1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 9 MARCH 30, 2016 10 11 12 13 14 ITEM P 15 OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 16 ITEM P7 17 TECHNOLOGY DEPUTY DIRECTOR'S REPORT 18 1. CROS PROJECT UPDATE AND ACTIONS 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 REPORTED BY: Kathleen Skidgel 28 CSR NO. 9039 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board of Equalization: Fiona Ma, CPA 4 Chairwoman 5 Diane L. Harkey Vice Chair 6 Jerome E. Horton 7 Member 8 Sen. George Runner (Ret.) Member 9 Yvette Stowers 10 Appearing for Betty T. Yee, State Controller 11 (per Government Code Section 7.9) 12 Joann Richmond 13 Chief Board Proceedings 14 Division 15 For Board of 16 Equalization Staff: Brenda Fleming Chief Information Officer 17 and Deputy Technology Services 18 Department 19 20 ---oOo--- 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 MARCH 30, 2016 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. MA: Okay. Ms. Richmond, next item. 6 MS. RICHMOND: Our next item is P7, 7 Technology Deputy Director's Report; P7.1 CROS 8 Project Update and Actions. 9 MS. MA: Welcome, Ms. Fleming. 10 MS. FLEMING: Good -- I was going to say 11 good morning. Good afternoon. 12 MS. MA: Please introduce yourself for the 13 record and commence your presentation. 14 MS. FLEMING: Thank you. 15 MS. MA: Thank you. 16 MS. FLEMING: Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair 17 and distinguished and honorable Members, I'm Brenda 18 Fleming, the Chief Information Officer for the 19 agency, and Deputy for the Technology Services 20 Department. It's a pleasure to be here with you. 21 I'm pleased to report that our CROS Project 22 continues to make good progress. The project is 23 still in the procurement phase, however, the 24 proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is close. 25 There's an update for you. The proposals 26 have been reviewed, and the California Department of 27 Technology has confirmed for us that we are now 28 prepared to move into negotiations. This is a 3 1 significant milestone for the Board of Equalization. 2 I'd like to pause and give a shout out and 3 thanks to all the people who contributed to that. 4 That's a really, really major accomplishment. 5 (Applause.) 6 MS. FLEMING: Go team. 7 I look forward to sharing updates on the 8 negotiations as they progress. And we'll actually 9 be starting some of that activity next week, so I'll 10 definitely keep you posted. 11 Beyond the procurement, we are 12 optimistically expecting to have the vendor on board 13 later this year. During the interim, the project 14 team is working closely with all BOE departments to 15 get our agency fit and ready for the implementation 16 marathon that lies ahead of us. 17 I'd like to highlight some of this month's 18 accomplishments. For example, a number of BOE staff 19 with expertise in key subject areas have been 20 identified to ensure efficient reviews of the 21 vendor's materials and deliverables; and that's 22 going to be key. 23 Many of BOE's forms and reports have been 24 streamlined for consistency in preparation for the 25 new system. 26 Our process flows continue to be reviewed 27 and documented to ensure successful data exchanges 28 with our external partners and internally also. 4 1 A master schedule of operational and 2 project work agency-wide has been developed and is 3 being reviewed. 4 This information allows us to balance -- as 5 Mr. Gau indicated before -- allows us to balance the 6 operational work with the keep-the-lights-on kinds 7 of activities with the attention and the staff 8 resources that are going to be needed for the 9 project. And it's going to be quite a balance. 10 Our budget documents for 2016-2017 fiscal 11 year have been prepared and they have been submitted 12 for consideration by the Department of Finance and 13 the Legislature. The recruitment and hiring 14 activities to fill the Project Director position are 15 in progress. 16 The organizational change management core 17 team members are developing materials needed to keep 18 managers and staff in the field, out-of-state and 19 the HQ offices informed in preparation for the 20 implementation activities. 21 From a budget perspective what's been 22 accomplished this period is in January of 2016, 23 through January of 2016 the project spent 457 -- I'm 24 sorry, February, the project has actually spent 25 $457,201. And to date they spent approximately 61 26 percent of the fiscal year 2015-2016 budget. So, 27 good shape. 28 Planned activities for the next month: 5 1 We'll continue working with the Department of 2 Technology on the next steps in the procurement 3 phase, specifically the negotiations as we 4 mentioned, and continue with the fit and ready 5 activities led by our organization, our fantastic 6 organizational change management team. 7 Honorable Members, this fit and ready 8 campaign is modeled after the fitness training 9 approach that distance runners use in preparation 10 for marathons. Since the path to our new system 11 will take some time, we want to make sure that we 12 are fit and ready to successfully implement a new 13 tax administration system that benefits our 14 taxpayers and our BOE employees. 15 During this next month, we'll focus on 16 preparing BOE for the race. We'll focus on, A, 17 what's needed to transition from the legacy systems 18 IRIS and ACMS which you've heard in Ms. Findley's 19 report has some restrictions as to what it allows us 20 to do, to use moving forward with our accounting 21 activities. Also, what's needed to perform our core 22 functions, like registration, collections, etcetera. 23 The fit and ready campaign will be 24 facilitated by, again, our great organizational 25 change management core team, a group of managers 26 that represent all areas of the BOE, both in the 27 field offices and in headquarters. They understand 28 the work processes and unique needs in their areas 6 1 and are committed to ensuring that everyone can 2 contribute to our successful outcomes. 3 We look forward to sharing more information 4 about this campaign over the next few weeks and 5 months. 6 That concludes my presentation. Please let 7 me know if there's any questions. I thank you for 8 this opportunity. 9 MS. MA: Any questions, Members? 10 Ms. Harkey. 11 MS. HARKEY: No. I want to thank you for 12 stopping by the office and explaining where we are. 13 I feel very confident with where you're going. 14 As you know, mine are 15 change-order-oriented. I want to limit as much 16 possible for those. I think -- I think you're on a 17 good path, and I appreciate what you're doing. 18 Thank you. 19 MS. FLEMING: Okay. I appreciate it. 20 Thank you. Thank you. 21 MS. MA: Ms. Stowers. 22 MS. STOWERS: I also want to say thank you. 23 I'm looking forward to your fit and ready 24 campaign. 25 MS. FLEMING: Thank you. 26 MS. STOWERS: So make sure we're ready. 27 MS. FLEMING: Okay. I appreciate it. We 28 appreciate your support. 7 1 MS. MA: Okay. Thank you, Ms. Fleming, for 2 your presentation. 3 MS. FLEMING: Thank you. 4 ---oOo--- 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 8 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, Kathleen Skidgel, Hearing Reporter for 8 the California State Board of Equalization certify 9 that on March 30, 2016 I recorded verbatim, in 10 shorthand, to the best of my ability, the 11 proceedings in the above-entitled hearing; that I 12 transcribed the shorthand writing into typewriting; 13 and that the preceding pages 1 through 8 constitute 14 a complete and accurate transcription of the 15 shorthand writing. 16 17 Dated: May 9, 2016 18 19 20 ____________________________ 21 KATHLEEN SKIDGEL, CSR #9039 22 Hearing Reporter 23 24 25 26 27 28 9