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 May 2025
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We’re pleased to introduce John Heinlein, Assistant Project Director for the CARS Project. With over two and a half years dedicated to this initiative, John plays a critical role actively managing the project and its project management team. His job requires robust monitoring of project progress, continuous outreach to stakeholders, and the daily triaging of questions that arise. John's primary role is to ensure the Project Management team continuously provides these services to ensure the project remains on a path to success.
John brings 25 years of information technology experience to the project, having previously worked for the CA Department of Technology, the Health & Human Services Agency's Office of Systems Integration, the Interim Statewide Automated Welfare System (ISAWS) Project, and the CalWIN Project. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona and a master’s degree from San Francisco State University.
Outside of work he enjoys movies, music, and ancient history, occasionally yearning for a more active lifestyle. He believes that successful information technology projects are a result of robust planning.
“It’s not the plan that’s important, it’s the planning.” – Dr. Gramme Edwards
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CARS Monthly External Stakeholder Meetings – The purpose of this series of meetings on the second Wednesday of each month is to keep stakeholders informed about the CARS Project and answer any questions. The next meeting is on May 14, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and will include a functionality preview.
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Data Conversion – The Prime Vendor and CARS Project Teams continue to collaborate on the definition and alignment of data mapping between the legacy system and the new CAL-ACCESS system, working through specific data domains and tables. At the end of the current sprint, more than 100 tables are identified for conversion to CAL-ACCESS. Within these tables, the team is validating and mapping over 1,000 fields.
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Campaign Registration and Lobbying Disclosure functionality for Program Increment I – This Program Increment is the largest of the four planned PIs, developing approximately 2,600 detailed requirements and business rules. The Project has five integrated teams making great progress on core functionality. Here are the five teams:
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Team 1 – Campaign: Registrations and Disclosures for Candidates, Slate Mailer Organizations, Recipient Committees, Major Donors, Independent Expenditures, and Filers of selected forms: State Candidate Issue Advocacy (E-530), LLC Member Statement (409), and Business Entity Online Activity (507).
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Team 2 – Lobbying: Registration and Disclosures for Lobbyists, Lobbying Firms, Lobbyist Employers/Coalitions, and $5,000 Filers.
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Team 3 – Application Programming Interface (working with Third Party Software Vendors)
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Team 4 – User Account Management and Common Services
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Team 5 – Data Conversion and Migration
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Future Program Increments – Additional scrum teams will be formed to work on other functionality such as Financial Transactions and Correspondence.
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Third Party Software Vendors – A number of vendors have joined Team 3 in design sessions to review the user interface and data validation rules. Three vendors have volunteered to help with a proof of concept by testing end-to-end processing of data.
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Testing – System testing has begun for Program Increment I. User Acceptance Testing is scheduled to start late summer for Program Increment IA.
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Training – Development of training courses and materials is in progress.
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The future is paperless – Because the new CAL-ACCESS system is a completely online solution, paper filings will soon be a thing of the past. The public can access the system to view publicly available information. Filers must register to submit e-filings.
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SharePoint Site: To continue engaging our external stakeholders during application design, development, and testing, the CARS Project team launched a SharePoint site for you. On this site you can review and comment on project documentation. We encourage you to review the materials, provide your valuable feedback, and remain actively engaged with the CARS Project.
SharePoint Access & Feedback: If you have not yet received access to the SharePoint site, please complete the following steps:
- Send an email to PRDCARS@sos.ca.govwith your name and email address.
- A guest account will be created using the email address you provide. This may take up to 48 hours for SOS to process.
- When the account is created, a link to the CARS Stakeholder Repository SharePoint site will be emailed from carsstakeholders@sos.ca.govto the email address you provided.
- Access to the SharePoint site requires user authentication in one of two ways:
- Once your login is authenticated, the site displays folders with any files available to review. Email your feedback to: PRDCARS@sos.ca.gov.
External Stakeholders Hybrid Agile Training: A recording is available on YouTube.
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Will separate user login credentials be required for each Filing Entity?
No, each user who registers in the new CAL-ACCESS system will be granted a single, individual account and credentials. The Registered User account can then be linked to multiple filing entities.
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What would you like to see included in the next CARS Stakeholder Bulletin issue? Email PRDCARS@SOS.CA.GOV to provide your ideas and feedback.
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The CARS Project Monthly External Stakeholder Meeting Series (MS Teams), PowerPoint Presentations, Q&As, FAQs and additional project information may be found on the CARS Homepage.
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