WoodGreen Community Services Newcomer Links Portal...

WoodGreen Community Services

Newcomer Links Portal

Request for Proposals

December 1, 2006

Copyright © 2006 by (WoodGreen Community Services). All rights reserved. This document is supplied purely for the purpose of assisting suppliers to respond to this invitation to tender, no part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise) for any other purpose.

WoodGreen Community Services 1

Contents

1. Introduction, Goals and Objectives ...................................................................2 1.1 Project Goals and Objectives ......................................................................2 1.2 Purpose of this Invitation to Tender.............................................................2 1.3 RFP Timetable ............................................................................................3

2. Background.......................................................................................................3

2.1 Organization Background............................................................................3 2.2 Technical Environment................................................................................3

3. Scope and Scale of System Sought..................................................................4

3.1 Scope ..........................................................................................................4 3.2 Scale ...........................................................................................................4

4. Key Requirements ............................................................................................5 5. Functional Requirements ..................................................................................6

5.1 Content Creation .........................................................................................6 5.2 Content Management..................................................................................7 5.3 User Engagement / Collaboration ...............................................................8 5.4 Publishing and Presentation......................................................................10 5.5 Contract and Business ..............................................................................11

6. Technical Requirements .................................................................................11 7. Cost Information Required ..............................................................................12 8. Proposal Requirements ..................................................................................12 Appendices .........................................................................................................14

Appendix 1 - Client Scenarios .........................................................................14

Job Search Workshops................................................................................14 Job Search Coaches ...................................................................................15 Settlement Services.....................................................................................16

Appendix 2 - Client Tracking and Management System Overview..................19


1. Introduction, Goals and Objectives WoodGreen Community Services wishes to develop a community service portal with a content management system (CMS) and interactive service components. The central objective of this project is to develop and implement an online service website for our newcomer clients, focusing on their employment needs. This portal will also meet the needs of staff to more easily publish information and content to our clients in a seamless, usable system. Our focus is on developing a website that provides our newcomer clients with a space to work with us and together to share organized content and online engagement tools; in essence, a member-based website. The website will help new immigrants to settle into the community and access employment in their chosen professions by providing them with on-line, interactive access to and connection with information, mentors and advisors, peers, and other learning resources. A goal is to make the website convenient for users and usable by a broad spectrum of clients (See Appendix 1 – Scenarios for an overview of how the site will be used). WoodGreen also intends to use the portal system to develop future e-service projects and as an intranet for staff sharing of resources and content.

1.1 Project Goals and Objectives Our goals:

• Provide more timely, updated and useful information to clients • Bring/feed information from multiple partner websites or services • Offer personalized and interactive content and e-service features to clients • Maintain consistent site branding • Decentralize the maintenance of site content, reducing bottlenecks. • Back end interaction, integration and data exchange with other

applications (including our existing Client Tracking Management System (CTMS) which uses SQL Server 2000)

1.2 Purpose of this Invitation to Tender Phase 1 of this portal development will focus on developing the immigrant and employment service portal and moving the current static WoodGreen website to the new platform and integrating it with other applications. Phase 1 priorities are outlined as Core priorities in the Functional Requirements below.


Phase 2 will involve development of the organizational intranet. Some elements of this future phase are outlined as Secondary priorities in the Functional Requirements section below. Vendors should ensure that their proposal meets our core needs and provides cost and development information for areas of secondary priority. If secondary requirements are not able to be included in this development phase, it is likely that they will be included in future development. This RFP will focus on Phase 1 of our development plan. It will form the basis for assessing prospective vendors.

1.3 RFP Timetable The RFP process will close at 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday December 22, 2006. RFPs received will be evaluated in the following two weeks. Short-listed vendors will be contacted by January 5, 2007 to prepare for product demonstrations to be delivered sometime between January 12th and 24th, 2007. Please note that WoodGreen Community Services is a registered Canadian Charity and, as such, qualifies for charitable pricing offers available by some hardware and software vendors.

