Welcome to the Employment Development Department

Integrated Service Delivery Model - California Workforce System
Frequently Asked Questions - CalJOBS Related

How will we handle “Decline to State” from CalJOBSSM?  (7/28/2008)

CalJOBSSM offers a “Decline to State” option for Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) questions because the Wagner-Peyser Reporting Instructions require only that the customer be asked these questions. Wagner-Peyser Reporting Instructions do not require a reported response. The WIA reporting under the Workforce Investment Act Standard Record (WIASRD) requires that the State report a positive or negative (Yes or No) answer to each question without an option for decline to state.

Under the current system design, if the customer answers the question (s) in CalJOBSSM, the data will be posted into the Job Seeker Table and the data will be loaded into the Job Training Automation (JTA) system when the customer’s Social Security Number (SSN) is entered into the JTA system or a local system connected to the CalJOBSSM data store. If the customer answers the EEO question with “Decline to State”, nothing for that question will post in the Job Seeker Table. When the staff is completing the WIA Application in JTA or a local system, they will need to ask the customer the unanswered questions and report the answer.

We appreciate that it may be problematic to ask the customer to answer questions that they just refused to answer. We will discuss this data collection conflict with the Department of Labor (DOL). Barring resolution with the DOL, these questions do need to be answered to complete a JTA WIA Application. The coach may answer these questions based on personal observations of the customer.

The CalJOBSSM computers used to conduct the on-line assessment are timing out the customers during the assessment process. This creates frustration for the user and problems for staff that are required to re-access the test for the customer to complete.  (7/28/2008)

We are in the process of re-imaging the EDD Thin Client machines to increase the time before a time-out occurs to 15 total minutes of inactivity. We expect all Thin Client Personal Computers (PC) will be re-imaged to correct the time-out problem by the first week of August. When the re-image is complete in your One-Stop the time-out function will work as follows. After five minutes of inactivity a warning screen will appear asking the customer if they need more time. A yes answer will return the customer to the application. The time clock restarts.

  • This warning screen is posted for 10 minutes from when it first appears.
  • After a full 15 minutes (five minutes before warning screen and 10 minutes warning screen posting) of no activity on the PC, the customer will be logged off and all data input will be lost.

CalJOBSSM and the Job Training Automation (JTA) system have different definitions for Veteran Status.  (7/28/2008)

That is correct. CalJOBSSM does not distinguish between a veteran that was honorably discharged but served 180 days or less. The JTA system, for the purpose of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reporting, makes a distinction between a veteran that served 180 days or less and a veteran that remained in the military service for more than 180 days. This distinction is a reporting requirement but has no impact on whether the customer is eligible for the veterans’ priority of service.

In the interest of data validity, we will make a change to CalJOBSSM to align the reporting codes. In the interim, a yes response to the Veterans status question in the CalJOBSSM system auto-populates the JTA system with a code 2 Yes, > 180 days. If you are aware that the customer’s service period is equal to or less than 180 days, please change the JTA code to “1” in Field 65.

If the customer reports “Yes” to veterans status in the CalJOBSSM system a “1” Yes, <=180 days is coded in JTA field 65 Veterans status in the JTA system. Ninety percent of the time we change this field to “2”.  (7/28/2008)

We have verified the coding between the CalJOBSSM system and the JTA system. If a customer reports he or she is a veteran in CalJOBSSM the system is programmed to populate the JTA system Field 65 Veterans Status as a “2” Veteran > 180 days. A non-veteran is coded as “3”. We can find no evidence of a programming error. If there are specific customer records where an error is evident, please contact the JTA Customer Support Help Desk and we will work to identify the cause of the problem.

The JTA system Field 66 Disabled Veteran and Field 42 Disabled have different definitions than the related fields in CalJOBSSM. If a customer is disabled and a veteran the data are populated in the JTA as a “1”.  (7/28/2008)

There is no specific data link between JTA Field 42 Disabled and JTA Field 66 Disabled Veteran. CalJOBSSM has two separate disabled questions. The first one is for the general population and these data populate JTA Field 42 Disabled in the JTA system. The second CalJOBSSM disability question is asked only of an individual self-identifying as a veteran. That data populates field 66 Disabled Veteran in the JTA system. We would expect that a disabled veteran would answer “yes” to both questions.

With respect to the first disability question asked of all CalJOBSSM users, responses in the JTA system do differ for those in CalJOBSSM. The JTA system coding distinguishes between a “major” versus a “substantial” disability. CalJOBSSM asks disabled “yes/no”. When the data are auto-populated from CalJOBSSM the code in JTA goes to “1” Major disability. This is an arbitrary decision. The distinction between major and substantial disability in the JTA system is a “hangover” from old reporting requirements. At this time, we only report to the Department of Labor a yes or no response on disability status.

The second disable question in CalJOBSSM applies only to the veteran population. In CalJOBSSM we ask the customer to identify if they are “special disabled” (30% or more rated disability) or just “disabled” (less than 30% disability). The special disabled response populates JTA as “2” (Yes, Special disabled) in Field 66 Veteran Disabled on the JTA WIA Application. The CalJOBSSM disabled response, less than 30%, populates JTA as “1” Yes in Field 66 on the JTA WIA Application. The definitions are essentially the same between CalJOBSSM and JTA for the Disabled Veteran question.

Field 81 and Field 82 are required even though on the WIA Application that Robin Purdy distributed on July 17 (email distribution) they are shaded gray indicating that they are optional.  (7/28/2008)

Field 81 Labor Force Status is optional on the WIA Application but if Field 81 is answered then Field 82 Weeks not Employed in the Last 26 Weeks must be completed as well. We suggest not reporting Field 81 Labor Force Status on the WIA Application. For the purpose of program accountability we take the Labor Force status from the Enrollment Form Field 07.

Once a customer is soft exited from JTA, what is the re-enrollment procedure if they come back to the Center for additional services, do they have to go through the enrollment process again?   (7/28/2008)

An auto-exit occurs if when the upload is done to the JTA system stateside the customer record indicates that 90 days has passed since the last Estimated/Actual completion date on the WIA Enrollment Form (s). Once this Exit occurs the existing WIA Application is closed. A new Application must be completed to enroll the customer in new services. On an exception basis the Application can be re-opened but approval by the Workforce Services Division is required. Instructions regarding this exception process are in WIA Information Bulletin 06-69, June 29, 2007. We are in the process of preparing a new Information Notice on this subject.