SSIS Project Timeline

These are key milestones and dates for the Statewide Student Information System (SSIS) project. Check back to this site as these dates may change.

Tuesday, May 2, 2012 - The SSIS Request for Proposal (RFP) posted on VendorNet
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - RFP Due Date
Spring/Summer 2012 - Product evaluation
4th Quarter of Calendar Year 2012 - Contract awarded and signed
Early 2013 - First districts implemented

SSIS RFP Information

VENDORS
For questions about the SSIS RFP contact:
Karen Aasen, Procurement Manager and RFP Manager
Department of Administration
101 E. Wilson Street, 6th floor
608-267-4506
karen.aasen@wisconsin.gov

DISTRICTS
For questions about the SSIS RFP and the SSIS Project contact:
Lisa jo VonAllmen, SSIS Project Manager
Department of Public Instruction
608-267-9222
lisajo.vonallmen@dpi.wi.gov

Districts interested in participating in Phase One of this project please contact Lisa jo VonAllmen.

SSIS Procurement Process Update

This document is updated regularly to provide information about the status of the SSIS procurement process. Please check back as this update will change.

March 14, 2012 The RFP process is underway and we are on track to post the RFP to VendorNet in April, 2012. Lisa jo VonAllmen, the SSIS Project Manager recently attended the Brainstorm Conference http://www.brainstormk12.com/future-conferences/ and connected with a lot of technical people from the districts. It is helpful to hear from you directly about your challenges and achievements at your district. We heard from people who both support the SSIS project and heard from some who have concerns. Please know we are listening to your concerns and will be as responsive as we can be.

Several people volunteered to participate in the two work groups we are forming. The first group is a technical work group with the goal of preparing documents for planning, preparation, and data migration. We will also identify the roles and responsibilities in the district which will be needed. The second group is a communications work group with the goal of discussing methods of communication and outreach to the districts. We will also be preparing documents to inform on the progress of the project. If you have questions or comments about this project, contact Lisa jo VonAllmen at 608-267-9222 or lisajo.vonallmen@dpi.wi.gov.

January 18, 2012 The RFP committee has completed much of the research leveraging the experiences of other states. It is almost finished writing the requirements and the benchmarks to evaluate responses. The committee must still complete other content areas within the RFP document. The RFP committee members DOA staff have been working on these in parallel along with the requirements gathering and are in the process of finalizing all of these areas. We are also working on the terms and conditions for the Contract and Service Level Agreement language. This means the writing of the RFP is about 75% complete.

What is next?
After the committee is finished with the RFP it moves to other reviewers including both procurement review and legal teams. Legal review will be the most contentious because the enterprise cloud technology will be the first of its kind in the State of Wisconsin. As we embrace new technology, we venture into new territory and laws that govern it. The SSIS contains highly confidential personal information and is a vitally important system to the State of Wisconsin. Again, we are taking pains to leverage the experience of other states when exploring these issues.

After DPI’s review of the RFP draft document, it goes to DOA for review. This review may take approximately one month because of the additional terms and conditions needed for the SSIS. An estimated timeline for the full procurement process after the RFP document is finalized is 30 weeks. We are targeting the new date to be October 2012 for the vendor award. We are always exploring methods of completing this process successfully in a shorter timeframe, but not at the risk of affecting quality and fairness.

Statewide Student Information System Overview

SSIS FAQ

The State of Wisconsin has approved implementation of a statewide student information system (SSIS). Selection of a system will be guided by the Department of Administration (DOA) following the state procurement rules and processes. A key step is forming a committee to create a Request for Proposals (RFP) to send to vendors who would respond with their proposed solutions as part of a bidding process.

1) What might the SIS project entail?
We anticipate a SSIS might include information regarding enrollment, withdrawal, attendance, discipline, term grades, scheduling, course requests, typical reporting such as report cards and transcripts, and a parent/student portal. A SSIS might also include features such as IEPs, grade books, and food service. If a SIS is implemented, most state reporting tasks associated with students may be eliminated, such as ISES count data and year-end files, ISES attendance, ISES discipline, and the coursework completion system. DPI intends to contact representatives from other states that have implemented a SSIS to ask what features they have included in their SSIS.

2) Are we building or buying the SIS?
The vast majority of states implementing statewide student information systems have opted to implement a vendor system rather than building a system. Wisconsin plans to implement a vendor system.

3) Will the State manage the system or can districts?
The RFP committee is exploring how a SIS can be provided from a single, hosted data center which would eliminate the need to manage the software in a local district's data center/on a local server. Information already available from other states using a statewide SIS shows that a primary benefit to having a statewide SIS is the time and effort saved by having centralized system management. The technical tasks involved with managing one district are not much more than what is involved with managing all districts. In fact, central management eliminates repeating the same tasks over and over across all districts. There may need to be options for local districts to continue to manage the application and/or database locally, but that will be fleshed out as we research districts’ needs and the scope of the project. Discussions with other states will assist in understanding the options better.

