REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL Integrated Administrative System

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Integrated Administrative System

5/12/97University at Albany Request for Proposal

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Table of Contents

I. INTRODUCTION 4

A. Request for Proposals 4

B. About the University 4

C. Submission of Proposals and Criteria 5

II. RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS 5

A. Vendor requirements 5

B. University Conditions 7

C. Procurement Timetable 9

D. Evaluative Criteria 9

III. VENDOR SPECIFICATIONS 9

A. General Information 9

B. Training and Support Services 11

C. License Fees and Annual Maintenance 12

D. Consulting and Implementation 13

E. Funding Option 13

IV. GENERAL SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS 14

A. System Architecture and Design 14

B. Application Development and Design 15

C. Security Features 18

D. Audit Logging 18

E. Reporting Tools 18

F. System Upgrades 19

G. Documentation 20

H. Self Service 20


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I. Automated Workflow 21

V. INTEGRATED ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM 24

A. Financial Management 241. General Ledger - Requirements 252. General Ledger - Desirable Functions 263. Accounts Receivable - Requirements 294. Accounts Receivable - Desirable Functions 305. Accounts Payable - Requirements 306. Accounts Payable - Desirable Functions 317. Purchasing - Requirements 328. Purchasing - Desirable Functions 339. Property Control - Desirable Functions 3410. Contract Tracking - Desirable Functions 3511. Grants and Contract Administration - Desirable Functions 35

B. Human Resources Management 361. Personnel Administration - Requirements 362. Personnel Administration - Desirable Functions 373. Benefits Administration - Requirements 394. Benefits Administration - Desirable Functions 395. Position Management - Requirements 406. Position Management - Desirable Functions 407. Payroll - Desirable Functions 408. Time and Attendance - Desirable Functions 41

C. Student Administration 421. Recruitment and Admissions - Requirements 422. Recruitment and Admissions - Desirable Functions 433. General Student Information - Requirements 444. General Student Information - Desirable Functions 455. Course Offerings and Registration - Requirements 466. Course Offerings and Registration - Desirable Functions 487. Transfer Articulation, Advising, and Degree Audit - Requirements 508. Transfer Articulation, Advising and Degree Audit - Desirable Functions 519. Financial Aid/Student Accounts/Bursar - Requirements 52

a) General 52b) Tracking 53c) Budgeting 54d) Needs Analysis 54e) Packaging 55f) Disbursement 56g) History and Transcripts 57h) Funds Management and Regulations Compliance 57i) Receivables and Invoicing 58j) Financial Aid Posting 59k) Refunds 59l) Cashiering 60m) Student Accounts General 61n) Revenue Accounting 61

10. Financial Aid/Student Accounts/Bursar - Desirable Functions 61


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I. Introduction

A. Request for Proposals

The University at Albany, State University of New York, is seeking an enterprise-wide solution to replace our current administrative systems and to improve the delivery ofservice to our students, faculty, and staff through workflow and web enabled access. Ourintent is to move from the typical mainframe environment to the client/server technology.We are seeking an integrated software solution that will encompass FinancialManagement, including Grants and Contract Administration, Human ResourcesManagement, and Student Administration. The enterprise-wide solution that we areseeking will in time allow us to manage all of our operations: State Appropriations,Research Foundation (Grants and Contracts), University Auxiliary Services (Non-ProfitFood Service Provider), and the University at Albany Foundation (Advancement andDevelopment).

B. About the University

The University at Albany is the senior campus of the SUNY system, the largestpublic higher education system in the nation. As one of four university centers in thatsystem, Albany offers undergraduate and graduate education in a broad range of academicfields at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree levels. Albany, the largest of 15colleges in the Capital Region, enrolls approximately 17,000 students including over 5,000graduate students. As a university center, Albany provides service, counsel, andadministrative support for the University Research Community.

The main campus, designed by noted architect Edward Durell Stone andcompleted in the mid 1960’s, is located on the west side of the city. In addition to theclassrooms and laboratories on the academic podium of the main campus, there are theUniversity Library and the Performing Arts Center. There are four residence quadrangleson the main campus, each housing approximately 1,200 students.

The schools of the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy are located onthe older, downtown campus. The downtown campus also includes residential,instructional, clinical, and research facilities. The School of Public Health is located at ourthird campus in Rensselear.

C.


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Submission of Proposals and Criteria

Vendors wishing to respond should do so according to the instructions provided.Only vendors that meet the minimum requirements of the RFP and show the ability tomeet our integrated administrative system needs will be considered. The evaluativecriteria will include vendor responses to sections III, IV and V.

II. Response Instructions

A. Vendor requirements

1. Submission of proposals

All questions shall be answered point-by-point in the order in which they appear inthe RFP. Each response should be identified by section and line number.

To aid in the evaluation process, all proposals are to be submitted in the followingsequence:

Letter of TransmittalExecutive SummaryVendor ProposalNon Disclosure Statement(s) for one complete set of documentation and/or

user manuals for each moduleVendor Contracts (Licensing, Maintenance Agreement, etc.)

2. All requests for clarification and questions regarding the technical aspects andrequirements of this RFP must be made in writing by 5/28/97 to:

Ms. Marybeth SalmonDirector, University Business Systems

AD-B20The University at Albany

State University of New York1400 Washington AvenueAlbany, New York 12222

Telephone: (518) 442-3760Fax Number: (518) 442-2592


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All questions regarding New York State or SUNY purchasing and contractguidelines should be directed to:

Mr. Edward KaneAssociate Director, Institutional Services

Indian Quad - B7The University at Albany


Telephone: (518) 442-3234Fax Number: (518) 442-3235

3. Delivery of Responses

An original and six (6) copies of the proposal shall be delivered by 2:30 p.m. on6/23/97 to the following location:

Mr. Edward KaneAssociate Director, Institutional Services

Indian Quad - B7The University at Albany


Proposals received after this date and time will be considered late and will berejected.

All seven (7) proposals must be signed by an authorized representative of thevendor and acknowledged by a Notary Public.

Proposals should describe the most favorable terms and shall remain firm for 120days from the bid opening date. Proposals should be submitted exclusive of all Federal,State, and local taxes.

B.


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University Conditions

1. The University at Albany will not be liable for any costs incurred by respondents in thepreparation and production of a proposal or the costs of any services performed priorto receiving approval of the agreement from New York State. All proposals, andmaterials submitted in conjunction with the proposals, shall become the property of theUniversity at Albany for use as deemed appropriate, respecting all copyrights.

2. The University at Albany reserves the right to modify the requirements of this RFP

after its release. All Vendors will receive written notification of any modifications tothe requirements of this RFP. If any modifications make compliance with the originalProcurement Timetable impractical, the University at Albany will adjust the timetableaccordingly.

3. Vendors who submit a proposal in response to this RFP may be required to give an

oral presentation or an on-site demonstration to the University at Albany. This shallprovide an opportunity for the Vendor to clarify or elaborate on the proposal, butshall in no way change the original proposal. The University at Albany shall schedulethe time and location. In addition, the University may wish to arrange for on-site visitsto the Vendor location.

4. The University at Albany reserves the right to only accept proposals that show

evidence of a single vendor involvement in the conceptual design and development ofan integrated administrative system.

5. By submitting a proposal, the vendor agrees that s/he will not make any claims for or

have any right to damages because of any misinterpretation or misunderstanding of thespecifications or because of any misinformation or lack of information.

6. The successful vendor will be notified by the Issuing Officer by telephone and

confirmed by letter. A contract will then be negotiated with the successful vendor.The contract will, among other provisions, incorporate at least this RFP and thesuccessful vendor’s proposal.

7. The University at Albany reserves the following prerogatives:

• To accept or reject any or all proposals in part or entirety.• To correct any arithmetic errors in the proposals.• To waive or modify irregularities in proposals received after notification to the

vendor.• To change any dates specified for the review and selection process.• To negotiate a payment schedule as part of the award of the contract.• To request additional information or written clarification of vendor response.

1. The term of the Agreement shall begin on or about 9/1/97.


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2. Vendors may be requested to provide evidence that the award of the Agreement will

not result in a conflict of interest with regard either to other work performed by theVendor or to potential conflict of interest among specific vendor staff.

3. The University at Albany reserves the right to approve or reject all vendor staff

assigned to this project. 4. The Agreement, if awarded, shall be governed and construed in accordance with the

laws of New York State, which include but are not limited to the items identified in theStandard Contract Clauses State University of New York, which is contained inExhibit A and A-1.

5. Vendors agree to provide evidence of appropriate insurance protection. Appropriate

insurance protection shall be deemed to be the coverage outlined in Contractor’sCompensation and Liability Insurance, as stated below.

CONTRACTOR’S COMPENSATION AND LIABILITY INSURANCE

Contractor shall, at all times, at its own expense, obtain and carry comprehensive liability insurance, property damage insurance and Workers’ Compensation insurance of adequateamounts, naming the State of New York, and State University of New York as additional insureds.

Contractor shall keep such insurance in force for the duration and term of this agreement. The insurance required, shall be obtained from insurance company(ies) licensed to do business in the State of New York and shall have as minimum limits of insurance:

TYPE DOLLAR LIMITS

Contractors Liability (including protective $1,000,000 combined (bodily injury and property& Contractual Liability damage) single limit-each occurrence $2,000,000

aggregate

Automobile Liability (owned and $1,000,000 CSL - each occurrencenon-owned vehicles)

Workers Compensation and Disability New York StatutoryBenefits

Owners Protective Liability Policy in the $1,000,000 combined (bodily injury and propertyname of the State of New York, State damage) single limit-each occurrence $2,000,000University of New York aggregate

CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE

All Certificates of Insurance or Evidence of Insurance must contain a thirty (30) day writtennotice of any cancellation, change, or termination of coverage.


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C. Procurement TimetableTarget Dates

RFP Release Date 5/12/97Written Questions Due 5/28/97Responses to Vendors’ Questions 6/09/97All Vendor Responses Due By 6/23/97

University’s Recommendation of Vendor 7/07/97Agreement Signed by University and Vendor 7/31/97Approval of Agreement by State of New York 9/01/97

D. Evaluative Criteria

Only vendors that show evidence of ability to meet the integrated administrativesystem needs described in this RFP will be considered. Proposals from such vendors willthen be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria, taken together:

40% Vendor responses to the General System Specifications in Section IV.35% Vendor’s ability to provide the Desirable Functions stated in Section V.10% Vendor’s ability to provide training and support type services.10% The qualifications and reliability of the vendor. 5% Costs.

III. Vendor Specifications

A. General Information

1. Provide company name and headquarter location. Provide length of time in thesoftware business and how many employees you currently have.

2. Provide a breakdown of your employees by function, i.e., development, support, sales,

administrative, etc. 3. Provide audited financial statements for the past five years. 4. Date of sale of your first client/server application software. 5. Describe the application modules currently available in the client/server environment.


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6. Number of client/server customers you have in total. 7. Number of client/server customers you have in production. 8. Provide the following information for at least five higher education customers with

1,000 employees or more that are in production with your client/server products:• Name of organization.• City and state.• Contact name.• Contact phone number.• Products installed.• Server platform.• RDBMS.• Number of employees.

1. Please provide the following information for at least five higher education customersthat have dropped maintenance and/or stopped their implementations of either yourlegacy or client/server products:

• Name of organization.• City and state.• Contact name.• Contact phone number.• Reason for dropping maintenance and/or stopping the project.

1. Formal user groups:• Does a formal user group exist for your products on a national level?• Does the group hold meetings on an annual basis?• How many attendees?• Do formal user groups exist on a regional level?• In which regions do they exist?• To which regional user group would we belong?• Do the user groups (national and regional) operate independently from your

company?

1. Is there regular communication with your customers? If so, please describe.

B.


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Training and Support Services

1. Do you provide user training? Please describe. 2. Do you provide technical training? Please describe. 3. Please provide a current training course catalog showing which classes are offered and

where they will be held. 4. How much training is included with the software license? 5. If additional training is available, what is the cost? 6. Is the training based on units? Please define a training unit. 7. What is the average number of attendees in your classes? 8. How much of the typical training class is hands-on? 9. Training locations:

• Where are your training centers?• At which training center would we be trained?• Do you provide on-site training?• Do you offer Computer Based Training?

1. Hotline Support:• Do you provide telephone hotline support? Please describe.• What are the hours of operation of the hotline?• Are there costs for using the hotline?• What is the experience level of the hotline staff?• Do you offer Internet access to your hotline support?• Do you monitor the performance of the hotline staff? Please describe.• Do you have a problem escalation procedure? Please describe.• What is the hotline response time?

