training: what to consider before writing your rfp

BEFORE YOU START YOUR RFP

What you need to know....

1Wednesday, February 5, 14

Before we start this webinar...

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Client training too late

• Commons in cases where development done by external agency

• Training AFTER site is built

• Internal teams learn how to manage after vendor has developed a site

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Common problems• Seeing patterns in

client sites. • Weird work-arounds,

convoluted solutions.

• Drupal can do anything.

• Drupal can behave EXACTLY like your old system.. but why would you do that?

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Training feedback

“I WISH WE DID THIS

SOONER.”- Everyone

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What this webinar is about...

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An apology...

At the RFP stage...

“Nobody cares about Drupal.”

Nor should they!

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Flexibility

acquia.com/blog/drolutions-drupals-flexible-framework

Don’t put yourself in a box with your

chosen technology.

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Demo Framework• http://drupal.org/project/df

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The cost of RFPs

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Free consulting?• slideshare.net/Advomatic/put-the-rfp-down

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Free consulting?• slideshare.net/Advomatic/put-the-rfp-down

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The Questionnaire• No vision.

• With any CMS - your answers to all these questions will be... YES.

• Yes

• Yes

• Yes

• Yes

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Bad questions• Only answers are YES/NO• Does solution support internet channel for

editorial websites and eCommerce websites?• Does solution support to activate and

deactivate front-end features regarding supported channel - without code implementation?

• Does solution enable manual tagging of customer profiles based on custom attributes?

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Do your research

• Eliminate and shortlist software.

• Due diligence on the vendors.

• Only ask a select handful of vendors.

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NoRFPs.org

Why RFPs Are Bad For business youtube.com/watch?v=t-zREFb1WT0 16Wednesday, February 5, 14

Do it better

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Use scenarios• Use scenarios based on your needs. • Focus on conveying your vision. • Scenarios can describe what personas need

to be able to do to accomplish your goals.• Louise wants to translate an article into

French, and send this translation to the technical editor for publishing.

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Good questions• Ask open ended questions:• Describe cases in your CMS where this level

of personalization has been implemented.• How is this achieved within your CMS and

how users are supported when publishing in different contexts?

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Alternatives

• 2-3 day on-site workshop.

• Talk about business goals.

• Report after workshop.

• Build a proof of concept!

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Expository sketch• Zach Chandler,

Standford Web Services Blog

• Research throughly to pre-qualify vendors.

• 3-5 vendors

• All vendors submit questions.

• All vendors receive all answers to all questions.

https://swsblog.stanford.edu/blog/expository-sketch-new-rfp21Wednesday, February 5, 14

POC - Proof of concept

• Ask 2-3 Vendors• Price range from

6k-100k• Get cost of PoC

discounted from your chosen vendor.

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Not spec work

• Some RFPs appear to be ways to get free consulting.

• Some clients ask for something tantamount to “spec work”.

Free!

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Working together• You’re not choosing

a CMS, you’re choosing a vendor.

• Evaluate the agency. • Agency is more

important than the CMS.

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Who can’t do this?• Public bodies in some countries/states.• Stipulations. Cannot engage with vendor

after RFP is issued. • Restrictions based on value of contract.

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Sewn up?• Assumed that many (most?) RFPs are

decided before they were posted. • Vendors write RFPs for clients. • Only to fulfil legal requirements for

competitive bids.• Or worse... writing RFPs to leverage an

existing vendor.

• Then no, there are no alternatives.

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NoRFPs.org

Why RFPs Are Bad For business youtube.com/watch?v=t-zREFb1WT0 27Wednesday, February 5, 14

Drupal Training

From Acquia, the leaders in Drupal support and guidance

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Acquia training

• Your needs• What we deliver• How we can tailor or customize• What the packages look like

I wish this training have been conducted earlier, maybe one year or six

months... It was great!!! I am looking forward for the

next training regarding theming and module

development!!!

- E.T.

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Your needs

• Investing in team’s capabilities?- New staff on-board or existing teams.- Training is an essential way to ensure

everyone is on the same page.

• Curious about Drupal’s capability?- Need enough knowledge to build a proof

of concept. - Training is a low-cost investment. Saving

time and money.

• Tell me about your training needs.

The lecturer... was friendly, willing to help us to our problems. He mentioned many details

and made me understand many things

and overcome many problems I had before.

- G.B

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Acquia Training

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Course materials

• Tested in hundreds of classrooms.

