CSPS Project Newsletters

In this edition:

• A Farewell Message from Betty T. Yee
• The Director’s Corner
• Team Members Spotlight
• Department Engagement & Empowerment
• Project Summary
• Active Recruitments

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With Gratitude, 
A Farewell Note from State Controller Betty T. Yee

It has been a great honor to serve as State Controller over the last eight years. The contributions each of you makes to ensure we serve our state colleagues and all Californians at the highest level possible instills tremendous pride that I will carry with me as I embark on the next phase of my life and career. I continue to be exceedingly grateful for the work you do each day. I also am extremely proud of the steps we have taken to innovate, ensuring we are improving our processes and systems for the future. Inspiring innovation is defined as new ideas applied for positive impact. The way we embraced change as we navigated the pandemic together embodied that ideal.

The pandemic upended the traditional way we worked, demonstrating the need for innovation; and we moved forward and embraced flexible work. The California State Payroll System (CSPS) project is a shining example of the calculated and measured risks we are taking to improve service to and invest in our customers. Modernizing the state’s human resources and payroll systems will streamline our work and make it more effective and efficient. As the world’s fourth-largest economy, it is appropriate we set the example to always seek to enhance the services we provide.

The accomplishments we have achieved over the last eight years are too numerous to list. Innovative departments, like the one you have helped to create, are able to continuously develop great ideas for new and improved ways of working. I am certain the State Controller’s Office will continue to demonstrate commitment to this tenet. For now, I will simply say thank you and extend all best wishes for health and happiness as you continue the valuable work you do for the people of California.

The Director’s Corner

There is so much going on within the project now it’s hard to decide where to start for this update. Let’s just pick one and go with transformation!

A big part of how the project is doing things differently this time around is in looking hard at how the State currently administers human resources and payroll. We’re looking for things that aren’t working well for our HR and payroll professionals, things that aren’t working well for our employees, and things that won’t align well with modern HR and payroll commercial off the shelf software solutions. Smaller, straightforward improvements that are inherent in modern software tools are being captured in the solution requirements. Larger more impactful improvements that change the way the State does business are managed as “Transformational Opportunities.” The project is actively working on a number of these opportunities, which you’ll start to hear more about them in the coming months. 

We also continue to make great progress on our Department Agency Readiness Team (DART) roadmap. Following the DART informational sessions we spoke about last quarter, we’re now working with the department or agency Sponsors and Liaisons that have been selected and equipping them to be successful in their role. The kickoff for this part of the engagement began in October and will continue in November. The DARTs will continue to grow into next year by adding required department expertise to support project implementation. The DARTs will be shepherded by the CSPS Organizational Change Management team throughout, so they are prepared and ready when project implementation begins for their department or agency.

On the solution selection front, we are almost to the finish line on the Proof-of-Concept phase with qualified bidders, and ON SCHEDULE! As all procurements are a confidential process, there’s not much more we can share with you here unfortunately. Rest assured - we’re seeing exciting things that we can’t wait to share with you when the time is right.

 SCO and CalHR CSPS is hiring! Recruiting will be a constant for the project as it is with all projects, but we’re in a surge right now as we fill critical roles that were received as part of this year’s budget. Check out https://jobs.ca.gov/ to see where you might fit and put your hat in the ring – we’d love to meet you!

That’s a lot, and that’s not all, but that’s all for this edition. We’re getting closer and closer every day. We’re still tracking to a Summer 2023 project implementation start – it’ll be here before you know it! Next time we check in we’ll be right in the middle of narrowing down the final CSPS solution vendor selection!

“A big part of how the project is doing things differently this time around is in looking hard at how the State currently administers human resources and payroll”
~Brandon Rutschmann, Project Co-Director

Team Member Spotlight - Welcome New Managers

The CSPS Project is excited to announce the addition of two managers to our growing team! In this edition, you will learn about them and the wonderful work that they do.

Paul Kudlacz is the Manager over the CSPS Technical Team. As he explains it, the Technical Team is responsible for two major components of the CSPS project. One is getting the interfaces between all departments working with the new solution. The team who works with interfaces must also manage the monitoring, and technical aspects of requirements such as how data will be transferred and what those standards will look like. The other major component is client services and data technical work. This team help to create the system architecture, manage the service level agreements between over 100 agencies, and complete data analysis and data governance. Now that we understand the importance of the work that the Technical Team produces, let’s get to know the manager behind it all. 

