The study goes on to say that the Legislature might need to adopt new methods of oversight for the Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL), and the Department of Technology should be required to regularly report on the new process's effectiveness.
Initiated in July 2015 and rolled out gradually over the next 12 months, PAL replaced the old Feasibility Study Report (FSR) approval process that had been in place for decades.
PAL's four-stage process includes a business analysis (Stage 1), alternatives analysis (Stage 2), solution development phase (Stage 3), and project readiness and approval (Stage 4). At the conclusion of each stage, project managers and oversight staff reach a go/no-go decision point where a project can be halted or reworked as needed.
Often state departments have hired outside help from vendors in order to complete these planning stages, somewhat similar to how companies helped prepare the FSRs.
"Since the PAL process requires more detailed analysis upfront and includes new activities (mainly procurement) that previously occurred after approval, it is likely to take longer upfront and some departments may request a budget augmentation to support the effort," the Legislative Analyst's Office said.
These budget requests, either for staff resources or contract (vendor) resources, are in some cases multiple millions of dollars and will span multiple fiscal years, and "it is possible that the proposed project ultimately does not move forward into development and implementation and the funding does not actually lead to a project," LAO said.
These funding considerations are one of several changed factors the Legislature may need to consider under PAL.
The analyst's office said PAL should help the state land on more accurate baselines — something the Department of Technology has said repeatedly — and enable the Legislature to weigh in on its oversight role earlier on.
But it could take a long time to reach judgment about the success of PAL overall.
"Several years often elapse between project approval and full system implementation. This lag will make it difficult for CDT and the Legislature to determine early on if the proposed potential benefits of the PAL process are realized," LAO said.