C.


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License Fees and Annual Maintenance

1. Please provide a schedule of your license fees by application module.• Clearly indicate which modules are bundled and which are dependent upon

other modules, i.e. in order to utilize module A, we will need module B.

1. Please define the basis of the license fees for each module. 2. What exactly does the license fee include?

• Documentation? How many sets? What is the cost for additional sets?• Installation services? How many days? What are the costs for additional days?

Are travel and expenses included?

1. Please describe any available discounts including discounts for additional University atAlbany entities which may purchase modules in the future.

2. Is a separate license needed for a development and testing environment? Please

provide details. 3. As part of the license agreement will an individual be dedicated to our account who

will be our primary point of contact throughout the various phases: installation,training, implementation and on-going maintenance. If so, please describe the types ofservices this individual will provide.

4. Please explain in detail the annual maintenance program.

• What does the maintenance program include?• What is the cost and the basis for the cost?

1. Describe the process by which an institution becomes a beta site. Are there anyfinancial benefits to the institution for being a beta site?

2. If an agreement between the University at Albany and the vendor is executed and

other SUNY institutions subsequently sign with the same vendor would that institutionreceive a discount on the cost of the software and will the vendor provide financialcompensation to the University at Albany?

D.


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Consulting and Implementation

1. Do you provide consulting services? Please describe. What are the costs associatedwith your consulting services?

2. We may be interested in implementation services to assist us in the following:

• fit analyses.• data mapping.• customizations.• performance tuning.• detailed functional reviews.• upgrades.• other forms of on-going project assistance.

Do you provide these type of services? Please describe services andassociated costs.

1. How many full-time, or full-time equivalent (FTE) programmers, trained in thelanguage of the vendor’s product, will the University have to hire in order toimplement the vendor’s enterprise-wide integrated administrative system? For howlong a period of time?

2. How many full-time, or full-time equivalent (FTE) programmers, trained in the

language of the vendor’s product, will the University have to hire in order to ensurethat the vendor’s integrated administrative system will be maintained?

3. Are there other types of employees such as operators, communication specialists, etc.

that the University will have to hire? How many FTE and for what period of time?

E. Funding Option

1. The University is interested in creative concepts for financing this project. Vendorsare encouraged to submit financing proposals to minimize the cost of this system tothe University. The University will consider the feasibility and comparable advantageof all proposals submitted as well as financing through the Certificate of Participation(COPS) program available to all New York State agencies or releasing a separateRequest For Proposal for financing. Vendors may consider financing as a proposaloption and as such, the University reserves the right to withhold consideration of thisitem.

IV.


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General System Specifications

Our institution will be expecting general consistency for all of its applicationfunctions and improved business services in the new integrated system. Please respond toeach of the questions below.

A. System Architecture and Design

1. Is your system Year 2000 Compliant?• Please respond based on the language provided below by our State University

Counsel:All responses in which computer technology is involved should indicate whether

each item of computer hardware, software, data repositories and firmware(herein referred to as “Product”) is Year 2000 Compliant, as defined in 48CFR 39.002 and 48 CFR 39.106 and any efforts currently underway to providethis capability. The approach taken to make project year 2000 compliant mustbe defined, including the format in which the Products exchange date/time datawith any other product.

“Year 2000 Compliant” is hereby defined as:“Information technology that accurately processes date/time data

(including, but not limited to, calculating, comparing, and sequencing)from, into, and between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, andthe years 1999 and 2000 and leap year calculations. Furthermore, Year2000 compliant information technology, when used in combination withother information technology, shall accurately process date/time data ifthe other technology properly exchanges date/time data with it.” (see48 CFR 39.002 and 48 CFR 39.106)

1. Was your system designed for a client/server architecture? If so, which tier? 2. We are seeking an open systems architecture, compatible with a variety of relational

databases, and the ability to run on multiple platforms. Please describe the hardwareplatforms, operating systems and database management systems that the integratedadministrative system will run on. Please indicate the version numbers.

3. Is there any hardware which is necessary/strongly recommended to make the software

operate at its greatest level of proficiency? 4. Does your system provide the ability to move from one technical platform and/or data

base management system without complex software or data conversions? 5. Do you consider your system to be ODBC compliant?


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6. Does your system use a true (SQL) relational model? If so, please include entityrelationship diagrams and other appropriate database design documentation with yourresponse.

7. Does your system use flat files (non-relational databases) in any way? If it does, how

are they used? 8. Is your database normalized? If so, to what form is it normalized? 9. Does the system operate using an industry standard graphical user interface such as

Microsoft Windows? Which version(s)? 10. Do all of the on-line functions have the same “look and feel”? 11. What client machines does your system operate on? What size client machine is

required? Does your system support the use of a Network Computer? 12. Does the system fully integrate with other desktop tools using Dynamic Data

Exchange (DDE) or Object Linking and Embedding (OLE), such as EXCEL, WORD,or LOTUS ?

13. Does the system support imaging of documents (e.g. resumes, transcripts, photos)?

Please explain. 14. Does the system interface with a MAPI compliant mail package? 15. Does your system provide EDI and EFT capability? 16. Does the system provide the capability to view and update multiple on-line

components of the enterprise-wide system, i.e. student, human resources, financial aidinformation? Are there separate logons to these components?

17. Does your software provide the flexibility to interface with other software in the event

the institution has a need for shadow systems and/or a crosswalk to other agencysystems?

B. Application Development and Design

1. Was your system conceptually designed to provide an integrated enterprise-widesoftware solution?

2. What tools were used and are being used to develop your system? Please describe

them.


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3. Do the tools allow non-programmers to modify menus? Please explain. 4. Do the tools allow non-programmers to modify panels? Please explain. 5. Do the tools allow non-programmers to add entirely new data elements to the database

(as opposed to using pre-defined data elements set up by the vendor)? Please explain. 6. Do the tools allow non-programmers to add, modify, and/or delete edits to data

elements quickly and easily? Please explain. 7. Do you utilize an active data dictionary? Please describe how your data dictionary

functions. 8. Is your system designed around a modular approach, that is, can one product be

acquired initially, then another added later? 9. Are your modules fully integrated? 10. Are there any restrictions on the number of transactions, accounts, students,

employees, courses, amount of history, etc. in your system? 11. Does your system use effective-dating of information throughout the system? Is there

an option to turn effective-dating on or off? Please describe the features of effective-dating.

12. Can users enter future-dated information and have the system automatically take the

appropriate action on the specified date? 13. Can users access data which accurately shows what our institution looked like in

previous years? 14. Can current, future, and historical data be viewed and updated on-line from the same

panels? 15. Is history unlimited for all data? 16. Is there a facility to archive data? If yes, please describe the process and how the data

can be reactivated? 17. Can all data be updated real-time? 18. Can a user access information using any partial search criteria? For example, a partial

name, department number, catalog number, etc. Please describe.


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19. Please describe all the options that your system allows for data transactions to beentered, either on-line or as batch updates.

20. Do you provide batch totaling? 21. Describe the editing capabilities of the system that are applied on-line at the point of

information entry.• Do you provide validation edits for data input (field range controls, numeric

checks, date ranges, etc.)?• Can customized edits, including relational edits, be implemented?

1. Describe the features of the system that make it easy to use by staff and line managers(little use of codes, On-line Help, graphic capability, etc.).

• Name or number list searches?• Tools that simplify reorganizations and the report maintenance associated with

reorganizations?• User customization of error or warning messages on-line?• User-defined error messages?• Is Help on-line? Please describe its capabilities.• Does your on-line Help use standard Windows conventions?• Is on-line Help context sensitive?• Are your Help screens user definable? Please describe.• Is field-level Help provided on-line?• Is full-page Help available on-line?

1. Does the system offer an interface to a voice response system? Can it interface to thePeriphonics product? Please provide details.

2. Is there a facility to migrate data from our existing systems through an automated data

conversion process? 3. Does your system have the ability to verify and authenticate accuracy of mailing and

distribution labels for purposes of conforming with requirements necessary to qualifyfor postal discounts and automated mail coding (AKA address scrubbing)?

4. Can specific business processes be implemented as decentralized and/or centralized

operations? 5. Describe how your software streamlines data collection procedures (entering data

once, at its source) and provides support for decentralized data entry. 6. Does your system provide version control? 7. Does your system provide the capability to generate upper/lower case names and

addresses regardless of how the data is stored in the database? How is this done?


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C. Security Features

1. Do you provide multiple levels of security, i.e. at the function, operator, college,campus level? Can security be set at the field level for highly sensitive data? Pleasedescribe your security features in detail.

2. Do you provide multiple-level password protection, e.g., allowing users to only view

or change data? Please describe. 3. Does your security control access to any and all report tools? 4. Can multiple users access and/or update records at the same time? If so, how do you

prevent record locking? 5. How does the system protect data integrity if multiple users are changing the same

record simultaneously?

D. Audit Logging

1. Do you maintain a detailed activity/error message tracking log? Please describe. 2. Can audit logging be controlled at the data element level? Please describe.

E. Reporting Tools

1. What reporting tools are provided with your system? If there are third party tools,what are they and do they come bundled with your system?

2. Are the reporting tools powerful enough for unsophisticated users to quickly and

easily develop reports? Please describe. 3. Does your standard security prevent unauthorized access to your database(s) from the

report tools? Please describe. 4. Do the reporting tools access information simultaneously from all of the database

tables? 5. Do the reporting tools access information directly from your database(s), or is data

first extracted from the DBMS database into a separate file for reporting purposes?Does your system have some type of “data warehousing” function? Please describe.


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6. Can users quickly and easily develop comparative reports by selecting data from acurrent year or other period and from a past year or other period?

7. Can a user specify whether a report (ad hoc or standard) should be executed on-line or

in batch mode? 8. Do your queries show run selection criteria on the reports (periods, ranges, etc.)? 9. Can you specify that queries/reports be run on a deferred basis? 10. What standard reports are provided with your system? 11. Please provide samples of your standard reports. 12. Can reports be viewed on-line? 13. Can routine processes be scheduled to be run automatically? Please describe. 14. Are ASCII data file transfers possible via an import/export capability? 15. Do you provide graphics capabilities such as line graphs, bar graphs, charts, etc.? 16. Can your system seamlessly transfer information to and from packages such as Lotus,

Word, Excel, and Access?

F. System Upgrades

1. How are upgrades/enhancements applied? Does your system include an automatedfunction to apply upgrades/enhancements?

2. What happens to customizations when a new release is applied? 3. Is the system updated based on government mandates, e.g. federal Financial Aid

requirements, as well as user requests? 4. What are the upcoming enhancements planned for the next 12 months?

G.


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Documentation

1. Is user documentation provided? Please describe. 2. Is your user documentation on-line? Please describe. 3. Is system documentation provided? Please describe. 4. Is documentation provided in both printed and machine readable form?

H. Self Service

1. Describe how you have incorporated self service into your system. 2. Describe what you have incorporated to support employees, students, faculty, and

staff self service strategies, i.e. World Wide Web, IVR, Kiosk, etc. 3. What items are recorded in the audit trail of data entered via self service? 4. Describe how your self service will benefit our employees, students, faculty, and

administrators without sacrificing security. Please include WWW, IVR and Kioskpayment processing in your description.

5. What hardware/software resources are required for a client workstation to run self

service? 6. Please acknowledge which of the following items your system supports and any

additional hardware/software tools required:• Scanning a typed student application or a resume.• Fax-in of a student application or a resume.• Receipt of a resume via the institutional E-mail product.• Receipt of an application via the WWW and updating applicant data.• Receipt of prospect request via the WWW updating the prospect file.• A kiosk that allows a prospective employee to key in their application on-line.

1. Describe how our institution can use the system to rollout self service and provide thesame level of functionality to users with PC workstations.

2. Describe the tasks required to create a self service module for our employees,

students, faculty and administrators. 3. Describe how the system allows this functionality to be accessible from the desktop or

other device, and how the system maintains data integrity.


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4. Describe which self service components of the system clients have implemented.

