July 1, 2021: OIT has transitioned Common Policy Services to Real-time Billing!

Based on independent analysis by several third-party vendors over the past 5 years, as well as direct feedback from departments, the State Legislature, and other stakeholders, OIT transitioned to Real-time Billing for Common Policy services beginning in FY 2021-22. This transition improves customer experience with OIT by:

• Simplifying OIT billing

• Eliminating the 2+ year lag time required by the Common Policy True Up

• Developing set rates each budget cycle that remain fixed for the year, enabling better planning by agencies and technical staff; and increasing agency cost control and ownership over IT costs that support agency programs

Project History

May 2019 - February 2020

Throughout 2019 and early 2020, OIT collaborated with stakeholders to review the initial Real-time Billing concept, identify barriers, brainstorm solutions, and work towards improved reporting as part of the anticipated transition to Real-time Billing for Common Policy services. OIT began piloting new tools in Spring of 2019 that would be needed to support the additional data processing and customer reporting needs associated with a transition to Real-time Billing. OIT worked with the Statewide IT Steering Committee for guidance on how to engage relevant stakeholders, and this led to work with the IT Customer User Group that solicited volunteers across state agencies to participate in a dedicated working group for this initiative. Agency and OIT staff joined this working group and brought different areas of finance and technical expertise. A testing group was put together to begin reviewing the first shadow bills generated by OIT in November. Reports continue to be refined based on customer feedback.

March 2020 - IT Steering Committee Decision Point

The Statewide IT Steering Committee and Governor's Office made the recommendation to perform a full year of shadow billing and service utilization review throughout the FY 2020-21 fiscal year. They recommended moving forward with budget preparation for FY 2021-22 based on this new Real-time Billing and rate setting methodology, with the expectation to go live with Real-time Billing beginning July 1, 2021.

April 2020 - Customer Roadshows

OIT held roadshows at each agency to formally kick off the Real-time Billing transition process. These sessions provided an overview of the entire initiative, demonstrated the new reporting and billing process, and highlighted key areas of customer impact as we moved through FY 2021-22 budget planning and FY 2020-21 shadow bill review. All relevant budget, accounting, and technical staff at each agency were encouraged to attend.

May through July 2020 - Rate Study

OIT partnered with Gartner to review existing service rates and the entire service catalog. This provided an initial benchmark for understanding how OIT compares to market rates and service offerings, and provided guidance for future service improvement.

May through August 2020 - Real-time Billing process for FY22 Budget Development

Departments collaborated with IT Directors, internal technical staff, budget/accounting staff, and others to develop a forecast of IT use for each service code. This utilization data informed the rate setting process, as OIT developed cost estimates for services based on recent cost data and utilization analysis to develop the true cost for providing each service.

OIT Budget met with departments in July to finalize utilization forecasts and the resulting budget projections based on the base rates.

The FY22 Common Policy Payments to OIT Budgets were submitted to the Office of State Planning and Budgeting and were included in the full Executive branch budget request to the Legislature.

Throughout FY 2020-21

Each agency reviewed shadow bills and the utilization dashboards on a monthly basis. The entire fiscal year 2020-21 was "shadow bill" year, since the old Common Policy billing methodology was still in place, but departments reviewed the Real-time Billing dashboards and utilization data, disputed items as needed, and work through questions or process challenges in order to prepare for go-live the following year.

Throughout FY 2020-21

The Legislature reviewed OIT Common Policy base rates, as well as impacts from approved decision items, special bills, and other legislative action related to salary/benefit changes. The resulting rates were approved and Real-time Billing for Common Policy services begins July 1, 2021. The approved rates and each department's consumption of services is the basis for Common Policy billing each month moving forward.