Independent Project Oversight Report (IPOR) Rating

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?Yes

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

Project Overall Health	Comments
Green	The overall project health rating is green for the June 2026 reporting period. • The Organizational Change Management (OCM) team presented the Modernizing Pay Day (MPD) overview to the SCO leadership.

Focus Area/Rating	Comments
Governance Green	• The Independent Project Oversight Managers (IPO) observed that project leadership, executives, workstream teams, and stakeholders remain engaged in the project activities and decisions. • The project follows a regular cadence for Executive Steering Committee (ESC) meetings. The most recent ESC meeting was held on June 25, 2026. During this meeting the team informed that an additional Planning Interval (PI) will be necessary to complete the in scope development items, and noted there was no impact to the scheduled go-live date. No decisions were requested, or escalations discussed during the meeting. • The IPO observed that the project continues to demonstrate adherence to IT governance processes and best practices as outlined in the project management plans.
Time Management Green	• The team continued to work on PI 2 development activities and completed Sprint 4 and 5 in June 2026. The PI2 is 89% complete. • Due to the increased complexity of the configuration work and the addition of capacity enabler stories, the team determined that additional sprint cycles are required to deliver the planned Phase 1 functionality. As a result, Change Request (CR) #006 has been initiated and is currently pending further analysis and approval. Based on the initial assessment, the team expects the schedule to be extended by several months. However, there is no impact to the Phase 1 go-live date, as the project is utilizing the buffer built into the Phase 1 timeline. • Independent Verification and Validation ( IV&V) Deliverables (DLV) 3.1 Interface Analysis and Report and DLV 5.2a Operational Assessment and Report were approved during this assessment period. • The IPO observed that the project continues to actively track the progress of key tasks, deliverables, and sprint activities against the project schedule. The IPO will continue to monitor task completion relative to the schedule as the project progresses.
Cost & Contract Management Green	• In agreement with the cost reporting timeline, all reported costs are for the May 2026 reporting period. • The following costs were reported for the assessment period: -- Total actual costs (project + planning) of $187M or 75% of the allocated budget of $247M through 2025-26. -- Total project costs of $99M, or 10.6% of the total approved project costs of $938 M and 63% of the total approved project costs of $156 M through 2025-26. • The project completed execution of 98 DART Interagency Agreements (IAA). • The submissions for DART funding from departments were due May 10, 2026. The project received 62 submissions and has approved 41 of them with a total payout of $ 544,168 to date. • The project has eight (8) active contracts. The contract costs are within budget.
Scope Management Green	• No change in scope was observed for this reporting period. • Change Request (CR) 004 was approved in June 2026. This CR includes 20 Analysis Tasks (AT) for requirements modification, additions, and deprecation. • Requirement Changes from pending AT analysis are likely to trigger additional CRs anticipated to be minimal impact and absorbed within the approved project plan. • The SCO continues to plan for the enterprise-wide Customer Contact Center (CCC) effort that will establish a modern customer service platform to serve as the primary intake point for SCO inquiries with the initial focus of the implementation for the CSPS project. The project is awaiting approval of the funding requested for this effort in the Spring 2026 Budget Change Proposal (BCP). • CalHR/Policy Updates: -- Continues to analyze user stories to determine the need for policy revisions or new policy development. -- Initiate working with the functional team on their participation and review of the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) scenarios. -- Continue on the 2026 union outreach efforts and held the CSPS Townhall meeting on 6/16/2026.
Resources Green	• The overall resource variance decreased to 3%. The project reported that four (4.0) of the one hundred (100.0) SCO-authorized positions, and one (1.0) of the twenty-five (25.0) CalHR-authorized positions remain vacant. • The IPO observed that the team continues to actively recruit open positions and replacement for contractor staff. The IPO will continue to track resource needs and ensure appropriate resources are maintained as the project progress.
