DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

DOL Transition Assistance Program
Pursuant to supplementary GI-bill legislation, the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) was established in May 1990 as a joint venture between the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Veteran's Administration, with the Veteran's Employment and Training Service of the Department of Labor as the lead agency.  Designed to acclimate soon-to-be veterans and their spouses to the job market, TAP provides instruction in the form of a three-day workshop.  Conwal was selected to provide trained personnel for duties as Workshop Facilitators for upwards of 1800 workshops each year at over 100 military installations nationwide.  To date, Conwal has conducted over 5,000 TAP workshops.  The Workshop Facilitators provide instruction on such topics as employment opportunities and civilian workplace assistance programs, resume preparation and job analysis, and job search and job interviewing techniques.  Under the TAP project, Conwal also covers labor market information, civilian workplace requirements, employment opportunities, Small Business Administration loan and grant program information, and instruction on Federal, State, and local employment assistance and training programs.  Over 60 facilitators are currently on staff with Conwal and are teaching at workshops nationwide.

Conwal has developed instructions for Workshop Facilitators concerning scheduling, cost incurrence and reimbursement, workshop reporting, pay and other personnel matters, and policies and procedures unique to the TAP contract effort.  Conwal has also published and disseminated monthly newsletters to Workshop Facilitators containing additional guidance, suggestions and materials to improve presentations and updates of workshop materials.  Conwal has expanded its expertise by providing support for the Spouse TAP effort, as conceived and initiated by DOL.

DOL Grants and Contract Management Information System
Conwal designed, developed, and demonstrated a prototype automated management information system for departmental financial and management control of over 1,200 Federal contracts and grants whose aggregate annual value is in excess of 20 billion dollars.  A detailed management and procedural requirements analysis, accompanied by a cost/benefit evaluation, preceded the substantive design work.

This preliminary analysis covered an extremely complex organizational environment involving 13 diverse independent agencies in the Department of Labor, its regional offices, and comparable corporate entities in 50 sovereign States.  The numerous and diverse requirements of the various organizational entities were integrated with those required by regulation and statute to achieve a conceptual system ideally suited for all potential users.

This concept was developed into a detailed design, implemented, and successfully demonstrated in a prototype model which is currently being expanded into a fully operational system.  The ultimate system utilized Structured Query Languages (SQL) and existing workstation hardware and peripherals, thereby reducing the need for the relatively costly procurement of large computers and the replacement of the workstation hardware and peripherals.

Department of Labor Job Corps Information System
Conwal personnel were tasked to perform an independent review of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Job Corps Information System.  The review included analysis of original, current, and expected requirements for the system and how well the system met, meets, or could meet those requirements.

Cost and functionality were key elements of concern.  The resulting review additionally proposed an alternative system configuration which provided necessary and desired capabilities, utilized current technology, and was compliant with the then-current DOL information system standards.

The analysis concluded with recommendations to refrain from further updates or additions to the current system and to reengineer the database and applications for processing using microcomputer-based technology.  An alternative microcomputer configuration was proposed.  The phased development, implementation, and parallel processing cutover/cost-effective period was estimated at two-and-a half years.

US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Office Automation and ADP Modernization
OBJECTIVE: To provide a variety of technical and engineering services to modernize ADP and office automation operations in the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor at its Washington headquarters and in its regional offices nationwide.

Database design, development, re-engineering:  The Employment and Training Administration runs hundreds of independent database programs to manage key labor operations such as grant administration, purchasing and procurement, global directories, and financial management. Many of these programs are not year 2000 compliant, nor do they have consistent user interfaces or secure operating systems.  Conwal is analyzing, redesigning and replacing these systems with Year 2000 compliant, Oracle databases, using both client-server and Java-based thin-client architectures which can be accessed over the DOL intranet, or with secure VPN encryption, across the Internet.

Conwal's work in this area includes:

• Relational database analysis, design, and development
• Database Administration and Management
• Configuration and management of Sun Ultra Enterprise servers
• Development of web enabled applications
• Database systems integration
• Migration from legacy systems
• Year 2000 database compliance testing
• Developing paper, on-line, and browser-based documentation

Network design, management, maintenance and troubleshooting:  Conwal is continuing the process of modernizing the ADP and office automation operations.  New Novell 4.11 file servers have been rolled out to all regions nationwide, and the latest  versions of Group Wise E-mail and a ManageWise workstation control software have been deployed to reduce total cost of ownership.  A new 32-bit desktop has been created and is being deployed across the regions.

Conwal's work in this area includes:

• Information Systems security
• implementing 32-bit desktop platform
• Comprehensive desktop control and management
• Development and Design of complex wide-are networks
• Implementation of secure Internet access via multiple firewalls
• Managing and upgrading E-mail systems
• Installing and configuring Sun, Novell, Windows NT servers
• Implementing remote access capability
• Year 2000 hardware and software compliance testing

Internet Development and Support Operations:  Conwal is developing, maintaining, and upgrading the World Wide Web (WWW) infrastructure of the Employment and Training Administration.  Staff manage the ETA home page, as well as SafetyNet and many ancillary home pages.  A comprehensive Internet search facility has been provided (Verity) and many legacy systems have been web-enabled through the use of web tools such as Cold Fusion, reducing requirements for in-house data entry, and reducing staff required to answer questions, since most queries from any touch tone phone, and implement e-mail and fax gateways to help expand public and regional access to ETA systems.

Conwal's work in this area includes:

• Web development
• Web graphics implementation
• Web trending and access reporting
• Web/database integration (Oracle Web Applications Server, Cold Fusion)
• Search engine development and implementation
• Voice response, e-mail response, and fax-on-demand systems implementation
• On-line, web-based documentation through
• On-line status reporting for system uptime and availability