I. Automated Workflow

1. Describe the approach you have taken to incorporate workflow automation. 2. How many clients are currently using workflow automation technology, and how is it

being used? 3. Does the system use proprietary or commercially available workflow automation

components? 4. Does your system provide imbedded workflow, i.e. integrated workflow with a full

workflow toolset?• What type of on-line form functionality is provided?• Can report generation be exception-driven? What are the capabilities for this?• What tools exist for automatically notifying a manager responsible for a

department or project that their budget has been exceeded?• Can reports and statements be distributed electronically to the individual

responsible for the area being reported on? How is this done?• Does the application support electronic notification to local users of paid items

and unpaid items that need approval?• Can the system generate electronic notifications of hire to departments and

letters of offer to candidates?• Can the system support the new employee and/or new student orientation

process, automatically matching and scheduling new employees/students toorientation sessions and tracking orientation attendance?

• Can positions be routed for editing and approval? Does the system supportelectronic notification to unlimited parties?

• Does the system allow local authorized users to post staff positionselectronically, while automatically generating posting number and notifyingappropriate parties of status and actions? How does it verifyapproval/availability status first?

• How does the system provide for automated personnel action forms and formsrouting capability that allows authorized users centrally and in the local units toupdate personnel records electronically?

• How does the system support the reengineering of personnel or student datachanges by allowing employees and students to update their own records forappropriate data items (e.g., address)?

• Can student status changes be captured on-line and routed for informationpurposes and approval?

• Can time and attendance information be routed for approval?


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• Does the system process employee pay adjustments on-line, includingretroactive adjustments, redistribution of charges, check cancellations, etc.,allowing for routing and authorization under certain circumstances?

• Does your system have a function which automatically establishes atickler/diary for such items as proposed return from leave of absence,performance review, notification of academic probation, etc.? Please describehow this is accomplished.

• Can changes to certain budget line items trigger messages to the user? Canthese changes be suspended until the budget change is routed and approved?

1. Does the application provide flexible and powerful workflow and routing capability tosupport transaction review and authorization at both local and central levels. Canworkflow rules be tailored to local needs and business requirements? Explain.

• What triggers the automatic generation of messages?• How many items can be evaluated when generating a message?• Can the items come from different databases?• Can the generated messages be sent to multiple recipients?• Can some of the messages be FYI?• Can some of the messages require action?• Can the messages contain data from multiple databases?• Can priority be set on automatic generation of messages?• How will the user find the current status of a transaction?• Can the user display the history of the transaction?• Does the system store “receipt’ information for generated messages?

1. Do you provide stable and fully documented API access into the modules both for dataaccess and for business event notification? Are the APIs open and comprehensive?Are they callable from C or C++ languages?

2. Are full workflow/notification capabilities for routing and business authorizations

provided? Are these based on business rules that can be customized for different localorganizational policies?

• Can default business rules, field values, routing information, etc., be applied fora given user and can these be associated with group profiles for localorganizational units?

1. Does the system provide or would it be compatible with a Web technology desktop?If you provide one, please describe any security and performance informationavailable.

2. What routing control mechanisms are available and how are they configured?

• Do you provide defaults from user or group profiles?• How does one dynamically manage or alter routing?• Are status and notification mechanisms available?


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• How does the system support the activity of having on-line approval of atransaction, for either a "release" or “override” by multiple users?

1. Can processes and data definitions be redesigned with workflow tools to automaticallygenerate a significant portion of the program logic from the business models?

2. Please describe how your system enables the user to not only design and message

processes, but also to use workflow automation to result in system-generated, ascompared to manual-generated transactions to the database.

V.


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Integrated Administrative System

A. Financial Management

The integrated administrative system will need the following functions related tofinancial management for the public sector.

The following terms have the meaning specified unless the context clearly requiresotherwise.

Fund Represents a type of resource, the highest level of classification(e.g. State, Dormitory, Research Foundation).

Cost Center Classification or aggregation of related activity based on anoverall purpose (e.g. Instruction, Academic Related, StudentServices, Institutional Support Services, Auxiliary Enterprises).

Function Classification or aggregation by specific type of activity andcommon purpose (e.g. Maintenance & Operations, GeneralAdministration, General Institutional Services are all functionsunder the cost center Institutional Support Services).

Account Budgetary unit representing discrete cost centers used tocontrol revenue and/or allocation and expenditures.

Object (of expenditure) The lowest level of classification. Represents type of expensecategory (e.g. salaries, supplies, equipment).

Division There are six groupings of units we consider divisions. Theseare President, Academic Affairs, Finance & Business, Research& Graduate Studies, Student Affairs and UniversityAdvancement.

Organizational Area A subset of a Division (e.g. in the Division of Academic Affairsare the following organizational areas: Academic SupportUnits, Information Systems & Technology, College of Arts &Sciences, School of Business, School of Education, School ofPublic Health, and Rockefeller College).

Department A specific unit with an organizational area (AcademicDepartments: Anthropology, Economics, Physics; Non-Academic Departments: Human Resources, Purchasing,Accounting).


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Journal Entry Mechanism used to make changes to an accounts’ allocationdistribution, or to move expenditures or revenues within oramong accounts. The journal entry must consist of a debit anda credit and be self balancing.

1. General Ledger - Requirements

a) Full integration with Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Purchasing.• Please provide a brief summary of the General Ledger’s principal features and

how it is integrated with the functions stated above.• Please state what other modules are integrated with the General Ledger and

briefly describe how the functions are integrated.b) Perform real-time updating of financial information. Does the system automatically

update financial information for current and prior period for changes in the chart ofaccounts?

c) General ledger accounting code structure. Please describe, including the maximumnumber of characters.

d) Support numeric codes for chart of accounts components.• Is sequential numbering of the chart of accounts required?

e) Allow on-line update of master file data with a simple method for:• Adding new accounts or cost centers.• Combining accounts or cost centers.• Deleting old accounts or cost centers

f) Maintain audit trails for chart of accounts changes. Please describe.g) Ability for the chart of accounts to be functional on-line.h) Provide the ability to re-combine departments/cost centers in different ways.i) Ability to support multiple views of information separate from the standard accounting

structure.j) Provide drill-down capabilities. Please describe to what level of detail.k) Ability to include many levels in a roll-up structure. How many levels does your

system provide? How is the roll-up structure modified?l) Ability to permit account summarization and roll-up across dissimilar charts of

accounts. Please describe.m) Support a twelve-period or optional period fiscal year. Please describe the options.n) Provide unlimited column statements for period-to-period figures and variances.o) Provide a complete audit trail report to allow users to trace the origin of all

transactions included in an account balance to its source.p) Provide sub-ledgers, for items such as employee advances.q) Provide the capability for different types of journal entries. Please describe how your

system can accommodate each of the following:• Automatic recurring journals.• Automatic reversal.• Type indicator, i.e. regular, allocation.• Allocation distribution.


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r) Ability to maintain multiple open fiscal periods. Please describe how transactions areposted to the proper fiscal period.

s) Verification on the general ledger balance to the accounts payable/accounts receivablemodules.

t) Capability for automatic and standard journal entry posting procedures. Pleasedescribe.

u) Capability to provide efficient closing processes. Please describe.v) Support various allocation methods. Please describe.w) Flexibility in the administration of allocations. Please describe.x) Ability to support entry and retention of multiple budgets per year (e.g., original and at

least two revised budgets).y) Provide for the automatic rollover of the budget to the new year from the prior year’s

budget amounts.z) Ability to permit budget revisions throughout the fiscal year by journal entry and/or

input.aa) Ability to produce standard reports. Please itemize.bb) Ability to customize the following reports:

• Chart of accounts.• Department/Cost Centers.• Financial statements.• Budget summaries.

cc) Ability to use both financial and statistical data in report calculations.dd) Ability to generate variance reports, such as actual vs. budget, current year vs. prior

year.ee) Ability for the same roll-up structures to be used for reporting, inquiries, and

allocations.ff) Ability to produce detail and summary reports.gg) Allow for ad hoc financial reporting (i.e., any time during the month), including user

defined reporting periods. Please describe the flexibility of ad hoc reporting.

2. General Ledger - Desirable Functions

a) The University has identified a number of features for consideration in the new system.Please describe how your system would accommodate each of the following.

• Maintain year-to-date statistical data.• Different fiscal periods by entity.• Different fiscal periods by account.• Classification of accounts into funds for internal management in groups which

include:• Unrestricted.• Unrestricted-designated.• Restricted.• Endowment and similar.


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• Loan Funds.• Agency Funds.• Plant Funds.• Construction Funds.Are the funds self-balancing?

a) The University is looking for improvements in reporting from the new system. Pleaserespond to each of the following.

• Can financial reports be customized with columns for the following:• Current period?• Same period previous year?• YTD for current period ?• YTD same period previous year?• Multiple budgets?• Forecast?• Variance in dollars by column?• Variance in percent by column?• Formulas?

• What are the standard reporting hierarchies for selected reports? Canreporting hierarchies be user-defined?

• Can your system generate the A-133 Report and the 990 Tax Return?• Can users define a schedule for automatic report production? Can these

schedules include a specification for the location to which a particular reportshould be routed (i.e. the employee responsible for the entity)?

• Can reports and statements be distributed electronically to the individualresponsible for the area being reported on? How is this done?

• Can report generation be exception-driven? What are the capabilities for this?• Are there standard modeling tools provided with the system? Please describe.

a) We are seeking ways to improve and streamline many of our processes. Pleaserespond to each of the following.

• How are budgets loaded? Describe each option.• Is there the capability to automatically notify a manager that their budget has

been exceeded?• Can authorized users create or modify budget data? Are edits invoked to

assure budget control? Does the source production data get changed?• Can budget amounts be projected based on historical information (e.g., the

system applies a factor to prior year actual or budgeted figures)?• Can budget amounts be computed with a formula?• Can budget assumptions be maintained in a comments field? Are the

comments easily accessible?• Can annualized budget amounts be automatically spread over twelve months,

including:


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• Even distribution by month?• Distribution by user-specified percentages (totaling to 100%)?• Distribution by number of operating days in month, or other fiscal

periods, i.e. pay period, by quarter?• Does your system have override capabilities? Please describe each.• Can accounts be put in a deficit?• Does the system provide on-line inquiry capability to view the trial balance?• Does the system have foreign currency features? Please describe those

features.• What inquiry screens are provided with the package, and what effort is

involved in modifying them?• Is drill-down possible on an inquiry screen? Is drill-down possible on summary

accounts viewed through an inquiry screen?• Does the system allow on-line account inquiry at summary or detail levels and:

• Retrieve selected or all subaccounts for an account number?• Retrieve selected accounts over a user-specified time period?

• Do account information inquiries display the following:• Account balance information?• Current period transactions in descending date sequence?• Year-to-date transactions in descending date sequence?• Please provide samples of the inquiry screens.

a) Please respond to each of the general questions below.

• Was the system designed for generally accepted accounting principles includingcompliance with FASB standards and other authoritative and adaptable tochanges in authoritative and regulatory pronouncements?

• Can the General Ledger utilize crosswalks from other software packages sothat information doesn’t have to be re-entered?

• Does the system have full integration capability with Payroll, Property Control,Student Accounts, Human Resources and Grants and Contact Administrationmodule? Briefly describe how the functions are integrated.

• Can the system maintain a history of changes for each account by user ID andtransaction date?

• Does the system have the ability to set up certain accounts as alpha numeric.

3.


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Accounts Receivable - Requirements

a) Full integration with the General Ledger and Accounts Payable modules.b) Allow retrieval of account information by:

• Name.• Organization.• Invoice number.• Any other fields?

c) Ability to display details of account activity, i.e. cash receipts, credit memos, credithistory, debit memos, invoices, and orders, including the dates.

d) Provide entry of batch control item counts and dollar totals.e) Ability to handle EDI payment transactions.f) Ability to accept pre-payments.g) Permit payments received to be applied “to an undistributed account” if the invoice

number is not known at the time of cash application.h) Ability to automatically adjust (when applying cash) any open balances that are less

than a user-specified amount.i) Provide for entry of user-definable adjustment codes.j) Ability to handle multiple lock boxes from multiple banks.k) Permit the application of a payment to multiple accounts.l) Ability to automatically apply the check amount to the account on a balance-forward

basis to the oldest open items when invoice number is not specified.m) Ability to generate refunds in check or electronic format.n) Provide an aging function. Please describe.o) Ability for partial payment of an invoice, leaving the invoice open with a remaining

balance.p) Ability to print statements ad hoc and in batch.q) Permit an account to be flagged for no future business.r) Ability to generate a daily, weekly, and monthly detailed cash deposit report.s) Ability to provide an aged accounts receivable report. Please define the contents of

the report.t) Ability to print a bank reconciliation report for each bank account, sorted by bank and

deposit date.u) Ability to produce an accounts receivable listing based on ad hoc parameters. Please

describe.v) Ability to print a monthly activity summary. Please define the contents of the

summary.w) Ability to reproduce statements.x) Ability to generate dunning letters.


