EUES Technical Certification Pilot Plan Presentation

What’s Happened Up to This Point Conference call November 2007 to present the program Proposed a pilot test of the self-study concept Pilot plan provided March 25, 2008

Review from November Briefing

Employee Certification – Why? Seat Management in IRS: A-76 – No. Business Process Re-engineering – Yes! Goal of BPR is to become “High Performing Organization” (HPO) One of OMB’s criteria to designate HPO is that workforce skills match industry standards Industry standards are defined by the certifications

Business Objective Improvement in the consistency and overall level of skills, knowledge and general competency of EUES employees: become a High Performing Organization. Our initial focus will be on desktop support (2210 IT Specialist/Customer Support) employees. Benefits to the employees are: –Take ownership of their development –Take advantage of opportunity to improve service delivery skills –Improve market employability

Business Objective Goal: 50% of targeted workforce (Customer Support techs) to receive A+ certification (basic industry standard) within next 2 years Method: training and certification testing

Benefits Organization Benefits –Align with industry best practices –Support achievement of HPO objectives Customer Benefits –Increase customer satisfaction / employee professionalism Employee Benefits –Provide industry-recognized credentials –Provide employees relevant skills for today’s technologies

We believe that most of our employees already have the skills necessary for certification We know there are still some knowledge gaps to fill in Since we have no institutional experience with certification programs, we need to find out what will work – so we do a pilot test!

Pilot Testing… Pilot: provide time and opportunity for a representative sample to complete on- line preparatory courses and then take the exams Need to confirm reasonable time required to prepare, and to provide guidance to managers on how to support employees going through this process

Pilot Briefing Set up study plan and schedule time Take prep test Pass (at least 80%)? Complete Skill- Soft courses Identified in Prep test Take certification exam Pass Exam? Done no yes Pilot Process Flow 3

Briefing »Pilot participants receive briefing to explain the program and steps to follow (Handout: Participant Information Sheet) Planning »Participants work with manager to determine study plan and set aside time for study and testing Prep Test »Participants take Prep Test in Skillsoft to determine initial areas of knowledge Pilot Briefing Set up study plan and schedule time Take prep test 3

Pass? »Passing for the Prep Test is 80% »Taking the test in “study mode” will tell student why answers are correct or not, as well as giving citation of another Skillsoft course where the answer is explained. Student should note this information for ll incorrect answers Pass = NO »Participant takes the identified Skillsoft courses to learn information related to incorrect answers »When finished with study, re-take the Prep Test (step 3) Pass (at least 80%)? Complete Skill- Soft courses Identified in Prep test Pilot Process Flow

Passed Prep Test – take certification exam »Notify manager & get concurrence on readiness »Contact training coordinator for voucher to take exam »Take the exam online at POD Pass = NO »Participant should make notes on missed answers and retake the Skillsoft prep test to further identify problem areas. »When finished with study, re-take the Prep Test (step 3) until consistently getting 80% score »Work with manager if need additional OJT on a subject Passed! »ELMS updated to show certification achieved »Fill out pilot evaluation form Pass exam? Take Certification exam Pilot Process Flow Done

Pilot Participant Selection 45 participants, representing all 3 Areas (Northeast, Southeast, and Western) and Enterprise Help Desk PODs in campuses and field offices Above journey level (Gs12/13)and journey-level/below (GS7/9/11) Entry-level who have just completed classroom training and more experienced employees who completed classroom training in past years Attachment D of Pilot Plan contains the Application form, which would capture this information

Pilot Participants Each Area would have 10 participants –8 GS7-11, 2 GS12/13 –At least one participant per territory (7 Territories in each Area) NEA: 4 territories are campuses SEA: 3 territories are campuses WA: 3 territories are campuses Enterprise Service Desk would have 15 participants, spread out over 5 service desk operations, all shifts

Pilot Participant Information Sheet This is Attachment A in Pilot Plan A conference call will be held with all selected participants and their managers to go over the process and objectives. –This will be a 7114 meeting and all affected Chapters will be invited. The Tracking Sheet and Evaluation Form will be explained. Participants and their managers will have a follow-up meeting to prepare a plan for study time and any additional support that may be needed (special OJT, coach, etc)

Tracking the Process The Activity Tracking Form is Attachment B in the Pilot Plan. Participants will be asked to track the time they spend in study as well as what resources they used. Participants will use an ID numbers rather than their names for anonymity –ID numbers will denote whether the participant is GS7-11/GS12-13, campus or field, new or old classroom training – so that we can evaluate the impact of these differentiators on the needs for additional resources, time spent and success

Pilot Evaluation Form This is Attachment C Purpose of this evaluation is to get the participant’s input on the process and their determinations on the effectiveness of the training tools available to them

Evaluating the Success of the Pilot Capture all the raw data into a report Analyze the results –Success rates based on which study resources/tools used –Any differences based on grade/experience and location, as well as formal classroom training Recommendations on changes to the process, based on participant evaluations and analyses Follow-up meeting with NTEU to discuss next steps/wider implementation

Pilot Timeline Upon agreement between MITS & NTEU: Solicitation to employees to apply for pilot: 2 weeks Selection and notification: 2 weeks Pilot: 30 days Evaluation: 2 weeks Report to NTEU: NLT 90 days after agreement

Our Investment It’s important to EUES to become a High Performing Organization, and to provide a competitive edge to our employees via certification Therefore, we will invest: –55 hours/employee (3% of direct time) –Funding for certification exams

Working Towards Certifications Establish training management processes to: – move employees through the certification process – track organizational HPO status (% of fully certified employees) – replicate processes for other certifications: ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), Cisco, etc