Career service providers: Collaborate with LMIC to build a digital LMI tool
Application to express your interest in co-designing a digital tool with us
The Labour Market Information Council (LMIC) and the Future Skills Centre (FSC) have launched an initiative to build apps and tools that deliver high-quality, reliable labour market information (LMI) made available through the LMIC Data Hub.
To do this, we’re launching a process where career service organizations can apply to co-design a digital tool, or expand an existing digital tool, with LMIC and a technical developer partner.
If your organization is selected for this initiative, you can expect that at the end of the project you will have a unique and user-friendly digital tool that helps you use LMI so that you can help people make informed career decisions. You can expect to receive funding to:
This is the second round of expressions of interest (EOI) LMIC is soliciting for this project. A previous EOI process resulted in partnerships with myBlueprint and Université Laval, and co-design of those tools is underway.
LMIC is seeking to collaborate with one (1) additional partner to co-design a digital tool.
This document provides an overview of how your organization can apply for this opportunity, and how we will select an organization to participate. Please note that this document has a glossary. If you need clarification about any terms or phrases, see clarifying common words and acronyms.
If you have questions about this initiative, including your organization’s eligibility, the application process or other related matters, please contact Anne Patterson, Director of Communications at LMIC, at anne.patterson@lmic-cimt.ca.
Key Information
The opportunity
We’re seeking an organization to co-design a digital tool that helps career development professionals access and use LMI.
These digital tools could be apps, websites, dashboards — or something else entirely. We’ll collaborate with you and a team of developers to create something impactful.
We also invite applications to further develop and iterate on an existing digital LMI tool that is focused on supporting career development professionals and/or their work.
To do this, we’re providing funding for one organization to participate in co-designing a digital tool with us. During this process you will:
- Provide insight into the LMI needs of career development professionals;
- Co-design a digital tool that meets the needs of career development professionals (or collaborate to iterate on an existing tool);
- Participate in collaborative design and feedback sessions throughout the development process of the digital tool with LMIC and LMIC’ technical partner;
- Roll out the final digital tool to support the career development professionals you work with to use the tool;
- Evaluate the outcomes of using the digital tool.
Between $60,000–$150,000 is available to the eligible organization selected to participate in this initiative. We envision organizations submitting budgets at the lower end of this range if they are able to undertake the minimum set of responsibilities outlined here, and at the higher end of this range if they are able to propose 1) additional scope and/or fulfillment of bonus criteria, or 2) a consortium effort.
In this document, you will find an overview of the opportunity and an application package that will help us evaluate your organization’s fit for the initiative. Your application will help us understand:
- The challenges your organization faces using labour market information to support clients;
- What you envision being able to accomplish with a new or improved digital tool that delivers LMI;
- What types of tools you think would be most valuable for us to design together.
Because we’re seeking organizations to co-design with, the ideas you “pitch” in your application may not be what we ultimately end up building together — but they will allow us to start the process of building a vision with you.
Is my organization eligible to apply?
There are two primary eligibility requirements. To be considered for this opportunity:
- Your organization must be a non-profit entity, a branch of a non-profit organization or a private-sector organization that can demonstrate that it is a social enterprise or social purpose organization. All organizations must be incorporated and operating in Canada.
- Your organization must have been in operation for a minimum of two (2) full years with an annual budget of $500,000 or greater.
We’re looking for an organization that:
- Knows career development professionals very well — either because it employs them, trains them or works very closely with them.
- Can demonstrate its capacity, interest and commitment to engage with LMIC and our technical development partners to co-design a digital tool that will make a difference for career development professionals and the people they serve.
- Is willing to fully engage in a collaborative design process that will integrate labour market information from the LMIC Data Hub into the final digital tool.
- Views labour market information as a critical resource to share, assess and use when working with clients or developing new curriculum, materials and programs.
- Is curious about and excited by the opportunity to work with technology, tools and data that will enhance the practice and service delivery of career development professionals.
