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 testPass (at

least 80%)?

Complete Skill-Soft coursesIdentified in

Prep test

Take certificationexam

Pass Exam? Done

no

no

yes

yes

Pilot Process Flow

3

Pilot Process Flow

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 test3

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 coursesIdentified 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