Appendix e

Report Methodology

Process: Iowa Values Fund and Business Assistance Programs 2007 Annual Report
Step 1: Reports submitted by businesses
Step 2: Reports and payrolls analyzed by Legal and Compliance Project Managers.
Step 3: Employment and wage data entered in to database
Step 4: Job analysis numbers generated using database formulas

Step 1: Reports submitted by businesses
Each business that is required to submit a report this reporting cycle received written notice of the July 31, 2007 filing deadline. Instructions were provided to the business about how to complete the report. Online report filing was offered again this year for the convenience of the businesses. The project status report from each business was asked to complete collected information about jobs, wages, benefits, and any changes in the business (e.g.,  changes in the ownership, structure or control of the business;  business name changes; any litigation or other violations of law that would adversely impact the project; changes in benefit plans). Payroll records were required to be submitted with the Report. This form began collecting data needed to implement the Department’s new job counting and tracking method.

 Step 2: Reports and payrolls analyzed by Legal and Compliance Project Managers.
Project Status Reports submitted by businesses are reviewed for completeness. Payroll records are used to verify the reported numbers. This year because the Department was transitioning as many contracts as possible into the new job counting and tracking method the payroll analysis had to be conducted twice for each contract: first, to calculate base employment and the number at or above the Qualifying Wage Thresholds (QWTs) at the time of award and second, to confirm that the reported numbers as of 6/30/07 were supported by payroll data.

Payroll analysis is a verifiable method of evaluating reported employment numbers, but it is a very labor-intensive process. The largest payroll document analyzed was 3,000 pages. Not all payrolls were submitted in an electronic format or in a format that could be sorted easily. In those instances, the payroll data had to be entered manually by the Project Managers and their assistants before numbers could be verified. 280 reports representing 19,200 reported jobs were analyzed by 6 project managers and their project assistants for this Report.

Step 3: Employment and wage data entered into Access database.
An Access database was created to manage the large volume of data needed to compile this Annual Report. Data for 441 projects was entered into the database.

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.