2. Background

2.1 Organization Background WoodGreen Community Services is a non profit, multi-service, community-based organization that has been responding to the needs of the East Toronto community for over 65 years. WoodGreen works with community partners to develop and maintain vibrant, healthy and inclusive communities. WoodGreen serves approximately 37,000 people annually through its more than 50 programs and services. Our clients come from all sectors of our diverse community.

2.2 Technical Environment

Our in-house server environment:

Application Server IIS Database SQL 2000 but planning for 2005


License Operating System Windows 2003 Programming Language ASP.NET 1.1 & ASP.NET 2.0 Root Access Yes Shell Access Yes Web Server IIS 6.0 Back up VERITAS Backup solution Security NetScreen and McAfee e-Policy Connection 7 MB ADSL

We have multiple client tracking databases being used, with an eye to use a centralized, in-house custom (MSSQL) client tracking management system and possible integration with the portal.

3. Scope and Scale of System Sought

3.1 Scope The scope of the systems sought via this RFP includes application/portal software development and other supporting software, hardware recommendations (excluding client-side equipment) and other training/support services. The functional requirements to support the core portal processes are detailed in Sections 4 to 6. WoodGreen Community Services would like vendors to detail the full extent of the services they can offer. Vendors should provide descriptions of the full range of options open to WoodGreen in terms of both implementing and supporting the portal package. This should include details of hardware, software, consultancy, training and any other services available. WoodGreen is prepared to consider a range of options from each supplier.

3.2 Scale 3.2.1 Number of Users One of the aims for the new solution is to create and widen access to WoodGreen’s online service systems. A key issue for the e-service system is access for potential and existing clients and WoodGreen staff and managers. We are therefore asking suppliers to tender for a solution on the basis of a user population of over 50,000 clients and 700 staff and potential extensive growth.


3.2.2 Site Map Please note: This is not a full site map. This sub-site map provides an example of how we anticipate integrating various content modules within the newcomer portal, to complement a particular service scenario (see Scenarios – Settlement Services Scenario 1). Accounting Club sub-site:

4. Key Requirements The key requirements that WoodGreen seeks from a new e-service portal are: 4.1 A Supplier

• Who is knowledgeable about and committed to the non-profit sector. • Who exploits leading edge, but context-appropriate technology. • Who provides excellent, proven support.

4.2 Web Enablement and Personalization

• To enhance access to WoodGreen’s information and services for all potential, current and former members of its communities, within the constraints of security and privacy.

Accounting Club

About the Club

Resources / Tools

Articles, Interviews

And Profiles, including

audio/video

Employer Information

Links / Great Sites

Discussion Group

News and Events

Meeting Notes,

Minutes, Agendas

Search


• To provide ‘self-service’ access for staff and clients unrestricted by time or place.

• To enable WoodGreen to develop a true ‘Service Portal’ presence. 4.3 Delivery of Information

• To be flexible (output able to be presented in a variety of ways). • To be easily obtainable by the end-user.

4.4 Flexibility

• Flexibility of the possible configuration of the product as a whole, its ability to cope with changing environments and processes.

• Flexibility in the ability of elements of the portal software, and components within those elements, to operate seamlessly within different user groups.

• Flexibility of the product to interact with other applications. 4.5 Workflow Capability

• To facilitate streamlining and automation of routine administrative processes.

• To enable task management and event-driven processes. These key issues are covered in greater detail in the functional requirement sections below.

5. Functional Requirements WoodGreen is seeking a high level of commitment from an appropriate vendor as we are interested in identifying a long-term vision for our core portal systems. WoodGreen recognizes that effective use of information systems is vital to the delivery of effective client service processes. Thus, the vendor must exploit, and continue to exploit, leading edge industry standard technology. Requirements below are organized into two categories: Core and Secondary. Vendors should ensure that their proposal meets our core needs and be prepared to provide cost and development information for areas of secondary priority. If secondary requirements are not able to be included in this development phase, it is likely that they will be included in future development.

