AOS-2024-003

Project	Replacement of Dynamics GP Financial Application
Project No.	AOS-2024-003
Location	Columbus
Description	This is a Request for Proposal by the Auditor of State (AOS). AOS is soliciting proposals from financial management application vendors (vendor) to provide a replacement to our Dynamics GP financial application used to track staff project time for the purpose of generating billing for our audit and other services as well as generating a payroll file for the State of Ohio OAKS system. Specifically, AOS is requesting each vendor provide both the product and continuing support for the product.
Proposal	Review the RFP (pdf) As mentioned in the RFP, this project includes an Applications Questionnaire.xlsx
Status	Bidding for this project is open.
	Submit Bid

Regarding Part One, Section B: Please describe the number of users of the proposed ERP, broken down by job function.

We currently have a 33 concurrent-user license for the GP application, broken down as follows:

Project entry users — 30
Finance users — 5
HR users — 15
IT users — 10

We have 850 users who use our own developed Timesheet application that does not have a license cost.

We have 850 users who use our own developed project viewer for all information regarding a project; it does not have a license cost.

Regarding Part Two, Section C: We would like to receive the document referenced that details your custom applications.

This document will be shared individually upon request.

Regarding Part Six, Section B: How is the Ohio presence being weighted in the overall score?

We do not have a score line item for an Ohio presence. This plays a role if funds are requested from the legislature controlling board. The submission process requires us to specify only if the vendor is Ohio-based or not.

GP is a Microsoft product. Is there a preference for modernizing the EP using Microsoft technology for consistency and compatibility with the state’s Microsoft footprint?

If there are integrations that can add value with our Microsoft infrastructure, it will be considered.

Is AOS seeking a cloud-hosted ERP solution? If so, is there a mandate for hosting in a government cloud, which is typical of government and financial institutions that are required to follow regulatory compliance such as IRS 1075, CJIS, FedRAMP, and others?

We will consider both cloud and on-premises solutions. Integrations with reading and writing data for developed applications is a requirement in the spreadsheet. If a cloud solution is proposed, we would prefer a gov-cloud solution, but the minimum requirement is that the data centers are in the United States.

Regarding the mention of AOS’s custom timesheets application: We would like to clarify how AOS collects time for payroll purposes. Are employees entering their time using this timesheet application, which then goes to payroll? Or is this application used only for project-cost tracking?

Yes to the first question and No to the second question. To explain further, the AOS is currently using a custom in-house application that tracks time both for projects and for payroll that all employees use. It uses GP Project data to list available projects and cost categories that employees can charge to. The data from this application is then integrated into GP for project tracking and billing proposes, but a separate in-house application uses that data to create a payroll integration to be sent to OAKS (the State of Ohio ERP for payroll processing). The AOS does not process its own payroll. The AOS has approximately 4,000 new projects per year with roughly 10-15 cost categories per project.

As a follow up to the previous question, is AOS wishing to replace this time-entry app as part of the project?

Yes, if the built-in timesheet in the ERP can be modified to accommodate the requirements of our timesheets, it would be preferable. If not, our AOS timesheet would have to be rebuilt to integrate with the proposed ERP using API services for the cloud or possibly direct sql for on-premises solutions. At this point, we would still evaluate if we would rebuild it in-house or contract with developers.

Within the Payroll tab of the applications questionnaire, there are a few mentions of HCM. May we confirm that core human resources functionality is not within the scope of this RFP? (For example, position management, benefits, employee self-service).

Your examples are currently satisfied by the State of Ohio OAKS system. However, we do need basic employee information — personal info including hire/rehire dates, position, department, and 10 additional custom fields. GP has an employee maintenance screen that we use for employee core info; then there are two buttons with an additional 10 custom fields.

Regarding Payroll, is there a requirement to provide employees with online access to paystubs and tax forms? Or is that handled by the State OAKS system?

There is no requirement for this. The AOS does not process payroll; the State OAKS system handles that.

