field guide workforce development technology

Introduction

What Kinds of Technologies & Tools Would Increase Your Workforce Development Impact?

Evolving technologies have the potential to help solve growing workforce challenges like the rise of automation, crushing student debt, low wages, and growing skills gaps. But workforce training systems are only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to preparing for the future of work.

Technology can be useful in all aspects of a workforce development initiative, especially when it comes to collecting data for, measuring, evaluating, and communicating a partnership or organization’s impact.

Inspired by Jobs for the Future, this guide provides an overview of some of the issues and opportunities surrounding technology & workforce development partnerships, particularly as they relate to data collection and evaluation.

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The Inspiration: Jobs for the Future

Jobs for the Future (JFF) is an organization that focuses on transforming the American workforce to achieve more equitable outcomes. JFF recently released their Field Guide for Workforce Technology Solutions – Strategies and Approaches for Building Tech-Enabled Training Partnerships. The guide presents critical lessons learned through the initial phases of the Future of Work Grand Challenge, launched in June 2020. This challenge is designed to accelerate the development and implementation of education and training solutions (particularly technologies) to growing workforce challenges like the rise of automation, crushing student debt, low wages, and growing skills gaps). Through the $12 Million Challenge, JFF, MIT Solve, and XPRIZE hope to fund the most promising ideas and solutions aimed at:

  1. Rapidly reskilling 25,000 displaced workers into living-wage jobs.
  2. Supplying workforce boards with vetted technologies to support these displaced workers.
  3. Stimulating systemic changes to help 12 million Americans living in underserved communities achieve workforce success by 2025.

Challenge winners are scheduled to be announced in January 2023.

Key Insights from the Field Guide for Workforce Technology Solutions

workforce field guide compass

In their Field Guide, JFF distills insights and lessons from the Future of Work Grand Challenge into three main categories. We’ve summarized some of the key insights from each category below:

Engaging in the Necessary Planning and Preparation Required to Launch a Technology-Enabled Partnership or Project.

Needs Assessments

  • Before engaging in a project, engage in a community needs assessment that focuses on determining what it would take to advance economic success equitably.
  • Analyze the potential impact and/or benefits of possible solutions on clients your organization serves
  • Assess your organization’s capacity to engage in high-impact solutions and identify gaps
  • Prioritize the identified community needs in your assessments to prioritize the three most important and urgent needs.
  • Develop and expand on your short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals based on your assessments and prioritization

Assess Whether a Technology Solution is Right for Your Organization

  • Consider any potential technology solution within the context of your, your partners’, and your community’s unique needs, capacity, and challenges
  • Consider what training, technical assistance, and leadership will be necessary to ensure effective use of the technology
  • Ensure that technology tools and programs align with the unique needs and challenges of job seekers and other stakeholders in your specific regional economy

Assembling an Internal Team and Dividing Responsibilities

  • There are five essential types of internal roles you must fulfill, each with its responsibilities, to effectively implement a future-oriented education and workforce program
  • Given the limited capacity of workforce boards and American Job Centers, all partners in a project should work together to identify organizational strengths and gaps to determine how you can collaborate and leverage each other’s assets
  • There are six basic types of partnership-wide roles. Partners should determine which organization(s) is responsible for each based on an assessment of organizational strengths and gaps.
  • Consider working with non-traditional partners to leverage existing revenue streams and new capital sources

Engaging Effectively with Partners, Stakeholders, and the Public

Connecting With Learners

  • Each mode of learning (virtual vs. in-person instruction) has pros and cons regarding accessibility, efficiency, effectiveness, and engagement.
  • Before offering a new training program, consider how trainers will interact with learners and how learners will interact with each other.
  • Designating one individual as a primary point of contact for learners can build familiarity and trust and increase program evaluation.

