Florida Department of Education Statewide Longitudinal Data System For Period January - March 2015
Report Period End: 3/31/2015 Agency Name: Florida Department of Education Project Name: Statewide Longitudinal Data System Project Description: The Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) incorporates data from numerous sources. The four largest contributors are the staff and student databases for prekindergarten and K-12 reporting, career and adult education (or workforce education), the Florida colleges, and state universities. Other resources include student assessment, facilities, special education, English language learners, early childhood programs, human resources, and employment information. The SLDS program is supported by a combination of federal grants and state appropriation. This project is designed to upgrade key education data systems to improve data management, assist in decision-making, allow for more efficient data collection, broader data accessibility, and tighter data security. To reach the programmatic goals of the grants there are underlying infrastructure and technology components to be achieved as well. Overcoming the incompatibility between outdated platforms with newer, more efficient technologies drives the need to design and implement an enterprise-level data processing environment which will strategically consolidate assets and minimize toolsets. Improved data management and data quality processes will enable the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) to be more responsive to key executive and legislative interests as well as to the general public while reducing administrative processing costs. Section I: Executive Summary Executive Summary Scope: The project scope is within the acceptable variance range for the reporting period. Cost: The project is under budget (exceeding the acceptable variance range) for the reporting period. Delays in obtaining, and problems with retaining, project resources have resulted in the project spending less than was anticipated. Schedule: The project schedule is within the acceptable variance range for the reporting period. There have been slight delays in some tasks, but the team expects to implement the system by the scheduled completion date. The minor delays are related to retaining the appropriate number of personnel (either due to hiring and retention, or due to competing priorities for resources) and other issues. Risks and Issues: Risks and Issues remained stable for the reporting period. 12/10/2014 Page 2 Revision.01
Section II: Scope Scope Summary The project scope is within the acceptable variance range for the reporting period. There have been no scope changes as compared with the Schedule IV-B scope. Although the project has no formal scope document, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and project schedule (extrapolated from the original Schedule IV-B scope) has not changed and is divided into the following sub-projects: Florida Education Identifier (FLEID) Sub-Project This project will improve data security and accuracy for FLDOE student-unique, personal identifier data. Key characteristics of the FLEID system include K-20 use; improved data matching processes; establishment of a secure vault containing all personally identifiable data; and inclusion of tools necessary to assign and manage identification (ID) assignments between the departments, districts and institutions in a more secure and consistent manner. FLEID will minimize the necessity of transmitting personally identifiable information (e.g., social security numbers) and feature a heightened level of secure transmission and storage of personally identifiable information. Business Intelligence (BI) Plan Sub-Project - An Education Information Portal that connects people with reports and statistical information related to PK-12, college, career and adult education and employment outcomes for Florida students, staff and schools. Data Quality (DQ2) Sub-Project - Phase I will allow districts to run data through various edits without using expensive mainframe CPU time and will improve data quality. This will facilitate timely and higher quality data submissions as well as reduce redundant data submissions. High Stakes Class Size Sub-Project Conversion from mainframe processing to client server processing of class size calculations. Metadata Sub-Project Improved business rules, improved transformation processes, established reporting functionality with statistical and interdependency information on data and streamlined identification of useful data elements for FLDOE s data systems. Educational Data Warehouse (EDW) Database Migration Sub-Project Migration of data from the Oracle environment into the SQL Server (enterprise solution) database environment. Data Governance Sub-Project Establish an actionable data governance program to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of education records. The project is an organizational approach to data and information management that is formalized as a set of policies and procedures that encompass the full life cycle of data - from acquisition to disposal. Although organized as part of the SLDS effort, the Data Governance Sub-Project will provide an overarching data governance process that will be used by the entire department (enterprise solution). 12/10/2014 Page 3 Revision.01
Scope Variance Discussion The project scope is within the acceptable variance range for the reporting period. 12/10/2014 Page 4 Revision.01
