State Employees
California State Payroll System (CSPS) Project
CSPS Project Newsletters
Q3 August 2022
CSPS Project Newsletters
In this edition:
- DART Informational Sessions Come To a Close
- A note from CalHR Director, Eraina Ortega
- The Director’s Corner
- Team Members Spotlight
- Department Engagement & Empowerment
- Project Summary
- Active Recruitments
And That’s a Wrap! The DART Informational Sessions Come To a Close
The CSPS Organizational Change Management Team, along with project leaders from both SCO and CalHR, conducted ten Department Agency Readiness Team (DART) informational sessions in June and July. Almost 700 participants from 113 unique departments attended the sessions. The intent of these sessions was to meet with individuals from all state departments and provide a brief project overview, present the “game plan” of how to begin building out their DART Teams, timeline and expectations, and to answer questions and concerns. In a partnership with CSPS, these DART teams will serve as an extension of the CSPS project and will be responsible for executing project readiness activities within their own organizations. This empowerment and engagement model will help create awareness and understanding, acceptance, commitment and ultimately, readiness and adoption. The sessions included the following content:
The Project Overview – Summarized the importance of implementing a new system that will modernize human resource management, travel and business expense and payroll. We presented the project vision, challenges of the current 45-year old Legacy system, and significant innovations in Human Resources and Payroll technology. We shared lessons learned from past attempts, project objectives and scope, structure, and timeline.
The DART Program – This was a live guided-tour which explained the DART structure. We also provided in-depth guidance on how each Department will be building their DART teams included suggested classifications for each role assignment as well as the time commitment for each.
The DART Program Roadmap – This overview provided a snapshot of 7 upcoming action items that all departments will follow to successfully build their teams and stay on track. These items include:
- The DART Informational Sessions: June-July
- Sponsor and Liaison Identification: July-August
- Sponsor and Liaison Kickoff: October
- Coordinator and Subject Matter Expert Identification: October-November
- Full Dart Team Kickoff: January 2023
- Launch DART assignments: February 2023
- DART Quarterly Meetings: March 2023
The DART teams will serve as an extension of the CSPS Project Team to support and advocate for the project and help ready their department for the changes associated with its implementation. This is an exciting step which will help create the needed collaboration between the project team and departments in preparation for a successful implementation!
A Note from the CalHR Director, Eraina Ortega
I’m excited to see all that has been accomplished in recent months to allow the California State Payroll System (CSPS) Project continue progress toward selection of a solution integration partner in the Spring of next year. As the project picks up steam, CalHR’s partnership with the State Controller’s Office (SCO) only grows stronger. CalHR’s Project Director is organizing our resources in alignment with SCO to best support the project with timely response and policy guidance throughout procurement and into implementation. The project is communicating regularly with our labor partners and policy teams on the key transformational opportunities which will position the CSPS project for success. We are joining forces with the project’s Organizational Change Management team to begin bringing all State departments up to date on the CSPS and make sure they have the awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement to be successful from day one with the new system.
We at CalHR are proud to be partnered with SCO in this monumental collaboration effort. We are excited to work together to bring the project vision to life to modernize the human resources management, travel and business expense, and payroll systems used by 285,000+ state government employees to provide accurate and timely personnel and payroll service with quality customer service.
Throughout my State career, I’ve had the privilege to serve in a variety of roles that have provided me with the knowledge and understanding of the need for an improved enterprise human resources solution. Our objective of this massive project is to modernize and integrate the State’s human resources and payroll systems – all with the goal of enhancing the end user experience for all State human resources and payroll staff, and state employees alike.
I’m eager to see what’s ahead as we move forward lockstep in our partnership with SCO, and work to ensure the new system effectively supports statewide HR and Labor Relations programs, business policies, practices, and processes.
Kind Regards,
Eraina Ortega, CalHR Director
The Director’s Corner
As you will see, this edition of the CSPS Newsletter is all about outreach, engagement and collaboration. As my partner Brandon Rutschmann mentioned receiving bidder proposals in the last edition of this newsletter, the evaluation team is now very busy working together to examine bidder responses to determine who will be working with us to develop proofs of concepts in the coming months. This is very exciting to resume engagement with the vendor community after years of planning.
The CSPS Organizational Change Management Team has also been very busy directly engaging with state departments by hosting 10 Departmental Agency Readiness Team (DART) information sessions in June and July. Attendance at these sessions was strong with 679 attendees representing 113 departments and agencies. It is very important that all departments attend one of these sessions so my team is arranging makeup sessions for departments who have not yet attended. In addition to a project overview, the sessions describe all of the potential roles to be fulfilled by departmental staff. Two key roles that must be identified in the near term are the departmental sponsor and liaison. A kickoff meeting will be held for these roles in October so don’t delay in making your designations. If you missed one of these sessions please contact my team at CSPSHelp@sco.ca.gov to learn when the makeup sessions will be offered. If you have attended one of these sessions and need help making your selections, do not hesitate to reach out to my team for a consultation.
