On October 3, 2005 the first phase of the functional changes were made to SKIES in order to facilitate data collection in response to Common Measures and new federal reporting requirements. Since then Department of Labor has made some changes to the Trade Assistance Participant Report (TAPR), additional functional changes have been made to SKIES. These changes will be available through SKIES Production and Training as of Thursday, January 26, 2006.

The program exit outcome of "Retirement" has been added to the exit outcome drop down list through Job Seeker>Seeker Programs. In October "Recalled by Layoff Employer (TAA only) was added to the exit outcome drop down list. When "Recalled by Layoff Employer (TAA only) is selected by users, the users will have to attached job placement information for this exit outcome. SKIES Management Reports have not been modified to reflect application changes but they will be modified at a later date. Notification will go out when this occurs. Below are the Functional Changes to SKIES and Program Information documents. See all the documents on the Resources page.

We have had numerous phone calls, emails and SKIES Help Desk tickets regarding issues with “partial” seeker records in SKIES requiring staff to complete new data items required for Department of Labor (DOL) Common Measures Reporting. The implementation of these required elements in SKIES has made it difficult for users of SKIES in their daily operations. The WorkSource Operations Division and Employment & Training Division have made this issue our top priority. As a result of a collaborative effort, the SKIES Application will default the newly required elements for existing records. The attached documents will provide you with:

• Common Measures Response Memo
• SKIES Common Measures Datafix: Functional Communication
• Required Common Measures Desk Aid
• Common Measures Definitions

Please Note: For any new seeker record, including existing interfaces (Go2WorkSource.com, UI Claimant and WorkFirst), the required fields will still need to be completed. We anticipate that the UI Claimant Interface will be updated with the default elements by Monday, October 10, 2005.

Effective October 3, 2005 the first phase of functional changes are being made to SKIES in order to facilitate data collection in response to Common Measures and new federal reporting requirements. Common federal performance measures were created for programs with similar goals in order to provide uniformity, promote integration of workforce programs and reduce the performance-reporting burden on states and grantees. Wagner-Peyser, Veterans, Workforce Investment Act, Trade Act and WorkFirst are among the 29 programs using common measures.

SKIES system changes were necessary in order to comply with USDOL's Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) 28-04 "Common Measures Policy", as well as revised federal reporting instructions for Wagner-Peyser, Veterans, WIA TAA and WorkFirst reports. The second phase of functional changes to SKIES in order to accommodate Youth Programs and the reporting of Numeracy and Literacy Assessment Data are scheduled for next year. SKIES Management Reports have not been modified to reflect application changes but they will be modified at a later date. Please note: Common Measures are in addition to existing Federal and State performance measures. We are still accountable for the existing measures.

• Functional Communication
• Program Validation Crosswalk