Workintexas.Com Communications & Support Conference Call

WorkInTexas.com Communications & Support Conference Call Scott Eychner, Manager: WorkInTexas.com, ES & UI Policy

MARCH 2, 2010 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. CT

Information contained herein is intended to represent a brief summary of the topics discussed during the statewide WorkInTexas.com Liaisons Conference Call. Upon receipt of this document, please ensure all staff are made aware of its content. Questions about any of the information included in this document should first be addressed with your local WorkInTexas.com Liaison.

I. WorkInTexas.com Project Team Topics On March 2, Liaisons representing 26 Boards participated in this conference call. We were very pleased to see that the last minute change from Thursday to Tuesday did not affect attendance.

A. Release 4.0 – March 4, 2010 – we briefly went over the high points of the release. The release notes have been published in a Bulletin on your Home page, and are also listed on the WorkInTexas.com Liaisons Additional Staff Resources page (accessible from the subscription by the same name on your Home page).

B. Ad Hoc Training update – Mike MacKenna will be providing Ad Hoc training to interested staff. Handouts are ready for distribution, and he is planning to offer a pilot training session in Austin on March 12. Subsequent training sessions are planned for March 16, 17, 23, and 26. After that, if there is still interest in Ad Hoc training, Mike will take his training sessions on the road, traveling to those Board areas that requested training but couldn’t attend the training in Austin. Any staff interested in signing up for Ad Hoc Training should contact [email protected] to get on the list.

a. Recommendations for Ad Hoc training in Austin: i. 3-ring notebook ii. Flash drive iii. Highlighter(s) b. Additional requirements for onsite Ad Hoc training: i. A computer lab ii. Reserve the computer lab for one day

C. Social Media – A TWC committee was recently created to discuss social media and how we can use various options to enhance communication. This committee symbolizes TWC’s commitment to discussing various social media options that could enhance intra- agency communication as well as agency – customer communication. Some of these options include blogs, youtube, shared document platforms, and LIVE chats.

WorkInTexas Conference Call – 2010 1 You will be hearing more about the possible uses of social media by TWC as time goes by, but we wanted you to know that we are looking at creating a WorkInTexas.com blog. We want to be able to gather feedback, provide real-time assistance, be informed of problems, and share best practices with our customers. Since bloggers have a more computer savvy frame of reference, we think feedback from these users would be invaluable.

In the interim, we are also looking at creating a pseudo-blog in WorkInTexas.com using the Announcements module. This would be used to discuss WorkInTexas related functionality.

TWC as a whole will be looking at social media to find options that would engage customers. We will be looking at the policy that rules these decisions and updating policy statements. The P-41, TWC’s Security Agreement will also have to be updated. This is a huge undertaking that will take quite some time to develop, but we’re very excited about the opportunity to do so.

D. Questions and Answers – i. The employer’s TBTW service contains a JSID field. What is this supposed to be used for? [Answer] This was originally designed to record TBTW job seekers that were hired by an employer when there was no job posting in WorkInTexas. If you add this service to an employer account, you can see it counting in TWIST under employer services. ii. Why are job seekers/claimants that have been determined to have an invalid claim still being registered via the UI Auto-Registration process? [Answer] There is a process that runs quarterly to update the denominator in the 10-week claimant report. More information will follow in a separate document. iii. Are you still planning to add the E-166 generic application to WorkInTexas.com? [Answer] We’re still looking into this possibility. When we asked the question, the response was not overwhelmingly in favor of adding it. Nevertheless, we’re still considering it. iv. Are you still planning to add job seeker notes to WorkInTexas? [Answer] We cannot add a job seeker Notes field to WorkInTexas; however, we’re still looking at an Interface process that would record the job seeker Notes service in WIT and post the Notes to Counselor Notes in TWIST. Since we are unable store job seeker notes in WorkInTexas, it would be ideal if staff could type the notes in a field on the Service – Add page in WorkInTexas.com and then view them in TWIST. Only the service would be stored in WorkInTexas. The notes would be stored in TWIST. But, we’re still working at this concept and will keep you updated. v. Are Obtained Employments (OEs) still being phased-out of WorkInTexas? [Answer] Yes, and we are actually hoping to do that in the next release. vi. When staff enter a Hire for a UI claimant in WorkInTexas, when should it appear in TWIST. [Answer] The WIT/TWIST Interface updates service records every Friday night. So a service should be updated at the end of the week in which it was entered. If you find Hires that were posted in WorkInTexas, but don’t appear in TWIST after the weekend updates, then please let us know. You can

