Softscape Blue Chip System Contracted for North Carolina's Web-Based Workforce Investment Act MIS.

Business/Technology Editors

WAYLAND, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2000

The State of North Carolina has contracted with Softscape, Incorporated to implement its statewide web-based Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Management Information System. The first company to develop and implement a Web-based system supporting federally funded job training and development programs, Softscape's WorkforcePlus(TM) has been operational since 1998. The application for North Carolina is being designed according to state specifications to support all WIA reporting and functional requirements. The system is patterned after Softscape's Blue Chip performance management application contracted by Fortune 500 companies that include: American Airlines (NYSE:AMER), PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG), Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), Hannaford Brothers (NYSE: HRD), Steelcase (NYSE: SCS), and EQUIVA Services, LLC, the joint venture of the downstream service unit of Shell Oil, Texaco, and Saudi Aramco.

One Stop Services Instead of Paper-Work

Using WorkforcePlus(TM) to automate job-training programs such as WIA and Welfare to Work, states and other administrating agencies can more easily realize the goal of a &uot;One-Stop&uot; service delivery system. &uot;One-Stop&uot; means that a client's form is filled out just once and clients can access available services at a single location. This frees caseworkers from the burden of paper work, and, since the form can travel via the Web to any agency in any location, it eliminates location barriers. With a universal intake form comes the ability to share information (in a secure environment) with providers of services in different physical locations.

North Carolina: &uot;...Meeting all of our goals&uot;

&uot;North Carolina chose to pursue an early implementation of WIA in January of 2000 and needed a system that had been proven elsewhere and could be modified rapidly to meet our needs,&uot; said Wayne Daves, Executive Director of Research and Employment Programs in the NC Department of Commerce. &uot;Of the proposals we received, WorkforcePlus(TM) came closest to meeting all of our goals, and the support we've received from Softscape for our early implementation has been excellent.&uot;

A Client-Centric System

Softscape's WorkforcePlus(TM) (www.softscape.com) has been operational in Boston and is being implemented in the nation's largest community action agency in Chicago's Cook County, the Community and Economic Development Association. According to Dave Watkins, Softscape co-founder, &uot;This application is client-centric and gives the administering agency a complete picture of the client's activities and outcomes, wherever they may occur.&uot;

Mandated by July 2000

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 mandates &uot;One-Stop&uot; agencies for every community receiving federal funds by July 2000. For North Carolina the system will support registration, eligibility determination, case management, reports, and administration. WorkforcePlus(TM) has been operational at Boston's Office of Jobs and Community Services (OJCS) since 1998. The former OJCS Deputy Director, Management Information Systems, Howard Fox, has recently been named Softscape's Vice President of Government Operations.