Thank you for taking part in the AIM Qualifications and Assessment Group new website tender process. This page has been created to show all questions asked by those taking part in the tender process. If you have any further questions, please contact conner.thornewill@aimgroup.org.uk.
Q: Events calendar and meeting booking system
Will this just be for the main conference and awards event or are AIM planning to run multiple events throughout the year e.g https://www.skillsandeducationgroup.co.uk/events/
A: At the moment our main annual event is the conference, which we build a new set of pages for on the site see here. However, we do also run regular training events and webinars throughout the year. All of our events are hosted through Eventbrite and list on the events area of our site.
Q: A restricted portal for affiliated organisations (ie AIM recognised centres)
Will all users (centres) have access to the all same documents - e.g. different centres won’t be able to access different documents?
A: Different users will require different documents, e.g. Qualification centres, EPA partners and customised qualification centres all require different documents.
Q: AIM Apprentice Hub - https://cloud.aim-group.org.uk/
Can we assume the Apprentice Hub is staying as it is and isn’t part of the development?
A: A possible replacement may be in place for the AIM apprentice hub which would take it out of marketings hands, however if this is not implemented, learners and apprentices would be another set of users added to the restricted portal.
Q: Content Migration from existing website to the new website
Does the proposal require content migration or will this be carried out by the AIM marketing team
A: Content migration will be carried out by the AIM marketing team.
Q: What is the main aim of the website? As in for example for an existing customer to login and to have access to specific information?
A: The goal of the website is to inform new and current customers on the organisations range of products to generate conversions into leads that the business development team can then follow up on. The goal of the portal that is mentioned is for existing customers to login and access specific information and documents.
Q: If it's a new customer what is the aim once they land on the website? To complete a contact form, pick up the phone? Can you confirm what the sales journey after this looks like?
A:
- User lands on website
- Navigate through the qualifications search tool pages to find a qualification they would like to deliver.
- Complete the contact form, passing their info over to the business development team to chase.
After this our business development team then make contact and enter them into the centre signup process or if they are already a centre, add this to their available qualifications.
EPA does not have the contact form, so customers find a standard they wish to use us for the assessment and then contact our team via email. The same after steps then take place. Ideally they would complete the centre application form as part of their user journey or be able to add the qualification to their centre offering through the portal.
Q: Does a user have to sign up to use your services or are they able to purchase a one-off service and is there a subscription or do users pay a one off fee?
A: Qualification, Access and Bespoke, customers pay an annual fee to be an AIM centre, they then pay an additional fee on how many leaners they have registered to a qualification, diploma, course. EPA customers pay per apprentice’s assessment.
Q: You have provided some clarity on what functionalities and technical aspects you like of the current website, thankyou for this, are you able to confirm from a design perspective what specifically you do and don't like about the current website?
A: The separated areas for different products is a must but apart from that we are happy for the new website to be a fresh vision, this will be supported by our inhouse graphic designer.
Q: From a design perspective is there anything specific you would like to see from a design? IE Better search functionality etc?
A: Having preset page templates for different page types e.g. informational, product, blog would help vary the design of the site, editable content blocks that add to the page design but don’t overwhelm the key page information would also help create different avenues for the user.
You mention that the current CRM you use isn't very good, and are considering moving to Hubspot. Could you clarify if you are looking for us to integrate Hubspot into the new website or another third party CRM or are you looking for us to build a CRM?
We are currently looking at the possibility of implementing Hubspot into the organisation as the current system isn’t really a CRM, more a data storage tool. As the implementation of Hubspot has not been approved please assume that this will be a later project after the website is complete.
Q: Is the portal a place for users to login and access restricted files/content for them specifically?
A: Yes, there will be a requirement for different user groups who will need access to different documents depending on the products that they offer from us.
Q: Will you continue to use eventbrite for ticket purchases and does this need to be integrated with the new website?
A: This will need to be integrated into the new website.
Q: Can you confirm that you use stripe as a payment gateway and are you happy to continue using this or looking for recommendations?
A: We currently use stripe as a payment gateway and are happy to continue using this.
Q: Outside of sponsorships and events is there anything else you want to sell on the website?
A: Possibly eLearning products but this would be a later development onto the new website after launch.
Q: You have mentioned in your brief document you are happy for this to be presented in any format, if we were to record our response explaining the reasoning and approach would thi be something that you would be able to watch as part of the decision making?
A: If a video is included as part of the brief, we would be happy to watch this as part of our decision making.
Q: You talk about having internal resources in the sense of an inhouse graphic designer, can you clarify if you want us to do the design work or use the designs provided by the internal resource? Will this be a collaborative approach?
A: Design on the website would be a collaborative approach between the chosen developer and our inhouse designer.
Q: User Roles & Access:
The document mentions various user roles. Could you please provide more details about the specific permissions and functionalities required for each user level? For example, will some users be editors who primarily add content, while others require administrative access or do you want specific roles for certain abilities in the CMS?
A: We would require the function to limit the amount of changes that certain users could make to the site. E.g. Content, content blocks and images, access to the CSS etc. But we’d also want to limit which pages some users can edit, for example an EPA team user could only edit pages under the EPA section of the site.
Q: CRM Integration:
The document mentions Hubspot integration. Can you elaborate on the functionalities you want to integrate with the new website? And is Hubspot your determined CRM going forward or is this to be decided on yet?#
A: A decision is still to be made on the CRM we choose, however we would want to integrate the chosen CRM as much as possible into the site so that any data entry from the site goes into the CRM, along with tracking the user journey from our marketing onto the website via the CRM system if possible. However if a decision on the CRM is not made before we start the project, it may be that this is a project after the website is complete.
Q: AWS S3 PDF's:
The website currently uses PDFs with document domain links like on this page:
https://www.aim-group.org.uk/access-to-he/new-for-2024/
Would you like to maintain this url format, or convert them for a new url structure with different URLs?
A: This can stay the same for these documents, and the specification documents URL of https://documents.aimgroup.org.uk/documents/rqf/specifications/L3AwardADVAquatictreadmillTherapySmallAnimals.pdf must also stay the same.
Q: UX/UI Design:
The document also mentions about the inhouse designer working closely with the team, I believe they provided the latest design for the website, so will they be providing the UX/UI/Design for the new site completely, or do you require us to help with the designing phase / where we envision it should be or are we doing the design and everything and then they sign off? Just want to make sure we are capturing everything before we come back to you.
A: I’ve spoken to the designer and the rough process would be that she provides the brand guidelines and foundation, then the UX/UI/Design would be created by the developer, with the graphic designer being apart of the AIM team who review this and offer changes before signoff. All graphics used across the site would also be created by our in-house designer.
Q: "Costs for CMS/website user manuals, including the SEO and eCommerce elements" - can you be a bit more specific about what you need?
A: This would be some kind of training document that you would provide so that we can easily teach new members of the organisation how to use the site.