Workforce Information Technology Procurement Project

RFI # 13-RFI-001-LJ

May 15, 2013

Submitted To:

Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Office of Procurement and Contract Administration Attn: Sonja Strickland/Laura Jennings Caldwell Building 107 East Madison Street, Suite B-047 Tallahassee FL 32399

Submitted By:

Accenture LLP Greg Martin 2002 Old St. Augustine Road, Suite E-45 Tallahassee, FL 32301

RFP/RFI/TO/ SOW number:

Workforce Information Technology Procurement Project A Florida Workforce Automation SaaS (Software as a Service)

Workforce Information Technology Procurement Project A Florida Workforce Automation SaaS (Software as a Service) RFI # 13-RFI-001-LJ

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an offer, acceptance, contract, or otherwise legally binding, absent a final agreement.

.

May 15, 2013

Ms. Laura Jennings

Ms. Sonja Strickland

Office of Procurement and Contract Administration

Florida Department of Economic Opportunity

107 East Madison Street, Suite B-047

Tallahassee, Florida 32399

Accenture is pleased to submit this response to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO)

Request for Information (RFI) regarding the State’s workforce information technology vision. We

appreciate the role a state-of-the-art labor exchange plays as a critical component of Florida's economic

competitiveness. We think there is significant opportunity for Florida to set the standard for aligning

employers, workers, education and workforce development to win the global competition for jobs. As this

is a response to an RFI, this submission is not intended to be an offer or otherwise legally binding, absent

a final agreement. Indeed, we look forward to the opportunity for further discussion on how to serve the

Department.

As a leading global management consulting and technology services company, Accenture has built

employment solutions around the world. From Accenture’s perspective, a world class employment system

will be “business-aligned”, focusing on two critical components of the economy: job seekers and the point

of demand—employers. Based on our experience, there are five key components that are necessary for a

high performing, world-class employment system:

Rigorous focus on employers' needs and

skill requirements

Reliable data on skills and capabilities in the

state workforce development system

Outcome-based incentives

Independent certification of credentials

Alignment and integration of stakeholders

Accenture has developed and implemented assets and capabilities with clients around the world

addressing each, and a combination of, these five key components. Our response references the

Integrated Virtual Labor Market that we developed for the German Federal Labor Agency, leading edge

work that we have done for Skills for Chicagoland’s Future, and strategy consulting projects delivered for

U.S. state agencies related to economic development and efficient labor market issues. Beyond client

engagements, streamlined workforce development is an important part of Accenture's corporate culture.

Our global corporate citizenship initiative, Skills to Succeed, focuses on advancing employment and

entrepreneurship opportunities in both mature and emerging markets.

With approximately 1,000 employees in our Tallahassee, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Miami offices, we are

invested in Florida's economy and community. We look forward to discussing how we can support this

important initiative

Sincerely,

Greg Martin, Managing Director

Accenture, LLP


Copyright© Accenture 2013. All Rights Reserved. Disclosure of the data contained herein is subject to restrictions on the Cover Page of this Response. Accenture Proprietary

and Confidential Information ii

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and Confidential Information iii

Table of Contents 1.0 Components of a High Performing Employment System for Florida ..................... 1

1.1 High performing employment systems are critical to economic development .... 1

1.2 A high-performing employment system for Florida ............................................. 2

1.3 Benefits of a high performance employment system .......................................... 6

2.0 Accenture's Labor Exchange Solution ................................................................... 7

2.1 IVLM overview .................................................................................................... 7

2.2 IVLM addresses all of Florida DEO's specifications listed in the RFI ................. 9

3.0 Accenture's Overview .......................................................................................... 24

3.1 Company background, business profile and strategy ....................................... 24

3.2 Accenture in Florida ......................................................................................... 25

3.3 Accenture in the Public Service market ............................................................ 26

3.4 Accenture software .......................................................................................... 27

4.0 References .......................................................................................................... 30

4.1 Overview .......................................................................................................... 30

4.2 World class labor exchange technology projects ............................................. 30

4.3 Employment-related consulting projects, US States and nonprofits ................. 32

4.4 Internal matching /staffing with Accenture's consultants .................................. 35

4.5 Global Accenture initiative - Skills to Succeed ................................................. 35

5.0 Implementation Best Practices ............................................................................ 38

5.1 Best practices associated with implementing labor exchange systems ........... 38

5.2 Ideal criteria for workforce automation SaaS vendor for DEO .......................... 38

List of Figures Figure 1 - Components of a high performing employment system .................................. 2 Figure 2 - IVLM Web Based Solution .............................................................................. 8

Figure 3 - Bi-directional Matching .................................................................................. 12 Figure 4 - Eligibility Determination ................................................................................. 14

Figure 5 - Internal Job Portal ......................................................................................... 16 Figure 6 - High-Level Technical Architecture ................................................................ 20 Figure 7 - Concept of an Integrated Education Platform ............................................... 21 Figure 8 - Accenture Overview ...................................................................................... 24 Figure 9 - Accenture Operating Model .......................................................................... 25

Figure 10 - Accenture Software Overview ..................................................................... 27



and Confidential Information iv




and Confidential Information 1

1.0 Components of a High Performing Employment System for Florida

1.1 High performing employment systems are critical to economic development

In an increasingly global labor market, states

and nations that link employers to workers,

education and workforce development most

effectively will win the competition for talent and

jobs. A demonstrated ability to fill companies'

job vacancies and educate a workforce with the

skills employers require now and in the future

attracts more companies to locate and remain

in a state, thereby contributing to economic

development, quality of life, and state-level

GDP. In short, it is critical that employment systems are business-aligned, even business-led,

and flexible enough to respond to both regional and

statewide needs in the market.

State and national employment systems are

underperforming in today's economy, with countries

experiencing high unemployment rates despite significant

numbers of unfilled vacancies, indicating a gap in

employment systems and ineffective matching of jobs with 1job seekers. A 2013 Accenture survey in the United States

found 41% of recent college graduates working in jobs that do not require their degrees.2

Financially, the costs are enormous: from 2007-2012, state and federal unemployment

insurance programs in the United States paid

out more than half a trillion dollars in benefits.3

These challenges have significant impacts for

governments: financial impacts through

spending on unemployment benefits and

workforce programs, combined with the loss of

1 Florida, Source of open position figures: Help Wanted Online/DEO:

http://lmsresources.labormarketinfo.com/library/hwol/statewide.pdf; US open position figures: http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/press/PressPDF_4801_1367405388.pdf. Unemployment figures: US Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2 http://newsroom.accenture.com/news/four-out-of-10-recent-college-grads-are-underemployed-new-

accenture-research-finds.htm 3 http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/29/news/economy/unemployment-benefits-cost/index.html

The U.S. workforce system is often

criticized as a sum of disconnected parts,

with worker training poorly matched to

industry demand, a lack of focus on

industries that are the most important to

local economies, and duplicative business

outreach and workforce training services.

- National Governors Association

A visual representation of Gov. Scott's 2013 State of the State speech illustrates the importance

of jobs, businesses, and getting Floridians back to work.

United

States 2.34 Unemployed workers

per open position

Florida2.76 Unemployed workers

per open position

http://lmsresources.labormarketinfo.com/library/hwol/statewide.pdf

http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/press/PressPDF_4801_1367405388.pdf

http://newsroom.accenture.com/news/four-out-of-10-recent-college-grads-are-underemployed-new-accenture-research-finds.htm

http://newsroom.accenture.com/news/four-out-of-10-recent-college-grads-are-underemployed-new-accenture-research-finds.htm

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/29/news/economy/unemployment-benefits-cost/index.html




tax revenue; and social impacts through increased poverty and lower quality of life for residents.

State governments, with the help of stakeholders, can and should act to link job providers to job

seekers in the most efficient and effective way.. This

is why Governor Scott set employment as one of his

top three priorities for 2013-14, alongside education

and tax reform.

Florida has been linking job seekers with

employment for well over 50 years, and continues to

improve its workforce development activities.

