1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 3 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 9 FEBRUARY 22, 2017 10 (Prepared from audio recording) 11 12 13 14 15 ITEM P 16 OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 17 ITEM P7 18 TECHNOLOGY DEPUTY DIRECTOR'S REPORT 19 1. CROS PROJECT UPDATE AND ACTIONS 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 PREPARED BY: Kathleen Skidgel 28 CSR NO. 9039 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board of Equalization: Fiona Ma, CPA 4 Chairwoman 5 Diane L. Harkey Vice Chair 6 Jerome E. Horton 7 Member 8 Sen. George Runner (Ret.) Member 9 Yvette Stowers 10 Appearing for Betty T. Yee, State Controller 11 (per Government Code Section 7.9) 12 Joann Richmond 13 Chief Board Proceedings 14 Division 15 For Board of 16 Equalization Staff: Scott Capulong Acting Chief Information 17 Officer & Deputy Director Technology Services 18 Department 19 Susanne Buehler Deputy Director 20 Business Tax and Fee Department 21 22 ---oOo--- 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 2 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 3 FEBRUARY 22, 2017 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. MA: Ms. Richmond. 6 MS. RICHMOND: So our next item is P7, the 7 Technology Deputy Director's Report; P7.1 CROS 8 Project Update and Actions. 9 MS. MA: Thank you, Mr. Capulong. 10 MR. CAPULONG: Yes. Good afternoon, 11 Honorable Members. I am Scott Capulong, Acting 12 Chief Information Officer and Deputy Director for 13 the Technology Services Department. Joining me 14 today is Susanne Buehler, Deputy Director of 15 Business Tax and Fee Department. 16 We appreciate the opportunity to provide 17 this month's update on our CROS Project. We are 18 pleased to report that the project is in the first 19 stages of implementation. Following a lengthy 20 procurement period, staff are rolling up their 21 sleeves and engaging in business process reviews, 22 requirements definition, and design sessions to 23 begin the development of the new system 24 functionality. 25 As you recall, CROS will be implemented in 26 four main phases or rollouts: 27 Rollout 1 provides data warehouse 28 capabilities; 3 1 Rollout 2 implements sales tax and related 2 program functionality; 3 Rollout 3 adds special tax and fee programs 4 functionality; 5 And Rollout 4 completes the remaining 6 special tax programs. 7 The BOE and FAST Enterprise's subject 8 matter experts are working closely together to 9 ensure the successful implementation of each wave of 10 functionality. Additionally, over the next few 11 months BOE will also examine policies that may 12 accompany the change in our business processes. 13 Since starting project implementation 14 activities in October of last year, a tremendous 15 amount of work has been accomplished by the BOE and 16 our vendor. Staff, in our project management office 17 have developed essential project plans and are 18 currently incorporating the vendor's project 19 schedule into the BOE's integrated master schedule. 20 The technology team has successfully 21 implemented the technical environments that will 22 serve as the foundation for developing BOE's new 23 system. The team has also validated that the new 24 system can be successfully integrated into BOE's 25 existing technologies; for example, the new system 26 will interface with the Board of Equalization's 27 document management system and the call center 28 technology. 4 1 MS. BUEHLER: Over the next few months 2 several significant milestones will be reached. 3 Rollout 1 will introduce the data warehouse 4 capabilities and is scheduled to go live in March. 5 This new technology will give us better and easier 6 access to the large volumes of our existing data, 7 provide better reports and enhanced decision-making 8 tools. 9 At future Board meetings, we will be 10 presenting proposals for potential policy changes 11 that will allow us to leverage the data and be more 12 efficient in our compliance efforts. 13 Rollout 2 implements sales tax and related 14 program functionality in the second quarter of 2018, 15 and design sessions will begin next month. This 16 stage of the project will facilitate process 17 improvements for the agency, allowing BOE to be more 18 effective and efficient in our delivery of services. 