Report 2017-102 Recommendation 6 Responses
Report 2017-102: California Community Colleges: The Colleges Reviewed Are Not Adequately Monitoring Services for Technology Accessibility, and Districts and Colleges Should Formalize Procedures for Upgrading Technology (Release Date: December 2017)
Recommendation #6 To: Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
To assist all community college districts and colleges in ensuring that they have consistent, transparent, and continuous implementation of their processes for upgrading and replacing IT equipment, by September 2018, the Chancellor's Office should issue guidance to the districts and community colleges on establishing written procedures for those processes.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From December 2018
The Chancellor's Office constituted an Accessibility Standard Working Group (ASWG) comprised of representative stakeholders from across the system and charged with developing standards, developing resources, and providing guidance for the CCC system.
In response to the request for Chancellor's Office guidance to be issued to the districts and community colleges, the Chancellor's Office requested the ASWG to develop guidance policies for an Information and Communication Technology and Instructional Material Accessibility Standard. This standard provides recommendations. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) encompasses electronic and information technology as well as telecommunications products. ICT products include computers, information kiosks, telecommunications equipment, multifunction office machines, software, websites, and electronic documents. The standard serves as the Chancellor's Office guidance to the districts. As of November 2018, the standard includes implementation guidance stating "The CCCCO recommends that districts establish written procedures for the compliance process."
The Chancellor's Office expects all California Community Colleges to comply with state and federal law and the ASWG provides a framework and reference as a guide to compliance.
- Completion Date: November 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented
Based on our follow-up request, the Chancellor's Office provided documentation showing that the guidance described in its response was distributed electronically to the community college system in January 2019.
1-Year Agency Response
The Board of Governors for the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office allocates state funding and provides leadership and technical assistance to the 73 districts in the system. The districts, in turn, provide leadership to the 115 colleges and are responsible for establishing policies and procedures for the upgrading and replacing of IT equipment.
The Chancellor's Office constituted an Accessibility Standard Working Group (ASWG) comprised of representative stakeholders from across the system and charged with developing standards, developing resources, and providing guidance for the CCC system.
In response to the request for Chancellor's Office guidance to be issued to the districts and community colleges, the Chancellor's Office requested the ASWG to develop guidance policies for an Information and Communication Technology and Instructional Material Accessibility Standard. This standard provides recommendations. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) encompasses electronic and information technology as well as telecommunications products. ICT products include computers, information kiosks, telecommunications equipment, multifunction office machines, software, websites, and electronic documents. The standard serves as the Chancellor's Office guidance to the districts.
The Chancellor's Office expects all California Community Colleges to comply with state and federal law and the ASWG provides a framework and reference as a guide to compliance.
- Completion Date: September 2018
- Response Date: September 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending
Our review of the standards provided by the Chancellor's Office did not identify guidance to the districts for establishing written procedures, as we recommended. When we followed up on our concern, the Chancellor's Office indicated it would address this point in its one-year response.
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor's Office is developing guidance to the districts and community colleges on establishing written procedures for those processes.
- Estimated Completion Date: September 2018
- Response Date: June 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
60-Day Agency Response
A proposal is under development to bring before the Board of Governors to adopt the following STANDARDS, EVALUATION CRITERIA, and BEST PRACTICES from the Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Committee (TTAC) and Systemwide Architecture Committee (SAC). These include the following:
- Evaluation Criteria
o Feasibility Study
o Suitability for systemwide deployment
o Life cycle plan for components
o Goals versus functionality
o Adherence to published standards
o Exposure to risk
o Outsourcing
o Funding and resource support
- Standards
o A technology feasibility study must be conducted before significant project funds are committed.
o Data transfer
o System (Application, Hardware, Network Operating Systems, etc.)
o End user compatibility
o Databases and DBMS
o Query and Report Writing Tools
o Security
o System configuration and operating procedures
o Vendor provided systems and components
o Deviations
- Best Practices
o Components should be chosen which have a significant market share within industry and / or the community college system.
o Components should be available and supportable in the Community College System
o Components should be chosen in which the vendor has implemented an active product improvement program
o Project managers should solicit broad based input
o Components should be chosen that are not at the end of their natural life cycle
- Recommended Tools
o Databases
o Server Operating Systems
o Web Servers
o Report Writers / environments
o Programming Languages
o Programming Environments
o Web Development Tools
o Middleware
o Office Applications
o ADA Evaluations
- Estimated Completion Date: September 2018
- Response Date: February 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
All Recommendations in 2017-102
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.