5.1 Content Creation Core Integrated authoring environment – content authors (administrator, editor, writer) should have access to the full range of features provided by the Portal, for


their user level. The features should be simple for non-technical users with advanced features for more technical users. Metadata creation – The ability to create and modify keyword indexes, subject taxonomies and/or topic maps that can be used in components across the site/system. WoodGreen will populate and create any metadata or taxonomy system. Strong internal linking structure – we will create many cross-links between pages, and these must be stable against site restructuring. Non-technical WYSIWYG authoring – Content authors should not be required to use HTML (or other technical knowledge) when creating pages. But, HTML should be an advanced option. Usability, ease of use – Creating content should be as simple as using MS Office for authors. Multilingual capabilities - including support for multi-byte (Unicode) character sets such as Chinese. Secondary Multi-user authoring – We will have many simultaneous version review users. The system should have features such as record locking during editing. Content Re-use - A single page (or paragraph), resource, link, etc. may be used in different contexts, or delivered to different user groups on our site (especially re. employment). For example, a page describing a basic resume template might appear in the immigrant and employment section and also in the youth and employment section. Separation of content and presentation - Authoring must be style-based, with all formatting applied during publishing.

5.2 Content Management Core Multi-site management - Create and administer related subsites from one administration panel; organization main site and unit e-service sub-sites, with various user group permissions. Dynamic Components - Specialized zones on a web page that automatically and dynamically render content on the page based on a subject/topic or user


preference (i.e. portlets). This feature would allow content authors to indicate specific content from other site modules to appear on a particular page, section or sub-site. For example, show the titles of three upcoming workshops in the Featured Events box; show on front page (by category), etc. Security and Integration Tools - Able to integrate with internal systems – Microsoft Active Directory structure and more specifically Client Tracking Management System - which has been created in MS SQL. We are interested in connecting the portal software’s user profile information to our own client database, to allow for client intake and tracking using one system. This is a core and very important part of the development work we expect to be done. Reporting and Stats – extensive range of reports, for both users and administrators. Ideally, the system should pro-actively report on any issues that arise. What support for customized reporting is available? Usage statistics should be comprehensive, including: most popular pages, daily usage, and search engine usage. Analyze site traffic volume, highest interest pages, traffic sources, average visit duration, most frequent referring search engines, search terms and many other site statistics. We are also interested, if possible, to be able to track registered site user access of the site (i.e. sections/pages accessed, time spent, etc.). Secondary Workflow – an easy-to-use workflow, editing and approval model. Includes writer/editor and publisher roles. Document Management - Management of internal documents through access-control and versioning. Managing access to (check-in/checkout), and versioning of internal and external documents. Version control & archiving – including archiving of deleted files, material, links, pages, etc., with options to purge at pre-selected times or manually.

5.3 User Engagement / Collaboration Core User Profile - Integration of Portal user profile with WoodGreen’s Client Tracking Management System (CTMS), which is in MS SQL format. The Portal user profile should have elements of a Customer Relationship Management tool, or be able to integrate such a tool. WoodGreen is interested in creating a public view of a slice of its existing CRM data for site users to create and manage some of their own information on the portal, connected to our database with additional general organizational level data and program level data when a client accesses a


