Invitation to Tender: Website and associated services

1. Do you have a scope of what the replacement intranet space will need to host content wise or any functionality overview? (Point 20, e iv) Science Council staff, enabling them to access information, in lieu of an intranet.)

We want to use the intranet primarily for information sharing. We would welcome information on how we can use it to enable better communication and collaboration, eg commenting on shared documents and/or forum type posting in response to documents or articles.

2. Could you clarify the way that events bookings would work for logged in users? I.e. in section 20 e 1) it says logged in users can sign up to join fora and events, are these the same events as found in the public facing events area, or specialist events?

Any events advertised in the members/logged in area will be private events. These events will be free, so no payment process will be needed within the logged in area. But we will want the same type of registration functionality. Events that are open to all (free or paid for) will be advertised separately to the member area.

3. The tender lists ‘associated services’ but these aren’t explicitly listed out. Are they those ‘additional to minimum requirements’ points in section 15?

Yes.

4. Have you got an outline budget that this work needs to fall within?

No.

5. Can we present to the Science Council a high-level overview of our proposed solution and/or suggested budget in advance of the response?

No. If you have any clarification questions please feel free to contact [email protected]

6. Are there any third-party integrations with systems (e.g. Xero, Eventbrite) that must remain in place for contractual or operational reasons?

We must continue to Xero. Please refer to point 14 in the Invitation to Tender.

7. Can you outline where your historical membership, CPD records, and event data are currently stored? And what is the data like (e.g. data cleanliness etc)

Membership data is stored in Salesforce. We do not store CPD records and event data is currently held within Ticket Tailor and Excel spreadsheets.

8. What are the current pain points with your existing Salesforce implementation?

• Duplicate data – including individuals being created as organisations
• Reliance on an external consultant to make some changes
• Most staff don’t know how to use it effectively

9. Can you describe how you're currently using Salesforce?

• Use is limited to holding data about individuals and organisations, creating reports.
• It holds registrant information with a feed to the searchable register on the website.

10. Can you provide details of your current Salesforce setup (e.g. which cloud/edition, number of licences, etc.)?

• Foundation Enterprise Edition Power of 10 Donation
• 15 licenses

11. What are the main pain points with current form setup? – e.g. is it lots of manual work / lack of validation / lack of automation (e.g. phone calls etc)

We can set up forms relatively easy using GravityForms, although not all members of staff have a website login and some would need some training to create a form. An easier more intuitive system would be better.

12. How many different forms do you currently have, and what is their complexity?

The 20 forms native to the website are relatively simple – they send information to an email address.

The forms associated with our Common Application Process (CAP) are hosted by FormAssembly. They are complicated – please see the invitation to tender for the detail.

13. How many form submissions do you get a year?

For the forms native to the website we had 25 submissions in 2024.

14. Where is the website currently hosted, and are there any limitations or commitments tied to that setup?

It is hosted via a website management agency. No, we have paid for a year’s hosting but are prepared to host elsewhere.

15. Do you plan to retain any parts of the existing site, or is this a full redesign and rebuild?

We will retain much of the content but are open to suggestions about the extent of the redesign and rebuild.

16. What is your vision for the new website? And what do you feel isn’t working with the current one?

Please refer to point 19. and 20. in the Invitation to Tender.

17. Are there specific performance, uptime, or security requirements we should be aware of for the new website?

It is a basic site so not really. The usual security considerations about personal data apply.

18. Are there accessibility compliance expectations (e.g., WCAG 2.2), and do you have any existing audit results?

Yes we expect to meet accessibility standards. No, we don’t.

19. Can you provide more details about the CSV data upload requirements that member organisations do? For example, will they always provide you with data in the same format (columns etc)? How many rows? Etc.

20. What are your current marketing tools (we see you use MailChimp)? Are there any others? Or is this likely to change in the future?  Also where is consent handled?

We only use MailChimp and that is where consent is handled.

21. What are your expectations for user roles and licensing?

We expect to have

• a small number of administrators and editors in the staff team
• a larger number of staff authors and contributors
• a role for volunteers to view information, submit information (eg EDI data) and sign up to opportunities and events
• a role for staff in our member organisations (multiple per organisation) to view information, submit information and sign up to events
• a role for staff of employer network organisations (multiple per organisation) to view information, submit information and sign up to events
• a role for people who are none of the above but sign up to attend our events, so they can return to their bookings and don’t have to enter their information every time.

22. Should content and dashboards within the member area be personalised based on user type (e.g., CPD status, membership level)?

Yes: staff of member organisation, volunteer, Science Council staff, event attender, Employer network member

23. Are there wider digital transformation goals (e.g. automation, reduction of manual processes, better UX) that this project is expected to support?

In general we would like to be more efficient, maximising staff time. This was a main driver for creating the invitation to tender. We are open to all specific suggestions. We would also like to incorporate our Technical Pathways microsite into the main website.

24. Can you confirm that you get non-profit (discounted) licences from Salesforce?

This is the licence we hold - Foundation Enterprise Edition Power of 10 Donation

25. What elements of the project do you expect to be able to support internally (e.g. data migration, user testing, content population)?

We will be able to support some processes internally, but this is very dependent on the format of suggested proposal.