Data Insights Award Nomination Texas

Texas Data Insights Award Nomination: TexasLMI.com

Contact Information of Individual Submitting Nomination

Nominator: Tom McCarty

Email Address: tom.mccarty@twc.state.tx.us

Agency Name: Texas Workforce Commission

TexasLMI.com

(Innovative Initiative) The Alabama Career Center System (operated by the Alabama Department of Labor and in conjunction with the Alabama Department of Commerce, Workforce Development Division) has successfully worked with North Alabama employer Lockheed Martin to develop an apprenticeship program that provides WIOA-eligible participants with in-demand training and employment. The Huntsville Career Center and all other North Alabama Career Centers already had an excellent working relationship with Lockheed Martin, and in 2018, began to build on that relationship to better serve both the area’s job seekers and the company. It was determined that WIOA funding could be used to fund ITA’s for qualified applicants and provide the company with much needed apprentices. The Advanced Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship Program (AMTAP) was born from this collaboration. WIOA funds provided for 5-week training onsite at Lockheed Martin, and participants could obtain IPC industry recognized certifications, advanced training, and eventually, offers of employment. Additionally, an agreement from the company to use WIOA funds to add On-the-Job Training led to more qualifications for the participants and helped to contribute to AMTAP becoming a nationally recognized apprenticeship.

High Impact Products and Services:

Texas LMI (TexasLMI.com) is an interactive website hosted by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) that disseminates Texas labor market statistics. On Texas LMI (Labor Market Information), users will find a suite of 11 economic data investigation tools as well as an employer contact information tool used for labor market research providing time series labor market data, inquiry capabilities for labor force, employment/unemployment estimates, industry and occupational projections, and occupational wage data.

Typical users of Texas LMI are employers, individual workers, local and statewide economic developers, educators, local Workforce Solutions offices, workforce development boards, TWC Commissioners, TWC Economists, the press, and anyone interested in Texas labor LMI. Texas LMI is a resource providing the State of Texas with current and historical economic data.

TexasLMI.com was designed and programmed by the Labor Market and Career Information (LMCI) department of the TWC.

Provide a statement of results, accomplishments, impacts, and any other appropriate information that demonstrates why the nominee's efforts described in question #1 were an exceptional contribution. Response (400 word limit).

TWC/LMCI is contractually obligated to the Bureau of Labor Statistics to disseminate labor market information to the public, TexasLMI.com is the main conduit to publish the unemployment rate and the state of the Texas Economy. TexasLMI.com fulfills our contractual obligation and provides an easy to use online application that provides 24x7 self-service access to Texas labor market information.

TexasLMI.com was created to replace TRACER2.com. TRACER2.com performed the same functions as TexasLMI.com however the user interface (UI) was antiquated, used old technology (classic ASP), and was not Section 508/WCAG compliant.

TexasLMI.com provides the following advanced features:

Improved navigation and workflow.
The user interface designed by a user experience analyst modern design, easy to use, intuitive.
Conforms to WCAG 2.0/Section 508 requirements Accessible to screen readers & keyboard navigable.
Enhanced UI Provides an adaptive and responsive design for mobile devices uses the latest technology.
MS SQL Server.NET.
Adapts to all screen sizes (phones and tablets).
More secure.
Reduced staff time automates over 137 reports that were manually produced.
Feature Rich: PDF and Excel downloads dynamic/interactive graphics sorting, filtering, and grouping data.
Employer contact information Search by multiple user input select search area on a map view contact information and location.

Provide a brief description of the nominee's significant contributions in any one of the other two areas listed under "criteria" that you did not focus on above. Response (400 word limit).

Capacity Building: The TexasLMI.com applications expands Texas’ labor market information availability to the public using available technology, automation and as a staff resource tool.
Reduced staff time and benefits realized.
The 78 economic profiles and 59 regional extracts available in TexasLMI.com were previously created monthly by staff for the old system. TexasLMI.com frees staff to do other tasks.
Finding LMI data in TexasLMI.com is easier than in the old system, users easily find data without customer help support.
Queries may be done through the application interface without knowledge or use of a query tool or language (SQL).
The management of the database is easier in TexasLMI.com compared to the old system. The TexasLMI.com database conforms to the latest Workforce Information Database (WID) standards. The clean database allows easier maintenance and updating.
Greater Accessibility.
Section 508/WCAG 2.0 compliant. The previous system was not accessible to screen readers and could not be navigated by keyboard.
Content reflows according to screen size. Mobile devices may use all the features available to desktop users.
The modern design is easy to use, information can be found quickly. The average user session duration has decreased, evidence that it takes less time to find information.