4) How does the SSIS selection process work?
The RFP procurement process was created to ensure that the best product (service, system) is chosen at the best possible price. The Department of Administration (DOA) has assigned a procurement agent to work with the DPI in guiding the creation and execution of the RFP. A committee is charged with creating the RFP’s mandatory specifications, non-mandatory specifications, questions for the vendor to respond to, evaluation criteria, benchmarks to help the evaluation committee look for systems that contain the best options or methods or processes in their system, and determining the maximum score for each item to be scored. The RFP is confidential until it is released by DOA. The evaluation criteria, the benchmarks, the possible scores and the names of the committee members are confidential until DOA issues an intent to award letter to the apparent successful vendor. Elected and appointed officials are not allowed to be on the RFP committee. For the SSIS RFP, DPI is utilizing school district staff who are familiar with school district needs. The RFP committee has nine members who are involved with writing the RFP. The same individuals will be on the evaluation committee that will score each of the RFP responses. The committee has looked at RFP specifications from other states and is utilizing this information as they consider the requirements for the RFP. The RFP committee members must have some expertise in some area of the SIS, such as information technology staff or administrators. Members come from large and small districts across different areas of the state. Each of these individuals is currently utilizing a SIS system. Some of them have experience with more than SIS.

5) When could we have a SIS available for districts?
Based on information received from other states, timelines vary between when the first and last districts deploy a statewide SIS. DPI anticipates there could be varying timelines for implementation in Wisconsin as well. The procurement process timeline is currently estimated to have the contract awarded in the 3rd or 4th quarter of calendar year 2012. It may be possible to have the first districts live in the second semester of the 2012-13 school year, i.e., roughly late January 2013. The legislation mandates that the system be implemented in all districts within five years of the legislation approval, i.e., June 30, 2016.

6) Would the SIS include data tools like charts, graphs, and dashboards?
A SSIS will not include such data tools, but DPI recently purchased a business intelligence (BI) system that does offer these tools. DPI will be implementing this BI system for the 2011-2012 school-year for all Wisconsin districts. The data used in this BI system will be data districts provide to DPI including ISES attendance and discipline, WKCE, WAA, ACCESS-ELL, ACT, and AP test scores, high school graduation and completion, and other data. DPI anticipates creating secure dashboards for roles like superintendent, principal, and director of curriculum/instruction/assessment. See this web site for more details about the data warehouse and dashboard system: WISEdash

When implemented, it would be possible to include many more data items not currently reported to DPI via the SSIS. The technical set-up and maintenance of a SSIS could be handled centrally, thus eliminating the need for each district to perform those tasks. The additional data provided to statewide data warehouse could be provided in real-time, not only from files uploaded once or twice a year by districts.

7) What should districts that are looking at acquiring student information systems do now?
Districts must make their own decisions about such systems. DPI will provide all districts with information about the process and progress of the SSIS as the project unfolds. DPI’s goal is to ensure that districts are able to provide input, and are part of the process to define what is needed, and to find and implement a SIS that works for all districts. Furthermore, we are gathering information now form other states about the process they used to help districts plan for their migration and implementation. More information will be posted soon on this topic.

8) How do districts prepare for the new SSIS?
Part of our work includes obtaining materials from other states that outlines preparation and planning at the local level. Regardless of vendor selected, there are some basic steps districts can take now to decide if they wish to migrate in the first year, potentially the second semester of the 2012-2013 school year. We plan to share information with you in regarding these pre-planning steps.

9) What systems could be integrated with a SIS?
A common, centralized SSIS would make it possible to have a technical connection between the SIS and systems such as response to intervention (RtI) tools, benchmark assessments (like MAP), learning management systems (like Moodle), and curriculum mapping systems. Providing such connections would automate integration tasks, and virtually eliminate the need for districts to repeat such integration tasks year after year. DPI is currently exploring Moodle hosting vendors and would like to have that tool available to all districts when they go live with the new SSIS.

10) Where can I find additional information about the project?
Our primary goal for this project is to serve school districts well. Our attention to details will make this goal more achievable despite the time this requires. We also plan to continue communications on a regular basis to keep everyone informed and aware of the project. We ask that you be partner in communication by sharing information with others who need it.

Please contact Lisa jo VonAllmen, lisajo.vonallmen@dpi.wi.gov (608)267-9222 if you have questions or comments regarding the SSIS project.

Project Links

State Procurement Manual Competitive Bidding Policy Joint Finance Committee 2011 WISCONSIN ACT 32 -- SIS language on pages 373 (section 2437) and 512 (section 9137)

Request for Release of Funding for a Statewide Student Information System

Joint Finance Committee Budget Summary -- prepared by Legislative Fiscal Bureau

November 2011 Joint Finance minutes

For questions about this information, contact Lisa Jo VonAllmen (608) 267-9222

Last updated on 5/9/2012 4:00:17 PM