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?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 was adjusted from Red in August to Yellow in September due to the decisions approved that include revising the V1 Go-Live date to December 7. -- If there is insufficient evidence of readiness by October end, this rating will be reassessed and may be returned to Red. • Although additional time is provided, risks that may impact a successful deployment are: -- 1) the remaining high volume of open software and data defects and county tester feedback being received related to solution quality and usability. -- 2) significant schedule risks, including insufficient contingency time in case of a delay in a critical Go-Live Readiness activity and interdependent workstreams. • Quality continues Red: There is a significant risk to the health of the project. • Time Management, Cost Management, and Transition Readiness are Yellow: Caution, risks/issues exist. • Governance, Scope, Resources, and Risks/Issues are Green: Satisfactory, no corrective action necessary. • The Board-approved Production Simulation environment is available. As of September, 24,201 users have been invited. Of those, 18,735 (77%) users have logged in at least once. 149,006 records have been created/modified. • All SPR 6 Product Milestones are done. Ongoing level of effort, shared services, and backlog of new user stories continue in progress. • As of September, there are currently 2 high-priority issues and 1 high-priority risk. 5 issues and 1 risk were closed.

Focus Area/Rating	Comments
Governance Green	The Governance rating improved from Yellow to Green (satisfactory) in September 2026. The adjustment reflects project decisions recently made with stakeholder concurrence in response to concerns expressed in the CWDA letter sent to the Legislature on July 14. • The scope and character of authority for project decision-making is documented and operational. County representatives are actively engaged and empowered to ensure that the project delivers value. • The FFY 2027 APDU was approved by ACF on September 24. • V1 Go-Live Readiness includes several checkpoints: -- Checkpoint #1 (120-day) held on June 29 -- Checkpoint #2 (90-day) held on July 27 -- Checkpoint #3 (60-day) held on August 24 – Board convened in an ad hoc session to review the results and make decisions. -- Checkpoint #4 (60-day, following V1 Go-Live adjustment) scheduled October 5 -- Checkpoint #5 (30-day) scheduled November 7 • The Production Simulation activities are in progress. -- Weekly and Daily Prod Sim reports are shared with stakeholders and provide feedback, defect, and incident reporting metrics. The team also holds a weekly checkpoint meeting. • Daily morning and evening leadership meetings occur regularly, with working sessions held in between. • Nine decisions were made via the Decision-Making Framework in September. • Constituent engagement includes regular communications to constituents, including communications, data, external systems, and implementation activities. • ACF Monthly Report on User Engagement & Adoption is prepared monthly with key accomplishments and stakeholder topics. -- The September report clarifies that 23 communications were sent to stakeholders and users in August. Many of the communications focused on Implementation/OCM/Training. • Per an SPR 6 approval condition, the project utilizes Earned Value Metrics (EVM) to monitor project health. The Total V1 Scope is measured in Function Point Equivalents (FPE). The September FPE value of 88,148 is consistent with values since December 2025.
Time Management Yellow	The Time Management Focus Area rating is assessed as Yellow – Caution; risks/issues exist. In September, the rating was adjusted to reflect corrective actions taken to address risks and challenges related to the V1 Go-Live Readiness and CWDA concerns. Although approved decisions provide additional time to prepare for the deployment of CWS-CARES, readiness challenges remain that could impact a successful launch. If there is insufficient evidence of readiness by the end of October, this will be reassessed and may be returned to Red. • The following decisions were made in September that provide additional time to prepare for V1 launch: -- DMF 636: BOD approved change in Go-Live Date from 10/26/26 to 12/7/26. -- DMF 637: BOD approved the cutover to read-only on Thursday, 12/3/26, at 5 pm -- DMF 638: BOD approved change in Go-Live Date from 10/26/26 to 12/7/26 -- An additional Readiness Checkpoint was added. The upcoming checkpoints include new 60-day (10/5) and 30-day (11/7). • As of the end of September, all 37 Product Milestones are SDLC complete. • Two SPR 6 milestones are overdue: 1) post-code complete activities; 2) V2 M&O contract award. The project clarified that it will address V2 as part of a planned SPR. • The project's performance in achieving the remediated and re-baselined project schedule is reported by PaaS SI to be on track. As of September end: -- PaaS SI schedule variance metrics show the overall project is on track at 98% (+2% from last month) complete, with 62 tasks Overdue and 14 Behind Schedule. • As per the SPR approval conditions, the Project is using EVM to gauge performance. The Schedule Performance Index (SPI) adjusted to 1.0 as of September 15, indicating the project is on schedule with a variance of less than 5% from the target of 1.0.
