1. Introduction

The Mautic Council seeks proposals from qualified organizations to develop an official certification program for Mautic, the leading open source marketing automation platform, and to run that program over an initial period of 36 months. 

The program aims to uphold high standards of expertise among Mautic professionals, provide assurance of quality and reliability to clients, support Mautic professionals and users in communicating their skills and qualification, and strengthen the Mautic community.

The certification process must be available online, worldwide. Additional in-person options (e.g. at Mautic Conferences) would be an extra benefit but are not required.

Training is not within the scope of this program. Once the curriculum has been defined, training providers are encouraged to create new or adjust existing training courses towards the appropriate certifications.

2. Scope of Work

The selected organization will be responsible for:

• Curriculum Development: Designing a comprehensive curriculum for three certification tracks: Certified Mautic Developer, Certified Mautic Integrator, and Certified Mautic Marketeer (see attachment for possible elements).
• Certification Content Creation: Developing and structuring questions and materials that accurately assess the skills required for each track.
• QA Process Implementation: Establishing a multi-level review process to validate certification questions, involving both internal experts and the Mautic community to maintain accuracy and relevance.
• Content Maintenance and Updates: Forming a dedicated team to regularly update certification content, in collaboration with the Mautic community, to reflect new features and industry standards.
• Formal rules for taking the exam: Please suggest rules that you find helpful, like “Are there any formal requirements for taking the exam?” and “How quickly can I repeat the exam if I did not succeed the first time?”
• Certification process design, implementation, proctoring and operation: Providing all elements necessary to allow people around the world to take the certification in a fraud-proof way, including any external costs. This also includes the proof of certification, and a robust workflow that informs the Mautic community about the successful certifications.
• Mautic Branding Compliance: Ensuring that all certification materials are officially branded as Mautic. (Any trainings provided by you or by third parties will have to be clearly differentiated while maintaining Mautic’s endorsement.)
• Proposed Pricing and Revenue Sharing Model: Outlining a revenue-sharing agreement between Mautic and the selected organization. The proposal should detail how revenue from certifications will be shared, the percentage allocation, payment terms, and mechanisms to ensure transparent financial management and execution. It shall also cover a pricing model for taking the exam, maybe pricing for subsequent tries if failed the first time, and possible discounts based on the geographical location or community membership tier of the purchasing organization or individual.
• Intellectual property: Upon expiration of the contract, all content (specifically curriculum, questions and answer options) shall remain in the ownership of the Mautic project.

3. Proposal Requirements

Interested organizations must submit a proposal that describes the intended details regarding the scope as described above, including but not limited to:

• Approach and Methodology for development: A detailed description of how you plan to develop the certification content and maintain its relevance. This shall also include the proposed number of questions in an actual exam for each track, the proposed total number of questions in the pool for each track, suggested question types (multiselect, …) etc.
• Approach and Methodology for delivery: A detailed description of how you will be making the certification accessible around the world.
• QA Process Outline: Suggest quality assurance methods for reviewing and validating certification questions, which shall involve the Mautic education team..
• Content Maintenance Strategy: A plan for ongoing updates and collaboration with the Mautic community.
• Co-branding proposal: Explain if (and how exactly) you intend to place your own brand in the context of Mautic certifications
• Proposed Pricing and Revenue Sharing Model: A comprehensive explanation of the pricing, revenue-sharing model, including execution steps, financial tracking, and reporting mechanisms.
• Relevant Experience: Examples of previous work in certification or training program development.
• Mautic Membership: We require an organization membership (https://community.mautic.org/assemblies/general-assembly/f/24/) at least on community level. A higher one will be considered a plus.
• Project Timeline: Key milestones and deliverables from start to completion. Note that it is not mandatory to start with all three tracks at the same time. However, the 3-year period starts once the first track has been launched. Any remaining tracks shall be added within 6 months. Please also describe how you intend to ensure that the timeline is kept even given that the process partly depends on interaction with the community, and please suggest what happens should you fail to deliver within the timeline.

4. Registration, Questions and Answers

Parties interested in the RFP are encouraged but not required to register by providing their complete identification details at their earliest convenience.

