Careers Management and Employability Platform

Careers Management and Employability Platform

The University's objective is to establish a modern, integrated and scalable solution that supports the entire employability journey, from prospective students and current students through to graduates and alumni. This includes strengthening the University's ability to:

• Deliver personalised employability support and career development journeys.
• Connect students and graduates with employers, placements, internships, volunteering opportunities and graduate vacancies.
• Support the creation and ongoing development of employability profiles, skills records and evidence portfolios.
• Manage careers appointments, events, employer engagement activities and work-related experiential learning opportunities.
• Enable data-driven decision making through reporting, analytics and integration with institutional data platforms.
• Support academic engagement with student employability development and employability-related activity.

The University is seeking market insight to inform how this requirement can best be delivered, including solution architectures, commercial models, implementation approaches and innovations aligned to the Higher Education sector.

Indicative scope of requirement

While requirements continue to be refined, the University anticipates that the future solution may be required to support some or all of the following capabilities:

Student Engagement and Employability Development

• Personal employability profiles and digital skills records.
• Skills audits and graduate attribute assessment.
• Goal setting, action planning and career development pathways.
• CV development and feedback workflows.
• Multimedia evidence portfolios.
• Continued access for graduates and alumni.

Careers Service Operations

• Appointment booking and management.
• Online and hybrid appointments.
• Microsoft Teams integration.
• Automated communications and reminders.
• Attendance and engagement tracking.
• Operational reporting and service dashboards.

Employer Engagement

• Employer onboarding and profile management.
• Vacancy and opportunity management.
• Placement, internship and volunteering administration.
• Careers fairs and employer events.
• Opportunity matching and targeted communications.

Placement and Work-Related Experiential Learning

• Placement administration workflows.
• Compliance and due diligence monitoring.
• Student participation tracking.
• Employer feedback collection.
• Work-related experiential learning administration.

Academic Engagement

• Academic and tutor access to student employability profiles.
• Feedback and review capability.
• Monitoring of student progression and employability activity.

Data, Reporting and Integration

The University is particularly interested in understanding market capability relating to:

• Microsoft Entra ID and Single Sign-On.
• Outlook and Microsoft Teams integration.
• Moodle integration.
• SITS student record integration.
• Power BI integration.
• Data warehouse integration.
• Student-to-alumni lifecycle management.
• Open APIs, interoperability and institutional data architecture.

Security and Compliance

The University anticipates that any future procurement will include assessment of:

• ISO 27001 certification.
• Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus.
• UK GDPR compliance.
• Data residency and hosting arrangements.
• Secure software development practices.
• Vulnerability management processes.
• Role-based access controls and audit capability.
• Business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements.

This pre-market engagement exercise is designed to:

• Test the University's current assumptions regarding scope, solution design and procurement approach.
• Understand how similar requirements are being addressed across the Higher Education sector.
• Explore the relative merits of specialist careers management platforms, Microsoft ecosystem solutions and hybrid delivery models.
• Better understand implementation complexity, integration requirements and resource implications.
• Identify innovative approaches, emerging functionality and service models available within the market.
• Understand indicative implementation timescales and whole-life cost considerations.
• Ensure any future procurement reflects practical, deliverable and market-aligned requirements.
• Inform future decisions regarding procurement strategy, commercial structure and contract design.

Insights gathered will directly inform the final specification and procurement approach.

During the engagement period, the University may:

• Invite suppliers to submit written responses and capability statements.
• Hold market engagement sessions or one-to-one discussions.
• Seek feedback on draft requirements and procurement options.
• Request demonstrations of relevant platforms and delivery approaches.
• Explore examples of comparable Higher Education implementations and case studies.

How to participate

Suppliers interested in participating in this engagement exercise should register their interest and submit written responses to the questions below.

Responses should be proportionate and concise. Proposals should be sent via email to [email protected].

Supplier Response Questions

1. Recommended Delivery Model

What delivery model would you recommend to meet the University's requirements and why?

Please explain:

• Whether your approach is based on a specialist careers management platform, a Microsoft-based solution or a hybrid model.
• The key advantages and disadvantages of the approach.
• Any critical dependencies or prerequisites for success.

2. Higher Education Experience

Please provide details of up to three Higher Education institutions currently using your solution or delivery model.

For each example, please provide:

• Institution name.
• Scope of implementation.
• Student population.
• Key functionality delivered.
• Implementation timescales.
• Key outcomes or benefits achieved.

3. Functional Coverage

Based on the indicative scope described in this notice, please identify which requirements are provided through:

• Standard functionality.
• Configuration.
• Third-party integration.
• Custom development.

Please identify any areas that would present delivery challenges or material limitations.

4. Integration and Data Architecture

Please describe your approach to:

• Microsoft Entra ID and Single Sign-On.
• Outlook integration.
• Microsoft Teams integration.
• SITS integration.
• Moodle integration.
• Power BI integration.
• Open APIs and interoperability.
• Reporting and analytics capabilities.
• Student-to-alumni lifecycle data management.

Please provide examples of comparable integrations already delivered.

5. Artificial Intelligence and Automation

Please describe any artificial intelligence or automation capabilities available within your solution.

This may include:

• Career guidance and recommendations.
• Skills analysis.
• CV review and feedback.
• Opportunity matching.
• Employer engagement.
• Workflow automation.
• Reporting and analytics.

Please indicate whether such functionality is currently available, in development or planned within the next 24 months.

6. Implementation Approach and Timescales

Please outline your typical implementation methodology, including:

• Discovery activities.
• Configuration and setup.
• Data migration.
• Integration activities.
• Testing and quality assurance.
• Training and change management.

Please also provide indicative implementation timescales for a Higher Education institution of comparable size and complexity.

7. Commercial Model

Please describe your preferred commercial approach.

This may include:

• Software-as-a-Service subscription pricing.
• Named or concurrent user licensing.
• Student FTE-based pricing.
• Managed service arrangements.
• Implementation and support services.
• Optional modules or functionality.

Please identify any significant cost drivers that institutions should understand when evaluating whole-life costs.

8. Security, Compliance and Assurance

Please provide details of your current security and compliance arrangements, including:

• ISO 27001 certification.
• Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus.
• Data hosting arrangements.
• Penetration testing arrangements.
• Vulnerability management processes.
• Incident management arrangements.
• Business continuity capability.
• Supply chain assurance controls.

9. Market Direction

What significant developments do you expect to see in careers management, employability and student engagement technology during the next three to five years?

Please comment on:

• Emerging best practice.
• AI-enabled functionality.
• Data and interoperability developments.
• Student expectations.
• Employer engagement trends.

10. Advice to York St John University

Based on your experience delivering comparable solutions, what are the three most important recommendations you would make to York St John University before commencing formal procurement?

Please include:

• Common challenges or risks.
• Frequently overlooked requirements.
• Lessons learned from previous Higher Education implementations.

Important notice

This notice is issued solely for the purpose of pre-market engagement.

It:

• Does not constitute a call for competition.
• Does not form part of any procurement process.
• Does not commit the University to undertake any future procurement.
• Does not guarantee participation in any future procurement opportunity.

The intention is to ensure that any future procurement is proportionate, evidence-based, well-informed and aligned to market capability.