I cannot emphasize enough just how important your engagement is in the success of this project. The DART structure combined with the project’s Agency Change Experts is the avenue that will be used to exchange information throughout the project and together we will ensure all employees are informed about the project and ready for its implementation.
See you on the road to success!
“I cannot emphasize enough just how important your engagement is in the
success of this project” ~Chris Maio, Project Co-Director
Team Member Spotlight
We welcome you to get to know Gina Serrano, the Change Readiness Manager for our Organizational Change Management Team! She has been with the CSPS Project for three months and prior to that, spent eleven years with CalSTRS where she was a Change Management Specialist on a large software implementation project.
When asked what the most rewarding aspect about working at the State Controller’s Office, CSPS Project is, Gina answered that the most rewarding thing is the opportunity we have to really help our stakeholders through this change.
On a personal note, Gina enjoys gardening, specifically succulents and plants and says, “I might have a slight addiction to them!” She also enjoys spending time with her husband going wine tasting or watching their favorite shows together. When asked where she likes to vacation, her reply was “anywhere on a beach!” and added her favorite local spots are Monterey and the Carmel area. Her favorite food is Mexican – “hands down! I could eat it every single day!” A fun fact about this Manager is that she recently began researching her family tree and ancestry DNA and has found it to be super interesting. For her entire life, she thought she was Swedish and Mexican but discovered that she is mostly Scottish and Portuguese with a bit of Norwegian, Mexican and Basque. Gina exclaims “who knew?!”
We are excited to have such an experienced and dynamic leader as part of the CSPS Team as we forge ahead on this transformational journey.
Department Engagement Empowerment
Many of you might be wondering about what exactly the meaning of engagement in business is? Let’s break it down:
- Employee engagement describes the level of enthusiasm and dedication a worker feels toward their job. Employee engagement can be critical to a company’s success, given its direct links to job satisfaction and employee morale. Engaged employees are more likely to be productive and higher performing because they feel valued. Feeling valued empowers people!
- How do we build engagement? We will supply the right tools, give individual attention, provide ongoing training and coaching, listen to employees, get social, serve others and recognize proudly and loudly! All of these add up to a strong foundation for the work and collaboration that lies ahead.
- What is the importance of engaging? Engaged employees are involved and invested in their roles and more likely to stay in their roles long-term. Keeping you informed and engaged is our goal – it is essential!
The culture of engagement is changing for the better. Rather than the age-old custom of values and beliefs that support the phrase “it’s always been done this way” or “it’s just how things are done around here so just do it” the new way of engagement supports new ideas, values employees input and suggestions and welcomes efficient and positive changes with open arms. These actions empower employees. This is why we are engaging with you – the folks that are actually performing the day-to-day processes. Your thoughts matter!
Our recent Department Agency Readiness Team (DART) Informational sessions is a perfect example of how we aim to engage with departments directly, to hear your questions, concerns and inquires. Your department DART team will be your voice going forward to best represent and support your department’s needs.
New to the CSPS Project?
Let’s catch you up on the basics!
The California State Payroll System (CSPS) Project will modernize the human resource management, travel and business expense, and payroll system used by 285,000+ state government employees to provide accurate and timely personnel and payroll services with quality customer service. SCO has developed and modified the current systems over time as the business requirements became more complex. As a result, SCO must exert an enormous amount of effort to maintain and modify the current systems to meet the ever-changing needs of California.
The objectives of the project are focused on providing user-friendly information that is validated timely to reduce rework. This includes enabling greater employee and manager self-service functionality for ease of use, such as online view capabilities for payroll, employment history, and tax information to name a few. Additionally, it will provide a user-friendly interface for all human resource and payroll transaction specialists who input and interact with the system daily.
The project focuses on six primary capabilities: Personnel Administration which includes management of employee records and status changes; Benefits Administration; Time and Attendance Administration, which includes entering and approving time and attendance; Payroll including calculating and processing payroll; Position Control Administration; and Travel and Business Expense. Each of these capability areas affects roughly 45 different state processes that will span many business rules and requirements.
The CSPS Project is a highly complex and large undertaking for the state. It requires a partnership between most of the control agencies and will require support from all departments. Due to the complexity and size, the CSPS Project is using the CDT’s Procurement Approval Lifecycle (PAL) process. The goal of the PAL process is to improve the planning, quality, value, and likelihood of IT project success by providing a guided approach for projects to follow. The Project Timeline graphic below illustrates the high-level steps and timing for the CSPS Project.
Project Approval Lifecycle
Looking to join our AMAZING CSPS Project Team?
CalCareers
- Staff Services Manager III – CSPS Program Transformation Officer