July 2024

Training Opportunities

Register for Electronic Document Storage (EDS) Training using WF1.

Join your peers to learn about Electronic Document Storage (EDS) from a multi-program view. This general training is ideal for both new and experienced employment and training staff who use WF1 to enroll and upload participant documents into EDS as part of their role. We will share examples from youth, adult, adult career pathways, and dislocated worker with special focus on the federal requirements and state policies related to EDS and Data Validation.

NOTE: Beginning July 1, 2025, ACP grantees will be required to use Electronic Document Storage (EDS) in Workforce One. 

Date/Times:

• Thursday, July 25, 2024, from 1 PM – 3 PM
• Tuesday, July 30, 2024, from 1 PM – 3 PM
• Thursday, August 1, 2024, from 9 AM -11 AM

    Click to Register: Electronic Document Storage (EDS) Training Registration Form

Technical Assistance July 15 – 16: Register Now

Updates

Awards for the Targeted Populations - Workforce and the Clean Economy Equitable Workforce grants have been announced! Congratulations to all awarded Grantees!

The Office of Adult Career Pathways is soliciting applications for funding Capacity Building to eligible Minnesota community-based organizations to increase their capacity to provide workforce services and related training for historically underserved communities of color or low-income communities.

In addition, we are soliciting applications for funding Diversity & Inclusion Training to eligible Minnesota small businesses to increase their ability to engage, hire, and retain people of color in a variety of roles. 

Applications for both programs will be accepted on a continual basis until all funds have been awarded. We encourage Grantees and any interested organization to visit the DEED Competitive Grants and Contracts webpage to review all outgoing grants.

The team is also preparing to release a round 2 request for proposal for the Targeted Populations Workforce program. Stay tuned for an early July release.

Note: Organizations will no longer need to have an operating budget of $1M or less to apply for the Targeted Populations programs. This change will be reflected in the application beginning July 1.

We continue to work with our Performance Team to put together a Provider Training Map. We anticipate this being posted soon with the goal to increase referrals across ACP programs and with external partners. 

Quarterly Reports – Due Dates

Quarterly reports are due the 30^th of the month following the end of the quarter. See below for the report due dates:

• October 30
• January 30
• April 30
• July 30

Program-specific report templates are available on the webpage under Adult Career Pathways Programs. If you need assistance, please connect with your Grant Coordinator. If needed, we have also posted Quarterly Report Instructions.

Workforce One – Electronic Document Storage

Beginning July 1, 2025, ACP grantees will be required to use Electronic Document Storage (EDS) in Workforce One. 

• See Training Opportunities section at top of Partner Express for details and link to sign up for your training.

Adult Career Pathways Guides

The ACP Workforce One User Guide has been updated and posted to the ACP home page.

The ACP Operations Guide has been updated and posted to the ACP home page.  Changes are noted below:

• ACP Operations Guide
  • Updated Support Services section to include guidance on the use of reloadable cards; Added a Bidding Requirements

Please contact your Adult Career Pathways Grant Coordinator directly with any questions regarding Adult Career Pathways Programs.

Reminders:

• PY22-FY23 grant and PY21 Reallocation funds must be expended by June 30, 2024.
• PY23-FY24 Carry Forward Requests – requests are being processed and approvals will be sent out soon.
• PY24-FY25 grant contracts are being processed and will be sent out for signatures are they are completed. Providers will have access to funds as soon as they’re set up in WF1.

SFY25 State Dislocated Worker Changes

A memo about the 2024 legislative amendments to State Dislocated Worker program was emailed on June 12. Due to the fast-approaching start of the fiscal year, DEED recommended partners adjust their SFY25 planned expenditures within 3-5% of previous plans, as needed. For example, if your SFY24 contract had 10% in administrative costs, your SFY25 admin should be at 13% or 15%.

• Although, changes signed into law by Governor Walz are effective July 1, 2024, policy modifications and implementation will take place throughout the remainder of 2024. A schedule of proposed areas of focus and timelines were included in the memo.
• As always, plans can be modified as needed. We ask that providers hold off any modifications until after at least one round of monthly invoice have been processed. 

