ACA

Affordable Care Act.

ANF

Executive Office for Administration and Finance (One of three Executive Sponsors of this project).

AT/IT List

The "AT/IT List" is the Assistive Technology Information Technology Environment List, which may be attached to the solicitation or is available at www.mass.gov/accessibility/.

Accessibility Audit Testing

Conducted on the Commonwealth's behalf by a third-party testing vendor engaged and paid for by the Commonwealth.

Accessibility Testing Vendor

A pre-approved/certified entity with which the Commonwealth contracts to provide Accessibility Audit Testing.

Account

8-digit number which indicates from where the payment was made. Account numbers are used to assign annual budgets (sometimes at the program level), track grants from Federal and other sources and track bond authorizations over many years, among other purposes. Also known as appropriation.

Accounts Payable Period

The period of time beyond a budget fiscal year during which bills are paid for goods received or services performed during that prior budget fiscal year. By Commonwealth statute, the Accounts Payable Period is July 1 through August 31.

Active Directory

Active Directory is the "directory service" portion of the Windows 2000 operating system. Active Directory manages the identities and relationships of the distributed resources that make up a network environment. It stores information about network-based entities (e.g., applications, files, printers and people) and provides a consistent way to name, describe, locate, access, manage and secure information about these resources. It's the central authority that manages the identities and brokers the relationships between these distributed resources, enabling them to work together.

Agency

For the purposes of this procurement, the term "Agency" is defined to include the following: executive, legislative, independent and judicial branches and authorities of the Commonwealth. May also be referred to as department, college, university, commission, board, independent or office.

Agile

A development approach that delivers software in increments by following principles of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development.

Application Programming Interface (API)

A set of functions and procedures allowing the creation of applications that access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) applies advanced analysis and logic-based techniques, including machine learning, to interpret events, support and automate decisions, and take actions.

Best Practice

A group of tasks that optimizes the efficiency (cost and risk) or effectiveness (service level) of the business discipline or process to which it contributes. It must be implementable, replicable, transferable and adaptable across industries.

Best-of-Breed

Enterprises often purchase software from different vendors to obtain the best-of-breed offering for each application area. For example, enterprises may purchase a human-resource package from one vendor and an accounting package from another.

Bid

The offer submitted in Response to a Request for Response (RFR). See Response.

Bidder

An organization proposing to enter into a contract to provide a Commodity or Service, or both, to or for a Department or the Commonwealth.

Bidder Response Template

Includes a Response Checklist, Bidder's Letter of Transmittal, resumes of Key Staff proposed for the project and Business Reference Forms, in addition to Sections in which the Bidder will respond to specific Sections of the RFR.

Business Intelligence (BI) Platforms

Enables enterprises to build BI applications by providing capabilities in three categories: analysis, such as online analytical processing (OLAP); information delivery, such as reports and dashboards; and platform integration, such as BI metadata management and a development environment.

Business Process

An event-driven, end-to-end processing path that starts with a user request and ends with a result for the user. Business processes often cross departmental and even organizational boundaries.

COMMBUYS

The official system of record for procurement information in the Commonwealth. Required to be used by executive departments and may be used by all other agencies and local entities.

COTS

Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Software.

CTR

Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth (One of three Executive Sponsors of this project).

Cloud Computing

A style of computing in which massively scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered "as a service" to external customers using Internet technologies.

Commonwealth Information Warehouse (CIW)

A sizeable data repository which contains an extensive list of financial and payroll data from the Commonwealth's source systems MMARS and HR/CMS

Component

A deliverable or set of deliverables that are logically related and have been grouped together for purposes of project management. See also Milestone.

Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (ACFR)

A set of U.S. government financial statements comprising the financial report of the State. This complies with the accounting requirements promulgated by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).

Configured Software Deliverable

ERP or third-party application software that has been: Configured to meet Commonwealth requirements in accordance with a design approved by the Commonwealth. Unit, system and integration tested by the Contractor with all discovered defects corrected.

Continuous Knowledge Transfer

Vendor responsibility to design and operationalize its configurations required by the Commonwealth to conduct its business in the new software solution. This transfer of knowledge to Commonwealth staff occurs during the project.

Contract

A legally enforceable agreement between a Contractor and a Department. ANF, OSD and CTR shall jointly issue Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, a Standard Contract Form, and other forms or documentation, that Departments shall use to document the procurement of Commodities, Services or both.

Contractor

The Bidder that is awarded the Contract under this RFR.

