[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] RFPs for system development

Mon May 17 08:53:34 EDT 2010

Experience has taught me that an open-source RFP would do well to include the elements George and Lori are talking about. I structure mine the following way: 

-- Requirements - as Lori mentioned, there needs to be a priority metric in place. 
What makes one priority more important? The immediate functional needs of one library? The fact that every library in the consortium wants this or that feature? 

How do you plan for "phasing" your development if need be. One of the good things about open-source is that it's never finished (no software is, really..) so how do you know when phase 1 is done/good enough to test and launch? When you can answer that, you have what you need to put your "P1's" in place. Then you get to figure out your P2's, P3's, etc. 

-- Workflows - as George mentioned, if you have your workflow mapped out (the way you want it to work, not the way it works now) then you know what you want, what you really really want. I have discovered countless questions we were able to answer and incorporate into the RFP just by asking ourselves "how do we want this to work? What's software and what's policy and process (remember to only chart the software workflow) and how many different ways does it really need to work to get this job done? 

When you have good workflows, you can label key junctures (wf1, s12) and refer back to them in your RFP - this context can prove invaluable to any contractor or developer you're working with in understanding what it is that you really want. 

-- Use Cases - finally, in terms of trying to make sure you have your bases covered and in trying to describe your requirements in yet another way, use cases are great tools. They're a story - Sue Patron walks into a library and wants to... and talk it all the way through. It's a way for us to make sure we haven't left anything out and a way for the developers/contractors to perhaps, with this context, not only really understand what we're talking about, but suggest a different solution? 

In my experience reading rfp's, I often start with use cases so I can get my head around what the potential client is talking about, then look at the workflows, then dive into the requirements - big picture to small. 

These are just initial thoughts based on doing lots of RFP's... is there a right way? Nope, imho. Depending on the scope of your project, there's lots of ways to do this.. Good luck! 

Emily 

Emily A. Almond 
PINES Software Development Manager 
Georgia Public Library Service 
1800 Century Place, Suite 150 
Atlanta, GA 30345-4304 
(404) 235-7149.tel 
(404) 235.7201.fax 
ealmond at georgialibraries.org 
http://www.georgialibraries.org/pines/ 

From: "George Tuttle" <gtuttle at prlib.org> 
To: "Evergreen Discussion Group" <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org> 
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 5:19:43 PM 
Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] RFPs for system development 

Hi Lori, 

By wide-scale, I mean “to your heart’s content.” Open source puts more pressure on you to understand the software and your workflow in advance. Testing helps, but you need an effective testing model. An RFP for that service could be the answer. Thanks. Good thought. 

BTW, besides Equinox, is there anyone else providing these services? 

George 

From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [mailto:open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Lori Bowen Ayre 
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 4:05 PM 
To: Evergreen Discussion Group 
Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] RFPs for system development 

George, 

I agree. Open Source DOES mean rethinking the RFP process. And, one way to rethink it is to do an RFP for services . Some of the services I might seek via RFP are: 

    • getting help setting up a test environment 
    • migration, support and/or hosting services 
    • assessing the suitability of products against a set of criteria, or 
    • helping develop the criteria to be used for evaluation 

Not sure what you mean by wide-scale testing or if that is the ONLY way to "rethink the RFP" process. But, definitely a rethink is needed. To paraphrase something someone else said (which I could remember who)... if you use the same old procurement method, you'll keep getting the same old thing. 

Lori Ayre 

On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 9:56 AM, George Tuttle < gtuttle at prlib.org > wrote: 

Open Source means rethinking the RFP process. What wide-scale testing have you done so far? 

George Tuttle 

Computer Services Librarian 

Piedmont Regional Library System 

770-867-2762 x103 

770-891-0654 (cell) 

770-867-7483 (fax) 

gtuttle at prlib.org 

From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [mailto: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org ] On Behalf Of Kathleen O'Connor 
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 11:40 AM 

To: Evergreen Discussion Group 
Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] RFPs for system development 

Our director has been toying with this idea for quite some time. I was just trying to get a heads up on it when he finally decided to pull the plug on voyager 

Whatever you can share would be appreciated 

Kathleen E. O'Connor 

Systems Librarian 

Falvey Memorial Library 

Villanova University 

Villanova, Pa. 19085 

kathleen.oconnor at villanova.edu 

610-519-4158 

From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [mailto: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org ] On Behalf Of Lori Bowen Ayre 
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 11:13 AM 
To: Evergreen Discussion Group 
Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] RFPs for system development 

Hi Kathy, 

Are you planning to do development or are you looking for an RFP for services such as migrating and implementation? The KCLS software specs were for writing a LOT of new code and I'm thinking that's not really what you had in mind so wanted to clarify. I do have an RFP sample for support I could share. And another very simple one for implementation and training. 

Lori Ayre 

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 7:45 AM, Kathy Lussier < klussier at masslnc.org > wrote: 

Hi all, 

I’m working with the three Massachusetts consortia that are planning to move to Evergreen in 2011. We are in the latter phases of identifying our development needs for Evergreen with the plan of issuing an RFP for system development in early summer. 

I was wondering if anyone in the Evergreen community has an RFP they have used for system development in Evergreen or another open-source product that you would be willing to share with us. I do have a copy of King County’s RFP for system support as well as the specs they posted to the http://oss4pl.org/ site. 

Thanks in advance for your help! 

Kathy Lussier 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

Kathy Lussier 

Project Coordinator 

Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative 

(508) 756-0172 

(508) 755-3721 (fax) 

klussier at masslnc.org 

IM: kmlussier (AOL & Yahoo) 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/techielibrarian 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier 

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