We submitted this proposal in response to a Microsoft RFP in December, 2013. This version redacts budget and individual contact information.

1. 4Bells: Deploy Known Volunteers
Submitted by Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup Global
Caravan
Studios,
a
division
of
TechSoup
Global,
respectfully
requests
[redacted]
in
support
of
the
redesign
and
launch
of
the
4Bells
mobile
app,
which
helps
nonprofits
and
local
groups
to
deploy
known
volunteers
in
response
to
urgent,
time-­‐sensitive
community
needs.
1.
Provide
a
brief
overview
of
what
your
solution
is,
what
issue
area
it’s
focused
on,
and
what
you
hope
to
achieve
with
it.
The
4Bells
mobile
app
allows
nonprofits
and
local
groups
to
deploy
known
volunteers
to
meet
urgent,
time-­‐sensitive
requests.
For
example,
a
Neighborhood
Emergency
Response
Team
(NERT)
can
pre-­‐register
local
volunteers
with
specific
skills
(e.g.,
medical,
construction,
electrical)
and
then
deploy
those
volunteers
to
meet
urgent
requests
when
the
need
arises.
In
this
project,
we
will
redesign
the
existing
4Bells
prototype
to
meet
the
specific
needs
of
local
first
responder
groups,
such
as
NERTs,
so
that
4Bells
can
be
adopted
and
deployed
in
the
case
of
a
disaster.
2.
Describe
in
detail
the
problem
you
are
trying
to
solve,
how
your
proposed
solutions
solves/addresses
the
problem,
and
how
this
support
would
help
you
achieve
your
goals.
In
a
disaster,
communities
need
to
be
prepared
to
provide
basic
support
services
for
up
to
three
days.
But
this
level
of
support
can
be
difficult
to
consistently
establish,
particularly
when
formal
emergency
medical
and
rescue
teams
are
required
in
more
hard
hit
areas
or
are
unable
to
physically
access
a
specific
location.
Volunteer-­‐based
emergency
groups,
such
as
Neighborhood
Emergency
Response
Teams
(NERTs),
can
help
fill
such
critical
support
gaps.
These
on-­‐call
emergency
groups
recruit,
vet,
and
organize
volunteers
in
advance
of
a
disaster.
When
an
emergency
situation
does
hit,
they
need
to
ensure
that
volunteers
with
specific
skills—such
as
medical
or
construction
skills—are
deployed
quickly
and
appropriately.
And
no
matter
how
robust
the
planning,
exact
response
needs
are
unknown
until
there
is
an
actual
disaster,
requiring
these
groups
to
maintain
a
large
and
varied
roster
of
skilled
volunteers
through
which
they
need
to
rapidly
and
effectively
sort
and
then
deploy,
track,
and
coordinate
during
an
emergency
in
an
affected
location.
4Bells
allows
emergency
response
groups
and
organizations
to
quickly
geolocate
volunteers
and
to
then
deploy
them
against
very
specific
requests
that
require
their
skills
in
affected
communities.
Here’s
how
4Bells
works:
1.
For
the
volunteer:
• Once
the
volunteer
has
been
accepted
by
the
organization,
they
receive
a
connection
code
for
the
organization.
At
that
point,
the
volunteer
can
download
the
app
and
use
the
code
to
connect
to
the
organization.
• The
volunteer
signs
up
to
receive
appropriate
alerts
based
on
their
skill
and
engagement
level.
• When
a
disaster
strikes,
the
volunteer
receives
a
text
message
that
an
incident
requires
their
skills.
• They
can
respond
to
the
request
to
receive
additional
details.
Caravan
Studios,
a
division
of
TSG
1
|
P a g e

2. 4Bells:
Deploying
Known
Volunteers
•
•
•
They
can
respond
to
the
request
by
declining
the
opportunity,
accepting
the
opportunity,
or
serving
as
an
alternate.
When
they
complete
the
opportunity,
they
can
add
details
as
well
as
check
the
opportunity
as
completed.
If
they
are
unable
to
complete
the
opportunity,
they
can
return
it
and
notify
the
organization
or
group
that
another
volunteer
is
needed.
2.
For
the
requesting
group
or
organization:
• The
organization
or
group
signs
up
for
an
account,
including
establishing
a
series
of
criteria
for
their
volunteers
and
categories
for
their
requests
• Using
TechSoup
Global’s
NGOk,
the
organization
or
group
can
be
immediately
validated
as
a
nonprofit,
or
go
through
a
vetting
procedure.
o Vetted
organizations
receive
a
badge
indicating
they
are
nonprofit
organization.
o Groups
that
do
not
go
through
the
vetting
process
have
designated
limits
in
using
the
system.