For more details, please read the memo. 

Minnesota Hosted the Department of Labor’s Dislocated Worker Region V Roundtable

• The Roundtable was held June 24 – 26, 2024.
• Updates will be shared with partners after the meeting. 

Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Board (MJSP)

• The next Board meeting will be held on October 28, 2024.
• Supplemental Funding Requests are due 30 days before the meeting.

Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) 

The planning documents for the PY 2024 Workplan, Budget, and Contracts have been sent to all providers. Providers should start gathering the necessary information and prepare their funding renewal applications. However, please hold off on submitting these applications until further notice. DEED is currently awaiting the breakdown of the PY 2024 Authorized Position (AP) Report. This report is crucial for determining the final allocation of Authorized Positions by county. Further instructions will be provided once the AP Report is received.

Check out the updated SCSEP web page for information and resources. We’ll continue to update the page as needed.

Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) 

• MN RETAIN achieved its goal of 3,200 enrollments!
• The program is still active; however, enrollment has been paused.
• If you or someone you know have an injury or illness that affects work? Visit mnretain.com to see if RETAIN could help.

You can find additional information and resources here: Office of Dislocated Worker and Federal Adult Programs website. 

Please email all requests, reports, and technical assistance questions to the Dislocated Worker Federal Adult Programs general email at dwfaprograms.deed@state.mn.us.

Performance Updates for Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult

Data Freeze Date:

The Data Freeze Date for WIOA Adult, WIOA Dislocated Worker, and State Dislocated Worker Program Year 2023 is July 15, 2024. Please ensure all data entry for the period of 07/01/2023 – 06/30/2024 is entered into Workforce One (WF1) including Measurable Skill Gains for all participants who attended training during the year.

PY2022 Allocation and PY2021 Reallocation Closeout for the Dislocated Worker (DW) and WIOA Adult (AD) Programs.

Reminder: PY2022 allocations and PY2021 reallocations will be expiring on June 30, 2024.

All Workforce One (WF1) cases showing these funding streams within an open activity will need your attention.

If needed in an alternative format, please contact, amy.carlson@state.mn.us

If the participant will continue receiving a service currently supported by PY2022 allocations or PY2021 reallocations after June 30, 2024, a new activity will need to be opened for each continuing service the participant will move forward receiving.

Reminder: All Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult program year formula allocations (small layoff grants/WIOA Adult allotments) remain active for two years.

• PY2022 = July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2024
• PY2023 = July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2025
• PY2024 = July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2026

This means, their new activity will need a PY2023 or PY2024 formula grant selected within them depending on your agencies budget. PY2024 allocation funding streams will be activated as soon as those contracts are executed through DEED’s Fiscal team.

IMPORTANT PY22 ALLOCATION & PY21 REALLOCATION WF1 CLOSEOUT INFORMATION

• All activities with a PY2022 allocation or PY21 reallocation selected within them cannot have a start date after June 30, 2024. They must also have an end date no later than June 30, 2024.
• If any participant will continue receiving a service captured in an activity that is currently showing a PY2022 allocation or PY21 reallocation supporting that service financially, that activity needs to be copied within the participant’s WF1 activity detail screen.
  • The new activity will need a start date of July 1, 2024.
  • An active funding source (PY2023 or PY2024) will need to be selected within them as the grant financially supporting the continued service.
• To help in this funding source transition
  • Amy Carlson will mass close all currently open PY2022 funded activities with an end date of June 30, 2024, which means you will only need to open/copy the old activities.
    • If you want to close the old activities yourself with a date no later than 06/30/2024, that is perfectly fine.
    • If you choose not to close them yourself, it will be taken care of for you.
      • This mass activity closure will begin August 1, 2024.
    • If there are cases without open activities on record showing an active grant as the funding source, the mass closure will not work for those cases.
      • Any cases that show they cannot be included in the PY2022 activity closure will be emailed to the management team for the COFFR funding the case.
        • This communication will include directions on how the case manager needs to correct their data.
      • Shortly after July 1, 2024, new funding streams will be added to your dropdown lists for PY2024 allocations.
        • The date these new funding streams will be available is dependent on when PY2024 contracts are in place.
          • Your management teams will be alerted as soon as your agency’s PY2024 funding streams are available in WF1.

