Creation of Universal Monitoring Tool

The Vendor is required to provide to develop a single/universal monitoring tool that meets the diverse needs of all agency branches.
- Feedback from the field indicates that this "siloed" approach frequently requires providers to spend excessive time during visits providing the same information to different people.
- To ensure the mixed-delivery system remains efficient and effective, agency seeks to modernize its monitoring landscape through user-center design. 
- This technical shift is necessary to ensure that monitoring processes do not create unnecessary barriers for the end user and instead foster a collaborative, data-driven approach to program support.
- Leveraging a foundational document identifying existing overlaps, the consultant will design a unified framework that:
•    Promotes Efficiency: Allows for the collection and digital upload of documentation into a portal in advance of visits, shifting the focus of in-person time from paperwork to classroom environments and interactions.
•    Centralizes Data: Creates a centralized information hub that provides department Leadership with easy access to data for legislative action, quality measurements, and quantitative requirements.
•    Ensures Accessibility: Utilizes User-Centered Design to ensure the tool is accessible to users with varying skill sets and experiences without creating technical barriers.
•    Aligns with the Blueprint: Provides a strategic process that supports consistent communication and a collaborative team approach to supporting providers post-visit.
- Essential Requirements
•    Evaluation Tool Design: Proven experience developing program evaluation or monitoring tools within an educational or regulatory framework.
•    User-Centered Design (UCD) Expertise: Verified experience applying HCD or User Experience
(UX) principles to ensure digital tools are accessible and reduce barriers for end-users.
•    Systems Alignment: Demonstrated ability to align standards across disparate departments (e.g., Licensing, Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS), and Pre-K) to create unified frameworks.
•    Technical Content Development: Experience designing asynchronous training, virtual tutorials, and user-friendly guides for diverse learners.
- Universal Tool Development
•    Design a universal monitoring tool: create a single, human-centered evaluation tool that meets the needs of child care centers, centers, and family child care, pre-k expansion grantees, and grantees.
•    Reduce redundancy: utilize the agency-provided "overlap" document to consolidate data points, ensuring different branches do not request the same information from programs/providers during site visits.
•    Implement portal-ready workflows: design the tool to support the pre-visit collection and digital upload of documents into a portal, allowing on-site visits to focus strictly on environment and interactions.
•    Ensure cross-branch utility: ensure the final product allows various departments to input and access information from a centralized location for legislative and quality reporting.
- Training and Technical Assistance
•    Develop User Guides: Create a comprehensive user guide that explains the functionality and navigational flow of the universal tool.
•    Produce Virtual Tutorials: Develop a user-friendly, asynchronous virtual tutorial and training guide for both agency staff and providers.
•    Provide Program Support: Conduct training for programs on how to accurately read and interpret summary reports and evaluation results generated by the tool.
- Alignment and Reporting
•    Blueprint justification: develop a formal justification document explaining how the new universal tool aligns with the requirements of the blueprint for State future.
•    Standards alignment: conduct a review of current curricular and evaluation materials to ensure the new tool aligns with State early learning standards and comar.
•    Collaborative planning: participate in regular progress meetings with the operations & compliance (O&C) team and senior leadership to provide updates and reach consensus on tool design.