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QUESTIONS ANDRESPONSESREGARDING WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMIMPLEMENTATION, NEW WEB DESIGN AND MANAGEDSERVICESAmerican Humane Association 1400 16TH ST NW, SUITE 360, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 800.227.4645 AMERICANHUMANE.ORG
1. Will the vendor have access to the already completed needs analysis and stakeholderinterviews? Yes, these notes will be made available when intent to bid is submitted.2. Will the consultant remain an active presence during the course of the webdevelopment process (i.e. performing additional stakeholder interviews, usabilitytesting, etc.) At this point, it is anticipated that the consultant(s) will remainthroughout the course of the project, as they are each currently acting in a senioradvisory capacity, in the absence of internal staff in these key leadership positions. Itis however expected that the selected vendor will perform the project related tasks.3. Is there an anticipated number of onsite meetings required for the project? No. Weanticipate onsite meetings for kick off, major milestone presentations and otherevents requiring a number of our staff to attend. Weekly check-ins can be handled byphone.4. For the budget, should the vendor provide a budget for just Phase 1 of the project? Youare welcome to provide an estimate for Phase 2, with the limited information we haveprovided. It is not expected. We expect to determine what Phase 2 will be based onthe selected vendor’s recommendations for Phase 1 and beyond.5. Will the new website need to adhere to any accessibility guidelines (i.e. ADA, 508, etc.)?Not at this time, we are not required to be 508 compliant. We do expect best practicesto be applied to meet minimum standards, such as metadata for pages and images.6. Would content migration be the responsibility of the selected vendor? We are lookingfor options regarding content migration, as our internal capacity is limited. Vendorshould provide an hourly rate for this work and a ballpark estimate of hours theywould anticipate for this work.7. Do you anticipate the amount of content to remain the same? It would appear that withthe merging of the sites, there would be a great deal of potential repetition or outdatedcontent. Will it be the responsibility of the vendor to provide a content inventory or willcontent be handled solely by the Humane Association? We anticipate that some of ourcontent will be able to migrate unchanged, but expect fully to create new and archivemuch that is outdated. The vendor will be expected to conduct a content audit andmake recommendations on next steps. There will be limited internal capacity tohandle all of the content work, but a plan will need to be created to include bothinternal and vendor resources.8. Can you please provide a list of all third-party software that would need to beincorporated into the new site (i.e. Blackbaud, FileMaker Pro)? Please refer to RFP asdetails are outlined, Blackbaud, FileMaker Pro, Google Analytics, .NET, and others tobe identified in discovery.
9. Is there an estimated number of forms required for the new site? No. What types offorms? Our donations and advocacy work will require Convio/Luminate Online, as willemail captures. This system does have an API, so the forms could be built externally.Other forms may be identified as part of discovery process.10. What features would be considered part of Phase 2, Enhanced Website features?Rebuilding our legacy applications for Humane Hollywood and Humane Heartland.Also, we anticipate there to be features that will be identified by vendors that we hadnot considered. Depending on budget and timeline, these may need to go into Phase2.11. Can you identify the web applications that require users to create accounts and login?Will all of them be needed for the new site? At present, a user account and login isneeded for:1) Humane Heartland application, allowing applicants to manage their accounts.(New website will need to connect to this application, but application is notbeing rebuilt in first phase.)2) No Animals Were Harmed/Humane Hollywood, allowing monitors to filereports. (New website will need to connect to this application, but applicationis not being rebuilt in first phase.)3) No Animals Were Harmed/Humane Hollywood, allowing film makers toregister a production is currently handled in a Jotform and is a manualapplication process. The current process requires returning film makers toregister again, as no account can be created. Desire is to address this if possiblein Phase 1, but it could be a Phase 2 enhancement.4) Hero Dog/Vet Awards, allowing the public to nominate a dog/vet and to allowthem to vote. We encourage daily voting, ideally in a new system we would beable to create an account and allow users to sign in and vote each day. Thecurrent system is not useable and must be addressed in Phase 1.12. Will the search capability need to include content search functionality within addeddocuments such as PDFs and PPTs? Yes, the search function should be capable ofsearching both web content and files on our website, primarily PDFs.13. Can you provide us with an estimate of daily web traffic visiting the websites? Yes, ouranalytics will be provided to all vendors submitting an intent to bid.14. Do you have a preferred hosting provider that has met your needs in the past? No. Ourdesire is to move to a new hosting provider.15. We are assuming you intend to build the system in Drupal 7. Please confirm? Our intentis to have the most current version of the Drupal CMS implemented.