Currently under the administration of Florida's

Department of Economic Opportunity and the

broader Florida Workforce Development System infrastructure, the workforce delivery system

supports and drives the State's workforce development activities including Workforce Florida

Inc., nearly 100 One Stop Centers, and 24 Regional Workforce Boards. Since 2006, Workforce

Florida, Inc. has operated Employ Florida Banner Centers. Workforce Florida Inc. also

administers important resources, including Quick Response Training grants and Incumbent

Worker Training grants. The State has successfully established the Employ Florida Marketplace

jobs portal, has conducted annual workforce and employer surveys, and manages the Florida

Career and Professional Education (CAPE) Act to confirm the workforce is equipped with the

right skills and training for the jobs of future. However, more remains to be done to build a

business-aligned, high performing employment system in Florida, to meet current and future

needs of employers.

1.2 A high-performing employment system for Florida

Based on Accenture's experience advising

state and national governments on their

employment systems and implementing

state of the art employment system

technology, we have established a well-

developed point of view on world class

employment systems, which focuses on

five key components shown in Figure 1.

1.2.1 Focus on employer's needs and skill requirements

Most of today’s employment systems

were designed to serve the needs of the

job seeker, resulting in a failure to attract

sufficient support and involvement from

employers. The Florida Workforce

Development System should forge strong

and varied partnerships with major

In the four years before I took office,

Florida lost 825,000 jobs,

unemployment more than tripled –

from 3.5% to 11.1%, and state debt

increased by $5.2 billion. Since I took

office, we have supported the creation

of around 200,000 private sector jobs.

- Florida State Governor Rick Scott

High Performing

Employment System

1. Focus on Employers

needs

2. Data on Skills &

Capabilities

3. Reliable credentials

4. Outcome based

Incentives

5. Integrated Stakeholders

Figure 1 - Components of a high performing employment system




employers, deeply understanding and effectively communicating current and future employer

skill requirements to universities, technical and community colleges, high schools, and

workforce development programs to enable Florida to train the workforce of the future and

retrain job seekers for unfilled vacancies.

World class employment systems are demand-driven: they are designed from the job creator's

perspective. These systems include the following capabilities:

Employer Relationship Management: Through systematic recruitment and engagement,

employers remain involved with the systems' efforts. With a goal of 100% participation,

employers have seamless access to the system, often with direct connections between

employers' internal systems and the State’s.

Current and Forecast Needs: Employers proactively provide both short-term and long-term

workforce needs and forecasts.

Real-time Information: Employer information is collected and maintained in real time to

confirm an accurate view of marketplace demand.

1.2.2 Reliable data on skills and capabilities in the state job system

Most of today’s employment systems rely on job titles, descriptions and related job codes as the

‘currency of exchange.’ Yet for job seekers, this can mean not recognizing jobs for which his or

her skills and capabilities might be a good match; and in turn, employers can end up searching

through resumes which may not adequately portray skills and capabilities of a job seeker.

Instead, increasingly we find that skills, capabilities and proficiencies are becoming the terms to

effectively link jobs and job seekers

. World class employment systems do this by:

Specifying all jobs in terms of the skills, proficiencies and competencies required. This is

facilitated for employers by providing them with a skill and competencies catalogue for

6,000-10,000 job titles along with the ability to customize jobs to meet their unique needs.

Specifying all job seeker qualifications in terms of the skills, proficiencies and competencies

they possess. This is facilitated by providing them with tools (based on the same skill and

competencies catalogue for 6,000-10,000 job titles) that translate their experience into a

package of skills, proficiencies and competencies.

Specifying the skill and capability gaps for current and future demand, and supporting life-

long learning. This is facilitated by providing on-going advanced training and feedback

between employers, job seekers and educators.

Shifting towards skills and capabilities rather than job titles enables efficient and effective job

matching between job seekers and employers, and helps stakeholders to plan strategically

and focus resources on priority industries and occupations.




1.2.3 Independently certified credentials

Employers are increasingly skeptical of the claims made by applicants about their skills,

capabilities and proficiencies. Similarly they doubt the practical value of high school, college and

other degrees, valuing proven competency over academic achievement. To solve this problem,

employers are increasingly turning to independent credentialing.

World class employment systems provide for reliable credentialing by:

Providing links to independent credentialing sources through which employers can confirm

credentials claimed by applicants.

Providing links to proprietary or third party tools that can assess job seeker competencies,

skills and proficiencies.

1.2.4 Outcome-based incentives

Systems run on incentives, and get the results that they reward. Most often when systems are

not delivering the results we want, the problem is in the design of the incentives. Florida State

has already recognized this, illustrated in its pioneering pay by performance funding models,

existing in many of its community colleges.4

Yet for the most part, today’s employment systems measure and reward volume – the number

of jobs listed, the number of searchers registered, the number of searches completed, the

number of students enrolled. World class employment systems measure and reward the

successful placement and persistence of people in jobs:

For employers:

– Measurement: Time to fill jobs; Persistence in jobs X years after placement

– Reward: Lower costs, and higher productivity from new hires

For job seekers:

– Measurement: Time to be placed in a job; Persistence in jobs X years after placement

– Reward: Higher income, and greater job stability

For education and workforce development organizations:

– Measurement: Percentage of those initially enrolled who graduate on-time and are placed

in a job within X months and persist for Y years

– Reward: Organizational income tied to successful outcomes for those served

4 http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/02/24/more-states-utilize-performance-

funding-for-higher-education?page=2

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/02/24/more-states-utilize-performance-funding-for-higher-education?page=2

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/02/24/more-states-utilize-performance-funding-for-higher-education?page=2




For the State:

– Measurement: Number of net new jobs created, and business investment and expansion in

the State; Average wage and benefit levels for such new jobs created; Average time on

unemployment; Unemployment rate; Human services costs associated with unemployment

– Reward: Lower costs for unemployment and human services

World class employment systems financed by public resources reward these outcomes by:

– Linking organizational income to results (performance based funding)

– Putting public organizations in a position to be directly accountable to those they serve

through fees for service and required redress when service expectations are not achieved

1.2.5 Tightly linked alignment and integration of stakeholders, across the entire employment system

Today’s employment systems involve ‘disconnected parts’ that are only loosely linked to one

another. As a result:

Neither job seekers nor educators have a good sense of what employers need and therefore

cannot prepare adequately.

Employers lack reliable information on the skills in the workforce and cannot anticipate their

developmental needs.

Job seekers don’t get feedback on the skills and capabilities they need or on jobs where

their skills and capabilities might best fit.

World class employment systems avoid these problems by tightly linking all parts of the system

to one another. These systems are rich in feedback. At the heart of these systems are the

following capabilities:

Matching – two directional, skills specific, ranked by degree of fulfillment of requirements

– For every job, employers get a list of job seekers ranked by the degree that their skills

match the requirements of the job – and details about which skills are missing

– Every job seeker gets a list of jobs ranked by the degree that their skills match the

requirements of the job – and details about which skills they are missing

Learning:

– Every job seeker has access to referral information and assistance on where and how to

obtain skills that will give them access to jobs in their chosen field or another field they want

to pursue (i.e. life-long learning)

– Every education and workforce development organization gets feedback on the quality of

their graduates and the needs of employers that can be used to improve their curriculum

and instruction.

When combined and enabled by 21st century technology, these five key components produce

world class results and set a new benchmark for traditional state employment systems.




1.3 Benefits of a high performance employment system

Building a high performance employment system benefits all stakeholders involved. Based on

our experience the next benchmark for a world class employment system will deliver the

following results:

For employers:

– Dramatically reduce the time and cost for employers to fill jobs

– Increase the quality of the ‘fit’ for new hires and dramatically reduce the rate of new hire

turnover

– Identify development needs of new workers in advance of hire

– Lower UI costs

– And as a result of the above points, achieve 100% participation by employers

For job seekers:

– Dramatically reduce the time and cost to find a job

– Increase the quality of the ‘fit’ for new hires and dramatically reduce their likelihood of an

early separation

– Personal feedback and referral regarding skill needs and education/ workforce

development resources

– And as a result of the above points, achieve 100% participation by job seekers of all kinds

For education and workforce development organizations:

– Feedback on placement and the quality of preparation of graduates

– Forecast information on skills, proficiencies and capabilities needed in the future

For the State:

– Reduce unemployment and the costs of unemployment

– Increase the ROI from education, workforce development and related Human Services

spending

– Provide a competitive edge for attracting new jobs

Accenture brings a breadth of capabilities and an integrated labor market approach that is

focused on helping our clients create world class employment markets. Florida's Labor

Exchange solution will be a significant and critical step toward realizing this vision for a

complete, end-to-end high performing employment system. Accenture looks forward to

partnering with the DEO on their journey to drive the results that the Governor demands and

deliver the capabilities that businesses and citizens of the state need.




