The Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) is dedicated to providing services to those in
need by optimizing all available resources to sustain family units and encourage traditional family values,
thereby promoting self-sufficiency and personal responsibility for all Mississippians. MDCPS manages protective
programs for Mississippi's children, youth, and their families by offering a wide range of family-centered services
aimed at strengthening the family system.
The State is facing several challenges in preparation for the Pathways implementation, including but not limited
to, a lack of confidence in the system capabilities, significant delays in development for interfaces along with the
financial engine, and multiple schedule changes. A pre-SIT cycle performed by the Solution Provider highlighted
key concerns regarding insufficient pass rates for tests (60%), deficiencies in regression testing, a lack of
automated testing and the potential for performance issues at go-live. Additionally, the current Pathways
schedule does not include a buffer for possible development slippage, thereby increasing the potential risk for
lower quality testing in SIT or a possible compression of the UAT schedule if entrance criteria is not met on time.
The risks identified above highlight the criticality for comprehensive and focused User Acceptance Testing.
Project Overview
The purpose of the Pathways project is to implement a fully functional and responsive CCWIS solution aligned
with the six components of the Mississippi Child Welfare Practice Model, fostering productive and empowered
staff. As a COTS solution, Pathways will enable financial and administrative operations, interface with external
state and federal systems, and comply with federal CCWIS requirements.
UAT testing is a critical component of the Pathways project’s success. The mission of the testing team is to
ensure that Pathways functions effectively and intuitively, free of significant issues, so end users can fully utilize
its capabilities. The quality assurance provided by UAT helps mitigate risks and enhances the project’s ROI by
identifying and resolving deficiencies early, reducing post-production maintenance costs, and boosting user
confidence and system adoption.
Currently, MDCPS has a UAT Lead resource actively monitoring SIT and preparing for UAT. This resource will
oversee the UAT Master Test Plan and manage the UAT Testing Team. Additional MDCPS resources will be
assigned to provide a clinical perspective during user acceptance testing.
To maintain positive momentum with Organizational Change Management (OCM) and prevent disillusionment,
the UAT testing team will perform initial testing of Pathways independently before involving MDCPS staff and
SMEs. This phased approach will allow the team to identify and resolve bugs and usability issues, ensuring the
system is more stable and less prone to errors by the time SMEs begin their testing. This strategy not only
improves the testing experience for MDCPS staff but also strengthens the likelihood of successful adoption by
delivering a more refined and reliable system that meets functionality, usability, security, and real-world
applicability requirements.
Acceptance Criteria
Milestones/Deliverables must be submitted for approval into the VMS dotStaff upon completion. Email, hand
delivery, postal service submittals are considered incomplete.
Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) will have 10 working days to review/validate the
deliverable and either notify Vendor of acceptance in writing or provide Vendor a detailed list of deficiencies that
must be remedied prior to approval of the deliverable. MDCPS reserves the right to take additional time to review
submitted deliverables if it’s in the best interest of the department to do so.
In the event MDCPS notifies the Vendor of deficiencies, the Vendor shall make necessary corrections within five
working days unless MDCPS consents in writing to a longer period of time. MDCPS has 10 working days to review
and accept or reject the corrected deliverable. If MDCPS deems the corrected deliverable(s) as not acceptable
MDCPS reserves the right to terminate the SOW contract with the selected vendor and payment for the
unacceptable deliverable(s) will not be authorized. While this procedure allows a Vendor two opportunities to
correct deliverable deficiencies, MDCPS, at its sole discretion, may choose to allow the Vendor an additional
correction cycle if the deficiencies are not substantial or if it is in MDCPS best interest to do so.
Pricing Model
Hourly Billing Price Model.
REFERENCES
1. Must provide three References for which your company provided a similar project and/or services being
requested.
PROJECT TIMELINE
Pre-Bid Conference: 12/19/24 @ 9am CST see attachments section for call details
Questions from Vendors: 12/27/24 3pm CST
Response from Agency: 01/03/25
Proposals Due: 01/17/25 @ 3pm CST
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