Customer

An individual user who interacts with a system in a specific capacity. See End User.

Customer Data

Electronic data or information submitted by Customer or Authorized Parties to the service being used.

Customized Software Deliverable

The customized computer program(s), other than the ERP Solution, including programming tools, scripts and routines, the Contractor is required to or otherwise does develop for the Commonwealth under this Contract, as described more fully in each Statement of Work, including: all additions to current baseline configuration options, enhancements, improvements and other modifications made or provided pursuant to the applicable Statement of Work. See Software Enhancement/Extension.

Dashboards

A reporting mechanism that aggregate and display metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs), enabling them to be examined at a glance by all users before further exploration via additional business analytics (BA) tools. Dashboards help improve decision making by revealing and communicating in-context insight into business performance, displaying KPIs or business metrics using intuitive visualization, including charts, dials and gauges that indicate the progress of KPIs toward defined targets.

Data Integration

Comprises the practices, architectural techniques and tools for achieving the consistent access and delivery of data across the spectrum of data subject areas and data structure types in the enterprise to meet the data consumption requirements of all applications and business processes.

Data Interface

A system or mechanism across which two or more separate components of a computer system exchange information.

Deliverable

A service or outcome that must be provided by the Contractor to the Commonwealth as required or identified by, or in a Contract. Deliverables may include, but are not limited to: designs, specifications, hardware, tools, components of technical environments, configured software, additions to configuration options, custom software, modifications/enhancements to software, documented analysis, plans, reports, training, services to the Commonwealth, support or assistance to the Commonwealth, documentation, testing or related services, provided expertise, or achievement of specified outcomes.

Department

The designation determined as the financial reporting unit. See Agency.

Department Name

The name of the department. There are approximately 153 Commonwealth Departments.

Digital Transformation

Digital transformation can refer to anything from IT modernization (for example, cloud computing), to digital optimization, to the invention of new digital business models. The term is widely used in public-sector organizations to refer to modest initiatives such as putting services online or legacy modernization. Thus, the term is more like "digitization" than "digital business transformation."

Disaster Recovery

(1) The use of alternative network circuits to re-establish communications channels in the event that the primary channels are disconnected or malfunctioning, and (2) The methods and procedures for returning a data center to full operation after a catastrophic interruption (e.g., including recovery of lost data).

Diversity Program Reporting

Refers to the Supplier Diversity Office programs and various reporting and analytics desired to be accessed from the new e-procurement system. Such reporting is expected to include tallies of vendors with specific business attributes including, but not limited to, total in the system, on a particular contract, as subcontractors, counts by procurement type and other analytics. The business attributes currently include the following types of businesses: Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Woman Business Enterprise (WBE), Minority Woman Business Enterprise (MWBE), Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), Small Business Purchasing Program (SBPP) participants, Veteran Business Enterprise (VBE), and others that may arise.

Documentation

All user manuals, operating manuals, technical manuals and any other instructions, specifications, documents and materials, in any form or media, that describe the functionality, installation, testing, operation, use, maintenance, support and technical and other components, features and requirements of any Configured or Custom Software Deliverable.

EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)

Refers to a payment transaction where monies owed to the vendor are transferred electronically from the Commonwealth to the vendor's financial institution (i.e., without a paper check). EFT is required for contracted vendors and preferred for all other payments.

EOTSS

Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (One of three Executive Sponsors of this project).

ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning System.

ERP Solution

Entire suite of application software needed to meet Commonwealth's requirements, proposed by Bidder to meet such requirements or implemented by the Contractor to meet Commonwealth requirements and timelines.

ETRM

Enterprise Technical Reference Model.

Electronic Signature (e-Signature)

A traceable email or a biometric applied to a message. The biometric may be based on digitized handwriting (handwriting that is converted by cryptography into a digital signature) or a biometric (e.g., a fingerprint that can be combined with a hash or digest of the message to show the signer's intent). The electronic signature cannot be removed and applied to other documents to forge a signature.

End User

The ultimate consumer resource of the software and services solution. Represents Commonwealth agency management and staff that are users of the business solutions described in this RFR as well as the general public that may access public facing transparency and other web sites. End users include employees and other staff paid through the HR/Payroll system with access to time and benefits records and end users of MMARS.

