both Accent and Maxcourse have similar functionality and support similar business goals and users, but that there are nuanced user needs. These course management systems enable colleagues to plan, manage and run training courses, and for a wide range of delegates, primarily (but not exclusively) from with the postgraduate doctor, dental workforce, and trainer/supervisor groups, to book onto, and pay for courses. We have decided to run a single discovery covering all groups, as the problem they are trying to solve is very similar. It is assumed that all groups will have similar user requirements. The discovery should test this assumption. The business problem you need to solve We need to resolve how we approach replacing existing contracts for COTS course management system with a new system, or systems, i.e., a single unified approach, or multiple solutions. Through a re-procurement, against an updated set of business and user needs, for a suitable COTS product, or products. This is a “buy” option, and/or through some other route e.g., self-build or other to be determined. This is a “build” option. To inform our approach for replacement of existing capabilities, we require. 1. A prioritised list of user needs, indicating core, or common, and peripheral functions, as this will inform replacement options. 2. Confirmation of an end-to-end user journey for different user types. 3. An assessment as to the merits of a single solution, verses a mixed ecosystem if there is significant variation in user needs across different delegate groups. 4. Review of all similar systems in NHSE which may represent a viable solution, and market research for a range of suitable options. 5. A review of the business requirements, policy, technical standards etc… 6. Develop an options appraisal and set of recommendations about how to best meet identified user needs – considering costs, risks, technology, interoperability, sustainability, time etc... The recommended option, or options will lead to an Alpha phase, or phases if they are group specific. For example, to consider: a. Improvements to existing processes. b. Prospective commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) - existing products which are a strong match to the prioritised user needs, with attention also being paid to cost, configurability, interoperability with other systems, etc. c. In- or out-of-house development/build - how to turn user needs into a bespoke product, or products. 7. To ensure future alignment to the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) Service Standards. First user type: • Postgraduate doctor, dental workforce, and trainer/supervisor groups. First user type: • The staff of who administer the respective events and courses and who need to add, update, and maintain data about learners and their progress through their training programme. Enter more details about this user type: • Postgraduate doctor, dental workforce, and trainer/supervisor groups. Enter more details about this user type: • The staff of who administer the respective events and courses and who need to add, update, and maintain data about learners and their progress through their training programme. Questions and Clarifications 1. Please could you expand on the question 3 in nice to have “Healthcare education and training experience”? i.e. are you looking for the supplier to demonstrate their experience in educating and training healthcare professionals and users or demonstrate their experience in education and training platforms in a healthcare environment. This is because experience of, and familiarity with, navigating the NHS landscape is useful. Suppliers do not need knowledge of the educating and training of NHS professions or platforms. Last Updated: 31 October 2023, 09:07 2. You mention internal studies have been conducted. How much previous discovery has taken place, and will the chosen supplier be able to access this prior discovery work to build upon? We have run some investigation on the similarity of systems and some work on requirements et al. All previous work will be provided to the successful provider as it constitutes contextual narrative. Last Updated: 31 October 2023, 09:06 3. Please could you expand on your expectation for the review of the business requirements, policy, technical standards? We need to verify what the business goals are, so these can be matched against user requirements, for example. The policy side could concern adoption consistent Last Updated: 31 October 2023, 09:06 4. Who is the incumbent supplier please? There is no incumbent this Is a new piece of work Last Updated: 31 October 2023, 09:05 5. In the 'Nice-to-have skills', under question 2, you ask for "NHS experience". Do you specifically want only NHS, or will you accept examples from organisations in the wider DHSC umbrella and/or other healthcare (e.g. private healthcare sector etc.)? In the context of this discovery, NHS could be extended to cover the wider DHSC, and or private healthcare if contextually relevant. Last Updated: 31 October 2023, 09:05 6. Could we confirm is it 750 characters to answer all of the essential experience questions combined (as shown by the textbox below them in attachment 3) or is it 750 characters per question. Each Question individually Last Updated: 25 October 2023, 14:15 7. Is the scope of this discovery limited to users in England? Or are other nations in scope? This discovery covers NHS England only. Last Updated: 25 October 2023, 14:14 8. The brief refers to ‘another [third] niche system … that will be found as part of this proposed discovery.’ Can you please clarify if that will or won’t be in scope, and if not, why not, if you have identified it as relevant? If any are found, there will need to be contextual discussions at the time, but at the least there will need to be a rudimentary investigation to establish function.  It is not anticipated that this will cause additional work or complexity to the discovery. Last Updated: 25 October 2023, 14:13 9. The expected contract length given is '2 months, 0 days' [and] '1 month, 0 days'. Does this mean you expect the discovery to take about 12 weeks to deliver? We expect the discovery to take between 8 to 12 weeks, including any preliminary pre-discovery activity.  This will depend on the supplier’s proposal. Last Updated: 25 October 2023, 14:11 10. The response document appears to give a combined 750-character limit for all the 'Essential skills and experience' questions, and another combined 750-character limit for all the 'Nice-to-have skills and experience' questions. Please confirm that it should actually be 750-character limit for each and every question individually (i.e. each question should be answered within 750 characters), as this is typically the standard practice for Stage 1 answers on this Crown Commercial DOS6 framework. Each Question individually Last Updated: 25 October 2023, 14:10 11. Will the incumbent tender for this opportunity? We do not know Last Updated: 25 October 2023, 14:08 12. Can you please provide an idea of the number of users who will be available to take part in the discovery? We are trying to gauge the size of team which may be required to speak to users or review responses in the given timeframe. It will ultimately be dependent on the supplier. We will help recruit users from different groups, such as delegates, admin staff, trainers etc Last Updated: 19 October 2023, 15:27