The Vendor is required to provide a fully integrated customer self-service portal solution, inclusive of software (SaaS), implementation, system integration, data and user migration, training, and ongoing support services.
- Provide a turnkey, enterprise-grade customer portal that improves customer experience, supports operational efficiency, integrates with Waterworks ' SAP environment, and aligns with Waterworks' long-term SAP S/4HANA modernization roadmap
- Project Management & Governance
• Project Management & Reporting: Define the methodology, tools, and processes to be used for overall project management, including the management of scope, schedule, budget, and quality. Describe how regular reporting will be conducted to provide visibility into project status, progress against milestones, risks, and financial performance. Develop and include an outline or sequence of implementation steps, explaining the rationale and dependencies for each step to demonstrate proposed approach and understanding.
• Roles & Responsibilities: Provide a detailed governance framework that outlines the roles and responsibilities of both the Offeror and the Utility, including decision-making authority, escalation paths, and responsibilities for approvals, deliverables, and communications.
• Risk & Issue Management: Outline the proposed approach for risk identification, tracking, mitigation, and escalation. Include how issue resolution will be handled, with defined service levels and accountability mechanisms.
• Governance Structure: Present a governance structure that includes steering committee oversight, project management office (PMO) coordination, and information sharing of established business system functionality & associated documentation and working group participation to ensure decisions are made effectively and timely. The governance should support all related project teams to collaborate for the success of this transformation effort.
• Change & Contract Management: Specify the process for managing change requests, scope adjustments, and contract-related issues. This should include how modifications will be evaluated, approved, and communicated.
• Performance Targets & Metrics: Define proposed delivery performance targets (e.g., schedule adherence, defect resolution times, user acceptance rates) and describe how metrics will be tracked and reported. Offerors should also describe any options for service level agreements (SLAs), continuous improvement mechanisms, and value-add services.
• Response should include a Resource Loaded Project staffing and Waterworks support expectations analysis.
- Customer Portal Solution Requirements
• Secure customer authentication and account management.
• Comprehensive customer self-service capabilities.
• Single-Sign-On for Waterworks users.
• Bill presentment and access to historical billing information.
• Online service request submission and tracking.
• Autopay and recurring payment enrollment and management.
• Payment history and electronic receipt access.
• Paperless billing (e-bill) enrollment and management.
• Start, stop, and transfer service capabilities.
• Payment arrangement and payment plan setup and management.
• Customer profile, mailing address, and contact information updates.
• Landlord/owner account and premise data management.
• Contactor / builder data management.
• Property manager account and portfolio/premise management.
• Multi-language support for key customer journeys and content.
• Chatbot and live chat options to support customer interactions.
• Secure “customer experience mirroring” for staff assisting customers in the portal without exposing sensitive credentials.
• Online payment processing with ACH and credit/debit card support.
• Consumption and usage history, including AMI-enabled interval data where available.
• Outage mapping for customers.
• Customer notifications and alerts via online messages, email, and SMS.
• Administrative dashboards, analytics, and configurable reporting.
• Role-based portal administration and access management.
• Knowledge base, FAQs, and other self-help resources for Waterworks staff and customers.
• Tools to support agile customer communication and outreach (e.g., targeted campaigns, broadcast messages).
• Service request lifecycle notifications from submission through resolution.
• Customer bill assistance / External agency pledges.
• Dynamic Forms and Workflow setup tools.
• Waterworks-branded mobile application and responsive web application with ADA- compliant accessibility and adherence to applicable digital accessibility standards.
- Customer Portal Housing, Architecture & Security Requirements
• Hosting architecture and cloud platform.
• Country based data residency.
• High availability and disaster recovery strategy.
• Backup, retention, and restoration procedures.
• Cybersecurity posture and monitoring.
• SOC 2 Type II or equivalent certifications.
• Architecture diagrams for production and disaster recovery environments
- Customer Portal Implementation & Migration Services
• Implementation plan and system architecture.
• Detailed implementation schedule, including any proposed implementation acceleration options.
• Waterworks involvement expectations, including roles and time commitments at each stage of the implementation.
• Configuration and deployment approach.
• Migration of existing customer portal users. The Offeror shall identify risks associated with user and credential migration and proposed mitigation strategies.
• Preferred migration of existing customer credentials, where technically feasible.
• Data migration, validation, and reconciliation approach.
• Cutover and go live strategy, including risk mitigation and rollback considerations.
- Contract Period/Term: 4 years
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: February 9, 2026