Engaging with Employers

  • To understand the current hiring needs, urgent job vacancies, and in-demand skills needed to shape your training, outreach, and job placement activities, you should engage local employers in planning as soon as possible
  •  Be sure to proactively address employers’ concerns about emergent or non-traditional training technologies

Engaging Non-Traditional Partners

  • Pursuing non-traditional partners can help you reach new segments of job seekers, create and access innovative solutions, increase your understanding of the existing job landscape, and develop new sources of capital and investments
  • Consider partners outside of the usual education and workforce development sectors or partners outside of your local service area

Assessing Whether a Technology Partner Is the Right Fit for Your Community

  • Ideally, all partners should share a common purpose and values, especially in the area of community engagement.
  • Consider whether a potential technology provider’s solution is customized to the unique needs of your community.

Evaluating the Success of Your Project/ Partnership

Measuring and Validating Impact

  • Partners should discuss and agree to an impact measurement framework/methodology, processes, and data collection tools early in the planning phases to ensure alignment and make aggregated impact measurement possible.
  • In early discussions, ensure there is alignment on data definitions, desired impacts, data policies, sources, and processes.
  • Partner performance metrics should be based on the desired outcomes shared by the partnership.
  • Partner data teams should work together to determine what data they currently have and what information they will need to find or collect to tell their impact story.
  • Make sure you write data requirements into contracts with all parties and have data-sharing agreements that outline how and where data flows.
  • Don’t ask partners to report on data alone without providing the context (qualitative stories that explain why the data looks the way it does).
  • Always ensure consistency in the data collection methodologies to ensure accurate outcomes data and enable the aggregation of partner data.

Tools for Measuring and Validating Impact in a Workforce Development Partnership

workforce development performance systemsAs JFF supports in their Field Guide for Workforce Technology Solutions, workforce development partnerships need to establish common and standard approaches to impact measurement and validation from the beginning. To ensure alignment, we suggest that workforce development partnerships standardize the following components, at a minimum, before launching any collective strategy:

  1. The impact measurement framework or methodology
  2. The performance measurement framework or methodology
  3. A common purpose consisting of
    1. The desired high-level outcomes/results of the partnership
    2. Measures that quantify the achievement the high-level outcomes/results
  4. Common performance measures for like programs
  5. Unified data collection technology solutions
  6. Unified impact measurement technology solutions

Selecting a Shared Impact Framework: Results-Based Accountability 

Results-Based Accountability (RBA) is a framework for social change that can help workforce development partnerships and workforce boards collectively create measurable impact for job seekers, employers, and communities. The RBA framework can help partners standardize the first four components discussed above to help set them up for success when used across a partnership.

RBA can help workforce development partnerships create alignment through a common purpose by providing a process to develop shared Results (the desired end conditions of well-being they want for a target population) and Indicators (measures that help quantify the achievement of a Result). Next, RBA provides a process and guidelines to help individual partners develop the appropriate programs to advance the common purpose collectively. Partners can then measure the effectiveness of their programs by developing effective Performance Measures. RBA can expedite this process because it distills all Performance Measures into three easy-to-understand categories. RBA also helps partners focus on selecting the most important types of Performance Measures — those that answer whether anyone is better off due to a workforce development program or service.

One of the best parts about RBA is its simple, common-sense approach to improving both Indicators and Performance Measures, called “Turn the Curve Thinking.” Once a workforce development partnership identifies the most effective measures to strengthen, Turn the Curve Thinking provides a process to get from talk to action and improve measures.

If you’re interested in learning more about Results-Based Accountability, you can learn more in our RBA Resource Library.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Results-Based Accountability Guide as a potential impact framework for your workforce development partnership or organization, feel free to download our free RBA Guide.
The RBA Guide includes a brief overview of the framework’s most important ideas. You can also use the RBA Guide to lead or facilitate a group in using the framework to improve decision-making.
Download this free e-book to learn how to:

  • Start with ends and work backward towards means
  • Get from talking to action quickly
  • Follow a simple, common-sense process
  • Build collaboration and consensus
  • Use data and transparency to ensure accountability
  • Support the entire RBA framework using Clear Impact Scorecard

Technology Solutions for Data Collection and Impact Measurement

A tech-enabled workforce development partnership will likely utilize several types of software systems to manage the implementation of a strategy. Specifically, when it comes to managing data for a collective workforce development strategy, there are two main types of systems we recommend standardizing or “unifying:”

  1. Data collection systems
  2. Performance measurement/ accountability systems

When thinking about these two types of systems, you can visualize the performance measurement/ accountability system as the “big picture” software that you share with your community and the data collection system as a “close-up” of one section of the data picture where you can see confidential program participant data. You can also think of the data collection tool as the origin of the data sets that you’ll enter into your performance management/ accountability system. The latter is where you’ll analyze and turn de-identified, aggregate data into actions and strategies to improve your organization’s service delivery and work with partners to improve community well-being.

