Key Questions

Is the project on track to satisfy the customer's business objectives?Yes

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives in the approved timeframe?Uncertain

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives within the approved budget?Uncertain

Project Overall Health

Comments

Yellow

The Project Overall Health rating continues Yellow in October 2024 due to the current assessment of eight focus areas. -- Scope Management upgraded from Yellow to Green. -- Time, Cost, Quality, and Transition continue as Yellow. -- Governance, Resources, and Risks/Issues continue as Green. • The ACF CB responded to the FFY 2025 APDU submission, “the project remains in a non-CCWIS claiming status”, and will be re-assessed after a virtual project review in May 2025. -- The FFY 2025 APDU was resubmitted to the ACF Children’s Bureau on September 16, and now awaiting their review. The FFY 2025 APDU was initially sent on July 30, 2024, and withdrawn on August 16. -- The FFY 2024 APDU was conditionally approved by the ACF in March 2024. If the project does not satisfy all seven conditions, CCWIS funding for development will not be provided. • The project schedule was re-baselined in July 2024, and most product milestones are now on track. • System scope includes core product development, infrastructure, interfaces, shared services, data conversion, scenario testing, rework from user feedback, and design blueprints. -- In October, the project satisfied SPR 6 approval condition #1a, which required the project to elaborate Version 1 (V1) scope (Epics) into requirements (User Stories) by October 31, 2024. -- V1 reporting and V2 scope must be elaborated by February 28, 2025. • There is 1 High priority issue open with resolution in progress. • QA Automated Test Validation is not currently being performed, and may impact Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) cycle 2 planned for March 2025. • The planned V1 Pilot Tech/Op Solution was assessed by the project to not be viable. Alternatives are being researched with recommendations due to the Board of Directors in December 2024.

