While we cannot cover all that you need to review to ensure useful and accurate program data here, we do know that timing is everything! Timely data collection, entry, and review will provide you the powerful resource that is accurate program data. Although DOL reports are due every quarter, good data management requires continuous attention and involvement. Data management takes place daily at successful YouthBuild programs. This doesn’t necessarily mean that data entry or data collection happens every day, but rather that the data management plan your program has established is maintained and considered on a daily basis.
 

Create a Calendar: What you collect, enter, and check…and when
 

The types of student data, and your program’s data management practice, will in some part be determined by what stage of the program cycle you are currently in. Successful YouthBuild programs understand the different phases of their program cycle and prepare program staff for the data management workload of each stage.

To be effective, your data management calendar must account for what program data you are collecting, entering, and checking, and when. Make sure to map out each of these key periods at your program:

• Pre-enrollment
• Enrollment
• Program/training period
• Exit
• Follow-up

Get started thinking about your program Data Management Calendar by downloading the MIS Road Map!

Data Management and Staffing

Every staff member plays a role in collecting, entering, and checking program data, but some staff will be more involved than others. Three crucial data management positions at YouthBuild programs are:

1.  Program Director
2.  Data Entry Staff
3.  Case Manager

Communicating responsibilities to these key staff will ensure that your team is on the right path and that you will be able to accomplish the tasks associated with the three data management disciplines: Collect, Enter, and Check.  Below is a list of core competencies that pertain to data management work for each staff role.

1. Program Manager/Director

Oversight of good data management is an executive function. This staff member is largely responsible for creating the conditions for data management success. Successful YouthBuild programs have program directors or program managers that clearly communicate the importance of successful data management. They also have executive directors and boards of directors who are interested in reviewing the implications of the data and making decisions for improvement based on it.
This staff member should:

This staff member should:

• Create a culture of good data management.
• Clearly identify data management as a priority and common staff goal
• Incorporate program data into staff meetings and accountability
• Identify yourself as the staff member responsible for final data review and accountability
• Identify key program stake holders, such as the executive director and board of directors, and how data plays an important role in key programmatic and financial decisions
• Clearly communicate staff data management responsibilities and roles
• Support data management work with resources and time
• Build frequent data review into the work flow
• Understand your program outcomes and the DOL performance measure definitions well enough to catch errors in reporting
• Generate ad hoc and quarterly performance reports at regular scheduled intervals as a check-in on performance
• Allow extra time for data corrections before report submission
   

2. Data Entry Staff

This staff role is crucial to your data management practice for many obvious reasons. At many programs this staff member may have another role as well (case manager, transition coordinator, etc.), but it is important to understand that there are specific core skills that are needed for success with data management.

This staff member should:

• Be very comfortable with technology.
• Have a working knowledge of the YouthBuild program and student outcomes.
• Be familiar with program data collection processes and paper forms.
• Have access to key staff and information.
• Have access to the data entry systems and be well trained in their use.

 
3. Case Manager

The Case Manager may not be directly doing data entry, but plays a crucial role in your program’s data management practice. At many YouthBuild programs, the Case Manager is the staff member responsible for collecting and organizing much of the student data that other staff members enter into reporting systems.

This staff member should have all the data collection forms and tools necessary for success.  These include:

• Paper forms
• Internal electronic tools like shared excel spreadsheets or other tracking tools
• Access to partner forms or documentation

This staff member should also have access to key staff and data relating to the following types of student data:

• Eligibility
• Enrollment
• Program activities and services
• Basic Skills testing results
• Outcomes (degrees/certificates, placements into education or employment, arrests/adjudications)
• Exits
• Follow-up information and documentation

 
 YouthBuild Series: Aligning Program Practice and WIOA Performance Reporting

On Tuesday, June 6th, we continued this data management conversation with a webinar that focused on DOL YouthBuild performance reporting. This webinar provided an overview of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) performance metrics, explored different ways of visualizing the data management demands of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) YouthBuild program cycle, and demonstrated how to generate and submit the WIOA Supplemental Report, as well as reviewing important ways to use Management Information System (MIS) reports for evaluation.
Watch recorded webinar here!
 
Please reach out to the MIS Help Desk with any DOL MIS reporting and data management questions.
CALL 1-866-680-0855
OR EMAIL MISSUPPORT@YOUTHBUILD.ORG
 
Other related resources:
Data Management Program Manual
WIOA Performance Indicator Sheet
MIS E-Learning Series #1: Planning for Program Success
MIS E-Learning Series #2: Creating a Culture of Good Data Management, Part 1
MIS E-Learning Series #2: Creating a Culture of Good Data Management, Part 2

Workers can experience heat-related illness even when the temperature doesn’t seem extreme.  Listening to the weather forecasts before the workday begins can help to prevent heat exhaustion and heat stroke.  If temperatures are predicted above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or the Heat Index is predicted to go above 78 degrees Fahrenheit, consider taking additional precautions.

 

General precautions to prevent heat-related illness at the job-site at the work site include:

• Provide workers with water, rest and shade.
• Allow new or returning workers to gradually increase workloads and take more frequent breaks as they acclimatize, or build a tolerance for working in the heat.
• Plan for emergencies and train workers on prevention.
• Monitor workers for signs of illness.

Working safely in workplaces with heat hazards, both indoors and outdoors, relies on a management commitment to plan ahead for heat hazards in the workplace.  Having a heat illness prevention program and training workers how to recognize heat illness symptoms in themselves and others and actions to take when they occur can save lives.  OSHA has training and other educational resources to help.
Visit www.osha.gov/heat for additional information and resources. 

YouthBuild USA, under contract with DOL, worked with the North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU) to develop a webcast series on the Building Trades Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3).  This series is about implementing MC3, an apprenticeship readiness curriculum developed by NABTU.  YouthBuild participants who successfully complete the MC3 receive an industry-recognized credential that can facilitate entry into registered apprenticeship programs sponsored by labor management organizations representing 14 crafts in the unionized construction industry. 

The first webcast reviews the content and process of implementing the curriculum at local YouthBuild programs.  The second webcast describes the details of developing an implementation plan with local building trades councils affiliated with NABTU.  The third webcast explains how the MC3 online learning management system works.   Curriculum content, as well as registration and credentialing platforms, are available through the MC3 Learning Management System.  The fourth and final webcast names a set of promising practices to initiate and sustain relationships with local building trades councils.  This is a critically important relationship that ensures pathways into registered apprenticeship.

Click here to access the webcast series

 
As a reminder, in June, OSHA is sponsoring “Safe + Sound Week” to promote Safety and Health Programs. This event is the week of June 12-18, 2017 and is a nationwide effort to raise awareness of the value of workplace safety and health programs.  Safety and health programs can help employers and workers identify and manage workplace hazards before they cause