Located in:
- III. Operational Planning Elements
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an Operational Planning Elements section that supports the State’s strategy and the system-wide vision described in Section II(c) above. Unless otherwise noted, all Operational Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs. This section must include—
- b. State Operating Systems and Policies
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a description of the State operating systems and policies that will support the implementation of the State strategy described in section II Strategic Elements. This includes—
- 6. Program Data
- A. Data Alignment and Integration
Describe the plans of the lead State agencies with responsibility for the administration of the core programs, along with the State Board, to align and integrate available workforce and education data systems for the core programs, unemployment insurance programs, and education through postsecondary education, and to the extent possible, the Combined State Plan partner programs included in this plan. The description of the State’s plan for integrating data systems should include the State’s goals for achieving integration and any progress to date.
- A. Data Alignment and Integration
- 6. Program Data
- b. State Operating Systems and Policies
III. b. 6. A. ii. Describe the State’s plans to integrate data systems to facilitate streamlined intake and service delivery to track participation across all programs included in this plan
Current Narrative:
The state has a comprehensive system of on-demand reports, utilizing data from its statewide Connecting Colorado database, that allows state and local staff to view outcome data at the state, regional, local, and case manager level for Wagner-Peyser, WIOA Title I-B, TAA, and Veterans Employment and Training Services. These reports provide mechanisms to measure levels of service and outcomes by program or targeted groups such as individuals with disabilities, veterans, etc., providing a better measure of the impact of outreach programs or specialized initiatives on performance. All reports are available to run anytime by any staff person, and all data, with the exception of wage data contained in the report, is up to the minute (wage data is updated quarterly). In addition, all performance reports have a breakout of how individual clients fit into each performance measure, whether positive, neutral or negative. This allows staff to better find errors and improves analysis by revealing the source of the data down to the individual level. Supplemental data that hasn’t yet been obtained is tracked on a report that allows the case manager to obtain a list of clients that should be contacted during any given quarter.
Colorado provides ongoing technical assistance and training to its local workforce areas to ensure their understanding of performance measures and the impact of program strategies on performance outcomes. Monthly meetings are held between state and local staff to ensure good communication on performance and other related issues. These meetings also serve as the point of discussion on enhancements to Connecting Colorado that will further support performance accountability. The programs use the same set of services whenever possible so a service should only need to be entered once for a customer who is enrolled in multiple programs. This also helps in establishing integrated service plans for customers served by more than one program. The WIOA required partners at the state and local levels have engaged in initial discussions regarding ways to streamline intake and service delivery and will incorporate their agreements in their regional and local plans, as well as their MOUs and cost-sharing agreements. Finalization of these plans and agreements will trigger a broad-based initiative to determine how data systems can be integrated or data can be shared across the various data systems of all the required partners that participate in the workforce system over the next four years. Additionally, Colorado was awarded a WDQI grant in 2019 and is in the process of building a workforce longitudinal data system that will connect data across core programs.