Request for Information
Enterprise Human Resources and Financial Software Solution
Opportunity
SAIF Corporation is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to gather information about enterprise solutions for finance/general accounting, budgeting, and human capital
management/talent management systems. SAIF Corporation is interested in products that offer an intuitive user experience across modules, provided by companies that provide excellent customer service.
Background
The State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation (SAIF) is an independent public corporation created by the Oregon Legislature, with headquarters located at 400 High Street SE, in Salem, Oregon. SAIF also has regional offices in Bend, Eugene, Medford, North Bend, Portland, and Roseburg. SAIF is the market leader in the provision of workers’
compensation insurance for Oregon employers, insuring more than 600,000 workers through policies with over 49,000 employers.
A few relevant facts about SAIF:
• Number of customers insured (as of 12/31/13): 49,258 • Premium market share (2013): 49.6%
• Direct earned premium (2013): $417.4 million • Direct written premium: (2013) $436.2 million
• Total number of reported claims (year-end 2013): 36,415 • Total number of claims accepted (year-end 2013): 29,351
• SAIF is the 16th largest issuer of workers’ compensation policies by net written premium volume in the United States
• In 2013, 99.8% of employers chose to keep their insurance with SAIF – a reflection of customer satisfaction and value
Employee counts
• Number of employees: 915
• Finance/general accounting employees: 11 • Human Resources employees: 24
• IS employee support to HR and Finance/general accounting: 3
Respondents may find additional background information at http://www.saif.com. SAIF has identified the following specific shortcomings in its current finance/general accounting and HR systems.
Finance/General Accounting
• Navigation. Screen names must be committed to memory and those who do not use the system frequently often cannot intuitively work in the system. Further, the ability
to drill down to specific data is desired and our current financial software is difficult to use and does not always provide the information needed. SAIF needs a system that allows users to easily navigate from a broad, big-picture view to a more detailed view of information that comprises the larger picture.
Automated workflow. In some instances, finance and accounting use manual processes to move documents and data from person to person for approvals. • Reporting. Reporting from SAIF’s current financial software package is a very
specialized task. Ad-hoc reports are seldom created and the report writer is not a user-friendly product.
• Imaging. No imaging is available with SAIF’s current financial software package. However, other imaging and document management initiatives are expected to fill this gap.
Human Resources
• Consistency. SAIF’s former strategy was to use the “best in breed” for HR component systems. This led to a variety of systems, user experiences, update schedules, and SAIF-written and maintained interfaces between the systems. The systems tend to operate in silos, resulting in user specialization in one system. A system that is more fully integrated with comparable look and feel between modules would allow more understanding and collaboration.
• Platforms. Some of SAIF’s HR systems are hosted, while others are on-premise. The hosted systems are more current. Managing upgrades and maintenance for disparate systems has caused bottlenecks and delays in service.
• Reporting. Reporting features in the current HR systems have a range of usefulness. Because the data needs to be sourced from different systems on occasion, it is difficult to produce all the reports SAIF requires for decision-making. SAIF would like to be able to use analytics and predictive modeling to further corporate initiatives and remain an employer of choice.
• Workflow. Current systems provide limited or no automated workflow. HR currently uses some in-house developed interfaces along with manual hand-offs to pass data from one system to another during the employee lifecycle (applicant to new hire to employer to retirement).
System Requirements
SAIF expects any solution will meet basic technical requirements and will include the typical functions of finance/general accounting and human resource software. The following
components/features are required: General Requirements
• Any successful system must meet SAIF’s business needs while providing a consistent user experience across modules, including how the user interacts with the application, the services it provides, and the output it produces.
• The system should be a solution that will minimize maintenance activities. • The system must be stable and reliable.
• The system must allow collection of a variety of data and provide analytical reporting that assists business decisions.
Technical Environment
• Database environments include: Oracle 11g on HP-UX (soon to be Linux) and MS SQL Server.
• Application servers are either Windows (2012 RS or newer is preferred) or Red Hat Linux.
• User desktops are Windows 7 Enterprise with Service Pack 1.
