City of Berkeley: Technology Service Fund
December 1, 2020
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to recommend the services of ThirdWave Corporation (“ThirdWave”). The City of Berkeley has worked directly with Roy Hernandez and his team at ThirdWave since 2016 on multiple large citywide and department level projects. Briefly, these projects include:
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Needs Assessment and Project Management Services for the City’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software and neighboring applications—discovery, business requirements, RFP development, and vendor analysis
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Established a five-year Digital Strategic Plan for the City of Berkeley
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Established a Technology Service Fund for the City’s IT Department
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Training and certifying City staff to use the Rapid Workflow® methodology
Each of these projects were high-priority, high-risk, and overdue at the City of Berkeley. ThirdWave delivered their services on schedule and on budget, and consistently exceeded the scope of work to ensure the City received clear documentation, accurate feedback, and quality analysis in support of each project. This included as many in-person one-on-one meetings as the City needed, late-night phone calls to review RFPs and business analysis documentation, as well as in-person support at our City Council meetings.
The five-year Digital Strategic Plan that ThirdWave produced was not your average mission statement and SWOT analysis, but an invaluable artifact that documents actionable technology projects, their timeline, and estimated budget. The City was able to use this breakdown developed by ThirdWave to transparently request funding and provided a structure by which we can provide updates to our community.
The Rapid Workflow® methodology used and taught by ThirdWave is also highly effective. After experiencing Roy’s fluid and clear Rapid Workflow® sessions, he seamlessly taught our staff how to execute the Rapid Workflow® methodology to document business, technical, and functional solution requirements. To this day, staff continues to save the City thousands of dollars across multiple large citywide projects by defining their requirements before procuring technology solutions, and we continue to bring back Roy to certify new IT staff in the Rapid Workflow® methodology.
The most critical component of ThirdWave’s value to the City is the collaborative relationship they were able to create with our departments. Roy and his team at ThirdWave were and continue to be responsive to the City’s specific needs. ThirdWave has not only completed a successful scope of work with the City of Berkeley, and has become a trusted resource and partner with the City of Berkeley. Thank You!
Sincerely,
Savita Chaudhary
Director of Information Technology
City of Berkeley
City of Lancaster: IT Strategic Plan
April 21, 2010
ThirdWave's project management capabilities are disciplined and rigorous. They make great effort to fully engage the client and its various participants in developing an appreciation for every phase of the project, securing buy-in, and creating common understandings of the expected outcomes and results. In doing so, they create a positive sense of collective ownership of the project. This raises the energy level and engagement of the various entities involved in the project. Clear, consistent, and regular communication and coordination was the norm with the Project Manager throughout the engagement.
Bob La Sala
City Manager
City of Lancaster
City of Las Vegas: City of Las Vegas: Business / IT Strategic Plan
August 23,1995
With ThirdWave having completed three quarters of its contract with the City, I'd like to Offer some feedback. As the co-chair of the information systems team, I have worked closely with you and your representative, Robert Aguilar, and have only praises to pass on- Not only have you proven yourselves technical experts again and again, but as importantly you have consistently provided the highest level of customer service— attentiveness, responsiveness, flexibility, concern...I could go on. I would like to commend Robert on his efforts which have gone above and beyond the stipulations of the agreement, benefiting the City and its staff in numerous ways including financially and educationally.
It was a stroke of very good luck when the City of Las Vegas found your company, I won't hesitate to pass on the highest of recommendations for ThirdWave, Roy Hernandez, and Robert Aguilar.
Michaela D. Mezo
Senior Management Analyst
City of Philadelphia: Portfolio, Project Management & Resource Capacity Management
June 27, 2023
I am writing this letter of recommendation for ThirdWave related to the work the performed for the City of Philadelphia last year to perform analysis and recommendations surrounding our requirements for Portfolio and Project Management and Resource Capacity Management.
ThirdWave met with us to develop a strategy to get key city stakeholders together to identify how they manage their current state, identify needs and develop a future state scenario for this effort. ThirdWave was highly collaborative with the city team in developing the program of activities for this work . The workshops and resulting documentation, along with recommendations were very useful to the PMO that drove this exercise.
We have been using the output from this effort to drive requirements definition and tool evaluation for our future plans around Portfolio and Resource Capacity Management.
I would recommend ThirdWave for efforts such as this. This is an area of expertise for them and we were very satisfied with the results.
Sincerely.
Joyce Spindler
Director, Enterprise and Governance PMO
Office of Innovation & Technology
City of Philadelphia
City of San Jose: City Website Assessment & E-Governmnet Strategy
April 22, 2010
The ThirdWave team demonstrated competent and professional project management capabilities throughout the project. The ThirdWave Project Manager regularly communicated with and engaged the City’s PM throughout the project. These discussions included project logistical issues, how to overcome barriers, timing/scheduling and quality assurance.
Given the outstanding results that were achieved on this project, I would not hesitate to contract with ThirdWave again in the future.
Stephen R. Ferguson, CIO/CSO
City of San Jose, CA
City of San Jose: SVITS Infrastructure Master Plan
April 29, 2004
Roy, thanks for the progress report. This is the finest report I've ever read from a consultant. I hope the same will be maintained throughout the project. Great work so far.
Ho Nguyen,
City of San Jose, Department of Transportation
August 29, 2005
February 2004, ThirdWave was retained as the prime consultant to develop the Silicon Valley - Intelligent Transportation System (SV-ITS) Infrastructure Master Plan (IMP). The one-year project required the participation and coordination of more than 11 local, regional, and state agencies, from transportation departments to police, fire, public safety to IT. ThirdWave was extremely competent and successful at coordinating and delivering the required components of the IMP. ThirdWave was particularly efficient in its operations and project management, adhering well to the tight project schedule while staying within the project's modest budget.
Having worked with many consultants in the past, it was delightful to work with a team that respects the project's budget while maintaining the high level of commitment and professionalism. Overall, it was a job well done and we would not hesitate to hire ThirdWave on another project.
Ho Nguyen, Project Manager
Department of Transportation
City of San Jose
Helix Water District: Innovation and Technology Newsletter, ERP Deployment
April 6, 2016
I just got done reading the Helix Innovation and Technology Newsletter. It's really helpful for gaining appreciation / understanding of what's going on with this project.
Thanks!
Angela Deegan
GIS Specialist
April 20, 2016
Hi Quince, Tina & Roy,
Impressive first edition of your newsletter! Lots of terrific information and an awesome summary of where you've been and where you are going! Love the pictures too!
Thanks!
Sue Fox
HR Manager