• They
instruct
volunteers
to
connect
using
the
process
described
above
• When
a
disaster
strikes,
they
use
the
system
to
send
out
designated
requests
• They
can
review
typical
administrative
information:
o Number
of
volunteers.
o Active
responses.
o Pending
responses.
o Response
times.
• In
addition,
they
can
use
the
system
to
contact
volunteers,
in
predetermined
time
periods,
to
ensure
they
are
still
active
and
their
skills
are
still
current.
The
requested
support
for
this
project
would
allow
us
to
pivot
and
use
the
design
established
in
the
prototype
to
be
developed
in
HTML5;
conduct
a
pilot
period;
refine
the
technology
based
on
pilot
feedback;
and
formally
launch
the
app
by
including
it
in
relevant
mobile
app
marketplaces
and
conducting
outreach
to
emergency
groups
regarding
its
use
and
benefits.
3.
Specify
the
target
audience
of
your
solution
–
who
will
use
it?
Who
will
benefit
from
it?
While
a
wide
variety
of
nonprofits
and
community
groups
could
use
and
benefit
from
4Bells,
this
project
will
direct
the
app
toward
the
specific
emergency
deployment
needs
of
emergency
response
and
recovery
groups.
To
connect
with
these
groups,
we
will
reach
out
to
Neighborhood
Emergency
Response
Teams
(NERTs),
firefighters,
police
officers,
and
other
first
responders
to
validate
the
specific
needs.
Additionally,
as
the
app
is
developed,
we
will
work
with
these
groups—as
we
do
in
other
projects—to
develop
an
advisory
committee
that
provides
appropriate
overall
governance
for
4Bells
as
well
as
ongoing
input
to
the
app’s
development.
While
these
emergency
response
teams
will
be
the
immediate
users
of
4Bells,
the
community
broadly
is
the
beneficiary.
By
providing
a
reliable
way
to
deploy
skilled
volunteers
after
a
disaster,
4Bells
allows
communities
to
sustain
themselves
immediately
after
an
emergency.
It
also
allows
volunteers
to
be
confidently
deployed
in
a
wide
variety
of
situations.
4.
Identify
the
key
stakeholders
for
the
solution,
their
contact
information,
the
role
they’re
playing,
and
how
their
skillset
is
applicable
to
the
solution
development.
•
Caravan
Studios,
a
division
of
TechSoup
Global:
lead
team
in
charge
of
strategy,
community
engagement,
outreach
o [redacted]
Caravan
Studios,
a
division
of
TSG
2
|
P a g e

3. 4Bells:
Deploying
Known
Volunteers
•
•
JayStack,
technology
development
lead
o [redacted]
TechSoup.org,
one
of
the
primary
potential
distributors
of
the
app
o [redacted]
5.
Describe
how
your
solution
will
leverage
Microsoft
technologies
and
why
you
selected
Microsoft
technologies.
We
will
leverage
a
number
of
different
Microsoft
technologies,
as
discussed
below.
Microsoft
Windows
Azure
platform
Virtual
Machines
Azure
VMs
are
ideal
candidates
to
host
the
server-­‐side
components
of
the
4Bells
app.
Azure
helps
set
up
a
service
endpoint
(without
investing
into
hardware)
and
scale
the
services
on-­‐demand
in
cases
of
increasing
load
on
the
server.
The
cloud-­‐based
hosting
of
the
business
services
is
the
right
strategic
approach
in
case
of
4Bells
app,
Furthermore
Azure
is
a
very
mature,
flexible
and
feature-­‐rich
platform.
According
to
our
experience,
Azure
provides
a
great
availability
that
is
very
expensive
to
reach
with
self-­‐hosted
servers.
Microsoft
IIS
Microsoft
IIS
is
a
robust
web
server
that
will
serve
the
4Bells
client
app.
Microsoft
SQL
Server
2012
–
Microsoft
Azure
SQL
Database
MSSQL
is
our
default
storage
technology.
Microsoft
released
a
wide
range
of
editions
that
fit
both
to
small
business
apps
and
large
enterprise
projects.
MSSQL
databases
are
easy
to
deploy
and
maintain,
the
development
and
management
tools
are
very
advanced
and
well-­‐understood
among
the
developers.
Microsoft
.NET,
Visual
Studio
2013
The
.NET
platform
is
an
advanced
development
platform
with
a
robust
IDE.