End-User Deliverables

Any software, documentation and other interfaces or materials, and any configuration, implementation, or customization thereof, used by end users, (which may include internal end users, such as Commonwealth employees and contractors, and external end users, such as Commonwealth residents), and delivered by the Vendor under the Solicitation. End-User Deliverables include, without limitation, any configuration, implementation, or customization of Third-Party or Vendor software and any updates, new releases, versions, upgrades, improvements, bug fixes, patches or other modifications to software.

Enterprise Accessibility Standards

The Enterprise Information Technology Accessibility Standards and the EOTSS Web Accessibility Standards Version 2, available at www.mass.gov/accessibility/.

Evaluation

The process conducted by the Evaluation Committee of reviewing and evaluating the submitted bids/responses related to this procurement.

Executive Departments

Approximately 70 departments reporting to the Governor in a hierarchy of 9 Secretariats and departments within them.

Federal Grant

A specific amount of funding provided by the Federal government for a set period of time to finance programs and activities managed by a Commonwealth department. Federal grants are awarded subject to restrictions set out in grant agreements between the federal government and the Commonwealth. Federal grants, unlike federal reimbursements, are deposited in and expended almost exclusively through appropriation type 4FN accounts.

Final Acceptance

The Commonwealth's acceptance based on submitted Deliverables having been reviewed and approved in accordance with applicable acceptance criteria related to Custom Software and Configured Software Deliverables or other criteria and Deliverables as may be established or defined elsewhere in this Contract.

Fiscal Year (FY)

A period of 12 consecutive months, (plus in the case of the Commonwealth, an Accounts Payable Period), chosen by an organization as its accounting period for annual reports; The Commonwealth's Fiscal Year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. The Fiscal Year is referred to by the calendar year in which the Fiscal Year ends, e.g., Fiscal Year 2020 extends from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 (often written as FY2020 or FY20).

Fit Gap Analysis

Used to evaluate and identify key data or components for financials, payroll and human capital management functions that "fit"within the current business processes, how these will be impacted by adoption of the configured software and to show "gaps" that will need solutions.

Fund

An accounting entity that contains balances used for either general governmental purposes (for the General Funds revenues) or dedicated to specific purposes. For instance, gas tax collections and vehicle registration fees are deposited into the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, which in turn is used to fund the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), overseers and maintainers of roads, bridges, transit and other matters of the State transportation infrastructure.

Fund Name

The name of the Fund.

Funding Type

Funding source used for a payment. The options are: Budgetary - Funded through annual state budget. Capital - Funded through long-term bond authorizations. Federal - Grants from Federal government sources. Trusts - Supported through various sources, with the largest being off-budget transfers such as pensions. Other - Internal or agency funds used to streamline some payments such as payroll taxes, workers compensation and IT charges.

GAA

General Appropriations Act.

GASB

Government Accounting Standards Board. GASB provides standards for the content of a ACFR in its annually updated publication, Codification of Governmental Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards.

General Fund

The primary operating fund of the Commonwealth. Most departments are funded from the General Fund. The majority of state tax revenues and fees are deposited into this fund.

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

All audited public and privately held organizations run their operations and base their accounting on this well established and widely accepted set of accounting rules.

Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)

The integrated collection of capabilities that enable an organization to reliably achieve objectives, address uncertainty and act with integrity. See Integrated Risk Management.

HCM

Human Capital Management (HCM), is a set of practices related to people resource management. These practices are focused on the organizational need to provide specific competencies and are implemented in three categories: workforce acquisition, workforce management and workforce optimization.

HR

Human Resources.

HR/CMS

The Human Resources/Compensation Management System used to manage and pay the Commonwealth's employees.

HRD

Human Resources Division. Chief human resources agency for Executive Departments. Member of Project Executive Steering Committee.

Hypercare

Period of time immediately following a system Go Live where an elevated level of support is available to ensure the seamless adoption of a new system.

INTEMPO

An online application through which Departments request access to Commonwealth enterprise applications, as well as maintain track of their users current application access and roles.

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

The discipline that enables the right individuals to access the right resources at the right times for the right reasons. IAM addresses the mission-critical need to ensure appropriate access to resources across increasingly heterogeneous technology environments, and to meet increasingly rigorous compliance requirements. IAM is a crucial undertaking for any enterprise. It is increasingly business-aligned, and it requires business skills, not just technical expertise. Enterprises that develop mature IAM capabilities can reduce their identity management costs and, more importantly, become significantly more agile in supporting new business initiatives.

Implementation Services

Services provided by the Implementation Vendor per the terms of the Contract to configure the Solution, provide change management and other Services as defined in the Contract.