Cost & Contract Management Yellow	The Cost & Contract Management rating continued as Yellow in September 2026. • Funding for Current Year (CY) 2026-2027 is approved: -- Spring Finance Letter (SFL) 2026-2027 BCP was approved in the budget passed by the Legislature in the main budget bill, Assembly Bill 109, on June 15, 2026, and signed by the Governor on June 30, 2026. -- The FFY 2027 APDU was approved by the ACF, including the development activities and a $359,378,689 budget, on September 24. • The Total Project Costs (budget) 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. -- Total One-Time Cumulative Expenditures are reported as $832,010,915, which is ~18% less than planned. -- CY One-Time Cumulative Expenditures are reported at $46,253,446, which is ~46% less than planned. • As per an approval condition, the Project is using EVM to gauge performance. -- The 1.080 CPI reported as of September 15 is consistent with expenditures less than budgeted. The variance from the target 1.0 remains above 10% but is below the peak CPI of 1.378 in August 2025. • There are currently 13 service contracts for delivery of the CWS-CARES solution. -- 4 procurements are planned or in progress. -- 4 contract amendments are in progress.
Scope Management Green	The Scope Management rating is improved to Green in September 2026. • The September (10/1/26) V1 Scope Extract prepared by the project illustrates that all SPR 6 Product Milestones are Done. The V1 product functional scope is organized by four Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) cycles and consists of 5,046 user stories categorized into product and interface Milestones (plus Rework, Forms, and Shared Services), Building Blocks, and Epics. IPO observes: -- 4,502 (89% of total) user stories have completed the SDLC phase. -- 3,184 (100%) of EUST user stories are Done. • All 8 external interfaces in scope for V1 are Done. • As of September, Data Conversion Mock Cycles 1 and 2 are complete, and Mock Cycle 3 started, excluding Sealed and Sensitive data. -- Prod Sim Data Validation is ongoing along with semi-weekly County Data Validation workgroup meetings. -- Mock Cycle 3 Production Loads is 42% Complete and includes Micro Conversion 1 and Snowflake Loads. -- Decision made to defer Binti data conversion to post V1 Go-Live. -- Contra Costa County opted to defer data conversion of their external systems to post V1 Go-Live. -- San Luis Obispo County opted to have their data converted for go live. • Development of 435 Statewide forms continues in progress with 422 done. • County-specific forms conversion effort is now 100% complete, with 1,988 forms converted in total; of these, 541 were later determined to be no longer needed, and 1,447 forms have been delivered to 38 counties. • V2 scope definition is delayed, dependent on V2 procurement, which is currently on hold.
Resources Green	The Resources rating continued Green in September 2026. • Key consulting contracts that provide specialized, skilled contract staff supporting the project are available for implementation and readiness activities leading to Go-Live. • The approved FY 2026-2027 budget allocates 131 positions, of which 124 are filled. • The project’s overall position vacancy rate continued as 5% in September, with no hires. This is within the Project’s goal of 10%. • Total primary vendor resources increased to 871 (+19) staff, including: -- PaaS SI – 416 (no change) -- CDI – 191 (nc) -- PVS – 46 (-2) -- Implementation (KPMG) – 213 (+21) -- QA/Testing – 7 (no change)
Quality Red	The Quality rating remained Red in September 2026. There continues to be a large backlog of open and unresolved critical and high-severity application and data conversion defects. Users may experience challenges in Prod Sim from unresolved system and data conversion defects. IPO recommends that the project evaluate whether all open defects will be resolved before V1 Go-Live and, if not, plan how to do so afterward. • The project is responding to 2 high-priority issues related to Quality. -- RI-342 (High Issue): Issues identified by Salesforce Code Quality Review. Salesforce's code analysis has identified several quality issues that need resolution. -- RI-339 (High Issue): Automation Regression Test (ART) execution failures are poor and do not show an improvement or an improving trend. ART execution results show a trend of failures across most Milestones that passed manual validation in the QA environment. • IV&V observations continue unresolved, including: -- 1.2.6.1 Data Migration and Reconciliation Validation -- 1.4.7.1 Failed Salesforce Apex Test Methods in the QA Environment -- 1.5.26 Incomplete Implementation of Safety Alerts Feature in CARES -- 1.5.28 Cyclic Defect Dependencies and Improper Defect Traceability • The QA completion of V1 user stories is 100% as of September. • Significant volume of open Application defects. The backlog increased from 443 (July) to 600 (August), and to 668 in September. -- 668 (68 more than last month), with 122 (+59) Critical, 357 (+70) High, 182 (-31) Medium, and 7 (-30) Low. -- Aging statistics indicate the volume of newly opened defects continues to be more than the weekly throughput of resolving open defects, indicating there is insufficient time to resolve most defects prior to V1 Go-Live. -- Trend statistics indicate the large number of defects has been persistent since at least June. • Significant volume of open Data Conversion defects. The backlog adjusted from 444 (July) to 702 (August) and 582 in September. -- 582 (275 less than last month), with 120 (-79) Critical, 284 (-169) High, 171 (-26) Medium, 7 (-1) Low. -- Aging and Trend statistics indicate similar challenges as for application defects. • Rework was renamed in August 2026 to “Backlog”. -- As of September, 1,200 (76%) of the total 1,566 Rework/Backlog user stories are Done. • Automated Regression Testing is performed for selected (not all) milestones with an average pass rate of 98% as of September. • There are 15 system environments configured for different activities, with 7 containing production data. • ADA testing continues with 6 open defects; 6 Salesforce; 0 Image Trust; 0 PaaS SI.
