prepared by Nathan O’Day
After a thorough, multi-month vetting process, LETU EMC, with the support of LETU IT, has selected Gerent as our strategic Salesforce implementation partner firm. Their wealth of experience in cross-industry Salesforce implementations, highly competitive pricing, and agile operating methodology make them the clear choice for our strategic project needs. Gerent will complete the implementation of Salesforce Education Cloud + Marketing Cloud Account Engagement in ~13 weeks for a total cost of $286,725 ±10%.
Gerent views its partnership with clients as a progressive process in which three essential documents (NDA, MSA, and SOW) enable more specific and concrete interactions to take place (completed in that order). Though their formal work will not begin until early January, 2025 (see revised schedule below), they are asking LETU to consider signing these documents soon for reasons explained below:
A mutual NDA protects both LETU and Gerent from releasing trade secrets or inside information about the other to any outside entity; it allows Gerent’s custom-designed solution for LETU and, likewise, LETU’s strategic interests, to remain securely with Gerent and LETU. It is a natural step at this point in the implementation partner relationship, and if there are items of importance to LETU we want reflected in the mutual NDA, it is negotiable. This is an important step to take in the short term to allow more detailed conversations with Gerent to progress, and MSAs (next section) cannot be negotiated until an NDA is in place.
The MSA is Gerent’s terms and conditions for the logistics surrounding how they operate - payment terms, insurance requirements, indemnification, dispute resolution, etc. It is in LETU and Gerent’s mutual best interest to have this in place to protect how we will work together, and it is worth pursuing a signature for this soon, consistent with the approach we took with Salesforce’s own MSA. While MSAs are negotiable, quick movement helps protect the project timeline.
The SOW is this industry’s term for the detailed contract specifying everything that will be completed as part of the project, built from the proposal we have been provided. Though the formal project work would not begin until early Jan. ‘25, Gerent has asked if LETU would consider signing the SOW in the next few weeks. Since Gerent feels confident in their price estimate, this commitment from LETU would allow them to allocate staffing & resources to the project well ahead of the start date. As detailed project scoping, led by Nathan, will be taking place this fall via in-depth interviews with EMC staff, the content of the SOW may fluctuate. Gerent plans to account for this by not requiring any payment until a 30% deposit in Dec. ahead of the early Jan. project start, and handling changes to the SOW via a “change order” process that would scale up or down the terms of the SOW based on what we need when we get to late November. An SOW is not typically completed until a signed NDA and MSA are in place.
To prioritize overall project success, we have decided to renew Dot Digital (LETU’s mass email platform) for a final year, retiring that platform on 10/31/25. This gives time for detailed project planning this fall with Gerent’s project beginning early January. Alumni & Development (the other primary users of Dot Digital on campus) can then be migrated to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement after the main Salesforce project is complete on 7/1/25. The revised timeline with key milestone targets is reflected below:
https://whimsical.com/salesforce-project-timeline-overview-45pQyKf5pu5e9EFVosEdSe