Report 2010-118 Recommendation 6 Responses

Report 2010-118: California Prison Industry Authority: It Can More Effectively Meet Its Goals of Maximizing Inmate Employment, Reducing Recidivism, and Remaining Self-Sufficient (Release Date: May 2011)

Recommendation #6 To: Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of

As Corrections prepares to move CalParole data into the Strategic Offender Management System (SOMS), it should modify existing employment-related fields and add to SOMS new fields that are currently not available in CalParole so that Corrections can minimize the opportunity for erroneous data entries and make employment data more reliable.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2016

As of December 31, 2015, all of the CalParole data and functionality was successfully transferred to the SOMS Parole Module, and is now fully operational as the official 'System of Record' for parolee information, history, and data source for automated and manual queries used to complete CDCR statistical reports, trends, and projections.

(See provided proof of practice: Directives No. 15-10, No. 15-12, and Policy No. 15-22.)

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2015

In order to comply with a Federal court order, CDCR requested the SOMS team complete an emergency configuration for Secured Housing Unit (SHU) functionality in SOMS. After the emergency configuration was completed, the SOMS team resumed necessary activities to support deployment of the SOMS CalParole Replacement Parole Module under a revised schedule. The revised 'go live' date for deployment is now 12/07/2015.

SOMS Training for subject matter experts (T4T) began on 08/17/2015 and concluded on 09/04/2015. Statewide training for all DAPO staff is currently underway and will be completed on 11/25/2015.

Effective 12/07/2015, SOMS will be in full control of all parolee information and will have acquired all existing systems interface from CalParole. At that time, SOMS will officially become the 'System of Record' and CalParole will be taken offline.

(See proof of practice document: Master CalParole Retirement SOMS End User Training Plan)

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2014

Contracted software developers have completed the design modifications and enhancements to the SOMS Parole Module including the component for parolee employment-related data. The SOMS Parole Module is currently undergoing validation and testing with full deployment scheduled for January 2015, at which time the CalParole database will be retired.

A series of tests utilizing scripted cases with defect assessments to identify any system design defects is being conducted. Subsequent changes will be programmed into SOMS, followed by a second series of system tests. User testing and testing with interface partners (e.g. local law enforcement) is scheduled in October 2014, with all final modifications concluding by November 17, 2014.

Notable efforts have and continue to be made in the clean-up of data within CalParole to ensure the integrity of data conversion from CalParole to SOMS. The CalParole automation team is working closely in concert with SOMS staff on the data verification and validation efforts. As the data is converted from CalParole, a comparative analysis is conducted utilizing comparison points on the data in both the SOMS and CalParole systems.

Full deployment of SOMS, Parole Phase I (CalParole replacement), is on schedule for the "Go Live" date of January 12, 2015.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2013

In September 2013, OBIS was officially retired subsequent to the SOMS deployment.

An extensive training effort for all DAPO peace officer staff was initiated in May 2013, and completed in June 2013; and intensive sentence calculation training for all Case Records staff was completed in July 2013.

The SOMS external movements provisioning was deployed to all assigned support staff, Parole Agent (PA) II (Supervisors), PA IIIs, and Parole Administrators; therefore, DAPO staff now utilize SOMS for all data entries related to external movements, and re-calculation of sentence data for dead time loss and revocation.

The SOMS project is currently in the conceptual design phase, identifying whether the key data elements are contained in SOMS for initiating the process of terminating the CalParole database system, and migrating all of the data and functionality from CalParole into SOMS. Contracts have been negotiated and are in place for the SOMS integrator to complete the necessary modifications to SOMS, to include the enhancements to the employment data fields, with the anticipation that all CalParole functions will be fully integrated and functional within SOMS by December 31, 2014.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2012

The CalParole database was modified in May 2012, providing much more detailed employment data capture. (See Attachment 2) The specific employment data fields in the CalParole enhancements are described in the CalParole policy. (See Attachment 1).

The Offender Based Information System (OBIS) will be officially be retired within the next year, at which time DAPO staff will no longer be required to make dual entries into both the CalParole database and OBIS. In coordination with the timing of the OBIS retirement, DAPO staff will be trained on the SOMS external movement processes and will be granted limited user access. The SOMS training for all DAPO staff will commence statewide, no later than July 2013.

The SOMS project is exploring options to modify the system to enable data import directly from CalParole into SOMS. Necessary contract amendments are currently being negotiated with Hewlett Packard Corporation and, as a result, the SOMS project is unable to provide a determinate timeline for full deployment.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2010-118

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.