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4. Accounts Receivable - Desirable Functions

a) The University is seeking additional features in the new system. Please respond to thefollowing.

1) Please describe your billing system. How integrated is it with your AR system?Is the system capable of generating differing style bills, drawing from differentdata sources? Does your system provide automatic billing cycles?

2) Can the system utilize crosswalks from other software packages so thatinformation doesn’t have to be re-entered?

3) Are data fields provided for recording anticipated payment date and freeformat notes?

4) How does the system handle returned checks? Please describe.5) Can ad hoc reports be generated? Please describe by providing examples of ad

hoc reports that can be generated.6) How are credit balances maintained?

5. Accounts Payable - Requirements

a) Full Accounts Payable module integration with the General Ledger, AccountsReceivable, and Purchasing modules.

b) Ability to encumber funds in future accounting periods.c) Provide vendor inquiry. Please describe.d) Maintain voucher status information which includes:

• Open.• Authorized.• Paid.

e) Provide batch control and automatic batch balancing during voucher entry.f) Allow vouchers to be adjusted and edited.g) Ability to automatically assign voucher numbers.h) Retain data for 12 months. Please indicate the maximum.i) Ability for manually prepared checks to be issued on line.j) Ability for on-line voucher inquiry for both open (unpaid) and paid items.k) Ability to hold individual payments until the next check run and/or until released by the

user. (Held by invoice number and/or vendor?)l) Allow partial payment of invoices.m) Ability to assign check numbers automatically.n) Ability to print check number on checks.o) Maintain check numbers by bank account.p) Track all voided checks by bank account.q) Allow for reprinting of checks.r) Ability for multiple invoices for a single vendor to be paid on one check with

supporting detail on check stub or remittance advice.


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s) Provide check reconciliation capabilities. Please describe.t) Ability to void and stop payment of checks. Expenses should be reversed

appropriately.u) Capability to system generate IRS 1099 forms and reports.v) Ability to handle EDI payment transactions.w) Does the system provide the following standard reports in user-specified formats:

• Accounts payable register?• Voucher listing?• Check register showing all checks?• Automatic checks and voids?• Voucher distribution by account number?

6. Accounts Payable - Desirable Functions

a) The University is interested in the following additional features. Please describe howyour system could accommodate these features.

1) Allow users to voucher invoices at remote locations with release of payment inthe Accounts Payable Office.

2) Please describe the relevant, standard accounts payable inquiry screensprovided in your system. Are customized queries supported by your software?

3) Does the system impose any limits on the number of concurrent users?4) Are there any limitations to the vendor master file size of data fields?5) Does your system provide the following vendor-related data fields on your on-

line screens?• Contact name.• Phone number.• Facsimile number.• Vendor payment terms code.• Vendor classification code (are these user-definable?).

6) Does the system provide vendor inquiry request based upon:• Vendor number?• Vendor name?• Partial vendor name?• Vendor classification?• Preferred vendor list?• Commodity?

7) Does the system provide on-line inquiry to the voucher file by:• Vendor Name?• Account?• Fund?• Transaction Date, and/or Category?

8) Does the user have the option to override the accounting period at voucherentry?


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9) Can the system support:• Expense account distribution at time of data entry?• Account distribution by pre-defined default entry?• Ensure full expense amount is distributed?

10) Can voucher due date be calculated based upon default or manual entry?11) Can the due date be adjusted during voucher entry?12) Does the system permit a selection of invoices for payment? Please describe.13) Does the system provide for automatic payment scheduling.14) Can vendor debit and credit memos be applied to the vendor invoices?15) Can the user customize checks?16) Does the system support multiple checking accounts?17) Does it permit a user to enter G/L account and amount for discounts taken,

taxes and other?18) Does the system have the capability to re-code payments to include in 1099

reporting?19) Does the system provide the following standard reports in user-specified

formats:• Open P.O.’s and requisitions?• Cumulative detail of expenses for the fiscal year by account?

20) Please itemize the standard reports delivered with your system. What facilitiesare available to create customized reports?

21) Does the system provide full integration capability with a Payroll, PropertyControl, and/or Grants and Contract Administration module? Please describehow these modules are integrated with the Accounts Payable module.

22) Can the system utilize crosswalks from other software packages so thatinformation doesn’t have to be re-entered?

23) Does the system provide a batch review and approval/release prior todisbursement.

24) Does the system have the ability to enter the following invoice voucher data?• Invoice date.• Quantity.• Tax (including sales).• Freight.

7. Purchasing - Requirements

a) Ability to create a purchase order.b) Maintain historical record of purchase orders and changes.c) Track purchase orders by date, vendor, account/grant, buyer, contract number,

character object, commodity code and category code.d) System and manual assignment of purchase order number.e) Ability to edit and insert information for item descriptions without having to erase

existing information.


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f) Full Purchasing module integration with the General Ledger and Accounts Payablemodules.

g) Ability to handle all purchasing transactions on-line.h) Ability to automatically calculate total cost on purchase orders based on unit price and

quantity ordered.i) Capability to reject duplicate orders. What are the edits that prevent this duplication?

8. Purchasing - Desirable Functions

a) Listed below are features the University is seeking in a new system. Please describehow your system would accommodate each of the following.

1) Automatic Property Control System interface with Purchasing, AccountsPayable and Receiving modules.

2) Ability to sort data on batch reports.3) Integrated Requisitioning/Purchase Order/Receiving/Accounts

Payable/Property Control modules.4) Create and track purchase order changes.5) Suspend, cancel or close purchase orders.6) Provide a note section (in free form) on purchase order and purchase

requisitions.7) Ability to track purchase requisitions by account or requisition number.8) Ability to control document access and levels of inquiry.9) Routing capabilities of purchase requisitions to multiple locations.10) Inquiry of account balances and transactions.11) Inquiry of account transactions by account number, requisition number and

purchase order number.12) On-line creation of a requisition which automatically encumbers the estimated

amount of the order.13) Encumber funds from same purchase requisition and purchase order to multiple

accounts.14) 1099 field on purchase order.15) Provide for manual entry of total cost on purchase order without unit price or

quantity specified.16) Capability for on-line access to details of outstanding orders and a status check

of all open and closed orders.17) On line vendor file that provides, at a minimum: commodity information, name,

address, contact person, federal identification number, business categorydesignation, phone and fax number, a free form memo field, etc.

18) Vendor inquiry by name, vendor number, zip code and commodity.19) Access supplier price list/catalogs with description on CD ROM and computer

disk.

9.


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Property Control - Desirable Functions

a) The University maintains a computerized Property Control System (PCS) whichcontains information such as description, asset tag number, acquisition date, cost, etc.for University equipment purchased through several sources of funding. Pleasedescribe any Property Control program you would be able to provide including thefollowing functions/features:

1) Can the system generate group record transactions? Please describe how yoursystem would handle these transactions as well as define how thesetransactions could be defined (i.e. account number, location, user-defined,etc.).

2) How does the system track physical characteristics of an asset (e.g. location,serial number, asset number, etc.)? Please explain.

3) Does the system allow individual components of assets to be separatelyidentified? Please explain.

4) What does the system retain (i.e. date of purchase, location, acquisition cost,etc.)? Please describe.

5) Does the system automatically calculate cost replacement? Please describe.6) Can the system produce a schedule for equipment replacement? Please

describe.7) Can the system track and report on assets that are insured, on loan, located off

campus, stolen, and/or unaccountable? Please explain.8) Can the system track and report on assets that are surplus? Please describe.9) Can an asset be split over multiple funding sources? Please describe.10) Can asset(s) be flagged (single or group) for surplus based on operator-defined

criteria? Please explain.11) Can asset(s) be deleted if entered incorrectly? Can asset(s) be reentered if

deleted in error? Please explain.12) Describe the audit trail the system provides for each transaction.13) Does the system automatically transfer data from the Purchase Order System

without re-keying data? Please describe.14) Can a user create an asset with detailed information directly from Accounts

Payable to an Property Control System without re-keying data? Pleaseexplain.

15) Describe in detail the report function of the Property Control System,including but not limited to type(s) of report (e.g. summary, physical inventory,etc.), frequency (e.g. annual, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.), criteria needed (e.g.user-defined, restricted structure, etc.) and time (e.g. real-time, historical, etc.).

16) Can reports be generated using a user-defined date? Please explain.17) Does the system have a physical inventory module that includes bar code

scanning and/or printing technology? Please explain.18) Does the system allow uploading/downloading of data to other electronic

reporting structures? Please describe.


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19) Does the system allow the interface of the bar code technology to any vendorequipment? Please explain.

20) Does the system support a reconciliation of physical inventory against data inthe system automatically generating exception reports? Please explain.

21) Does the system allow for manual entry of bar code asset tag numbers? Pleaseexplain.

22) Does the system support a series of user-defined ownership codes? Pleaseexplain.

10. Contract Tracking - Desirable Functions

a) The University maintains a computerized system for recording and tracking allnegotiable instruments (i.e. contacts, leases, agreements, etc.) which containsinformation such as vendor, contract dates, account/grant number, campus contact,dollar value, etc. from several University funding sources. Please describe anyContract Tracking System you would be able to provide including the followingfunctions/features:

1) Provide reports based on all elements in the system including type of agreement,number of agreements, department, vendor, ending date, etc. Please describe yoursystem and include the elements available in the entry and query process.

2) Automatic generation of renewal notices forty-five days in advance of expiration.Please describe.

3) Automatic notification on multi-year contracts that need encumbrance for newfiscal year. Please describe.

4) Does your system interface with a Purchasing System? Please explain.

11. Grants and Contract Administration - Desirable Functions

a) The Office of Research is designated by the University at Albany and the ResearchFoundation of SUNY to submit proposals and accept awards for sponsored researchprojects on behalf of the University faculty and staff. The Office performs an array of“pre” and “post” award duties. The administrative staff of the Office negotiate grantand contract terms and conditions, executes agreements, and issues subcontracts andmiscellaneous agreements in support of sponsored projects. In its support ofsponsored projects, the Office assures that all projects adhere to campus andgovernmental regulations and policies. Once an award is received, the Officeestablishes accounts, issues project abstracts (summaries of fiscal and reporting data),tracks terminating accounts for payroll needs, subcontracts, and processesamendments as required. Staff review accounts, determine cost sharing requirements,process contracts, and identify reporting requirements for projects. The Officeestablishes and maintains internal awards (e.g. incentive, matching accounts) andgenerates statistical reports on campus sponsored project activity. Please describe any


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Grants and Contract Administration System you would be able to provide includingthe following functions/features.

1) Ability to track:• Payroll terminations.• Subawards.• Advance Supplements.• Renewals.• Sponsor terms and conditions.• Cost sharing requirements.• Cash in excess of budget.• Deficits.

2) Ability to electronically submit applications, submit reports, receive awardnotifications, and process remittances.

3) Ability to handle multiple sponsors.4) Ability to track physical space assigned to grant activities.5) Ability to produce templates of business rules by various levels (sponsor and

grant).6) Ability to calculate cost sharing and differentiate between matching and in-kind

contributions.7) Full integration capability with the General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts

Receivable, Purchasing and Human Resources modules.

B. Human Resources Management

The integrated administrative system will need the following functions related tohuman resources management.

1. Personnel Administration - Requirements

a) Ability to track the following employee information:• Personal data (name, address, etc.).• Education, training, certifications, etc.• Job classifications.• Salary history.• Military status.• Citizenship and alien data (including Visa type, country, etc.).

b) Ability to have history as well as future-dated events displayed on the same screen.c) Ability to apply global updates such as:

• Organizational changes such as division, location, department, and supervisor.• Title and salary changes.• Cost-of-living increases.

d) Provide attendance tracking for an employee as follows:


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• Earned/used/unused vacation.• Earned/used/unused sick time.• Earned/used/unused personal time.• Leave of absence.• Compensatory time.• Family sick leave (FMLA).• Workers’ Compensation.

e) Maintain and track salary survey data for analysis.f) Track salary ranges, grades, and steps by effective dates.g) Ability to maintain and track conditions of termination/separation.h) Track employee turnover rates.i) Produce compliant-ready EEO reports.j) Track affirmative action plan requirements in compliance with federal and state laws.k) Track ADA discrimination charges and grievance complaints.l) Ability to track new hire data by disabilities to comply with ADA.m) Provide the capability to track disciplinary actions by:

• Maintaining history of the actions.• Monitoring outcome of the actions.• Maintaining discrimination issues.• Tracking sexual harassment or discrimination cases.• Tracking the consistency of actions and/or reactions.

n) Provide an interface to a word processing package to automatically producecustomizable recruitment/appointment letters.