Program Year (PY) 2023 Quarter Three (Q3) Performance Outcomes compared to Negotiated Goals

Attached you will find the performance outcome spreadsheets for State Dislocated Worker, WIOA Dislocated Worker, DWG, and WIOA Adult programs. These are best when printed landscape, in color, and on 11x17 size paper.

If needed in an alternative format, please contact, amy.carlson@state.mn.us

• Performance goals are based on negotiated standards for PY2023.
• Color Key:
  • Blue are the negotiated performance standards
  • Green means the set goal was met or exceeded
  • Yellow means at least 50% of the goal was met
  • Red means less than 50% of the goal was met
• Served are all participants accessing the program during the actual program year (real-time).
• Getting a Job results based on participant exits July 1, 2022 – March 31, 2023, except those exited with exclusion. This indicator measures each participant’s employment status during the 2nd quarter after exiting the program. Formula: Percent of employed exits divided by all exits during the reporting period.
• Keeping a Job results based on participant exits January 1, 2022 – September 30, 2022, except those exited with exclusion. This indicator measures each participant’s employment status during the 4th quarter after exiting the program. Formula: Percent of employed exits divided by all exits during the reporting period.
• 2nd Quarter Median Earnings results based on participant exits July 1, 2022 – March 31, 2023, except those exited with exclusionary reason and those showing zero earnings. This indicator measures the median earning during the 2nd quarter after exiting the program.
• Credential Attainment results based on participant exits January 1, 2022 – September 30, 2022, except those exited with exclusionary reason and those who did not attend credential type training. This indicator measures the percent of participants who received a credential after attending training.

Upcoming Technical Assistance (TA) Event: July 2024

• Electronic Document Storage Requirements:
  • See Training Opportunities section at top of Partner Express for details and link to sign up for your training.
• PY24 and PY25 Local Area Negotiation Timeline and Procedures (invites coming soon).
  • 07/19/2024 at 1:00pm.

Request for TA Event Topics:

Please email Usha.Valappil@state.mn.us with technical assistance topics you want presented in August. These topics should relate to Workforce One (WF1), the Career and Education Explorer (CEE) that houses the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL), Case management techniques, Outreach Practices, Co-enrollment, and/or Performance Accountability.

Should you have performance or data entry questions, please contact the following Performance Team members.

• Thomas Sommer at etpl.deed@state.mn.us: Eligible Training Provider List Administrator.
• Mohamed.Farah@state.mn.us: Case Management and Workforce One Technical Assistance.
• Usha.Valappil@state.mn.us: Evaluation Liaison: case management techniques and outreach procedures.
• Rasha.Ahmed@state.mn.us: Data extraction, reporting, and tool creations.
• Amy.Carlson@state.mn.us: All Other (Performance Accountability Supervisor).

• Torax Medical, St Paul
• Turck, Inc., Plymouth
• Ball Corp, St Paul
• Nordson Medical, Eagan
• Optum, Hopkins
• United Language Group, Minneapolis
• Cubik Promotions, Burnsville
• Sleep Number, Minneapolis
• Tescom Corporation, Elk River
• BCS Automotive, Winona
• Copeland Cold Chain, Eden Prairie
• Arcserve, Eden Prairie

Please email all questions and customer applications to the Trade Adjustment Assistance general email at deed.taa@state.mn.us.

Register for Electronic Document Storage (EDS) Training using WF1.

Join your peers to learn about Electronic Document Storage (EDS) from a multi-program view. 

• See Training Opportunities section at top of Partner Express for details and link to sign up for your training.