Implementation Vendor

Organization responsible for the provision of Integration and Implementation Services for this procurement. See SI Vendor.

Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V)

A comprehensive review, analysis, and testing, (software and/or hardware) performed by an objective third party to confirm (i.e., verify) that the requirements are correctly defined, and to confirm (i.e., validate) that the system correctly implements the required functionality and security requirements.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

A standardized, highly automated offering in which computing resources owned by a service provider, complemented by storage and networking capabilities, are offered to customers on demand. Resources are scalable and elastic in near real time and metered by use. Self-service interfaces, including an API and a graphical user interface (GUI), are exposed directly to customers. Resources may be single-tenant or multi-tenant, and are hosted by the service provider or on-premises in a customer's data center.

Integrated Risk Management (IRM)

A set of practices and processes supported by a risk-aware culture and enabling technologies, that improves decision making and performance through an integrated view of how well an organization manages its unique set of risks.

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

A suite of cloud services enabling development, execution and governance of integration flows connecting any combination of on premises and cloud-based processes, services, applications and data within individual or across multiple organizations.

Key Personnel

Personnel designated or identified in the RFR, the bidder's proposal or in the negotiated contract as Key Personnel.

M&O

Maintenance and Operations.

MMARS

The Massachusetts Management, Accounting and Reporting System: A financial management and reporting system specifically designed to support the financial functions performed by the Commonwealth.

Milestone

A deliverable or set of deliverables that are logically related and have been grouped together for purposes of project management. See Component.

Multi-Tenant Model

Multi-tenancy means that a single instance of the software and its supporting infrastructure serves multiple customers. Each customer shares the software application. Each tenant's data is isolated and remains invisible to other tenants.

Non-Public Data

Any information that cannot be accessed by the public and has been provided by Customer or its Affiliates as Non-Public Data within the Service to enable the vendor to process the data on its behalf.

OSD

Operational Services Division; chief procurement agency for Executive Departments.

PACE

Learning management system to publish mandated and optional training opportunities.

Personal Data

Any information related to an identified or identifiable individual and has been provided by Customer or its Affiliates as Customer Data within the Service to enable the vendor to process the data on its behalf.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Any and all individual's identifying information related to former, current or prospective employees, consultants, contingent workers, independent contractors or retirees of Customer that is accessed, disclosed, provided, obtained, created, generated, scanned, entered, collected or processed in connection with the Service.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

A type of cloud offering that delivers application infrastructure (middleware) capabilities as a service.

Post-Implementation

Post-project evaluation as to whether project objectives were met, determine how effectively project was run, learn lessons for the future, ensure organization obtains the greatest possible benefit from the project.

Procurement

See Request for Response (RFR).

Product Vendor

See Software Vendor.

Project Team / Project Management Office (PMO)

Group of stakeholders who are responsible for performing project work as a regular part of their assigned duties. The Project Team will include senior technology and business experts with a deep and a broad understanding of Commonwealth business functions. The Project Team will serve as subject matter experts and will identify and facilitate the availability of additional experts as needed.

Quality Assurance (QA)

Term used to describe process and procedures through which the Bidder ensures that Deliverables and Services provided under this Contract meet the requirements set forth in design documents and as otherwise described in this RFR and the resulting SOW.

Quote

A description of Services and an estimate of cost for Services submitted in response to this RFR. See Bid or Response.

Request for Information (RFI)

The mechanism used to request information from product vendors or providers of implementation services regarding their product, implementation methodology or services.

Request for Response (RFR)

The mechanism used to communicate procurement specifications and to request Responses from potential Bidders. An RFR may also be referred to as a "Solicitation" or Procurement.

Resilience

The ability of a software or system to withstand a disruption within acceptable degradation parameters and to recover within an acceptable time while continuing with operations even when certain failures or errors occur.

Response

The Bidder's complete submission in Response to a Solicitation; a Bid or Proposal.

Response Form

A document that is required in order for the Bidder's Response to the RFR to be complete.

Risk / Risk Management

Probability and impact of positive and negative events that can occur during the life of the project; business impact of such failures and risk mitigation strategies will be identified and tracked.

Run Book

A routine compilation, in electronic or physical book form, of the procedures and operations which the administrator or operator of the system carries out. Procedures documented in the Run Book will include those to begin, stop, and supervise the system as well as those needed for the handling of special requests and contingencies. The Run Book will have step-by-step instructions to determine and carry out the appropriate course of action given a particular scenario.