Focus Area/Rating	Comments
Governance Green	The Governance rating continues Green in October 2024. The scope and character of authority for decision making is documented, with governance bodies meeting regularly. • The SPR 6 was approved in May 2023, and codified changes to the project’s delivery approach and resources. • The ACF CB responded to the CDSS Advanced Planning Document Update (APDU) for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2025 on October 21. The FFY 2025 APDU was resubmitted to the ACF Children’s Bureau on September 16. The submission is intended to satisfy the FFY 2024 APDU approval conditions. -- The project remains in a non-CCWIS claiming status, and will be reassessed after a virtual review is completed in May 2025. • The project baselined a remediated schedule on July 3, 2024. The work breakdown structure reflects the new Holistic Design Approach which was approved by the Board of Directors (CWDA abstained) on June 10. -- The Schedule Mitigation Checkpoint #1, held on September 20, 2024, indicate the Holistic Design is achieving improved system design with blueprint documents. The level of effort for state responsibilities may be increasing. Schedule Checkpoint #2 is planned for November 14. • Due to the significant investment and risk with the project, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24 budget adoption included Budget Bill Language and Trailer Bill Language that provides further clarification of the Governor and Legislature expectations for the project. The language: -- defines the project’s “satisfactory progress” towards product milestones -- provides a mechanism for possible funding augmentation -- requires the convening of monthly meetings between CDT, the Department of Finance (DOF), LAO, legislative staff, and County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) meet monthly to review project status and oversight reporting. • There were not any decisions submitted, reviewed, or approved by the Board of Directors or Executive Leadership Team in October. • Per an SPR 6 approval condition, the project is utilizing Earned Value Metrics (EVM) to monitor project health. The Total V1 Scope is measured in Function Point Equivalents (FPE) and continues to increase monthly. • The Strategic Communications team regularly publishes key communications to stakeholders. -- CARES Explorer – Volume 1, Issue 3 was published in September 2024. Issue 4 is planned for December. -- CARES Compass – Volume 1, Issue 4 was published in September 2024. Issue 5 is planned for December. -- ACF Monthly Report on User Engagement & Adoption – commonly referred to as the ACF Metric Report, Issue #10 was published in October 2024 for the September period.
Time Management Yellow	The Time Management Focus Area rating continues Yellow in October 2024. Performance in achieving the remediated project schedule, which was baselined on July 3, 2024, is reported by the project to be on track. However, there are early signs of schedule slippage. • PaaS SI schedule metrics show the overall project is On Track at 52% (+4% from last month) complete, with 14 (+8) activities Overdue and 11 (-16) activities Behind Schedule. • As presented in the October Executive Dashboard, all product milestones and interfaces have been mapped to one of two EUST cycles. -- Of the 8 EUST 2 milestones, 4 are done (blue), 3 are on track (green), 1 is at risk (yellow). -- Of the 22 EUST 3 milestones, 20 are on track (green), 2 are at risk (yellow). • Current sprint velocity may be insufficient to achieve the SPR 6 approved schedule. -- The user story completion rate for Sprint 24.10 was 59% significantly lower than the 139% reported for Sprint 24.09. • The IPO and IV&V have each observed inconsistencies in the project team’s maintenance of the two-sprint backlog, which can impact the team’s ability to pull from the backlog to replace an at-risk story in an active sprint, as well as the ability to properly perform planning for upcoming sprints. -- The Holistic Design approach may mitigate this condition. -- Schedule changes are going through a new review process, with any extension to Start or Finish date for critical path activities requiring Project Director approval. • As per an approval condition, the Project is using EVM to gauge performance. The Schedule Performance Index (SPI) continued at 0.990 in October indicates the project is on schedule with a variance of less than 5% from the target of 1.0 and improving.
Cost & Contract Management Yellow	The Cost & Contract Management rating continues Yellow in October 2024 due to the ACF stating in its response to the FFY 2025 APDU submission, “the project remains in a non-CCWIS claiming status”, and will be re-assessed after a virtual project review in May 2025. • The ACF responded on October 21, 2024 to the FFY 2025 APDU which was resubmitted on September 16. -- The ACF conveyed the project remains in a non-CCWIS claiming status, meaning that it is currently not receiving federal funding. The ACF will reassess in May 2025 after a virtual review. • The Total Project Costs approved with SPR 6 are $1,711,011,443 with One-Time Costs of $1,228,909,579, Continuing Costs of $301,567,793, and Future Operations Costs of $180,534,071. -- Cumulative Actual One-Time Costs as of October are $380,155,644. -- Of the FY 2024-2025 Total Annual Operating Budget of $210,787,509, the project expended $42,866,307 as of October, which was 39% less than planned. -- Of the FY 2023-2024 Total Annual Operating Budget of $185,588,440, the project expended a total of $144,495,370, which was 22% less than approved. -- The FY 2024-25 budget