16. Even your site is not to be multi-lingual on day one we will have to implement it inmulti-language configuration else the future multi-lingual changes may be expensive. Sotechnically speaking Spanish and other languages will be supported from day 1. Weanticipate utilizing the multi-language functions within the next 1-3 years. We wouldlike to avoid costly changes to the system later.17. "Currently, several of the Association websites have web applications that require usersto create accounts and login. This will be a longer term requirement that should beconsidered during the initial design and planning. The desire is to have the userinformation captured into both the web application and our CRM system." Please clarifywhat this means. Are there web apps? Or are you referring to logins that serve specificpurposes on each website? Please tell us the function and purpose of these logins. Isthis part of the scope that we are proposing now? The Association (with the aid ofmultiple outside vendors) maintains multiple program specific legacy webapplications. These are built out in multiple code bases. The long term vision is torebuild these apps in a common programming language, manage the data in our CRMand eliminate the need for multiple vendors.They are:1) Humane Heartland application, allowing applicants to manage their accounts.(New website will need to connect to this application, but application is notbeing rebuilt in Phase 1.)2) No Animals Were Harmed/Humane Hollywood, allowing monitors to filereports. (New website will need to connect to this application, but applicationis not being rebuilt in Phase 1.)3) No Animals Were Harmed/Humane Hollywood, allowing film makers toregister a production is currently handled in a Jotform and is a manualapplication process. The current process requires returning flim makers toregister again, as no account can be created. Desire is to address this if possiblein Phase 1, but it could be a Phase 2 enhancement.4) Hero Dog/Vet Awards, allowing the public to nominate a dog/vet and to allowthem to vote. We encourage daily voting, ideally in a new system we would beable to create an account and allow users to sign in and vote each day. Thecurrent system is not useable and must be addressed in Phase 1.18. Are there additional capabilities do you foresee providing to the audience with anauthenticated user account? Not that we have anticipated, but would expect vendor toalert us to any issues they see.19. Are there current integrations among the various data sources that would need to bemaintained? At present, there is no data integration between our CRM system and ourprogram specific legacy applications. Our goal is to work with the selected vendor to
prepare the Phase 2 plan to rebuild these applications and integrate the data withinour CRM, if appropriate.20. "Also, grant application forms are currently built in Jotforms, with only one teammember able to update." Is the goal to migrate this function to the new platform, or toinclude legacy data from Jotforms, and if so is that data available to you? Yes, we wouldlike to rebuild this form in Phase 1 and capture the data in our CRM. There is no planto migrate the legacy data, but it should be preserved for archival purposes.21. "Vendor should be prepared to make recommendations to both performanceenhancement through software additions and optimal server and network configuration,such as fail over, redundancy and load balancing." This is primarily the responsibility ofthe hosting vendor, and well beyond a monthly hosting agreement. Where should thisbe discussed and budgeted - in the development proposal or the hosting proposal? Doyou currently see any indication that you need load balancing? Our expectation istwofold, one that the CMS will be implemented with optimal performance as a keygoal and for a vendor to ensure our hosting environment is configured optimally.These specific services can be bid separately as part of the managed services.22. We are unclear as to your request to use Active Directory. Typically, your people in ADare employees. Are you trying to use this for admin/staff access to Drupal, or also tomanage constituents in Razor's Edge and Luminate? Active Directory integration is forthe Association to manage staff access and admin to the CMS. There is no requirementfor Active Directory and Raiser’s Edge/Luinate Online integration.23. The purpose of Drupal multi-site is code management. It provides for a centralized codebase to reduce the overhead of managing code. Can you be more specific about thefunctionality you are trying to manage cross-site? For example, code updates, users anduser profiles, content pages, forms? Most likely this functionality will need to be builtfor you, or dealt with in the initial architecture of the project. There is no stockmultisite manager in Drupal. Our goal is to provide different user permissions acrossdifferent sections of the website, to allow for updating. There could be a future needto create campaign microsites and other standalone properties within the CMS.Ideally, if an update or patch is applied to our CMS, it would impact all sites within it,not just the main website.24. Does the scope of library accessibility and archiving include scanning any non-digitalcontent? Or is the goal to just build the digital storing and indexing system for it? No, allcontent that will be used has been digitized. Once a library feature has beenestablished, Association may consider adding more of the older files. If this is anoffering of vendor, a line item cost can be included as an optional cost, for ourconsideration.
