California Conservation Corps to Replace its Data Collection and Reporting System
The Conservation Corps is in the very beginning stage of the project, and will be looking for a system integrator.
/ April 30, 2014
The California Conservation Corps recruits young adults from 18 to 25 years of age, to work for the state, doing everything from energy audits to trail building and fire fighting. The CCC has 24 locations around the state and residential centers where corps members live.
While they work, corps members receive education and training to qualify for scholarships and bonuses. And while the recession’s end might be expected to reduce the number of applicants, that’s not the case, said CIO Rita Gass. Currently the CCC gets about 600 applications per month, and with the passage of the Clean Energy Jobs Act, and the state’s drought program, demand for corps members is growing.
Fortunately, the CCC just completed a Salesforce-based Job Science recruitment system and putting applications online for the first time has doubled the number of applications. The online system has also helped recruit veterans who – unlike other corps members – do not have to come from California. The 30-year old Advantage/Clipper recruitment program was phased out beginning last October and the new system went live in January. While the system is now complete, Gass said that the CCC is growing and the system may at some point require expansion and further automation.
Now, the CCC has taken the first step to replace another legacy system, the CCC Automated Data Collection and Reporting System (CADCARS.) “This is our mission-critical system,” said Gass.
CADCARS has three functions: First, it tracks all CCC projects, including reimbursables, which account for 40 percent of CCC funding. The system tracks contracts and projects, does invoicing, etc. The second function is managing corps member personal information, onboarding, benefits, leave balances and timekeeping tied to projects. The third function is corps member development, education and training. “They are receiving education while they are working,” Gass explained, “so anybody without a high school diploma has to go to a high school program … to get a diploma.”
