Page 52 - GCN, Aug/Sept 2017

case study MANAGEMENT
Data analytics takes on
workforce optimization
With budgets getting tighter, agencies are digging into their data to forecast workforce trends and improve decision-making
BY PAUL McCLOSKEY
The 2016 election is only months away, and govern- ment agencies nationwide are bracing for funding, program and leadership changes.
According to a recent forecast by the Center for State and Local Gov- ernment Excellence, the challenges of workforce management and planning are close to the top of the list of priori- ties agencies want to address.
Those challenges include recruit- ing and retaining personnel, succes- sion planning and staff development, according to the center, which said agencies continue to have difficulty recruiting for new positions, especial- ly in the areas of IT, public safety and finance.
Retirements are also on the rise, with 54 percent of respondents report- ing that retirement rates were higher in 2015 than in 2014. Consequently, part-time hiring is growing, with 41 percent of respondents in search of contract and temporary workers.
In confronting those shifts, the cen- ter recommends that agencies use a number of strategies, including deep- ening their expertise in data analytics to forecast workforce trends and im- prove decision-making.
In the past decade, a handful of organizations have been developing new ways to help manage the work- force challenges facing government.
The solutions include sophisticated
analytics for workforce planning and optimization, software for streamlin- ing access to operations data and com- pliance recordkeeping, and innovative job-matching tools to pick up the pace of economic development.
The Naval Sea Systems Command’s Program Executive Office for Integrat- ed Warfare Systems (PEO-IWS) want- ed to shape its workforce in ways that would address its future integrated warfare needs.
Officials from the Defense Health Agency used Decision Lens, a software analytics tool, to determine that the medical facility in Landstuhl, Germany, was only getting a fraction of the resources it needed.
44 GCN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 • GCN.COM
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