25. "Distinguish American Humane Association and our work from other organizationswithin our sector." Can you identify the other organizations about whom you areconcerned? We are often confused with Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)and American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) andsometimes, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).26. “The Association is currently recruiting for a mid-level IT manager.” What will be thisperson's role in terms of app development, web development, IT strategy, hostinginfrastructure and architecture, system maintenance, and user support? How this roleneeds to be onboarded will most likely impact project budget and perhaps theintroduction of new tools to manage systems and code across organizations. How willthis role in your organization also impact the services needed in the hosting andmaintenance contract going forward? This role will have limited duties relating to ourweb technology, they will not be performing any development or maintenance duties.They will manage our hosting vendor and interface with our managed services vendor,as the day to day contact. They will receive direction from web team leadership. Theirrole is to provide basic IT support and managed Association’s vendors. It is included inthe RFP to manage expectations regarding our internal capabilities, which are quitelimited, at present.27. It appears that key relevant information will only be released after the intent to bid. Willthere be a round of questions following the intent to bid, once we receive theconsultant's task list and technology assessment? The notes from requirementsgathering and analytics for site performance will be given to those who submit anintent to bid. Questions submitted will be compiled, answered and posted as a groupon our website on July 7.28. “The desire is to have all of our currently separate websites to live within the new CMSand under one unified information architecture.” Please clarify. We are getting mixedsignals as to whether you want to integrate all your domains under one URL or maintainthe set of domains as listed on Page 6 of the RPF? If the latter, please define what youmean by a “unified information architecture”. There is a desire for a singular websitefor the American Humane Association. In the future, we anticipate using thosedomains as vanity URLS to redirect to internal parts of our new website. A unified IArefers to our desire to have one single website that brings all of our standaloneproperties into one experience.29. How many unique donation and action alert formats will require integration via theLuminate API? Vendor should plan for the following in this regard:1) Main evergreen donation page.2) Main evergreen action alert page.3) We are looking for 2-3 unique page wrappers, for our program specific areas,to allow us to tailor a form to a program specific ask. Our goal is to have aunified look and feel between the CMS and Blackbaud.
