ISLL Answers
Categories
Coaching top
| Q: | How does Coaching work when a customer is enrolled into training? Won't we need to do some follow-up to insure that the customer successfully completes the training and a certificate of completion is received? Are certificates of completion still required? |
| A. | We are no longer doing follow up for customers enrolled into training programs. Engagement is the key to insure that the participant uses the career center services if they need assistance rather than depending on a specific Coach when issues or questions arise. As for certificates of completion, we are working on developing procedures for the training providers which will require them to provide SETA with the certificate of completion in order for them to receive payment for training costs. Also, the provision of Incentives for successful completion (see Directive IS2-08, Financial Assistance Award) of training may provide Coaches with a means to get the customer to complete training as well as provide them with the required certificate of completion. [10/30/08] |
Customer Flow top
| Q. | How do I enroll customers in the OJT activity or WIA Discretionary grants? |
| A. | To enroll customers in OJT or Discretionary grants, use the new On-the-Job Training and Discretionary Grant bar codes that are now available on the K Drive. Directions for obtaining copies of these bar codes are: Go to the K Drive, find the SMARTware file, go to Bar code Information and select your set of bar codes. When you select your bar codes, you must right click on your document and select open (this will open the PDF file for you). Print the bar code sheet and you are ready to begin using them. If you have any questions, email the Smartware Team and we can assist you. [10/30/08] |
| Q. | What kind of brief case notes are in SMARTware? Are we case managing ITA and supportive service customers? |
| A. | No, we are no longer "case managing" customers enrolled into training or receiving supportive services. As of July 1st, 2008, career center staff should be using "Coaching" to engage and empower customers to participate in career center activities, gain the skills necessary to obtain employment and be successful in finding the best job with the skills they have obtained. The customer's completion of the Initial Assessment (as part of the SMARTware Integrated Application), completion and/or updates of the "My Action Plan", use of bar codes and the Workshop Scheduler, as well as completion of the SMARTware Training/Financial Assistance Template, are the primary methods of justifying and tracking customer's activities. Brief case notes can be completed when there is no other means to document necessary information about the customer or their participation in career center activities. [Updated 10/30/08] |
| Q. | If a customer has a staff assisted bar code with a career center, can another career center give them an ITA? Will the second career center get credit for that client? |
| A. | Yes, another career center can give them an ITA. Each career center that provides services will get credit. [10/10/08] |
| Q. | When there is an employer recruitment held at the career center, is that considered "staff assisted service"? In the list of bar codes would the above be considered "Other staff assisted"? |
| A. | Yes, employer recruitments would fall under "other staff assisted" services. [10/10/08] |
| Q. | Master Calendar - Can we make new additions, plus changes and/or deletions to items already submitted to the Master Calendar? (I know we can do this on the Smartware WS Scheduler, and we're wondering if it can be done on the Master Calendar as well.) |
| A. | To make changes to the Master Calendar make changes to your copy of the Master Calendar. Then copy the line to an email to Conner, and designate what the changes are. For example:
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Eligibility top
| Q. | What verification can be used to confirm Veteran's status? |
| A. | The DD214 or a letter from the Veteran's Administration. If the customer does not have the required verification, they can go on line to www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrecs. The customer will need to print out the completed form, Sign it and fax it back to the V.A. The customer should receive their DD214 within 10 days. [Updated 10/30/08] |
| Q. | If a customer is homeless, what do we use as an address? |
| A. | We use a mailing address, homeless shelter address or a Post Office Box number. As a last resort the address of family or friends can be used. [Updated 10/30/08] |
| Q. | What length of time does a customer have to be unemployed to be considered dislocated? For example, if a customer was laid off since 2003 and hasn't worked since, is he/she still considered dislocated? |
| A. | The length of time a person has been unemployed is not relevant. A person is dislocated if they were laid off from their last job, or have had only stop-gap employment between the time they are laid off and the time we see them at the career center. [10/15/08] |
| Q. | How do we handle eligibility for special populations, such as ex-offenders and ESL clients, that do not provide adequate eligibility documentation? |
| A. | There is no special eligibility requirements for the WIA Adult 201 grant. All demographics for special populations are self attestation. If a customer says they are an ex-offender, you check the box. You don't document or verify demographic information. The only eligibility requirements are date of birth/age, right to work, and if applicable, selective service registration. [10/15/08] |
Financial Assistance top
| Q. | Do we need to complete the financial template when we give a customer a non-cash scrip? | |
| A. | Yes, section #10 of the Financial Assistance template must be completed when a customer receives scrip. Updated [10/30/08] | |
| Q. | Once a customer receives scrip as an incentive, will they be eligible for support services later? |
| A. | Yes. [10/10/08] |
| Q. | If a customer turns in receipts for clothes, can the coach give the customer a gas or food scrip? |
| A. | Gas or food scrip cannot be provided if receipts are for clothing. Receipts must match the supportive service. [10/10/08] |
| Q. | Can the zeros be removed from the Financial Needs Assessment form? |
| A. | Yes, the revised form has been posted on the K drive. It is located in Section 2 - Development-Marketing (Financial Forms), K-Financial Forms, Financial Needs Assessment. [10/10/08] |