included BBL and TBL defining “satisfactory progress” towards product milestones, and “may be augmented up to a maximum of $26,035,000 for project activities related to the implementation and data infrastructure contracts upon approval by the Department of Finance, in consultation with the Department of Technology”. • As per an approval condition, the Project is using EVM to gauge performance. -- The CPI of 1.274 in October validates the underspending reported in the PSR. The variance from the target 1.0 continues greater than 10% but is less than the peak CPI of 1.378 in August. • The SPR 6 approved Financial Analysis Worksheets (FAW) were based on renegotiating the primary vendor contracts. -- The renegotiated Platform as a Service (PaaS) System Integrator (SI) contract amendment was executed in September 2023, increasing the total contract value from $63,781,313 to $290,768,079. The total encumbrance is $273,514,765. Current Actual Expenditure is $92,839,579. -- The renegotiated Product Value Services (PVS) contract amendment was executed in September 2023, increasing the total contract value from $26,931,840 to $80,239,017. Current Actual Expenditure is $48,869,390. -- The renegotiated CARES Data Infrastructure (CDI) contract amendment was executed in March 2024, increasing the total contract value from $35,007,305 to $132,338,965. Current Actual Expenditure is $38,487,268. -- Contract amendment for Implementation Services negotiations on hold.
Scope Management Green	The Scope Management rating upgraded to Green in October 2024 based on SPR 6 approval condition #1a was satisfied, which clarifies the requirements in scope to be satisfied for V1. • 4,457 User Stories, 453 Epics, and 130 Building Blocks in the CWS-CARES Version 1 (V1) Scope baseline, covering 37 Product milestones that are identified as Salesforce application service areas and shared services, forms, and interfaces. -- As of the baseline submission, 1,653 (37.09%) of the V1 stories are reported in a "Done" status. -- As of the baseline submission, the Rework milestone includes 1,047 Stories (23.49% of all V1 stories), of which 899 Stories are currently in various open SDLC statuses. -- The CDT expects the total number of stories will fluctuate as V1 SDLC and user feedback activities progress. Accordingly, the CDT requests the project to include tabular data that demonstrates completion progress and adjustments in total stories by milestone in future Project Status Report (PSR) and Quarterly Project Report (QPR) submissions to the CDT, commencing with the PSR due in December 2024. • The SDLC for Milestone 6.1 Prevention Services is 100% as of October 2024. • The project continues focus on requirements, design, development, and testing for the following product service areas: -- Case Management: Holistic Design Milestones (1, 2, 6, 8, 6.1, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 19, 20). 1 blueprint is in progress for Milestones 10,11, 13. 240 blueprints in progress for Milestones 6.1, 7, 9. -- Courts Processing: Holistic Design Milestones (16, 17, 18). 214 blueprints are in progress. -- Resource Management: Holistic Design Milestones (26, 27, 28). 85 blueprints in progress. -- Financial Management: Holistic Design Milestones (23, 23.1, 24). -- Eligibility: Holistic Design Milestones (21) -- Admin Console: Holistic Design Milestones (32) -- Shared Services: Holistic Design Milestones -- Reporting: Holistic Design Milestones (29, 30, 31) • Interfaces are being developed to support service area milestones. There are six V1 interfaces in development for Milestones 7.1, 10.1, 15.1, 20.1, 23.2, and 26.1. • Data Conversion activities are in progress, including mapping domain data to legacy sources. -- Disposition is complete for Milestones 1, 2, 6.1, 9, 14, 17, 18, 21, 24, 28, 32 -- Disposition in progress for Milestones 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 13, 23, 26, 27 -- Disposition behind schedule for Milestones 6, 7, 8, 15, 16, 19.
Resources Green	The Resources rating remains Green in October 2024. • The approved FY 2024-25 project budget allocates 123 positions. • The project’s overall position vacancy percentage improved to 10%, which is the Project’s goal of 10%. • Total Vendor resources increased to 467 staff, including: -- PaaS SI – 250 (no change from last month) -- CDI – 98 (+7) -- PVS – 64 (-2) -- Implementation – 45 (nc) -- QA/Testing – 10 (nc) • State and Vendor Resources have the tools and time necessary to complete tasks as assigned; and demonstrate a detailed-level of understanding to fulfill their assigned roles.
Quality Yellow	The Quality rating continues as Yellow in October 2024. • As reported by the IV&V contractor, the PaaS SI is not currently performing QA Automated Test Validation. -- This condition presents risk that functionality may not be ready for the Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) cycle 2 planned for March 2025. -- Per PaaS SIT, State QA agreement, build/test activities are complete, scripts to be delivered by 12/31/2024. • RI-279 (High) based on IPO observation, is in progress to address the lack of detailed plan to harden, scenario test, and validate V1 scope prior to Go-Live. -- Revised action plan to include Create Executive Summary with links/paragraph to related items; and Need detailed test plan for EUST 4 (PMO to determine). -- In October, the State continued to lead the coordination of EUST 2 planning weekly forum with multiple vendor and state teams. -- The remediated schedule now includes an additional EUST 4 cycle and time to test and validate product and interface milestones to support V1 Go-Live in October 2026. • As of October, 2595 (+101) bugs have been opened in System Integration Test (SIT) and 1368 (+21) bugs in QA. -- For other categories (e.g., Ongoing LOE, Rework), there are 734 total bugs opened in SIT and 379 opened in QA. • There are a total of 178 (+12) Open Bugs with 6 (-2) critical, 38 (+8) high, 114 (+3) medium, and 20 (+3) low. -- 7 open bugs are Fixed, in Joint Review. • The project continues to monitor and prioritize Technical Debt for V1 with 10 issues documented sized at 44 story points.