30. For what email systems will you require new email stationary? Is this just for Razor'sEdge? None for Raiser’s Edge. This will be required for Blackbaud’s Luminate Online(Convio) system which powers our advocacy and donation emails and landing pages.31. Do you have a consultant for managing your setup and maintenance of Razor's Edge andLuminate Online? We are assuming that our role would be to manage the integrationwith Drupal. Is this correct? Yes, we work directly with Blackbaud service team on this.New vendor role would be to manage the integration from Drupal and potentiallyinterface with Blackbaud, if needed.32. Can you please clarify whether everything in the RFP is for Phase 1? How are youconceptualizing the future phases? We would like to complete as much as we can inPhase 1. However, we are looking for realistic proposals of what can be accomplishedgiven budget and timeline. The only certainty we have for future phases is the rebuildof our legacy applications, adding in functionality to allow us to A/B test. Our desire towork closely with the selected vendor on a long term strategy that ensures growthand a system we can sustain.33. Your budget appears to be extremely optimistic, and the schedule for writing such acomplex proposal is very tight. Are you considering adjusting either? We are certainlyaware our request is quite ambitious. We are open to proposals that clearly articulatethe benefits to making those adjustments.34. How did you develop the overall timeline for the project? Are there external factors(conferences, board members) driving specific due dates? Our fiscal budget ends inJune and planning begins in March. Our goal was to be underway with Phase 2planning and have some performance data available to inform our FY17 budget cycle.The other factor is to launch after our year end fundraising activities have occurred.We can potentially be flexible with the launch dates, if we can create an informedbudget.35. What market or user research exists about current site audiences? What are the sourcesof that research data? The audience grouping provided in the RFP were gathered fromstaff across the organization. There has been no validation of these audiences beyondstaff knowledge. Many of American Humane Association’s audiences are fee forservice clients, such as film makers and food producers, so there would be dataavailable to the selected vendor. Along with our donation and advocacy interactions.36. How is content currently planned, scheduled, produced, prioritized across yourchannels? On an ad hoc basis. The new content strategist position will aid in gettingmore routine, but we are looking for the selected vendor to advise in this area.
37. What digital channels do you use for outreach (please describe):1) Owned (website, email, social) We have many websites, use email forfundraising, advocacy and updating efforts. Our use of social has been limitedto more of a one way communication, rather than a conversation with acommunity.2) Earned (media placements, blog placements) Yes, we do have acommunications team who works to achieve our goal of media coverage. OurCEO is quite active with a weekly radio broadcast, television appearances andother coverage.3) Paid (online ads, print ads, radio/television ads) Our PR agency manages ourGoogle Grant for paid search. We do have a televised awards show, on theHallmark Channel, for our Hero Dog and Vet Awards. Other paid efforts arelimited.38. What processes are you using internally to determine the overall project budget? Thebudget was determined by considering our current web operating expenses and theaddition of an investment. We also factored in our likely ROI for improvements infundraising activities.39. Do you prefer project deliverables to be:1) Formal documentation detailing formal requirements before work begins2) We prefer Iterative documentation in phases that defines and plans releases insprints of build, measure, learn3) Concept sketches that move quickly into iterative prototype development40. Is there a shared vocabulary internally regarding digital that we should be aware of anduse in our proposal (for example, avoidance of terms such as “consumer” or “brand”)?None that are readily apparent. Our audiences and our offerings are quite diverse,from those who make a donation to those who pay us for services.41. Have you performed any of the following user research?1)2)3)4)5)6)7)8)User interviewsContextual inquirySurveysFocus groupsCard sortingUsability testingA/B testingNet promoter scoreTo the knowledge of the current staff, none of these have been performed.
42. Are all the sites listed in under “Current Configuration” considered to be within thescope of this project? Which of these would exist in a multisite environment under theircurrent URLs? They would all be in the scope and our intent is to consolidate them intoa single website. The Kindness 100 site would be an example of a site that would beused in the future as a campaign microsite, for temporary purposes. The Be Humanesite is one that should be archived, with any relevant content removed. Our goal is tokeep the URLS and use the as vanity URLs to redirect to deeper part of the site, asappropriate.43. Server Side Performance Improvements: Normally, these kinds of recommendationswould fall under hosting and/or remote administration services - would you like to seethese services line itemed as part of a proposal, or are they expected to be included inthe scope of this project? These should be included as part of the managed services(separate) portion. We do expect that the vendor will optimize the development toprovide a system with top performance.44. Surveys, Polls, Voting, Contests and Quizzes: Is data collected by by these tools expectedto be somehow relayed to Luminate/Raiser’s Edge? Where
the hosting vendor, and well beyond a monthly hosting agreement. Where should this be discussed and budgeted - in the development proposal or the hosting proposal? Do you currently see any indication that you need load balancing? Our expectation is twofold, one that the CMS will be implemented with optimal performance as a key
