Coming Soon...
The NC Office of State Personnel (OSP), with sponsorship from the Office of the State Controller (OSC) and support from Information Technology Services (ITS), initiated a project with SAS Institute to develop a data warehousing and business intelligence application. This application, entitled NC Workforce Outlook and Retirement Knowledge System (NC WORKS), will provide state agencies with workforce planning decision support, reporting and advanced analytical capabilities. NC WORKS will provide the capability for NC state government to proactively manage and forecast talent needs necessary to achieve operational and strategic goals for the future. Having this capability positions agencies with the ability to analyze employee data, plan for, forecast and predict retirements and other attrition. This technology has the capability to capture aggregate data from multiple internal and previously unavailable external sources to create a statewide data warehouse upon which analytics can be applied. For the first time, agencies will be able to access predefined and ad hoc analysis, forecasting, predictions on human capital needs to support strategic decision making for current and future talent needs. Specifically NC WORKS will provide the following capabilities:
Forecasting
Forecasting is an integral component of NC WORKS data warehouse. This system will provide reporting and analytics for workforce planning, including the ability to forecast variables such as Turnover (Voluntary and Involuntary), Retirement, Vacancies and Supply of Eligible Candidates. The forecasts consider both the historical trend of the variable and the influence of other independent variables such as economic factors, population and education trends. OSP is leveraging SAS technology to provide robust forecasting capabilitie s , including the ability to automatically select the best fit forecasting method for each time series , based on the data values and predicted errors.
Predictive Modeling
In addition to providing trend based forecasting, NC WORKS provides predictive modeling capabilities. This allows the State to not only forecast how many Voluntary Separations will occur, but to calculate the probability of Voluntary Separation for any given employee. Reports can then be easily generated listing the employees who are most likely to Separate so that interventions can occur to retain or otherwise incent the employee. The same technology can also be leveraged to determine which interventions or incentives are most likely to result in the employee not Separating. Whereas forecasting involves primarily the analysis of how data elements change over time, predictive modeling focuses on the complex relationships between various attributes in the data and l ooking for hidden relationships or patterns.
"What—if"
This application also includes a "What-if" capability that allows end users to modify assumptions about independent variables on the fly, and then see immediately what impact these new assumptions have on the variable being forecasted. For example, if the forecasting model determines that Unemployment Rate has a high correlation to Voluntary Turnover, Unemployment Rate trends and forecasts would be used as inputs into the forecasting model for Voluntary Turnover. The end-user, through a web-based interface, could easily view the forecasts and change the values for the Unemployment Rates to see what impact different rates would have on future Voluntary Turnover.
NC WORKS will provide agencies the capability to analyze the following:
- Current workforce profile (supply) to forecast future staffing availability based on current staff and trend data,
- Future staffing needs (demand),
- Comparison of the present workforce to future workforce human capital needs to identify gaps and surpluses in staffing,
- Projected workforce based on expected attrition, and
- Retirement eligibility and likelihood of retirement (based on predictive modeling analysis)
NC WORKS will enable NC state government to improve overall performance by providing the capability to manage human capital information in ways that we have previously been unable to do. Utilizing NC WORKS will enable state agencies to have the advanced analytics necessary to conduct workforce planning activities to align human capital with an organization's business direction. Responding to the changing workforce demographics, trends, aging and retiring workforce , is essential as we strive to compete for the talent now and in the future. Utilizing NC WORKS will help us to gain insight into our workforce strengths and challenges to enhance our talent solution strategies. Overall, NC WORKS will enhance the ability of state agencies to plan their business processes, staffing and resource needs accordingly.
Please stay tuned for more information about NC WORKS as deployment plans are developed.
