CalPERS’ Actuarial Valuation System is being redesigned after 20 years.
According to the agency's board agenda documents from May's meeting — the last at which it discussed the budget — the system “no longer meets evolving actuarial practices, including changes required for employers to comply with new standards implemented by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board."
The project will take several years, with an estimated completion date of fiscal year 2020-21. The total estimated cost is $13 million, $10 million less than the estimate in 2016.
“Now that the project has moved from the conceptual phase to the design and implementation phases, a more precise cost estimate is available,” the board agenda reads.
The multiphase replacement has already passed through Phase I, determining which business process requirements to bring into the replacement system. Phase II, which began in FY 2016-17, creates the new database model, including data from the existing AVS system and confirming the data.
Software and hardware for the new database will also be procured and integrated in this stage. The vendor will provide system implementation, training and user testing. Transitioning support functions from project consultants to state staff will also take place.
The funding proposed for 2017-18 will total $3.9 million for consultants ($2.5 million), backfill resources to handle the agency’s core workload while state workers help design the new system and learn to use it ($900,000), and hardware and software costs ($500,000).
The project is on schedule for completion in FY 2020-21.
