I am excited to report that the 2019-20 state budget approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom includes increased funding for FISCal to provide additional support to departments and to get the main FI$Cal Project over the finish line!
We received a one-time augmentation spread of $64 million over the next three years. The funding will enable us to provide greater support for month-end/year-end close activities, system enhancements, as well as additional and updated training to help departments utilize the system as a whole. The money also provides resources to improve the system with artificial intelligence, enhance testing environments, and complete the final SCO milestones for the project.
As a project, our focus has been on integrating the functions of our four control agencies – Department of Finance, Department of General Services, State Treasurer’s Office and the State Controller’s Office – onboarding 152 state entities, and standardizing business processes across the state. We are now shifting our primary focus to improving the day-to-day experience for our end users. Ninety percent of our new resources will be utilized to support and train our system users.
Last April, we held our first Imagine FI$Cal workshop where departments from across the state brought ideas to improve our training, customer service and system performance.
In our efforts to bring these concepts from Imagine FI$Cal into action, we are updating our website to consolidate and modernize all of our education components, and developing a more robust curriculum. All of this will be part of our new “education center” being established as part of our reorganization effort. The education center will be a unit within the Business Operation and Solutions Division to provide a unit dedicated to the work of educating our staff, our partners and our clients. Please visit our Imagine FISCal page and see our newsletter articles here and here for more information.
We have made great progress! We have successfully deployed a financial system that supports the fifth-largest economy in the world, and while there is still work to be done to bring on the remaining SCO functionality, we can offer stronger support to our departments through this transition.