OJT top
| Q. | How do I enroll customers in the OJT activity or WIA Discretionary grants? | |
| A. | To enroll customers in OJT or Discretionary grants, use the new On-the-Job Training and Discretionary Grant bar codes that are now available on the K Drive. Directions for obtaining copies of these bar codes are: Go to the K Drive, find the SMARTware file, go to Bar code Information and select your set of bar codes. When you select your bar codes, you must right click on your document and select open (this will open the PDF file for you). Print the bar code sheet and you are ready to begin using them. If you have any questions, email the Smartware Team and we can assist you. [10/30/08] | |
Performance top
Product Box top
| Q. | Can every career center get shortcuts on their computers for Key-train, the Self-sufficiency Calculator and careerGPS. com? |
| A. | Probably not desktop shortcuts, but a link for each one can be added to "Internet Links" from the Start Menu. [10/15/08] |
| Q. | Can we get the WorkKeys in Spanish, Russian? |
| A. | WorkKeys is only offered in Spanish. We are researching other initial assessments (BEST, CASAS) that can be used with non/limited English speaking customers. [10/15/08] |
| Q. | When can we have more training for WorkKeys? |
| A. | Training sessions will be scheduled for the month of November. Site Supervisors will be contacted to provide names of those who will be administering WorkKeys at their site. [10/15/08] |
Smartware top
| Q. | How do I enroll customers in the OJT activity or WIA Discretionary grants? |
| A. | To enroll customers in OJT or Discretionary grants, use the new On-the-Job Training and Discretionary Grant bar codes that are now available on the K Drive. Directions for obtaining copies of these bar codes are: Go to the K Drive, find the SMARTware file, go to Bar code Information and select your set of bar codes. When you select your bar codes, you must right click on your document and select open (this will open the PDF file for you). Print the bar code sheet and you are ready to begin using them. If you have any questions, email the Smartware Team and we can assist you. [10/30/08] |
| Q. | Is it ok to use a decimal point when we are putting the customer's hourly wage on the integrated SMARTware app.? |
| A. | No decimal points are to be used in the integrated application at this time. [10/15/08] |
| Q. | What are the reasons JTA upload does not happen? |
| A. | The following information is missing from the integrated SMARTware application: 1. the right to work in the USA 2. incomplete date of birth information 3. incomplete authorization documentation 4. no ethnicity chosen. Must choose one 5. no gender chosen. Must choose one 6. incomplete addresses information or empty 7. # in family, # of dependants inconsistences [10/15/08] |
| Q. | What are the top reasons successful enrollments are not occurring? |
| A. | RTW information not completed in SMARTware. Date of birth, age not completed in SMARTware. Gender/Sex section not completed in SMARTware. [10/15/08] |
| Q. | Do we have Integrated SMARTware apps in Spanish? |
| A. | At this time we have the SMARTware Application in English only. As soon as the current enhancements to the SMARTware Application are complete and the bi-lingual pay for employees is implemented, we will produce applications in both Spanish/English and Russian/English. Target date is mid-November, 2008. [10/10/08] |
| Q. | Does the integrated SMARTware application needs month, date, and year in the employment history section? |
| A. | Yes, the SMARTware application does require the MM/DD/YYYY fields be complete. If you do not have the exact date, you should estimate it. [10/10/08] |
Tracking/Reports top
| Q. | Is a soft exit considered a negative? |
| A. | No. All customers will be soft exited in the WIA Adult 201 program. The process leading to a soft exit is as follows: The customer receives and completes necessary/planned services. The estimated completion date becomes the completion date when a customer completes services and cases will soft exit 91 days after. Every time a customer receives a service, the barcode in SMARTware is uploaded to JTA and the customer's estimated completion date is extended another 90 days. For customers in skill development services, it is possible to enter a Completion Code of 1(Yes) and a Completion Date in JTA to signify end of service, after which the case is exited on the 91st day from activity End Date. This would help us in reporting the number of skill development services that are completed for each career center. We will be working on developing a completion bar code, so that completions can be scanned into SMARTware and uploaded to JTA. [10/17/08] |
| Q. | To meet EER common measure, when does employment need to happen? |
| A. | Customers must show base wage earnings in the 1st quarter following the soft exit quarter. [10/17/08] |
| Q. | Is a soft exit considered a negative? |
| A. | By definition, No. But the process leading to it has to be deliberate. That is, a customer has received necessary/planned services. A Completion Code of 1 (Yes) and a Completion Date signify end of service, after which the case is exited on the 91st day from activity End Date. [10/13/08] |
| Q. | Have all 501's been transferred to 201? Staff are running across some that are still only enrolled in 501 but are in training. |
| A. | As far as I know yes because we double checked and double checked. If a few fell through the cracks we would like to know and make changes ASAP. Roz also discovered that a few 501 enrollments were being back-dated after the fact. [10/13/08] |
| Q. | If client gets a incentive scrip for attending a workshop, can the client still get or apply for an ITA? |
| A. | Yes. Incentives are not support services and do not prevent a customer for applying for a scholarship (ITA). [10/13/08] |
| Q. | If a customer get a scrip (gas card) at a Onestop and then goes to another Onestop does it disqualify for ITA? |
| A. | The Financial Assistance Directive allows a customer to receive both support services and training if the support service was received as an emergency or ancillary support service while the customer was in training. The customer would be ineligible for training if he or she already received support services, unless it was received as an emergency or ancillary service. [10/13/08] |
| Q. | Do carryover customers soft exit or does an exit form need to be submitted? |
| A. | All customers will now soft exit. [10/10/08] |