Heritage portal website Q&A

For more information on the Questions and Answers Facility please refer to the user guide:Questions and Answers – for Buyers/Purchasers and Suppliers07/05/2012QuestionIs there any specific requirement for dual (or multi-language) functionality? Does the replacementsystem have to involve Joomla or can it be replaced by a new system with an appropriate and easyto use CMS?AnswerHi. 1. The primary language of the site is English. Currently, flag icons at the bottom of each pageallow headings on the site to be translated into multiple languages. This facility should be retained.However there is no specific requirement for multi-language functionality across the site. 2. Thereis no specific requirement for the replacement system to be in Joomla!. Any suitable CMS may beconsidered. Tenderers should however carefully consider any potential impact on timeframe andbudget related to changing the whole site to a new system. Tenderers should also bear in mind thatall existing content on the site is to be retained. Many thanks.09/05/2012QuestionAre design prototypes to be included in the proposal ?AnswerHi. Not necessarily (we acknowledge that the turnaround time is short). We do however want to beconvinced that you have effective, innovative ideas for the site, in terms of design, IA andbranding... how you choose to convince us of that is up to you. Many thanks.09/05/2012QuestionCan you please help with following Questions. (1) Whether companies from Outside Ireland canapply for this ?? (From USA, India or Canada) (2) Whether we need to come over there formeetings ?? (3) Can we perform the tasks outside Ireland ?? (From USA, India or Canada)AnswerHi. (1) Any company is eligible to make a tender submission, regardless of location. (2) We wouldcertainly require face-to-face meeting time as part of any design and implementation process. Thiswould take place in Ireland. (3) Some tasks may be capable of being performed remotely.Consultation however will as previoulsy noted take place in Ireland and for ongoing technicalsupport an Irish base would be preferable. Many thanks.09/05/2012QuestionTwo questions; (a) Is there a budget for the project and (b) its mentioned that "We require advice onthe advisability of moving to an Irish hosting provider (and costings for same) as well as theprovision of ongoing technical maintenance and a technical help-desk function" - Will you alsoconsider a hosting provider in Northern Ireland?AnswerHi. (a) A maximum budget is not specifed in the tender documents. This is to increase pricecompetition among tenderers. As noted in the tender documents, the need to deliver real value formoney in an era of dramatically reduced public expenditure should be borne in mind by alltenderers. (b) We will certainly consider NI hosting providers. As with all advice on this matter, wewould however need to see detailed pros and cons for any new hosting arrangement vs exisiting oralternative arrangements. Many thanks.

10/05/2012QuestionSome questions; (a) Why is there such a tight turnaround timescale on returning proposals and haveany agencies been shortlisted already?, (b) Are there any other parties involved in managing the siteother than the Heritage Council, and if so, what can you tell me about them?, (c) How many peopleare responsible for maintaining the site and whats the current process?, (d) what are some of thecurrent issues faced by those who maintain the site?, (e) should costs be quoted in euro, sterling,VAT/VAT exempt? Thank You.AnswerHi. (a) The tight turnaround on returning proposals is due to the constraints of the EC projecttimetable, with which we are obliged to comply. No agencies have been shortlisted already. (b)There are no other agencies directly involved in managing the site other than The Heritage Councilof Ireland. The site editor appointed by the Arts and Humanities Research Board, UK, to managethe site on their behalf when it was under their stewardship has been retained on a temporary basisto ensure smooth handover to The Heritage Council, however this individual reports directly to TheHeritage Council. (c) At the moment a technical helpdesk service is provided by the hostingcompany (Clook). One Heritage Council staff member is responsible for content management, withthe assistance of the external editor referred to in (b) above. Any changes to the site architecture thatare outside the scope of the CMS will be the subject of an ongoing maintenance arrangement withthe succesful bidder for this tender. (d) While adding new content is relatively intuitive and hasslefree, adding new sections or categories within the site is time consuming and the process less thanobvious! There are also several glitches with uploading images. Lack of ability to tag posts withnumerous labels is very restrictive... posts currently need to be physically entered into each sectionunder which they should appear, doubling up on work for the editor. (e) Costs should be quoted inEuro. VAT should be listed and all VAT should be clearly distinguished from pre-VAT costs. Manythanks.10/05/2012QuestionIn the specification "Notice to Tenderers" it states that "The Heritage Council of Ireland will remainthe sole owner of all end products e.g. domain name, brand, creative concepts, ideas, and any otherrelated items or documents, irrespective of whether or not the contract is terminated prior to itscompletion." Just wondering is your expectation also that you will own source code? Are youprepared to accept a license to use the cms instead.AnswerHi. The Heritage Council will require ownership of any custom code created for the Heritage Portalsite. In the even that the CMS used is not open source then a standard licensing agreement will beput in place to govern its use. Many thanks.15/05/2012QuestionIn the specification, section 2.3, concerning SEO, its states; “The current site is not well optimisedfor search. We will require; - A full assessment of the site from a search perspective - Acomprehensive SEO strategy, tailored to the site Seems to me there may well be a significantamount of work involved in either/both of these, but I am unsure whether these are requirementsthat are needed (a) when the contract is awarded, as part of the project, or (b) as part of the tenderprocess? Can you please clarify?AnswerHi. These requirements are intended to form part of the project (after award of contract). Manythanks.

15/05/2012QuestionIn section 2.4 you refer to a requirement for re-branding - could you further define this requirement?e.g. is there a requirement for full reibranding to include name, logo etc. ThanksAnswerHi. The name Heritage Portal will stay the same. Rebranding may include a new logo and willcertainly include a new look and feel for the website. The logo currently on the site (CulturalHeritage: a Challenge for Europe) is the logo of the wider JPI project. The logo for the HeritagePortal will be added to the additional documents section in the next 15 minutes. It is - Im sureyoull agree - decidedly uninspiring. Many thanks.17/05/2012QuestionFirstly thanks for all your replies so far, they are very helpful & informative. My question is justabout the move to User Generated Content. Could you detail a little more how you see thisworking? Will you have a community manager who will encourage, moderate and ensure thiscontent flows? Will there be content provided by yourselves to keep the ball rolling? Roughly what% of UGC would you like to be aiming for?AnswerHi. There will be a community manager. Content will be provided by ourselves, yes, but the aimwould be to reduce the amount of this over time, as the user community becomes more interactive.An initial base target of 50:50 editor:user content generation would be refined over time to a pointwhere the majority of content is user generated. The move to user generated content will be enabledboth by a wider communications and marketing campaign, and by the website itself (redesigned tooptimise and facilitate user contribution). Many thanks.

Heritage portal website Q&A

by Keith Bohanna, Digital Strategist & Deliverer of Successful Web Projects on Jun 24, 2012

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