GenTax Upgrade to Version 9 Project
Project Charter For Certification
Executive Sponsor – Demesia Padilla, Cabinet Secretary TRD
Business Owner - Greg Saunders,CIO TRD
Project Managers – Jim Wastvedt/Elizabeth Sanchez
Original Plan Date: April 18, 2012
Revision Date:
Revision:
About This Project Charter DOCUMENT
Permission to plan the project and setting the governance structure
The Project Charter provides the project manager and project team with permission to proceed with the work of the project, within the scope delineated in this document. The Project Charter should be the outcome of a number of documents that went into the pre-planning for the project, and in many cases the agency IT Plan, Business Case for appropriations, Federal funding requests and the like.
Project sponsors sign the Project Charter signifying that they have agreed to the governance structure for guiding the direction for the further planning of the project, discovery and defining the requirements, acquiring necessary resources, and within that context the statement of work for any related contracts including a contract for the Independent Validation and Verification.
The Project Charter is also the foundation for the creation of the project management plan, and much of the thinking and writing for this charter will be immediately usable for that project management plan.
Project certification Initial phase documentation
The Project Charter is also used within the State of New Mexico IT Project Certification process as evidence of the project’s worthiness for the Initial Phase certification. The Initial Phase certification is especially critical to many state and agency projects because of its related release of the initial funds required for the project.
Initiation Phase funding is requested by an agency for use in developing project phases, developing Independent Verification and Validation (“IV&V”) plan and contract; address project review issues and/or to develop an overall project management plan. Note: Waiver of the IV&V requirement requires specific written approval by the Secretary of the DoIT.
DoIT “Project Certification” Memorandum July 2, 2007
The Project Charter and the Request for Certification Form are meant to provide a comprehensive picture of the project’s intention and initial planning, that includes the project’s place in the context of the State of New Mexico’s IT Strategic Plan, Enterprise Architecture, and DoIT project oversight process. See “IT Project Oversight Process” Memorandum July 5th 2007 on the OCIO-DoIT web site.
table of contents
About This Project Charter DOCUMENT
table of contents
1. project background
1.1 Executive Summary -rationale for the project
1.2 Summary of the foundation planning and documentation for the project
1.3 Project Certification Requirements
2.0 Justification, Objectives and impacts
2.1 Agency Justification
2.2 Business Objectives
2.3 Technical Objectives
2.4 Impact on Organization
2.5 Transition to Operations
3.0 Project/Product Scope of Work
3.1 Deliverables
3.1.1 Project Deliverables
3.1.2 Product Deliverables
3.2 Success and QUALITY METRICS
4.0 Schedule Estimate
5.0 Budget Estimate
5.1 Funding Source(s)
5.2. Budget By Major Deliverable or Type of expense -
5.3 Budget By Project Phase or Certification Phase
6.0 Project Authority and Organizational Structure
6.1 STAKEHOLDERS
6.2 PROJECT GOVERNANCE PLAN
6.3 PROJECT MANAGER
6.3.1 PROJECT MANAGER CONTACT INFORMATION
6.3.2 PROJECT MANAGER BACKGROUND
6.4 PROJECT TEAM ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
6.5 Project management Methodology
7.0 Constraints
8.0 Dependencies
9.0 Assumptions
10.0 Significant Risks and Mitigation Strategy
11.0 COMMUNICATION PLAN FOR EXECUTIVE REPORTING
12.0 INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION - IV&V
13.0 Project Charter Agency Approval Signatures
14.0 Project Charter Certification Approval Signature
Revision History
Revision Number / Date / Comment1
Project Charter [Project name]1
1. project background
The project background section is meant to provide the reviewer with a picture of the development of the project from inception to its being submitted for certification.
1.1Executive Summary -rationale for the project
The Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD) is responsible for collecting tax dollars and distributing them according to state law. The mission of TRD is to administer and enforce, with fairness warranting the public’s confidence, New Mexico’s taxation and revenue laws through a system that efficiently and securely delivers quality customer services. To do this effectively, it is essential for the Department to upgrade the current version on GenTax, the tax system of record for the state of New Mexico.
GenTax is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product provided by Fast Enterprises, LLC that delivers state-of-the-art integrated tax processing. GenTax is currently in production processing revenue for 28 of the tax programs administered by TRD, and processes approximately $5.5 to $6.5 billion in annual revenues (depending on the state of the economy). The value ofGenTax cannot be measured solely by the amount of revenue collected and distributed; it provides the accounting basis for TRD financial statements, manages the revenue stream from taxpayer to beneficiary, and holds historical information.
