Website Project RFP

Angola | Burundi | Côte d'Ivoire | Democratic Republic of Congo | Guinea | Indonesia | Jerusalem | Kenya Kosovo | Lebanon | Liberia | Macedonia | Morocco | Nepal | Nigeria | Pakistan | Rwanda | Sierra Leone

Sudan | Timor-Leste | Ukraine | USA | Yemen | Zimbabwe

Website Project RFP

DM&E For Peace: A Resource, Networking and Collaborative Website

for DM&E Professionals in the Field of Peacebuilding

Please email your intent to submit a proposal by 2/16/11 to [email protected].

Your final proposal is due by 3/4/11 to [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]�


Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................. 4

Search for Common Ground .............................................................................................................................. 4

Project Objectives .............................................................................................................................................. 5

Site Description ............................................................................................................ 5

Site Name and Branding .................................................................................................................................... 6

Target Audience .................................................................................................................................................. 6

Audiences ............................................................................................................................................................. 6

Organization ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

Visual Design and Production............................................................................................................................ 6

Site Production .................................................................................................................................................... 7

Site Map ......................................................................................................................... 9

Functional Specifications ......................................................................................... 10

Content Taxonomies/Categories .................................................................................................................... 10

Content Information ......................................................................................................................................... 11

Navigation .......................................................................................................................................................... 21

User Instruction ................................................................................................................................................. 21

Home Page ......................................................................................................................................................... 22

Projects .............................................................................................................................................................. 22

Resources ........................................................................................................................................................... 22

Forum/Discussion Boards ................................................................................................................................. 22

Event Calendar .................................................................................................................................................. 23

User Information ........................................................................................................ 23

User Permissions ............................................................................................................................................... 25

Technical Requirements .......................................................................................... 26

Statistics Reporting .......................................................................................................................................... 27

Platform Statement .......................................................................................................................................... 28

RFP Timeline .............................................................................................................. 28

Questions ............................................................................................................................................................ 28

Bidder Registration ........................................................................................................................................... 28

Vendor Requirements ............................................................................................... 29

Content Creation and Editing ......................................................................................................................... 29

Approach & Project Management .................................................................................................................. 29

Single Points of Contact .................................................................................................................................. 29

Testing and Quality Assurance ....................................................................................................................... 29

Previous Experience ......................................................................................................................................... 29

Server Set up and Launch, and Post-Launch Support ................................................................................. 29

Training .............................................................................................................................................................. 29

Proposal Requirements............................................................................................. 30

Qualifications .................................................................................................................................................... 30

Budget ................................................................................................................................................................. 30

Timeline ............................................................................................................................................................. 30

Evaluations ......................................................................................................................................................... 30

Submission .......................................................................................................................................................... 30

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Introduction Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is embarking on building a DM&E learning portal (design, monitoring and evaluation) to better provide resources to the peacebuilding community. This effort will focus on highlighting the programs, tools, methods and techniques employed, as well as the successful outcomes and lessons learned. Our goal is to reach out to the peacebuilding community globally and engage them into a portal in which the users will find applicable resources and it will invite them to share their work with the rest of the community. This could potentially be a quantum leap change in the way this community collaborates and shares information.

To this end, we are seeking a consultant who will partner with us to design, develop and launch this portal. Due to our lack of experience with web projects, we are looking for a vendor with experience working with non-profits that understands the importance of leading the customer through a successful process, rather than expecting the customer to do it.

The following document provides a detailed creative and functional specification for the design of the DM&E learning portal (LP). It will serve as a blueprint for development of the site and as a checkpoint before launch to ensure that all content, design and functional goals have been met.

This RFP describes our requirements for this project. The main intention of this document is to provide detailed information of this project for the purpose of a proposal. We expect the vendors to challenge this request and propose creative solutions based on industry best practices.

We would prefer this project to be completed in two or three phases.

Search for Common Ground Founded in 1982, Search for Common Ground (www.sfcg.org) works to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative problem solving. We work with local partners to find culturally appropriate means to strengthen societies' capacity to deal with conflicts constructively: to understand the differences and act on the commonalities.

