Business systems - transactions

Business systems are made up of a collection of applications acquired or developed over the years. We plan to Purchase and implement new enterprise applications to replace many of the current applications. This plan is driven by two primary strategies:

1. Replace core transaction processing applications and technologies that are no longer adequately supported by the vendor.
a. Eliminate any risk of becoming completely unsupported
b. Remain competitive using an application that is actively being developed and enhanced with industry appropriate capabilities
c. Have greater access to industry standard tools, utilities and resources
2. Consolidate as many of our business processing, planning and reporting needs within one integrated application as possible.
a. Reduce complexity by eliminating custom integrations
b. Increase efficiencies by eliminating redundant data entry and manual work a rounds
c. Improve real-time data access by reducing batch data transfers
d. Improve ease of use through common user interfaces that provide easy access to all transactions and information relevant to specific business roles

We will select an application that will enable more integrated, automated, efficient and visible business processes that support all aspects of our business operations. The application MUST have a successful track record and significant install base in the beverage distribution industry.

Implementing the new business application

The following are the guiding goals for selecting and implementing the new application. In order for your solution to be selected you must demonstrate that you can support the goals.

• Select an application and vendor having a track record of successfully supporting the needs of a large number of wholesale beverage distribution customers
• Select a modern fully integrated application that at a minimum replaces the capabilities of three of the current applications listed above (MAS 200, DISC, and Six-Pack)
• Increased real-time processing and information access and less batch processing and data uploads
• Select a financially sound application vendor who is committed to ongoing development and support of their application
• Select a vendor who can help import data from the applications being replaced into their application
• Select a vendor who can interface with any remaining adjunct applications
• Provide an on-site solution that is based on current database technologies and development tools and can provide a scalable and fault tolerant system with exceptional service level availability
• Select an application and vendor who will support the successful implementation of improvements identified in the Improvement Objectives section

Business solution for an existing application

Provide a description of the proposed solution - This section should describe the products to be purchased and how they fit together to deliver a solution for Goodman as described in the Goals and Improvement Objectives sections. This section should not exceed five pages. In addition as part of the solution proposal, you will need to respond that your solution can or cannot provide key functional capabilities. The table with the functional requirements to be incorporated into your response is in the Functional Requirements section.

Technical Questions - In this section you will be asked to respond to the questions in the Technical Questions section. These questions will focus on your solution’s technology including the recommended hardware, 3rd party software, and network / bandwidth requirements and restrictions.

Technical Support and Maintenance - In this section you will be asked to respond to the questions in the Technical Support and Maintenance section. These questions will focus on the recommended resources, skills, capabilities, and activities that are required to support the technical environment required by your solution.

Technical Support and Maintenance of an application

Technical Support and Maintenance FAQs

1. What are the personnel requirements that are typically needed to support the care and feeding of your solution? Please break this down into general administrative, developer and any other role your product requires.
2. How long does it take for an administrator to learn how to support (backup and restore, manage and monitor, secure and audit, etc.) your product?
3. Describe the typical maintenance that needs to be performed on each of your product(s).
4. What is your average response time for fixing bugs? How are these released to us?
5. What must a customer do in order to get new releases?
6. Please provide examples of both technical and end-user documentation.
7. Describe your approach to technical support and response time.
8. What technical support resources are available?
9. What is required to be eligible for support and maintenance?
10. How does one contact and receive technical support?