When asked what his job role is when not working on the CSPS Project, Paul shared that his role is exclusively with the CSPS Project managing the Technical Team. He adds “I have no other job roles unless you count trying to reign in my monster of a four-year-old!” Paul has been with SCO about four months and things are looking great from what he can tell! When asked what is most rewarding about his new role is, he answered that it has been a highlight because “I get to help the people who help our society. California is one of the biggest economies in the world. To serve our fellow public servants from all agencies and work consistently to offer services that provide the backbone infrastructure to allow California to flourish is rewarding. Being a part of CSPS gives me the opportunity to try to make the lives of those important state workers’ jobs easier. Ever try to submit a travel expense report before? It once took me 6 months to get my money back. I could have quit and hired quicker than it took internal state process to get that reimbursement back. With the implementation of CSPS we hope to change that in a dramatic way!” Prior to joining the CSPS, Paul worked at the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) for their 24x7 monitoring operations, their industrial print shop, oversaw the data center and finally managed the SLDC for their tax system (both business and personal tax systems). Before the FTB, he worked at various IT organizations in the bay area such as Cloudfare, Google, etc. 

Paul shared that his favorite vacation spot is London, England because the friendly people, everything being a tube ride away, and trips to different parts are easily accessible. During his spare time, he enjoys learning new things: “I’ve learned to cobble some music together on multiple instruments (look out harmonica, you’re next), rebuild old motorcycles, and contribute to published research for universities around the US”. Unfortunately for his wife, his favorite food is her homemade pizza, though he adds that her sauce can be hit or miss “don’t tell her that!” In conclusion, Paul was asked if there was any fun facts or things we should know. He wrapped it up with an interesting tidbit by stating “I used to work with a guy who had one of ten keys that could restart the internet for the whole world if it ever came to it. I know it sounds ridiculous but it’s totally true! Also, I’ve worked in over 60 datacenters on every continent besides those with ice and penguins”. 

We are proud to introduce Sirisha Gullapalli, the manager of the CSPS Functional Team. Our Functional Team provides business analysis, configuration, testing and reporting support for the CSPS project. Each business analyst focuses on a main business capability such as Personnel, Payroll, Benefits, Time management, Position control, Travel expense management. The team also works closely with SCO business partners like CalHR and Fi$Cal to analyze the impact of policies on CSPS requirements. Now let’s get to know Sirisha a bit! When not working on the CSPS Project, Sirisha is the proud mother of a teenage boy, a speech and debate coach and classical dance teacher – very busy! She has been in her new role as the Functional Manager for about 8 weeks now and already in that short amount of time enjoys the team and the camaraderie, the invigorating meeting conversations, and DJ Chris’ music! Prior to joining the State Controller’s Office, Sirisha was employed with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In her spare time, Sirisha enjoys hobbies such as Indian classical dance, scrapbooking, trail-walking with friends and traveling. This brings us to her favorite vacation spot: The Himalayas and beaches! Sirisha shares that her favorite food is tiramisu made with coffee. And to wrap things up, when asked if she has any fun facts or things we should know, she adds “I have stories of mule and camel rides during my travels. I enjoy absorbing different cultures and visiting places with interesting history”.

Please join us in welcoming these two dynamic leaders who bring knowledge and experience to their leadership roles!

Department Engagement & Empowerment

With the recent Sponsor and Liaison Kick-off hosted by the CSPS Organizational Change Management Team (OCM) complete, we are “mid-engagement” and sticking to our communication schedule.  You already know from our previous publications, that beginning conversations early with stakeholders is essential to building trust. We feel strongly in doing this and the Sponsor and Liaison Kick-off was a prime example. 

The CSPS Project is picking up steam! And in true OCM fashion, we like to keep you all informed to ensure all impacted are aware of important milestones that have been achieved and critical next steps as the project progresses into the next phase. Reporting on the status of the CSPS Project is critical in keeping you – our stakeholder community – informed and on the same page.

The CSPS Project team has been busy! We are in stage 4 of the Project Approval Lifecycle. We are right on track and in the trenches of the Proof-of-Concept phase and vendor selection.
In October and November, we completed the Department Agency Readiness Team (DART) Sponsor and Liaison kickoff sessions. These informative presentations were offered for the new Sponsors and Liaisons for each state agency/department. They served as a transparent look into the expectations of each of these roles, estimated timeframes and next steps. The agenda was broken up into 4 sections:

To recognize the CSPS Project mission, purpose and benefits

To summarize the DART structure and purpose

To describe the Agency Change Expert (ACE), Sponsor and Liaison roles

To identify the DART roadmap and next steps 

The new year of 2023 will have an exciting start when agency/departments will build upon their readiness team. In January-March, Subject Matter Expert (SME) and Coordinator identification sessions will be held. Shortly after, the full DART kickoff will be hosted. This is an opportunity for the complete DARTs from each agency/department to come together to enable all to become oriented to their roles and expectations.

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 approximately 300,000 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.

There are six primary capabilities in scope of the project: 

• 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
• Travel and Business Expense 

Each of the areas within scope 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 Project 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.

Looking to join our AMAZING CSPS Project Team?

Please explore our open recruitments here:

CalCareers