Located in:
- III. Operational Planning Elements
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an Operational Planning Elements section that supports the State’s strategy and the system-wide vision described in Section II(c) above. Unless otherwise noted, all Operational Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs. This section must include—
- b. State Operating Systems and Policies
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a description of the State operating systems and policies that will support the implementation of the State strategy described in section II Strategic Elements. This includes—
- b. State Operating Systems and Policies
III. b. 1. A. State operating systems that support coordinated implementation of State strategies (e.g., labor market information systems, data systems, communication systems, case-management systems, job banks, etc.)
Current Narrative:
In the autumn of 2016, Maine received a $1.1 million-dollar Reemployment and Systems Integration (RSI) Dislocated Worker grant (DWG) to investigate and implement a common access portal across core programs. The working group for this project gathered information from other states on their pursuit of similar initiatives and worked with vendors to review available options for solutions. A request for proposals (RFP) containing the State’s requirements for a system was developed and a vendor secured through competitive bid. The system, named W.O.R.K. Services: Workforce Opportunities, Referrals, and Knowledge Services, went live in December 2019 at two soft launch locations, Bangor and Machias, and will be rolled out statewide in 2020. The system integrates the disparate management information systems of Adult Education, BES and BRS with the capacity for additional agency partners over time and includes a public facing portal. For more information on the portal see the Program Data; Data Alignment and Integration section of the plan for more information.
Center for Workforce Research and Information (CWRI), MDOL’s labor market information provider, will add the data on participants of core partners to Maine’s of Maine Education and Attainment Research Navigation system or MaineEARNS, thereby linking the records of core program participants with their corresponding wage and employment records for program evaluation and reporting purposes.
MaineEARNS also provides information on employment and wage outcomes for Maine workers who graduated from the University of Maine System and Maine Community College System after July 2008. Students, parents, educators, administrators, policy makers, and anyone interested in earning education credentials and employment in Maine will be able to use this data to research, plan and make informed decisions. Interest has been expressed by at least one private university to join in the collections and reporting. It is this same system which is being used to meet the requirement for the annual ETPL reporting.