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 August 2025 reporting period. • During this period, the Solution Integrator (SI) continued their Scope Validation Sessions (SVS) and worked on requirements with the project team. The SVS sessions are estimated to be concluded on September 19, 2025. • The project team continued to make progress on planning activities in preparation for the execution phase.

Focus Area/Rating	Comments
Governance Green	• 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 August 28, 2025. No decisions were made, or escalations discussed during the meeting. • The project received ESC approval for the Governance Management Plan, and the plan received final signatures on August 15, 2025. • An Inaugural SCO Executive Town Hall has been scheduled for September 29, 2025, to share project updates
Time Management Green	• The project completed the Project Planning subphase milestone on August 26, 2025. • The project approved the following deliverables during this period: -- SI DLV 5.5 Project Team Training Assessment Report -- IV&V DLV 7.5 Project Team Training Assessment and Report • The project obtained signatures on the following deliverables during this reporting period: -- SI Deliverable (DLV) 1.1 Input into CSPS PM Plans -- SI DLV 6.3 Input into the OCM Plan • The SI DLV 2.1 SDLC Methodology Plan was delayed to October 6, 2025, from the initial date of September 3, 2025, due to quality issues in the SI submission. An issue was opened to track the quality expectations from the SI team and resubmission of this and other upcoming deliverables. The issue was closed in August 2025, upon agreement on a remediation plan between the SCO and SI executives. • The delay in the SI DLV 2.1 deliverable has impacted the Design Planning subphase, which has been delayed to October 15, 2025, from the initial estimated date of September 24, 2025. • The project management plans are on track to be completed in August 2025 and submitted to the CDT by September 15, meeting condition #2 of the Stage 4 Approval letter dated May 15, 2025. • IPO is utilizing the Master Project Schedule submitted in August 2025 as the baseline schedule with this reporting period. • The SI submitted the August 2025 status report on September 8, 2025. The SI is tracking two risks related to delays in the following tasks: - P1 Confirm Reports - PI Develop and Refine User Stories and add to Backlog. The SI is working on a mitigation plan with the project team for both these risks.
Cost & Contract Management Green	• In agreement with the cost reporting timeline, the costs reported are for the July 2025 reporting period. • The project reported actual project costs of $42.7M or negative three (-3) % as compared to the allocated budget of $41.5M until this reporting month. The variance was due to the project starting two months earlier than anticipated, in February 2025, resulting in year-end project costs for 2024-25 to exceed the estimated. • The SCO finalized the FY 2024-25 costs and reported actual costs of $31.3M (project + planning) or a variance of 3% from the approved costs of $32.3M. These include unfinalized CalHR costs for the 2024-25 fiscal year. CalHR informed IPO that finalized costs would be available in the next assessment period. • The project has eight (8) active contracts. The costs for the contracts are within the budgeted amounts. • The project approved Change Request (CR) 002, which includes revisions to the SI Statement of Work (SOW). Amendment of the contract is in progress. The changes did not have an impact on the approved project scope, cost, or schedule.
Scope Management Green	• No change in scope was observed for this reporting period. CalHR/Policy Updates: -- A town hall event has been scheduled for September 10, 2025, to update all unions on the status of the project. -- The final rulemaking package was submitted to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for their 30-day review period, which is expected to conclude on September 8, 2025. The proposed rulemaking package includes the adoption, amendment, or repeal of 51 sections of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) to implement biweekly pay. If approved, enactment is effective January 1, 2026.
Resources Green	• During this reporting period, the project continued recruitment efforts for three key resources: CSPS Project Manager, CSPS Technical Chief, and CSPS Functional Chief. • The project continues to track a resource variance of 19% and is actively recruiting for the 20 new positions effective July 1, 2025, authorized in the FY 2025–26 budget. • The IPO will continue to monitor the recruitment efforts as it progresses. • The project reported that twenty-six (26.0) of the one hundred (100.0) SCO-authorized positions, four (4.0) of the twenty-five (25.0) CalHR-authorized positions, and two (2.0) of the forty-one (41.0) contractors remain vacant.
Quality Green	• The project completed and deployed Release 2.0 of the Holistic Enterprise Registry Management System (HERMES) tool. The release includes CSPS-specific interface details. The team continues to identify potential interfaces during the gap identification process. • The project finalized the Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) workflow process for obtaining signatures from departments and third-party vendors. • The project has five (5.0) DEDs in review and has approved the DED for DLV 2.7 User Interface Specifications. • The Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) team submitted the Monthly Activity Report (MAR) on September 5, 2025. The MAR continues to track findings related to -- Integration with existing and potentially new external HCM solution. -- Development of Interface Documentation. -- The SDLC Methodology plan submission -- The observations shared in the MAR are consistent with the IPO's evaluation of the overall project health.
Risk And Issues Green	• The project is actively managing, monitoring, and tracking the risks and issues. • The project reviews risks and issues, engaging IPO, IV&V, project team members, and other stakeholders. • Below are the top risks in each category being tracked by the project. (Refer to Risks & Issues focus area for further details) Short-term/Near-Term risks (less than three (3) months): -- Risk# 5 - Project Resource Availability -- Risk# 18823 - Executive Resource Change -- Risk# 18850 - Writ filing under PCC 6611 Long-term risks (greater than three (3) months): -- Risk# 3- Implementation of other new Human Capital Management (HCM) systems by Agencies/Departments. -- Risk# 18814 – Payroll File Creation Timing -- Risk# 85 – Bargaining Unit Communications The probability of the following risks was reduced, and are not being tracked in the top three categories: -- Risk# 18822- 2026 Bargaining impacts, -- Risk# 18852 – Insufficient State Resources to Support Overlapping Phase 2 and Phase 3 Activities • The following issues were logged during this reporting period: -- Issue# 31- Risk# 18825- Delay in CalHR Budget Reporting was closed and escalated as an issue due to the unavailability of actual costs from CalHR budgets. -- Issue# 32- the issue was logged to track the quality of the deliverables from the SI team, which originated from the delay in the SI DLV 2.1 SDLC Methodology Plan deliverable. The issue was closed on August 27, 2025, following an agreement on a remediation plan between the SI and SCO executive teams.
Transition Readiness Green	• The OCM team continued to work on the following activities during this reporting period: Department Agency Readiness Team (DART) - The team completed the Phases and Waves naming conventions and identified a list of contacts for the Interagency Agreements (IAA) for DART funding. -- Agency Change Experts (ACEs) are working on the CSPS Awareness Campaign Communications Plan and estimate to complete in September 2025. -- The ACE team continues to review the Awareness Campaign survey responses. - The project leadership approved the HCM communication plan and is collaborating on next steps.
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 CDT approved the CSPS request for a thirty-day extension to September 15, 2025. 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. 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)