Action Item
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Deputy Superintendent
Action Item |
| DATE: | Tuesday, April 29, 2014 |
| TO: | School Board Members |
| FROM: | MaryEllen Elia, Superintendent |
| SUBJECT / RECOMMENDATIONS | |
| Approve the Contract for Managed Hosting Services for FirstClass with Open Text, Inc. (Deputy Superintendent) | |
| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | |
| On October 22, 2013, the School Board approved the support and licensing renewal for FirstClass from Open Text, Inc. This agenda item approves a contract to operate the FirstClass application as a managed service on Open Text equipment in their Data Center. This Cloud-based Managed Hosting Service provides the server hardware, secure off-site redundancy, disaster recovery, around-the-clock maintenance, and support. This contract also provides the hardware necessary to store FirstClass data. In the event of a natural disaster, this contract provides the assurance and peace of mind that Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) data resides in a protected and secure location, allowing crucial and vital communication to continue.
During a recent board workshop, Sunera recommended a reassessment of server utilization, as well as the exploration of cloud computing options (SaaS) for supplying applications. Currently, HCPS hosts FirstClass on servers housed in ROSSAC and around-the-clock maintenance is done based on the availability of district Communications personnel. Consequently, HCPS does not have the following components/specifications: Redundancy (duplicated services in another secured location); Back-up (external storage of files); and Disaster Recovery (complete restoration of the entire FirstClass system in the event of catastrophic failure). Moving to a Cloud-based Managed Hosting environment provides 24/7/365 monitoring and support. This contract also includes secure off-site redundancy with 99.9% guaranteed uptime availability, along with back-up and disaster recovery. HCPS will defray certain costs since Open Text will operate and support the entire FirstClass application. In particular, HCPS will no longer require annual maintenance on the NetApps storage as well as the 17 servers currently in use. This represents a defrayed cost of $64,843.50 over the length of the contract (1 year 6 months). Additionally, HCPS will defray the cost of compensating district personnel who currently monitor the application outside of the normal workday. |
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| STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES | |
| • Align financial resources to support the district’s strategic goals | |
| FINANCIAL IMPACT (Budgeted: Yes) | |
| The total cost of this agreement for 2013-2014 will be $82,084. The total cost of this agreement for 2014-2015 will be $125,000. The district will use P-Card Rebate dollars to support this agreement. | |
| EVALUATION | |
| Evaluation occurs through bi-weekly discussions between Open Text, FirstClass Division, and the district Communications Department. Annual face-to-face meetings will take place with the Open Text Inc. Executive Staff and district Communications Department. | |
| SUBMITTED BY: Jason Pepe, Ed.D., Communications Manager | |
| Jeff Eakins | Gretchen Saunders | |
| Deputy Superintendent 813-272-4101 |
Chief Business Officer (813) 272-4270 |
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| A 6.13 | ||
| Hillsborough County Public Schools (Florida) * Mtg.#20140429_631 (Board Meeting) * Section A Item# 6.13 | ||