Therefore,
our
preferred
server-­‐side
language
will
be
C#.
Microsoft
Entity
Framework
Microsoft
.NET
developers
experienced
an
enormous
improvement
in
the
productivity
of
database
management
since
the
first
RTM
version
of
Entity
Framework.
In
the
last
couple
of
years,
Entity
Framework
became
a
de-­‐facto
standard
of
.NET
data
operations.
The
server-­‐side
data
manager
layer
of
the
4Bells
app
will
be
built
to
EF,
so
source
code
can
be
easily
understood
and
extended
by
all
the
.NET
developers
in
the
future.
OData
protocol
produced
by
ASP.NET
Web
API
OData
makes
third
party
application
integrations
easy
with
REST-­‐ful
API.
OData
dissolves
the
boundaries
of
web
services
and
will
help
other
organizations
to
discover
and
explore
our
back-­‐end
services
without
digging
into
the
documentation
or
unnecessarily
exposing
the
data
that
needs
to
remain
secure.
We
have
two
options
for
administrative
dashboards:
• Generated
excel
files.
• MS
Reporting
Services,
if
desired
MS
Office
Excel
There
are
many
cases
of
data
reporting
that
cannot
be
foreseen
and
custom
chart/report
must
be
built
on-­‐demand.
Our
goal
is
to
provide
a
set
of
data
to
our
colleagues
in
an
Excel
document
that
is
generated
on
the
server-­‐side
from
the
current
records
stored
in
the
SQL
tables.
Alternatively,
this
can
be
achieved
by
producing
a
live
OData/XML
feed
that
can
be
opened
with
Office
Excel
and
can
be
processed
and
transformed
by
staff.
Caravan
Studios,
a
division
of
TSG
3
|
P a g e

4. 4Bells:
Deploying
Known
Volunteers
Microsoft
SQL
Server
Reporting
Services
The
continuous
monitoring
of
volunteers
is
one
of
the
most
important
jobs
for
participating
organizations.
We
may
provide
daily
reports,
stats
and
KPIs
on
Microsoft
SQL
Server
Reporting
Services
to
maximize
our
potentials
and
dedicate
our
resources
to
the
proper
fields
of
charity.
6.
Provide
a
detailed
communications
plan
for
how
you
will
raise
awareness
of
the
solution
and
Microsoft’s
support.
Project
phase
1.
Technical
Development
Target
audience
• NERTs,
first
responders,
appropriate
government
agencies
2.
Pilot
•
•
•
3.
Launch
•
•
•
•
Selected
NERTs
and
first
responders.
Disaster
relief
and
recovery
organizations.
Other
volunteer
heavy
organizations.
NERTs
First
responders.
Disaster
and
recovered
organizations
Other
volunteer
heavy
NGOs
Channel/Communications
• Direct
outreach.
• Product
demos
and
overviews.
• Reviews
of
technical
standards.
• Exposure
to
other
partners.
• Exposure
to
selected
technologies.
• Direct
Outreach.
• Regular
product
demos.
• Early
access
to
all
portions
of
the
product.
• Access
to
marketing
and
communications
materials,
include
technical
specs.
•
•
•
•
Intended
result
• Robust
advisory
committee
to
inform
development
but
also
support
outreach.
•
•
•
•
Emails,
TechSoup
•
catalog,
ad
purchases,
social
media
support.
•
In-­‐person
outreach
from
pilot
participants
and
•
advisory
committee
members.
Public
Relations
outreach
to
appropriate
nonprofit,
social
benefit
and
technical
press.
Launch
parties
and
Microsoft
Stores
and
other
community
locations.
Product
feedback.
Feedback
on
outbound
marketing
materials.
Training
and
support
materials
feedback.
Create
a
core
of
evangelists
and
early
adopters.
Adoption
from
disaster
groups
Adoption
from
other
volunteer
heavy
NGOs
Volunteer
adoption
and
coordination
7.
Provide
detailed
outcome
targets
and
a
plan
on
how
you
will
track,
measure,
and
communicate
results
against
your
targets.
Caravan
Studios,
a
division
of
TSG
4
|
P a g e

5. 4Bells:
Deploying
Known
Volunteers
Target
Get
4-­‐10
nonprofits
to
pilot
the
solution
and/or
we
will
have
a
minimum
of
4
pilot
sites.
Each
pilot
organization
should
have
5-­‐20
volunteers
or
should
have
a
minimum
of
5
volunteers
across
a
minimum
of
two
categories.