Using innovative tools and working at different levels of society, we engage in a pragmatic long-term process of conflict transformation. Our toolbox includes media production – radio, TV, film and print - mediation and facilitation, training, community organizing, sports, drama and music. We promote both individual and institutional change and are committed to measuring the results of our work. We strive to constantly increase our effectiveness through monitoring and facilitated learning.

Search for Common Ground works with local partners in many countries to find culturally appropriate means of strengthening those societies' capacity to deal with conflicts constructively. We are currently working in 26 countries across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

Search for Common Ground is a non-profit organization.

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Project Objectives Search for Common Ground hopes to achieve several objectives in designing the learning portal. Those objectives include:

Communications

Provide an effective means to further collaboration within the peacebuilding community.

Provide resources to help others implement successful DM&E programs.

Establish the learning portal as the go-to resource in peacekeeping and conflict resolution and encourage dialogue, learning and growth among practitioners.

Design

Develop a sophisticated visual design that is engaging, clean and purposeful.

Provide a clean and visually pleasing design, that makes searching for resources easy to use.

Minimize design elements that could create additional file size, thus affecting site load times.

Create an intuitive user experience with logical information architecture, clear navigation, effective page layouts and powerful search functions.

Technology

Implement backend systems that facilitate easy and efficient website updates, thereby reducing costs of ongoing site maintenance.

Provide CMS tools that will enable those running the learning portal to make timely site updates.

o Drupal 7 is our preferred platform.

Install Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools.

Marketing

Create high site traffic and improve visibility within search results through organic search engine optimization.

Encourage repeat visits by providing timely and relevant content.

Site Description It is essential that the website communicates the mission of the learning portal, the DM&E resources available for all. By organizing information by category, topic and type, users should easily be able to search for the

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resources most relevant to their needs. We will also leverage our creative assets, such as messaging, to bring the resources to life and implement design elements to keep the site processes ideal for most browsers and connection speeds.

Site Name and Branding The site should be named “DM&E for Peacebuilding” and will live at www.dmeforpeace.org. The tagline should be “Learning Portal for Design, Monitoring and Evaluation for Peacebuilding”

Target Audience Through your creative efforts you should strive to serve the primary and secondary audiences outlined below with features and content that speak to their varying needs.

Audiences Practitioners. Looking for information, resources and collaboration outlets to more effectively

implement DM&E programs.

Academics. Interested in methodologies and results that they will use to develop their own programs and materials.

Funders/Donors (to a lesser degree). Current and prospective donors, including individuals, corporations, foundations, partners and government agencies. For this audience, the goal is to provide enough compelling information to encourage them to donate or increase their current donations to the field of DM&E, but this is not a priority.

Organization To support the overall goals of the learning portal, it is essential that the content/resources have a logical organization scheme. This can be accomplished through clear and concise labels, as well as the ability to sort based on multiple criteria. The learning portal should use Drupal Taxonomies for labeling and sorting all content.

Visual Design and Production Our main goal should be to provide a compelling, yet simple design to the portal, one that is appealing to the user, but also keeps site load times to a minimum. The design will have its own unique brand separate from the SFCG website.

In order to keep site speed optimized, we would expect the following during site design and development.

Design

1. Use minimal images, and optimize those used.

• Images are an important part of a website and should be optimized before being placed on to the website.

• In order to improve the response time for every user; images need to be optimized for low bandwidth.

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For example: JPG images at medium 50% quality within reason, 256 color GIF images web-snapped within reason, PNG 24 only when neccessary

• We understand that most browsers support PNG’s (though IE6 will not render transparent PNGs).

Site Production 1. Minimize the number of images and multimedia requests.

The following items can help reduce the number of http requests made by the site. Reducing these requests can greatly improve site speed.

• Keep the site design elegantly simple. With minimal web elements a page will render quickly and reduce the number of http requests.

• Use very few script files like JavaScript or CSS to increase the website load speed. For example, creating a single external CSS file can improve response time.

• Explore using CSS sprites to reduce images requests.

2. Use site caching to reduce DNS lookups.

Caching reduces browser downloads from the server. Fewer downloads means a quicker loading site. Build the site to encourage browser and computer caching, as well as use server side site caching.