SAO

Office of the State Auditor. Member of the Project Executive Steering Committee.

SI

System Integrator. See Implementation Vendor.

SLA

Service Level Agreement.

SOW / Statement of Work

The Contract Agreement between the Vendor and the Commonwealth that stipulates the scope, terms and conditions of the engagement.

SQR

Dun & Bradstreet Supplier Qualifier Report.

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)

A software application that is not purchased but is subscribed to. Rights to use the software and documentation are granted for a particular period of time in exchange for an agreed upon fee paid for each period of use. Additional periods of use after the initial period agreed upon by the parties to the subscription are available via a renewal process. SaaS is characterized by being: Externally hosted and managed by the provider. Delivered in a one-to-many delivery model. May be either Single Tenant or Multi-Tenant in structure.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Part of the Contract between the Contractor and the Commonwealth which defines selected standards of service and Contractor reporting that must be provided by the Contractor under the terms of the Contract. The Service Level Agreement may also stipulate liquidated damages that apply if the required service levels are not met.

Service(s)

Any function performed for the benefit of the Commonwealth, including any of the Services the Contractor is required to, or otherwise does provide, under this Contract; Any Statement of Work, as more fully described in this Contract or such Statement of Work.

Single Tenant Model

A single instance of a software application and supporting infrastructure that serves one customer. In single-tenancy architectures, customers have a singular instance of a SaaS application dedicated to them.

Software (Definition for Accessibility)

The term "software" as used in accessibility requirements; includes without limitation commercial off-the-shelf software "COTS" and software as a service or other cloud-based software "SaaS."

Software Configuration

The process or result of defining or refining application functionality through means other than programming Such means may include, but are not limited to, entry of parameters, selection of table-based options that control processing, user or administrator selected options that control or tailor the user interface. Configuration does not include creation or modification of programming code or use of scripting language.

Software Enhancement/Extension

The customized computer program(s), other than the ERP Solution, including programming tools, scripts and routines the Contractor is required to or otherwise does develop for the Commonwealth under this Contract, as described more fully in each Statement of Work, including all additions to current baseline configuration options, enhancements, improvements and other modifications made or provided pursuant to the applicable Statement of Work. See Customized Software Deliverable.

Software Vendor

The manufacturer and provider of ERP or third-party application software proposed for use by the Commonwealth. The Software Vendor is the entity that proposes to grant a license or subscription to use the ERP or other Software and that would provide maintenance services once such software was licensed or subscribed. Also referred to as Product Vendor.

Solicitation

See Request for Response (RFR).

Solution

The electronic implementation of the Financials and HCM/Payroll functions and other ERP functionality to meet the business needs described in this RFR.

Solution Vendor

The organization responsible for the provision of the SaaS ERP Solution and Integration and Implementation Services for this procurement. See Vendor - Solution Vendor.

Stakeholder

Individuals and groups whose interests may be affected as a result of project execution or project completion; They may be actively involved in the project and/or may exert influence over the project's objectives and outcomes.

Statutory Basis Financial Report (SBFR)

The Statutory (or Budgetary) Basis Financial Report (SBFR) is an annual publication of the Massachusetts Office of the Comptroller. The publication of this report represents the conclusion of financial activity and final closing of the books for each Fiscal Year on the basis of state finance law.

TRC

Trial Court. Member of the Project Executive Steering Committee.

TRE

Treasurer and Receiver General of the Commonwealth. Member of the Project Executive Steering Committee.

TSS or EOTSS

Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (One of three Executive Sponsors of this project).

Third Party Software

Software not published by the ERP Software Vendor.

UAT

User Acceptance Test.

Use Case

A use case is a list of actions or event steps typically defining the interactions between a role and a system to achieve a goal.

User

A person who uses or operates something, especially a computer or other machine.

VPAT

A VPAT is a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template based on the standardized form developed by the Information Technology Industry Council. A VPAT shows how a software product meets key regulations of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires all agencies and departments of the U.S. Federal Government to make electronic information and technology accessible to federal employees and members of the public with disabilities.

Vendor (Solution Vendor)

The organization responsible for the provision of the SaaS ERP Solution and Integration and Implementation Services for this procurement.

Work case

A map of the experiences a person has when interacting with something, typically software. Intended to focus on how users interact with software.

Workflow

There are two types of workflows: 1. Internal and external process integration - defined business processes that span applications, including those that come from different vendors; or, 2. Automated events or processes - automated tasks to be performed.