Executive Summary
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension fund in the United States, embarked on a transformative initiative to modernize its data management and analytics capabilities. CalPERS uses a custom-built software application named myCalPERS to manage pension benefits and health plan coverage for 2.4 million retirement plan members and 1.5 million health plan subscribers and dependents. The myCalPERS Reports Optimization Project was designed to address the critical need for timely, accurate, and actionable information across the organization and its external business partners. By replacing the legacy myCalPERS reporting platform with the new myCalPERS Reports platform and by migrating key business intelligence reports to Microsoft’s Power BI service and transactional reports to a tightly coupled, in-house designed & developed reporting platform, CalPERS has empowered its stakeholders with advanced data visualizations and robust analytics. This modernization effort aligns with CalPERS’ commitment to organizational excellence, improving processes and advancing technologies to drive efficiency and effectiveness.
The project’s scope was ambitious, focusing on report rationalization. The beginning report inventory was approximately 600 reports. A thorough review of the report inventory resulted in the decommissioning of 100 reports and the migration of the remaining 500 reports. Internal users and external partners now benefit from streamlined access to pension and health plan information, enabling faster, data-driven business operations. The new reporting platforms not only enhance user experience but also deliver measurable operational improvements, including reduced report processing times, increased scalability, and reduced IT maintenance and operations commitments. Through targeted communications, stakeholder engagement, training sessions, and user-friendly guides, CalPERS ensured broad awareness and adoption of the new tools, fostering a culture of agile analytics and continuous improvement.
Collaboration was central to the project’s success. The CalPERS Pension & Health System Reporting Team worked closely with business units, governance committees, and support teams to ensure the solution met the diverse needs of CalPERS’ vast constituent base. Stakeholder feedback was actively sought during user acceptance testing, resulting in the identification and resolution of issues prior to launch. The project’s technical architecture, featuring a dedicated reporting database and integration with Power BI, was carefully designed to prioritize reliability, data freshness, and scalability.
Ultimately, the myCalPERS Reports Optimization Project has transformed the organization’s approach to data analytics and reporting. While the technology enhancements are not visible to CalPERS members and partners, they now benefit from a modern, scalable reporting platform that supports timely access to information, agile data analytics, and operational efficiency.