3. Minimize Cookie Size

• Remove unnecessary Cookies • Make cookie size as small as possible. • Place a cookie at the appropriate domain level, so that it may not affect any sub domains. • Set cookie valid expiration date.

4. Put Scripts at the bottom of the page code.

Some browsers/users may have script blocking, which will prevent the page from loading correctly if the scripts are at the top of the page.

5. Make JavaScript and CSS External Files

CSS and JavaScript files should be used externally to improve response time for the website.

6. User Interface

Buttons and links. Text-links are used to navigate within the site, buttons are only used if some kind of interaction / data processing is involved.

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7. Forms

Form labels will sit above form fields. If an error occurs, the user should be notified by inline error messaging.

Specifically, SFCG prefers the following when considering the graphic design of the new web site:

Through images and content, the design should reflect the purpose of the site (a community space for those involved in DM&E for Peacebuilding). The design itself must be clean and sophisticated, so as not to overwhelm visitors.

The colors and design should be contemporary and uncluttered.

Site photography should communicate the diversity of the audiences who will visit the site. Photography should also reflect the many contexts in which peacebuilding work is carried out.

The user interface should aggregate service and product information so it can be easily accessed throughout the website.

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Site Map

Home

Terms of Use Privacy Policy User Admin Contact Us

Get Started Learn Discuss Opportunities About Us

Detail Pages Categorized Resources

Detail Pages Categorized Resources

Forum Pages Forum Pages Events Events

DM&E Jobs

Roster of Consultants

Consultancies Opportunities

DM&E Funding Oppourtunities

Vision & Objectives

Core Partners

Contact Us

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Functional Specifications The following is a detailed functional specification for the Learning Portal website. It will serve as the blueprint for all programming for the site.

Content Taxonomies/Categories The Consultant will create three taxonomies. “Category” for DM&E category, “Topic” for specific resource topic, and “type” for type of document.

The Consultant will work with SFCG staff to define other taxonomies that may enhance the user experience.

Initial taxonomies: (Subject to change as the project develops)

Subject for Resources include:

o Design

Conflict Assessment

Project design / Proposal Writing

Theory of Change

Indicators

Logic Models

M&E plan

Budgets

o Monitoring

Monitoring Plan implementation

Context Monitoring

Reporting

Use of information

o Evaluation

Evaluation Approaches

Evaluation preparation

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Evaluation Implementation

Evluation Reports database

o Reflection

Evaluation Utilization

Reflective practices

Knowledge management

o Methods / Data collection and data analysis

Qualitative

Quantitative

General Research

Data Analysis

o Comprehensive / General DM&E

DM&E essentials

Programme Planning

M&E Management

Glossaries

Content Information Content Types

The following content (node) types should be developed (with fields listed in-line).

• Pages (used for standard content pages) Page Title Short Summary Content (wysiwyg editor) Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) File Upload (up to 10 files) External Link (in case this is an external site to link to) Page Title (SEO purposes)

• Events

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Name of Event Address 1 Address 2 City State Zip Code Event Time Event Description Event short summary Option to upload ICS files (if no Drupal automation is possible within budget) Option to input Google map link (if no Drupal automation is possible within

budget) • Resources

o How-to Manuals Title Author Organization Logo (for LP editors only) Published Date Date of publication Short Summary (limited to 800 characters) Content (wysiwyg editor) Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) Relevance Text Field File Upload (up to 10 files) External Link (in case this is an external site to link to) Page Title (SEO purposes) Category of resource from the LP taxonomy Language (default: English) Video/Audio- this content can be added via url. The site will use whichever

player that the url provides (example Youtube, Vimeo, etc). Cross References (user should be able to add URLs of related content as they are

creating this content. The URLs will appear on the page as “related content”. Drupal will dynamically name link the title of referenced resource, according to url. Max of 10 URLs)

Keywords (free-tagging) o Tools & Templates

Title Author Organization Logo (for LP editors only) Published Date

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Date of publication Short Summary (limited to 800 characters) Content (wysiwyg editor) Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) Relevance Text Field File Upload (up to 10 files) External Link (in case this is an external site to link to) Page Title (SEO purposes) Category of resource from the LP taxonomy Language (default: English) Video/Audio- this content can be added via url. The site will use whichever