Each
pilot
organization
should
send
a
minimum
of
5
opportunities
per
month
across
at
least
2
categories.
Each
pilot
organization
should
have
a
response
rate
of
at
least
50%
of
opportunities
posted.
Response
=
claimed
and
either
returned
or
completed.
User
satisfaction.
Users
=
organizations
and
volunteers
Track
In
the
backend
CRM,
we
can
see
which
organizations
are
registered.
Measure
How
many
organizations
are
registered
in
the
system?
Communicate
In
the
backend
CRM,
we
can
see
how
many
volunteers
each
organizations
has
per
category.
Minimum
and
Average
number
of
volunteers
per
pilot
organization
and
how
many
of
their
categories
have
registered
volunteers.
In
the
backend
CRM,
we
can
track
how
many
opportunities
are
sent
by
each
organization
and
how
many
volunteers
received
each
opportunity.
In
the
backend
CRM,
we
can
track
how
many
opportunities
are
claimed,
returned
and
completed
by
each
volunteer.
Minimum
and
Average
number
of
opportunities
per
pilot
organization
and
how
many
of
their
categories
were
used
to
send
those
opportunities.
Minimum
and
Average
percent
of
claimed,
returned
and
completed
opportunities
per
pilot
organization
and
numbers
by
volunteer.
Dashboard.
Access
to
only
org
specific
data
for
administrators.
System
wide
anonymized
reports,
perhaps
split
by
vertical.
Send
periodic
surveys
to
active
(and
inactive)
organizations
and
volunteers.
Measure
their
qualitative
satisfaction
with
the
effectiveness
of
the
system
Report
shared
with
product
manager,
developers
and
necessary
partners.
8.
Provide
a
detailed
budget,
specifying
the
amount
of
funding
or
in-­‐kind
support
you
are
requesting,
what
those
funds
would
be
used
for,
and
what
portion
of
the
budget
those
funds
represent.
[redacted]
To
ensure
the
sustainability
of
4Bells,
we
will
work
with
stakeholders
and
our
advisory
committee
to
develop
business
models
such
as
a
mix
of
donations
and
service
fees,
one-­‐time
start
up
fees
from
participating
organizations,
and/or
subscription
fees
from
participating
organizations.
9.
Be
sure
to
identify
any
existing
or
potential
partners
and
what
role
they
would
play
(support,
inform,
connect,
create,
enable,
govern,
fund,
leverage,
measure,
research).
In
the
design,
development,
and
launch
of
a
new
technology
solution,
such
as
a
mobile
app,
it
is
Caravan
Studio’s
standard
practice
to
engage
an
Advisory
Committee
comprised
of
a
range
of
stakeholders
who
bring
unique
and
vital
perspective
to
the
solution.
These
Advisory
Committees
generally
meet
monthly
and
provide
feedback
on
issues
ranging
from
community
engagement,
Caravan
Studios,
a
division
of
TSG
5
|
P a g e

6. 4Bells:
Deploying
Known
Volunteers
outreach
messaging,
use
case
scenarios,
testing/piloting,
and
business
planning.
Listed
below
is
an
outline
of
the
types
of
Advisory
Committee
expertise
that
we
intend
to
engage
in
support
of
4Bells.
Connect
• Governmental
disaster
response
agencies
• Library
staff
and
support
groups
• Disaster
groups
such
as
NetHope
Inform,
Enable,
Govern,
and
Leverage
• NERTs
• First
responders,
such
as
firefighters
and
police
officers
• Disaster
response
and
recovery
organizations
such
as
NetHope
members
• Government
groups
such
as
Corporation
for
National
Community
Service
FEMACorps
programs
Support,
Create,
Measure,
and
Research
• Caravan
Studios,
a
division
of
TechSoup
Global
• TechSoup
Global
• JayStack
Fund
•
Microsoft
10.
Be
sure
to
identify
any
other
sources
of
additional
funding
or
in-­‐kind
support.
The
4Bells
prototype
was
created,
pro
bono,
by
JayStack.
11.
Please
include
any
additional
information
in
the
appendix,
including
links
to
websites,
diagrams,
images,
multimedia,
etc.
Beta
version:
http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=ec8e6bee-­‐530b-­‐4892-­‐8787-­‐b39aaba4b220
Please
refer
to
the
“4Bells
Early
Designs”
pdf
file
included
with
this
application
for
additional
design
concepts/
Caravan
Studios,
a
division
of
TSG
6
|
P a g e