Date: 12/30/2014

Final
CORE Supplemental

COMMITTEE ON JOINT TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
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09:13 AM -- CORE Supplemental

Mr. Bob Jaros, State Controller; Ms. Kara Veitch, Deputy Executive Director, Department of Personnel and Administration (DPA); and Mr. Michael Brown, Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Office of Information Technology (OIT), came to the table to discuss an emergency supplemental request for additional funds related to the migration of the state's Colorado Financial Reporting System (COFRS) to a new system, known as the Colorado Operations Resource Engine (CORE). Ms. Veitch discussed the history of COFRS. In response to a committee question, Mr. Jaros explained the definition and purpose of the 13th accounting period used by the state. Ms. Veitch discussed the initial contract with CGI, the vendor chosen to implement CORE in 2012. She then explained the key components of CORE. She explained that CORE went live on July 1, 2014, which she said was a very quick turnaround. In response to a committee question regarding the contractor working on CORE, Ms. Veitch responded both government and contract employees were involved. Mr. Jaros explained the business process re-engineering that was involved with the initial development of CORE.

Mr. Jaros discussed the supplemental request for CORE, and the General Accounting module of CORE. Committee members received a summary of the request, prepared by LCS, and a copy of the budget request submitted to the Governor's Office of State Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) (Attachment A). In response to a committee question about a cost overrun, Mr. Jaros responded that additional reports necessary for the state's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) necessitated the need, in part, for this supplemental request. In response to the nature of the original contract with CGI, Mr. Jaros responded the contract was a fixed-price contract that included specific modules. Amendments were made to the contract, particularly for labor allocation and training.

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Mr. Jaros went on to explain the Security and Workflow module of CORE, as part of the supplemental request. He explained that department-specific changes and judicial department changes are driving the cost increase for this module. In response to a committee question regarding best practices and out-of-the-box solutions, Mr. Jaros explained the initial out-of-the-box solution for Security and Workflow would not work for every department. Discussion ensued on other states' needs for the judicial branch. Mr. Jaros explained the Procurement module is one of the largest in CORE. One item that was not initially implemented was Vendor Self-Service, which allows vendors to see where payments are in the payment process. He then discussed the Technical Support module and explained that the supplemental request for this module is for additional hours (e.g., 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.) for technical assistance from CGI. The final module, Labor Data Collection/Colorado Labor Allocation System (LCD/CLAS), includes detailed timekeeping and records for grant management, especially for the federal government. He explained enhancements are still necessary for this module. He explained work on this module to date has been very labor intensive and perhaps the most difficult aspect of CORE implementation. In response to a committee question regarding contingencies on the original contract, Mr. Jaros responded the initial contact included $1.9 million in contingency. However, it was primarily used for labor allocation and training.


09:49 AM

Mr. Jaros explained the new modules being requested as part of this supplemental. Discussion ensued on the Accounts Receivable module. He explained that because all departments have their own processes for accounts receivable, it was very difficult to include all departments in the initial development of CORE. Mr. Jaros went on to discuss the Grants Management module. He explained this module is two-fold, for both incoming and outgoing grants. He explained that the grants process is very paper-intensive and inefficient and that the module would automate the entire grants process. Discussion ensued on the implementation of this module. Mr. Jaros then explained the Interface Support module. Discussion ensued on the need for this interface to upload critical data to CORE. He then discussed the Business Intelligence and Training Environment modules, which he said are both necessary for reporting and functionality. He also discussed the Network Enhancement module. He said DPA is working with OIT to determine the appropriate network capacity. Mr. Jaros explained the purpose of the "Invoice Numbers on EFT" module. As the final module, Mr. Jaros discussed Project Management and General Support. In response to a committee question on efficiencies accomplished by automating tasks in CORE, Mr. Jaros responded DPA will have a better handle on it once they are able to analyze the performance of CORE after more issues have been worked out.


10:10 AM

In response to a committee question regarding lessons learned from CORE implementation, Ms. Veitch explained OIT and other departments are utilizing lessons learned in implementing new software systems. Mr. Brown responded OIT will be conducting a post-implementation analysis of CORE and would be happy to report the findings back to the JTC. In response to a committee question regarding reaching out to other states who have implemented a similar system to CORE, Mr. Jaros explained OIT and DPA would be happy to do so. In response to a committee question regarding the nature of the emergency request, Ms. Veitch responded the urgency with the contractor already working on the project necessitates the need for an emergency supplemental. She also explained that the funds from another project have been identified to be restricted as part of the request. In response to a committee question regarding the working relationship with CGI, Ms. Veitch explained OIT and DPA has a good working relationship with CGI. In response to a question regarding the timing of the request, Mr. Jaros responded that the critical timeline is driven by the state's budget cycle, e.g., the CAFR report. In response to a committee question regarding the success of CORE, Ms. Veitch stated that CORE works. In response to a committee question regarding change management issues from departments, Ms. Veitch responded DPA is still in communication with departments and is monitoring reducing help tickets and other measures of success.