In what increasingly looks like a formality, the Financial Information System for California (FI$Cal) is well on its way to becoming a full-fledged department as it transforms from an IT project to a service organization.
The project's executive partner, Miriam Barcellona Ingenito, told a State Senate budget subcommittee on Thursday that FI$Cal is in a transition period right now, fulfilling departmental functions simultaneously alongside typical IT project functions, such as design and development.
"The intent is that when the project is 100 percent complete and implemented, that it does go under GovOps," Ingenito said, referring to California's Government Operations Agency.
Meanwhile, she said the FI$Cal director, as a gubernatorial appointee, would report directly to the governor's office. The Department of FI$Cal would replace and rename the existing FI$Cal Service Center.
The proposed FI$Cal department would add a chief deputy director and have the authority of a true department, Ingenito said.
The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) said Thursday the proposal doesn't currently specify that the department, if it's created, would be under GovOps, or give a date when that would happen.
Ingenito said trailer bill language is being developed that would spell out the director's authority over FI$Cal. Based on Ingenito's comments, it sounds as if the director would have purview over all facets of decision making and responsibility, including admin, facilities and personnel, system support and security, help desk, and hardware and software and software upgrades.
"When enhancements, defects and workarounds are integrated into the schedule is also the responsibility of the director," Ingenito added.
LAO has previously reported that a lack of clear organizational authority is a risk factor for the project's success. The project's four main partners are the Department of General Services, State Treasurer's Office, Department of Finance, and the State Controller's Office.
The Brown administration is proposing a $237 million budget increase to FI$Cal, which would bring the total cost to about $910 million. The move would add an extra two years to the project timeline — one additional year of design and development, and a full year of knowledge transfer.
FI$Cal is creating centralized financial platform for the state, streamlining 2,500 legacy financial systems used across more than 120 departments. Approved in 2005, the system was initially projected to cost $1.6 billion but later was revised down to $672 million.