2. Personnel Administration - Desirable Functions

a) The University is seeking ways to provide information through self-service. Pleasedescribe how your system can accommodate the following and any additional self-service features in your system.

• Allow employees access to select records and/or data fields.• Grant employees access to records from a variety of points that include kiosks,

telephone, and home computers through modems while maintaining securityintegrity.

a) The University is looking for needed system improvements related to our studentemployees. Please describe how your system could accommodate each of thefollowing.

• Ability to tie a student record to their employment record to automaticallyverify exemption from Social Security taxes if appropriate.

• Ability to administer graduate assistantships, college assistants, and collegework study students with full integration to the student enrollment data and tothe financial aid award data.


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a) The University would like the following features in the new system. Pleaseacknowledge which of the following can be accommodated by your system.1) Automatic generation of “request to fill” forms when position becomes vacant.2) Ability to maintain and track an unlimited number of applicants.3) Ability to track applicants who are also employees.4) Ability to track employees’ prior work experience and skills inventory to allow for

internal searches.5) Ability to search for applicants by selective criteria such as experience, skills

and/or education.6) Ability to advertise over the web.7) Ability to receive applications via the web.8) Automatically produce job vacancy announcements.9) Ability to track applicants by:

• Personal data• Work history• Education, training, etc.• Certifications, licenses, and skills.• Military service.• EEO/Affirmative Action data.

10) Ability to track complete recruitment expenses by:• Employee.• Position.

11) Maintain applicant resume history for multiple months. Indicate maximum numberof months the system accommodates.

12) Automated routing of resumes to the appropriate people/department as user-defined.

13) Ability to schedule interviews and track interview results.14) Automatic transfer of applicant's data to the employee database upon hire.15) Ability to track in-house training courses including descriptions, schedules, and

course evaluations.16) Ability to automatically send notices to managers/departments when performance

programs are due by user-defined frequencies (anniversary date, yearly, etc.).17) Ability to follow-up on overdue performance programs and automatically generate

second notices.18) Provide data integrity checks insuring there are no duplicate Social Security

numbers.19) Ability to input and track pseudo Social Security numbers and change that number

to an actual Social Security number at a later date.20) Ability to put future hires into the system.21) Ability to produce organizational charts for a particular point in time, past, present

and future.22) Ability to maintain unlimited position descriptions.23) Ability to report by department on sick leave use/abuse.24) Monitor base salary and additional compensation such as one-time lump sum

bonuses.


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25) Ability to scan resumes for automatic processing, storage and retrieval. Pleasedescribe.

26) Ability to “look up” a person by current or prior full name, partial name orphonetic name.

27) What services do you provide in regards to Non-Resident Alien tax complianceissues? Are tables maintained by the vendor?

3. Benefits Administration - Requirements

a) Ability to maintain records of benefit enrollment.b) Provide for unlimited dependents/beneficiaries for an employee.c) Ability to include all dependents and beneficiaries in benefits enrollments and

processing.

4. Benefits Administration - Desirable Functions

a) Although the comprehensive administration of benefits is performed by other stateagencies, the University is interested in what your system provides for benefitsadministration. Listed below are features of interest to us. Please acknowledge whichare contained in your system and any other features not listed.

1) Ability to administer all types of plans (i.e., health, life, dental, vision).2) Maintain any number of plans.3) Ability to establish plans by user-defined rules with effective dating.4) Define rate, calculation, and deduction rules for each benefit program and plan

combination.5) Provide automatic eligibility checking based on user-defined rules.6) Ability to automatically notify the participant upon completion of his or her

benefits enrollment process.7) Ability to automatically terminate employee coverage.8) Ability to user-define the participation rules, i.e., limits and maximums.9) Ability to automatically calculate premiums and store as payroll deductions.10) Ability to mass update premiums or on an individual participant basis.11) Provide automated processes for open enrollment.12) Track and view open enrollment status on-line.13) Ability to process multiple plan years so work can be done on open

enrollments for the next year and the current year simultaneously.14) Ability to administer COBRA with the provision to automatically produce

COBRA letters.15) Ability to define general and plan-based credits and prices based on the

following:• Flat amounts.• Length of service.• Coverage base.• Age.


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• Sex.• Percent of salary.

16) Ability to automatically produce standard benefits reports.

5. Position Management - Requirements

a) Ability to track vacant and filled positions.b) Ability for an employee to be assigned to multiple positions.c) Ability for more than one employee to be assigned to one position (job sharing).d) Provide position characteristics such as organizational areas, title code, shift and work

days, and budgeted salary data.

6. Position Management - Desirable Functions

a) Integration capability to human resources applications, a budget development moduleand the general ledger.

b) Ability to apply effective dating positions and changes to positions to accommodatefuture transactions as well as budget modeling and development. Please explain.

c) Ability to track a position by organizational area, account and cost center.d) A comment field to input an explanation when an element of a position is changed.e) A system edit to prevent changes in position values which exceed a predetermined

budgetary amount.

7. Payroll - Desirable Functions

a) The University’s Payroll function currently provides payroll services for the employeesof the University, Union Labor, employees of the SUNY Research Foundation,student assistants, college work study students, and graduate assistants. The actualproduction of the state payroll checks, and end-of- year withholding statements aregenerated by the New York State’s Office of the State Controller. The actualproduction of the Research Foundation checks and end-of-year withholding statementsare generated by the Research Foundation Central Office. There are varying payrollperiods and pay schedules depending upon the category and the funding source of theindividual. Currently we provide data to both organizations as an interface. Pleasedescribe any Payroll system you would be able to provide that can accommodate theseinterfaces including the following features/functions:

1) Ability to compute various overtime calculations, hourly and retroactivepayments, based on user-defined business rules?

2) Maintain, control and report Work Study payments and balances by employee.3) Ability to maintain file of direct depositors including financial institution and

account number.


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4) Ability to download and extract data from the Office of the State Controllerpayroll and year-to-date tape to: populate and update the student and WorkStudy records for payroll transactions, prepare non-resident alien reports, andcheck distribution.

5) Automatically monitor non-resident alien salary year-to-date totals for taxtreaty compliance.

6) Automatically produce lists of individual employee payments of various paytypes.

7) Ability to extract data from the Office of the State Controller payroll and year-to-date tape to complete various federal, state and miscellaneous inquiries.

8) Ability to calculate net paychecks.9) Ability for employees to access specified payroll and deduction data from the

system.

8. Time and Attendance - Desirable Functions

a) Our current system is manual and very labor intensive. We are seeking a systemfunction that will eliminate hand entering overtime payments and salary to be paid forall hourly employees and maintenance of leave accruals and balances. Does yoursystem provide a module to support time and attendance? Please describe itsfunctionality and its capability to systematically collect the data by means of a smarttime clock or other mechanisms and it’s ability to do the following:

1) Collect, total and edit employee hours and wage data prior to submission toPayroll?

2) Establish different accrual categories and/or methods of accruing time?3) Provide capability to define procedures to administer overtime, holiday,

inconvenience and recall pay?4) Ability for hourly employees to maintain time sheets on-line and send to

supervisor for approval before being transmitted to payroll for payment.

C.


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Student Administration

The integrated administrative system will need the following functions to supportstudent administration.

1. Recruitment and Admissions - Requirements

a) Automatic population of prospect score information to the database from a variety ofexternal agencies. Please describe the process and for which test scores.

b) Ability to create a prospect record using only name and address/phone.c) Ability to define pre-determined sequences of contact events/time frames and manage

mailings/contacts using those sequences.d) Record a prospect’s interests, such as intended major or extra-curricular activities.e) Identify miscellaneous documents received prior to application (document matching).f) Automatically send reminders to applicants to request missing supporting documents.g) Track receipt of the required support documents for a particular applicant.h) Record material requested by and sent to each prospective student.i) Maintain a list of counselor visits scheduled to each source.j) Store and retrieve information about contact people at the source, including office

telephone numbers, and an indicator for the primary contact person.k) Maintain an unlimited number of contacts with each prospective student.l) Automate admission decisions for programs/types/levels with defined standards and

requirements.m) Define supporting documents required for a particular program type of admissions.n) Define admission standards/requirements by program/type of student level.o) Maintain multiple admissions’ records for an individual.p) Maintain common data such as name, address, citizenship, country, medical, and visa

type for multiple admissions records.q) Produce mailing lists, labels, letters, and postcards from any data element or

combination of elements in the database.r) Notify applicants of admissions’ decisions in a timely manner.s) Define and generate letters for standard situations/times (acknowledgment,

acceptance, etc.)t) Edit test scores for appropriate score range validation by date.u) Mix and match the results from multiple occurrences of standardized tests while also

retaining the original scores by date.v) Process a one-step quick entry for an applicant within a specific program/student type.w) Produce management information and statistical reports about summary profiles on

applicants and current application counts on selected criteria.x) Store free-form comments for each application.y) Automatically update the prospect module when an admissions application is received.z) Prevent the overlay of admissions data already on the system when new test scores are

subsequently loaded.


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2. Recruitment and Admissions - Desirable Functions

a) We would prefer drop down lists when selecting high school and CEEB code,geomarkets, regional codes, transfer institution, etc. Describe the drop down lists’feature of your system.

b) Our undergraduate applications are provided to us from an outside source, i.e. the

SUNY Application Processing Center. Currently we interface this data into our homegrown system. How would these applications be processed in your system?

c) The University performs a number of point-to-point activity analyses. In some cases

there is a need to move data in and out of the admissions module to other platforms.Please describe how your system can support these needs of Institutional Research.

d) The University maintains a high school and college database which contains names,

addresses, contact, and characteristics. Does your system have a similar component?Please describe.

e) There is a need by our institution to have inventory control on all publications issued

to prospective students. Does your system have such a feature? Please describe. f) With the emphasis on recruitment there are a number of data analytical needs that we

would hope the new system could accommodate. How would your systemaccommodate the following:

• Special characteristics/relationships of prospective/current students.• Calculation total of SAT scores as defined though user business rules.• Conversion of ACT to SAT.• Conversion of high school GPA to 100 scale.

a) The University enrolls a good number of international students, therefore producingthe required immigration documents (i.e. I-20 and I-AP66). Please describe how wewould produce these documents with your system.

b) All graduate students submit a processing fee with their applications. The Graduate

Admissions’ Offices have to record that the fee was received and reconcileapplications to all fee payments. Describe how your system would accommodate thisneed.

c) Programmatic determination of admissions eligibility is desired by our admissions’

offices. Does your system provide the flexibility to develop admissions eligibilitybusiness rules? Please provide an example of the construct of this business rule.

d) The University needs to streamline the submission of applicant data to the academic

admissions committee. What are the features in your system to allow us to define the


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specific criteria and to automatically submit the applicant information to the academicdepartments?

e) It is very important for our institution to know the admission status of our students at

any point in time. Please describe how this would be reported and how we would beable to provide admissions’ status statistics by categories of students.

f) One of the major priorities of our institution is recruitment and enrollment

management. Please describe how your system can support the following.1) Allow telecounseling at both the prospect and admissions contact levels.2) Process sub groups of prospects or applicants for telecounseling and

interactively document the results of the call during the session.3) Provide an overrride for overall further contact with the prospect/applicant

and/or at specific levels of contact.4) Identify and report information regarding prospect and applicant contacts by

source and origin of inquiry for geomarket analysis.5) Ability to easily query and report on what-if situations6) Allow for the building and updating of non-duplicative prospect and/or

application records from multiple potential sources including both batch (i.e.ETS tapes, purchased lists) and individual entry, using all potential forms ofentry, i.e., floppy disk, laptop upload, e-mail, web, tape, keyboard direct, etc.

7) Allow for automated rules driven and ad hoc communications withprospects/applicants/students via multiple methods, i.e. paper correspondence,e-mail, fax, telephone, etc.

8) Allow for remote query access regarding groups ofprospects/applicants/students by our University departments.

9) Link and present prospect/applicant/student records with related storedimages, i.e. transcripts from other institutions, scanned correspondence, e-mail,etc.

10) Link program curriculum data for inclusion in an individual’s graduateadmission contract letter.

11) Automate and record quantitative data regarding individualprospects/applicants/students, such as standardized test scores and priorinstitution GPAs, potentially including subject area GPA subsets. (Especiallynote how the system will calculate weighted GPAs for individuals who havepreviously attended multiple institutions and/or at various levels -undergraduate, graduate).

