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State Updates: Project Approvals, CALNET Map, More Cloud Services

Pilots are underway for the newest iteration of the California Department of Technology's Project Approval Lifecycle.

Pilots are underway for the newest iteration of the California Department of Technology's Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL). 

The department detailed the changes at the state's Vendor Forum on Friday. Tamara Armstrong, CDT's deputy chief project officer of statewide project delivery, told vendors that PAL 3.0 is continuously looking for ways to automate and collaborate on projects. The most recent update is known as the PLAN-IT pilot, and the Departments of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Toxic Substances Control and Alcoholic Beverage Control have used the pilot for the last six months.

"Our goal is to adapt to the needs of the project. We're not just checking boxes," Armstrong said. "We're trying to move away from that perception and practice to be able to make sure projects are setting themselves up for a stable foundation."

Changes to PAL 3.0/PLAN-IT:

  • An online planning tool will be provided to all departments and projects, whether or not CDT is involved in the project. 
  • Planning and approval processes will be combined. 
  • A new system will provide decision logic to decide whether the project is a delegated project or not.
  • Interaction with CDT can be done online throughout the project. 
  • Guidance and directions will be built into the interactive system.
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"We are iterating; we're getting better," Armstrong said. "While we consider the first version to be a robust version, it is not completely full-feature. We will be continuing to iterate and add functionality and features and add lessons learned as we go."

PLAN-IT will roll out beginning Nov. 26. Wave 1 will include those projects already in Stage 1 or 2 of PAL. Everyone else will have access in January 2019. Training will be available until June 2019.

"As vendors, those of you who have contracts with departments and are working on these projects that are going through the Project Approval Lifecycle process, you will be able to enroll or participate in the training," Armstrong said.

More information on PLAN-IT is available from notifications. Projects can be tracked here.

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Ellen Ishimoto, deputy chief technology officer at the Office of Technology Services at CDT, also went over the CALNET Roadmap that the department has planned.

CALNET procurements include:

  • Cellular voice and data
  • Dedicated transport
  • Traditional voice
  • Long distance and toll-free
  • FirstNet
Future services being evaluated include:

  • Contact center, hosted interactive voice response and automatic call distribution 
  • Managed Internet
  • Metro area Ethernet
  • Multiprotocol label switching
  • Network-based security
  • Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
  • Web Conferencing
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The state is also concentrating on a cloud adoption strategy, according to Richard Rogers, CDT's chief technology officer. More strategic meetings are coming to find what other professional services are necessary in cloud management and IT modernization, Rogers said.

"We're going to continue to work with our customer community to figure out what other professional services they need to be able to create and implement that modernization road map, as well as leveraging their cloud services as much as possible," Rogers said.

Rogers also said his office expects more budget change proposals as departments adopt IT modernizations and cloud strategy. The office is looking for ways to add cloud vendors and their services to the CDT catalog as well.

Kayla Nick-Kearney was a staff writer for Techwire from March 2017 through January 2019.