Technology work on several fronts should proceed unabated this fiscal year at one of the state’s best-known tax entities.
A review of the enacted 2023-2024 fiscal year state budget for the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB), which administers income and franchise tax laws for the state, shows the approval of budget change proposals (BCP) seeking funding to pursue IT projects in various stages. The FTB’s total approved budget rose from $1.17 billion in FY 2022-23 to $1.23 billion in FY 2023-24; its approved positions rose very slightly, from 6,804 in FY 2022-23 to 6,808 in FY 2023-24. (All numbers are rounded.) Funding for IT projects includes:
- $135.3 million from the General Fund and 50 positions for the Enterprise Data to Revenue Project. In a BCP from Nov. 28, FTB asked for $135 million, the full-time equivalent of 41 permanent positions and 31 limited-term positions, for its third-year implementation of the Enterprise Data to Revenue (EDR) project, the second phase of its Tax System Modernization plan. The funding, it said, will facilitate business process optimization throughout the EDR life cycle. The work will capitalize on EDR’s enterprise data, modeling, case management (CM) platform and infrastructure by expanding the enterprise CM and modeling to other business systems of work including audit, legal, filing enforcement, and underpayment. The second phase will also expand functionality for the Taxpayer Folder and MyFTB areas, and enable FTB to decommission multiple legacy systems.
- $4.9 million from the General Fund, $96,000 from other funds and 29 positions for Return Processing Technology Support. In a BCP from Nov. 28, FTB sought $4.9 million from the General Fund and $96,000 from special funds, to pay for 29 permanent positions this fiscal year, plus $4.6 million from the General Fund and $91,000 from special funds in FY 2024-25 and ongoing, to maintain and improve mission-critical applications and return-processing tech support. The underlying issue, per the BCP, is workload. During the last several years FTB’s Technology Services Division (TSD) has had to implement changes and adopt new workloads while simultaneously providing ongoing technical maintenance to keep systems and related infrastructure patched and supported.
- $1.8 million from the General Fund, $35,000 from other funds and three positions for Digital Workflow Management. In a BCP on Digital Workflow Management/Low-Code Platform, FTB had asked for $1.83 million, $1.79 million of that from the General Fund and $35,000 in special funds, to pay for two permanent positions, one limited-term position, and software during FY 2023-24. Together with additional monies sought in FY 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27, the funding aims to replace obsolete legacy and custom-coded solutions with an enterprise-class, low-code service management platform to reduce risk and improve service.
- $1.8 million from the General Fund and $27,000 from other funds for IBM Microsoft Enterprise Licensing Agreement Renewal. The precise timing on this renewal is unclear; it does not appear to originate from a BCP.
- $1.8 million from the General Fund, $35,000 from other funds and two positions for Security and Access Management. In a BCP, FTB asked for $1.81 million, $1.77 million from the General Fund and $35,000 from special funds to pay for two permanent positions and software costs in FY 2023-24. With additional monies sought in FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26, the idea is to cut security risk by implementing a solution adding privileged access management capabilities and to enhance login security with multifactor authentication on public web applications in compliance with direction from the state’s Cal-Secure road map.