particular service within the organization. Security of this data at all levels is essential. We expect the infrastructure for this integration to be built in Phase 1, with full implementation in Phase 2 (please see Appendix 2 – Client Tracking and Management System Overview for more details about this tool). Personalization - Different information is presented based on user/client profiles, or metadata in the source content. Assign content – web pages, documents, images - to categories/user groups and dynamically display content to site visitors based uniquely on the content categories or the visitors’ interest profile. For example, site users who have identified interest in employment for newcomers will see information or articles about specific services and information for newcomers, while users interested in youth employment will see content about employment services and information for youth. We want to be able to target certain content/sections/resources to specific audiences. Communication modules – Email Marketing (i.e. newsletter with tracking features) to site users. Discussion Forums, with possible additional modules: Live Chat, and Web Conferencing. The software must come with an easy to use discussion forum with functionality that users are used to from typical discussion forums (snitz, phpBB, etc.), including discussion forum subscription/email alert options. These modules or portlets should be available to be placed/integrated or fed into other parts of the site (i.e. discussions tagged as newcomer accounting club, show up on the newcomer accounting club page). Engagement modules – Surveys, petitions, forms and quizzes for information collection, education and entertainment, social networking. This includes the investigation of a resume/job posting/matching module - Employer registers and posts jobs, job seeker registers and post resumes, matching occurs. Article/Content module – A core module that will allow for presentation of text information, including images, audio/video and textual content integrated from other modules (i.e. discussion, event, links, etc.). Audio/Video – The ability to integrate downloadable or streaming video/audio in relevant resources. Secondary Alert and Syndication modules - Being able to subscribe to email alerts based on user choices (news, events, discussions, content updates, etc.) – syndication/feeds. Also email alerts for upcoming events, news of interest, etc. Intranet capability - A password protected portal on the Internet where internal employees and volunteers store and retrieve documents, collaborate,


communicate, and organize our efforts (integrated with document management, user groups, etc.). Job matching module – Employer registers and is able to post job opportunities, WoodGreen staff post client resumes, and employers are able to search resumes for potential interview candidates. Client resumes are screened and vetted by counsellors before being posted to site.

5.4 Publishing and Presentation Core Page templates - Overall page layout is specified via page templates. Ideally, a non-technical interface should be provided for managing this. WoodGreen will design the look and feel, colour scheme and logos for the portal. Extensibility – The system, and our implementation of, the system should allow for future growth and expansion. We should be able to expand/enhance the interface/system with new capabilities without having to make major changes to the system infrastructure. The Portal should support a process of ‘continual improvement’ in interface design. Support for multiple formats - The Portal must publish to multiple formats, such as: HTML (primarily), printed (customized printable pages (i.e. removing navigation elements, replacing with simple logo, stripped down page focusing on content mainly), PDF. In keeping with principles of extensibility, it should be possible to add support for additional formats, which will be necessary as new standards evolve.

In order to achieve high-quality in every format, it is critical that the content be separated from presentation at the time of authoring. This allows distinct stylesheets to be used for each output.

Usability and Effective Navigation – For end users, interface should be easy to use and learn. Usability heuristics (eg. customized error messages, fast load time, visible navigation (user must be able to answer “where am I?”), easy to bookmark pages, etc.)) should be easy to implement. Search – A simple, but powerful keyword search tool. Advanced tools for creating site search functions – for the entire site, by content/user type, by site section, by page, by date, etc. Site-wide and section-specific attribute and text search tools. Search result relevancy ranking should be possible. Accessibility - The Portal must conform to standards such as the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).


Cross browser support - The pages must be viewable in all major web browsers, specifically: Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, Safari. Valid HTML - All pages must conform to the current HTML specification. Secondary Cascading Stylesheets (CSS) – Final appearance is controlled through the use of CSS stylesheets. Support for additional multiple formats - handheld (WAP), etc.

5.5 Contract and Business Training - The vendor must list the training materials that exist for the portal system, and the training services that they can provide. Documentation The Portal must be supported by adequate documentation: for users, administrators and developers. Maintenance agreements - The vendor must outline their preferred support arrangements, including service level agreements and upgrade processes. Resources required - The hardware, software and operating systems required by the Portal. Skills required - What in-house skills and knowledge do we need within our organization to customize and maintain the portal? Cost - The costs for the portal. Scalability - The load levels that the portal supports, and the additional resources (hardware & software) required for increased usage. Reference sites - The vendor must supply a number of sites where the similar software has been successfully implemented. These must match the characteristics of our, or a similar, organization.

6. Technical Requirements WoodGreen Community Services prefers a solution that complies fully with its existing IT infrastructure, as outlined in Section 2.2.