Regarding Payroll, line 8, we would like to inquire about per diem payments. Are there other travel expenses (e.g., mileage, hotels) that AOS needs to manage? How many employees are submitting travel expenses for reimbursement?

About 300 to 400 employees submit for travel, hotel, and meal reimbursements every bi-weekly pay period.

How is financial reporting addressed today? Are in-application financial reporting tools in GP the primary method for producing reports and business intelligence? Or are there other tools in place?

Financial reporting is not within the scope of this project. For reports involving project tracking, we use Microsoft SQL Reporting Server.

Does AOS have a list of financial reports that would need to be deployed as part of this project?

Financial reporting is not within the scope of this project. We could provide a list of project reports if requested.

Under Manage General Ledger, supports 52-period calendar: Are the 52- & 365-period calendars for reporting only?

Yes.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Customer Processing, Ability to share customer file between legal entities/business units (a customer record does not have to be defined multiple times for each legal entity/business unit): What files are to be shared between entities?

Biweekly payroll file and travel expense reimbursement file sent to the State of Ohio ERP OAKS.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Customer Processing, Ability to share customer file between legal entities/business units (a customer record does not have to be defined multiple times for each legal entity/business unit): How is this done today?

Through a secure FTP.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Customer Processing, Support for one-time customers: What does your use of one-time customers look like today?

We currently have limited use of one-time customers, establishing a new customer record when necessary for unique one-off projects.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Customer Processing, Support for one-time customers: How are you managing these one-time customers?

These one-time customers are currently treated and managed the same as recurring customers.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Invoice/Journal Processing, Integration with order processing module (if vendor provides it): Could you describe how an order-processing module is to be used?

This item was mistakenly included in the requirement template.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Invoice/Journal Processing, Integration with order processing module (if vendor provides it): How are you using one today?

This item was mistakenly included in the requirement template.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Invoice/Journal Processing, Supports credit card refunds: Where are you accepting credit card payments?

Our office does not currently accept credit card payments but may do so in the future.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Collections, What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) statement designer: Can you explain the purpose of this statement?

We have added custom text to our monthly statements. We want the ability to change the text in the future.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Collections, Statement formats may be different by customer class: How many statement formats do you have today?

Two.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Collections, Statement formats may be different by customer class: Is this functionality currently available in your system?

Yes.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Collections, Online collection agent task lists and Ability to prioritize tasks in accordance with user-defined rules: Can you explain what this agent collection list looks like today?

We generate an aging report for 91-plus day collections.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Collections, Online collection agent task lists and Ability to prioritize tasks in accordance with user-defined rules: What is the extent of the tasks?

Reminder emails are automatically generated. At a month, personal calls are made for collection.

Under Manage Billing and Accounts Receivable, Collections, Ability to define collection strategies and identify appropriate customers/open items for action (for example, most collectible items or maximize cash inflow): Explain your plan to define collection strategies.

We do not have a process currently but may develop a strategy in the future.

Under Manage Portfolio and Projects, Project Setup, Project budgets may be recorded against summary levels of work breakdown structure: How does your budget interact with your WBS during a project?

Through budget vs. billing comparison reports.

Under Manage Portfolio and Projects, Project Setup, Ability to specify project dependencies: What project dependencies are you tracking?

This item was mistakenly included in the requirement template.

Under Manage Portfolio and Projects, Project Setup, Ability to specify project dependencies: How do these dependencies influence the project?

This item was mistakenly included in the requirement template.

Under Planning, Demand Planning, Ability to include the budget — as volumes: Can you help us understand what you are looking for with this requirement?

Budgets are set up based on dollar amounts as well as hours.

Under Fulfillment, Billing and Rebate Processing, Rebates: What kind of rebates and promotions are you giving on your contracts?

Though rare, our office has offered either discounts or refunds in the past.

We see that some of the requirements within the Application Questionnaire are no longer applicable to this project. How should vendors respond to those?

Items that were inadvertently included in our requirements spreadsheet will be removed by the Auditor of State's Office for all submissions.

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