2.0 Accenture's Labor Exchange Solution

Accenture is a global leader in implementing world-class workforce development solutions. We

have developed a unique proprietary and integrated solution for high-performance employment

systems.

2.1 IVLM overview

Our proposed web-based solution, called the “Integrated Virtual Labor Market” (IVLM),

addresses all stakeholders' needs. As well as having sophisticated job matching capabilities,

IVLM includes functionalities such as a precise job forecasting system to translate employers'

needs into specific skills and capabilities, or life-long learning components to allow job seekers

and workers to continue to improve their skills, particularly those that are identified as in-

demand by employers. The integrated market allows for increased transparency and flexibility of

supply and demand and optimal support for life-long-learning.

IVLM is composed of:

An integrated platform that supports all processes around job placement, training and

recruitment

A self-service portal, accessible via the web, that provides job seekers and employers the

possibility to present their individual profiles and vacancies, search and apply for jobs or job

seekers, and suggests training opportunities and other government services. A

comprehensive portal for the Florida Workforce Development System that supports all

processes around job placement, recruiting and training, including:

o Support of job seekers and employers in finding the right candidate or job,

including a database with resumes and job openings, review and

classification of job offers, job matching, etc.

o Support in the management of applications / applicants

o Case management functionality and reporting

o Support in the definition and execution of Personal Development Plans to

make job seekers ready for the labor market or to increase employability

Front-end services dedicated to call center agents; IVLM can easily be connected with CTI

applications




Standardized interfaces using HR-XML to exchange data with HR systems of employers,

other government organizations and private recruiters

This integrated platform will help Florida’s Workforce Development System to execute demand

driven re- and up-skilling efforts to serve displaced workers and to increase transparency and

flexibility of the labor market, thus reducing spending on unemployment benefits, and driving

economic growth.

The concept of the IVLM web based solution is illustrated in the diagram below:

Figure 2 - IVLM Web Based Solution

The IVLM solution provides all stakeholders, in particular job seekers, with full visibility of the

skills required and coaching on the learning suggested to meet market needs. As job seekers

see “what’s in it for me” from this platform, they will be motivated to take charge of their career

development.

The solution provides a comprehensive system based on a central database and the market

leading matching tool "ELISE." It enables interaction between all actors of the labor market,

provides extensive bi-directional matching for high volumes of data, and facilitates extensive

mismatch and gap analysis functionality.

MCS

CitizensJob

seekers

Scholarship and training

Job applicationDocuments

management

Job profilingStatus

assistant

Scholarship and training management

Job classification

system

Central Database

Data Warehouse

Matching Engine

Third partygovernmentapplications

Cooperation

Government Job vacancies




Furthermore, leveraging Accenture's market leading solution would reduce the overall time to

market due to the fact that the solution would not be built from scratch, and due to Accenture's

global experience with similar projects (e.g., for the configuration of highly complex matching

rules, etc.). Accenture would provide a successfully proven solution, minimizing overall project

risk for DEO. In this case workforce providers do not have to rely on standard recruitment tools

or similar standard software tools which have to be extremely customized to fit the very specific

labor market needs.

2.2 IVLM addresses all of Florida DEO's specifications listed in the RFI

Accenture’s solution can meet each of DEO’s specifications, outlined in section B.3 of DEO’s

RFI, as we have detailed in the table below. While explaining our fit with each of these

specifications, we have also taken on board your 7 points in section B.2:

Providing a SaaS solution for workforce development, employment and training

Automating manual, paper-based processes to increase workflow efficiencies and reduce

operational costs

Providing direct job seeker interfaces

Facilitating improved communication within DEO as well as among Workforce Florida, Inc.,

DEO, the Regional Workforce Boards, providers, job seekers, employers and partners

Providing the Workforce System with timely access to information necessary for

performance measurement and quality management

Providing comprehensive access to data through searching and reporting capabilities

Providing the capabilities to serve the needs of all U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL),

Employment, Training and Administration (ETA) funded programs

The following table describes how our solution responds to all specifications listed by DEO in

this RFI:

RFI SPECIFICATIONS Accenture Solution

Optimal access to jobs and career information, eliminating duplicative job listings for job seekers

IVLM is a one-stop Workforce System solution for job seekers and employers. It provides highly efficient business processes in employment services, rendering maximum transparency to current and future jobs and a complete overview of all job seeker profiles and job vacancies available. This comprehensive portal for the employees of Florida’s Workforce Development System could support all processes around job placement, recruiting and training; e.g., support of job seekers and employers in finding the right candidate or job, review and classification of job offers, CVs etc.; support in the management of applications / applicants; and case management functionality. Job seekers will have an opportunity to search for different kinds of job levels, such as management, specialist or assistant positions. Simple and intuitive search is completed by means of a few criteria, whereas an advanced search option enables refinement of the





simple search. For a better search result, job seekers are prompted to restrict their search to their degree of qualification (e.g., management, specialist or assistant positions). When a search is successful, the user has the option to identify the job location and calculate the distance to it with the help of an integrated map and route planning tool.

Additionally, once a job seeker has searched for a job, s/he can access a detailed mismatch analysis for each search result. This will allow him/her to easily identify areas in which s/he needs to improve skills. Once the job seeker has identified the training need, the system will direct the user to the respective training courses and allow him/her to enroll online in the respective training sessions.

Accenture's end to end solution includes essential digital business components including:

Digital Strategies to allow the new site to be easily found by employers and employees including search-optimized landing pages, targeted campaign marketing capabilities and social media integration

Digital Optimization to enable users of the portal are receiving the right content through the right channel at the right time to drive specific business outcomes

Digital Diagnostics to enable site quality elements such as page load times and link integrity start and remain high and automated Section 508 compliance validation

Access to or partnership with another vendor with access to a national resume hosting site that currently contains at least 250,000 Florida based resumes across multiple industries

The solution includes a comprehensive portal for DEO and the Regional Workforce Boards, supporting all internal processes including case management functionalities. IVLM is a multi-channel solution with web, phone, sms, walk-in, kiosk, e-mail, batch- and online interfaces and the potential to incorporate social media functionalities in the future. The solution can map to standard global solutions from private and public organizations and regional partners to provide the most up-to-date information available in the market. The solution significantly improves the matching processes between job seekers and job vacancies by taking all profile information into account and using the market leading matching engine ELISE from our partner WCC.

Ability to search all proposed resumes utilizing national brand website search capabilities

A special characteristic of the IVLM is its bi-directional matching search approach. In contrast to the conventional "hard" search functionality which aims at finding results that fulfill all search criteria, matching represents a "soft" search functionality. This alternative search approach is comprised of two steps: the requirements set by job seekers for their desired job are matched to vacant jobs offered by employers; In parallel, employers’ job requirements with regard to skills, proficiencies and qualifications will be compared to the job seekers’ information and matched with its degree of accordance.





This method considers similarities between the criteria entered and the available data. This bi-directional matching allows a comparison between all applicant profiles and jobs recorded in the system. Additionally, it compares openings and demand of both applicant profiles and job vacancies bi-directionally. Fuzzy search, based on defined similarities, finds the best suitable result, as well as alternatives with a lower match score. Additional features include but are not limited to:

Transparency of search results, data quality improvement, and specific advancement of a job seeker's own profile according to market demand

Ontologies for professions, skills, and industries with defined similarities

Detail match analysis to explain the match score

Miss-match analysis to improve data quality and give feedback for continuing education

In the past, we have used as many as 40 criteria for the matching process, and the criteria will be tailored to Florida's needs. Due to the two-sided screening and matching of job offers to job seeker profiles the search approach is termed bi-directional matching. Found job offers or job seeker profiles are listed in a descending manner based on the degree of accordance of the matching result.

In addition to optimally fitting offerings, each search request is accompanied by a list of similar job vacancies in a separate section, providing useful results for each search request. Users also have the opportunity to manually influence the result, for example by, restricting search requests to a specific location area or deactivating the so-called “similarity matrix”, which is available for each job.

This matching functionality is based on the ELISE product implemented by WCC. In similar installations, ELISE is able to process 1,000,000 matching instances per day and still offers the possibility to react to desired priority settings changes in the matching logic on short notice.

The figure below depicts bi-directional matching based on different criteria.





