Contract, Contract Referral, Contract Referral Placement Hierarchy

Data for Employment Services Programs (Programs) is largely stored using a hierarchical data structure that mirrors the contractual arrangements which govern the delivery of these programs in a way that also allows for participant interaction data to be recorded. It allows for examination of the data at three levels of grain (grain is defined as the combination of columns/data items at which a single record is unique). The core data structure revolves around a 3-layer hierarchy:

• Contract (Provider + Program + Employment Region)
  • Contract Referral (Participant + Provider + Program + Employment Region)
    • Contract Referral Placement (Participant + Provider + Program + Employment Region + Employment Provider Site)

A Contract Referral will be related to a single Contract, but multiple Contract Referral Placements (CRP's) can be related to a single Contract Referral. Data is most commonly extracted at the CRP level, as it allows for efficient tracking and reporting on participants and the performance of Employment Service Providers (Providers) that service them.

Contract (Provider + Program + Employment Region):

Employment Services in their current state are run by private, for-profit organisations. To become an accredited Provider, an organisation must apply and qualify for a license to deliver services in line with the Deed of Standing Offer for a specific Program. If a Provider is successful in their application, they are offered a Contract Licence that authorises them to deliver services for that Program within a specific Employment Region.

The unique identifier for this license is known as the Contract ID and forms the top level of the hierarchy.  If a provider receives licenses to deliver services for multiple Programs or in multiple Employment Regions, a new Contract ID would be generated for each license. Because a license is granted to a specific provider for a specific program in a specific employment region, it allows for the identification of the combination of these three concepts in a single data item.

Contract Referral: (Participant + Provider + Program + Employment Region):

When a participant registers for a Program, they are able to choose the provider they are going to be serviced by within the Employment Region that they fall within (if a participant does not select a provider themselves, they are allocated to one based upon a range of criteria).

This instance of a participant choosing or being allocated to a provider is recorded as a Contract Referral and forms the second level of the data structure. Each contract referral has a unique identifier known as the Contract Referral ID that has a child relationship with a parent Contract ID, allowing the department to report upon which participants are being serviced under a specific Contract (i.e. the provider, program and employment region they are being serviced by and in).

Contract Referral Placement (Participant + Provider + Program + Employment Region + Employment Provider Site):

Within the employment region that they are licensed to a deliver a program in, a provider may have multiple Sites or premises from which they deliver those services. When a participant chooses or is allocated to be serviced from a specific site it is recorded as a Contract Referral Placement ID (CRP ID), forming the third level of the data structure, placing the grain of the data at the Participant + Provider + Program + Employment Region + Provider Site level. Each CRP ID has a child relationship with a parent Contract Referral ID. 

Providers with a Contract license may have multiple Employment Services Sites (Sites) located within an employment region, which are the offices or premises that they deliver services from. When a participant chooses or is allocated to be serviced from a specific Site it is recorded as a Contract Referral Placement ID (CRP ID), forming the third level of the data structure. Each CRP ID has a child relationship with a parent Contract Referral ID. 

Participants work with Providers to determine which site is most appropriate for them to be serviced from and can initiate a transfer to either another Site run by the same Provider, or to another Provider entirely.

Provided below are some examples of when a how this structure works in practice:

• If a participant changes Program, Provider or Employment Region, a new CRP would be generated for that participant that is related to the Contract ID and Contract Referral ID for the license relevant to that combination of Program/Provider/Employment Region.
• If a participant was to change to a new site but remain in the same program and employment region, a new CRP ID would be generated, but the Contract Referral ID (and therefore Contract ID) that the CRP relates to would remain the same.