12) Provide speculative transfer credit evaluations and approximated time tocompletion of degree estimates for prospects and applicants with prior coursework from any number of previous academic institutions.

3. General Student Information - Requirements

a) Ability to maintain multiple identification numbers, names, addresses and phonenumbers by effective dates.


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b) Ability to create a student record with minimum data.c) Record and maintain a variety of pertinent information on international students to

meet the reporting requirements of the immigration and naturalization service.d) Maintain residency codes and their history by term.e) Access a student by current or previous name and/or ID.f) Maintain FERPA and privacy flag and issue appropriate warnings.g) Record compliance with student international health insurance requirements.h) Record leave of absence information.i) Maintain information on non-traditional students.j) Maintain an on-line history of the verification/transcript requests, requester

source/type, copies, fee paid, type of payment and to whom the information was sent.k) Reference optical images of source documents available for a student by type of

document and date.l) Define, store and modify student level security codes (PINs) with encryption.m) Allow students access to records and to also restrict access.n) Record institutional test results.o) Identify specific types of students, such as athletes, honors, etc.p) Access a student by any current or prior identification number or name.q) Exclude people, on an individual basis, from mail and phone contact.r) Generate a multiple number of special purpose mailings using any data element or

combination of data elements in the database.s) Associate a person with a multiple number of constituent categories.t) Maintain educational background including degrees, honors, and multiple majors for a

multiple number of institutions.u) Specify a preferred college or department affiliation separate from degree and major.v) Maintain information about activities, including years of participation.w) Specify miscellaneous user-defined codes.

4. General Student Information - Desirable Functions

a) The University would like the following features included in a new system. Pleaseacknowledge and describe how the following can be accommodated by your system.

1) Identify preferred geographic (alumni association) chapter affiliation.2) Maintain an unlimited number of demographic data pertinent to the student

(i.e. parent, emergency contact, home newspaper address, etc.).3) Record state immunization requirements and compliance separate from medical

records, including the capability to add institutionally defined staterequirements.

4) Specify graduation name and address.5) Specify a preferred class year affiliation separate from degree year.6) Maintain fax numbers.7) Facility to maintain a home-town newspaper database linked to students by zip

code and geomarket.8) Ability to set business rules regarding various data conditions and their effect

on residency codes.


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9) Maintain student disability information.10) Record criminal and disciplinary activity information on a student.11) Maintain Student I-9 information.12) With regard to mailings:

• Record addresses specific to a process: billing, grading, official transcript,degree application, etc.

• Ability to send mail to multiple addresses when each addressee has a recordon the system and when the student authorizes such to occur.

• Ability to send mail to the parents of students, and to exclude certainparents based on student selection or student’s age as defined by ourinstitution.

• Ability to use combinations of demographic data for error-tracking (e.g.parent address for students under a certain age to serve as an indicator ofnon-state residency).

5. Course Offerings and Registration - Requirements

a) Track and maintain course information by effective dates.b) Define multiple administrative entities approved to offer a single course.c) Ability to deactivate a course, annotate the reason for deactivation, and show the

course replacement, if appropriate.d) Maintain textual information about a course.e) Produce a curriculum bulletin report with different sort options.f) Maintain and track instructional workload.g) Offer a course for certification, or continuing education credit (but not necessarily for

university credit).h) Assign a variety of meeting days (that include any day of the week, any month of the

year, and any date of any year) and times to a section.i) Assign multiple faculty members to one section of a course.j) Ability to look up all courses taught by a particular instructor.k) Support normal academic calendars as well as continuing education course schedules.l) Maintain contact hour information. Please describe how contact hours are calculated

for faculty and students when day and time is not provided, i.e. independent study.m) Ability to cross list sections in order to track and monitor different sections which have

different course section numbers and meet in the same room at the same time.n) Roll section information forward to be used in the creation of a new term’s schedule of

courses.o) Automatically schedule and modify sections, rooms and times, and the ability to set

specific university scheduling rules through the use of Schedule 25 from UniversalAlgorithms.

p) Create a course during registration.q) Assign (schedule) normal class meetings as well as non standard meetings.r) Ability to have a comment line on the printed course schedule for informational

purposes.


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s) Ability to identify specific courses where students are allowed to register for morethan one section.

t) Define course load eligibility by student type.u) Process time conflicts based on actual begin and end times, and display the course

information of the sections causing the conflict.v) Identify all sections of a course that are open and do not conflict with a student’s

schedule.w) Specify multiple test scores as prerequisites. Please state any maximum.x) Restrict a course to only those students who have obtained a minimum score on

assignments or other tests (standardized or institutional).y) Restrict a section to only those students within a specific class (i.e. freshman,

sophomore), major, level (undergraduate / graduate), or college.z) On-line access to all sections of a course with a selected status such as closed,

canceled, with specific enrollment, capacities, and seats available.aa) Cancel a course, have all the students’ schedules automatically changed, and produce

lists/labels and a letter explaining the change for notification to those students.bb) Ability to mass drop students from a specific section without having to access each

student’s registration individually.cc) Automatically change the grading option or credit hours of all students registered for a

course if that data for the course is changed after the start of registration.dd) Ability to create default processing rules by date and student population.ee) Set registration appointments by student type, special group, etc.ff) Print the student’s eligibility and appointment day / time for registration.gg) Ability to define registration error checking severity rules.hh) Display all errors conditions at the same time. Specific information on who made the

error and how the error can be cleared.ii) Manually override any error checking rule.jj) Perform course pre / co-requisite checking.kk) Link lecture / lab courses and prevent students from registering for one without the

other.ll) Ability to support variable credit - grade option courses and student selection of

option at point of registration.mm) Handle multiple sessions within a single term preventing certain transactions being

processed for one or more sessions yet allowing them to occur for other sessions (e.g.summer module 1, 2, 3, etc.).

nn) Ability to handle multi-term registration.oo) Set a date / term when a hold would be automatically cleared.pp) Ability to clear a hold when certain conditions have been met.qq) Allow an academic department to override a specific hold or course capacity for a

specific student prior to the student registration.rr) Ability to set and clear holds by groups of students.ss) Maintain hold reasons.tt) Override holds in registration on a term basis without clearing the hold.uu) Produce class rosters in mass or by specific section upon demand.


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vv) Produce enrollment verification in an on-line and batch mode using selected criteriasuch as dates of enrollment, academic standing, residency, and current enrollment.

6. Course Offerings and Registration - Desirable Functions

a) The University manually establishes the Final Examination schedule. Does yoursystem include an automatic final examination scheduler? Please describe how wewould use this scheduler.

b) Please describe how your system would perform the following analyses.

• Each student is flagged to indicate whether they count for official headcountreporting and/or official AAFTE reporting. The criteria may change, and thereis a need for an override provision on certain sub populations.

• The University by compliance needs to report full-time student equivalents.The criteria is currently user-defined work rules.

a) The University joined the ranks of NCAA Division II and has recently receivedUniversity approval to move to Division I. Does your system include a student athletemodule that can accommodate student eligibility, athletic aid, and NCAA certificationby sport and by term? Please describe in detail how your system can provide DivisionI compliance.

b) The University is seeking an integrated system to accommodate our graduate

assistantship/fellowship students, student assistants, and college work study students.We expect the Student system to be fully integrated with Human Resourceadministration. Describe in detail the integrated functionality of your system toaccommodate each classification of these students.

c) The University would like the following features included in a new system. Please

acknowledge and describe how the following can be accommodated by your system.1) Ability to check registration requests against degree program requirements

and/or student audits for courses required for completing programs.2) Ability to assign fees and fee rates based on an unlimited number of business

rules, including but not limited to course level, section, student, program, etc.3) Ability to determine unmet registration demand and unsatisfied registration

request data by course and section, by course level (UG lower, UG upper,Graduate), or by school.

4) Ability to do conditional drop / add by determining the availability of areplacement course before drop occurs.

5) Ability to change the title of the course anytime during the semester andautomatically change the records of all students registered in that course.

6) Ability to define business rules that automatically cancel all students who haveregistered but failed to make appropriate arrangements for payment and toreinstate those students on an individual basis.

7) Ability to record HEGIS codes on our courses/sections.


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8) Ability to provide the academic departments an on-line screen that will list therespective section verification numbers for distribution to students who will beregistering by telephone.

9) Ability to designate whether a course/section requires permission of theinstructor or there is a specific footnote associated with the course/section.

10) Ability to update multiple sections of a course, as opposed to one sectionupdate at a time.

11) Ability to suppress a course/section from appearing in the Schedule of Classes,and the WWW.

12) Ability to override the number of credits for a specific section in a specificsemester.

13) Ability to designate various course instruction types.14) Ability to check individual student schedule requests for conflicts between

courses with different begin and end dates within a single term (i.e. summersession modules, partial term courses, quarter courses, etc.) and providewarning notifications or alternative selection options.

15) Maintain (on-line) transaction and error statistics as well as basic enrollment /credit hour counts during registration. Please describe additional auditfeatures.

16) Ability to provide detailed listings of what individual, on what calendar dateand on which terminal a transaction was processed by, including registration,drop / add, removal of holds, grade changes, etc.

17) Ability to track student registration information by its source (IVR, WWW,USERID) and any administrative add/drop effective dates associated with thetransaction.

18) Ability to record and be accessible both on-line and in report form, everytransaction related to a specific student, i.e. a complete history.

19) Can a course be reactivated?20) Can a Catalog Number be changed while retaining the same section number?21) Will it allow registration where a co/prerequisite is missing, identifying

(flagging) the condition?22) How many academic calendars can the system accommodate, especially for

non-standard (typically summer) session courses?23) Can a student register by either catalog number or section number?24) Will the system allow registration into multiple courses if there are time

conflicts?25) Does your system allow deletion of student records? How are they deleted - in

their entirety, by classification, by term? Is an audit trail provided?26) Can a student select S/U option when registering by telephone?27) Can a student by telephone change his/her course registration to a S/U in the

predefined calendar for this grading option?28) How are student-identification changes handled?29) How does the system handle student PIN changes?30) Does your system automatically reconstruct a student’s full academic record

without the need to delete and re-enter all of the history?


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31) Can a set of unique business rules be established for a certain sub populationi.e. students in the Educational Opportunity Program, students in theInternational English Language Program, students in the University at HighSchool Program?

7. Transfer Articulation, Advising, and Degree Audit - Requirements

a) Ability to enter transfer credit on a course by course or block credit basis for anunlimited number of institutions.

b) Maintain transfer institution equivalency information and apply that course worktoward meeting our institutional requirements.

c) Automate the transfer evaluation, adjust as necessary, and post transfer credits to astudent’s record.

d) Convert transfer grades to university grades and retain original date.e) Produce Transfer Credit Evaluation Reports.f) Maintain an institutional, transfer, and overall grade point average for each student.g) Maintain and track transfer course information of an applicant from an unlimited

number of transfer institutions.h) Maintain and change the requirements for a university degree, program, etc. by

duplicating the requirement with a new effective date range and processingmodifications as needed.

i) Track degree program attributes as identified in catalog and/or schedule. Attributesmay be used to identify how a course may be used to identify how a course may beused to satisfy various degree requirements.

j) Indicate which requirements may be used to satisfy other requirements and where theymay be reused (i.e., another course and/or an attribute requirement).

k) Establish the student’s degree requirements with optional advisor notations.l) Provide by advisor, and on-line list of students to be advised.m) Display on-line a student’s record in chronological or subject order (with summary

statistics for each group) to facilitate academic advising.n) Report the course and non-course requirements a student has completed or not

completed.o) Maintain a number of degrees and certificates with associated major, minor,

concentration, specialization and/or emphasis for a student with Class Rank andPercentile.

p) Allow a student to have multiple colleges/majors and dual degree programs with acorresponding catalog year for each major.

q) Record approved inter-institutional, dual-, cross-, or transient - enrollment informationon a term basis.

r) Do repeat checking and eliminate duplicate credit using rule-based processing andcourse designators.

s) Revise the standard requirements for a given program for an individual student.t) Waive course requirements, credit requirements, or non-course requirements.u) Perform “what if’ degree audits.