Keywords (free-tagging) o Examples & Experiences

Title Author Organization Logo (for LP editors only) Published Date Date of publication Short Summary (limited to 800 characters) Content (wysiwyg editor) Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) Relevance Text Field File Upload (up to 10 files) External Link (in case this is an external site to link to) Page Title (SEO purposes) Category of resource from the LP taxonomy Language (default: English) Video/Audio- this content can be added via url. The site will use whichever



Keywords (free-tagging) o Evaluation Reports

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Title Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) Name of organization (if applicable) Short Summary (limited to 800 characters) Relevance Text Field Country or region (of the project evaluated) Month and year of issuance (of the report) Project period Language (default: English) File Upload for Attachments (with short description) Additional text box* for supplementary information Cross References (user should be able to add URLs of related content as they are


Keywords (free-tagging) o Topic guides & Curricula

Title Author Organization Logo (for LP editors only) Published Date (date added to site) Date of publication (date published by source) Short Summary (limited to 800 characters) Content (wysiwyg editor) Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) Relevance Text Field File Upload (up to 10 files) External Link (in case this is an external site to link to) Page Title (SEO purposes) Category of resource from the LP taxonomy Language (default: English) Video/Audio- this content can be added via url. The site will use whichever



Keywords (free-tagging) o Training Resources

Title

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Author Organization Logo (for LP editors only) Published Date Date of publication Short Summary (limited to 800 characters) Content (wysiwyg editor) Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) Relevance Text Field File Upload (up to 10 files) External Link (in case this is an external site to link to) Page Title (SEO purposes) Category of resource from the LP taxonomy Language (default: English) Video/Audio- this content can be added via url. The site will use whichever



Keywords (free-tagging) o Reading & Link Lists



creating this content. The URLs will appear on the page as “related content”. Drupal will dynamically name link the title of referenced resource, according to

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url. Max of 10 URLs) Keywords (free-tagging)

o External Links Title Name of organization (if applicable) Short description Relevance Text Field Language (default: English) URL Cross References (user should be able to add URLs of related content as they are


Keywords (free-tagging) o Analysis & Opinion




Keywords (free-tagging) o Talks & Lectures

Title Author Organization Logo (for LP editors only)

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Published Date Date of publication Short Summary (limited to 800 characters) Content (wysiwyg editor) Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) Relevance Text Field File Upload (up to 10 files) External Link (in case this is an external site to link to) Page Title (SEO purposes) Category of resource from the LP taxonomy Language (default: English) Video/Audio- this content can be added via url. The site will use whichever



Keywords (free-tagging) o Mailing Lists & Communities




Keywords (free-tagging)

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o Reference & Glossaries Title Author Organization Logo (for LP editors only) Published Date Date of publication Short Summary (limited to 800 characters) Content (wysiwyg editor) Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) Relevance Text Field File Upload (up to 10 files) External Link (in case this is an external site to link to) Page Title (SEO purposes) Category of resource from the LP taxonomy Language (default: English) Video/Audio- this content can be added via url. The site will use whichever



Keywords (free-tagging) o Data



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Keywords (free-tagging) o Wiki (this will require the combination of the following modules - wikitools, flexifilter,

freelinking, talk and diff). This is the content type for the “collaborative projects”. Title Author Organization Logo (for LP editors only) Published Date Date of publication Short Summary (limited to 800 characters) Content (wysiwyg editor) Taxonomy (resource should be tagged with the taxonomies listed above) Relevance Text Field File Upload (up to 10 files) External Link (in case this is an external site to link to) Page Title (SEO purposes) Category of resource from the LP taxonomy Language (default: English) Video/Audio- this content can be added via url. The site will use whichever




Multimedia

Users should be able to add multimedia to their posts (videos, graphics). Site admins should be able to add videos and graphics as content blocks via the CMS.


Users should be able to add their own keywords to each resource. These keywords should become taxonomy in the “Vocabulary” category. These vocabulary taxonomy items can be used for showing related content.

