From 1,157 Scattered Files to One Compliance View in Seven Weeks

Client details are anonymized.

The challenge

A career services department needed its participant files audit-ready before program-year closeout. Files spanned several funding streams, including WIOA, and several program years. Nobody could say how many files existed, which were complete, or which participants had gone a year or more without contact.

The contract set hard benchmarks: review 100% of priority files, reach at least 95% compliance, contact every participant referred 12 or more months earlier, and report progress in real time.

The approach

Altus ran the engagement through a PEAK project management office.

• Plan. Catalogued the full file universe and agreed on a priority set with the client, split across two WIOA caseloads and a leadership referral list. Built the schedule and risk register around that baseline.
• Execute. Reviewed each priority file against a WIOA-aligned checklist and logged every deficiency with a corrective action. Launched outreach to every participant without contact in 12 or more months.
• Assure. Tracked progress weekly against each contract benchmark. Moved file status out of spreadsheets and email into a shared SharePoint compliance roster the whole department could see.
• Knowledge Transfer. Delivered a root-cause analysis across people, process, technology and culture, and 11 prioritized recommendations the department can act on without Altus.

The results

• 1,157 participant files catalogued, the first complete count of the portfolio
• 558 priority files defined for review across two WIOA caseloads and a referral list
• 44 of 44 participants without contact in 12 or more months identified, with outreach launched to all
• Real-time tracking benchmark met: the department's first centralized view of file status, deficiencies and corrective actions
• 6 systemic issues documented, each mapped to a root cause
• 11 recommendations delivered, including 3 quick wins for the first 30 days

The three quick wins were a standardized file review checklist, monthly flagging of high-risk files, and a closeout readiness protocol. Each takes little effort and addresses the most common reason files fell out of compliance: quality was checked only at closeout.

What other agencies can take from this

1. Count the files before you schedule the work. The baseline drives everything else.
2. Check documentation during the program year, not at closeout.
3. Name one owner for compliance monitoring. Shared ownership becomes no ownership.
4. Pick one system of record. Conflicting data across systems undermines every report.