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 August 2026 reporting period. • The Organizational Change Management Team launched the Modernizing Pay Day (MPD) campaign and MPD webpage for external party reference.

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 August 27, 2026. 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	• Planning Interval (PI) 3 development started in July 2026 and is 66% complete. • The team approved Deliverable (DLV) 4.2 Parallel Test Plan and DLV 6.2 Operations Support Organization •The project held an interface kick-off meeting with CalPERS on 8/10/2026 and a few Third-party vendors in August 2026. • In July 2026, the IPO recommended incorporating Fi$Cal and other complex interfaces' development schedules into the MPS to provide better visibility into key milestones, track progress, and identify potential impacts on dependencies and the Phase 1 go-live date. The IPO continues to work with the team in incorporating this feedback. • 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	• The costs reported are for the June 2026 reporting period and include the FY 2025-26 year-end actual costs. • Costs reported for this assessment period: -- Total actual one-time costs (project + planning): $233M, which represents 94% of the allocated budget of $247M through 2025-26. -- Total project costs: $147M, which represents: > 16% of the approved project costs of $938M > 94% of the approved project costs of $156M through 2025-26. • The project continues to receive submissions for Department Agency Readiness Team (DART) funding from departments and has approved reimbursement requests with a total payment of $1,458,652 to date. • The project has eight (8) active contracts. The contract costs are within budget.
Scope Management Green	• Requirement Changes from Analysis Tasks (AT) analysis have triggered additional Change Requests (CR). The team is reviewing Change Request (CR)# 007 and CR#008 while the Solution Integrator (SI) is conducting impact analysis for CR#009. • CalHR/Policy Updates: -- Continues to analyze user stories to determine the need for policy revisions or new policy development. -- Continues to work with the functional team to review User Acceptance Testing (UAT) scenarios.
Resources Green	• The overall resource variance increased to 11% from 9% last reporting period. This is due to new positions received for the new FY and recent staff departures. The project reported that eighteen (18.0) of the one hundred twelve (112.0) 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 progresses.
Quality Green	• The team continues development activities for PI 3 and completed Sprint 2 on 8/3/2026, Sprint 3 on 8/17/2026, and Sprint 4 on 8/31/2026 with an average completion rate of 96%. • The SI submitted the August 2026 status report on September 8, 2026. No new risks or issues were identified during this reporting period. • The Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) team submitted the draft Monthly Activity Report (MAR) on September 8, 2026. No new findings or risks were identified during this reporting period. 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. • In response to IPO’s request to be included in SCO Executive Office’s (EO) risk review and decision-making process for all candidate risks, the project plans to expand the existing Risk and Issues meetings to incorporate the review and discussion of candidate risks. These meetings will include participation from SCO EO and IPO managers to support coordinated decision-making and governance. • The following Risks & Issues were closed during this period: Risk# 18845- CSPS Project Branding and Recognition Issue# 35- FY 26/27 BCP Funding Approval Impacting Project • The project is tracking the following top risks* in each category. Near-Term risks (less than three (3) months): - Risk# 5–Project Resource Availability. - Risk# 18910 – Unavailable Schedule Reserve. - Risk# 18847- Lack of Subject Matter Experts Availability During the DDCI. Long-term risks (greater than three (3) months): - Risk# 61- Failure of departments to communicate CSPS Project Information to Staff. - Risk# 18828 – Lack of Production Support Resources for Production Operations. - Risk# 18844 – Implementation of Centralized Customer Service (Help Desk). * For further information on the above risks, refer to the Risks & Issues focus area details section.
Transition Readiness Green	• The Organizational Change Management (OCM) team continued to advance readiness, communications, training, and stakeholder engagement activities during this assessment period: - Conducted demos at the interface partner kickoff to provide State departments and third-party vendors with an overview of the CSPS interface engagement process. - Conducted timekeeping demonstrations for interfacing agencies using internally built systems and answered specific questions and concerns. • The team presented Modernizing Pay Day (MPD) overview at the California State University (CSU) Benefits and Payroll Conference on 8/5/2026.
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)