7. Cost Information Required Please note that WoodGreen Community Services is a registered Canadian Charity and, as such, qualifies for charitable pricing offers available by some hardware and software vendors. WoodGreen needs the following cost information from vendors: 7.1 General Total Cost of Ownership We do not wish to purchase on a “licence per seat” basis. WoodGreen plans to own an in-house system, which we will have full control over to modify and develop over time. WoodGreen will maintain copyright to the developed system for further development. Implementation Cost of implementation, including the cost of necessary consultancy. Please note that we wish to contract with a single implementation partner for the entire solution. Training Cost of necessary training of both implementers and users. Hardware Cost of the additional server and network hardware necessary to operate the system efficiently. For these purposes suppliers should assume that WoodGreen’s existing servers are used to their fullest capacity.

8. Proposal Requirements In preparing an estimate for this project, please provide the following information:

• Any details you might be able to provide on how your company would execute the project including design fundamentals and/or project approach

o Description of your solution. o Resources required to implement your solution. o Resources required to operate and support your solution.

• The amount of time your company will need to complete each component in each phase, including any terms and conditions therein

• A cost estimate for each phase, including any terms, conditions, and/or restrictions (in Canadian dollars)

• Your company’s profile and web site including sample web sites/development work and client references.


Important notes:

• Please bear in mind the scope of the tender (see Section 3.1). • Identify various supply options, where available. • Recommend the best solution for WoodGreen. • Where providing a specification, provide a minimum and recommended

specification. • Where applicable, quantify and qualify your answers. • State any special requirements, restrictions or limitations. • State any assumptions on which your responses are based. • Describe how well your package will integrate with WoodGreen’s IT

infrastructure. Your proposal must particularize the following items:

• Costs • Time lines • Proposed design and development processes • Proposed technology to allow WoodGreen to easily add/edit content and

services without need for vendor involvement Deadline: All proposals must be submitted electronically no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday December 22, 2006 to [email protected]. All inquiries (E-mail preferred) may be directed to: Marco Campana Project Administrator WoodGreen Community Services 815 Danforth Avenue, Suite 202 Tel: 416-462-3110, ext. 2189 Email: [email protected]


Appendices

Appendix 1 - Client Scenarios The website will address the needs of new immigrants including access to or provision of:

• Information about accessing professions and trades that would employ their existing skills

• Information about resources that are available to assist them in pursuing their settlement and employment objectives

• Access to trained employment counsellors • Opportunities to connect with peers, mentors and advisors that are

involved in or wish to join a particular profession/trade • What employers need in order to identify, recruit, and orient skilled new

immigrants that can fill their labour force requirements.

Job Search Workshops Scenario 1 M takes the 3-day Job Search Workshop, and then has some one-on-one interactions with the JSW Facilitator. But, he made good connections with his JSW participants and enjoyed the group discussion, support, sharing and networking. The facilitator registers M on the WoodGreen JSW Discussion forum – a private discussion area for JSW alumni, after offering the option of joining the forum and getting a “yes” from M. It’s a participant-restricted, but unmoderated discussion area where he and others can continue to talk about their job search, share tips and get some information from the facilitator from time to time. He gets email alerts when a new message has been posted to the Board (something he can turn off in his profile settings if he wants to). He can also email questions to the Board. The discussion board is a threaded discussion, which some of the basic functionality people are used to in their email programs - allows users to reply quoting the message they are responding to, able to use basic rich text options (bold, italics, etc.) As a discussion area moderator, the JSW facilitator can create new categories and forums, and is able to assign permissions to specific users or user groups to access those discussions.


