TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE REPORT ON MANPOWER TRAINING NEEDS SURVEY FOR MANPOWER PLANNING, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROJECT (JAMAICA)

THE SURVEY CONSISTS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR STUDIES ON LABOR SUPPLY AND DEMAND TO BE UNDERTAKEN, RESPECTIVELY, BY NPA AND DOS. COMPUTER FILES HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED ON OCCUPATIONS AND ON PUBLIC AND LARGE AND SMALL PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS; AND A SINGLE, SELF-CODING QUESTIONNAIRE, DESIGNED FOR DATA CAPTURE, HAS BEEN DEVELOPED FOR BOTH STUDIES. DATA WILL BE ENTERED ON DOS AND CENTRAL DATA PROCESSING UNIT EQUIPMENT AND SHOULD BE LABELLED AND STORED SEPARATELY. EDITING OF THE DATA WILL BE KEPT AS CLOSE TO MANUAL AS POSSIBLE AND A FILE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM WILL BE DEVELOPED TO CORRECT PREVIOUSLY EDITED RECORDS AND TO ALLOW FOR RECORD REMOVAL, ADDITION, AND CHANGE, SURVEY DATA WILL HAVE TO BE SUPPLEMENTED IN THE AREAS OF THE SELF- AND UNEMPLOYED, FARM WORKERS, AND SMALL BUSINESSES. PROVISION HAS BEEN MADE, HOWEVER, FOR ENTRY OF DATA BASED ON MIGRATION, AND TABLES HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED TO ILLUSTRATE THE RELATION OF EDUCATION TO TRAINING. DUE TO THE TIME REQUIRED FOR WORK ON INPUT REQUIREMENTS, OUTPUTS REQUIREMENTS WILL HAVE TO BE DEVELOPED ON AN AD HOC BASIC. SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED TO REQUIRE A MINIMUM OF TWO PERSON YEARS. BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT LACKS TRAINED ANALYSTS/PROGRAMMERS, FOUR SUCH PROFESSIONALS SHOULD BE ASSIGNED AT ONCE IN ORDER TO MEET TARGET COMPLETION DATE OF 2/80. BECAUSE THE COMPUTER IS REACHING ITS SATURATION POINT, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT THE TAPE UNITS BE UPGRADED. ALSO RECOMMENDED ARE FOLLOW-UP VISITS FROM THE SYSTEMS ANALYST TO ENSURE THAT THE SYSTEM IS MEETING PROJECT OBJECTIVES. FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION DECISIONS SHOULD BE DOCUMENTED AND DISTRIBUTED SPEEDILY TO ALL CONCERNED IN ORDER TO AVOID FURTHER CONFUSION DUE TO CHANGES OF DIRECTION. THE SECOND HALF OF THE REPORT PRESENTS THE SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURE IN TECHNICAL DETAIL.