The Challenge
A major state agency responsible for the administration of public and private higher education grants was looking to modernize their legacy systems in order to reduce their ongoing cost run-rates and to better position themselves for growth and expansion.
Leadership wanted to balance ongoing TCO with the need to mobilize and implement quickly, while providing key functionality and aligning with the agency’s technology vision.
Project Description
Leveraging a previously Further Advisory-conducted Grants Administration market scan, we developed and released a detailed RFP, including >400 business and technical requirements. We built a corresponding scoring rubric, and guided the client through the RFP evaluation and scoring process, and delivered a final vendor selection analysis that incorporated both collective client team input and Further Advisory insights and recommendations.
Outcomes Delivered
- A detailed RFP comprised of over 400 business, technology, and security requirements, as well as ancillary requirements around privacy, compliance, third-party risk management, etc.
- Key findings and vendor recommendations incorporating both client team input and Further Advisory insights built around four key drivers: cost, time to implement, functionality, and implementation/execution risk.
- Analysis of client team’s scoring of vendor demos across 10 key user interface heuristics, vendor impressions, and 12 key capabilities.
- A detailed roadmap for a subsequent Mobilization and Due Diligence phase to drive a deeper understanding of selected vendor capabilities, a refined implementation timeline and TCO, and a more detailed understanding of risks & required mitigations.