Risk And Issues Green	The Risks and Issues rating remains Green in October 2024. The administration and management of risks and issues is mature with all items recorded and updated in the Risk-Issue Jira Backlog. • There are a total of 28 open project-level risks and issues being tracked by the CWS-CARES team, with 1 High priority Issue in progress of remediation: -- Issue RI-286 (High): Low Conversion mapping coverage of CWS/CMS data elements into CWS-CARES. • Count of active Issues and Risks: -- 12 issues: 1 High, 6 Medium, 5 Low -- 16 risks: 0 High, 7 Medium, 9 Low
Transition Readiness Yellow	The Transition Readiness rating continues as Yellow in October 2024. • The project presented V1 Pilot planning findings to the Board of Directors in July 2024 recommending not to move forward with the Tech/Op solution and no viable alternative to meet CWDA expectations. -- Four alternatives were presented to the ELT in October 2024, with all assessed as costly. -- No update to the Board in September. -- In August, the project presented two alternatives being researched. • Completed End to End scenario review and process gaps of Milestones 14 and 15 with VPOD. • Conducted gap analysis for Courts VPOD. • Finalized Draft To Be process flows/processes for MI 14. • Delivered materials for the 2024 CWDA Conference to presenters. • Completed delivery of CARES Training Logistics results and check sheets back to all Counties. • Completed the CCLD Organization Assessment. • ACF Metric Report #11 – shared with ACF. • Finalized Core Constituent Survey #2 results and shared with ELT. • There are a total of 134 RFA user accounts, of which 120 are Active, and 14 Pending Registration. -- Beginning in February 2024, Contra Costa and Riverside are no longer using RFA. Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara are now the only counties using the RFA Application process. -- 405 (-9 from prior month) Cumulative Total Applications received and 674 (+28) Total Applications Adjudicated as of October.
Conditions For Approval Green	The SPR 6 Approval Letter stipulates the project must adhere to the following conditions (abridged language below): 1. Complete an elaboration of the Product Backlog to further clarify program needs and establish the inventory of functions and features required to complete the project. -- a) Satisfied – V1 product scope (Epics) must be elaborated into requirements (Stories) not later than October 31, 2024. -- b) In Progress – V1 reporting and V2 Epics must be elaborated into Stories not later than February 28, 2025. 2. Conduct annual Development Progress Demonstration for stakeholders and CDT during the first quarter of each Calendar year. -- Satisfied. The annual demonstration was held on April 4, 2024. 3. Commence Earned Value Management (EVM) reporting in the monthly Project Status Reports (PSR) and Quarterly Project Reports (QPR) submissions beginning in October 2023. -- Satisfied. The Project began reporting EVM in October 2023. The Project continues to refine the approach and calculations using Function Point Equivalents. 4. Provide a Board of Directors-approved V1 Pilot Plan to the CDT upon completion of the SPR 6 Major Milestone in September 2023. -- Satisfied. The Project Director obtained Board of Directors approval on September 28, 2023, for the initial Pilot Plan version to satisfy the CDT SPR 6 approval condition. -- Board approval is conditional stipulating that all future iterations be brought back for Board approval. 5. The Independent Advisor (IA) consultant must assess the efficacy of the project’s constituent engagement, communications, and adoption model and provide a report that includes improvement recommendations to project leadership, the CalHHS and the CDT not later than March 31, 2024. -- Satisfied. Per IPO request, the findings and recommendations were presented to executive stakeholders on June 3, 2024. 6. Provide an updated Vendor Management Plan that includes a revised Work Order Authorization (WOA) process that aligns with the PaaS SI and PVS vendor contract amendments described in SPR 6 before the amendments are executed. -- Satisfied. The CDT IPO team reviewed the new WOA Management Plan with updated WOA templates in August 2023. -- Per IPO request, the WOA Management Plan was updated in October 2023 to include recurring activities, deliverables, and org readiness details for Implementation WOAs. 7. The CWS-CARES project must submit a new SPR if one or more of the following occurs: a) Estimated One-Time Cost increases by $15 million. b) Estimated Project End Date extends by three months. c) Product scope or requirements vary by 10 percent. d) Service Delivery Lifecycle (SDLC) undergoes major changes, as determined by the CDT. -- Condition has not been triggered
Corrective Action Green	Not currently applicable

• Special Project Report 6 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 5 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 4 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 3 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 2 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 1 (pdf)