New Mexico was one of the first states to implement GenTax. Since the initial implementationof two tax programs, personal and corporate income tax, in 2002,GenTax has grown to support 28 different tax programs. Some modules in the current version are obsolete, no longer supported, and are cumbersome to use and maintain.The system is over 5 years behind on the technology curve. TheGenTax upgrade to version 9 provides the improved ability to keep up with the ever growing world of cybercrime, security, and fraud; areas in which technology has significantly evolved over the past 5 years.This project will allow TRD to bring these important modules of our tax processing system to the most current versions available which will provide enhanced functionality to users while removing many of the tedious manual processes and interventions required by developers. Both users and developers will see an increase in effectiveness and efficiency with the upgraded module functionality
This initiative aligns with the Governor’s Priorities
TRD strategic plan, the Governor’s Moving New Mexico Forward initiatives, and best practices for information technology.This project meets the requirements for strategic alignment with the New Mexico Information Technology Strategic Plan FY11 – FY13.
1.2 Summary of the foundation planning and documentation for the project.
1.3 Project Certification Requirements
Does the project fit into the criteria for certification? Which and how?
CRITERIA / YES/NO / EXPLANATIONProject is mission critical to the agency / Yes
Project cost is equal to or in excess of $100,000.00 / Yes
Project impacts customer on-line access / TBD
Project is one deemed appropriate by the Secretary of the DoIT / Yes
Will an IT Architecture Review be required? / No / This is an upgrade to a proprietary COTS system based upon Microsoft’s .NET architecture that is currently installed at TRD
2.0 Justification, Objectives and impacts
The justification and objectives section relates the project to the purpose of the lead agency and describes the high level business and technical objectives for the project. The section also includes a high level review of the impact to the organization, and of the concerns for transition to operations.
2.1 Agency Justification
IDENTIFY AGENCY MISSION, PERFORMANCE MEASURE OR STRATEGIC GOALS TO BE ADDRESSED THROUGH THIS PROJECT
Number / DescriptionAgency
A 1.0
A 2.0
A 3.0 / Strategic Plan GoalS that the GenTax Upgrade project fulfills:
Provide professional and effective service that meets the needs of all customers.
Deliver high-quality information technology services that are reliable, accessible, secure, and meet all internal and external needs.
To keep the agency systems technologically current to make processing, maintenance and upgrades cost effective and efficient.
2.2 Business Objectives
Use the following table to list measurable business objectives
Number / DescriptionBusiness Objective 1 / Upgrade all the modules of our tax processing system to the most current versions available to mitigate the risk the risk of catastrophic failure by ensuring continued system platform architectural support from the vendor of the application software (Fast Enterprises) and the technology software (Microsoft) upon which the GenTaxplatform is built.
Business
Objective 2 / Implementation of the GenTax integrated data warehouse module (Discovery). This module which is an integral part of GenTax will greatly enhance TRD’s ability to increase audits, collections, non-filer recoveries, real-time fraud prevention, and return validation. This will generate additional annual revenues above and beyond our current capabilities with our current data warehouse product. Examples of revenue gains in other states:
- Alabama Audit and Compliance Division – without Discovery in FY 2008 - $10 million, with Discovery in 2010 - $17.7 million
- Illinois Audit and Compliance Collections - $44 million collected using leads generated by Discovery.
- California Employment Development Department (unemployment compensation) Collection increase in 2010 of $29 million in new revenue in FY 2010 using Discovery.
- Utah Personal Income Tax – additional $1.9 million in revenue generated from one CP2000 tape match that auto generated 3,600 assessment letters from Discovery.
Increase in Discovery Collections over 2011
Increase in Non-Filer Collections over 2011
Business
objective 3 / The Treasury Offset Program (TOP) is a debt collection program administered by the Financial Management Services (FMS), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. This program allows state agencies to submit past-due, legally enforceable state income tax obligations to FMS for offset of the debtor’s individual federal income tax refund. In effect, Federal refunds can be paid to NM to offset state income tax liability.
The current TRD version of GenTax refunds in New Mexico does not contain the functionality to enable to state to join the SITLIP program (reverse TOP). The IRS has threatened to stop the TOP program if TRD cannot implement SITLIP to intercept state refunds for IRS debt.
Implementation of a new TOP module in GenTax will include the following benefits:
- Significant new revenues annually through more efficient processing and an upgraded Taxpayer Offset Program module.
- This automation will improve productivity and data accuracy by reducing manual data entry, which will allow employees to spend time on other essential duties to ensure compliance with the tax laws
- Allow for the inclusion of all taxpayers eligible for federal offsets, including spouses, ex-spouses, and those using ITIN’s
- Spend less time on manual interventions to correct errors
- Ensure that all taxpayers eligible for offset of federal refunds for state debt are included in the file sent to the US Treasury Department.