19 As we transform our business processes, it may 20 result in policy changes that would be presented to 21 the Board for discussion and approval. 22 Once implemented, the Board will deliver 23 new capabilities to the public. This includes 24 enhanced online services, such as providing 25 taxpayers with the ability to perform account 26 updates, as well as online messaging that will allow 27 for more timely communication with our customers. 28 We will provide more details about these 5 1 process improvements and new capabilities at future 2 Board meetings. 3 Additionally, at our next Board meeting, we 4 will be presenting two contracts in support of 5 project activities: 6 A contract for independent validation and 7 verification services will ensure quality control 8 practices are in place and being followed; 9 In addition, we will present a contract for 10 legacy programmer support, which will allow 11 operational activities to be maintained while BOE 12 staff transition to support CROS development. 13 MR. CAPULONG: Through January of 2017, the 14 CROS Project budget is as follows: Our current 15 month we have expended 59 percent of our funding; 16 year-to-date, 34 percent is expended; and 17 project-to-date, 74 expended. 18 The project is currently under budget, 19 primarily due to several consulting contracts not 20 starting. But as Susanne mentioned, two of these 21 contracts will be presented at next month's Board 22 meeting. 23 That concludes this month's report. We are 24 prepared to respond to any questions you may have. 25 MS. MA: Members, any questions? 26 Ms. Harkey. 27 MS. HARKEY: Did I understand we're going 28 to have, like, a chat room? BOE chat? 6 1 MR. CAPULONG: Yeah, there will be some 2 online messaging capabilities that will allow us to 3 have more direct connection with our taxpayers. So 4 we will have to work out the details of how that 5 will work. 6 MS. HARKEY: I think -- I think that's 7 fabulous because I know, you know, being as busy as 8 we are, we're traveling and people are like this, 9 and you get up early in the morning, and if I don't 10 have a chat room to ask a question, I mean, it's 11 just an annoyance to get on the phone or to wait for 12 an email or schedule an appointment at a bank 13 branch, or something like that. It's ridiculous. 14 But the chat room really does help. 15 The one thing you'll have to be careful for 16 is it will be in writing, so it will be written 17 information, written, uh -- whatever -- advice. But 18 I do think that's a great idea. 19 Thank you. And it sounds like we're on 20 budget. Had a couple delays, but we're still on 21 budget. 22 MR. CAPULONG: Right. Under -- under 23 budget. 24 MS. HARKEY: Under budget. 25 MR. CAPULONG: Right. 26 MS. HARKEY: Good. Okay, thank you. 27 MS. MA: Ms. Stowers. 28 MS. STOWERS: Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. 7 1 Thank you for the report. Nice to hear 2 that we are under budget. Let's stay under budget. 3 Let's stay on time. 4 MR. CAPULONG: Yes. 5 MS. STOWERS: I really appreciate the 6 thoroughness of your report and I'm looking forward 7 to -- are we calling it phase -- the data warehouse 8 in March? 9 MR. CAPULONG: Correct. 10 MS. STOWERS: That's Phase 1? 11 MR. CAPULONG: Rollout 1. 12 MS. STOWERS: Rollout 1. Okay. 13 Let's ring the bell. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. 14 MS. HARKEY: Have a party with that. I'll 15 bring the champagne or something. 16 MS. STOWERS: So good job, you guys. Thank 17 you very much. 18 MR. CAPULONG: Great. 19 MS. BUEHLER: Thank you. 20 MR. CAPULONG: Thank you. 21 MS. MA: Thank you very much. 22 ---oOo--- 23 24 25 26 27 28 8 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, Kathleen Skidgel, Hearing Reporter for 8 the California State Board of Equalization state 9 that I transcribed from recorded audio, to the best 10 of my ability, the proceedings in the above-entitled 11 hearing; and that the preceding pages 1 through 8 12 constitute my transcription of the proceedings. 13 14 Dated: February 27, 2017 15 16 17 ____________________________ 18 Kathleen Skidgel, CSR #9039 19 Hearing Reporter 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 9