Figure 3 - Bi-directional Matching

Enhanced case management tools for Regional Workforce staff to most fully assist employers and job seekers to include, but not be limited to: • Eligibility Determination • Service Tracking • Case Notes • Follow-up

IVLM provides support for advanced case management. A segmentation of job seekers provides the basis for the best fitting counseling strategy, thus ensuring that placement services are exactly tailored. Based on this and advanced profiling capabilities, counselors can select appropriate actions and define a personal development plan for the job seeker. IVLM also automatically creates a “history” of all counseling and employment activities and interactions providing a comprehensive overview about the path, progress and achieved results for the job seeker's journey towards employment. Similar concepts apply to employers with the goal to support employers in getting the best candidates for their vacancies.

We provide a successfully demonstrated IVLM solution based on more than 10 years of labor exchange/job matching experience (successfully demonstrated processes, concepts, matching rules, etc.). We can map our solution and the matching capabilities of the ELISE tool to your existing systems to integrate case management including intake, eligibility determination, benefits calculation, and payment, and combine front-office social decision-making processes with an automated back-office solution. It offers a client-centric, integrated case management solution that supports goal-oriented delivery of monetary benefits.

Apart from managing job seekers and employers, the Workforce Boards also have the opportunity to manage job seeker profiles and job offers in watch lists. With the aid of these lists and with a series of search functionalities, the Workforce Boards have the possibility to call up a customer. The access takes place by means of a client’s brief overview, which provides all the necessary job seeker information on one page. After that, personal data, customer data, rehabilitation information, curriculum vitae, documents and history can be viewed and maintained. A job seeker’s status is automatically evaluated by an assistant based on the job seekers’ data.





IVLM also offers the Workforce Boards, their one stops and service providers collaborative functions that enable communication both with each other and with job seekers or employers. Consequently, Providers are able to get in contact with job seekers, and employers by virtual mailboxes. Furthermore, reminder for tasks can be created by means of a follow-up tool. A delegate regulation also enables one stops and providers to assign delegates to allow seamless client supervision in case of their absence.

Precise reporting capabilities to meet the needs of federal, state and local reporting requirements

IVLM provides robust analysis and reporting solution built on top with standard API's to meet the needs of federal, state and local reporting requirements.

This provides interactive reporting and forecasting functionality to VLM and helps create standard reports, ad-hoc reports, exception-based reports, perform forecasting and trend analysis as well as scenario based analysis.

Strong interconnectivity capabilities between environments maintained by DEO Workforce Services and U.S. Department of Labor (Workforce Program Oversight) such as: Connect, One Stop Service Tracking (OSST) and Labor Market Information services

IVLM enables frontend services dedicated to call center agents; IVLM can easily be connected with CTI applications. IVLM facilitates integration with the current legacy systems of the Florida Workforce Development System, by applying SOA principles, in order to confirm effective interoperability with application architecture and consistency in the information exchanged among each functional area, and to guarantee smooth operation running, in addition to flexibility for future expansions and adjustments.

Eligibility determination functionality, data validation field recording, and activity tracking

The solution includes streamlined web-enabled tools for services application; eligibility rules engines to simplify the process of implementing and updating eligibility determination and a full suite of case management and benefits delivery components. The eligibility engine includes all functionalities to create and maintain eligibility criteria, data from internal and external sources, and for performing eligibility calculations. These programs or services are depicted in the following graphic:





Figure 4 - Eligibility Determination

Readily available information for researchers related to labor market and economic development data

The solution's data warehouse functionalities provide access to detailed statistical information on the labor market. An interactive forecasting functionality enables DEO to perform scenario based analysis, as well as forecasting and trend analysis.

Scenario based analysis allows determining future developments on different aggregation levels based on defined key variables and questions. These provide the basis for:

Identification of possible financial and operational impacts of planned interventions in the labor market, thus minimizing the risk of new programs and interventions in the labor market

Decision support for all planned future activities

Scenario-based analysis is based on:

The creation of key questions to be answered by the scenario analysis

The identification of the key stakeholders (target groups) that will be affected and have an interest in the possible scenario

Creation of actions and quantitative models to simulate the possible outcomes

Reporting of process outcomes to relevant stakeholders for improved business decision making

Forecasting and trend analysis functionality is used to identify future trends and needs in the labor market. We will leverage our experience from other projects in order to set up the collection of the right data and the right calculation rules and formulas.

Thus our IVLM solution enables the Florida Workforce Development System to:





Predict future trends and needs

Create new programs and services to address future trends and needs

Counteract adverse developments and reinforce positive developments on time (e.g., identification of future shortages regarding special industries)

Advanced self-service capabilities (Streamlined internet access)

A self-service portal, accessible via the web, provides job seekers and employers the opportunity to present their individual profiles and vacancies, search and apply for jobs / job candidates, find training opportunities, and access other government services. It is used by DEO, Workforce Florida, Inc., Regional Workforce Boards’ employees, and employers in the State as a tool to balance job supply and demand. It offers job seekers and employers information on the job market situation and enables both parties to communicate with each other.

The various search options available enable users to find up-to-date job listings and suitable applicants. A job seeker is given the opportunity to create and manage his/her profile online containing all application documents. Employers have the possibility to present their company and are able to handle parts of their application process directly. Additionally, the IVLM offers a functionality that enables job seekers to directly set their status to "job-seeking". This functionality can be used by job seekers independently, enabling them to provide required data without any time pressure.

Apart from traditional search functionality, a full text search and a matching based search is also available to all users of the self-service portal. The matching based search allows for an optimization of chances to find a suitable job offer or candidate by comparing several different criteria between job offers and potential candidates. Examples of criteria used for comparison are descriptions of the offered position, necessary knowledge and skills or local requirements. The matching based search delivers results based on the degree of similarity between vacant positions and a candidate’s profile. Employers are able to use the applicant management tool while job seekers can use the online job application functionality. The online job application functionality features the generation, saving and forwarding of application documents including cover letters and pictures. All of the above can be communicated between all participating labor market parties via the integrated mailing system. The system also allows for anonymous contact between the parties. The cooperation possibilities between the job-portal and the HR-system of employers enable exchange of job offers and candidate profiles among them. The Job Matching System matches job seekers with vacancies and will allow to:

Search for all types of jobs

Apply for jobs online

Track job search, including job listings applied to





Receive notifications of new job openings that fit the job-search profile

Sign up for interviews

Store versions of personal resumes, cover letters and other job-search documents such as writing samples, pictures, portfolio, and a transcript document

Print formatted copies of any job-search materials

In addition to self-service functionalities for employers and job seekers, the Portal also serves DEO and its service delivery partners. The following picture provides a high-level overview of the main functionalities of VLM that are available for employees of the Workforce Boards through the Internal Portal of VLM, and a description of the functionalities follows:

Figure 5 - Internal Job Portal

Profiling: Profiling enables gathering of job seekers' relevant data, if required; more intensive assistance is offered by means of case-management enabling:

Analysis of strength and areas for development by a set of collected criteria

Determination of status quo, calculation of the total degree of required assistance and proposal of implementation strategies for the successful job placement

Objective setting and control and documentation of advancement

Search options: Various search options assist in finding job listings and applicant profiles

Opportunity to search for management, specialist or assistant positions

Simple and intuitive search by means of a few criteria, whereas an advanced search option enables refinement of the simple





search

Profile search with a resume and additional information

Apart from innovative development tools, the IVLM uses the newest internet trends. Through the interactivity enabled by web 2.0 technologies supply and demand of the labor market can be brought together more efficiently and effectively. The communication in the job placement process is realized with the help of web 2.0 technologies in several ways. Apart from classic email communication, the IT platform offers a so-called “Call-Me” function that enables a telephone conversation, between a public employee and a job seeker who wants to remain anonymous, directly via the online portal.

The proposed solution will assist job seekers to manage and monitor status by a job agent that will offer the possibility to automatically inform themselves on new job offers available in the central database on a regular basis.

Each search request for job offers initiated by the user can be saved as a search profile, enabling the user to activate the job agent within the search results page. The job agent browses the updated job inventory automatically for new job postings matching the user’s preferences. As soon as new job openings are found, a message is sent to the job seeker.

