The 2023-24 Spending budget
Introduction
This post delivers an overview of the facts technologies (IT) projects in the Governor’s proposed 2023-24 spending budget. We very first give relevant background facts on the California Division of Technologies (CDT) and the phases of an IT project. We then determine each and every of the spending budget proposals to program, create, and implement IT projects. We give our assessment of subjects frequent to many IT project-associated proposals and present alternatives for legislative consideration. (We do not give in-depth evaluation of any person spending budget request in the post, but hyperlink to other IT project-associated analyses in other publications organized by spending budget region.)
Background
Function of CDT. CDT is an entity inside the Government Operations Agency with broad authority more than all elements of technologies in state government. This post focuses on two of the department’s responsibilities: (1) to assessment and approve IT projects proposed by state entities, and (two) to oversee improvement and implementation of authorized projects till completed.
Phases of an IT Project. A state IT project goes via 3 distinct phases: (1) planning, (two) development and implementation (D&I), and (three) maintenance and operations (M&O). Most state IT projects in the preparing phase (referred to as proposed projects) are essential to full CDT’s Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL)—the state’s IT project approval approach. Some proposed projects, such as low price and/or low danger projects, are delegated back to entities to program, create, and implement with out direct approval and oversight by CDT. Other proposed projects are determined to be exempt from PAL, for instance, minor upgrades to current IT systems. After authorized via PAL (referred to as authorized projects), state IT projects commence D&I. After D&I is completed, state entities commence M&O of the IT method. We describe each and every phase in a lot more detail under:
- 
- Arranging (PAL). The PAL approach divides state IT project approval into 4 stages: (1) business evaluation, (two) alternatives evaluation, (three) solution evaluation, and (four) project readiness and approval. Each and every stage in the PAL approach demands entities to submit an related preparing document to CDT for its approval. Collectively, the preparing documents from the 4 stages give a full project program like the price, schedule, and scope of the project. Figure 1 delivers a graphical depiction of the PAL approach.
- D&I. After CDT approves a proposed IT project, state entities can start off project D&I. Projects can method D&I in many strategies: (1) the classic “waterfall” method, (two) the “agile method,” or (three) some mixture of classic and agile approaches. Making use of the classic method, entities create the complete scope of the project prior to it is implemented. Making use of the agile method, by contrast, entities create some of the project scope (in some cases referred to as modules) and implement it whilst the rest of the scope is getting created. A mixture of the classic and agile approaches may well create project scope as modules, but combine the modules into a couple of discrete releases for implementation to lessen the frequency of user testing and education.
- M&O. After IT project D&I is completed, a project becomes an IT method and enters M&O. M&O consists of activities and expenses related with a state entity’s ongoing upkeep and continuing use of a method.



Relevant Adjustments to IT Project Procurement and Oversight. Two current adjustments to state IT project procurement and oversight are relevant to this post.
- 
- Challenge-Primarily based Procurements. In January 2019, Governor Newsom signed an executive order (EO N-04-19) directing CDT and the Division of Common Solutions to create new procurement approaches that defined a dilemma for bidders to resolve and asked them to demonstrate their capability to resolve it via demonstrations, proofs of notion, and prototypes. We typically refer to these new approaches as challenge-primarily based procurements in the post. The objective of challenge-primarily based procurements is to permit a lot more bidders to present options to the state’s complicated complications, rather than requiring the state to pre-define options with detailed specifications-primarily based solicitations.
- Enterprise Modernization Efforts. Huge state entities such as the Division of Wellness Care Solutions (DHCS) and the Employment Improvement Division (EDD) are working with an enterprise project management method (that is, managing a quantity of concurrent and typically associated IT efforts and projects) to modernize their applications and/or solutions. As person IT projects progress via diverse phases, CDT tries to give oversight not only of the person IT project but also of the complete enterprise portfolio of IT efforts and projects. Crucial examples of this method are DHCS’ Medi-Cal Enterprise Systems (MES) Modernization and EDD’s EDDNext modernization work.


Governor’s 2023-24 Spending budget
Governor’s IT Project Proposals Total $641 Million ($432 Million Common Fund) and 275.two Positions. According to CDT and the Division of Finance (DOF), 40 spending budget proposals in the Governor’s 2023-24 spending budget are associated to IT project proposals (Figure 2). These proposals request a total of $641 million ($432 million Common Fund) and 275.two positions. Some of these proposals include non-IT project-associated funding and/or positions, as we are unable to separate IT project-associated and non-IT project-associated expenses in each and every proposal.
Figure two
Governor’s 2023‑24 Spending budget IT Project Proposalsa
(In Millions)












Entity



Spending budget Modify Proposal Name



2023‑24b





TF



GF



OF



Positions





EDD



EDDNext Modernization



$198.



