Technical Questions
Pre-Implementation
| 1.) Q Leasing of the software is a concern. What happens if the contractor or the Commonwealth has problems? |
| A The software is not leased. The Commonwealth has purchased the software it will be using. Additionally, the Commonwealth is entering into a maintenance agreement with the MARS vendor, American Management Systems (AMS). The Commonwealth intends for MARS to provide long-term support for all accounting, budgeting, materials management and management reporting business needs. Because site specific modifications are being kept to a minimum, the Commonwealth will have the ability to continually upgrade the software to meet the changing needs of the Commonwealth. |
| 2.) Q Why do systems already existing need to be automated? |
| A MARS will provide tools that will allow the Commonwealth to replace its existing collection of redundant financial and materials management software applications. As a result, agencies will have better access to information and the Commonwealth will be able to cut costs associated with maintenance of duplicate systems. A single system will also provide a means for establishing more consistent business processes and procedures across the Commonwealth in order to get the best products, services and up-to-date information available at a reasonable cost. |
| 3.) Q Can different versions of ORACLE client reside on the same workstation? They have agency applications and are concerned with the MARS application using (or eventually using) different versions of ORACLE. |
| A Currently we have ORACLE 7.3 and 8.0.5 on a client pc and don't have any problems connecting to any of the databases supported (7.2 - 8.0.5). This should be transparent within ORACLE, but may not necessarily be true depending upon what the Procurement Desktop, BRASS, and Travel Management client applications are doing. We plan on installing multiple versions of ORACLE on some of the client pcs in the project team and verify that everything will work correctly. |
| 4.) Q Do you only fill the Form F6.11.3a out if you need to order hardware and software and is the Vendor Name: the vendor you are purchasing the hardware or software from? |
| A If you don't need to purchase anything, don't fill in the form. However, even if you only have one thing to purchase you should use it as a data-gathering tool. Yes, "vendor name" is the name of the vendor from whom you would purchase the goods. |
| 5.) Q Will agencies need to purchase servers at the department level (e.g. within Cabinet 33 there are many discrete sub-organizations such as Libraries & Archives) or will servers be supplied by the MARS Project? |
| A The only agency specific server requirement for MARS is for file/print servers...if agencies have existing file/print servers and they meet their needs (e.g. they are fast enough and they have adequate space available), they should be OK for MARS. However, it is possible that the capacity plan may identify additional file storage requirements that are unknown at this time. |
| 6.) Q On form F6.11.5a, what is # of Advantage (Financial) users? Is Advantage the software? |
| A Yes, Advantage is the financial management software component of MARS. The # will be the number of users you expect to use the Advantage part of MARS after implementation. If you completed the as-is assessment for your agency, which listed employees by financial management task, it should help you complete this. |
| 7.) Q In section 6.11.2 of the AIN, MS Outlook 98 is mentioned as required - is it possible to use MS Outlook 97? |
| A Outlook 98 is required or you can use Internet Explorer 4.x or equivalent browser like Netscape Navigator 4.x. |
| 8.) Q In section 6.11.2 of the AIN, MS Internet Explorer 4.x is mentioned as required - is it possible to use MS Internet Explorer 3.x? |
| A Internet Explorer 4.x or equivalent, such as Netscape Navigator 4.x, is required or you can use Outlook 98. |
| 9.) Q Where would an agency purchase a Crystal license/software? |
| A We have purchased 100 licenses with an option for an additional 500. Please understand that Crystal is not needed for reading and reviewing activities. It is necessary for report creation. We are assessing the need for additional licenses and will attain the new licenses for MARS users only. The project budget can absorb some additional licenses, depending on demand. Agencies may need to contribute to the purchase, however, if it exceeds our ability to absorb the cost. |
| 10.) Q What version of Crystal will be used? |
| A Currently we are running Seagate Crystal Info, Version 6.0.2.0. |
| 11.) Q Form 6.11.1.a (Existing Agency Software and Hardware) has a field for Workstation Name & Location, should every user's name be entered here and their workstation? |
| A We are trying to identify every individual workstation and its location. Therefore since workstations are associated with individuals, we will need each user's name and location. |
| 12.) Q Will a departmental server be needed for department-specific report generation? |
