MARS PROJECT GAP ANALYSIS OCT 2020.PDF
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MARS PROJECT GAP ANALYSIS REF NO. CURRENT STATE DESIRED STATE DESCRIPTION / NOTES PROPOSAL OUTCOME 1 Competent technical experts assigned to project; Team is focused on resolving short-term urgent issues, with no true critical path defined or managed.Global strategy for project accomplishment needed Global strategy for project accomplishment drives daily tasks of technical experts. Technical experts contribute exceptional value to the quality of the daily development of the project, but cannot themselves define the critical path, anticipate future problems, problem solve at a global level, and remove barriers for the team. There is no shortage of detail-level tasks that must be accomplished to successfully implement a project of this scope and scale. However the approach MUST be outcome-oriented: fully define the project scope and stakeholder roles, establish the critical path, define the steps and timelines required to accomplish the milestones on the critical path, and THEN define and accomplish the associated tasks. MC & ESRI-C hire/retain experienced project managers with a history of demonstrated success in managing complex, large scale IT applications. Both MC & ESRI-C hired experienced PMs freeing up technical experts to perform essential tasks. Team is solidifying the critical path and associated strategies. 2 "Go-Live" functionality limited to one seasonal function with future development of some statutorily required calendar functions to be developed on a "Just In Time" basis, and others listed as "Road Map" items with no funding or plan established. All statutory and constitutional requirements need to be developed, tested, implemented, and fully functional for "Go Live." February 2021 "Go Live" date reflects the ability to accomplish only those tasks required by statute to be accomplished in February. Development of critical functionality, such as notices of change, would not even begin until after this date, with the hope of completing the development and implementing the functionality in time to meet the statutory deadlines. Essential elements, such as in appeals and legal classification verification (LCV) are no longer included in the project scope but are instead listed as "Road Map" items with no funding or plan. Establish a project plan and corresponding contract amendment to efficiently and effectively develop ALL essential functionality. Reserve post Go Live activities for configuration, enhancement, and complementary functionality, and Road Map for future desired enhancements. PCR 05 to be considered by BOS will establish a new Go Live date of February 2022 and contain all essential elements 3 Project team dedicated to project but isolated from business operations Project team dedicated to project AND connected to business operations, ensuring effective representation of business needs. Dedicated resources for project development are key to ensuring a successful project implementation. Those same resources must be in tune with the business operations to effectively represent and advocate on their behalf. Continue to dedicate staff to project success, while actively engaging business units in process mapping and testing. Business units now involved and advocating for their business needs. Mission specialists, identified for each line of service, are actively testing and resolving business concerns. System gaps are being identified and addressed. 4 Business Analysis is completed on a Just-In-Time basis Business Analysis is a critical development resource and MUST be made a priority Business Analysis provides critical information on remaining effort so we can identify needs. Story points are growing and need to have this completed or much further ahead of development to accurately reflect outstanding work. The team is identifying data to support the effort required and want to ensure if any contract amendment is completed a date is agreed upon for when this will be done. EC to hire one BA; County hire one additional BA using ACRO contract for 3-4 months to help complete work. Business Analysis (BA) schedule now required from ESRI-C by Release 19 delivery to be approved by MC. During six week period while technical teams addressed known deficiencies, BA team worked ahead of development. Continues to be a watch item. 5 As Business Analysis progresses, EC often wants to rework an area previously completed. Accomplish BA work in advance to minimize the need for rework As business analysis continues, at times, EC wants to re-work an area which has been previously completed. Our teams work together and many times the idea does help support the product. As this work increases it does cause changes to our release plan. But again, if analysis is done early this category should decrease. Allocate sufficient BA resources and analyze remaining functionality to minimize the need for rework. Allocated additional business analysis resources. Business Review Team now evaluates each new software function to ensure accurate reflection of business needs and priorities. 6 Development: Business analysis trend to date would indicate remaining effort will be greater than anticipated. Accurate projection of remaining effort and assignment of sufficent resources to accomplish with great quality. Allocation of additional BA resources would result in information on remaining effort to help identify needs. Quality is still tracking with the new release with a few days of testing. Additional resources should help increase velocity. It was noted by EC some of the areas in the prior release became more complicated than originally thought which took longer for development. Hire two additional BAs and two new developers to have time to train while the BA work continues. EC hired three new developers to address Azure, quality control, and business function development, one additional BA, and a new PM, allowing the Subject Matter Expert (SME) more time to dedicate to business analysis work. 7 Current resources may be insufficient for timely deployment given realistic projection of necessary effort Accurately estimate the required level of effort and allocate sufficient resources (quantity, roles, and skillset) for successful and timely deployment Workied with OET to compile needs. Identified need for two oversight positions. One would be a PM coordinator who is responsible for contract monitoring, meetings, documenting progress, etc. This would encompass the day-in day-out activities of the project with the releases, sprints and documentation. Another position would be a project manager who specializes in strategic planning for future activities. This would include but not be limited to deployment, training, testing, etc. This would allow us to capture some of the future risks on the project so the core team can concentrate on the development area. County to hire 1 project manager to monitor project and add additional resource for strategic planning. Retained exceptional talent: PM on temporary assignment from OET and new project coordinator hired. MARS PROJECT GAP ANALYSIS REF NO. CURRENT STATE DESIRED STATE DESCRIPTION / NOTES PROPOSAL OUTCOME 8 Development of training materials removed from scope of contract Fully developed materials, training plan, and strategy to provide excellent training for entire staff With the changes brought about by the pandemic, less of the training is expected to be conducted through live, instructor-led courses. Assessor training division is proficient in developing online, computer-based training. Training will be a hybrid of workflow and software "button" training, resulting in a much more engaged workforce and much earlier identification of problems. Assigned training development to Assessor training analyst, project coordinator and agency "mission specialists" (subject matter experts from each business unit). Leveraging County HUB resources and tools. 