California Officials Host Forum on Next Generation of Major, Integrated Computer Systems.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Nearly 200 state and local officials from California and across the nation today participated in a forum hosted by California executives leading the Financial Information System for California (FI$Cal) Project. The Government to Government Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Forum is focused on approaches to modernizing state government through major integrated computer systems. The FI$Cal Project will include an ERP system that will transform the way the state does business eventually realizing $6 billion in cost avoidance.

FI$Cal is an historic partnership of the Department of Finance (DOF), the State Controller's Office (SCO), the State Treasurer's Office (STO) and the Department of General Services (DGS) to develop a statewide, integrated financial management system. Started in 2006, the first stage of the project is scheduled for deployment in 2012, with additional stages through 2017 to ultimately include more than 135 departments throughout state government.

At the two-day forum hosted in Sacramento, state Chief Information Officer Teri Takai gave the opening address, discussing the tremendous potential offered by enterprise, or statewide systems. "Enterprise systems have the power to renew the public's trust in government through increased efficiency and transparency," said Takai. "This forum is providing California and other state and local governments a terrific opportunity to share information and best practices as we implement the next generation of technology."

"The FI$Cal Project will give us an unprecedented, detailed view into how the state spends money, and it will be an invaluable tool that will help us control spending," said Mike Genest, Director of the Department of Finance. "Currently, the state has a number of aging systems that do not interact with each other. By planning strategically and integrating our resources, we will have a great advantage in meeting our budget challenges."

"The FI$Cal Project makes government more accountable to the people on how it spends tax dollars," said State Treasurer Bill Lockyer. "At the same time, the State will do the public's business in a smarter, more efficient manner, saving money in these tight fiscal times."

"FI$Cal will give the State better tools to leverage greater savings from our procurements and manage our assets by giving us information and data that previously was unavailable to us," said Will Bush, Director of the Department of General Services. "This system will also allow the state to modernize our work environment and move out of a costly and inefficient paper environment."

"Many of the State's existing accounting systems were built with technology from the 1970s before desktop computers were standard equipment," said Controller John Chiang. "Modernizing and streamlining these systems will provide a stable platform for future operations and allow us to save hundreds of millions of dollars by leveraging the State's purchasing power across 150 different public agencies."

Other states and local government represented at the ERP forum included: Georgia, Oregon, Oklahoma, Alabama, West Virginia, Texas, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Colorado, Mississippi, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Washington and Florida. Local governments included: the City of Los Angeles, Sacramento County, SMUD, Marin County, Santa Clara County, the City of Sacramento and Los Angeles County.

Participating from the State of California included: the Departments of Finance, Justice, Corrections and Rehabilitation, General Services, Personnel Administration, Parks and Recreation, Transportation, Employment Development, Education, Consumer Affairs, Community Services, Alcohol and Drug Programs, Social Services, Development Disabilities, Water Resources, the Board of Equalization, State Controller's Office, Secretary of State's Office, Little Hoover Commission, Treasurer's Office, Office of Systems Integration, Franchise Tax Board, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Waste Management Board, Office of Information Security and Privacy Protection and the State Teacher's Retirement System.

FI$Cal is a business transformation project in the areas of budgeting, accounting, and procurement. This "Next Generation" project will prepare the state systems and workforce to function in an integrated financial management system environment. To ensure the success of the project, the Partner Agencies have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the State Controller, the State Treasurer, and the Directors of the Departments of Finance and General Services. The MOU demonstrates support for the project at the highest levels of these organizations and provides the framework for this partnership.

Specifically, the project's goals include:

* Establish a single source of financial information through the establishment of a single statewide financial management system.

* Provide more meaningful and current financial information to decision makers and program managers.

* Provide transparent financial information for better decision making.

* Share information with the public and the state's business partners.

* Provide user friendly reporting for decision makers and stakeholders.

* Track statewide purchase volumes by vendor and/or commodity type to identify areas where quantity discounts might save money.

* Facilitate workforce mobility and efficiency by establishing portable work skills.

* Automate manual processes.

* Minimize manual reconciliations among control agencies, state agencies, and other separately maintained systems and databases.

* Increase fiscal accountability at all levels of government by allowing transparency of transactions.

* Avoid significant costs of duplicate new financial management systems throughout state government.