Before submitting their proposals, registered parties may ask questions to clarify the details of the RFP.

Please note that all questions and their answers will be shared with all registered participants. To ensure confidentiality, avoid including sensitive information in your questions.
UPDATE: Bidder questions and answers are also shared publicly, right here:

Bidder Q&A (1): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_DYtOpZVsrDHXnD6m6pcL-uYyS_qmTTm-YhqCJaS6Ys/

5. Evaluation Criteria and Process

Proposals will be evaluated based on how well they meet the requirements and how well they support the community’s best interests. This includes:

• Approach and Methodology: The proposed plan’s effectiveness and feasibility in delivering a high-quality certification program.
• Expertise and Experience: Demonstrated ability to develop similar certification programs, particularly for open source communities.
• Community Collaboration: Ability to engage with the Mautic community and incorporate feedback to maintain content relevance; also: Existing relationship with and membership level in the Mautic community and other Open Source communities.
• Revenue Sharing Model: The proposed revenue-sharing agreement’s fairness and viability and execution plan.
• Timeline and Deliverability: Time needed to launch the tracks, and ability to meet key milestones and project deadlines.

The initial proposal shall be ready for contract but we reserve the right to ask questions for clarification or to suggest modifications prior to final evaluation and decision.

Proposal Submission Information

• Submission Format: Electronic submissions in PDF format.
• Contact for Registration, Questions and Submission: rfps@mautic.org
• Key Dates:
  • RFP Release Date: 20 December, 2024
  • Questions Deadline: 17 January, 2025
  • UPDATED Answers Deadline: 31 January, 2025
  • UPDATED Proposal Submission Deadline: 11 February, 2025
  • Evaluation and Decision Announcement: No later than 15 March, 2025

Appendix: Possible elements for each track

These are just incomplete examples, to illustrate the concept and general scope. Please come up with your own concepts on structure and content. As part of the process, the community may have additions to it.

Certified Mautic Developer

• Prerequisites for Mautic
• Setup and installation using DDEV
• Mautic platform walkthrough
• Configuring and Extending Mautic
• Developing with Mautic
• Mautic’s API Overview
• Working with Mautic’s REST API
• Building Custom API Endpoints
• Plugin Development
• Introduction to Mautic Plugins
• Setting Up a Plugin Development Environment
• Creating Your First Mautic Plugin
• Handling Plugin Updates and Maintenance
• Customizing the User Interface
• Mautic’s Twig Templating Engine
• Customizing Mautic’s Email and Landing Page Templates
• Adding Custom JavaScript and CSS
• Database and Entities
• Understanding Mautic’s Database Schema
• Working with Doctrine ORM in Mautic
• Creating Custom Entities
• Database Migrations and Schema Updates
• Command Line Interface
• Introduction to Mautic CLI
• Automating Tasks with Mautic CLI
• Creating Custom CLI Commands
• Event Listeners and Subscribers
• Understanding Mautic Events
• Creating Event Listeners
• Using Event Subscribers
• Email and Campaign Development
• Customizing Email Templates
• Developing Campaign Logic
• Advanced Email and Campaign Customization
• Testing and Debugging
• Setting Up a Debugging Environment
• Writing Unit Tests for Mautic
• Testing API Endpoints and Plugins

Certified Mautic Integrator 

• Mautic Configuration (UI and local.php)
• Mautic Configuration Best Practices
• Integrating Mautic with External Systems
• Customizing Mautic Settings
• Github, first glance
• Installing Mautic (without Composer)
• Composer & Installing Mautic with it (incl. Packagist)
• Updating Mautic (incl. Mautic release cycle, and update strategies)
• Backup / Restore
• Understanding Git & Github, incl. PR, Gitpod, Reviewing, Merging
• Cron / Console Commands (Integrator level)
• Deployment
• Preparing Mautic for Production
• Deploying Mautic Applications
• Understanding DDEV
• Integration basics (Plugins, Webhooks, APIs, incl. n8n etc., …, also: Postman)
• Know Important Plugins 
• First Peek into Mautic database (& data model)
• CSS Basics (for Forms & Co)
• Javascript Basics (for Forms & Co)
• PHP outlines (simple elements, role of Symfony as a framework)
• Webserver basics
• Database server basics incl. some tuning, optimize tables, ….
• Shell (e.g. chown, scp, … AND the risks when working here) and Shell scripting
• Email templating challenges
• MJML basics
• Working with Themes
• Email service providers
• Email Deliverability (Avoid & Test being considered Spam, understand requirements, Google Postmaster Tools, ….)
• Secure setup and maintenance
• Mautic Translation (Transifex)
• Mautic REST API – Basic understanding
• Mautic Community and Contribution (incl. Understanding Open Source)