The IVLM solution offers job seekers the opportunity to provide all required data for setting the "job-seeking" status themselves:

Increasing attractiveness of the Florida Workforce Development System's offerings for customers

Realizing data validation by the Florida Workforce Development System employees in the platform

One integrated solution means each user group would experience a consistent look and feel when using the IVLM solution. The users would not recognize that there are different components working in the background

All components would be completely integrated – both regarding business processes (no switching / changing of user interfaces within business processes), and regarding data (no double data entries, no data inconsistencies between components, etc.)

Reemployment related activities such as skills assessment and reemployment opportunity matching

This concept provides clarity to all stakeholders, in particular the job seeker, with full visibility of the skills required, as well as continuous coaching on the learning that the job seeker requires, and is available. Once a job seeker has searched for a job, they can access a detailed mismatch analysis for each search result. This skills assessment will allow them to easily identify areas that need improvement. Once the training need is identified, the system will





direct the user to the respective training courses and allow them to enroll online in the respective training sessions.

In the proposed job classification system, skills and capabilities are at the core, but also important is the set of knowledge, skills, experience, education and qualifications of the individuals performing that job. This will give job seekers a clear view of what they have to know and what they have to be able to do in order to reflect a specific “job profile”.

Administrative management functionality in support of data security, reporting, audits and user safeguards against fraudulent actions

The solution:

Increases quality through standardized processes

Frees up employees from administrative tasks

Focuses employee placement on the core business

This security framework can be viewed as the union of three, equally important, macro-areas:

Business assets and key processes: identifies the effort level required to protect the assets

Core capabilities: identifies the security functions covered by people

Technical architecture: describes tools and services used to achieve security strategy objectives

An interactive reporting functionality allows DEO and its partners to create standard reports, ad-hoc reports, and exception-based reports:

Standard reports are covered by report templates that make it easy to create recurring reports:

An interactive tool enables the generation of reports

Reports are visualized with interactive graphs and bars and can be individually adjusted to user needs

Reports can be refreshed and distributed to the users through a batch schedule mechanism

Distinguish between operational and statistical reports (including full LMO and virtual learning market vision)

To create individual reports based on all available data the report generator interface for ad-hoc reports will be provided:

Quick and easy report creation through drag-and-drop functionality

Selection of KPI’s and different dimensions from a palette

Save self-created reports for the later use

Reports can be exported and published in several formats (e.g., pdf, html)

Exception-based reporting provides proactive statistical analysis to allow immediate detection of outlier data and therefore enables the Florida Workforce Development System to react on time. This functionality will allow employees to:

Define business rules which trigger an exception report





Routinely check whether exception conditions are met

Define a list of recipients, based on the business and exception rules impacted (e.g., notify finance department if budget is less than a certain amount).

Furthermore, Accenture can provide DEO with different options to support operations and further development of VLM, depending on the needs of the Florida Workforce Development System:

Hosting in the US and operations support in all or designated areas

Hosting and / or operations under the responsibility of Accenture

Support in all areas of further development of the application to meet changing or new requirements

We also have a very close relationship with WCC, the vendor of the matching engine ELISE, and have the most experience in the market in implementing and maintaining ELISE based solution.

Automation of cumbersome manual or paper processes to ensure critical information needed to effectively manage the programs is readily accessible to state and local administrators and policymakers

IVLM supports all processes related to job placement from an end-to-end perspective, including:

Job seeker application materials, communications with employers, Personal Development Plan and training are all captured in the system

Access for caseworkers and coaches to client data (if allowed by the job seeker) to help them to find a job, improve employability, etc.

This end-to-end approach results in:

No double data entry or data inconsistencies: components are completely integrated regarding data and business processes

No need for manual paper work: paper files only necessary based on relevant policy or legal requirements

A technical architecture and underlying functionality that is adaptable, scalable and flexible to support continuous process improvement and changes in applicable state and federal laws

Accenture will use a cloud-based approach (e.g., via SaaS), and will adhere to the most critical software engineering design patterns to enable the principles of scalability, usability and interoperability:

Usage of Object-Oriented platform

Usage of MVC design pattern

Usage of SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)

Usage of cohere services

Usage of best-of-breed database

The VLM Asset Conceptual Technology Architecture is depicted below and subsequently described in further detail:





Figure 6 - High-Level Technical Architecture

The technical solution would be developed using the SOA principles and using the Accenture Public Service Platform (APSP) with the following Layers:

Web Layer: This layer consists of JSR 168 & 256 Compliant portlets, and Business Delegates to support the VLM Front End. Emphasis would be used on standardized frameworks supported by APSP.

Business Services Layer: This Layer consists of Business Services, which would be orchestrating the Technical Services to archive the VLM functionality. The services in this layer would be invoked by the presentation layer.

Technical Services Layer: This Layer consists of Granular and Composite Technical Services including VLM Application Services and the utility services such as Auditing, Logging, and Exceptions Handling Services. This layer would utilize APSP Services, Services Framework, and APSP Adaptors. APSP Adaptors would be utilized to abstract the functionality for the underlying COTS products in a standardized manner.

Data Services Layer: This Layer consists of Services related to the VLM Database

Third-Party Systems Layer: This Layer consists of Services from WCC ELISE System used for Job Matching

Presentation Services Layer & Technical Services Layer: These Layers are based in the APSP Portal Framework using other frameworks for Custom Development, Webservices Interface, HTTP Adaptor/Connector, Exception Handling, and Batch Dispatcher Services

On past similar installations, the run-time software products we have used include:

Liferay Portal 6.1 on Tomcat

Apache-tomcat-7.0.34(App Server)

Apache CXF 2.6 (Web Service Framework recommended by APSP)





APSP 4.1.0 (This is an Accenture Software product)

AFPJ 6.3.0

Hibernate with JPA ( APSP Compliant )

ELISE Server 3.1.x

Oracle 11g R2

Other enhancements/features/innovations provided by the vendor not identified above

Life Long Learning:

The VLM supports continuous learning by integrating with job seekers, institutions and education vendors. The Portal:

Continuously provides advanced training opportunities

Utilizes current and prospective demand for skills in relation to target groups to provide job seekers with recommendations of skills and advanced trainings, and active support for advanced training efforts

Analyses gaps in job seekers‘ skill sets to communicate with institutions and educators

Integrates with vendors of educational programs to provide access to user groups in order to promote training possibilities, and give feedback from completed training sessions

Based on previous implementations, Accenture believes that implementing the system will

provide the following outcomes and corresponding benefits for DEO and the Florida Workforce

Development System:

Optimized business and processes

– Consistent service delivery through centralized software and processes

Figure 7 - Concept of an Integrated Education Platform




– More efficient communication using integrated eGovernment processes

– A citizen-centric CRM solution

Accelerated job market balancing

– Increased transparency of job market

– Decrease in number of registered unemployed as well as unemployment rate

– Reduction in number of long-term unemployed people

– Reduction of average duration of unemployment

Advanced job placement quality

– Increase in number of job-to-job placements

– Enhanced percentage of successful job placement offers

– Improvement in accuracy fitting of job placement offers

– Increase flexibility of the labor market through matching based search approach

Successful eGovernment solution

– Significant increase of registered job seekers and published profiles

With our existing experience from VLM projects we can help DEO not only in implementing the

IVLM system but also in accompanying the whole transformation journey, including:

Focusing on the end-to-end process (job seeker, Florida Workforce Development System

employees, employers, other government agencies, etc.)

Supporting organizational change (developing / restructuring organizational structure,

processes, infrastructure, etc.)

Supporting communication on different management and operational levels

Conducting internal and external marketing for the IVLM

Defining new, innovative labor market programs (including education and training programs)

Defining, gathering and analyzing relevant data and KPIs as basis for decision making

Fostering knowledge exchange








3.0 Accenture's Overview

3.1 Company background, business profile and strategy

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company,

with more than 261000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining

unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business

functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture

collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.

Industry analysts identify Accenture as a leader in health and human services, customer

relationship management, and outcome-based performance management. The International

Data Corporation (IDC), a leading global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and

events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets,

named Accenture as the leading systems integrator globally for two of the past three years. Our

Health and Human Services practice also boasts broad capabilities—from business process

services and change management to systems implementation—to help integrate quality

Figure 8 - Accenture Overview




services, maximize limited resources, modernize technology, create efficiencies, improve

customer service, and reduce costs.

