AB 2523, as introduced, Cooley. Department of Technology.
Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2015, the Department of Technology, within the Government Operations Agency, headed by the Director of Technology, who is also known as the State Chief Information Officer. The department is responsible for the approval and oversight of information technology projects by, among other things, consulting with agencies during initial project planning to ensure that project proposals are based on well-defined programmatic needs and consider feasible alternatives to address the identified needs and benefits consistent with statewide strategies, policies, and procedures.
This bill would extend the establishment of the Department of Technology to January 1, 2020, and require the Director of Technology, on or before July 1, 2016, to report recommendations to the Legislature, as specified, on how a team of senior consulting information technology experts could be developed to serve as support for state agencies and senior project team members in state government on information technology projects. This bill would require the director to consider specified factors when making those recommendations. This bill would make legislative findings in this regard.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(a) The state has identified the management of large technology
4projects as high risk for the last several decades.
5(b) Large technology projects may take years to develop and,
6similar to issues with a recent technology project for the
7Department of Employment Development, the implementation of
8a project, from conception through implementation, can span
9multiple gubernatorial administrations and include a change in
10senior managers, retirements, and career moves that affect the
11project.
12(c) To address these issues, the state has steadily worked to
13 improve its organizational and institutional capacity to manage
14large technology programs. This effort is vital, because at the
15present time, there over 100 identified information technology
16projects in progress throughout state government in various phases
17of progress and completion.
18(d) An important milestone in this ongoing effort was the July
192013 issuance of the California Project Management Methodology
20Reference Manual completed by the Director of Technology, also
21known as the State Chief Information Officer. The manual breaks
22large information technology projects into the phases of initial
23concept, initiating, planning, executing, and closing. The manual
24emphasizes that the critical role throughout these phases is with
25the attendant management duties of monitoring and controlling to
26ensure the project is advancing in accordance with budget and
27outcome expectations. The manual highlights the critical role of
28the project management team,
which includes the distinct roles of
29the executive sponsor, project steering committees, project director
30and project manager.
31(e) The difficulty of maintaining continuity among senior project
32leadership is highlighted by the experience of a recent technology
33project for the Department of Employment Development, which
34began under Governor Davis, continued under Governor
P3 1Schwarzenegger, and is now being implemented under Governor
2Brown. In addition, testimony before the Assembly Committee on
3Insurance oversight hearing made clear the project has lost key
4personnel during the project course to retirement and career
5transfer.
6(f) The state would benefit from the development of a senior
7cadre of information technology consultative expertise in the
8Department of Technology who can serve as technology advisors
9to executive sponsors and other senior level persons charged with
10project
implementation throughout state government.
The heading of Chapter 5.6 (commencing with Section
1211545) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code
13 is amended to read:
14
Section 11547.5 is added to the Government Code, to
19read:
(a) The Director of Technology shall review the
21California Project Management Methodology Reference Manual
22and draft a report, based on the manual, recommending how a team
23of senior consulting information technology experts could be
24developed to serve as support for state agencies and senior project
25team members in state government to support their exercise of
26leadership, monitoring, control, and direction over information
27technology projects to minimize risks of those projects being
28completed improperly and over budget. In drafting the
29recommendations, the Director of Technology shall also consider
30how a team of senior consulting advisors can assist senior
31executives charged with oversight of major information technology
32projects in terms of the challenges arising from all of the following:
33(1) Governance.
34(2) Development and management of contracts.
35(3) Testing.
36(4) Organizational change management.
37(5) Data conversion and migration.
38(6) Schedule development and management.
39(7) Evaluation and possible pitfalls of seeking value for
40taxpayers by re-engineering state systems and procedures.
P4 1(8) Risk and issue identification and management.
2(9) Interface identification and management.
3(10) Quality assurance and quality control.
4(11) Requirements definition and management.
5(12) Architecture.
6(13) Roll-out planning and approach.
7(b) On or before July 1, 2016, the Director of Technology shall
8transmit the report completed pursuant to subdivision (a) to all
9legislative committees with jurisdiction over state information
10technology, including, but not limited to, the Assembly Committee
11on Accountability and Administrative Review, in compliance with
12Section 9795.
Section 11548.5 of the Government Code is amended
14to read:
This chapter shall remain in effect only until January
161,begin delete 2015,end deletebegin insert 2020,end insert and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
17statute, that is enacted before January 1,begin delete 2015,end deletebegin insert 2020,end insert deletes or
18extends that date.
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