Quality Green	• The team completed PI 2 Sprint 4 on 6/08/2026, with a Sprint velocity of 79% and Sprint 5 on 6/22/2026 with a velocity of 63%. • The technical team assisted in completing all user stories remaining for development work. Additionally, they continued preparation of System Integration testing (SIT) and conducted working sessions for the Parallel Test Plan and UAT Plan. • The SI submitted the June 2026 status report on June 9, 2026. The report continues to identify the P1 Data Conversion workstream as being at risk of delay. Specifically, the Reference Tables Design and Data Loading subtasks are delayed due to dependencies on development work planned for a future Program Increment (PI). An estimated completion date for these activities has not yet been provided. • The Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) team submitted the draft Monthly Activity Report (MAR) on July 7, 2026. The report identified several findings and risks related to the addition of sprint cycle and interface development which are under review by the project team. Please refer to the Details section for more information. The observations shared in the MAR are consistent with the IPO's overall assessment of the project's health.
Risk And Issues Green	• The project is actively managing, monitoring, and tracking the risks and issues. • During this assessment period, the project closed Risk# 18870 (Three Planning Intervals may not be sufficient to complete Phase 1 Scope) after it was escalated to Issue# 34. Through issue analysis, the team determined that additional sprint cycles are required to complete the Phase 1 scope. Please refer to the Details section for more information. • The project is tracking top risks in each category (Refer to Risks & Issues focus area for further details). Near-Term risks (less than three (3) months): - Risk# 8 – Annual Budget Approvals - Risk# 18828- Lack of Production Support Resources for Product Operations. - Risk# 5–Project Resource Availability. Long-term risks (greater than three (3) months): - Risk# 61- Failure of departments to communicate CSPS Project Information to Staff. - Risk# 18856 – Lack of HCM System Standardization Resulting in Duplication, Delays, and Reduced Satisfaction. - Risk# 18844 – Implementation of Centralized Customer Service (Help Desk).
Transition Readiness Green	• The Organizational Change Management (OCM) team was engaged in the following activities during this assessment period: - Continued operational deep-dive sessions with SCO Divisions. - The DART teams are executing assignments with departments to obtain data for configuration, testing and conversion activities. -Continue planning for the launch of the Modernizing Pay Day Campaign, currently estimated for July 2026.
Conditions For Approval Green	The project has the following conditions of approval as per the superseded Stage 4 Approval Letter issued on May 15, 2025. The project is working on meeting these conditions by the specified due date. 1) Within 90 days of this letter, the SCO shall submit to the CDT a detailed, fully resource-loaded CSPS Integrated Master Schedule (IMS), which includes both State and System Integrator (SI) activities, deliverables, milestones, and tasks -- The project submitted the approved IMS/MPS to CDT on August 12, 2025. 2) Within 90 days of this letter, the CSPS Project Management Team shall review, and the SCO shall approve and submit updated Project Management Plans to the CDT. -- The project submitted approved plans to the CDT on September 2, 2025, and has met this condition of approval. 3) Following the start of project implementation, the SCO shall submit to the CDT the Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) Monthly Status Report. -- The project is meeting this condition of approval with the monthly submission of the IV&V report. 4) No later than 60 days prior to the initiation of testing activities by the SI, the SCO shall submit the approved CSPS Project Test Management Plan to the CDT. -- The project submitted the approved plan to CDT on December 1, 2025, and has met this condition of approval. 5) In accordance with the State Administrative Manual (SAM) Section 4946 and the State Information Management Manual Section 160, the project shall submit a Transition to Maintenance and Operations Plan, including the plan for any transition of services from the SI vendor to the State, to the CDT for review and approval six months before the approved project end date.
Corrective Action Green	N/A

• Stage 4 Project Readiness and Approval (pdf)
• Stage 3 Solutions Development Part B (pdf)
• Stage 3 Solutions Development Part A (pdf)
• Stage 2 Alternative Analysis (pdf)
• Stage 1 Business Analysis (pdf)