Job Search Coaches Scenario 1 E sees an employment coach to talk about her job search. She is getting general help, including resume and cover letter preparation, interview orientation and some information about how to do her job search. Because of the nature of similar client requests, the employment coach tends to give repetitive information to all clients, and has created a repository of useful coaching tips and information about these issues (i.e. how to create a good resume) on the portal. These tips are organized into categories, and include documents, external links, quizzes/questionnaires, audio/video clips, etc. These tips and resources have been posted/uploaded by the Job Search Coach team, shared among the 3 coaches. They easily maintain the resources and each have responsibility for updating/adding resources to their particular topic area. The employment coach has assessed E’s technology ability and interest and knows that she has high speed access in her home and is an avid internet user. E asks her initial questions and the Job Search Coach provides tips and information based on E’s specific needs. To further strengthen E’s independent job search, the Job Search Coach gives E a link to the WoodGreen employment portal, where E can find templates for resumes, cover letters, post-interview thank you letters, etc. The coach asks E to review some of those materials and to prepare her materials for the coach to review. E also has the option of bringing the materials in or communicating with the coach via email. E is also able to, once she has registered on the site, sign up to receive alerts of new information, materials, events and links that have been added that are or interest to her. She can sign up in her profile, or in an expanded list of “subscriptions” based on type of resource and category. Scenario 2 J is running a 2-hour workshop about working as an Engineer in Canada. She has 10 people attend who are very interested in learning more and taking next steps.


Some sign up to work with J one-on-one. Some do not, but are still interested in finding out more. After her workshop, J posts her information and resources about working as an Engineer on the Newcomer Links website. Working with a job profile template, she is able to easily post some basic background information, links to useful websites, including occupational information, industry/sector information and other labour market information. Links are also made to online occupational description videos. She also posts all or excerpts from her presentation on the site, to inform others who might be interested and to encourage them to come to the next workshop – there is a link to the events page where site visitors can find out about this and other workshops offered at WoodGreen (could also feed event information from a central calendar to this page). This excerpt may also include video clips from the workshop itself, so site visitors can get some information as well as see how the workshop is structured. Information for new site visitors about how to become a WoodGreen client is also available, including a link to an online intake form, general service information and a map to the office location. A link is made to the Newcomer Links discussion area, employment section (possibly Engineer section) to encourage online discussion. It is clear that the discussion is not moderated (except to meet site terms and conditions) and that this discussion will not replace one-on-one help, but can give newcomers a chance to discuss Engineer employment issues with each other and WoodGreen staff. The Discussion area page has information about how to get one-on-one help from an employment coach at WoodGreen if the site user wants to access that option. J and other Job Search Coaches have access to update the Engineer in Canada section as they discover new resources, provide new presentation materials, tips and links users to the main Employment section where they can find the general job search tips and resources, which have been posted/uploaded by the Job Search Coach team, shared among the 3 coaches. They also have access to shared resources/materials that are not publicly available to site users, but are used as internal tools and a shared knowledge repository.

Settlement Services Scenario 1


C is running a monthly Accounting Club for clients interested in finding work in the accounting field. The session involves some presentations by a variety of representatives (e.g., employers, newcomers working in the field, employment agency reps, college program reps, etc.) and includes a networking component. Participants get a lot of information handed out and the discussion is lively. Not all clients are able to make every Accounting Club meeting, but they are actively engaged and interested in the information provided. A section of the WoodGreen Newcomer Links portal includes an Accounting Club section that complements the face-to-face meeting and provides clients with an opportunity to learn, share and interact in between monthly meetings. This is, in essence, a topic/group portal on the site, based on a particular group of clients’ interests. Part of this section would be publicly available, as a teaser to find out more – probably a part of the About section, maybe some FAQs, etc. If a visitor was interested in finding out more, “behind the password”, they could fill out the secure intake form (with explanations about why they need to provide certain information) or be provided with contact information about how they can join the next face-to-face event, etc. Clients are able to sign up to receive alerts and provide information about themselves in their profile. Content sections include: Welcome/Home page About the Admin Club

• Upcoming Events, agenda, etc. • News of interest to the group (i.e. job postings, other events, etc.) • Minutes, Notes from previous meetings

Admin Club – Resources

• Employer information, industry profiles, job profiles – using consistent templates