Required Fields

Required fields should be determined during a Requirements Analysis Phase.

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Additional Languages

The default language should be English. Users can create additional language versions of the content as Drupal allows. Users should be responsible for actual translation. Fields presented for additional languages should be determined during a Requirements Analysis Phase.

Content Versioning

Content Authors can edit their documents, for instance changing its taxonomy categorization or summary. These modifications are saved to a new version. Users following that content will receive an email notification once a new version is published. Previous versions are viewable by the content author. All users with registered access and higher should be able to see all versions of the content. Only the content author should be able to edit and publish.

Related Content

On each content page, there should be a related content block, generated using taxonomies.

Additional Content Attributes

• Add a Resource – A block/link should be provided globally for a user to contribute content. Once clicked, user should be taken to a page for them to select content type and begin the creation process. If the user is not logged in, or not a member, they should be presented with a page prompting a login or registration.

• Attribution – All resources posted should identify the user that uploaded it by name, hyperlinked to that user’s profile and also the content author/organization who published the resource. These may be two different things depending on the resource. (For example, “uploaded by John Doe; Published by USIP)

• Rate - Users will have a simple voting mechanism to vote “like”. Actual implementation will depend on Drupal module functionality. Ideally this would be similar to Facebook.

• Share - Users will have the ability to share any resource and/or page available on the website. Users should be able to post content to social networking sites, as well as forward to a friend via email. This should be accomplished through the “Addthis” button.

• Comment - This should live as a module at the bottom of all content types. Ideally there would be threaded commenting, with notifications for the author. Comments could be identified as helpful (“# of users have found this comment helpful”).

• Subscribe - Users should be able to follow (“subscribe to”) a particular piece of content. As a

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result, they would be automatically notified (via email) of any new developments, such as comments or edits. A resource’s author automatically follows that resource. Users can opt to stop following a given resource.

• Flag Resource – Users should be able to flag a resource if it is deemed inappropriate. An email should be sent to the Admin.

Navigation Main Site Navigation

The main site navigation bar will feature drop down menus.

User Info on Hover

When a user hovers the cursor over a small profile picture of another user, a small box should automatically appear displaying the first and last name, title (below name) and then organization he works for (below title). A link to the user’s profile is displayed “view profile” at the bottom of the box.

Portal Search

The portal should use a combination of Google Site Search (for keyword search) and taxonomy filters within Drupal (for filtering resources). Documents uploaded to the portal should be indexed and searchable.

• Filtering – Users should be able to filter content based on keyword, content type, and taxonomy. Keyword should search all resource content types for the specific keywords and return a result.

404 Errors

The 404 page should be designed to help users find the content they may have been looking for. It should include a search box, and two or three results of a search automatically performed using elements of the URL that was invalid (obviously using OR operators). Use Drupal “Search404” module.

Out Bound Links

All outbound links sitewide will automatically open in a new browser tab, while internal links will keep to the main window.

User Instruction Instruction Blocks

Throughout the site, there should be blocks of content, instructing the user how to use each feature. These should be HTML content blocks. Blocks should be determined during a Requirements Analysis phase.

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In-line Instructional Content

For form fields, instructional content should be provided to explain to the user what this field is and how it is used.

Non-Registered User Notifications

For content that cannot be viewed by non-members, the LP should state that they need to register in order to view such content. An inline notification should be used.

Encourage User Involvment

Through Drupal, Admins should be able to create content promo blocks and place them on pages. These could be used to invite users to submit particular types of content, or to participate more. These would be HTML blocks that can be created by the Admin.

Home Page The home page will feature a Jquery image rotator for 3 to 6 images, editable from the Drupal CMS.

Projects The Project Area should feature a filterable interface for wiki content. Users would use this content type to create collaborative materials. Once created and finalized, users whould be expected to upload the final document into the Resource area, as the appropriate content type.

Resources The Resources Area should feature a filterable interface for the majority of the content types (except wiki). Users should be able to search for resources using filters, which include Geographic Area in addition to taxomomies listed in this document.

Forum/Discussion Boards The Discussion Board could use an out-of-the-box Drupal module. The message board should meet the following requirements -

• Accessible only to users who are Registered Vistor or higher, but an unregister vistor may view the forums as read-only.