WorkInTexas Conference Call – 2010 2 send the information to the [email protected]. Also, we’d ask that you refrain from reposting the Hire or updating the Hire information before reporting to us so that we can research thoroughly. vii. Any news on logon access to the “Help Wanted” tracking software that allows us to compare the number of postings outside WorkInTexas to those posted in WorkInTexas? [Answer] Still piloting this effort. Currently working on getting logons, but we’ve found that it’s primarily a licensing issue that’s slowing us down.

E. Requesting WorkInTexas.com Liaison input on the scheduling of the conference call. We would like to know how many of you would prefer we hold the conference call on Tuesday afternoon, and how many would prefer we stick with the Thursday afternoon conference call schedule. Please email me at [email protected] with your preferences.

WDA Liaisons - If add’l WDA staff attend, please coordinate their participation. TWC State staff - Please attend at 451T, Trinity Bldg., or TWC MoPac office.

Conference Call Dial In number: 1-877-531-0114 Pass Code: *1320449*

Request: Please minimize sound interference… - Sign On @ 3-5 minutes prior to the call & Mute your phone line to eliminate extraneous noise and improve reception on all conference connections. - Please do not place the call on HOLD. - Wait until the call is officially ended to Sign Off to avoid “beeping” others out of the on-going discussion.

WorkInTexas Conference Call – 2010 3 WORKINTEXAS.COM COMMUNICATION AND SUPPORT CONFERENCE CALL SCHEDULE JANUARY 2010 – DECEMBER 2010

CONFERENCE CALL SCHEDULE SEND AGENDA IDEAS BY CLOSE OF BUSINESS Thursday January 7, 2010 (cancelled) THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2009 Thursday February 4, 2010 (cancelled) THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2010 Thursday * March 2, 2010 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2010 Thursday April 1, 2010 THURSDAY, MARCH 25 , 2010 Thursday May 6, 2010 THURSDAY, APRIL 29 , 2010 Thursday June 3, 2010 THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2010 Thursday July 1, 2010 THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010 Thursday August 5, 2010 THURSDAY, JULY 29 , 2010 Thursday September 2, 2010 THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2010 Thursday October 7, 2010 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 Thursday November 4, 2010 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2010 Thursday December 2, 2010 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2010 * Denotes an exception to our plan for “first Thursday” calls or the established due date for suggestions.

Agenda Topic suggestions are due from Liaisons by the Thursday prior to a call; send suggestions to [email protected] OR [email protected]. The agenda will be emailed to Liaisons prior to the conference call.

Summary A summary of the content of the conference call will be emailed to Liaisons 7-10 days following the call so they can share with staff throughout their WDA. These notes are not intended to replace local documentation or communications.

Cancellation A cancellation notice is emailed to WorkInTexas.com Liaisons as soon as a call is cancelled or rescheduled.

Workforce Area Attend Workforce Area Attend Workforce Area Attend Alamo Yes East Texas Yes Panhandle No Brazos Valley No Golden Crescent Yes Permian Basin Yes Cameron County Yes Gulf Coast Yes Rural Capital Yes Capital Area Yes Heart of Texas Yes South East Yes Central Texas Yes Lower Rio Yes South Plains Yes Coastal Bend Yes Middle Rio Grande Yes South Texas Yes Concho Valley Yes North Central Yes Tarrant County Yes Dallas Yes North East Yes Texoma Yes Deep East Yes North Texas Yes Upper Rio Grande Yes West Central Yes

WorkInTexas Conference Call – 2010 4