The center's mission is to maximize the
effective and efficient use of occupational information by providing
specialized occupational tools (files, reports, software) and technical
assistance to users and producers of occupational information.
The center's mission is to maximize the
effective and efficient use of occupational information by providing
specialized occupational tools (files, reports, software) and technical
assistance to users and producers of occupational information.
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Introduction In
the early 1980s, the federal government realized the value in establishing a
single clearinghouse for delivering their electronic resources. Federal agencies produced a variety of
resources, frequently as byproducts of their programs. Many of these could be of value to those
outside the government, but two factors combined to restrict access: 1) Lack
of a distribution system for any products other than those classified as
their primary products. 2) Almost
exclusive use of mainframe computers for product development and insufficient
resources for manipulating files to meet specific customers’ needs. In 1983 such a center, the National Crosswalk
Service Center or NCSC, was established in Iowa. A federal interagency group, the National Occupational Information
Coordinating Committee, now defunct, funded the center. The Employment and Training administration
has provided funding for the center since 1997. This document is the latest in a series of annual
reports that document the center’s activities. Separate sections of this report analyze overall utilization of
the center’s resources and specific activities that address commitments
included in the center’s statement of work. |
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File Downloads Server Utilization |
Utilization The types of products and services as well as
methods of delivery have changed significantly during the center’s 22 years
of operation. Initial products were
exclusively mainframe computer-based.
They consisted of files on nine-track magnetic tape, a series of
standardized printed reports, and standard and custom files delivered on tape
through the mail. One of the center’s major products, the NOICC
Master Crosswalk, was downloaded from the state’s mainframe computer system
to a personal computer in 1984. A
database version was created using dBASE II software. NCSC staff capitalized on experience
gained during this transformation, and the number of resources available for
personal computers increased rapidly.
The mix of delivery media grew to include diskettes in addition to
printed reports and nine-track tapes.
Product delivery changed again in 1989 when the
NCSC established a dial-up bulletin board system (BBS). When using this system, users with modems
and communication software called up a computer running the BBS software at
the NCSC and downloaded files and left messages for NCSC staff and other
users. The NCSC continued to
distribute several hundred files each year on diskette; use of the BBS added
750-1,000 files in addition to those sent through the mail. The availability of NCSC resources to another
significant jump in late 1998 when the center began distributing files over
the Internet. Before this
development, the number of files distributed in a year never exceeded
2,000. During the period covered by
this report, over 84,000 files were downloaded. The graph below traces the increase in the number of files
distributed by the NCSC.
As the center’s delivery modes changed, so did
the variety of products that were available.
Originally products dealt largely with classification systems, their
descriptions and relationships.
Different types of information also became available, as well as
information from other sources. More
text-oriented information, such as that from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’
Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Department of Defense’s Military
Occupational and Training Data became available and were in demand by NCSC
customers. The latter resource was
developed to help career system developers include military information in
their systems. Over 6,300 unique files were downloaded during
the year. The following table
presents information about customer utilization of the NCSC’s Internet Server
(NOTE: this information does NOT include use of the NCSC home page. That site is housed on a different server,
operated by the State of Iowa, for which this information is not available.
A listing of the files with the greatest number
of downloads is included as an attachment to this document. The anonymous nature of the internet has made it
more difficult for many programs to track contact they have with individual
customers. Customers connected to the
NCSC Internet server from over 16,000 unique IP addresses during the
year. That doesn’t translate into
16,000 customers, nor does it indicate the identity of those customers. However, the center fields a large number
of e-mail questions about its products and services, and identities of those
sending the messages can be tracked.
Here is a sample of customers with whom the NCSC had e-mail contact
during the year: National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health Centris Group Department of Sociology, University of Georgia The University of Michigan- School of Public Health Michigan Virtual University Selland College of Applied Technology, Boise State University Human
Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) Workers' Compensation, Social Security Disability,
LexisNexis/Matthew Bender & Co. Harvard Medical School University of Ballarat, Ballarat VIC, Australia Department of Economics, Florida State University Pfizer Youngstown
State University, Center for Urban and Regional Studies Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis ACT, Inc Booz Allen Hamilton Infrastructure Division
, Harris
County Flood Control District Information Management Services, Inc. University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center University of Iowa VenLogic L.L.C. Center on Education and Work, University of Wisconsin –
Madison Department of Economics, Yale University The National
Center on Education and the Economy Property Advisors Corporation Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Kaiser
Permanente. Franklin & Marshall College |
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ALMIS Resource Center
Activities Activities Related to Work
Statements |
The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training
Administration (ETA) has provided funding for the National Crosswalk Service
Center since 1997. The ETA, through a grant to the ALMIS
Resource Center, desires to make a variety of products and services available
to the State Employment Security Agencies and other customers. Through this grant for operation of the
National Crosswalk Service Center, ETA expects to realize the
following objectives: 1) Work
with consortium members to establish a single point of contact for technical
support to assist the states in their development of the ALMIS Database. 2) Provide
a conduit for information and data into and out of the Workforce Information
System. 3) Provide
a one-stop resource for classification and crosswalk resources. 4) More
fully exploit Internet communication to share files, ideas, feedback, etc.
among producers and users of occupational, training and economic information. The NCSC contract’s
work statements includes a number of specific work items intended to provide
support for the ALMIS Resource Center, state ALMIS Database administrators
and other NCSC customers. Specific
activity related to the individual work statement items is included in this
section. Support
the ALMIS Database Maintenance Consortium o Attended consortium meetings in Kalispell MT (August), Myrtle Beach SC (November) and San Diego CA (March) o Developed
Internet resources for the 2005 ALMIS Database Seminar in San Diego. (May,
June) o Prepared
an annual report detailing NCSC activities and an analysis of trends in usage
by customers. Report was distributed
to the consortium, ETA and published on the NCSC web site. (April) Support State staff in their efforts to populate and
manage the ALMIS Database |