- Improved reporting efficiency and accuracy pertaining to offsets and refunds
- Improved collection operations and collection efforts leading to increased revenues
- Reduced human error related to reporting
- Improved customer service
business
objective 4 / Implementation of a Business Credit Manager module will help the state determine and manage the effectiveness of business credits.
The NM Legislature has recently been looking at ever more complicated business credits that are more narrowly defined and specialized. These are more difficult to administer, and a Business Credit module within GenTax will help in this regard. TRD anticipates that the number and complexity of business credits will continue to grow and make this an even larger problem in the future.
TRD administers multiple tax programs which includes in many cases business credits that allow taxpayers to reduce their tax liability through the qualifications required in legislation that created the business credit. New Mexico now offers twenty-plus business related tax credits to corporations and individuals who meet stated requirements. Credits currently apply to the Combined Reporting System (CRS – gross receipts, compensating and withholding taxes), Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Personal Income Tax (PIT), Fiduciary Income Tax (FID), Enhanced 911 Services Surcharge, and Telecommunications Relay Services Surcharge. Each of these business-related tax credits requires a specific set of forms for both the application and the claim. When an application is submitted, it is entered and tracked in a mostly manual fashion by employees that work for the Revenue Processing Division using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Although some business tax credit processing is currently done in GenTax, it is very limited. TRD has the responsibility to distribute receipts to multiple stakeholders. Business tax credits for CRS are now tracked in GenTax at a summary level but TRD cannot determine the specific business tax credit to offset or reduce. The Business Credit module will provide the Department additional tools for supplying accurate and consistent customer service while increasing the use of the GenTax system.
business
objective 5 / Upgrading to the current Refunds module will greatly enhance revenues due to a significant reduction of fraudulent refunds – due to better fraud detection through the upgraded Refunds module and data exchange functionality.
- The new Refund Module will add “Refund Request Date” to the GenTax Refund Module. TRD staff will use this field to specify the date a refund is “requested”. Interest on the refund will be calculated using this date. This will allow TRD to “back date” a refund, when appropriate and when approved. The GenTax Refund Module will calculate and display a “Potential Refund Interest” field, allowing TRD to know and approve the refund amount and interest before processing the refund.
- There will be a new “Refund Interest”window that will detail how the interest was calculated, e.g., by principle, by interest rate and by period.
- The new Refund Module is cleaner, better organized and presents all pertinent information in one screen. It clearly shows the approval stage the refund is currently in as well as the associated history, actions that have been taken, when the action was taken and by whom. It also notes any additional actions that need to be completed before the refund can be issued.
- Refunds will be assigned to a specific owner (TRD staff) with a specific Work Date, making it possible to track the status and process of all refunds. Refunds that are awaiting review and/or approval can be assigned a revised Work Date thus allowing TRD staff to focus on approved refunds while still scheduling other refunds for review at a future date. This minimizes the risk of anything “falling through the crack.”
- Refunds can be batched together as a group, allowing TRD to track refunds by date, refund type, and how they were issued.
- Refunds returned by the Post Office due to an address change can be automatically resent.
- A refund status change will automatically trigger a review of the refund.
- The revised Refund Module will automatically check for “joint account” with a debit status.
- An alternate name/address may be specified. This will allow the payment to be made to a bankruptcy trustee rather than a taxpayer.
- Two new fields will be added to the Refund Module: Refund Released Date and Refund Batch Release Date. This will allow TRD employees to set/reset the date a refund is to be issued, or the date a group of refunds is to be issued.
- The new Refund Module will display a “Transfer Control” screen, detailing which portions of a refund have been transferred to other accounts or intercepted, where and when they were sent.
- The new Refund module will contain improved fraud detection code. The fraud detection (Data Exchange, etc.) is now part of the core GenTax refund module. Each State has different and unique ways of catching fraudulent or erroneous returns. The processes range from using data warehouses for stopping returns automatically to each refund being reviewed and analyzed individually. NM currently uses a process where a refund moves through GenTax one stage at a time each night during batch processing. This requires the fraud group to catch any suspicious filers in a single day - before it moves on to the next stage during the nightly batch process. The new core Refunds module can use built-in criteria like "move to the new stage after three days" which would allow the fraud personnel additional time to review returns for potential fraud before releasing to be refunded.
2.3 Technical Objectives
Number / DescriptionTechnical Objective 1 / To upgrade the GenTax application and system platform to currently supported .NET and MS Sql Server applications and systems architectures
2.4 Impact on Organization
The impacts on the organization are areas that need to be addressed by the project through its planning process. They may not be internal project risks, but they can impact the success of the project’s implementation.