Accenture has 94 of 100 Fortune Global

and more than 3/4 Fortune Global 500 as

its clients

All of Accenture’s top 100 clients in fiscal

2012 have been clients for at least five

years, and 92 have been clients for at least

10 years

More than 4,000 public and private

customers

As of August 30, 2012 Accenture head

count was approximately 261,000

Accenture has more than 200 offices in 52

countries worldwide

Accenture operates globally with one common

brand and business model. These enable us to

provide clients around the world with the same

high level of service. Accenture`s three key

service areas – Consulting, Technology and

Outsourcing – are the innovation engines

through which we develop knowledge capital,

build world-class skills and capabilities, and

create, acquire, and manage assets central to the development of solutions for our clients.

3.2 Accenture in Florida

Accenture has a broad Florida footprint, with offices in Tallahassee, Tampa/St. Petersburg and

Miami, and projects spanning public and private sector initiatives. We employ over 1,000

professionals in the State of Florida, with approximately 100 people in Tallahassee. Our

Tallahassee team has extensive public sector consulting and implementation experience,

including our experience launching the State’s existing One Stop Service Tracking (OSST)

system over a decade ago. Additionally, our local Tallahassee team has executed a broad

range of services for Florida’s citizens, including the following highlights:

Created the Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) licensing system that supports 100 percent

online filing for mortgage broker applications and renewals

Implemented OFR’s web portal provides licensees with a ‘one-stop shop’ to quickly meet

their regulatory filing requirements, submit new applications, see the current status of all of

their regulatory filings, and renew their licenses at their convenience

Implemented the MyFloridaMarketPlace procurement system which has eliminated the need

for paper processing of purchase orders and invoices across State agencies

Comm. & High tech.

FinancialServices

Public ServiceProducts

Ban

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g, C

apital M

ark

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, In

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Hig

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En

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Public S

erv

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Auto

mo

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onsum

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ealth &

Life S

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Ind

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Tra

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En

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Systems Integration & Technology

Business Process Outsourcing / Operations

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Figure 9 - Accenture Operating Model




Addressed unemployment claimant challenges by adding a self-service capability to the

Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI) web portal where claimants can reprint key forms at

their convenience, 24/7. In the first 2 months over 40,000 reprints were made using this self

service capability

Worked with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to modernize their

technology platform and organize around a shared services model; Created a call center for

businesses and professionals

Our Accenture team also believes in the importance of actively engaging in our local

communities. We have active Corporate Citizenship initiatives across the State of Florida,

including partnerships with United Way, Junior Achievement, Dress for Success, Community

Health Charities, Earth Share, Global Impact, and various Accenture Skills to Succeed

initiatives.

3.3 Accenture in the Public Service market

Our Public Service group is dedicated to helping Federal, State and Local government agencies

and other public service organizations worldwide achieve high performance in the face of

complex challenges. Through innovative consulting and technology solutions and services, we

enable public service organizations to deliver increased and improved services while containing

costs—driving value for citizens and stakeholders.

Government agencies are increasingly turning to comprehensive service providers such as

Accenture to bring together the full end-to-end solution (consulting, technology and analytics)

that drives key outcomes globally and locally. Accenture is uniquely positioned to leverage

results delivered for the world's leading commercial brands, while meeting the public service

mission, regulatory and legislative requirements unique to Government entities.

Accenture serves in 26 countries’ governments and other public service organizations that span

the full range of industries, focusing on our clients’ ideas, Accenture collaborates with them to

create unique strategies to reap the full benefits of new organizational structures, processes and

technologies, driving needed transformational change.

The Accenture Employment and Unemployment Insurance Solution works with unemployment

and insurance agencies at all levels to help them to function more strategically and in particular

process claims, collect taxes, reduced overpayments and distribute benefits. The innovative

unemployment solution allows for automation of the unemployment recognition status process,

the benefits and tax and appeals process workflows. It provides enhanced self-service

capabilities through multi-channel access and offers online registration for employers. The

solution prioritizes work schedules with improved case management tools and lessens overall

unemployment insurance compensation through quicker filing, job placement service

registration and matching capabilities. Most importantly the solution helps reduce the duration of

unemployment for the citizens the social insurance agencies serve. The major solution value

levers can be resumed in a) Reducing Customer Service Costs, b) Increasing Employee

Productivity, c) Lowering Information System Costs, and d) Reducing Direct/Indirect Labor

Costs.




3.4 Accenture software

Accenture Software helps companies and governments achieve business results faster and at

lower cost. Grounded in our deep understanding of business processes and years of experience

helping clients solve real business challenges, our software is designed to deliver business

outcomes. Leveraging deep industry and process knowledge, Accenture Software combines

technology and industry acumen to develop software solutions that enable organizations to

meet their business goals.

Accenture has deep experience in Software-as-a-Solution (SaaS). Accenture Software-as-a-

Service (SaaS) solutions help solve business and IT challenges while delivering tangible

business results—speed to value, lower total

cost of ownership, increased user adoption

and greater employee productivity. Over the

last five years, Accenture has implemented

more than 100 large-scale, complex SaaS

implementations, drawing on over 30 years of

experience in system integration and data

management.

Accenture’s Managed Hosting and Storage

services provide clients a world-class

environment to support a variety of open

systems platforms, enterprise storage

solutions, and other IT hardware. Accenture

leverages virtualization technologies to offer

immediate cost advantages and enhanced

returns through rationalization, streamlined operations, improved utilization, increased

responsiveness and flexibility as warranted. This service is architected in a modular fashion

allowing flexibility to match the business needs of each client environment while achieving cost

reductions and improving service and customer satisfaction.

We can manage and host the solution on our servers located in US. Our Managed Hosting and

Storage services can provide DEO through the following service capabilities:

Remote Hands: On-site persons to provide for physical needs of environment at the

direction of remote management staff (i.e. hard reboot, check lights, change media, check

cable, etc.)

Media Management: Media Management involves execution of activities on media devices

used to store data and the retrieval and restore of data.

Localized Supplier Support: Site specific. Interaction with the hosting provider related to

the hosting and support of the systems being supported.

Physical Site Planning: This involves considering what is necessary at a physical site to

comply with any SLA, health and safety, or regulatory requirement in existence and

prepares a plan to meet those requirements.

Figure 10 - Accenture Software Overview




Facilities Management: Facilities Management involves monitoring the central and remote

environments according to environmental (i.e., heat levels) and regulatory levels. When

necessary, corrective actions are requested and monitored according to predetermined

environmental control plans.

Offsite Data Storage: Responsible for managing the process of moving backup media from

the data centers to the offsite data storage locations in order to meet compliance and data

retention requirements.








4.0 References

4.1 Overview

Workforce organizations worldwide turn to Accenture for help on a variety of initiatives—from

strategy to large-scale systems design, implementation and maintenance. In the following

pages, we outline a sample of relevant client engagements, which demonstrate our extensive

experience. Accenture holds client contact information in the highest regard; we provide

contacts to facilitate client introductions as requested.

As discussed in Section 2.0, this extensive global experience has enabled us to develop an

Employment Services suite for governments, which we can leverage to provide a state-of-the-

art job matching system to enhance Florida's talent pool and case management and reporting

system.

4.2 World class labor exchange technology projects

4.2.1 German Federal Labor Agency, Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) - The Virtual Labor Market

Overview In 2003, more than 4.7 million Germans were unemployed. As a result, the social and political pressure on BA became very high. In response to the situation, 25 projects were set up as "BA - Die Agentur", with the "Virtual Labor Market" project being the cornerstone of the BA re-organization. BA aimed to achieve the following objectives:

Nationwide transparency of supply and demand within the job and training markets;

Rapid access to applicant- and job-listings, to those offering and those seeking work, and the associated acceleration of the matching process on the job and training markets;

Provide sustained support to matching in the job and training markets;

Bureaucracy-free communication-channels for transmitting offers and information;

Flexibility in responding to specific market necessities.

Accenture's approach

Accenture was awarded a five-year contract to design, build and operate a job portal to help link employers, job seekers and officials at Germany's labor agency via the Internet and Intranet, including:

An Internet job market that provides job-seekers and employers free access to job-listings and applicant profiles, enabling an automatic matching process;

An online portal that supplies information concerning BA’s range of services, as well as current information about the German job market;

A job-robot that searches the entire Internet for additional job-listings from employers, making this information available to the BA’s placement professionals;

A new internal placement, advising and information system (VerBIS) to replace BA’s old IT-system. This system makes up the largest part of the project.