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v) Perform an on-line degree audit for a student and be able to review the resultsimmediately.

w) Record graduate tracking (i.e., date admitted to candidacy, preliminary exam dates,oral exam dates, visa title, etc.).

x) Obtain reports of all students who applied for graduation for specific terms withspecified criteria.

y) Record multiple degree application, denial and award data as well as class data (rankin class, percentile) and the reason why the degree was not posted.

z) Produce a list of students potentially eligible for graduation in order to certify that allnecessary requirements have been met.

aa) Identify students who are participating in commencement.bb) Report all students who have been cleared for graduation for a specific term or range

of terms and download that information to diploma producing software.cc) Produce automated official transcripts at various levels for sub groups of students.dd) Ability to define and produce internal unofficial and advisory transcripts.ee) Ability to maintain a sufficient number and amount of textual comments and to specify

how such comments will be treated when a transcript is produced.ff) Define numeric/alpha grades permitted within a specific grading methods (S/U,

normal, audit, +/- grades, etc.) and the effect of each grade on credit hours earned,completed, and grade point average.

gg) Define grading methods with different effective date ranges.hh) Translate a specific grade earned within a grade method into another valid grade (e.g.,

an “A” grade recorded under a S/U grading method would be translated into a “S”).ii) Define GPA calculation rules by student classification.jj) Produce grade sheets for a user defined term or session.kk) Record and validate on-line all reported grades for a section.ll) Record an unlimited number of grade changes for a student.mm) Calculate the academic standing (good standing, probation, dismissal) of a student

using institution defined criteria such as minimum grade point average and class.nn) Report grades processed to the faculty member who issued the grade.oo) Automatically update grades to the default grades after specific periods of time.pp) Calculate GPA and passing grades at the end of the term.qq) Reprint a specific grade roster.rr) Produce a revised grade report for a student if any change is made to the student’s

record after term grades are reported.

8. Transfer Articulation, Advising and Degree Audit - Desirable Functions

a) The University has invested dollars, resources, and time in Miami University of Ohio’sDegree Audit Reporting System. Do you have an articulation agreement with MiamiUniversity of Ohio for DARS? Can you guarantee that the work done to encode andprogram our University’s requirements in DARS will be applicable and adaptable toyour system?


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b) The University is seeking features in the system that will accommodate Universitypolicy and/or streamline a number of processes. Please respond to each of thefollowing questions.

1) Can the system generate a diploma list with special and phonetic punctuation(including accent marks) in any requested order?

2) Does the system allow for students to apply for their degrees from remotesites?

3) Does the system edit the degree application at the time of entry for validcombinations of degree, graduate program/major, etc.?

4) Does the system validate reported grades based on the student’s gradingoption and/or the grading method on the section?

5) Is there a mechanism to automatically notify the professor of record of allgrade changes? How does that work? Are there override provisions?

6) Can the system accommodate a student study for and completing more thanone bachelor’s degree?

7) Does the system provide the capability to aggregate graduation credits forstudents who had studied through the Continuing Education program prior tomatriculation?

8) Does the system have the capability to automatically determine students on adean’s list, phi beta kappa, etc. as defined through institutional business rules?

9) Does the system have the capability to record unlimited student Leaves ofAbsence with a Confirmation indicator for each leave?

10) Does the system have the capability to record unlimited withdrawals by studentclassification maintaining the history?

11) Does the system provide an early warning function so that we can monitor theacademic progress of a student before the end of the term?

12) Can the system maintain other type GPA’s, (e.g. major, minor, last-two-yearsof study, etc.)?

9. Financial Aid/Student Accounts/Bursar - Requirements

a) General1) Ability to accept all application data from the Federal Central Processor.2) Ability to create data base records from applicant tapes, electronic

transmissions, diskettes, down-loaded files, or information entered on-line.3) Ability to create name, ID, address, and recruiting recordings in the student

core record if no records exist.4) Ability to freeze existing records or lock from future updates.5) Ability to compare data loaded into certain fields in a student’s federal record

against the corresponding field in the current need analysis record and note anydifference.

6) Ability to update or review user-defined tables on-line.7) Ability to provide the following reports:


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• List of students on the electronic media and whether they currentlyexist as a student or financial aid applicant.

• List of students not loaded as financial aid applicants with reasons forwhy they were not loaded.

8) Ability to identify prior, current, and next year records for use in need analysisand other financial aid functions.

9) Ability to review a student’s academic record for determination of satisfactoryprogress, update the track record with the results, and print non-satisfactoryand warning letters for students.

10) Ability to maintain an on-line file of Family Education Loan lenders.11) Capability to participate in all three stages of the Electronic Data Exchange

Program (EDE).12) Ability to simultaneously log verification changes to the institutional need

analysis file and for the Electronic Data Exchange electronic correctionsprocess.

13) Ability to create and transmit Electronic Student Aid Reports correctionselectronically to the Federal Central Processor.

14) Ability to create and transmit electronic Pell payment vouchers.15) Ability to provide for the printing of Electronic Student Aid Reports (ISIR)

and Electronic Correction Reject Records (ECRR) that were received from theFederal Central Processor through the Electronic Data Exchange process.

16) Ability to provide an automatic on-line transaction log of changes whichrecords, dates, times, user ID’s, and from and to values.

17) Ability to allow anecdotal comments to be maintained on-line to further explainuser actions on an individual applicant basis.

18) Ability to display on-line all Federal Central Processor (Electronic DataExchange) records for each applicant.

19) Ability to enter multiple federal loan applications on-line.20) Ability to provide automatic scheduling of loans across terms for use in the

awarding process.21) Ability to provide automatic scheduling of expected disbursements across

terms with the option of reducing the awarded amount based on estimatedorigination fees.

22) Ability to provide on-line loan summary that displays the student’s loanhistory.

23) Ability to electronically transmit the Stafford, Unsubsidized Stafford loan andPLUS loan records to guarantee agencies.

b) Tracking1) Ability to allow for user-defined requirements and associated status.2) Ability to allow documents to be assigned as part of a tracking group

requirement or by the awarding of a particular fund.3) Ability to allow for documents to be designated as required for packaging or

disbursement.


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4) Ability to provide for the recording of receipt dates of requirements andwhether or not the requirements is satisfied.

5) Ability to mass enter receipt or satisfaction of requirements.6) Ability to automatically assign track types in mass via a batch run.7) Ability to move selected documents and transcripts from the current to the

next year via a batch run.8) Ability to print custom designed letters for students informing them of the

documents required to complete financial aid applications and record the datesof letters and documents required.

9) Ability to provide reports by track types created/changed.

c) Budgeting1) Ability to allow for the creation of an unlimited number of user-defined budget

groups using budget components based on state residency, housing type,academic level, enrollment status, campus, and semesters of attendance.

2) Ability to provide for automatic group assignment, calculation, and assignmentof cost of attendance values to each applicant based on budget categories ineffect at the institution.

3) Ability to allow budget group assignments and individual student budgetcalculations to be made on a batch or on-line basis.

4) Ability to allow for the creation of Pell Budget and one other budget withineach budget group.

5) Ability to provide for the calculation or recalculation of applicant financial needbased on available family contribution data, veterans benefits, and aid awardedon-line and through batch processing.

6) Ability to automatically flag manually-changed or overridden budgets toidentify non-standard budgets on-line.

7) Ability to provide the following reports:• report listing students’ budget group.• report listing budget total for each budget type.• report listing student status’s (i.e. class year, course load, and aid

period).8) Ability to provide automatic recalculation of cost due to changes in student

load or part-year attendance.9) Ability to maintain and display at least eight different budgets and need

calculations based on the student’s enrollment period(s).10) Ability to put positive or negative special budget adjustments on individual

student’s records that will be part of the calculation or recalculation of budgeton line or in batch.

d) Needs Analysis1) Ability to provide an on-line and batch needs analysis function.2) Ability to provide for the calculation of a Federal Methodology, (consistent

with public law 102-325 Higher Education Amendments 1992, parts F and G),and an institutional methodology.


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3) Ability to provide updates to Federal Methodology as required.4) Ability to support at least three years of need analysis data and calculation

versions on-line.5) Ability to provide a screen to display application-specific supplemental data.6) Ability to provide for batch or on-line calculation at a date after the initial

application load (e.g. prior to packaging).7) Ability to provide the capability to enter methodology specific changes

allowing one value for Federal Methodology and a different value forInstitutional Methodology.

8) Ability to provide users with the option to select projected year data or baseyear data in the calculation of Family Contribution or InstitutionalMethodology.

9) Ability to identify students selected for verification and those whoseapplications will be rejected due to incomplete data and update the trackingrequirements.

10) Ability to provide the following report:• Institutional Need Analysis Report (INAR) for students who have had

need analysis calculated.11) Ability to allow users to re-calculate Federal Methodology or Institutional

Methodology results based on a change to need analysis data elements or tothe student’s enrollment period.

12) Ability to provide for the locking of individual bottom line results for eachmethodology.

13) Ability to provide users with the option to select projected or base year data inthe calculation of family contribution.

14) Ability to identify students selected for verification and those whoseapplications will be rejected due to incomplete data and update the tracking fileaccordingly.

15) Ability to provide a batch verification process.16) Ability to allow tolerances to be set determining which fields are updated when

run in batch.17) Ability to maintain all of the federally required items for verification including

earned income data.18) Ability to provide on-line a screen displaying current data with a column for

entry of verified data to easily identify discrepancies.

e) Packaging1) Ability to provide the following reports:

• detail or summary results by group/student/fund.• fund eligibility by student but not awarded with reasons.• students with awards that violate awarding criteria due to on-line

creation of a package.2) Ability to set packaging parameters on-line.3) Ability to read institutional and prior college information to insure that the

addition of packaged awards does not exceed aid program maximums.


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4) Ability to allow users to define an unlimited number of packaging groups andformulas for groups of students who should be packaged in the same way.

5) Ability to provide for each packaging group to have its own individualpackaging formula with its own fund awarding sequence.

6) Ability to allow for batch or on-line awarding of funds within a group by aidyear-based on user defined rules.

7) Ability to provide for processing of multiple groups in a user-determinedsequence or a single group in a batch process.

8) Ability to provide automatic scheduling awarded funds into award periods atthe same time of award.

9) Ability to allow on-line overriding of automatic results on an individual.10) Ability to print custom designed letters to students informing them of their

eligibility for financial aid, including award letters and no-need letters boththrough batch processing or individually.

11) Ability to provide maintenance of federal program rules.12) Ability to maintain dates that students were packaged or repackaged.13) Ability to provide for updating the appropriate application status.14) Ability to provide for the optional use of equity packaging techniques.15) Ability to provide support for Stafford, Unsubsidized Stafford, and PLUS

Loan processing with a specific data screen of application information andcheck tracking that can be created through batch processing.

16) Ability to provide support for short-term emergency loans.

f) Disbursement

1) Ability to provide for the recalculation of Pell Grant Awards and disbursementtransactions based on actual enrollment, Pell Budget, and Pell Grant Index.

2) Ability to provide for adjusting awards to Accounts Receivable after initialterm disbursement.

3) Ability to provide automatic posting of payment totals in the fundsmanagement function and individual student award screens as disbursementoccurs.

4) Ability to include the creation of Pell Grant payment records for Pell RecipientData Exchange (PRDE).

5) Ability to include the creation of electronic Pell Grant payment voucherrecords for the Electronic Data Exchange (EDE) program.

6) Ability to provide the following reports:• detail and summary disbursement reports.• detail and summary reports of payment voucher records used with

Electronic Data Exchange.• batch rejects for Electronic Data Exchange program.

7) Ability to provide for loan entrance interviews and hold for disbursement 30days and track to a particular fund.

8) Ability to provide for the definition of rules for a fund to include:

• automatically disburse.


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• inclusion in equity packaging (percent of gift, loan).

• family contribution replacement.

• assign fund related requirements (i.e. documents and/or messages).

• option to use actual enrollment for disbursement level.

• class.

• major.

• fund relationship.9) Ability to partially pay or bypass selected award accounts.10) Ability to pay awards from previous terms.11) Ability to override account available balance checking for selected award

accounts or for entire run.12) Ability for user to access historical check data to perform tailored trend

analyses of disbursements.

g) History and Transcripts1) Ability to support maintenance of a student’s financial aid record to meet

award packaging, audit, and transcript requirements.2) Ability to provide for user options to permit the recording of funds awarded

and/or disbursed on detail or summary form by fund for each year and term.3) Ability to maintain history records as global records and, as such, are carried

across aid-year.4) Ability to provide the view of award history information on-line.5) Ability to provide detail and summary reports of award history by

student/fund/year.

h) Funds Management and Regulations Compliance

1) Ability to establish and monitor an unlimited number of funds, fund types, andfund-associated eligibility rules for purposes of awarding and disbursingfinancial aid as defined by the University.