Section III: Cost Management Cost Management Summary The project is outside of the acceptable variance range for the reporting period. The project has a spending plan; however, FY 2014-15 Quarter 3 actual costs were 27.25% under budget. Cost Variance Discussion There were a number of factors influencing the cost variance. There were extended procurement activities, the hiring and retention of staff has resulted in less incurred costs than originally planned for FY 2014-15 and there was a delay in contracting with the data governance vendor. These occurrences have affected the actual cost in the reporting period significantly, resulting in approximately $500,000 less being expended than anticipated. Although the under budget variance range is expected to decrease, the project is projected to finish FY 2014-15 under budget. 12/10/2014 Page 5 Revision.01
Section IV: Schedule Management Schedule Management Summary The project schedule is within the acceptable variance range for the reporting period. The schedule is not baselined. As of this reporting period, there were 57 late tasks. Current Project Progress: FLEID Sub-Project: BI Plan Sub-Project: Data Quality (DQ2) Sub-Project: High Stakes Class Size Sub-Project: Metadata Sub-Project: 42% complete 88% complete 75% complete 57% complete 98% complete EDW Database Migration Sub-Project: 100% complete The Data Governance Sub-Project is in the procurement process and work has not started as of this reporting date. The Data Quality and High Stakes Sub-Projects will continue to operate into the pilot phase to ensure the quality of system data and assist customer agencies in their adoption and usage of the system. It would benefit the project team to work towards an integrated, baselined master project schedule to support performance management reporting (earned value analysis). The WBS in the schedule should define all deliverables, milestones, tasks, and resources required to complete the project based on the approved project scope. All tasks should be baselined. Once this is in place, FLDOE and the Agency for State Technology (AST) can objectively assess project performance including task and milestone completion dates. Schedule Variance Discussion The project is slightly behind schedule (but within the acceptable variance range) for the reporting period. Although the project schedule reports overdue tasks for the reporting period, the project team has also completed 149 FY 2014-15 Quarter 4 tasks and are ahead of schedule on an additional 19 tasks for FY 2014-15 Quarter 4. Three areas of minor project delays and their resolutions are discussed below: 12/10/2014 Page 6 Revision.01
Schedule Variance Discussion Pre FY 2014-15 Quarter 3 delays related to issues discovered with the load testing of the Graduation Rate Report delayed implementation of this report and also subsequent report tasks for the Fine Arts Report and the Enrollment Report. Following the successful deployment of the Graduation Rate Report, work resumed on the Fine Arts Report and the Enrollment Report and both have been completed. The completion of the Florida College Graduation Report was delayed to revise the design based on Legislative staff feedback. This report is back on schedule and will be completed by the June 15, 2015 due date. The High-Stakes Class Size conversion from the legacy mainframe (Oracle) to the SAS application (SQL Server) has resulted in a schedule revision. During execution, it was determined that there was a greater interrelationship among the tasks than originally thought which caused for an adjustment in the completion order of the existing tasks. There was no change in scope or requirements involved in this change. As a result of these changes to the High-Stakes Class Size Sub-Project, there were 57 tasks due to be completed by March 31, 2015 that have been delayed until FY 2014-15 Quarter 4. However, there were 75 High-Stakes tasks due FY 2014-15 Quarter 4 that were completed in FY 2014-15 Quarter 3. The Data Governance Sub-Project was delayed because of procurement / contracting issues. This Data Governance Sub-Project completion date will be slightly delayed (estimated 3 weeks to a month), but this effort is independent of the system and will not affect the implementation of the SLDS. Section V: Risk Assessment Evaluation of Project Risks and Issues Risks and issues remained stable for the reporting period. AST recommends the following risks be addressed by the project team and mitigation strategies be identified: Stakeholder and project team turnover could cause delays in the project s completion. In addition, the current project staff has significant demands (outside the project) for their time. Local funding and management priorities could delay implementation of the SLDS project within customer agencies. 12/10/2014 Page 7 Revision.01
AST Risk Assessment Evaluation of the project with the Execution Phase Diagnostic Risk Assessment indicates that the project is low risk at this point in project execution. Although specific project documentation from the Planning Phase is minimal, the project processes currently underway meet project management best practices and the needs of the project. Where possible, functions of the new system are being turned on as they are completed. The Execution Phase of the project is planned to be completed June 30, 2015 with the implementation of the final system functions. There is no indication, at this time, that there will be any delay. Post-implementation of maintenance and support will be provided by the Northwest Regional Data Center (NWRDC) (for equipment and database maintenance) and the software vendor (under a maintenance and support agreement contract). As specific issues with the project are being monitored and most have been resolved, a corrective action plan is not needed. Outstanding problems are being aggressively handled by the project team. Not applicable for this reporting period. Section VI: Corrective Action Plan for Out of Variance Projects AST s Recommended Corrective Action Plan (CAP) # Description Action Completion Date (Planned) Scope Completion Date (Actual) Schedule Cost Risk & Issues 12/10/2014 Page 8 Revision.01