Important dates
| Applications due by: | October 19, 2022 at 11:59PM Eastern Time |
| Selected organization will be notified by: | November 2, 2022 |
| Detailed project implementation planning (PIP): | November 16, 2022 |
| Co-design activities will begin: | December 1, 2022 |
| Launch of digital tool: | June 2023 |
Background
What is co-design?
Co-design is a process that is creative and participatory: it brings people who have subject matter expertise and lived experience together with technical developers, designers, and implementers to create solutions.
In the context of this initiative, co-design means:
- Bringing together the LMI subject matter expertise of LMIC with organizations that work closely with career development professionals (you!);
- Collaborating with a technical development partner to create a vision for a digital tool that will bridge the gap between LMI and the needs of career professionals;
- Developing and rolling out a digital tool;
- Building the capacity of career development professionals to use and benefit from the tool;
- Evaluating the results of our work together.
What we'll accomplish together
The world of work is changing, including how work is done. The work of career development professionals is not immune to this reality.
This initiative gives you an opportunity to work with technical teams, economists, and other specialists to dream up new tools or improve existing tools that will make a difference to the quality and calibre of services career development professionals can deliver.
Together, we will collaborate to understand the LMI needs of career development professionals, create a vision for a digital tool, define the user experience, prototype (these links go to external websites that define these terms) and test a digital solution, implement the digital tool and build the capacity of career development professionals to use it and evaluate the results.
The tool we develop together could take many different forms. It could be a website, a mobile app, a dashboard — we want to get creative. We also want to hear from you if you already have a digital tool in use, but you know it could be better in some way. The end goal is to support career development professionals to access and use LMI.
If your organization is selected for this initiative, you can expect that at the end of the project you will have a unique and user-friendly digital tool that helps you use LMI so that career development professionals can help people living in Canada make informed career decisions.
Why we're launching this initiative
The LMI ecosystem requires a better way to support career development professionals and, ultimately, people who rely on LMI for their decision-making.
To navigate the changing world of work, people in Canada require better and easier access to meaningful LMI. Career development professionals are a key conduit through which people living in Canada receive contextualized labour market information and guidance, but many of these services lack high-quality data. An enormous amount of Canadian LMI exists, but it is spread across multiple sources, often available only in formats that experts can make use of.
To address this systemic challenge, LMIC and the Future Skills Centre launched a joint project to develop a cloud-based data repository (Data Hub) that consolidates and curates high-quality LMI data available in Canada.
To make the data in the Data Hub accessible, we are seeking to partner with career service organizations to develop or improve LMI tools and interfaces through user-centered design and drawing on data in the Data Hub.
Throughout 2021 we have engaged a Career Development Stakeholder Committee to ensure we are driven by the needs of this sector, which represents our primary target audience and user base.
For more information about the project, please visit the project page here:
About the LMIC Data Hub
To address this systemic challenge, LMIC and the Future Skills Centre (FSC) have launched a cloud-based data repository (Data Hub) that consolidates and curates high-quality LMI data available in Canada.
The LMIC Data Hub is a database in which information is stored to make it easy to access. However, the Data Hub is only a back-end for tools, apps, and services that use LMI. Most users will obtain data through front-end tools like websites, apps and dashboards that use data in the Data Hub.
To make the data in the Data Hub accessible, we’re partnering with organizations to develop front-end tools (like apps and web-based services) that use data from the Data Hub.
The front-end tools developed in this project are encouraged to draw as much data from the Data Hub as deemed necessary. And, if applicable, other data or sources of information deemed a business requirement for the front-end tool can also be integrated into the project.
What each of our organizations will contribute and do during this initiative
The following is an example of how our collaboration may be structured. We will work with you and our technical and evaluation partners to refine this plan early in the project.
| Organization | Contributes | Activities |
| LMIC |
|
|
| Partner organization (you) |
|
|
| Technical development partner |
|
|
| Evaluation partner |
|
|
| If there are contributions and/or activities that are currently allocated to other partners in this list and you think your organization can undertake them, please indicate this in your proposal and budget. Applications that incorporate additional scope and/or value-add will receive priority consideration. | ||
Your specific responsibilities
Below is a table of the minimum set of responsibilities you will be expected to commit to if your organization is selected as a co-design partner.