Here’s a more in-depth exploration of the two types of data management systems:

A data collection system allows organizations to capture client-level data about the individuals, families, and partner organizations. They are designed to capture identifying information of program participants, donors, partners, or any other group of individuals the organization wishes to engage. While in its own category, data collection software may also allow an organization to engage in case management. The best data collection systems enable organizations to engage in custom form creation (surveys, questionnaires, assessments, etc.) and data analysis.
For example, Clear Impact Compyle is a data collection system that allows workforce development organizations to :

  • Collect data from external users, such as program participants, and internal users, like staff and volunteers.
  • Analyze collected data at the individual level and in aggregate formats.
  • Create custom surveys and track responses over time to measure changes in attitudes, skills, behaviors, and/or circumstances.

A performance measurement/ accountability system is a software system designed to help turn workforce development program data (collected via a data collection system) into tangible results. The best performance measurement and accountability systems allow for easy data input, tracking trends over time, and improving collaboration between partners and involved parties. These systems should also allow the user to present data sets in multiple visual formats with accompanying contextual narratives. Finally, this system is better suited for high-level performance and impact data sharing with the public.
For example, Clear Impact Scorecard is a performance and impact measurement system that workforce development partnerships can use to:

  • Track the efficiency of programs over time.
  • Strategy visualization to get your team on the same page for future and current projects.
  • Project management includes assigning actions and due dates and monitoring your staff’s progress.
workforce development performance accountability software

Set Up Your Performance Measurement and Accountability System

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The Importance of Data Management System Unification

A unified data system means all (or most) partners utilize the same cloud-based software systems.

Why does everyone need a unified data system? Unifying data systems will allow workforce development partnerships to standardize and centralize data and, in turn, improve budgeting and decision-making. First, you’ll never know the latest version of your data if it’s in more than one place. Second, it’s too challenging to build capacity across a system of partners if you don’t have a standard way of doing your reporting. Finally, it’s impossible to make sense of performance data from different partners if they’re all reporting differently.

The best Unified Data Management Systems will offer consistency, presentation, and ease of use. Ease of use is paramount; you don’t want people to hate the system, or they’ll do everything to avoid using it, and your progress will stall.

Determining Whether a Technology is the Right Fit for Your Workforce Development Partnership or Organization

In the Field Guide for Workforce Technology Solutions, JFF provides a list of questions that you should consider when determining whether a technology is a good fit for your organization and/or workforce development partnership. These questions were developed specifically with education and training technologies in mind, but they also work well for evaluating data management systems, like those discussed above.

Questions to Evaluate Potential Technology Solutions

JFF recommends asking the following questions when considering a particular solution:

  1. “What need is this technology solving? How will it make your existing programs or systems more efficient or effective? Will it replace or integrate with existing systems? How does it fill gaps in capacity?”
  2. “How has this technology been tested and vetted in the past, and what data exists to support claims?”
  3. “What data will the technology’s maker be collecting on learners and their educational progress? Will learners’ information be protected? If so, how? How will the data be collected? Will you be able to link this data to your own data systems? And if so, will it fill existing gaps? What agreements are needed regarding the sharing of learners’ data?”
  4. “How will learners access the technology? What hardware or software will you—and they—need? Is there a cost that will be passed on to the learner?”
  5. “How will learners be supported when using the technology? Who is responsible for technical support?”

You can learn more about these questions and answers related to Clear Impact Scorecard as a potential performance management technology in our blog Is Clear Impact Scorecard a Viable Technology Solution for Workforce Development Partnerships?

