The California Performance Review recommended in 2004 that the state make strategic investments in code libraries, portfolio management and open-source computing.
Now, three years later, the state is tilting toward a service-oriented architecture (SOA), without adopting code libraries per se, said J. Clark Kelso, California’s departing chief information officer. Kelso has a role in implementing the information technology recommendations of CPR. In 2004, he and more than 200 state employees assigned to the project helped generate them.
“We haven’t created a code library as such,” Kelso said, “but we have adopted SOA as a guiding principle.”
This year, the state began creating applications using SOA principles. One is a Social Security number verification service that provides real-time access to a federal database. The service replaces a batch processing application that provided only monthly updates.
The verification service was created for one agency, but other state agencies can use it, Kelso said.
CPR recommended another measure, portfolio management, as a strategic investment. Thom Rubel, practice director of government programs at Government Insights, said the state lacked such an approach in 2003. “They didn’t know, for the most part, what their IT assets were or their value to the mission.”
As recommended by CPR, state agencies will eventually adopt portfolio management process, Rubel said.
A third CPR recommendation led to the creation of a working group and a user group focused on open-source computing, Kelso said. “There appear to be some very good content management systems in the open-source environment that are very easy to use.”
Kelso said open source’s ease of use complements the state’s plans to have office workers handle Web page content management instead of IT employees.
— John Moore
Editor’s note: On Dec. 6, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated Teri Takai, Michigan’s chief information officer, to be the state’s first Cabinet-level CIO. California’s CIO, J. Clark Kelso, said he has begun working with Takai to ensure a smooth transition.
Many of the information technology improvements recommended in the California Performance Review, a statewide assessment of operations in 2004, have inconspicuously changed how the state conducts its business. But policy experts and state officials say the most far-reaching and expensive proposals are still just that — proposals looking for funding.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched CPR to address the state’s financial crisis in 2004. The CPR report, published in August of that year, contained more than 1,400 recommendations for boosting efficiency and cutting costs. Measures included revamping the IT organization and governance structure, using the General Services Administration’s schedule contracts, and modernizing the state’s procurement systems.
Early on, some critics said the initiative didn’t do enough to shake up an entrenched bureaucracy. Others feared the recommendations would make state government less accessible to the people.
J. Clark Kelso, California’s departing chief information officer, said CPR as a whole wasn’t popular initially, but pieces have survived on their merit. “A lot of the individual ideas in the CPR actually are being implemented because they are good ideas,” he said.
Three years later, the state has implemented one of CPR’s major recommendations: providing adequate funding for the CIO’s office. That contrasts sharply with the situation that existed five years ago when the state’s IT department lost its funding because of a procurement scandal.
The controversy centered on a $95 million sole-source contract the state awarded to Oracle under Gov. Gray Davis’ administration. Disenchantment over the contract, which the state auditor concluded was overpriced, led the California legislature to eliminate the state’s IT department in 2002.
CPR’s IT section contained nearly 100 recommendations in addition to the one supporting the state CIO’s office. However, some of those recommendations remain on the shelf because of lack of funding.
CPR recommended that California implement statewide business systems. The Financial Information System for California (FISCal) would integrate the state’s accounting, procurement and asset management functions. It exists only as a CPR recommendation for now. The state legislature considered the proposal last year but did not approve it.
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