When preparing your proposed budget, please be sure to carefully consider each of these activities and your organization’s capacity and ability to deliver these accountabilities with excellence and within project timelines.
Specific timelines and details for all activities will be developed during the project implementation planning (PIP) phase in partnership with LMIC, our technical development partner and our evaluation partner.
| Responsibility | Description |
| Document organizational needs | You will document the challenge we will be solving with the digital tool. This will include documenting needs within your organization, your stakeholder groups, and your clients so that information can inform the development of a digital tool. |
| Co-design a use case | You will work closely with LMIC and our technical development partner in a series of workshops and consultations to develop a vision and use case for a digital tool. During these sessions, you will be an active participant and contributor of subject matter expertise related to career development professionals, the user experience research you have completed, and your organizational needs, as well as a creative partner in visioning a solution. |
| Perform user experience research (stakeholder consultations) | In partnership with our technical developer partner, you will research the needs and preferences of career development professionals. User experience (UX) research is typically done at the beginning of a technical project to understand what a particular user group would most benefit from in a digital tool, as well as throughout the development cycle to validate important decisions and features. This could involve leading facilitated workshops with career development professionals in your network, having one-on-one conversations, creating surveys and other activities. Our technical development partners will collaborate with you to develop these activities and coach you as you complete them. |
| Participate in review and iteration cycles | As our technical development team enters the design and development phase, you will be an active participant in reviewing their work, providing feedback, and validating any critical decisions within your organization, with your stakeholder groups and with the career development professionals you serve. |
| Develop a rollout plan for the digital tool | You will be responsible for developing a rollout plan to launch use of the digital tool within your organization in a way that meets the goals defined in our co-design efforts. The rollout plan must ensure sustained uptake and use of the digital tool among users and include support and capacity development to users. It should also include a 5-year sustainability plan for the digital tool, including an indication of how your organization will pursue future funding to ensure the digital tool remains relevant and useful to your stakeholders. |
| Create a training and development strategy for end users (capacity development) | As a part of your rollout plan for the digital tool, you will create and execute a capacity development strategy to build the skills, knowledge, and abilities of career development professionals and other end users to use and understand the digital tool. |
| Participate in project evaluation | Participate in all evaluation activities as led by our evaluation partner, including distributing surveys, summarizing impact and tracking engagement. |
Project Phases
This table is an estimated sequencing of project phases. Assigning specific dates and adapting sequencing will occur in the project implementation planning (PIP) phase in collaboration with all project partners.
| Months 1-3 | Months 4-6 | Months 7-9 | |||||||
| Career service provider partner selection | |||||||||
| Project implementation planning (PIP) | |||||||||
| Co-design kick off | |||||||||
| Document needs | |||||||||
| Digital solution concept development | |||||||||
| User experience research | |||||||||
| Prototype and test | |||||||||
| Implement digital tool | |||||||||
| Build capacity | |||||||||
| Evaluate impact | |||||||||
How we will select organizations to collaborate with
We will select co-design partners based on the following evaluation rubric. Note that only the core requirements will be weighted and scored; the bonus criteria will be carefully considered, but an absence of these in your proposal will not disqualify your organization.