• The content should be divided into numerous set topics/categories determined by SFCG

• Users could create sub-topics or threads within the topics/categories or post on others’ topics within any topics/categories

• The forum’s front page should consist of a listing of all topics/categories and their descriptions, the number of topics and posts associated with each topic/category, and the timestamp of the last posting in each department.

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• When users visit a particular topic/category, they will see a listing of all sub-topics, the number of replies to each, and the timestamp associated with the topic’s creation and the last reply.

• Explore ability to tag topics so that they appear as “related content” throughout the site.

• Matches the site’s look and feel.

Search

The forum/discussion board should be searchable through the primary search engine of the learning portal.

Notifications and subscriptions

Users should be able to subscribe to specific threads. Once subscribed, they will have the option to select frequency of notification. There should also be an option for a user to recive a “digest email” of topics on the portal.

Event Calendar Event Display

Events should be shown in a list that can be filtered. The calendar page will list events in chronological order, showing Name of event, Date, City, State, and Event Short Summary. Once a user clicks into an event, they will see all other event fields.

All events should show an option to add to your client calendar of choice.

User Information User Sign up

Users should be encouraged to create a profile. Creating a profile is mandatory while registering. Items with an * are required. CAPTCHA – or similar – should be in use to prevent spam signups. A two inline step process should be implemented to maximize user retention.

• Picture • *First Name • *Last Name • *Password (to sign in) • *Areas of expertise [pre-defined list – needs to be finalized]. Multiple selection • Areas of interest [site taxonomy] • *Current location • *Job title • *Employer • *pre-defined category of users: donor, NGO HQ staff, NGO field staff, consultant, academics, others

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• Contact details: Phone number (private, work), *email address, alternative email address, Skype username

• CV document • Link to My website (up to 5 links) – personal website or public profiles on linkedIn, facebook, twitter,

blog or any other website • “About myself” box (free text – limited to 1200 characters)

Username

Users should select their own usernames.

Profile Privacy

Users should be able to make their profile private. They can select the private option, and predetermined fields should be hidden from other users. Hidden fields to be determined during a Requirements Analysis phase. Users would not be able to select which fields are private.

User Subscriptions/Digest Emails

Users should be allowed to subscribe to topics (taxonomies) and receive e-mail notifications when new content is posted (including new resources and forum posts/comments related tothat taxonomy). They could also choose to be alerted when a comment has been posted on resource uploaded by the user. Users should be allowed to select a notification interval as either immediately, daily or weekly for topics to which they are subscribed. Users should be able to quickly change notification options for all of the topics to which they are subscribed through their admin interface.

Portal Registration Confirmation

Once a user registers, they should be sent a confirmation email. This e-mail would include a link that users can click. There should be no expiration date for this one-time-use link.

User Permissions

Once the user is registered, access should be provided to specific functionalities and additional information, see level of authority section below for more details.

User Email

There would be no internal email account specific to the learning portal. However, if a registered user wants to contact another user through the website, the LP would send an email on behalf of the user. First the user would need to find the profile of the user they’d like to contact (through search or by clicking on the users name in one of their content pieces). Once they found the profile, they’d be able to click a “contact user” link within the profile. They would receive a pop-up form that includes a subject and text box. The recipient receives a normal email in his inbox of the account he has registered with, but in the subject and headlines of the email,

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the email is labeled as an email generated by the LP (headline like “this email was sent to you through the Learning Portal” and subject like “DMEforPeace message from USERNAME”). Unregistered visitors cannot contact users through this system before getting registered (they should be prompted if they intend to do so).

Authored Content Block

Within the user’s profile (as well as globally in a column) a block should show links to all content authored by the user.

LinkedIn and Facebook Profile Integration (if possible)

To make the collection of user information as easy as possible, before the profile creation starts, the website would ask the user for authorization to collect information from existing network website with similar information, namely Facebook and LinkedIn (the latter being the most important). The system should be able to recover this information automatically and using the due authorization process.

User Permissions The CMS should allow for a number of site administrators and editors with varying levels of permissions (or access to administrative functions).