DEED Response to Electronic Document Storage (EDS) Policy Comments

 Academic Assessments

1. Could you provide some clarification on the document type stored in WF1 under the category of Academic Assessment (i.e., Test for Adult Assessment (TABE), Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems (CASAS), Wonderlic Gain, etc.)? Is it referring to the score of the assessment or is it referring to the actual assessment that someone took?

DEED’s Response:  The academic assessment category within EDS is referring to a document that contains the score of an academic assessment. See the EDS Document Navigation Guide with the path to saving and naming documents in EDS.  

 EDS Timelines Requirements

2. The policy states that “All participant documents related to a participant's file must be uploaded and saved electronically in EDS within 15 business days.” Please clarify when the clock starts for the 15 business days. Is it from the date the document is received? Or from the date of the participant meeting?

DEED’s Response:  The 15-business day requirement aligns with DEED’s WF1 case management policy. The date of upload into EDS should occur within 15-business days upon receipt. DOL recently recommended DEED shorten this time frame to ensure greater data accuracy. While this time frame may be shortened in the future, DEED is maintaining the current requirement across our policies at 15-business days.   

3. Only allowing 15 days for the upload of documents is too limited given Employment Counselor’s have two months to enter “participation hours” into WF1 for the MFIP Program.

DEED’s Response:  The 15-business day requirement aligns with DEED’s WF1 case management policy. The date of upload into EDS should occur within 15-business days upon receipt. DOL recently recommended DEED shorten this time frame to ensure greater data accuracy. While this time frame may be shortened in the future, DEED is maintaining the current requirement across our policies at 15-business days. The EDS policy applies to the Employment and Training Programs (ETPs) funded by DEED. Please refer to DHS EDS requirements for MFIP. 

 Retention of Paper Documents

4. Can you confirm that electronic data in WF1 will remain available and accessible in the event of a government shutdown? In the past, this has resulted in access to WF1 being denied which is why some agencies may keep paper files as backups.

 DEED’s Response:   

In the 2011 government shutdown, WF1 was unavailable for one week while the legislature determined essential services. Once programs that use WF1 were determined essential, WF1 was made available. We would expect a similar situation in the event of a future shutdown because while the legislature is determining the essentialness of programs that use WF1, there would not be state staff available to support WF1 or monitor the security of WF1. We would expect that the legislature would deem programs that use WF1 essential as they did in 2011.

5. If a partner chooses to maintain hard copy participant documents, what is the timeline for retention of these hard copies? At what point can they be destroyed?

 DEED’s Response: The purpose of the EDS Policy is to transition all ETP grantees from paper (hard) copy participant files to maintaining electronic participant records using Workforce One (WF1). The retention of the electronic records is managed by DEED’s WF1 Team. Grantees that choose to maintain hard copy files will be responsible for following the approved record retention schedule for each program your organization administers to ensure confidentiality, file retention, storage, and disposal schedule. See DEED’s Record Retention Policy.

 Comments Re: Functionality of EDS

6. Please allow WDAs (and local grantees) with the ability to add their own specific EDS categories & defined name to WF1 to better fit and store our agency-created documents.

 DEED’s Response: The standardization of EDS categories and folders within EDS provides the ability to organize and identify documents across a wide range of programs within WF1. We understand the organization of the folders are not as intuitive as we would like across programs so DEED created an EDS Document Navigation Guide to help direct grantees with the path needed to save and name documents within EDS.  

Additionally, WDAs and grantees may request suggested changes to the EDS configuration by submitting a WF1 EDS Configuration Request. To do this, log in to WF1 and select References > EDS Configuration > EDS Configuration Request. Another way to further define documents is for grantees to create instructions for their staff to use the “User Defined Names” field within EDS WF1 to meet the needs of agency-specific documents.  DEED Recommends plain, simple language that ties to policy, performance measures and data validation, when possible.

 The Naming of Local Documents within EDS

7. Please add a “Local Document” option (kind of like a “local flag” activity), so WDAs (and local grantees) may use this and then manually type in a user defined name for EDS storage.