Certified Mautic Marketeer

• Getting Started with Mautic
• Introduction to Mautic
• Mautic setup
• UI walkthrough
• Configuration Essentials
• How to configure and integrate Mautic
• Mastering Contact Management
• Adding Contacts
• Managing Contacts
• Managing Companies and Organizations
• Adding and Managing Companies
• Segmenting Your Leads
• Static Segments
• Dynamic Segments
• Essential Mautic Components
• Working with Assets
• Introduction to Forms
• Creating Various Forms
• Embedding forms on webpages
• Introduction to Landing Pages
• Building Landing pages
• Dynamic Web content
• Exploring Mautic Channels
• Introduction to Emails
• Designing Email templates
• Introduction to Focus Items
• Exploring Different Focus Items
• Creating Marketing Messages
• Dynamic Web content
• Crafting Campaigns
• Introduction to Campaigns
• Creating Campaign Forms and Emails
• Building new Campaigns
• Leveraging Points and Stages
• Manage Actions
• Manage Triggers
• Stages
• Real-World Campaign Examples
• Welcome series Campaign
• Event Promotion Campaign
• Birthday greetings Campaign
• Feedback Request Campaign

We are seeking proposals from providers to offer trials to potential adopters of Mautic. The provider will be responsible for setting up a Mautic instance with appropriate limitations to be agreed, for a trial period of 14 days, and providing all necessary support and onboarding to the trial users. 

The provider will also be responsible for converting the leads into sales, and will share at least 40% of the revenue generated from each customer who becomes a paying client back to the Mautic Community.

We will consider proposals which provide worldwide coverage, and we will also consider those which cover clearly defined regions of the world which would run alongside other providers – for example provider A is selected if the visitor chooses country A, but provider B is selected if they choose country B. Please make it clear in your proposal what you are offering.

Scope of Work

The provider will be responsible for the following:

• Setting up a Mautic instance based on the Open Source version of Mautic without any additional customisations (we expect this to be within 20 minutes of a trial request being received) 
• Enabling the installation of plugins and themes, with appropriate limitations to be agreed
• Providing a trial for a period of 14 days for trial users
• Providing all necessary support and onboarding to the trial users
• Converting the leads generated from the trials into sales
• Sharing at least 40% of the revenue generated from each customer who becomes a paying client back to the Mautic Community
• Providing a public-facing dashboard with export capabilities showing the key metrics of trials to include at a minimum
  • Number of trials signed up by month
  • Number of conversions to paying customers by month
  • Source of referral
  • Country of signup
  • Revenue share generated for Mautic

Proposal Requirements

The provider should include the following information in their proposal:

• Company background and experience with Mautic
• Details of the proposed trial setup, including any limitations and restrictions proposed
• Details of proposed mitigation against abuse of trial accounts
• Description of the support and onboarding process for trial users
• Proposed strategy for converting trial users into paying customers
• Proposed strategy for ensuring full data portability when users wish to change providers
• Proposed strategy for engaging and supporting a worldwide audience
• Proposed revenue sharing model and how it will be executed
• Pricing for the conversion from the trial service
• Any additional value-added services that will be provided during the trial, and available post-conversion for paying customers
• Any contributions to the Mautic Project that will be made in the course of the contract

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Experience and expertise with Mautic
• Existing involvement with the Mautic Community
• Quality and feasibility of the proposed trial setup and support process
• Effectiveness of the proposed strategy for converting trial users into paying customers
• Clarity and fairness of the proposed revenue sharing model
• Pricing competitiveness and value for money
• Additional value-added services offered
• Benefit to the Mautic project and community

Submission Information

Proposals should be submitted in writing to the contact person listed below no later than Friday, 21st July 2023. 

