Appendix e

Report Methodology

Converting existing projects to new job counting method
The Department’s business financial assistance Project portfolio includes awards on or after July 1, 2003. As many projects as possible were transitioned to the new job counting method. The businesses under contract were very cooperative in providing the necessary payroll data as of the award data. However, not all projects could be converted to this new tracking system.

The non-converted projects are still held to job creation and retention obligations that pay the wages stated in the contract, but their progress is reported slightly differently. Those projects that were not converted are clearly marked in this Report. The reasons for not converting include lack of availability of payroll data from several years ago or the program or contract through which they received funding has different job tracking requirements (e.g. EDSA, NJIP, NCIP, and early IVF(FES) awards). The new job counting method requires solid information about the base employment characteristics as of the award date. Despite good faith efforts on the part of IDED and the businesses some data gaps could not be filled.

Step 4: Job analysis numbers generated using database formulas.
The new job counting and tracking method is based on comparing changes in base employment data as of the award date and as of 6/30/07. Since the analysis is now objective, not subjective, the Report job numbers are generated using formulas programmed into the database.