9 User documentation removed from scope of contract Comprehensive user documentation provided in tandem with training Can be done in combination with creating training documents but need to finalize User Interface in some areas. EC has hired 2 UI staff to ensure all areas in the application are consistent with the same look & feel. As part of the training program the user documentation can be created in tandem with training. Working the vendor creating training programs would help to ensure product is delivered and core team remains focused on project. Coordinating delivery of user documentation with training solution outlined above, and will be tailored specifically to Maricopa County. 10 Support: County has agreed to pay a substantial fee for software support, but Service Level Agreement (SLA) lacks desired specificity regarding performance expectations or plan for support Comprehensive Service Level Agreement depicting expectations and agreed upon service levels Need to work with IT and MARS team on support or "Life after MARS" for our organization and with vendor. Some work has been done previously but needs to be updates. The new project manager activity will be to work with EC new PM for creation of support model. Clarify the Service Level Agreement for post Go Live support of the software. The new MC PM will work with the EC PM to ensure the development plan identified in the contract is completed. Create change review board internally to determine which requests would be considered bug or defect vs enhancement. SLA has been reviewed and updated for the proposed PCR 05 to adequately support the business into the future. 11 "Go Live" date of February 2021 misleading (referring only to partial functionality) and even so, highly unlikely. Remaining level of effort cannot be accomplished by February 2021 with existing allocation of resources Realistic and transparent timeline, consistent progress and momentum, allocation of sufficient resources, and continued high quality of deliverables Required functionality and user stories remain largely unchanged. Recognizing that the required level of effort is much greater than originally anticipated, project scope (desired future state) has been largely reduced through PCR 4, primarily in removing training, reports, and user documentation. As Business Analysis is conducted on these user stories, EC is recognizing that they underestimated the level of effort as reflected in the number of story points. Maricopa is not adding additional functionality but ensures the needs of the current system are being developed in the new system. Considerations need to be given to PCR 05 to identify dates in the contract for items included in the releases, and recognizing go-live will occur February 2022 rather than February 2021. This would provide time to complete ALL development and provide some parallel testing with current 6i system. This includes having a deadline date for BA work. PCR 05 to be considered by BOS will establish a new Go Live date of February 2022. It contains dates for each delivery, deadlines for BA, improved estimates for level of effort, and additional releases to accomplish all required functionality. 12 Legislative requirements: statutory requirements and corresponding dates have not yet been aligned with calendar All statutory requirements need to be documented as part of the calendar and incorporated into the release plan EC is concentrating on valuation material. We have many items in which we are required by statute. All items need to be documented as part of the calendar to ensure they are included in a release plan. Having PM’s coordinate this effort will help all understand need of development Identify all legislative items and ensure these items are included in releases. PCR 05 includes additional releases to address required functionality and to include retainage that is tied to delivery of critical business processes for the entire business cycle calendar. Business Review Team has tightened up the review process to ensure legislative items prioritized in delivery. 13 Reports were removed from scope of contract with PCR 4 Identify resources and develop plan to successfully develop statutory and user defined reports The MARS product is more fully developed now, allowing for a more effective use of report development resources. Engage application development team and dedicate resources to ensure development of quality reports. Recruitment underway for SQL report writer. 14 No plan exists to develop interfaces with ancillary systems, such as the Assessor website and the Treasurer's and Recorder's systems. Smooth transition with external parties, ensuring accurate and timely information across platforms. Parcel data is essential to the functionality of a multitude of systems and functions, from property tax to ownership. Functionality must be developed to ensure all related systems reflect matching accurate data. Develop a plan to address all relevant applications and ensure accurate data is shared across external systems and agencies. Project budget request includes funding to develop interfaces. 15 Current Oracle 6i system no longer supported, and could not be rebuilt upon failure Sustainable ability to accomplish required functions while building the new system, and to retrieve historical data for 6-7 years post Go Live The Oracle 6i system currently in place was established in 1992, and last upgraded in 2009. The hardware and database alike are no longer supported or serviceable. Fully upgrading the database would be an endeavor of similar effort to building the new system. Data is backed up and protected, but the database itself could not be rebuilt in the case of catastrophic failure, rendering the backed up data inaccessible. Replace the server hardware and upgrade the database to Oracle 10.2.5, the lowest level still currently supported by Oracle that is still compatible with the existing front end forms. Purchased hardware, upgraded and tested a single node successfully. Currently testing solution within a high availability environment. Oracle 10.2.5 upgraded week of October 27, 2020 in test environment; production to be upgraded upon successful testing completion.