RFP timeline

1. Release RFP: Monday, June 19, 2023
2. Deadline for questions: Friday, June 30, 2023
3. Responses to questions provided: Monday, July 3, 2023 – questions and answers are available in this Google Sheet.
4. Deadline for proposals: Friday, July 21, 2023
5. Evaluation of proposals: Monday, July 24 – Friday, August 4, 2023
6. Feedback provided to all bidders: Monday, August 7, 2023
7. Contract negotiation and award: Tuesday, August 8 – Friday, August 18, 2023

Any questions or requests for clarification should also be directed to the contact person.

Ruth Cheesley

Mautic Project Lead

rfps@mautic.org

We look forward to receiving your proposals.

We have learned a lot and as a result, we are implementing a new approach to how we manage bringing new features into Mautic. Some aspects of this are based on the model used by the OBS open source project.

What are we implementing?

We are creating a workflow where community members can propose and discuss new features they would like to see in Mautic and have those ideas reviewed by the Product Team, proposed as a project to be incorporated into the roadmap, funded (where required), and eventually be released as a new feature.

This process will not impact developers who create new features and share them through a pull request for consideration by the community – that is still very much welcomed!

What is the new process?

If you have an idea for how to improve Mautic, the first step is to share your idea in the Ideas & Feature Requests forum category. Please use the post template to fully explain what the idea or feature is, who it would benefit, and why you think it should be considered. Please also state if you’re willing to help working on it.

We use the forums because this is a place where users of Mautic tend to frequently visit, in addition to business owners and developers. Having these discussions in a place which is accessible to all stakeholders is important – everybody needs to have the opportunity to get involved!

Once ideas have been discussed on the forums and accrued enough votes (suggesting community support for the particular feature being proposed), they will be considered by the Product Team during quarterly meetings with the Project Lead, and where appropriate, accepted to be included on the roadmap. This may be as a feature, but sometimes features proposed by the community may also be considered for becoming Strategic Initiatives.

The Product Team will work with the originator of the idea to put together a Request for Proposals (RFP). The Product Team will determine how much of their budget will be allocated to the project and whether any further funds will need to be raised in order to compensate contributors for their time working on the project.

Once the RFP has been finalised, it will be published on the GitHub project under the Discussions section.

If the funds have been secured it will be immediately set to the status of Accepting Proposals with the label of ‘Bounty’ to indicate that it is a funded project, if additional funding needs to be raised this will be achieved through a project on the Mautic Open Collective and the RFP will be set to Fundraising. See an example below of this in action:

Proposals can be made either by individuals or teams of developers working together or as a company, but the final payout will be made to only one stakeholder who would distribute the funds if more than one person contributes toward delivering the project. All individuals and organisations will remain responsible for managing their own tax concerns in their locality and this does not constitute a contract of employment.

See an example of an RFP in progress with the OBS project here: https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/discussions/5078.

Sometimes it may be necessary after opening the RFP to raise more funds if a proposal favoured by the Product Team requires in excess of the funds that are currently available – this will be done through a tier on the Open Collective and the RFP will be set to Fundraising until the full amount has been raised.

The Product Team may also decide to use an RFP for particularly large bug fixes or problems which need to be addressed promptly but need to have a detailed interaction with the developer proposing to address the issue, allowing them to clearly outline what is required in the project. Examples of this include fixing and updating the Twitter integration.

As with bounties, there is no compromise on quality – pull requests for new features must meet all the usual requirements of code coverage, review by the Core Team and testing in the community before they will be considered as delivered and ready to be incorporated into the next feature release of Mautic.

The full workflow of how an idea becomes an RFP and eventually a new feature in Mautic can be found in the Community Handbook. We will continue to review and refine this process as we start to include more projects, and look forward to welcoming developers to work on these projects.