At the site launch, the permissions should be configured as follows:

Visitors (unregistered)–

• View content only. No other abilities. • No access to restricted resources under project section if it has been defined by the author of

the document. • View forum only, but cannot comment or post

Registered Visitor – Visitor abilities, plus:

• Participate in forum discussions • Post/edit (their own)/unpublish (their own)

Content editors – Registered Visitor abilities, plus:

• Review/publish/delete submissions from users, restricted by taxonomy • Create/edit/delete criteria for classifications (categories, topics, types, etc.)

Content Manager – Content editor abilities, plus:

• Edit /publish/delete all content • Review/publish/delete submissions from users • Create/edit/delete criteria for classifications (categories, topics, types, etc.)

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Admin – Content Manager abilities, plus:

• Edit the site’s menu system • Create additional users • Configure search engine • Configure Web forms • Create photo galleries • Administer “views” or queries from the CMS user interface • Access site metrics, logs and statistics; edit settings • Install & configure new modules, edit config of those implemented by The Consultant • Edit and create blocks • Edit template • Full control of Drupal

Content Author – abilities of whichever permission level they belong, plus:

• Edit content that they have specifically created

When a user registers for the site, they are granted “registered visitor” status. Admins would need to change a “visitor’s” status to a higher one, if necessary.

New administrative users and permission levels should be able to be added/edited at any time by SFCG. More than one staff member should be able to hold a particular role at one time. Individual staff members can have more than one role, as well.

When content is create or edited, an email notification should be sent to the Content Editors (if they are following that particular piece of content or taxonomy) and to Content Managers.

Permissions should be modified by taxonomy. Editing groups cannot be created, but a user can be given “Content Editor” status, with editing restricted to Admin selected taxonomies. This is likely as close as Drupal can come to editing groups.

Technical Requirements Organic Search Optimization

While a full optimization program is outside the scope of this project, there are certain best practices that should be followed in the development of the site to make the site search engine friendly.

Dead links / embeds

User should be able to report dead links through a separate form. They should be asked to provide url and description of broken link. They will also be asked to provide an alternate working link. Once the form has been

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completed, the information should be sent to the site admin as an email.

Breadcrumbs

Explore “Follow – Me” module or similar.

Polls

Add a module to handle this.

Exporting User Data

Enable ability to export user profile data to Excel/CSV.

Messaging

Allow admins to message all users at once via CMS.

Standards-Compliant Code

The site should be coded to proper XHTML standards, which is known to boost rankings at search engines like Google. This means using tags, especially title and header tags, along with well formatted style sheets.

In addition, standards-compliant code also makes the site more accessible to screen readers and mobile devices.

Optimized Title Tags

The CMS should allow SFCG to set the page title for each page, which is critical to effective SEO. When a title tag is not specified, the system should automatically pull the title tag from the page or article headline.

Optimized Content

When creating site content, The Consultant and SFCG’s editors must be mindful of important keywords and weave them into messaging whenever appropriate.

Meaningful URLs

Not “/node/12” but along the lines of “[section]/[topic/theme]/[type]/[referencetag],” e.g., “learning/general/manuals/designingforresults”. Through the Drupal interface, site admins should be able to create URLs for these pages.

Statistics Reporting The Consultant should set up Google Analytics with several applicable conversion goals, as well as predefined reports based on SFCG’s criteria.

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The Consultant should install Google Webmaster Tools.

Platform Statement The website must accommodate a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Accounting for browser menu bars and scroll bars, all critical information must appear in a space of 768 x 500, so that scrolling is not necessary.

Program with HTML standards so that the site should perform on Internet Explorer 6.x and higher, Firefox 2.x and higher, and Safari. We understand that IE 6 is an older platform and cannot support many of the newer CSS and JavaScript elements; as such, the site must degrade gracefully for visitors with IE 6, but we would not expect the same performance as more modern browsers.

Ensure that the site performs on both PC and Mac platforms. A mobile version could be useful as well.

