INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE

The System Indicators Team (SIT) was created to initiate a process to identify “locally agreed upon – State directed” indicators for the New York State workforce system.

The indicators are intended to measure how well the workforce system is developing, integrating, improving and responding to community needs, beyond the program measures already established by federal agencies.

This report provides the Team’s recommendations on Operating Principles and System Indicators. The operating principles guided the approach embedded in the recommended indicators.

The recommendations serve as a starting point and template for a State Workforce Investment Board policy on the use of system indicators by all New York State Local Workforce Investment Boards.

The background information that led to the Team’s recommendations is presented in the “System Indicators Background Report (11/12/2002).

OPERATING PRINCIPLES

The SIT began this process by establishing a set of operating principles that align with the spirit and intent of the Workforce Investment Act and the mission of the SWIB for an integrated, customer-demand driven and continuously improving workforce system.

The Team’s operating principles are:

1. The recommended system indicators are a starting point for working towards and developing more refined indicators of system performance.
2. Focus should be Statewide local measures, and should reinforce “system”, not “center” or “program.”
3. The recommended indicators must be relevant to the State and Local Workforce Investment Boards, Chief Local Elected Officials (CLEO) and system partners.
4. The two primary customers of the system are:
   • Businesses; and
   • Individuals (e.g., emerging, transitional and incumbent workers).
5. There must be a strong commitment by all local areas to supply the core data to a common database (electronically or otherwise), in order to establish consistency in measuring and interpreting indicators.
6. The data collection process to support calculation of the indicators must not be onerous on system partners.
7. The indicators should lend themselves to a system report card.
8. Report cards should provide a local context (e.g., local economic conditions) for the indicators.
9. The indicators should promote system integration and continuous improvement.
10. The indicators should be designed to highlight success rather than failure.
11. All system partners would share system outcomes (successes).

SYSTEM INDICATORS

Over 40 performance measures were identified through SIT and LWIB information gathering, for consideration by the Team as system indicators. From these, the SIT recommends the following system indicators:

1. Market Penetration
2. Total System Investment
3. Customer Repeat Usage

Market Penetration

• The ability to measure the market penetration rate for both business and Individual customers is an important basic goal of the system. Furthermore, the development of market penetration measures would require partners to begin sharing customer information in a common database, which in turn would promote integration.
• The starting point for calculating Market Penetration Indicators is:

  Market Penetration Rate – Business Customer =
  Business Customers
  Total Number of Businesses

  Market Penetration Rate – Individual Customer =
  Individual Customers
  Local Civilian Labor Force

  Definitions:

  • Business Customers – Total Number of Businesses in the local area that have received a OneStop service/activity in the last 3 years.
  • Total Number of Businesses – Total number of businesses in the local area that have at least one employee. This includes such businesses that do not pay into the UI system (e.g., Federal government and railroads).
  • Individual Customers – Total number of individuals (unduplicated) that receive core, intensive, and/or training services, and/or have received an employment-related service by a mandated partner.
  • Local Civilian Labor Force – Local civilian labor force reported by the NYSDOL.

Total System Investment

• Total System Investment as a recommended system indicator came out of discussion regarding Return on Investment (ROI) as a system indicator. The outcome of the discussion was that:
  • The methodology and underlying assumptions for computing ROI are highly subjective, and therefore ROI should not be recommended a system indicator.
  • The ability to measure and assess “system investment” is an important basic system indicator. It would also require partners to begin sharing “investment” information, which in turn would promote system integration.
  • Focus on examining Total System Investment across the business and Individual customers.

• The starting point for calculating Total System Investment indicators is:

  Total System Investment Rate – Business Customer =
  Total System Investment
  Business Customers

  Total System Investment Rate – Individual Customer =
  Total System Investment
  Individual Customers

  Definitions:

  Total System Investment – Total amount of funds across all mandated partners only allocated to employment and training activities.

Customer Repeat Usage

• Customer Repeat Usage as a recommended system indicator came out of discussion regarding Customer Satisfaction as a system indicator. The outcome of the discussion was that:
  • Customer satisfaction is an important system indicator. However, surveys do not provide meaningful customer satisfaction information.
  • Customer satisfaction is meaningfully measured through customer repeat usage, market penetration and referrals, as well as immediate customer feedback.
  • Repeat usage for the business customers is good starting-point indicator for business customer satisfaction. Measuring business customer repeat usage would also require partners to begin sharing business customer information, which in turn would promote system integration.
  • Do not pursue an Individual Customer Repeat Usage system indicator at this time.

• The starting point for calculating a Business Customer Repeat Usage system indicator is:

  Business Customer Repeat Usage Rate =
  Repeat Business Customers
  Business Customers

  Definitions:

  Repeat Business Customers – is defined as the total number of business customers that have utilized a service/activity for more than one incident of need during a specific period of time.

  Need to define “activity” and “service”, and the time period.