Accenture’s role on the project was to:

Design, implement and run the new portal for 'jobboerse.arbeitsagentur.de';

Support the necessary changes in key areas such as Account Management, Marketing, Process Design and Implementation, Change Management and Business & Content Development.

Outcome The main goal of the "Virtual Labor Market" project was to substantially increase BA's




4.2.1 German Federal Labor Agency, Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) - The Virtual Labor Market

operational effectiveness, straightening the processes and dramatically enhancing the customer-focus in operations. BA achieved this by:

Significantly improving the matching processes between job seekers and job vacancies by taking each profile information into account and using the market leading matching engine ELISE from our partner WCC;

More detailed profiling of job seekers and job vacancies information in order to increase matching chances;

Enhancing the services for employers and acquiring new job positions;

Tailoring and tracking resources allocated to "cases", such as long-term unemployed people, through a highly individualized case management approach, with a detailed personal profiling, advisory, intensified support and the integration of affiliated medical services;

Actively integrating all labor market participants (job boards, staffing agencies and other private, commercial and non-commercial labor market intermediaries);

Increasing the self-service offering for employers and job seeking people, leaving more room for value-added tasks for BA employees.

Contact Accenture contact for client introduction: Rainer Binder, Managing Director – Stuttgart, Germany - Tel: +49899308168432, email: [email protected]

4.2.2 French Ministry of Labor - Pole Emploi

Overview In 2008, France sought to create and launch the new public organization of French unemployed workers placement and compensation as a fall out of the economic crisis.

This involved significant organizational restructuring:

Merging of two institutions – ANPE and ASSEDIC - whose activities are complementary and operating models differ (public vs. private);

Ensuring that all employees under statutory constraints can be redeployed;

Merging ANPE’s and ASSEDIC’s Regional Management Units;

There were numerous critical constraints - the solution was to be launched within a short period of time (19 months) while maintaining the standards of Public Service during the merger ;

Managing the change for the 45,000 impacted employees from 26 regions and also deploying new services in the midst of the economic crisis.


Assisted regional project teams in the deployment of the 7 merger work streams identified : Organization, Offer of Services, Human Resources, Finance, Performance Management, Quality, Communication;

Distributed architecture using Linux Red Hat, Weblogic 10 application server and ELISE on commodity servers (HP blades);

Innovative custom developments powered by OSS: Dependency Injection and AOP using Spring, Spring Web Services, Spring Batch and Spring DWR;

Custom industrialization and standardized multi-environment Weblogic installations and configurations;

Complete development infrastructure: OSS supports from IDE to Continuous Integration and delivery tools through Configuration Management and Build Systems;

Custom industrialization of application deployment;

Supervision based on Microsoft SCOM software;

Provisioning solution based on Microsoft SCCM software;

mailto:[email protected]




Wiki-based knowledge-exchange.

Outcome The project achieved

Rationalization to one unique Search & Matching Engine;

Enabled new types of search, such as a) reduced job seeking duration by matching profiles which are very similar, b) reduced tension on some job offers which are lacking job seekers, and c) increased self-service in term of job seeking like : what training is required, what other type of jobs can be looked at;

Scalability and flexibility of a 140+ servers architecture organized in clusters;

99.99% availability architecture;

Cost savings from common hardware and Open Source;

Development cost reduction and rationalization leveraging Accenture Delivery Architectures;

High performance delivery of complex JEE components;

High flexibility in matching rules/

Contact Accenture contact for client introduction: Jerome Vercaemer, , Managing Director – France - Tel: +33153235782, email: [email protected]

4.3 Employment-related consulting projects, US States and nonprofits

4.3.1 – State of Ohio

Overview In its efforts to attract, enable, and retain a best-in-class workforce, Ohio sought to create a repeatable workforce forecasting process that could identify employers' skill needs. Key success factors for the project included:

A process that would:

o Be noninvasive; data had to be pulled in a manner that did not hinder business

o Be applicable to a wide range of employers

o Build a sense of trust and confidentiality

Forecasts that would contain:

o State-level focus

o Current and future job openings and skill needs

o Accurate data

o Granular data (detailed jobs, skills, and competency levels)


After working with a range of labor market stakeholders in Ohio (from education community, to employers, to government) to identify a common vision for the forecasting tool, Accenture created the "Workforce Information Exchange." In Collaboration with the Ohio Business Roundtable, this web-based tool was then distributed in an initial pilot to several of Ohio's largest employers, who were encouraged to populate the tool with their current and future job needs and identify their most critical gaps.

Outcome Following were the key outcomes of the project:

Ability to see current demand, as well as future demand 12, 24, and 36 months out

Standard data structure for future development of reporting & analytics by the state

Demand data capable of informing education and workforce related decisions

Promotion of exchanges between educational and business institutions

Plans to expand forecasting tool across Ohio





4.3.1 – State of Ohio

Contact Accenture contact: James P. Struntz Jr. , Managing Director – Location Columbus, USA- Tel: +1 (614) 629-2266, email: [email protected]

4.3.2 Skills for Chicagoland's Future (SCF)

Overview Skills for Chicagoland's Future is a public/private partnership spanning Cook County and the City of Chicago. It acts as the intermediary for businesses to access workforce resources and services. It is focused on efforts to:

Close the skills gap in the Skills for Chicagoland’s Future geographical area;

Efficiently respond to both immediate and long term hiring needs;

Decrease the number of unfilled jobs;

Reduce the time to fill job openings for employers;

Foster collaboration among business, educational, governmental and community organizations;

SCF was seeking a technology strategy to support significant planned growth.


For the Technology Strategy:

Accenture leveraged internal advisors with industry and functional knowledge, as well as deep technical backgrounds, to evaluate and shortlist potential solutions;

Each potential solution was evaluated to determine how well it met SCF's specific requirements and growth trajectory;

A roadmap and target-state technology architecture were developed, reviewed, tweaked, and proposed to the SCF Board.

For the Skills for Chicagoland’s Future Blueprint:

A series of interviews were conducted with peer city organizations, past SCF clients, City of Chicago staff, Cook County Staff, SCF staff, and WIB staff, to understand how the SCF model works from all perspectives and what pain points exist;

A diagnostic tool was developed based on these inputs, to evaluate the extent to which an organization is demand-driven. Detailed self-assessment tools were developed to perform a deeper-dive analysis into specific aspects of the operations: Business Partnership Development, Workforce Funding, Training Vendor Management, Job Connection, and Support.

Outcome Gaps in business and technology maturity were identified, analyzed, and prioritized, to focus on areas which warranted investment to drive the most long-term value;

The scalability of the organization was analyzed, and staffing shortfalls were projected in several areas. Technology solutions were evaluated to determine whether they might address those shortfalls;

A risk assessment of the organization was completed and subsequently leveraged by the board to monitor the organization on an ongoing basis;

A 12-month and 3 year roadmap was developed.

Contact Accenture contact for client introduction: Mark Anderson, Senior Manager – Chicago, IL - Tel: +1 (312) 693-3332, email: [email protected]

4.3.3 Western US State – Economic Development Strategy

Overview The client, an Economic Development Organization, is a public-private partnership, responsible for the economic development strategy for a Western US State. The






4.3.3 Western US State – Economic Development Strategy

economic development organization evaluated the state's competitiveness against 16 peer states relative to:

Business Attraction & Retention: Businesses wanting to relocate to, and out of, a state

Business Creation: Entrepreneurs looking to create their businesses

Like most regions in the US, the State’s GDP and employment levels suffered in the economic downturn. The Organization’s mission is to improve the economy and implement strategies to recruit, expand and create businesses that create high-quality jobs. The Organization selected Accenture to help them achieve this mission.


Accenture worked with the Organization’s staff and senior leadership to develop the vision, mission, 5-year ambition, organization and performance measures which aligned with leadership‘s priorities. This included:

Assessing the State’s competitiveness compared to its peers;

Assessing the Organization’s performance and interactions with the economic development ecosystem in the State;

Identifying and evaluating the industries and locations the Organization should focus on to recruit businesses and expand trade domestically and internationally;

Conducting focus groups and workshops with the Organization’s staff and leadership, external stakeholders, industry and technical advisors, as well as economic development advisors;

Defining a map of current and target interactions of the Organization with the State’s economic development ecosystem and a stakeholder engagement plan to improve operations, collaboration, and reduce overlap of activities;

Defining the performance measures, data collection process for each measure and specifying ownership and accountability for achievement of performance targets.

