Part 4 - Iowa Medicaid Enterprise

RFP MED-12-001 | Technical ProposalIowa Medicaid Enterprise System Service Procurement | MMIS and Core MMIS Operations8.4.1.2.2 Establish a Production EnvironmentRFP Section 6.4.1.2, Requirement b and fEstablishing and maintaining the hardware and software infrastructure is a significant undertaking for aproject of this size. Team Noridian has developed procedures and processes that describe the detailed stepsthat are followed to implement all required environments. Team Noridian understands that most of theseenvironments will be placed in the Department’s data center. Team Noridian will follow Departmentprocesses where appropriate to ensure compliance with the Department’s data center guidelines.The steps we follow for establishing all environments include:• Procurement of the hardware and software• All hardware and software is installed during the testing phase and installations are verified• All physical and logical application environments are configured to support the necessarydevelopment, test, and production requirements• Connectivity between the various components of the solution is tested• Application access is verified from within the IME network• If the production rollout includes access by external entities, such as the Early Provider release, thenthat access is also verified• Firewall and other security tests are completed• Interface testing is completed• All the other devices that are part of the solution are tested (printers, fax machines, interactive voiceresponse solution)• All databases are sized and staged with production data. This activity requires creating an inventoryof all databases, and documenting the “initial” configuration of each database that will be part of eachimplementation• Network and other layers of infrastructure security are configured to meet the security requirementsfor adherence to security policies and standards• If the application access is to be “opened up” to other user groups not part of the acceptance test, thenprovision is made within the networks and firewalls to authorize entry to those users• All usernames and passwords are created within the system and all users are informed about the same.This includes multiple systems that are part of the solution• Any operational reports that are produced by the system are scheduled• The operations system team is ready, with a clear definition of roles and responsibilities• All interfaces are scheduled to operate on the established schedule• All production jobs are loaded into the job scheduler• All hardware, software, data center, and other facility security procedures have been established andthe hardware, software, and facility security manual has been updatedAt the point of deployment, Team Noridian will have tested the hardware and software multiple times.The testing will have included unit testing, system testing, UAT, parallel testing, performance, and stresstesting. The testing will have involved Team Noridian’s start-up and implementation team, theDepartment, the other IME contractors, and other appropriate stakeholders. Preparing the hardware andsoftware for final deployment will require final configuration of security regarding specific accessibilityfor specific individuals, as well as verification of the final incremental data conversion, which isdiscussed later.A verification of the production environment is a critical part of our implementation checklist for eachrelease and that checklist will contain all of the items specified above, tailored for each release.8 | 182