The list of unsuccessful technological projects in California adds agency

As I turned my thumbs in the powerless office of Lieutenant Governor 12 years ago, Gavin Newo wrote a book entitled. “Citizenville“, By ordering information technologies to improve management.

California seems to be the perfect place to appoint government technology, given its seminal role in the global technological revolution.

When the book was published, the state has already launched several basic programs to upgrade early -generation technology and create new applications. NEWSOM inherited them when it became governor in 2019

Unfortunately, the state’s efforts to include avant-garde technology at best observed mediocre success, and in some cases direct failure.

The most ambitious efforts of the country, the financial information system for California or Fi Cal Cal briefly, was a child for posters for very expensive, very delayed and only partially applied technology.

Launched in 2005, the Fi Cal Cal had to replace many outdated systems and become one -off -counter to manage the state government’s finance.

Two decades later, about a billion dollars have been spent and some government agencies are included in the system, but complete implementation is not scheduled by 2032.

“The project service will not complete the project until the planned end date of June 2022,” but A report of 2022 from the State Auditor Office Declared, citing a lack of staff and other obstacles.

“Even when the project office officially announced the project, which was made,” the audit continued, “he will not apply all the promised functionality, and this will probably lead to significant costs.

“As we described in our two most new reports, the project office postponed the development of some features, thus reducing the number of key characteristics that the system will have when the project is officially completed.”

A Subsequent Auditor Report Issued last November made some progress to completion, but noted that some of the “most large and complex” departments of the state remain to be hooked in the system, “and their transition to Fi Cal must be completed by July 1, 2032.”

The most important work to be completed is the inclusion of the “book of the records” of the state, its official report on financial affairs.

Fi Cal Cal is just one of the state information technology projects that have lasted slowly, partially or failed.

The State Judicial Council that manages the state judicial system, spend more than half a billion dollars In the case management system just to abandon it, because no one could make him work.

When local court managers returned to paper systems after failure, some tried to ban news organizations from having easily access to records, more specially new lawsuits, but the judge’s court judges and ultimately won, forcing the Judicial Council to Pay the media $ 2.9 million for its legal costs.

California now has another agency on its list of technological failures – the State Bar Association, which licensing attorneys.

Facing with a budget deficit of $ 22.2 million, the State Bar Association decided to reduce the cost of testing any lawyers and use a new system of personal and remote testing via a computer. He hired Kaplan exams to develop test questions and study the exam for the exam.

“The result was a crash for many participants in the test,” ” The Los Angeles Times recently wroteS “Some report that they were expelled from online testing platforms; experienced screens that lag behind and show error messages; And there were proctors who could not answer basic questions. Others raised problems with test questions with many choices, complaining that they consisted of nonsense, had printed mistakes and left important facts. “

In addition to technological problems, there were mistakes and gaps in test issues, which led California’s Supreme Court to order state exams in July to be conducted in the old way.

And, of course, there is a voluminous finger targeting who, if anyone, will be held accountable.