What transportation organizations will be included in this program?
The grant covers all County Veterans Service Offices, VA medical centers, VA homes, VA clinics, 5310 (non-profit), 5307 (large urban), 5311 (small urban/rural), and inter-city bus providers in Greater Minnesota. Other veterans’ service organizations are also eligible.
Are there on-going fees related to my agencies’ adoption of the Revation software?
The Minnesotahelp Network is a collaboration of partners that utilize and distribute access to the tools used for this project, including Revation software. Access to the tools will be provided by the Minnesotahelp Network throughout the grant period (present - October 31, 2015). After the grant period, participating agencies will be responsible for maintaining hardware that is capable of running this software. Agencies’ continued access to the tool will depend on the Minnesotahelp Network’s on-going funding support and each agency’s demonstrated use of the tools.
The state maintains a single software license with Revation Systems, Inc. and is adding users to that license through this grant. Agencies’ user access to the state license will not expire. After the grant period, participating agencies will be responsible for maintaining hardware that is capable of running this software.
How many users can my agency add to the state’s Revation license?
This grant pays for each participating agency to add up to three individual users to the state’s software license with Revation Systems, Inc.
What kind of minimum network requirements must I provide? What Internet service do I need to provide? How much bandwidth? Is a dedicated DSL line a requirement?
A user would need a minimum bandwidth speed of 500kbits/second assuming the user is using the bandwidth for Revation only and not doing any other concurrent Internet activity. Professional business users who take calls over IP, initiate multiple chats, and use web browsing should have a minimum 1mbit bandwidth.
The Participation Scenarios document (http://www.dot.state.mn.us/transit/southwest-ride/docs/revation-participation-scenarios.pdf) outlines scenarios by which agencies with different network capabilities can participate in this project. State agency staff encourage eligible participants to join the Minnesota Ride Link project and will work with agencies on an individual basis to find a participation scenario that best suits its network capabilities.
What sort of on-going IT support do I need to provide to be on Revation?
Revation updates occur approximately once a year and require someone with administrative rights to perform the upgrade. The vendor may automate these updates, but presently someone with administrative rights on the machine where Revation is loaded must perform the upgrade.
IT Support Estimates: Agency IT officers need to be involved in this project by helping complete the technology inventory (est. 2 hours), to load the software onto agency equipment (est. 1 hour) and to ensure agency firewalls are configured to allow the software (est. 3+ hours).
How frequent are software updates, etc.?
Every time new contacts are added, Revation sends an automatic update; as long as you sign out every evening the new or removed contacts will stay current in your contact list.