Database Development Consultancy

Near East Foundation

Consultancy Announcement

Assignment:               Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Database Development

Location:                    Remote 

Category:                    Consultancy

Introduction and Background

The Near East Foundation (NEF) seeks qualified candidates and firms for a Database Development Consultancy to reconstruct and refine NEF’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Database (DTB) on the Salesforce platform[1], to develop and upgrade the capacity of the DTB for current and future use, and ensure maintenance and trouble shooting. 

For 100 years, the Near East Foundation (NEF) has worked to build more sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive communities in the Middle East, Caucasus, and Africa through education, governance, and economic development initiatives. Working through a network of country offices and local partners, NEF currently has operations in ten countries: Armenia, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Mali, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, South Sudan and Syria. Its programs are organized around three themes: Peacebuilding through Economic Cooperation, Climate-resilient Development, and Microenterprise Development. More information on NEF’s and its affiliates’ work and geographic focus can be found on NEF’s website: www.neareast.org.

Overview

The Data Management Consultant is responsible for building a MEL DTB to manage, analyze, and present data on NEF performance and impact at the organizational, programmatic and project levels. The build involves migrating and enhancing an existing MEL DTB that was built in-house using ASP.NET and connected to Microsoft SQL (MSSQL) database. The MEL DTB was developed with Visual Studio and is hosted by SmarterASP.net. NEF intends to rebuild and integrate this DTB on the Salesforce platform.

The MEL DTB is currently available only in English language and is in use at HQ Offices (Brussels, London, Washington, Syracuse). The MEL DTB is not yet available in country offices, but NEF aims to make this available for staff across all ten countries. A few technical issues need to be resolved, in particular (1) the source code is no longer available; (2) data from the existing DTB must be migrated to a new application; and (3) hosting must be transferred from SmarterASP.net to Salesforce. 

The existing MEL DTB currently manages 5 programs covering around 50 projects. It includes project log-frames and an indicator library grouping all indicators included in these log-frames. It also includes meta-data and documentation for NEF’s programs and projects.

In addition, several features must be added to the database functionality. This includes: (1) links with project-level databases; (2) ability for country office staff to enter data, (3) demographic disaggregation (among other disaggregation types) of project indicators, (4) aggregation of project indicator values and high-level Key Program Indicators (KPIs), beneficiaries and activities tracking; and (5) templates to generate internal dashboards, donor reports and data visualization which draw from disaggregated or aggregated project indicators. Data updates and reporting will need to occur at least on a monthly basis.

Objectives

NEF anticipates the following needs through March 2022. NEF may choose to postpone some phases. Estimated budgets and periods of work are provided for reference only and may be adjusted during the final negotiation phase. NEF will consider reasonable financial proposals over these amounts with justification. 

Phase I (Estimated timeframe: October-November 2021; estimated budget: $5,000 USD):

• Migrate MEL DTB hosting from SmarterASP.net to Salesforce.
• Rebuild the MEL DTB in a new Salesforce App and import existing data.
• Add Arabic and French versions of the database interfaces.
• Explore the feasibility and modalities to develop possible new features during next phases (see options above and below).
• Review as needed the general structure of the MEL DTB and the content of some specific forms; make recommendations for improvement.
• Develop user roles and access especially for MEL staff of active projects.
• Extend the project logframe indicator tracking table from quarterly to monthly data entry frequency with a toggle between Monthly, Quarterly, Annually, based on upon indicator requirements.
• Develop disaggregation features for indicator values in the logframe indicator tracking table. with possible multiple types of disaggregation, including among others: gender, age range, population status, nationality, disability status, location, and economic activity. 
• Develop high-level and cross-cutting KPIs that are drawn from project logframe indicators and aggregated across NEF’s project portfolios. Examples include: # of new/total unique beneficiaries; # of (unique) beneficiaries receiving financial support (calculated as # loans + # grants); # of (unique) people trained (calculated as # of people attending BDT + # of people attending VT etc.).
• Develop the feature to aggregate indicators measuring similar concepts across different logframes and across different periods of time and to disaggregate as needed by country, program, and donor.
• Provide troubleshooting support (e.g., resolving errors and making minor content updates) to NEF staff during and after test phase.

Phase II (Estimated timeframe: November-December 2021; estimated budget: $2,500 USD):

• Generate donor reports based on donor templates (project level).
• Generate internal dashboards (global, programs and country levels).
• Generate data visualisations.
• Provide troubleshooting support (e.g., resolving errors and making minor content updates) to NEF staff during and after test phase.

Phase III (Estimated timeframe: December 2021-January 2022; estimated budget: $2,500 USD):

• Create a simplified model of project-level database (web-based or using Excel) which can be adapted and applied across NEF’s project portfolio.  Develop simplified project database features to link project activity monitoring, beneficiary tracking, use of data collection tools, beneficiary survey raw data and indicator tracking.
• Create links between MEL DTB and project databases to facilitate MEL DTB updates and avoid double data entries.
• Provide troubleshooting support (e.g., resolving errors and making minor content updates) to NEF staff during and after test phase.

Database Maintenance (January through March 2022; estimated 1-2 days per month plus 10 days for bug fixes):

• Provide ongoing support and maintenance to ensure the MEL DTB is operational, with data regularly backed up.

Experience/Qualifications

• Proven experience and expertise in website development, Salesforce, HTML and ASP.NET
• Proven experience with Salesforce database development and management and preferably with MSSQL database coding, querying, upgrade, and maintenance. 
• Proven experience in data management, analysis, and reporting, including preferably proven experience working on NEF programmatic areas.
• Ability to design and manage data entry systems to facilitate analysis, e.g., Excel pivot tables.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. Equivalent skills in Arabic highly preferred. Equivalent skills in French would be a plus.
• Familiarity with international data privacy and transfer laws and regulations (e.g., GDPR).

[1] www.salesforce.com