RFP Timeline Feb 9 RFP issued

Feb 16 Deadline for submitting intent to bid on this RFP

Feb 25 Last day for questions to be submitted by email

Mar 4 Responses due to Search for Common Ground

Mar 7 Interviews begin with selected vendor candidates

Mar 28 Vendor is selected

Questions Questions from this proposal may be submitted by email by the date above to Brendan McCourt at [email protected] .

Bidder Registration If you intend to submit a proposal in response to this RFP we request you inform us by the date above. This will ensure your firm receives any amendments if any would become avialable. If you do not inform us of your intent to bid by the date above, your proposal will not be disqualified but special requests for updated documents cannot be accommodated. Please send your intent to bid to Brendan McCourt at [email protected].



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Vendor Requirements The above requirements detail the features and functionality we will need in the website itself. This section describes the aspects we will be looking for in the selected vendor.

Content Creation and Editing We need the selected vendor to lead our organization in the creation of content including outlining what page will be created and what will be on them. SFCG will write the necessary content. The vendor will ensure compliance with best practices for writing on the web.

Approach & Project Management We will require the selected vendor to lead our staff in the development of this portal. You will provide project management of this project to ensure on-time and on-budget development. You will have a single point of contact within SFCG but will also be encouraged to work directly with our personnel. We expect many aspects of this development will, at times, require your presence in our offices. We expect you to routinely communicate the status of the project and its timeline with our project leaders, and to meet the project milestones, stages and deadlines set for the project. Key project team members should be profiled in your bid.

Single Points of Contact The selected vendor will need to appoint up to two Project Directors, responsible for the tactical management of all aspects of the project. We expect these people to lead your staff and resources, coordinate and manage SFCG deliverables, and represent your firm.

Testing and Quality Assurance We expect the product delivered to be fully tested on all browsers designated above, at varying configurations of security, JavaScript, and connection speed. All known bugs should be fixed prior to launch; bugs that emerge after launch should be corrected promptly. We do not consider bug repair a billable expense.

Previous Experience The selected vendor should demonstrate strong expertise in the trends, technologies and techniques used online today. SFCG will look to the vendor to supply the insights, advice and strategic counsel for how to proceed with the various stages of this project. A demonstrated capacity to balance the many facets of web design and development with the real-world application of business constraints will be required.

Server Set up and Launch, and Post-Launch Support We will require the selected vendor to recommend, procure and set up the necessary web servers for the website. SFCG might choose to use our current web hosting provider. The selected vendor will need to support SFCG through the course of launching the website and for a period after. The selected firm must demonstrate a capacity to remain available after site launch for support, bug repair, and minor maintenance issues that creep up in the first six months of operation. We do not consider bug repair a billable expense.

Training We will require the selected vendor to conduct a series of trainings for SFCG staff to use the new website, and be available for ongoing training support after the initial training period. Training will be conducted in our

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Washington DC offices.

Proposal Requirements

Qualifications Your proposal should include a statement of your qualifications and experience related to the services being requested above:

Any proposed changes or additions to the scope of this project should be presented as alternatives.

Budget You must include a budget for completing this project. We prefer the budget to be comprehensive and inclusive of the entire scope and summarized by a final, not-to-exceed price. This price would not include out-of-pocket expenses, but you should provide an estimate for them. We are working with a budget of approximately $45K. Depending on the scope of your proposal this budget could decrease or increase slightly as needed.

We have put a lot of effort in being as detailed as possible to facilitate the understanding of our requirements. We believe we have provided enough detail to provide a sense of scope for budget purposes. If additional details are required, please submit your questions via email by the date listed above and we will try to respond to you in a timely manner.

Timeline The website must be live and our staff fully trained on its operation by August 4, 2011. If you would be interested in proposing a different timeline, please note it on your proposal.

Evaluations Proposals will be evaluated based on how well each firm demonstrates its understanding of the Search for Common Ground and the DM&E for Peace Project. General soundness of the proposed services, timeline, budget, and your firm’s qualifications will be key. Past experience, general aptitude, team skill and time allotment will also be important factors. We will also weigh heavily your firm’s ability to provide ongoing services and support. Angain, we prefer this project to be split into two or three phases.

Submission Please email your proposal to Brendan McCourt at [email protected].

Proposals must be received in our offices by the 5pm on the deadline above.
