Report 2015-117 Recommendation 2 Responses

Report 2015-117: California Department of General Services' Real Estate Services Division: To Better Serve Its Client Agencies, It Needs to Track and Analyze Project Data and Improve Its Management Practices (Release Date: March 2016)

Recommendation #2 To: General Services, Department of

To ensure long-term efficient and effective delivery of projects, the division, in its planned implementation of its new project management system in July 2017, should ensure that the project management system can centrally track and extract all data regarding project status, including time delays, cost overages, and the reasons for each.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022

Oracle and FI$Cal are finalizing the contract amendment necessary for the state to implement the final configuration of Aconex and usage of the software system.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

Oracle and DGS RESD have completed 70% of the Aconex configuration but the contract amendment between Oracle and Department of FI$Cal is still not in place. The final 30% of the buildout cannot occur until this contract amendment is completed. The 30% remaining includes integration of PeopleSoft financials, administrative training, staff training and implementation. Once the contract amendment is signed, it should take RESD approximately four months to complete the remaining work. Assuming the contract amendment is completed in October 2021, the work will be completed in February 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2020

Oracle has proposed to replace Prime with another Oracle product called Aconex and this proposal was acceptable to RESD. The Department of FI$Cal will have the contract/amendment with Oracle in place in October 2020. RESD staff have begun configuration build out discussions with Oracle. This build out process shall take several months, followed by administrative training, and finally staff training and implementation. All training will be concluded by the end of December 2021.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2019

The Department of General Services' Real Estate Services Division (RESD) continues to work with the Department of FI$Cal and Oracle to implement project management software. Initial, and critical, budget modifications and tracking/reporting functionality has been implemented and staff trained. Additional software modules are being investigated with Oracle to supplement shortcomings of both FI$Cal and Prime in order to provide RESD with a complete and integrated project management software solution.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2018

Oracle Prime implementation is underway. RESD has worked with Oracle and FI$Cal staff for the past 6 months to develop and test functionality. User acceptance testing is complete, train the trainer work has been completed, and training for staff has been scheduled. Additionally, the interface between Prime and PeopleSoft (FI$Cal) has been completed so that project budgets/milestones can be pushed into FI$Cal and expenditure data can be pushed into Prime. All project data is being loaded into the system as well from FI$Cal.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2017

RESD is in the process of implementing a new project management system that will allow management and staff to more effectively plan, manage, and control projects. The new system will be part of FI$Cal and will include provisions that allow project management to centrally track and extract all relevant data regarding project status, including time delays, cost overages, and the reasons for each.

For the past two years, RESD's Project Management and Development Branch (PMDB) has worked with FI$Cal and a hired consultant (Loadspring) to implement Primavera as the project management system for the branch. PMDB obtained access to 70 licenses of Primavera and had Loadspring configure the system for the branch's use in phases. The first phase was standing up Primavera's Contract Management (PCM) module and training staff, which PMDB has done. However, PMDB was contacted by Oracle and FI$Cal and informed that PCM was going to be phased out by Oracle, and that they were recommending a replacement to FI$Cal (Oracle Prime). Prime was explained to be less expensive, cloud-based, and more agile than PCM. Accordingly, PMDB paused its Primavera implementation and began working with FI$Cal and Oracle to vet Prime. PMDB has been informed that FI$Cal will be moving to Prime in lieu of PCM, and PMDB is planning an aggressive implementation schedule with Oracle for the product to ensure timely use by staff.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

1-Year Agency Response

RESD is in the process of implementing a new project management system that will allow management and staff to more effectively plan, manage, and control projects. The new system (Primavera) is part of FI$Cal and will include provisions that allow project management to centrally track and extract all relevant data regarding project status, including time delays, cost overages, and the reasons for each.

In order to expedite the implementation of the project management system, RESD's Project Management and Development Branch (PMDB) hired a consultant (Loadspring). PMDB obtained access to 70 licenses of Primavera and had Loadspring configure the system for the branch's use in phases. As of January 2017, PMDB has launched the first of two roll-outs of Primavera - six months ahead of the original schedule. The first roll-out involves the Primavera Contract Management (PCM) module, which PMDB will utilize to interact with contractors, manage budgets, track project issues and trends, etc. PMDB will conduct quarterly reviews and report the results annually to DGS' executive management. The second roll-out will involve P6, which is Primavera's resource and scheduling tool. PMDB will launch P6 in July 2017, with the rollout completed in September 2017. PMDB will utilize the system apart from FI$Cal until an interface is developed, which is anticipated to occur in July 2017.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

RESD is in the process of implementing a new project management system that will allow management and staff to more effectively plan, manage, and control projects. The new system (Primavera) is part of FI$Cal and will include provisions that allow project management to centrally track and extract all relevant data regarding project status, including time delays, cost overages, and the reasons for each.

In order to expedite the implementation of the project management system, RESD's Project Management and Development Branch (PMDB) hired a consultant (Loadspring). DGS obtained access to 70 licenses of Primavera and is having Loadspring configure the system for the branch's use. At present, PMDB anticipates launching Primavera in January 2017 - six months ahead of schedule. PMDB will utilize the system apart from FI$CAL until an interface is developed, which is anticipated to occur in July 2017.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

RESD plans to implement a new project management system that will allow management and staff to more effectively plan, manage, and control projects. The new system (Primavera) is part of FI$Cal and will include provisions that allow project management to centrally track and extract all relevant data regarding project status, including time delays, cost overages, and the reasons for each. Currently, FI$Cal has scheduled Primavera's statewide implementation for July 2017.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2015-117

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.