Minnesota State colleges and universities (“Minnesota State”) is issuing a Request for Information (RFI) to assess and evaluate the current and evolving market for curriculum and course management software suites in higher education. Minnesota State serves more than 250,000 students across 33 colleges and universities and is seeking information from vendors that provide cloud-based, enterprise-scale solutions supporting curriculum governance and course operations. Through this RFI, Minnesota State seeks to: Understand the breadth, maturity, direction, and commercial models of vendor curriculum and course management suites Evaluate approaches to curriculum lifecycle management, course catalog and offering management, and associated academic workflows Assess architecture, integration capabilities, data governance, security, accessibility, and scalability in a public-sector, multi-institution environment Examine implementation, support, pricing/subscription approaches, and configuration models, with an emphasis on minimizing reliance on internal IT resources Understand vendor positioning, product differentiation, roadmap direction, and selected innovation areas such as AI-enabled functionality and accreditation-related support Inform potential future procurement activities, such as demonstrations, pilots, or a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) This RFI is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation, offer, or commitment to procure goods or services. The requirements in this section expand upon the high-level requirements previously described and are intended to help vendors provide clear, detailed, and comparable descriptions of how their suites function in real-world enterprise environments. These requirements remain informational only and should not be interpreted as scoring criteria or mandatory contractual commitments. A. Platform Architecture and Deployment Delivery as a vendor-managed, cloud-hosted SaaS platform with no on-premise infrastructure required. Support for multi-tenant architecture with strong tenant isolation; describe any single-tenant or private-cloud options if offered. Clearly documented release management and upgrade process, including frequency of releases and customer impact. Availability of separate environments (e.g., dev/test/prod) and how configuration changes are promoted between environments. Browser-based access with no client installs required. B. Configuration, Workflow, and Governance Support for configurable, role-based workflow and approval engines usable across curriculum, course, and offering processes. Ability for administrators to configure: Approval paths and conditional routing Forms, fields, and validation rules Business rules and exceptions Notifications and reminders Support for versioning and change tracking, including visibility into what changed, who approved it, and when it became effective. Ability to enforce governance while allowing controlled flexibility at institutional, college, or department levels. C. Curriculum Lifecycle Management and Related Review Processes Tools to model program and curriculum structures, including hierarchies, requirements, and dependencies. Support for curriculum proposals, revisions, retirements, and rollbacks. Impact analysis capabilities to identify downstream effects of curriculum changes (e.g., on courses, offerings, requirements). Audit trails and reporting suitable for governance, accreditation, program review, or policy review. Support, where applicable, for accreditation-related, licensure-related, or other academic review workflows associated with curriculum governance. D. Course, Catalog, and Offering Management Centralized management of courses and catalog attributes with controlled publishing. Support for creating and managing course offerings/sections, including: Scheduling and term-based planning Capacity limits and automated waitlists Instructor assignment Optional room/resource scheduling Support for bulk updates, mass edits, and rule-based changes. Ability to manage prerequisites, co-requisites, equivalencies, and restrictions through configurable rules. E. Operational Workflow and Communications Configurable notification and communication tools (email and/or in-application). Templates for common operational communications. Role-based dashboards for administrators, faculty, and other stakeholders. Monitoring and reporting on workflow status, bottlenecks, and exceptions. F. Content and Learning Object Management Centralized repository for learning objects and related materials, with metadata and tagging. Support for content reuse and controlled publishing. Standards support (e.g., SCORM, xAPI, LTI) where applicable. Clear description of native authoring capabilities versus reliance on third-party tools and integrations. G. Delivery / Learning Experience (If Included) Description of any native LMS or learning delivery capabilities. Support for instructor-led, blended, or online modalities as applicable. Assessment, attendance, and completion tracking if included. Description of how delivery components integrate with curriculum and course management components. H. Reporting, Analytics, Data Access, and Insights Standard operational and administrative reports available out of the box. Support for ad hoc or self-service reporting by authorized users. Data export options (CSV, API, scheduled feeds) and documentation of data structures. Compatibility with enterprise BI tools and analytics platforms. Support for monitoring data quality, integration errors, and system health. Description of any advanced insight, recommendation, forecasting, or AI-assisted reporting capabilities, if available. I. Integration and Interoperability Support for enterprise identity and access management (SSO, provisioning). Comprehensive REST APIs covering core curriculum, course, offering, and workflow objects. Support for event-driven integrations (webhooks) if available. Integration patterns used for SIS, LMS, HR/identity, reporting, and other external systems. Error handling, logging, and reconciliation support. J. Security, Privacy, and Compliance Encryption of data in transit and at rest. Role-based access control configurable by administrators. Comprehensive audit logging of administrative and user actions. Description of compliance certifications and security governance processes. Data residency, retention, and deletion options. K. Commercial Model, Implementation, Training, and Ongoing Support Typical subscription and pricing structure, including the primary pricing model used for the solution. Description of what is typically included in the base subscription and what is commonly priced separately or offered as an add-on. Availability of multi-year subscription structures or pricing tiers, where applicable. Implementation phases, timelines, and client responsibilities. Description of migration tools and repeatable migration approaches. Administrator and end-user training options. Post-implementation support model, including SLAs and customer success engagement. L. Vendor Overview, Product Direction, and Innovation Vendor’s primary focus and positioning within the higher education market. Key differentiators of the solution or suite relative to other offerings in this space. Product roadmap direction and planned priorities over the next 12–24 months. Description of selected innovation areas, such as AI-enabled functionality, workflow automation, analytics, and accreditation-related support, if applicable. High-level description of customer base, institutional fit, and experience supporting higher education environments of varying size and complexity.