• SAIF relies extensively on Active Directory for authentication and authorization. Human Resources
• Personnel Administration • Payroll
• Benefits Administration
• Employee Self-Service (Open enrollment; address changes, pay statements, etc.) • Recruitment
• Onboarding
• Learning Management (including multiple certification types) • Compensation Management
• Performance Management/Employee Relations • Succession Management
• Time Recording (note: SAIF does not use time clocks)
• Protected Leave Management (Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) and Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA))
• Reporting Financial/General Accounting • General Ledger • Encumbrance Accounting • Cash Management • Bank Reconciliation • Accounts Receivable • Asset Accounting • Accounts Payable • Unclaimed Property
• Reporting including both Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Statutory Accounting Principles (SAP)
Budgeting
• Preparation • Execution • Tracking
Information Requested
SAIF desires to obtain information from entities currently offering enterprise human resources and financial software solutions, either as a bundled product offering, or in conjunction with a business partner. Your responses to the following questions will assist SAIF in that process. SAIF also invites you to call to our attention any relevant issues you believe are not identified in these questions and requirements.
1. Is it realistic for SAIF to expect to find a finance/general accounting and budget system that is integrated with a human capital management/talent management system? Why or why not?
2. What qualifications should SAIF be looking for in a vendor of the systems identified in this RFI? Why?
3. What short-term and long-term developments do you anticipate seeing in this market segment in the future?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages, from your perspective, of delivery of these systems in a hosted vs. an on-premises environment (or vice versa), and what operating environment do you recommend?
5. What server and PC requirements should we expect to encounter with systems of the kind described in this RFI? Will SAIF’s current technical environment, as described in this RFI, satisfy these requirements? If not, what changes would we be required tom make?
6. How long does an integrated system of this type typically take to install, configure, train and become operational? What challenges does this entail, and what are the best practices for overcoming these challenges?
7. How often should we expect to see upgrades/new versions of the software provided in a full-featured suite of products as described in this RFI?
8. Should SAIF consider additional features/functions beyond those listed in this RFI? What would they be, why would it makes sense to consider including them, and what impact would adding these features/functions have on pricing, installation, and ramp-up time?
9. How easy or difficult should we expect it to be to migrate our data from multiple legacy systems to a modern, integrated system of the kind described in this RFI? 10. What kind of pricing model do you typically see with systems of this kind? What
alternatives are typically available?
11. Do systems of this kind generate any unusual licensing issues?
12. What level of service guarantee should we expect for systems of this kind? 13. Is there anything else we should consider as we progress in our decision-making
about this product?
Questions
Any questions concerning this RFI must be submitted using the question form that was sent with this RFI, and emailed to [email protected]. Questions must be received no later than
SAIF will publish all of the questions that are received, along with SAIF’s answers to the questions, by an email sent to each respondent by 5:00 pm PDT on Friday, July 10,
2015.
How to respond
Please submit your response to this RFI in .pdf or .doc format by emailing it to
[email protected] no later than 5:00 pm PDT on Friday, July 17, 2015. Your response
must: (a) describe in detail how your application meets the requirements listed above; and (b) include answers to all questions listed above.
We will review your response and may contact you for clarification or additional information. However, this RFI does not commit SAIF to proceed with any purchase or, if we do proceed, to select your firm to implement any purchase.
Please also note the following:
1. SAIF has issued this Request for Information to potential suppliers for a solution to the requirements stated in this document. SAIF intends, but is not obligated, to use the information obtained through this RFI to develop and publish a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a finance/general accounting and budget system. SAIF has no obligation to request a proposal from you, or to enter into a contract with you or with any other respondent to this RFI. Only the execution of a written contract will obligate SAIF, and then only in accordance with the terms contained in the contract.
2. SAIF is not responsible for any costs you incur in responding to this RFI.
3. All information you provide will become the property of SAIF, and will be treated as a public record.
4. SAIF reserves the right to make exceptions to any of the requirements in this RFI if SAIF determines it is in SAIF’s interest to do so.
5. SAIF reserves the right to cancel this RFI at any time, without any liability to SAIF, prior to executing a contract, if SAIF determines it is in SAIF’s interest to do so.