Questions to Evaluate a Performance Management/ Accountability System

At Clear Impact, we recommend asking yourself the following questions, especially when engaging potential performance management/ accountability system vendors.
Does the system allow you to:

  1. Clearly distinguish between your common purpose and partner performance?
  2. Provide qualitative context with every measure?
  3. Easily share your data publicly with the click of a button, a link, or a code to put on your website?
  4. View data trends over time periods that make sense for you (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, etc.)?
  5. Analyze your data in graphs and quickly spot areas of improvement using color bands, trendlines, forecasts, or baseline percentage changes?
  6. Disaggregate your data by chosen subpopulations to promote equity?
  7. Quickly set it up with minimal training?
  8. Does the vendor offer advanced training and support packages at an affordable price for free training within the system?
  9. Customize the language you want to use?
  10. Customize some aspects of the system, including the name of different measures, so that you don’t have to force people to learn a whole new language to understand the system?
  11. Be Section 508 compliant?
  12. Offer a clean way of looking at data and “click in” for more information if you want it?
  13. Export your reports and graphs in images or PDF formats that don’t look terrible?
  14. Have multiple people using the system with customizable permissions?
  15. Automatically collect data from your partners and aggregate it into measures for similar programs?

If you’re interested in learning more about Clear Impact Scorecard as a potential solution to your performance management/ accountability needs, you can learn more at ClearImpact.com/Scorecard. You can also ask us these questions in a free customized demo.

Questions to Evaluate a Data Collection System

All organizations delivering direct service programs need a data collection system. Sound systems will allow you to easily collect client-level data that records how many people are served, how well those services are delivered, and whether anyone is better off. They should also help you manage individual client cases.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you select the best system:

  1. How complex is the system? (How many features does the system offer? Are all of these features necessary? Are they designed to meet your needs? Will the system increase or reduce the overall complexity of your data collection efforts?)
  2. How easy is it to use the system? (How long does it take to learn how to use the system? Will you need training? Is the system easy to use or difficult to use?)
  3. What does the survey/ data collection functionality include? (Does the system allow you to collect client-level data and results through surveys? Does the system allow you to build custom surveys, or do you have to use a separate system and enter data manually after the fact?)
  4. What type of results data tracking functionality is offered? (Does the system automatically aggregate individual-level data to help you evaluate program-level results?)
  5. What type of communication features are offered? (Does the system offer a way to communicate with clients and share results?)
  6. What type of security and access management features are offered? (Is the system secure?)
  7. What is the price? (What is the value for the cost of the system?)

You can read more about these questions in our blog, “7 Questions to Ask When Selecting a Case Management System.”

Next Steps – Setting Up Your Workforce Partnership Data Collection and Management Systems

No matter what strategies, programs, or training technologies your workforce development partnership ultimately deploys, you’re going to need a simple way to collect and manage your program and impact data without adding an unnecessary burden on your staff, partners, and stakeholders.

Setting up unified data collection and performance management software systems, designed specifically for the social and public sectors, is one of the most important steps you can take no matter where you are in your journey. When it comes to managing complex and collaborative strategies, there are just too many things you can’t do when managing your data manually or in programs like Excel.

Why is using data management software better than manual data management? Here are just a few of the many reasons software will be your best friend:

  • Automates repetitive and time-killing tasks, leaving more time for impactful action
  • Easier to update
  • Reduces error
  • Allows users to access systems remotely wherever they have an internet connection
  • Simplifies data visualization and analysis
  • Offers enhanced security
  • Easier to turn data into actionable insights
  • Requires less training and capacity-building upfront
  • Easier to share data and progress with stakeholders and the public.

Learn About Clear Impact Technology Solutions for Workforce Development

At Clear Impact, we’ve made it our mission to provide the best workforce development data collection and performance management software on the market.
Our integrated Suite of data collection (Compyle) and performance management software (Scorecard) can be used together or separately to help workforce development partnerships streamline their data collection and reporting so that they can deliver effective programming that creates measurable impact for their communities and economies.
If you’re interested in setting up a data collection and/or performance management system to support your workforce development work, we would love to speak with you! Please sign up for a free customized demo today – we can’t wait to meet with you!

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