BACKGROUND
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) operating in more than 118 countries worldwide. In partnership with other cooperating sponsors (CSs), donor agencies such as USAID, host communities, and local governments, ADRA International provides development and relief assistance to people in need regardless of ethnicity, political affiliation, gender, or religious association.
ADRA International’s ultimate goal is to improve the well-being of people in need through food security, health, education, economic growth, and disaster relief response projects.
This scope of work is issued to request the services of an independent consultant to implement recommendations provided by a 2020 consultancy for improving the programming-related subsites of ADRAnet, the organization’s intranet platform.
PURPOSE
Between August and October 2020, ADRA International’s MEAL Unit sponsored a consultancy to support improvements to the organization’s internal SharePoint-based intranet platform, ADRAnet. The effort was limited to providing recommendations to improve specific sites that fell under the Programming Department1 umbrella.
In this first phase, the selected consultants worked closely with ADRA International’s MEAL and IT units, and the organization’s Knowledge Management Partners Group2 throughout the process; from finalizing the work plan, to co-designing and implementing activities, and reviewing and finalizing the submitted report.
The final report provided detailed recommendations across three key components: Platforms, Processes and People, and included an action plan for implementing these recommendations.
Top-level recommendations for each component are:
1 Agriculture and Livelihoods, Business Development, Emergency Management, Health/Nutrition/WASH, MEAL, Program Finance, Program Implementation, Private Grants, United Nations Liaison Office.
2 KMPG: inter-unit group of KM champions set up to help advocate for and integrate KM within the various
programming units, and identify and address common KM challenges, opportunities, and approaches.
1. PLATFORMS: Initiate an iterative, intentional, and well-communicated migration of ADRAnet
Classic SharePoint Online-based Unit/Team sites to Microsoft 365-based SharePoint and Teams.
2. PROCESSES: Review, socialize, discuss, and then mandate the required policies, procedures, and standards through engagement with impacted units and teams.
3. PEOPLE: Establish a cross-organizational ADRAnet Enhancement Taskforce within Program units to help refine as appropriate; and implement the combined communications, collaboration, and capacity-building campaign.
This follow-on Phase II consultancy would therefore focus on implementing the detailed recommendations across the three above components.
The expected results from this effort are:
• a well-designed and intentional stakeholder engagement process that drives staff ownership and buy-in for a successful ADRAnet upgrade,
• a collection of modern, intuitive, user-friendly programming mini-sites (SharePoint + MS Teams) with improved functionality (including effective search and retrieval of content). These should rely on out of the box SharePoint/ M365 functionality, rather than customized solutions,
• the development of relevant standards, processes, policies, and procedures that support the smooth functioning of these sites, and
• relevant orientation and training tools (in various formats) to support the use of these sites.
These elements will all work together to support internal units and teams within ADRA International’s Programs Department to improve knowledge management (KM), collaboration, and programmatic learning.
DETAILS OF WORK
The consultants will lead a multi-phased migration of relevant programming sites on ADRAnet from
the current 2014 version of SharePoint Online to the current Microsoft 365 version of SharePoint and Teams, under the overall guidance of and in collaboration with ADRA International’s MEAL and IT Units.
The consultants will identify, develop and support the adoption of necessary standards, policies, protocols and clear governance required to ensure sustained usability and functionality of these sites, as well as provide supporting elements (quick guides, user resources, training tools, etc.) that facilitate the effective use and functionality of the enhanced subsites.
It is expected that this phase will be implemented using a gradual phased approach of user feedback, iterative design and user testing, to a final point at which all relevant sites have been redesigned with a clean, modern intuitive interface, have the added functionality of MS Teams integration, and the required policies and procedures have been identified, developed and are in place to enhance collaboration and knowledge and information sharing within and across these units.
Tasks to include (but not limited to):
• Review and finalize recommendations in collaboration with key stakeholders and decision- makers
• Collaborate with the IT and MEAL Units to develop and launch the ADRAnet 2021 socialization campaign for change management
• Design and lead the stakeholder engagement process(es) to identify user needs and gather user input to support decision-making
• Collaborate with the IT unit to upgrade ADRAnet platform to latest version of SharePoint, as per report recommendations and user inputs from the stakeholder engagement process
• Collaborate with the IT unit to set up relevant MS Teams sites for improved synchronous and asynchronous collaboration within and across program units, as per report recommendations and user inputs from the stakeholder engagement process
• Manage iterative design: design and support user testing on updated platform and MS Teams integration and refine as necessary
• Lead the ADRAnet 2021 policies and standards review process and the update/creation of guidance (standards, processes, policies, procedures) based on this review and user inputs
• Develop and/or refine existing tailored multi-format (FAQs, short videos) orientation and training resources and quick guides for updated platform and team sites
• Orient and train staff on updated platform, functionality, accompanying processes and
procedures
• Orient and train unit sites content managers on site functions, including best practices for uploading etc.
REQUIRED COMPETENCIES
The consultant must have 10 years’ experience in conceptualizing, designing, and developing digital platforms and tools to support knowledge management, collaboration, and organizational learning efforts.
Demonstrated competence with designing effective Microsoft 365-based SharePoint and Microsoft Teams platforms, and developing accompanying standards, policies, and procedures for their effective use is a must.
They must understand the best practices for information architecture within SharePoint and have at least 10 years’ experience and competency in content management, taxonomy design and metadata management.
They must also be proficient in leading stakeholder engagement processes that underpin change management initiatives.
KEY DELIVERABLES
The consultant will submit a final report, including all relevant annexes that suitably address the
objectives outlined in the preceding “Details of Work’ section.
This will include all relevant staff training on the updated platforms, standards, and processes, as well as self-service training and orientation resources in various formats.
The consultant will work with the internal ADRA International team to facilitate these enhancements.
TIMELINES
Activity
Responsible
Timing
Hiring of Consultant
ADRA International
Jun 15, 2021
Ongoing design and implementation of recommendations
Consultant
Jun - Aug 31, 2021
Draft report, policies, procedures, standards, orientation, and training tools submitted
Consultant
Aug 31, 2021
Refinement of developed platforms
and guidance
ADRA International
Sep 30, 2021
Final report, policies, procedures, standards, orientation, and training tools submitted
Consultant
Oct 30, 2021
All work should be completed by October 30, 2021.
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DETAILS
The consultant will respond by May 28th, 2021, by submitting a detailed proposal of how the activity will be addressed. The proposal should be sent to yemisi.songowilliams@adra.org and should include all relevant methods for addressing the objectives above. It should also include details of previous experience and a selection of organizations worked for that are useful for this activity. All costs associated with performing this activity should be included in the proposal.
A response to the submitted proposal can be expected by June 5, 2021. Please send questions to: yemisi.songowilliams@adra.org
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency is a global humanitarian organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that demonstrates God’s love and compassion. ADRA works with people in poverty and distress to create just and positive change through empowering partnerships and responsible action.
ADRA International is a religiously qualified Equal Opportunity Employer under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. As such we have the right to prefer a member of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church in the hiring process. In the event that a qualified SDA candidate is not found, we will give the opportunity to candidates who must understand, respect and honour the mission, purpose, and identity of ADRA International.
