Key System Integrators

Service integration requires the ability for multiple systems - job training, education, candidate placement, business services, and public assistance - to find ways to communicate across agency lines about job seekers and businesses. This is done through integrating technology, assessment, Workforce Skill Standards, case management, business contacts, governance, programming outcomes, and accountability mechanisms. A fundamental strategy employed by NWC in the design of an integrated system of service delivery has been the identification and development of key system integrators:

QUALITY STANDARDS help benchmark service delivery to what customers expect and value. Integrated quality standards provide a common understanding between system partners of what it means to do our work well. They are the common continuous improvement measures the system is accountable to.

SKILL STANDARDS are identified as the Workforce Skill Standards, locally validated skills, attributes, and personal qualities local businesses expect of entrants to the labor market. They are used to integrate assessment, curriculum, and the ways in which we communicate with employers and job seekers.

PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES hold the system of workforce programs accountable to a set of shared indicators and standards.

ASSESSMENT is integrated using skill standards and common practices and procedures. A shared set of common definitions for assessment and a shared information database allow customer assessment information to travel and benefit the customer across the service system.

STAFF SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE The more staff is trained together and become knowledgeable about how to conduct different functions, the more the lines blur between partner organizations. A set of Competencies for Workforce Development Professionals begins to define the expected staff skills required to produce stellar customer outcomes.

INFORMATION Agencies will share information through technology that assists jobseekers in improving skills and finding jobs and assist business in finding qualified applicants. Customers have direct access to information to make evidence-based career decisions.

BUSINESS SERVICES AND CONTACTS will be integrated to create a single point of contact through the WorkSource system. Customer feedback tells us employers want a single contact for both information and access to ALL the qualified applicants in the entire system at any given time.

TECHNOLOGY is a tool to enhance the use and efficacy of the common integrators. Technology assists in connectivity among and between partners to improve communication, information access, knowledge retention, and customer flow. Technology is also used as a common case management tool.