 DEED’s Response:  We understand that there will be challenges as we transition to electronic participant files. DEED expects that we will likely need to work closely with DEED’s WF1 team to initiate future enhancements to improve the usability of EDS. In the meantime, we are suggesting grantees use the “User Defined Name” field to help meet the needs of naming local agency-specific documents. Please also refer to the EDS Document Navigation Guide for the path to follow when uploading and saving documents in WF1. 

8. The difficult part of moving to paperless and using WF1 as our main source of storage for documents is that we have no control over the naming of the forms.

 DEED’s Response:  Grantees can define, and name uploaded documents in the “User Defined Name” field in EDS. DEED Recommends plain, simple language that ties to policy, performance measures and data validation, when possible.

9. We request that DEED provide naming conventions to ensure consistency across staff and agencies in labeling EDS files. This will ensure monitors can easily find the documents they are searching for, and that staff who take over cases will be able to quickly understand the client file and be able to keep it organized.

 DEED’s Response:  Please refer to Attachment I: EDS Document Navigation Guide of the EDS Policy for the path to follow for uploading and naming conventions to use when uploading files into EDS.

Example Grantee Staff Roles with the Management of Electronic Files

10. Most organizations are not large enough to have these four roles differentiated. Instead, individual staff play multiple roles.  Please provide additional detail about what each of the roles listed would be responsible for, and whether this responsibility needs to be separated out from the other roles listed – keeping in mind that organizations have limited availability to create separate roles unless mandated and supported by funding.

 DEED’s Response:  We understand smaller organizations may not have the capacity to employ dedicated staff for the management of electronic case files so DEED:

1. Created an EDS Document Navigation Guide to help grantee staff understand the path to uploading participant documents into EDS.
2. Is offering EDS Training Webinars to all grantee staff.
3. Will post a recording of EDS Training to DEED’s website, and will
4. Share all training materials and tools with grantees via DEED’s website.   

The staff roles provided within the policy are a sample of how some larger organizations may choose to manage their electronic data and case files. These roles aren’t required by DEED, rather it is an example.

Per the EDS Policy,

“Sample grantee staff roles could include:

• Management Information System (MIS) Manager – responsible for agency-wide data and data practices.
• Program Manager/Supervisor or Data Compliance Specialist – responsible for case management file reviews.
• Intake Supervisor – responsible for the eligibility and monitoring of specific data entry and file retention.
• Intake Staff/Technician/Administrative Specialist – responsible for scanning or uploading documents.”

  Medical Records Confidentiality

11. Since we ask on our program applications whether a participant is disabled, does this mean that every application on which the participant identifies they have a disability needs to be marked “private”?

DEED’s Response:  No, it is not required for grantees to mark a WF1 file “private” when a participant discloses that they have a disability.  

If you have questions about Monitoring content, please email shannon.rolf@state.mn.us.

Update

The June issue of Minnesota Economic Trends has been published, providing a report on the “State of the State”. This includes 6 regional articles, as well as two articles looking at current and near-future economic trends:

Year In Review: Minnesota’s Labor Market

Minnesota’s labor market situation over the past year is in line with the Federal Reserve’s goal to curb inflation with a "soft landing” with continued, albeit slowing, job growth and hiring, and continued low unemployment. This article details long-standing demographic trends as well as other more recent factors to provide an overview of the state of the state’s current labor market situation. 

Short Term Projections – More Measured Growth

Employment projections produced by the LMI Office estimate a gain of 56,225 jobs over the next two years, equivalent to an average employment growth rate of 0.9% per year, a return to a rate typical of the years prior to the Pandemic Recession. Job growth is projected to vary across industries and occupations and this article details the differences.

If you have questions about Labor Market Information, please email deed.lmi@state.mn.us.

This newsletter is meant for DEED Grantees, Providers, and Employment Counselors. We want this e-Newsletter to meet your needs! We encourage you to send your comments and suggestions to deed.taa@state.mn.us.

Past issues of the Partner Express

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