Outcome The Organization’s five-year plan now links directly to its operations, organization and annual targets. The Organization can focus more on key operations, interact with stakeholders, communicate progress externally, and move the organization towards a results-oriented culture. They have also achieved enhanced competitiveness in national and global markets as well as superior performance for state businesses

Contact Accenture contact for client introduction: Dwight Hutchins, Managing Director – Washington, D.C. - Tel: +1 (202) 533-1166, email: [email protected]

4.3.4 The Springboard Project - Business Roundtable

Overview Business Roundtable created The Springboard Project as an independent commission to explore how Americans can obtain knowledge and skills they need to compete and succeed in the global economy. The commission was charged with focusing on adults, from age 18 to whenever they choose to leave the workforce, and with developing specific recommendations that would:

Encourage the building of relevant skills for today’s and tomorrow’s markets;

Institutionalize lifelong learning as an individual and collective imperative; and

Facilitate workers’ capacity to adapt to dislocation and evolving labor markets.


Accenture's recommended the following course of action to the Business Roundtable:

Advocate Action by Congress and the Administration on The Springboard Project’s Recommendations. Build support for and act on workforce education and training





policy changes

Partner to Produce Results. Ask member companies to partner with at least one state; community college; or other two- or four-year college, school district, or nonprofit organization to make a measurable impact

Communicate Workplace Expectations. Develop Workforce 101, a Web-based, free interactive course for high school and college students (also appropriate for any new entrant to the workforce) on workplace needs and expectations for today and the future.

Engage the Broader Business Community.

Outcome The Springboard Project recommended policy changes and business-led initiatives that will produce immediate and lasting results.

Create incentives to build a better-educated and trained workforce.

Develop nationally recognized workforce certifications and credentials.

Communicate timely and consumer-friendly information to workers.

Bring 21st-century innovation to education and training.

Unlock the value of community colleges and two-year institutions.

Foster lifelong learning.

Contact Accenture contact for client introduction: Jorge L. Benitez, Managing Director – Location Miami, USA- Tel: +1 (786) 425-7020, email: [email protected]

4.4 Internal matching /staffing with Accenture's consultants

4.4.1 Accenture workforce planning

Accenture is a business of over 261,000 employees, and hires 60,000 people a year. 130,000 are staffed on new projects every year, which is a highly complicated process but crucial for the business to operate successfully.

Our internal scheduling processes allow us to:

1. Deliver the right talent and capabilities at the right time and for the right price to meet the needs of the business.

2. Anticipate and address skills shortages, excess capacity, and supply/demand imbalances before there is a negative impact to our business.

Consider short term and long term implications of decisions

3. Increase skills specialization of our people through repeat assignments and targeted training to meet the demands of our business. Exploit new economies of scale:

Specialized skills identified, developed, and ‘housed’ together in resource pools

Recognize the importance of industry skills and client specific experience

People scheduled in home location (or closer to home location) more often

4. Optimize workforce mix/pyramid through proactive involvement in project planning and scheduling.

5. Let our Core Values guide scheduling decisions – from the client’s and individual’s perspectives.

4.5 Global Accenture initiative - Skills to Succeed

4.5.1 Skills to Succeed, Global Accenture Initiative

Overview Skills to Succeed is a global corporate citizenship initiative by Accenture, which focuses





on advancing employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in both mature and emerging markets - through long term relationships with strategic partners.


At the heart of Skills to Succeed is the measurable impact we have achieved through our relationships with partners—by increasing marketplace competitiveness and economic resilience, building sustainable businesses and creating employment opportunities. Today, we have 200+ collaborative initiatives with partners worldwide. Highlights include:

Working with Junior Achievement and Junior Achievement Young Enterprise to equip young people with workplace and entrepreneurial skills in more than 19 countries.

Teaming with Plan International to provide training and career opportunities to approximately 7,100 underprivileged young people in Thailand and Indonesia in industries such as IT, customer relations, and electronic repair.

Helping Save the Children provide approximately 7,000 disadvantaged and at-risk young people in Egypt, Indonesia and the Philippines with vocational and life skills that assist them in securing lasting employment.

Working with Youth Business International to equip the organization’s global network of nonprofit affiliates – e.g. Conexão, Brazil – with improved tools, funding, mentoring and training to help 33,500 disadvantaged young people become entrepreneurs.

Outcome By end of fiscal 2012, we had equipped more than 320,000 people with workplace and entrepreneurial skills. Our goal is to do this for another 180,000 - reaching a total of 500,000 people by 2015.

Contact Accenture contact for client introduction: Robin Boggs, Director US Corporate Citizenship Atlanta, GA - Tel: +1 (678) 657-4774, email: [email protected]









5.0 Implementation Best Practices

5.1 Best practices associated with implementing labor exchange systems

In Accenture's experience, key points for best practice include, but are not limited to:

Involve key stakeholders in design of the new system to make it responsive to their needs

Put the administrative burden on the state to make it easy/effective for employers to participate

Market and promote the new solution early and often

Enable strong project management and change management to avoid technical risks

Monitor citizen’s data protection

Enable a truly cooperative environment for multiple stakeholders.

5.2 Ideal criteria for workforce automation SaaS vendor for DEO

For an optimal Workforce Automation SaaS solution, we recommend that DEO requests from its

vendors to specify and provide evidence that they can:

1. Engage all employers and assure a rigorous focus on employers' needs and skill

requirements:

Have specific experience on Employment Services, taking on board all the stakeholders in

the employment ecosystem, and provide a proven track record on workforce development

projects, in the United States and internationally

o Offer demand-driven systems that can provide:

Employer relationship management

Current and forecast needs

Real-time information capabilities

2. Assure reliable data on skills and capabilities for both employers and job seekers:

o Demonstrate ability to provide accurate and up-to-date data to enable complete and

appropriate matching between job seekers and employees, and to understand and

forecast workforce development trends and gaps. Specifically, demonstrate ability to

o Provide system that can:

Specify jobs in terms of the skills, proficiencies and competencies required

Specify job seeker qualifications in terms of the skills, proficiencies and

competencies they possess

Specify the skill and capability gaps for current and future demand, and

supporting life-long learning




Shift towards skills and capabilities rather than job titles to improve job

matching between job seekers and employers, and help stakeholders to plan

strategically and focus resources on priority industries and occupations

3. Provide for independent certification of credentials

o Offer system that can:

Provide links to independent credentialing sources through which employers

can confirm credentials claimed by applicants

Provide links to proprietary or third party tools that can assess job seeker

competencies, skills and proficiencies

4. Develop outcome-based incentives

o Demonstrate ability to measure and reward successful placement and persistence of

people in jobs, among other factors

o Offer system that can measure and reward the following measurement and reward to

each stakeholders:

Measurement Reward

Employers Time to fill jobs; Persistence in jobs X years after placement

Lower costs, and higher productivity from new hires

Job Seekers Time to be placed in a job; Persistence in jobs X years after placement

Higher income, and greater job stability

Education and Workforce Organizations

Percentage of those initially enrolled who graduate on-time and are placed in a job within X months and persist for Y years

Organizational income tied to successful outcomes for those served

State Number of net new jobs created, and business investment and expansion in the State; Average wage and benefit levels for such new jobs created; Average time on unemployment; Unemployment rate; Human services costs associated with unemployment

Lower costs for unemployment and human services

5. Align and integrate stakeholders

o Demonstrate ability to link job seekers, educators, and employers needs and

capabilities and communicate them to every stakeholders

o Provide advanced matching capabilities: two directional, skills specific, ranked by

degree of fulfillment of requirements

o Provide advanced learning capabilities: access to referral information and life-long

learning assistance, as well as feedback on the quality of graduates and the needs of

employers that can be used to improve their curriculum and instruction

6. Implement complex and flexible SaaS solutions




o Demonstrate global and proven experience in implementing complex and flexible

Software-as-a-Service solutions, combined with a proven record in data

management

o Industry leader for both Systems Integration and Management Consulting across the

public and private sectors to support end-to-end system implementation

By requesting information on these criteria from its vendors, the Department of Economic

Opportunity would be able to choose a globally experienced partner who deeply understands

Florida’s specific requirements, thereby enabling the better outcomes for Florida’s citizens.