• Continuously updated.• Clear and easy follow, but

engaging content. • Blend of guided and

challenge exercises to test skills.

http://training.acquia.com/courses

The materials / handouts were very

comprehensive - personally I would not

change anything.

- O.G.

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The trainers

• Our trainers are experienced developers who love teaching.

• They provide subject matter expertise as well as well as passion for the topic.

• Partners are placed all over the globe.

http://training.acquia.com/testimonials

Lovely presenter, very patient and open to

questions. I feel a lot more confident to use

drupal myself and understand the

technical underpinnings.

- C.L.

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Acquia’s experience

• Foundations in our support and professional services.

• Guided by best practices from the top brands and clients we work with.

• Trusted name in the community based on our reputation as a leader.

I'd highly recommend

the workshop to anyone using Drupal

in a professional capacity.

- G.S.

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Your optionsTailored Customized

Who? Implementation team, designers, devs Content editors

What? Learn to build with Drupal

Learn to use a completed Drupal site.

When? At the start of a project.

When a project is ready for content editors.

How? Usually on-site.Usually online. Can be delivered on site. Also

train-the-trainer.

Pre-training consultation.

Printed manuals.

Manuals or documentation.

Recordings,custom screencasts

This was a customized training to our needs and worked very well.

I think this worked well for our team (of IS Web

Developers) instead of a classroom style off-site.

- T.R.

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• Popular packages are typical examples of the tailored packages we have delivered.

Course catalog

http://training.acquia.com/courses36Wednesday, February 5, 14

Package comparisonSite Building Foundation Skills step-up Tailored

Day 1 Site Building Part 1

Theming and LayoutPart 1

Site Building Part 1

Day 2 Site Building Part 2

Theming and LayoutPart 2 Panels

Day 3 Panels Module Development Part 1

Day 4 Theming and LayoutPart 1

Module Development Part 1

Day 5 Theming and LayoutPart 2

Supervised challenge workshop

http://training.acquia.com/courses37Wednesday, February 5, 14

Formal Training or Professional Services?

• At the start of your project? Cross-training a new team?- Choose to consult with our training manager to tailor a course

for your needs.

• In the middle of a complex project? Planning a large-scale migration?- Choose Professional Services such as an Architectural Workshop.

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Next steps

• Determine if training is the right fit for you at this time.

• Arrange a call with Ben Ortega, Director of Learning Services to prepare a proposal.

• Training takes about 6-8 weeks to book.

• Sign up to our training newsletter acquia.com/products-services/drupal-training

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Learning paths: The start

• Drupal in a Day- Essential intro to Drupal for

CMS builders, developers, designers.

• Drupal for Project Managers- Structured conversation and

workshop on the lifecycle of a Drupal Project.

Drupal in a Day Drupal for Project Managers

http://training.acquia.com/courses40Wednesday, February 5, 14

Site Building

Drupal in a Day Drupal for Project Managers

Learning paths: Site Building

• Site Building- Essential requirement for all

site implementors, designers and developers.

- Content modeling. - Display control.- Most popular contributed

modules.

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Panels

Multilingual Drupal

Site Building

Drupal in a Day Drupal for Project Managers

Learning paths: Extending Site Building

• Panels- A powerful method for layout

control.

• Multilingual Drupal- Learn to localize Drupal and

how to offer translations of content.

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Theming & Layout

Prereq: HTML/CSS

Panels

Multilingual Drupal

Site Building

Drupal in a Day Drupal for Project Managers

Learning paths: Theming and Layout

• Theming and Layout- Create custom themes- Learn best practices from base

theme systems

- Requirements: Site building knowledge and HTML/CSS experience.

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Prereq: PHP

Module Development

Theming & Layout

Prereq: HTML/CSS

Panels

Multilingual Drupal

Site Building

Drupal in a Day Drupal for Project Managers

Learning paths: Module Development

• Module Development- Learn custom coding for unique

functionality.- Best for teams experienced

with Site Building in Drupal.

- Requirements: Site building knowledge and HTML/CSS, PHP.

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PHP for Drupal

Prereq: Programming inany language

Prereq: PHP

Module Development

Theming & Layout

Prereq: HTML/CSS

Panels

Multilingual Drupal

Site Building

Drupal in a Day Drupal for Project Managers

Learning paths: PHP for Drupal

• PHP for Drupal- This course is provided for

teams who are cross-training to Drupal.

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training.acquia.com/drupal-training-acquia-sample-lesson46Wednesday, February 5, 14