Memorandum

MEMORANDUM TO: Canada-Ontario Job Grant (COJG) Service Providers

FROM: Teresa Damaso, Director, Program Delivery Support Branch

DATE: March 31, 2016

RE: Job Fund Agreement (JFA) Reporting Requirements and the delivery of COJG

 

Purpose

The Performance Management Framework for the Canada Job Fund Agreement (JFA) with Provinces and Territories requires the ministry to implement changes to the scope of data collected for Canada-Ontario Job Grant (COJG), Literacy and Basic Skills, Second Career and Apprenticeship.  These new requirements were added to the JFA after the launch of COJG.  Consequently, the upcoming Employment Ontario Information System, Case Management System (EOIS-CaMS) Release 6.0 will include several enhancements to support the COJG administration and delivery. 

This memo will focus on changes impacting COJG.

Background

EOIS-CaMS Release 6.0 is tentatively scheduled for April 16, 2016 and will include enhancements to COJG functionality. The majority of these enhancements serve two purposes:

  • Allow for the collection of data related to performance indicators developed for the JFA; and
  • Support the continuous improvement of existing functionality to enhance program administration and delivery.

Summary of Changes

Collection of New Skills/Training Data

New data that will be collected to support the reporting of JFA performance indicators include:

  • The number of participants by type of skills to be learned.  This information will be collected on the COJG Employer/Consortium online application form.  Categories include:
    • Essential Skills
    • Specialized or technical skills
    • Management and business skills or
    • Soft skills
  •  The number of participants who completed training by type of certificate/credential earned. This information will be measured by collecting the expected certificate/credential in the employer application and its completion upon Exit. The data values will include:
    • No credential
    • Educational
    • Industry/occupation
    • Proprietary
  • To quantify the impact of COJG on job creation, the actual number of incumbent and new hire employees by grant will now be tracked at the participant level. This information will be collected in the COJG Participant Registration form and then captured in the COJG Participant Service Plan in EOIS-CaMS.

The JFA also requires the ministry to collect and report on employer-specific satisfaction questions; pre- and post-intervention income and hours worked data for: Second Career, Literacy and Basic Skills, Registered Apprenticeship, COJG and report average increases. This will require collection of this data at the participant level recorded in EOIS-CaMS.

New Exit Questions in EOIS-CaMS

COJG Employer Service Plans closed after April 16, 2016, will have the following new questions on Exit:

  • Your skills/training needs were met?
  • Your expectations of the program were met?
  • You would have accessed this training without COJG?

The above questions employ the following scale: strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree, or no response.

The following questions will be removed from the exit questions:

  • Did the Canada-Ontario Job Grant enable you to invest in training for your employee(s) that otherwise would not have happened?
  • Did the skills training meet the workforce needs of the employer?

New Follow-up Questions in EOIS-CaMS

COJG Employer Service Plans closed after April 16, 2016, will generate the associated 3- and 12-month reviews with two new questions:

  • Your skills/training needs were met?
  • Your expectations of the program were met?

The above questions employ the following scale: strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree, or no response.

The following questions will be removed from the 3- and 12-month review questions:

  • Did the Canada-Ontario Job Grant enable you to invest in training for your employee(s) that otherwise would not have happened?
  • Did the skills training meet the workforce needs of the employer?

Impact on COJG Service Provider Business Processes

Closure and Follow-up:

These changes to Closure and Follow-up questions may impact follow-up forms or other such tools used by COJG service providers to collect this information from employers and participants.   If applicable, service providers will need to modify their follow-up forms or tools to collect this information. 

Updates to the COJG Employer/Consortium Online Application form

To reflect the requirements of the JFA noted above, the COJG Employer/Consortium Online Application form will also be updated. A new version of the application form PDF is tentatively scheduled for release on April 16, 2016. Application forms downloaded prior to April 16, 2016 will be accepted until May 31, 2016.

Interim measure for Service Providers to Implement

Applications submitted using the current form before May 31, 2016, will not have data for: “What type of skills will be gained with the training you are requesting?" and “What is the expected credential/certificate to be earned upon successful completion of this training?” In these cases, service providers must collect this information directly from the employer and record it in EOIS-CaMS prior to application approval.  This information only needs to be collected for approved applications.

EOIS-CaMS Functionality Enhancement

A helpful new feature to be launched in EOIS-CaMS Release 6.0 is the “Approval Tab” within the existing COJG application functionality. This tab will compare the original application values submitted by the employer/consortium to the current values within EOIS-CaMS where edits have been made. This will be especially useful for applications with more than 25 participants and consortia, since the ministry will be able to capture the values agreed upon with the employer/consortium prior to approval and forwarding the application to the managing COJG service provider with the changes captured.

Over the next several weeks, the ministry will provide additional details of upcoming changes in EOIS-CaMS Release 6.0.  This will include: a ‘go live’ bulletin, updates to EOIS-CaMS and report user guides.

Thank you for your continued support with the delivery of the Canada-Ontario Job Grant.

Sincerely,

Teresa Damaso