Performance Management Software

Reprinted with permission: SWORWIB 2009 Annual Report

The SWORWIB has led the way when it comes to tracking clients and measuring results at its one-stop, the SuperJobs Center.  That is largely due to G-Stars, the sophisticated yet easy to use Web-based application that allows for quick data reporting.

Now, two other workforce partners are joining with SWORWIB in adopting G*Stars. The result, says Sherry Kelley Marshall, President/CEO, will be an unprecedented measurement of data that will allow Greater Cincinnati to know the results of workforce efforts across the region, not just from the SuperJobs Center.

Partnering with the SWORWIB are the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and the Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network (GCWN). United Way tested the approach in a pilot project with G*Stars, and the GCWN has already embraced it for their grant reporting purposes.

“We are seriously looking at a regional reporting system that would align and track workforce efforts of United Way, the WIB and the GCWN. The G*Stars system is the data base we have selected,” said Lucy Crane, Manager of Community Impact at United Way. “We are very hopeful that we can get a regional system operational for the coming year.”

G*Stars, a product of American Government Services, is a client-tracking system as compared to the traditional case-management system used by county and state agencies. That means it can track customers from the moment they walk into the one-stop and swipe their card at a terminal to the time they find a job. The customers can use G*Stars to easily obtain and organize the tools that are important to them in their job search, while WIBs can track how effectively dollars are being spent.

“The use of G*STARS allows the organization and its partners to collect, maintain and extract key customer information that informs the community about who is being served by the SWORWIB partnership for employment services,” said Marshall. “By tracking our collaborative efforts and keeping our attention on performance expectations through solid measurement, the SWORWIB maximizes the public investment and produces more results for more people.”

Workforce One, the public workforce development system in Butler, Clermont and Warren Counties, also recently installed G*Stars in its three one-stops.

"As we integrate the system into our operations, we are optimistic that G*Stars will track data that will allow our Workforce Investment Board and one-stop operators to better manage our services and meet customer demand,” said Jeff Weber, Executive Director. “It will also streamline our performance reporting process to state and federal workforce agencies. Ultimately, G*Stars will allow for better management of the larger, multi-state workforce region, thereby benefiting employers and job seekers alike."

Ross Meyer, Executive Director of the GCWF, said that getting all workforce-related agencies onto a common reporting system would likely be the first such effort in the country.” At the same time, he said, “it will be powerful for the region to use that data to make our case for increased investment in workforce development in our region.”

This progress in collecting and reporting common measures by private and public workforce agencies regionwide was the vision of SWORWIB leaders Pete Strange of Messer Construction, Michael Conner of Frisch’s Restaurants and David Phillips of Cincinnati Works, supported by an original grant the leaders obtained from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.

Marshall expressed appreciation for their leadership and foundations’ commitment to the community, both of which sparked the shared measurement and continuous improvement effort that the region’s workforce partners are now embracing together.