Featured Case Study

Consulting and Operational Support for My Career Advancement Accounts

Military Community and Family Policy (MC&FP), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) for Personnel and Readiness (P&R)

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Challenge

Military retention is contingent upon family and individual well-being of the active duty service member and their family members. In response to Department of Defense-sponsored studies and analysis related to the well-being of military families, MC&FP initiated a pilot program entitled “MyCAA”, a DoD employment assistance program for military spouses of active duty service members. The program is designed to support participants seeking higher education to include vocational training, professional certifications, college degrees, and licenses, as well as finding employment in high-demand, high-growth portable career fields. The government contracted Military OneSource to launch and manage the MyCAA program.

Solution

The Bowen Group provides onsite subject matter expertise in the area of adult education, tuition assistance, and spouse employment for the MyCAA program. Staff members identify educational programs and related admission requirements, identify and approve portable career paths, establish partnerships with qualifying schools, coordinate the vetting process to authorize educational institutions and/or certifying agencies, and manage the financial transaction between DoD and the receiving authority. To ensure high-quality services are delivered and functions managed effectively, The Bowen Group develops and deploys processes to comprehensively evaluate a spectrum of educational support delivered to DoD to include tracking efficacy and efficiency of services (e.g. tracking customer recovery metrics), surveying schools and educational institutions, collecting quantitative and qualitative data, establishing quality standards and benchmarks, and modifying practices as indicated.

Result

The Bowen Group manages the 90-day vetting process of each school or institution requesting admission to MyCAA, and averages approximately 200 new schools per month, with priority given to those schools requested by military spouses. The Bowen Group also manages the Academic Institution (AI) portal where school data is stored and accessed, and electronic invoicing is managed. Since November of 2008, more than 138,000 military spouses have received tuition assistance through the MyCAA program.

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Management Consulting Case Studies:

• Consulting and Operational Support, MyCAA
• Implementation Guide, EFMP
• Strategic Planning, RAP