BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 2523
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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AB 2523 (Cooley)
          As Amended  April 21, 2014
          Majority vote 

           ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW         12-0                   
          APPROPRIATIONS      17-0        
           
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          |Ayes:|Frazier, Achadjian,       |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow,           |
          |     |Allen, Buchanan, Ian      |     |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian  |
          |     |Calderon, Cooley, Daly,   |     |Calderon, Campos,         |
          |     |Gorell, Hagman, Medina,   |     |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez,  |
          |     |Quirk-Silva, Salas        |     |Holden, Jones, Linder,    |
          |     |                          |     |Pan, Quirk,               |
          |     |                          |     |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner,    |
          |     |                          |     |Weber                     |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Requires the Director of the Department of Technology  
          (DOT) to provide a report recommending how a team of senior  
          consulting information technology (IT) experts could be  
          developed to serve as support for state agencies and senior  
          project team members in state government IT projects, as  
          specified.   Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Makes various legislative findings and declarations relating  
            to the state's organizational and institutional capacity to  
            monitor and control large technology programs. 

          2)Requires the Director to review the California Project  
            Management Methodology Reference Manual and recommend, based  
            on the manual, how a team of senior consulting IT advisors  
            could be developed to serve as support for state agencies and  
            senior project team members in their exercise of leadership,  
            monitoring, control, and direction over IT projects.

          3)Requires the Director, in drafting the recommendations, to  
            consider how the team of advisors can assist senior executives  
            charged with oversight of major IT projects with addressing  
            challenges arising from all of the following 13 areas:

             a)   Governance;








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             b)   Development and management of contracts;

             c)   Testing;

             d)   Organizational change management;

             e)   Data conversion and migration;

             f)   Schedule development and management;

             g)   Evaluation and possible pitfalls of seeking value for  
               taxpayers by re-engineering state systems and procedures;

             h)   Risk and issue identification and management;

             i)   Interface identification and management;

             j)   Quality assurance and quality control;

             aa)  Requirements definition and management;

             bb)  Architecture; and,

             cc)  Roll-out planning and approach.

          4)Requires the report to be provided to the Legislature by July  
            1, 2016.

           EXISTING LAW  establishes DOT until January 1, 2015, to serve as  
          the central IT organization for California, responsible for  
          approving and monitoring all statewide IT projects; providing  
          centralized IT services and training to government entities;  
          developing statewide IT security policies and procedures; and,  
          providing oversight of telecommunication and IT procurements.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, minor costs to the DOT to produce the report.   
          However, absent a sunset extension the DOT will sunset prior to  
          the deadline for the report.

           COMMENTS  :  According to the author, there are over 100  
          identified IT projects currently underway throughout state  
          government.  The author states this bill is intended to provide  








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          a roadmap for developing a cadre of senior IT experts to serve  
          as consultants for top agency managers statewide when they are  
          tasked with managing complex, long-term technology projects.  It  
          specifically requires the Director of DOT to evaluate how such a  
          resource team could aid projects in avoiding pitfalls in  
          thirteen key areas.  

          The California Project Management Methodology Reference Manual  
          contains project management procedures that state agencies must  
          use to comply with IT policy.  The manual breaks the cycle of an  
          IT project into five stages of concept, initiating, planning,  
          executing, and closing.  It also states that monitoring and  
          controlling occur throughout the project cycle to ensure the  
          project is advancing in accordance with budget and outcome  
          expectations.  This bill requires the Director of DOT to consult  
          the manual when drafting the required recommendations.

          At a March 20, 2014, joint informational hearing of the Assembly  
          Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on State Administration and the Select  
          Committee on Government Efficiency, Technology, and Innovation,  
          DOT presented on its recently launched Planning and Consulting  
          Division that aims to provide early intervention and hands-on  
          coaching to projects experiencing challenges.  DOT reports that  
          it has already hired experts in a variety of 12 issue areas that  
          are similar to the 13 identified in this bill, including  
          governance; development and management of contracts; testing;  
          data conversion and migration; and, requirements definition and  
          management.  DOT indicates that the process to hire experts in  
          the remaining areas is ongoing.  This bill essentially codifies  
          this division in statute. 

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Cassie Royce / A. & A.R. / (916)  
          319-3600 


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