Risk And Issues Green	The Risks and Issues rating remained Green in September 2026. Risk and issue management is mature, with all items recorded and updated in the Risks and Issues Jira Backlog. • In September, the project resolved and closed 5 high-priority issues and 1 high-priority risk. • The CWS-CARES team is managing 25 open project-level risks and issues, including 2 high-priority issues and 1 high-priority risk. -- RI-342 (Issue): Issues identified by Salesforce Code Quality Review (Quality) -- RI-339 (Issue): Automation Regression Test (ART) execution failures are poor and not showing an improvement or improving trend (Quality) -- RI-326 (Risk) Insufficient time or resources to develop County reports by the Go-Live date (Transition Readiness) • Breakdown of active Risks and Issues: -- Issues: 16 (2 High, 10 Medium, 4 Low) -- Risks: 9 (1 High, 5 Medium, 3 Low)
Transition Readiness Yellow	The Transition Readiness rating continued Yellow in September 2026. Compressed time for user training and quality issues resulting from development and testing delays could impact county users’ readiness. • The project is responding to 1 high-priority risk related to Transition Readiness. -- RI-326: Insufficient time or resources to develop County reports by the Go-Live date. • IV&V observations continue unresolved, including: -- 1.4.6.1 Minimum Viable Product Functionality and Production Readiness at Go-Live -- 1.7.6.1 User Onboarding Planned Before Full Operational Readiness of RBAC-Enabled Tableau and Snowflake Environments • Production Simulation metrics are recorded daily. As of September, 24,201 users were invited; 18,735 users logged in at least once; 2,902 users logged in during September; 149,006 records were created/modified; 5,452 support tickets were escalated to Tier 2 and 3. • Stakeholder Briefing #11 held on September 23: -- Decision to change V1 Go-Live to December 7 was shared, along with other key dates (e.g., code freeze, cutover). -- Online access to Training materials including Quick Guides, Training Guides, Recorded demonstrations, CARES navigation, and ILT Parking Lot Responses are available. -- A Central Command Center, and Organization Command Center to coordinate issue management, communication, and operational readiness during the Go‑Live are being stood up to support V1 Go-Live. -- CWS-CARES Search functionality is enhanced to enable Global and Targeted searches with “and” logic. -- Upcoming Data Refreshes to Prod Sim and CalSAWS is in progress to provide users with more current data and functionality. • The County Forms conversion effort is now 100% complete, with 1,988 forms converted in total. County validation is at 27.2% (242 forms, or 16%, accepted; 63 forms, or 4.2%, in validation; and 106 forms, or 7%, rejected), with 72.7% (1,097 forms) not yet started. • Binti Data Conversion deferred to post V1 go-live. This will allow the project to work with counties on resolving data anomalies and data cleanup in the source system and continue to test data mapping results.
Conditions For Approval Green	The SPR 6 Approval Letter stipulates that the project must adhere to the following conditions (abridged language below): 1. Complete an elaboration of the Product Backlog to clarify program needs further 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) no later than October 31, 2024. IPO reviewed the materials in November 2024 and determined that they satisfy the condition. As per the CDT request, the project is also providing: 1) 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. 2) The PSR and QPR reports include tabular data specifically on the details and progress of the "Rework" milestone stories, including identification of the original source milestone (e.g., 157 Rework milestone stories are sourced from "Milestone 03: Screening"). -- b) In Progress – “V1 reporting and V2 Epics must be elaborated into Stories no later than February 28, 2025”. On February 28, 2025, the project was submitted to the CDT materials intended to satisfy condition #1b. At that time, IPO reviewed the materials and determined it was conditionally satisfied. CDT acknowledged that the V2 Baseline scope information must be kept "procurement confidential". The project was requested to provide the CDT the following, but as of June 30, 2026, the V2 procurement is on hold: 1) An updated version of the V2 scope at the Epic/Scenario level immediately after the V2 PaaS SI contractor procurement is completed. (Date TBD) 2) An updated version of the V2 scope elaborated to the Story level immediately upon completion of V2 Business Requirements activities. (Date TBD) 2. Conduct an annual Development Progress Demonstration for stakeholders and CDT during the first quarter of each Calendar year. -- Satisfied. The most recent annual demonstrations were held on April 4, 2024, May 7, 2025, and April 30, 2026. 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 returned for 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, CalHHS, and the CDT by 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. In August 2023, the CDT IPO team reviewed the new WOA Management Plan, which included updated WOA templates. -- 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 is extended 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)