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 May 2026 reporting period. • The project held the 2nd Department Agency Readiness Team (DART) meeting on May 5th, 2026, during which the project provided progress updates and system demonstrations to department sponsors and liaisons. • The CSPS leadership team held Cabana Chat in May 2026 during which they respond to team member questions and provided a 6-month roadmap of upcoming project activities.

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 May 27, 2026, during which the team provided an update on project progress and activities. No decisions were requested, or escalations discussed during the meeting. • The project held the bimonthly status meetings with the Department of Finance on May 28, 2026, and the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) on June 2nd, 2026. • The leadership team held the monthly meeting with Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) on May 21, 2026, to discuss the implementation of their new Human Capital System (HCM) solution. The teams discussed avoiding duplication of data in the DHCS solution and the possibility of moving DHCS CSPS rollout to an earlier phase. • 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 2 and 3 in May 2026. • Given the increased complexity in the configuration and development work, the team is actively monitoring the development progress and developing forecasting metrics to determine whether additional Sprint cycles may be required to deliver the planned Phase 1 functionality. • The Solution Integrator (SI) Deliverable (DLV) 2.6a- Operational Report Inventory-Phase 1 was approved on 5/1/2026. • 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 April 2026 reporting period. • The following costs were reported for the assessment period: -- Total actual costs (project + planning)- $183M or 74.3% of the allocated budget of $247M through 2025-26. -- Total project costs- $95M, or - 10.2% of the total approved project costs of $938 M. - 61.5% of the total approved project costs of $156 M through 2025-26. • The project continues to work with departments on executing the DART Interagency Agreements (IAA). 61 of the 102 IAAs have been executed. • The submissions for DART funding from departments were due May 10, 2026. The project received 51 submissions and has approved 23 of them with a total payout of $474,536. • 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 approval of Change Request (CR) 004. The project team reviewed and approved the impact analysis provided by the SI; CR is pending final signatures. • 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: -- The team continues to analyze user stories to determine the need for policy revisions or new policy development. -- Additionally, the team continues its outreach efforts with the Unions and Labor Relations planned for 2026.
Resources Green	• The overall resource variance decreased to 4%. The project reported that five (5.0) 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 3 on 5/11/2026, with a Sprint velocity of 90% and Sprint 4 on 5/22/2026 with a velocity of 74%. • The technical team held discussions for implementing Single Sign-On (SSO). • The SI submitted the May 2026 status report on June 9, 2026. The report continues to report P1 Data Conversion at risk which includes the Reference Tables Design and Data loading tasks; estimated to be completed by 6/30/2026. The delay is due to increased complexity and tasks delayed from previous months. The team has prioritized these tasks and expects to complete them as scheduled. • The Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) team submitted the draft Monthly Activity Report (MAR) on June 7, 2026. The report identified several findings and risks resulting from review of the SI deliverables which are under review by the project team for inclusion into the IV&V risk log. 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 identified zero new risks or issues. 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# 18870- Three Phase 1 Planning Intervals May Be Insufficient to Complete Phase 1 Scope - Risk# 18875–Insufficient Resources for Future Planning Interval User Story Development. 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 assessment period: - Continued 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 on June 29, 2026, User Acceptance Testing (UAT) training in the fall 2026, and preparation for the Modernizing Human Resources (MHR) campaign email series.
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)