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 March 2026 reporting period. • The project held a team celebration on March 13, 2026, to celebrate its one-year anniversary from the start of the implementation phase. • The State Controller Chief of Staff met with the State Cabinet Secretaries on March 24, 2026, and provided an update on the project.

Focus Area/Rating	Comments
Governance Green	• The 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 March 26, 2026, during which the team provided an update on project activities. No decisions were requested, or escalations discussed during the meeting. • The IPO Managers observe that the project continues to demonstrate strong adherence to IT governance processes and best practices as outlined in the project management plans.
Time Management Green	•The project reported 95% completion of the PI 1 development activities and is on track to complete development as scheduled on April 13, 2026. • The team successfully completed Sprints 4 and 5 during March 2026. • The team finalized the PI 2 checklist in March 2026. • Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) and Solution Integrator (SI) continue to work on deliverables that are due next 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 February 2026 reporting period. • The following actual costs were reported for the assessment period: -- Total actual costs (project + planning)- $159M or 64% of the allocated budget of $247M through 2025-26, -- Total project costs- $71.4M, or 7.6% of the total approved project costs of $938 M. • The project continues to work with departments on executing the Department Agency Readiness Team (DART) Interagency Agreements (IA). 102 departments have been offered funding. • 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. • The team continues to work on impact analysis for Change Request (CR) 004. • CalHR/Policy Updates: -- The team continues to analyze user stories to determine the need for policy revisions or new policy development.
Resources Green	• The Technical Chief position became vacant on August 22, 2025. The team has completed the interview process and selected a candidate, which is pending executive approval. The IPO Managers will monitor the impact on sprint development while the position remains vacant. • The overall resource variance decreased to 4%. The project reported that five (5.0) of the one hundred (100.0) SCO-authorized positions, and two (2.0) of the twenty-five (25.0) CalHR-authorized positions remain vacant.
Quality Green	• The project maintains an average velocity of 92% story points across PI Sprints 4 and 5. • The functional team finalized the scope for PI 2. • The technical team completed the interface and reports inventory in preparation for the upcoming deliverables. • The team continues to work on reports that will provide visibility into the sprint user story re-assignments. IPO Managers will follow up with the project on completion of these reports. • The SI submitted the March 2026 status report on March 31, 2026. The report identified one task related to P1 Data Conversion that is at risk and will be delayed from the original date. Further analysis of this task and a revised date are pending. • The IV&V team submitted the draft Monthly Activity Report (MAR) on March 31, 2026. Three new findings and no new risks were identified for this assessment period. The findings related to User Stories updates and formatting structure, as well as Data Sharing Agreements. 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. • The team incorporated IPO’s recommendations and has planned a monthly cadence, starting in April 2026, to review risks and issues with the broader project team. IPO will monitor the effectiveness of these meetings as the project progresses. • The project identified no new risks or issues this assessment period. • 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# 6 – Retention of Project State Staff - Risk# 18178- Reporting Labor Costs Data to the SCO Book of Record. - Risk# 17– Not All Current State Interfaces Identified. Long-term risks (greater than three (3) months): - Risk# 3- Implementation of other new Human Capital Management (HCM) systems in Agencies/Departments. - 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 reporting period: - The Agency Change Experts (ACE) responded to department questions regarding the CSPS DART funding allocation plan. - Worked with project workstreams to gather data to develop a change impact analysis dashboard.
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)