1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 3 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 9 NOVEMBER 29, 2016 10 11 12 13 ITEM P 14 OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 15 ITEM P7 16 TECHNOLOGY DEPUTY DIRECTOR'S REPORT 17 1. CROS PROJECT UPDATE AND ACTIONS 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Reported by: Jillian Sumner 28 CSR No. 13619 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 For the Board of Equalization: Fiona Ma, CPA 3 Chairwoman 4 Diane L. Harkey Vice Chair 5 Jerome E. Horton 6 Member 7 Sen. George Runner (Ret.) Member 8 Yvette Stowers 9 Appearing for Betty T. Yee, State Controller 10 (per Government Code Section 7.9) 11 Joann Richmond 12 Chief Board Proceedings 13 Division 14 15 For Board of Equalization Staff: Chris Caietti 16 Director CROS Project 17 Trista Gonzalez 18 Business Project Manager CROS Project 19 20 ---oOo--- 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 2 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 3 NOVEMBER 29, 2016 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. RICHMOND: Our next item is P7, Tech -- 6 Technology Deputy Director's Report; Item P7.1, CROS 7 Project Update and Actions. 8 MR. CAIETTI: Good afternoon, Honorable 9 Members. 10 (Inaudible discussion.) 11 MR. CAIETTI: We'll just add that to the 12 list. 13 Good afternoon. I'm Chris Caietti. I'm 14 the CROS Project Director. And joining me today is 15 Ms. Trista Gonzalez, CROS Business Manager. 16 We appreciate the opportunity to provide 17 this month's brief update on the CROS Project. 18 So CROS and FAST Teams continue to get to 19 know each other and collaborate on planning 20 activities in preparation for the increase in 21 implementation activities that will be coming up in 22 the next year. 23 These activities include: 24 Finalizing the details of the project 25 schedules to ensure we have resources that are 26 trained and available to work on the projects; 27 Alignment of project management processes 28 to manage our management and reporting of the 3 1 proc -- of the progress of the project; 2 Establishing facilities for training and 3 testing on the project, and completion of the 4 technical environment setup. 5 We also continue to work with the 6 Department of Finance and the California Department 7 of Technology in clarifying the details of the 8 Special Project Report No. 4, and the CROS Budget 9 Change proposal that you approved in October to be 10 included in the Governor's January budget. 11 This collaboration has worked well over the 12 last two years, and has strengthened the partnership 13 between BOE, the Department of Finance, and the 14 California Department of Technology. 15 As of the end of October, our budget status 16 is, for the, um, year-to-date, fiscal year '16/'17, 17 our actual expenditures are at 2.763 million. Which 18 is about 27 percent, which is on track with what we 19 anticipated. 20 And our project-to-date is at 21 37 million 232. Which is about 80 percent, which is 22 also on track of what we expected to be spending at 23 this point in the project. 24 And with that, I'll turn it over to Trista 25 to give you more information. 26 MS. GONZALEZ: Good afternoon, Madam Chair 27 and Honorable Members. I'm Trista Gonzalez, CROS 28 Project Business Manager. 4 1 In the program areas we've been working 2 primarily on two efforts; providing staff 3 demonstrations of FAST Enterprise's core product, as 4 well as pre-implementation activities. 5 The demonstrations of FAST's core program, 6 GenTax, began in November and will continue through 7 December. 8 These demonstrations are being provided to 9 all impacted staff throughout the agency, and 10 contain an overview of the functionality and the 11 capabilities of the GenTax product. 12 Because staff is actually getting to see 13 the product rather than just hearing about it, it's 14 generating a lot of excitement, similar to the 15 phrase, "A picture is worth 1,000 words." 16 Therefore, to keep staff engaged, we are 17 planning to share visuals. Which may include screen 18 shots, videos, webcast demonstrations, or -- or any 19 other potential ideas, during the implementation and 20 as it progresses, getting closer to final 21 implementation. 22 Also, I'm happy to report that we have 23 started the pre-implement -- pre-implementation 24 activities, specifically with the contractor FAST. 25 Staff throughout the agency are helping 26 FAST understand our processes and our day-to-day 27 activities. These discussions will assist FAST in 28 configuring the system to meet our current needs as 5 1 well as our future needs. 2 This concludes this month's report. And 3 we're prepared to respond to any questions. 4 MS. MA: I do have a question. 5 Unrelated to this, perhaps, but I went out 6 to the Oakland office to watch the cashier 7 processing for a cannabis client. 8 And basically we have a cash counter that's 9 not connected to any sort of software. And so the 10 cash counter counts it. Then the clerk has to 11 manually, like, write it down, and then go to the 12 computer and input it again. And then write it on a 13 deposit slip again. 14 I mean, there's just three areas where 15 numbers could be, you know, transposed. They could 16 be, you know -- one number is off. I mean, isn't 17 there a way that they can do the cash counter, or, 18 you know, attach it to some computerized -- where it 19 comes up, you know -- they can, you know, put the 20 deposit slip, print it out. And, therefore, it 21 takes away, you know, three hands manually writing 22 it all down or inputting it in the computer. 23 MR. CAIETTI: In regards to CROS, that 24 would be one of the interfaces that we have for 25 CROS. So we can -- we can establish that. And when 26 they get to the defining the requirements for that 27 interface, they can, you know, address that so it 28 would tie right into CROS doing exactly what you're 6 1 saying. It will eliminate that manual processing 2 with that technology 3 MS. MA: And where is this in the queue in 4 terms of priority? Because we're gonna be probably 5 getting a lot more cash in our district offices. So 6 I'm just wondering if this is on your radar, or -- 7 MR. CAIETTI: We'll be starting to look at 8 the interfaces pretty shortly, right after the first 9 of the year. So we can -- we will -- I'll double 10 check and make sure where that is and get back to 11 you on where that is. And, actually, thank you for 12 doing that. 13 MS. GONZALEZ: Typically -- 14 MS. STOWERS: -- that's phase two? 15 MS. GONZALEZ: Typically the 16 functionalities will be tied to the tax program. So 17 our district offices are in roll-out two, which is 18 scheduled to come on board in April of 2018. 19 MS. HARKEY: Kind of like when you get a 20 ticket; you -- you, you know, do your reservation at 21 the -- at the kiosk at the airport, and it prints 22 out your ticket and also your bag claim. And 23 everything kind of comes in one, checks you in. 24 I think that's kind of what's -- so you get 25 one item that's got the same stuff on all of it. 26 MS. MA: So it's just a concern that it'd 27 be nice if it was moved up, or -- 28 MR. CAIETTI: Yeah, we'll get -- we'll 7 1 get -- we'll get that project to you. 2 MS. MA: Any other questions? No? 3 Okay. Thank you very much. 4 MR. CAIETTI: Thank you. 5 MS. GONZALEZ: Thank you. 6 MS. MA: Informational item, no vote. 7 Ms. Richmond, next item. 8 ---o0o--- 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, Jillian Sumner, Hearing Reporter for 8 the California State Board of Equalization certify 9 that on November 29, 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 14 constitute a complete and accurate transcription of 15 the shorthand writing. 16 17 Dated: January 18, 2017 18 19 20 ____________________________ 21 JILLIAN SUMNER, CSR #13619 22 Hearing Reporter 23 24 25 26 27 28 9