2) Ability to provide for the creation of a fund base data (global) for each fundwith specific allocation, over-commitment and awarding.

3) Ability to provide fund base records that include the following user-definedinformation:

• fund code.• fund description.• fund source (federal, state, institution, agency, other).• fund type (loan, grant, scholarship, job).

4) Ability to provide dollars available:• actual funding level (real dollars).• available to offer (greater or less than actual funding).• total dollars and number offered.• total dollars and number accepted.


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• total dollars and number declined.• total dollars and number canceled.• total dollars and number authorized.• total dollars and number paid.• fund award maximum to offer.• fund award minimum to offer.

5) Ability to provide specific fund assignment rules to include:• fund code.• awarding rules.

6) Ability to automatically identify new tracking requirement if a specific fund isawarded.

7) Ability to identify special comment messages to be printed on award letters forstudents who receive a specific fund.

8) Ability to provide for the definition of special disbursement patterns (i.e.awards are not equally divided between terms).

9) Ability to provide the following reports:• account balance report - showing amounts currently awarded,

accepted, declined, canceled, authorized, paid, and remaining availableby fund.

• fund descriptions - showing the names of each fund, their fund code,fund description, fund source, fund type, federal identifier, fundcharacteristics, and fund assignment rules.

10) Ability to administer Perkins (NDSL), Health Professions (HPSL) and NursingStudent Loan (NSL) programs.

11) Ability to monitor Stafford, Unsubsidized Stafford, and PLUS loan activities.12) Ability to access data necessary to meet the needs of internal and external

auditors with minimum effort.13) Ability to keep the system up-to-date with all current federal legislation

changes through vendor product maintenance agreement.14) Ability to produce data necessary for Federal FISAP report.

i) Receivables and Invoicing

1) Assess a student a number of special fees associated with enrollment in asection and record adjustments for students and course-related fees.

2) Generate past due notices for accounts on demand.3) Record the collection agency to which a past due account has been transferred

and identify accounts sent to collection agencies.4) Create and maintain third party entities with multiple addresses and telephone

numbers and bill the third party separately.5) Associate an unlimited number of recipient individuals to a specific third party

contract with the conditions for payment specified (e.g., what charges arecovered, etc.).

6) Ability to age past due accounts using institution-defined rules.


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7) Track short-term loan repayment schedules, bill for amounts at appropriatetimes, and track due installments.

8) Ability to establish user-defined rules which would automatically write off anaccount or specific charges on an account and generate appropriate accountingentries.

9) Maintain non-student customer accounts (all accounts Receivable).10) Ability to transfer charges on-line.11) Ability to establish rate tables.12) Produce summary management reports on total charges by category of charge.13) Process waivers, voids, and installment billing, credit/debit card processing,

electronic funds transfers.14) Ability to bill by type of charge and/or type of customer.15) Ability to assess late charges and interest.16) Provide on-line query of account status on detail charges and payments and

will allow purge of accounts receivable detail (i.e.: charge matched topayment).

17) Apply a specific charge to a group of individuals with the detail code, date,dollar amount, and source document number entered only once.

18) Track and apply waiver (credits) to accounts.19) Flag records, perform all calculations, track, bill and report in connection with

a variety of payment plans and dates.20) Determine net obligations for students and other debtors.21) Record detailed charge for individual units, payment and adjustment

transactions with appropriate controls.

j) Financial Aid Posting

1) Ability to take financial aid awards as awarded and scheduled in the packagingfunction, and post payment transactions to student accounts in thebilling/receivable modules for funds whose rules allow automatic disbursement,either on-line or in batch, and which meet pre-established requirements,including course registration requirements.

2) Ability to provide automatic update of award and fund records based on loanand check processing.

3) Provide on-line integration with the Financial Aid components.4) Ability to defer fees against scheduled term awards which have not been paid.

k) Refunds

1) Ability to calculate the amount of refund and/or repayment due to or from thestudent and/or the financial aid programs as a result of total withdrawal andprint student letters.

2) Generate a refund or financial aid check to a student that is net of outstandingcharges.

3) Ability to override refunds on an individual basis.


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4) Ability to calculate refunds (flat rate, per rate) and fee adjustments.5) Identify and report on accounts eligible for refunds.6) Ability to produce manual checks on an exception basis at time of batch check

run.7) Ability to produce a report of all available financial aid checks which have not

been released.8) Ability to prevent writing of checks for students in overpayment condition for

current term.9) Ability to allow release of transactions to accounting and AR only after the

check is physically disbursed.10) Ability to cut selective ranges of checks by student number or by a criterion

supplied by a user defined rule.11) Ability to flag or block aid checks that exceed financial aid check ceiling.12) Ability to provide historical financial aid net check information by check,

student, or term.13) Ability to monitor when aid checks have been picked up.14) Ability to enter manually cut exception checks to historical file.

l) Cashiering

1) Ability to provide on-line loan check disbursement from the cashiering screensin the student billing module once the check is endorsed.

2) Ability to provide Electronic Funds Transfer of student loan data or funds fromlenders to the school and from school to the lender.

3) Ability to update the on-line check tracking database and the Stafford Loanprocessing database file from electronic funds transfer.

4) Record on-line an unlimited number of deposits against an account and tospecify charges to which the deposit will be applied (e.g. to offset first termtuition charges) and be able to apply payment by line item, or apply to specificcharge.

5) Record payments/deposits against an account by line item and to apply thosepayments to charges manually or using the institution-defined set of rules andpriorities.

6) Provide on-line cashiering detail and summary to be used when balancing thecashier’s detailed transactions.

7) Automatically update student records with the cashiering information.8) Track multiple returned checks (all checks, not just tuition-related) over a

specified period of time with the option to flag a student’s account.9) Provide for cashier checkout with breakout by code (i.e. tuition, student fees,

etc.).10) Identify daily transactions by batch number, terminal number and cashier

number and be retrievable by cash receipt by cashier and transaction listing.

m)


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Student Accounts General

1) Correct either a charge or payment placed on A/R in error.2) Ability to inquire/browse/print monthly A/R history based on either payment or

charge by date, amount, name, social security number, document number, etc.3) Identify detailed transactions written off/set-off for special handling.4) Ability to do multiple item entry.

n) Revenue Accounting

1) Produce a trial balance report on an ad hoc basis.2) Generate accounting entries either for accrual, cash, or a combination.3) Provide user-defined charge and payment codes.4) Produce detail and summary reports by batch, sub-code and account number

on a day-to-day and period-to-period basis.5) Ability to reconcile outstanding checks.6) Ability to provide a detailed listing of generated AR payments after a

disbursement period.7) Ability to generate a daily ledger to detail daily transactions.

10. Financial Aid/Student Accounts/Bursar - Desirable Functions

a) The University would like the ability to process both FFELP and Direct Loans. Wouldyour system provide that capability? Please provide details.

b) The University administers the New York State Tuition Assistance Program, both the

certification and accounting aspects of this program and interface data with theHigher Education Services Corporation. How would we perform this administrationusing your system? Please provide details.

c) The University is required to complete a number of surveys and reports for outside

agencies each year. Does your system provide the capability of creating reports thatshow and relate such things as aggregate financial aid, aid awarded, and unmet need,and can this information be provided by student type? Does the system provide for thecomputation of average awards, student aid as a percentage of need, etc.

d) The University is seeking methods to streamline and automate specific Perkins Loan

processes which today are very labor intensive. Please acknowledge and describewhich features can be accommodated in your system.

• Ability to automatically schedule exit interviews.• Ability to automatically generate repayment schedules and truth-in lending

documents for use in exit interviews.• Ability to generate personalized letters on-line.• Ability to produce repayment schedule on line, on demand for multiple

prorated minimum payments based upon loan type and effective date.


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• Ability to maintain a chronological history of due diligence activity on-line.• Ability to meet federal requirements for due diligence:

• automatic notification at appropriate times.• tracking of notices sent.• tracking of contact with borrowers.• borrowers scheduled to graduate.• missed exit interviews.

• Ability to track and report account conditions for the Perkins Loan programwhich should include:

• withdrawn and graduated students.• unofficial drop outs.• students enrolled for less than six credits.• Additionally these conditions should result in further automated

processes such as initiating exit interviews, not just reports.

a) Our hope is that the new integrated administrative system will provide us capabilitiesthrough user defined business rules as an alternative to hard coded programmingmodifications. Listed below are some examples. Please describe how each of thesewould be accomplished in your system.

• Ability to have student account detail available on a current, need-to-knowbasis, including charges and credits for prior semesters as well as currentsemester. Based on the statute of limitations, six full years, in addition to thecurrent year, of account history should be available for inquiry and forprocessing. The conditions of a student’s account would be determined byuser-defined business rules.

• Ability to automatically process refunds based on an unlimited number of user-defined requirements, such as period within the term, type of money paid anddate paid, etc. - not simply based on financial aid eligibility requirements(reporting, updating, etc.).

• Ability to define an unlimited number of business rules which will disbursefinancial aid awards as awarded and scheduled in the packaging function,vouchers for those funds under SUNY and New York State procedures, andpost payment transactions to student accounts in the billing/receivablemodules.

• Ability to adjust awards to Accounts Receivable after initial term disbursementbased on user-defined business rules such as credit level changes and to be ableto automatically generate credit/debit transactions to the AR based on financialaid adjustments.

• Ability to generate refund checks or refund EFT transactions that are net ofoutstanding obligations based on user-defined business rules.

• Ability to allow funds to be defined as:• disbursable: these awards should be passed to the accounts receivable

on-line or in batch and applied directly to a student’s account.


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• estimated: these awards should be passed to the student accountsreceivable as memo transactions, used as estimated values in calculatingthe student’s balance due with an expiry date.

• Ability to establish user-defined business rules for each type financial programwhich will drive the posting of estimated awards with expiry dates removingthe credit as appropriate.

a) The University is seeking improved methods of transferring and receiving data fromexternal constituents. Listed below are some case samples. Please describe whatcapabilities are in your system to implement these specific examples.

• Create electronic Perkins payment voucher, payment return, and enrollmentstatus records for the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) projectthrough electronic reporting to the SUNY Student Loan Service Center.

• Create electronic Pell Grant payment voucher and payment return recordsthrough electronic reporting to the SUNY Student Loan Service Center.

• Provide an on-line loan check tracking screen for entry of all checks or EFTtransactions received. Data should include name of lender, parent name andaddress for PLUS, status of check (first of two checks, second of two checks,etc.) against the original award. For EFT checks these data items would beautomatically recorded.

• Receive and transfer information electronically from and to any number ofguarantee agencies, or other agents.

a) The University would like the capability to do many of the items cited below. Pleasedescribe how your system could provide these capabilities.

• Ability to establish any number of user-defined business rules in the assessmentof special fees associated with student enrollment.

• Ability to generate on-line billing statements and direct print to a variety oflocations. The ability to produce invoices should be based on user-defined ruleswhich may result in invoices generated daily, weekly, monthly, etc. or ondemand.

• Provision for full on-line integration with any activity related to a student’saccount (e.g. a housing deposit, admissions deposit, registration, financial aid,etc.).

• Ability to view detail and summary information on separate screens forbalancing cashier’s detailed transactions.

• Ability to transfer collection distributions on-line.• Provision to record credit card account and expiry date information regardless

of the source during the cashiering process.• Ability to on-line validate account codes used in Billing/Receivable against the

Finance System’s General Ledger, providing a transaction listing showingGeneral Ledger update and listing errors that could not be updated.


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• Electronically update all regularly occurring charges including the recalculationof receivable already posted when a rate change occurs subsequent to initialposting.

• Process miscellaneous cash not related to receivable.• Ability to calculate pro-rated refunds and fee adjustments in accordance with

Federal Title IV requirements.• Ability to scan payment input forms or magnetic data. (e.g. opscan, bar

coding).• Support equipment which will automatically complete the check and endorse it

for deposit.• Automatically charge an account a fee for the posting of a non-sufficient funds

check.• Automatically produce multiple-copy, validated receipts for each payment.

Receipt should contain id, name, address, amount paid, appropriate sub-codeand receipt number, date/time of transaction, batch and terminal number forcontrol purposes, and bypass ability. Conversely, user-defined rules wouldsuppress the production of receipts.

• Interface with net check systems which include EFT processing.• Ability to identify and record tuition and other payments as external

scholarships, etc. so that the University can identify all sources of financial aidto the student.

Documents

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL Integrated Administrative System