$99.



$99.



—





FTB



Enterprise Information to Income Project two



135.



135.



—



$72.





CDCR



Statewide Correctional Video Surveillance Continuation



87.7



87.7



—



19.





SWRCB



Water Rights Modernization Continuation



31.five



31.five



—



—





DSH



Electronic Wellness Records Arranging



21.five



21.five



—



40.two





DIR



Electronic Adjudication Management Technique Modernization



21.1



—



21.1



—





CARB



Heavy‑Duty Car Inspection and Upkeep Plan Per SB 210



14.1



—



14.1



19.





DDS



Uniform Fiscal Technique Modernization and the Customer Electronic Records Management Technique Project Arranging



12.7



12.7



—



—





DIR



Cal/OSHA Information Modernization Project



12.six



—



12.six



—





CDCR



eDiscovery Ongoing Demands



ten.



ten.



—



11.





CHP



Wireless Mobile Video/Audio Recording Technique and Body‑Worn Camera Statewide Implementation



9.eight



—



9.eight



11.





CDCR



BIS Migration to S/four HANA



eight.1



eight.1



—



—





DHCS



Medi‑Cal Enterprise Systems Modernization



7.eight



1.four



six.four



7.





CDFA



Emerging Threats Info Management Technique



six.7



four.two



two.five



three.





DCA



Company Modernization Cohort 1 and two



six.



—



six.



—





Caltrans



Transportation Technique Network Replacement



five.eight



—



five.eight



11.





CARB



Embodied Carbon Emissions: Building Components (AB 2446)



five.7



—



five.7



15.





GovOps



Workplace of the Cradle‑to‑Career Information Technique Right‑Sizing



four.9



four.9



—



ten.





CalEPA



California Environmental Reporting Technique Project



four.three



—



four.three



—





SOS



Notary Automation Plan Replacement Project (NAP two.)



three.six



—



three.six



two.





CDPH



California Newborn Screening Plan Expansion



three.five



—



three.five



four.





DPR



California Pesticide Electronic Submission Tracking (CalPEST) Project



three.three



—



three.three



two.





SOS



Disqualification from Voting (AB 2841)



three.1



three.1



—



11.





CHHS



Electronic Go to Verification Phase II



two.9



.7



two.two



three.





CalVet



CalVet Electronic Wellness Record Project: More Activities and Scope Enhance



two.five



two.five



—



—





DGS



Procurement Division E‑Marketplace Implementation



two.four



—



two.four



two.





CalRecycle



CalRecycle Integrated Info Technique



two.three



—



two.three



four.





CARB



SB 1137 Implementation: Wellness Protection Zones



two.two



—



two.two



9.





OEHHA



Establishing a Statewide Intense Heat Ranking Technique (AB 2238)



two.two



two.two



—



four.





CDFA



Stage Gate two Planning—CDFA Licensing and Payment Portal



1.five



1.five



—



—





SOS



Public Entity Workers and Contractors Access to Protected at Dwelling (SB 1131)



1.five



1.five



—



six.





CalHR



Communications Workplace and Content material Management Technique Replacement



1.four



1.



.four



two.





CHHS



California Emergency Healthcare Solutions Information Resource Technique



1.1



—



1.1



six.





CalVet



Web site Improvement to Boost Digital Communications



1.



1.



—



—





DSS



Reinforce the Caregiver Background Verify Technique and the Background Verify Sources



.9



.9



—



—





DIR



Workers’ Compensation Info Technique Upgrade



.eight



.eight



—



—





CDFA



IT Enterprise Transition Help



.five



.five



—



—





Caltrans



Enterprise Information Governance Technologies Remedy Stage four



.four



—



.four



—





OPR



Programmer Position to Retain and Redesign the CEQA Technique



.three



.three



—



1.





CalEPA



CalEPA Geographic Info Officer



.three



—



.three



1.





Totals



$641.



$432.