| A Departmental specific reports for the agencies will include both standard and ad hoc reports out of the Management Reporting database using Crystal Info. If there is a need for agencies to do reporting on data over and above what will be included in MARS Management Reporting, agencies can use a "data Pipeline" to extract data from the Management Reporting database for reporting purposes. This would be the functionality where agencies would need a file/print server. |
| 13.) Q Will checkwriter files be large enough to hold "stub" information such as YTD details? |
| A Using record Type "31", the sequence number field (Seq 4) allows for multiple "31" records of 150 characters each of remittance advice information. |
| 14.) Q At one of the MARS meetings it was made clear that there would be some need for available server space for the MARS implementation. No details have been given. Are there application executables on the agency server for each of the MARS functional pieces—procurement, accounting, budgeting, etc.? Will any temporary or permanent data be stored on our server for any of the apps? How much space will be required for any of this? We are trying to do some planning of DASD needs. |
| A None of the applications execute from the servers. Advantage is a mainframe CICS/DB2 application that runs on a thin client, and PD and BRASS are fat client applications that run against Oracle Databases on a UNIX server. The user servers will only be used for storing of attachment files (MS Word, Excel, etc.) to the applications. Exact space requirements for these applications are unknown. As a general rule, if an agency's servers have adequate storage now to support the office environment, they should be ok for MARS. Monitoring storage usage/availability is a normal part of systems administration -- as storage requirements change, hardware DASD configurations may have to be upgraded. |
| 15.) Q Will a 19.2 kbps modem suffice to access the MARS software from field offices? |
| A A 19.2 kbps modem is not sufficient for MARS, at a minimum a 56 kb modem should be used. However, it is important to consider which MARS application you will be using – just Web enabled components (Travel, PD Web and Management Reporting) or those components combined with the others (Advantage, PD and BRASS). Dial up access to the Web components is ok. There could, however, be considerable response time delays by using dial up access in the field for the other components. Agencies are encouraged to pursue the installation of dedicated lines for MARS access. |
| 16.) Q On the Hardware Requirements Matrix, is the hardware listed in the "recommended" column enough or do we need to meet the requirements listed in the "optimum" column? |
| A The recommended and optimum columns have separate meanings. The recommended column is intended to help agencies validate their existing hardware. If an agency has hardware that meets or exceeds this configuration,, then the hardware will support MARS. However, if the agency's hardware doesn't meet the recommended requirements and they need to purchase new equipment, they should follow the optimum configuration. Two additional items concerning the optimum configuration: First, it is taken from the Commonwealth's Approved Products and Standards List. Second, if an agency has to purchase new hardware, based upon today's market, they couldn't purchase the recommended configuration anyway – it is below the entry level hardware configuration, the optimum configuration is at or very near the entry level hardware configuration. |
| 17.) Q Will the Agency have to pay for the software in MARS (PD, Advantage, BRASS, etc.) that will be placed on the Agency machines? |
| A No. Agencies will not have to incur cost of the MARS system software (PD, Advantage, BRASS, etc.). However, other support software (e.g. Web browser, NT 4.0 or Windows 95, Microssoft Office 85/85, etc.) will be the responsibility of the agencies to purchse. This software is identified in section 6.11 (page 6.11-14) of the Agency Implementation Notebook. |
| 18.) Q How will the old commodity codes be converted to the new NIGP commodity codes? |
| A Division of Purchases is looking at the NIGP commodity code structures and mapping the old KAPS commodity codes to the new ones. The Master Agreements (price contracts) will be converted with the new NIGP codes on them. Division of Purchases is only cross walking about 2800 of the KAPS commodity codes, as we found that these were all that is currently being used by all state agencies today. In the future, it will be easier for an agency to find the appropriate commodity code in MARS with key wordsearch capabilities in the catalog which will contain all master agreements, all internal provider agreements, and all commodity codes. |
| 19.) Q Where should agencies seek help if they need to buy Power Builder? |
| A Contact the Department for Information Resources if you want to purchase Power Builder, but please note that Power Builder is NOT needed for MARS implementation. |
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