Position: Enterprise Architect Modernization
Duration: 6 Months
Location: Minnesota (100% Remote)
Project Background
The Minnesota Department of Information Technology Services (MNIT), in partnership with Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to conduct a comprehensive discovery and analysis engagement focused on the modernization of MDE's School Finance systems.
These critical financial systems consist of 52 applications in the portfolio. The School Finance Division oversees the distribution and financial reporting of approximately $12 billion annually in state and federal education funding to Minnesota's public school districts, charter schools, and cooperatives. These systems and processes are foundational to ensuring accurate, timely, and transparent allocation of funds that support education across the state.
Many of the existing systems supporting School Finance operations are aging, highly customized, and rely on manual processes or outdated technologies. The complexity and interdependency of these systems have increased business and technical risk, limited efficiency, and created challenges in maintaining compliance with evolving policy and financial reporting requirements.
To address these issues, MDE and MNIT have initiated the Strategic Technical and Modernization Planning and Standardization (STAMPS) project. The STAMPS initiative represents a structured discovery and assessment phase designed to:
- Evaluate and document the current state of business processes and technical systems (approximately 52 applications).
- Identify and assess risks, inefficiencies, and gaps across applications and workflows.
- Develop a comprehensive modernization roadmap with prioritized recommendations, cost estimates, and implementation options.
- Provide actionable insights that will guide future funding requests and support long-term modernization and sustainability efforts.
Desired Vendor Qualifications
- Five (5) years' experiences conducting large-scale IT or modernization initiatives.
- Two (2) engagements lasting more than six (6) months managing multi-disciplinary project teams.
- Five (5) years' experiences performing process mapping, requirements gathering, and documentation.
- Five (5) years' experiences in data analysis, reporting, and visualization for enterprise-level environments.
- Five (5) years' experiences designing enterprise-level application architectures.
- Two (2) or more modernization or migration projects involving multiple interconnected applications.
Project Goals
This initiative has the following goals and objectives:
Reduced Risk of System Failure
Identifying aging, unsupported, or end-of-life applications which will allow MDE to proactively prevent critical system outages-particularly important when those systems handle $12B in annual school funding.
Improved Decision-Making Through Clear Visibility
A centralized view of business processes, application dependencies, and data flows will give leadership the information they need to prioritize modernization efforts and justify funding requests.
Cost-Effective Modernization Planning
A phased roadmap with realistic price tags enables MDE to plan investments over time, pursue legislative funding with confidence, and avoid "lipstick-on-a-pig" efforts that don't address root problems.
Reduced Technical Debt
By evaluating the legacy code and outdated tools (like COBOL-based .NET translations), the project helps chart a course toward systems that are easier and cheaper to maintain and enhance.
More Strategic Use of MNIT Resources
By identifying ways to reduce dependence on MNIT for day-to-day support, MDE can focus MNIT's expertise on value-added projects rather than just keeping legacy systems running.
Improved Customer Experience
Redesigning or modernizing user interfaces and reports will improve usability and accessibility for districts, schools, and other stakeholders.
Workforce Enablement
Insights about tools like SPSS will help MDE decide whether to invest in additional training or seek alternative tools-closing skill gaps and increasing internal confidence.
Increased Stakeholder Buy-in and Support
A polished presentation and communication plan will help School Finance staff and cabinet leaders align on needs and priorities, making it easier to obtain support and funding for future phases.
Benchmarking for Context
Comparing MDE's systems with other states' education agencies helps put Minnesota's challenges into context and may surface best practices or shared vendor solutions.
Improved Security and Compliance
Assessing system vulnerabilities and outdated frameworks ensures modernization efforts align with state and federal data privacy/security standards.
Organizational Conflict of Interest Notification Concerning Future Work Opportunities
Note: This engagement is limited to discovery and analysis activities only. The vendor will not be responsible for designing, developing, configuring, or implementing any new systems or software as part of this work. The deliverables produced through this engagement-such as assessments, analysis reports, and modernization roadmaps-will be used by MDE and MNIT to inform and plan future phases of system modernization or implementation. The vendor performing the work within this engagement will not be eligible to respond to future solicitations concerning the designing, developing, configuring, or implementing any new systems or software as part of this work.
Deliverables
Phase 1 Deliverables
Deliverable #1: Project Planning & Kickoff Meeting
Conduct a project kickoff meeting with MNIT and MDE stakeholders within two weeks of project start.
Conduct additional planning sessions as necessary to identify approach and methodology.
Deliver a detailed project plan including methodology, milestones, and resource assignments.
Provide a project organization chart and communication plan identifying key roles, responsibilities, and reporting structure.
Deliverable #2: Current State System Inventory Report
Conduct up to 15 interviews with key MDE/MNIT stakeholders
For the 52 School Finance applications identified, provide a visual map of the architecture including dependencies, integrations, and data exchanges among systems.
Deliverable #3: Application Health and Risk Assessment
Evaluate 52 applications for end-of-life (EOL) status, supportability, and security risk.
Develop a risk and impact matrix highlighting system criticality and potential failure impact.
Identify opportunities for technical debt reduction and modernization priorities based on security and risk.
Phase 2 Deliverables
Deliverable #1: Benchmarking
Provide a report that benchmarks MDE's current system landscape and modernization maturity against up to three (3) other state education agencies with comparable size and funding models. (Peer states should be selected in consultation with MDE and MNIT based on comparable funding structures, governance complexity, or modernization maturity.)
Identify up to 5 modernization approaches, technology platforms, and governance models used by peer states
Deliver both a comparative summary table and a written report highlighting insights and actionable takeaways.
Deliverable #2: Modernization Options and Recommendations
Deliver a report that presents alternative modernization approaches (re-platform, replace, consolidate) for the 52 applications, and all external reports, prioritized based on risk level
Include recommendations to reduce MNIT operational dependency and improve support sustainability.
Deliverable #3: Strategic Modernization Roadmap
Deliver a phased roadmap outlining short-, mid-, and long-term modernization initiatives.
Include estimated budgets, timelines, and dependencies between modernization efforts.
Define measurable success metrics and KPIs for each modernization phase.
Deliverable #4: Final Report, Executive Updates, and Communications
Deliver a comprehensive final report summarizing findings, assessments, and recommendations to up to 3 stakeholder groups.
Include executive summary suitable for presentation to MDE Cabinet, Leadership and MN State Legislature.
Provide a messaging toolkit for leadership and legislature.
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