$208.9



$275.two










IT Project-Certain Function Merchandise
We do not give in-depth evaluation of any person spending budget request in this post, but we have covered the California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) BIS Migration to S/four HANA project in a earlier publication The 2023-24 Spending budget: The California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation—Migration of Company Info Technique to Updated Software program Platform (two/16/2023).
Assessment
Elevated Use of Challenge-Primarily based Procurements Without the need of Evaluation. A quantity of the IT project proposals in the Governor’s 2023-24 spending budget utilised challenge-primarily based procurements (such as the State Water Sources Manage Board’s Water Rights Modernization Continuation proposal) or are preparing to use stated procurements. Some procurements might need upfront funding from the state for demonstrations, proofs of notion, and prototypes (such as the Division of Meals and Agriculture’s Emerging Threats Info Management Technique proposal). Nevertheless, we have observed no evaluation performed by the administration of challenge-primarily based procurements to identify regardless of whether, for instance, added preparing expenses for these demonstrations, proofs of notion, and prototypes led to enhanced project D&I outcomes.
Huge Enterprise Modernization Efforts Make Legislative Oversight Additional Difficult. Two IT project proposals in the Governor’s 2023-24 budget—DHCS’s MES Modernization proposal and EDD’s EDDNext Modernization proposal—are enterprise modernization efforts that include a quantity of IT projects in diverse phases of PAL, D&I, and M&O. For each of the efforts, the Legislature authorized quarterly reporting specifications and, for MES Modernization, CDT began portfolio-level independent project oversight reports to track IT efforts and projects that are element of the bigger modernization work. In each situations, we uncover these oversight tools to be insufficient to monitor complicated and pricey modernization efforts with substantial programmatic effects. For instance, whilst person efforts and projects are tracked inside the portfolio, what efforts or projects are most essential to the achievement of the modernization work and/or pose the most danger if they are not effective typically is unclear. Also, programmatic effects are not generally evident, as person efforts and projects may well be focused on modernization of technical functions inside IT systems (such as claims processing or drawing down federal funds) rather than particular applications and/or solutions. Understanding how significantly a complicated, significant modernization work will price and more than what time frame also is challenging for the Legislature to oversee as the scope of the work is not generally recognized at the outset.
Projects Increasingly Use Combined Agile and Classic D&I Approaches With Mixed Final results. We uncover that a lot more IT project management employees are familiar with the agile method to project D&I. We also uncover that a lot more projects acknowledge the realities each of the annual legislative spending budget approach and of state entities’ continued programmatic responsibilities that necessitate some components of the classic method to project D&I. Combinations of agile and classic approaches to project D&I, thus, are becoming a lot more frequent. For instance, for the Division of Social Services’ Kid Welfare Solutions – California Automated Response and Engagement Technique project, the project D&I method changed to a mixture of agile and classic approaches simply because county eligibility workers required to limit the quantity of user testing and education essential. Discrete releases of new functionalities, rather than continuous implementation of new functionalities, makes it possible for workers to continue to concentrate on their key workload. Nevertheless, we uncover that new oversight tools from CDT for agile or combined agile and classic projects are insufficient. For instance, CDT introduced an annual iterative project report (IPR) for authorized IT projects working with an agile or combined agile and classic method to permit, for instance, reprioritization of modules with out a Particular Project Report (SPR). (An SPR is a report essential for projects that deviate from their baseline price, schedule, and scope by about 10 percent.) Nevertheless, the IPR as introduced might compromise legislative oversight if the project price, schedule, and scope adjust on an annual basis with out clear measures of achievement.
Choices for Legislative Consideration
Direct CDT and DOF to Lead Evaluation of Challenge-Primarily based Procurement Adjustments. We suggest the Legislature adopt supplemental report language (SRL) that directs each CDT and DOF to evaluate, at a minimum, regardless of whether added preparing expenses requested by state entities for challenge-primarily based procurements have led to enhanced project D&I outcomes. DOF could use quarterly project preparing expenditure reports for proposed IT projects to inform their evaluation. We also suggest the Legislature request this report no later than April 1, 2024 to inform the 2024-25 spending budget approach.
Direct CDT and DOF to Function With Legislature on Oversight of Enterprise Modernization Efforts and Projects Making use of Agile Method. We suggest the Legislature adopt SRL that directs CDT and DOF to operate with legislative employees on alternatives to strengthen oversight of enterprise modernization efforts and projects working with an agile method or combined agile and classic approaches to project D&I. The report could contemplate, for instance, regardless of whether new standardized reports for these efforts and projects, each to CDT and the Legislature, are warranted. The report also could contemplate regardless of whether adjustments in CDT’s PAL approach are required to regularly program these efforts and projects. We also suggest the Legislature request this report no later than April 1, 2024 to inform the 2024-25 spending budget approach.