ETA Integrated Case Management Initiative Journey Mapping

DOL ETA – Case Management Initiative

Interview Guides

Intro

Hi Name, I’m Name, and I'm a Researcher with the Lab at OPM. First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today! Before we go started, I want to check on the connection. Are you able to see/hear me alright?

This should take about 45 minutes but no longer than an hour. I’m joined by my colleague Name. Passing it to you to introduce yourself.

[Notetaker gives their name, title, office/team, and agency.]

I will be conducting the interview for the most part today. And Name will jump in with questions as we go – especially when things get technical! Name will be leading note-taking.

The Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration has partnered with the Lab at OPM, HHS, and Department of Education to explore opportunities to support integrated, aligned, and holistic case management system(s) and service delivery at the local level. We hope to engage you, as well as state employees, municipal government employees, local board members, and most importantly front-line staff and participants through a variety of methods to understand how the current processes and systems are serving them, where they may be falling short, but most importantly, what are their needs, attitudes, and motivations that can inform action.

We will ask you to speak honestly about your experiences. There are no right or wrong answers to our questions. You will be able to skip any questions or ask for clarification at any point. You may also end the interview at any time. We will take notes. We may use quotes from this call in our summaries of this project but we will not include your name.

Lastly, we are not compensating anyone for the conversations.

Do you have any questions before we start?

STATE, LOCAL, AND BOARD REPRESENTATIVES

1. Role

   1. Tell us about your role within <State/Local Gov/Board>.
      
      

2. Current State – Can you describe your case management system and/or level of integration?

   1. What tools, systems, or vendors are used?

   2. How do you engage with those systems?

   3. How do you engage and integrate with partner programs?

   4. How do you access data or information?

      1. What data or information do you not have access to?

   5. What about those processes/systems is working well?

      1. What could be improved?
         
         

3. Goals – Now that you've walked me through the process, can you talk a bit about what some of your team’s intended goals are with case management?

   1. What about goals around how data is shared and managed?

   2. What about goals pertaining to reporting?
      
      

4. Stakeholders – I'm now going to ask you a few questions about the people that you serve:

   1. Who do you primarily serve in your work?

   2. What are the largest operational obstacles faced by those you serve?

   3. What are the largest obstacles faced by the jobseeker?
      
      

5. Information & Support – What helps you accomplish those goals pertaining to case management in your work?

   1. What specific flexibilities and functionality do you find important to your work? Why?

   2. What case management related information do you use the most? How often? Can you describe your access to this information?

   3. What participant or program-level data is important to have access to do your work?
      
      

6. Programs & Reporting

   1. Can you tell me about a time when you shared data + information across programs/states/localities?

   2. How do you typically communicate and report to other groups?

   3. How do you learn what’s working or not working?

7. Barriers – Throughout the process, what barriers do you encounter?

   1. Are there any milestones that your system does not currently catch?

   2. What challenges do you face when it comes to coordination of service delivery?

      1. Have you or your team implemented practices to address the challenges? If so, can you describe them? What worked/what didn't?
         
         

8. Future / Landscape – If you could change one thing about the case management system or how people access services what would you change? Why?

   1. What would be the biggest benefits of that change? Potential pitfalls?

   2. What does a successful case management system allow your team to do?

   3. What information or data do you wish you had?

   4. Who benefits? How?

   5. What needs to happen to move toward that future?

   6. What are future obstacles, risks, or considerations to keep in mind?

   7. What is DOL ETA’s role in supporting the case management landscape?

   8. In what ways do you believe that technology can best help to alleviate obstacles and barriers?

   9. Who else should be considered?
      
      

9. Closing

   1. Are there other efforts to align technology and data systems across programs that we should be aware of?

   2. Is there anything we did not get to that you would like to share?

   3. Are there others we should talk with?

FRONT-LINE STAFF / CASE MANAGERS

1. Role – I'd like to start by learning a little bit about your background.

   1. Can you briefly tell me about your past experience working in workforce development/case management?

   2. How did it lead you to your current role?

   3. Tell us more about your role within <program>. What does your day to day look like?

2. Participants – Who do you primarily serve through your work in <program>?

   1. How do participants typically find out about your program?

   2. What is important for you to know about them?

   3. What data about the participant is important to have?

   4. What questions do they ask during the process?

   5. What are important moments throughout the process of working with your customers/clients/participants?

   6. What are the largest obstacles faced by the jobseeker?

3. Information & Support - What tools, systems are used throughout your day to day?

   1. What systems are working well? Why?

   2. Since your time within <program> how have the case management systems evolved?

   3. Which changes have been most beneficial?

   4. What changes created barriers in your workflow? How/Why?

   5. Have you developed any workarounds to get things done?

   6. What specific flexibilities and functionality do you find important to you work? Why?

   7. What tools or support do you need but don’t have access to?

   8. Can you describe how the current case management system integrates participant data/information?

4. Programs & Reporting

   1. Can you tell me about a time when you shared data + information across programs?

   2. How do you communicate and report to the State or local government about the program?

   3. How do you learn what’s working or not working?

5. Barriers – Throughout the process, what barriers do you encounter?

   1. Can you tell me about a time when you didn't have access to the data or information you needed to do your work?

      1. How often do situations like this occur?

      2. What do you do to solve for the lack of access?

   2. How has COVID-19 impacted the way you deliver services?

10. Future / Landscape – If you could change one thing about the case management system or how people access services what would you change? Why?

    1. What would be the biggest benefits of that change? Potential pitfalls?

    2. What does a successful case management system allow your team to do?

    3. What information or data do you wish you had?

    4. Who benefits? How?

    5. What needs to happen to move toward that future?

    6. What are future obstacles, risks, or considerations to keep in mind?

    7. What is DOL ETA’s role in supporting the case management landscape?

    8. In what ways do you believe that technology can best help to alleviate obstacles and barriers?

    9. Who else should be considered?

6. Closing

   1. Are there other efforts we should be aware of?

   2. Is there anything we did not get to that you would like to share?

   3. Are there others we should talk with?

PARTICIPANTS/JOB SEEKER

1. Process– We would like to start by hearing which government programs or support have you participated in?

   1. How did you first hear about <Program/Services>?

   2. What prompted you to seek support initially? What type of services were you looking for?

   3. What did you try before engaging <Programs/Services>. Why?

   4. I want to learn more about your experiences with <Program/Services>. Can you walk me through each step of the process? Let's start with onboarding. What happened first?

   5. What steps did you go through?

   6. What questions did you ask?

   7. What type of information did you share?

   8. Was there anything surprising about the experience?

   9. What worked well throughout the experience, if anything?

   10. Who did you engage with? How?

   11. Did you feel that it met your needs?

   12. How do you currently interact with the < Program/Services >? (If participating in multiple programs/services currently, how do those programs/services interact with each other?)

2. Tools & Systems

   1. Are there any tools, websites that you have used to participate in < Program/Services >?

      1. What were you trying to do by using the tools and websites?

      2. When did you engage with them in the process? Was it prior to working with a case manager?

      3. What about them worked well or not so well, if anything?

   2. What about the program or service was most valuable to you? Why?

   3. What are your goals when participating in< Program/Services >?

3. Barriers – Can you tell me about a moment or moments in the process where you were faced with a barrier, hurdle or burden? What happened?

   1. What was challenging about the experience, if anything?

   2. What do you wish was smoother about the process?

   3. What support do you still need?

4. Future / Landscape – If you could change one thing about your experience with those programs and services what would you change? Why?

5. Closing –

   1. Is there anything we did not get to that you would like to share?

   2. Are there others we should talk with?