Web Application for Faculty of Accreditation Process

The Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University invites qualified bidders to submit responses for the supply of a web-based application and development services in accordance with the terms of this Request for Proposals.

Our faculty is tasked with an ongoing (continual) accreditation review process known internally as MEASURE (McMaster Engineering Accreditation System for UndeRgraduatEs).  The selected Proponent for this RFP will be tasked with redesigning and rebuilding all aspects of the software tool used for the MEASURE process.  MEASURE will be used to assist in the management of the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) accreditation process for undergraduate engineering degrees in the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University.

Academic requirements for CEAB accreditation are measured as graduate attributes, which are composed of attribute indicators, which themselves are further divided into learning outcomes.  There are 12 graduate attributes specified by the CEAB, such as “Knowledge Base”, “Design” and “Life-long Learning.”  For accreditation, the Faculty of Engineering needs to show the CEAB that our graduates are being exposed to and are assessed on these attributes and that we have a process in place for continually monitoring and improving student learning.  The attributes are too large and pervasive to measure on their own, so they have been decomposed into 30 indicators, such as “Competence in Natural Science,” “Develops models/prototypes” and “Critically assess one’s own educational needs.”   Moreover, each degree program has its own specific domain knowledge to cover.  Measurements of these indicators are collected for each course by measuring student performance on tests, exams, labs, presentations, etc.  The data are analyzed and presented in the form of various reports for submission to the CEAB. The reports aggregate the data to measure how well the graduate attributes are being achieved.  Any deficiencies are highlighted and addressed in the next academic year.  Past data must be available so that trends in performance can be tracked over time.

Utilizing the MEASURE software, significant volumes of data are collected, over several years, by many people (hundreds of people, hundreds of courses annually, pertaining to thousands of students).  The efficient, accurate, and secure collection of these data is paramount.  Additionally, this data is analysed in many ways, with precise outputs (reports), with the potential for outputs to change yearly (e.g., find the average of all indicator measurements associated with Graduate Attribute #3 for students in Mechanical Engineering; plot the average results year over year for the last 5 years; allows users to drill down into the data for more detailed insights and analysis; etc.).

The newly developed software by the Proponent is intended to replace the existing system that is currently used to assist in the management of our CEAB accreditation process at McMaster University. The current solution has numerous shortcomings that hinder the CEAB accreditation process and is the main motivation for a new and improved solution. The new solution will be a stand-alone system, completely separate from the current system.

The Faculty of Engineering MEASURE application redevelopment project will begin with a discovery process that includes the examination of the existing software application, stakeholder interviews, and a detailed analytics report that will guide the design of the build.
A dedicated in-house project manager from the successful Proponent will be responsible for leading the project. They will oversee the re-design development, building and deployment, as well as timely completion of deliverables.
A comprehensive development strategy will be created and executed in partnership with the Faculty of Engineering’s project steering committee. This will include an audit of current systems and processes.
As a web-based application, AODA compliance will be an essential component and key deliverable (WCAG 2.0 Level AA).
The successful Proponent must be able to resource this project including research, marketing, UX/UI design, project management, development, and QA testing.

Bidding and Documents are available on http://www.merx.com. Fees may apply; See https://www.merx.com/public/pricing for more information.