Hi Terry,
CompuMentor is in the midst of developing a database planning program to
address many of the issues you bring up. You can take a look at the
database planning materials we have developed so far, including a sample
RFP (fair warning - its 100 pages, but most of it is
worksheets/questionaires/examples) at:
http://www.techsoup.org/sub_downloads.cfm
scroll down the page to the worksheets section and look for the Database
Planning Guide link.
I hope this helps!
Eric
At 04:15 PM 3/14/01 -0500, Terry Calhoun wrote:
>I wonder if anyone has a sample Request for Proposals to share that fits
>this bill:
>
>We use iMIS for our membership database and over the years have not been
>too happy with it. In recent years, we have let our upgrades to it slip
>and are using Quick Books, Excel, and FileMaker to build various data
>shells which take info from iMIS and serve it up in the ways we want.
>(We are well aware of the fact that it may be as much "us" (or at least
>the us who *was* us) at fault as it is iMIS.)
>
>We have been looking to decide either to replace iMIS, to get something
>else, or to "build our own" using, perhaps the next eBase as a core and
>doing lots of modifications to it - which we have the capability to do.
>We already do lots of serving up of databases to the Web using FileMaker
>and that's crucial thing for us in whatever we end up doing.
>
>What we want to do is put out an RFP to find a consultant to come in
>from the outside and help us with our "big picture" view of what's
>available, and to audit what we have and our skill sets and help us
>develop a plan to best move from where we are to a better place. We need
>*lots* of flexibility, because we have a small staff that tries to do
>large, great things - and new initiatives all the time. Plus, we're
>connected to a major university and that means all sorts of both good
>and not-so-good things which a consultant would need to take into
>account.
>
>The problem is, we techies on staff have little faith in most such
>consultants - expecting them to have vested interests in what they sell
>or what they, personally know. You know, one works with Sequel, another
>with Oracle, etc. We want to write an RFP that touches all the bases and
>makes it very clear that we want a broad picture painted and with great
>flexibility, from someone who understands our constituency, our members,
>our staff, our connections with the university, etc., as well as the
>external world and where association IT is going to be in 3-5 years.
>
>So, anyone have a sample RFP to share? :)
>
>--
>
>Terry Calhoun, FAIP, Internet Editor
>(734) 998-7027 | fax (734) 998-6532
>Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://www.scup.org
>AIM = splendid1 | ICQ 6860899
>311 Maynard Street | Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2211 USA
>
>------------------
>Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to
>http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the
>email address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list::
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
> ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Eric Leland, Technology Consultant
CompuMentor
487 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Voice: 415.512.7784 x349
Fax: 415.365.2870
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.compumentor.org
Bringing people and technology together to strengthen our communities
http://www.techsoup.org
Technology served the way nonprofits need it / powered by CompuMentor
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
------------------
Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to
http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email address
you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