• Interviews and profiles of successful newcomers • Links to excellent sites

Admin Club – Discussion Area

• Ask questions • Share stories • Network

Clients who attended the meeting can continue their discussions, ask questions (one of the presenters may make themselves available to answer questions for a time in the discussion area), follow links, read news or items of interest posted by


C. These resources are organized into categories, and include documents, external links, quizzes/questionnaires, audio/video clips, feeds from external sites, etc. Scenario 2 A newcomer who is not a WoodGreen client visits the Newcomer Links website. They benefit from some of the general information that is posted there about the settlement issues they are facing. This information is a combination of WoodGreen content, information fed from other sites and presented on Newcomer Links (i.e. from Settlement.Org, CLEONet, etc.) and links to external sites and resources (including video, 211Toronto, etc.). They have a question that they would like WoodGreen to answer. They click on a link such as “Have a Question?” 1. They are provided with information about how to become a WoodGreen client and are invited to make an appointment with a WoodGreen settlement counsellor (phone contact information is provided). 2. If they wish to ask their question(s) via the website, they are provided with an online intake form that mirrors the intake form they would fill out in the office (including their PR Card/IMM1000 number field), which is a secure form. At the end of this intake form, which is integrated with the site user registration form, they are prompted to ask their question. This prompt is in the form of an online, interactive self-assessment process to help them and the counsellor determine what they need – a series of questions designed to ensure that the settlement counsellor has the information they need to adequately answer the question. This confirmation is also sent to WoodGreen staff, with a note that their profile needs to be approved in the client database. The client’s user profile, entered by them, is subject to approval and quality check. Once that is complete, they are emailed confirmation of their status as a WoodGreen online client and provided with additional information about WoodGreen services and informed that their question will be answered within a specific period of time. The question is sent via the intake form, an email is sent to a central admin account to be distributed among settlement counsellor staff, mirroring the process that a client is internally referred if they physically come to the office.


Appendix 2 - Client Tracking and Management System Overview Introduction: Growing needs of managing client’s information has encouraged us to develop a simple, optimize secure and scalable data management system. Client Tracking and Management System (CTMS) is an application that has been developed by WooodGreen Community Services IS department in order to meet the needs of its client information management. CTMS is a simple, secure, easily accessible, flexible, expandable, and scalable system which designed based on essential needs of Employment Resource Centre, Youth Job Centre and other community services program. System and Database overview: CTMS is designed to run in a multi site environment, by multi users, with web-based access. The system has been designed on a web based structure by using Microsoft SQL and ASP/ASP.net, to ensure that the system will meet or exceed future requirements of expansion, security and accessibility. The database is divided into several relational tables to maximize the use of common elements and optimize the size and accessibility to the database elements. Application Overview: Application modeling has three layers Data Layer, Business Layer, and User Layer. Data Layer or kernel contains all of the actual data that is collected. This includes clients profile and any data the related to their progress monitor. Business Layer contains all the business rules that the application needs to satisfy. This the key layer in maintaining the data integrity. This is the layer that is driven by business rules that Employment Resource Centre and other service programs use. This layer is modified as any changes will appear in the rules and regulations of those programs. Any changes is posted as an update package for the current application periodically. The final layer is the User Layer; this layer contains the user interface, and is layer that interacts with users. The business layer is the layer that insulates between the data and user interface. This insulation layer ensures that the business rules are followed, the users are isolated from the actual data, and also the data is secured. This is the design will help us to maintain the integrity of data.


Important questions and answers about the CTMS:

1. Setup and security: CTMS is a web based application that runs under secure communication over the internet. Server setup and maintenance is done at WoodGreen site. There is no setup requirements on individual workstations.

2. Accessibility:

The application is accessible from any computer and it is authenticated via user name and password.

3. Security and backup: WoodGreen maintain two levels of firewalls plus an authentication mechanism to maintain the security of accessing IT/IS resources. Our policy for the data backup is to maintain 20 business days; however we can arrange any customized backup policy if it is requested.

4. Reports: CTMS generates three report categories:

• Statistical reports • Client based reports • MIS reports

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