| Criteria | Weighting |
| An LMI-related challenge has been clearly identified, including who it most impacts and how. | 15% |
| Initial pitch for a digital tool that would solve the LMI-related challenge is articulated and easily understood. | 10% |
| Proposal includes a clear and compelling description of how this digital tool would solve the identified challenge, support career development professionals, and advance practices in the career development sector. | 15% |
| Rollout plan for the proposed digital tool showcases the organization’s ability to project manage and ensure the uptake, impact and sustainability of a digital product. | 25% |
| Preliminary budget proposal showcases a commitment to adequately staffing participation in co-design and engagement throughout the lifecycle of the project, as well as to sustain rollout. | 25% |
| Designated staff with appropriate skills and experience have been identified as project leads. | 10% |
| Total score | 100% |
| Bonus: Demonstrated history of impact and innovation in the career development space. | Bonus |
| Bonus: Proposing to iterate on and/or improve an existing LMI tool that meets a need for career development professionals. | Bonus |
| Bonus: Demonstrated ability to assume responsibility for additional activities and accountabilities that are currently allocated to either LMIC, the technical development partner or the evaluation partner. | Bonus |
| Bonus: Demonstrated ability of organization to sustain digital tool beyond the scope of the project. | Bonus |
About the labour market information council (LMIC)
The Labour Market Information Council (LMIC) is an independent, non-profit organization endorsed by the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM). The LMIC Board is composed of senior government officials representing each province and territory, as well as Employment and Social Development Canada and Statistics Canada. LMIC works with these and other stakeholders to ensure all people living in Canada have public access to unbiased information they need to make informed decisions.
LMIC’s mandate is to improve the timeliness, reliability and accessibility of labour market information to facilitate decision-making by employers, workers, job seekers, academics, policy makers, educators, career professionals, students, parents and under-represented populations.
About our technical development partner(s)
Our technical development partner(s) will be one or more agencies that have been identified through a request for proposals (RFP) process. Potential technical partners will submit their proposals to develop digital tools and lead the co-design process with LMIC and our partner organizations. We will select our technical partners based on a set of rigorous criteria to ensure that they are a good fit for our collaboration.
About our evaluation partner
Our evaluation partner will be an organization that has been identified through a request for proposals (RFP) process. Potential evaluation partners will submit their proposals to evaluate (1) the outcomes of this overall initiative, and (2) the outcomes of individual digital tools. We will select our evaluation partner based on a set of rigorous criteria to ensure that they are a good fit for our collaboration.
Clarifying common words and acronyms
| Word or acronym | Definition |
| Capacity building / capacity development | The ability to improve an individual or organization’s facility to produce, perform or deploy. In the context of this project, it refers to building the skills and abilities of career development professionals to use LMI and an LMI-focused digital tool. |
| Career development professional | Career development professionals help individuals to manage learning and employment, acquire and enhance skills, seek and create employment, and access community services that support personal and professional growth in an increasingly complex, interdependent and changing world. |
| Career service organization | An organization that employs career development professionals or coordinates their work, efforts or skills development. |
| Co-design | Co-design is a process that is creative and participatory: it brings people who have subject matter expertise and lived experience together with technical developers, designers and implementers to create solutions. In the context of this project, it means bringing together four partner types (LMI, career service organization, technical and evaluation) to collaboratively design and implement a digital tool. |
| Development | The creation of digital tools and products such as apps, dashboards, websites and others. |
| Digital tool | Applications, programs, websites and mobile or online resources. |
| Digital solution | A digital tool that solves a particular challenge. |
| Expression of Interest (EOI) | An opportunity to present your organization’s interest in and ability to participate in a project. |
| Digital Tool Rollout Plan | A plan that outlines methods or techniques to enhance the adoption, rollout and sustainability of the digital tool within an organization, including defined goals, outcomes, evaluation, capacity development plan and a project management plan. |
| Labour Market Information (LMI) | LMI describes the type of information used to make informed decisions about the labour market. |
| Project Implementation Plan (PIP) | A detailed project plan that outlines timelines, goals, accountabilities and responsibilities, objectives and measures. |
| Prototype | A preliminary model of a digital tool to be used in user experience testing. |
| Rollout | Actively using the digital tool within an organization, with defined impact goals and outcomes. |
| Request for Proposals (RFP) | A project funding announcement posted by an organization for which companies can place bids to compete for a contract. |
| Sustainability Plan | A 5-year plan that demonstrates how the digital tool will continue to be supported from a staffing, financial and technical perspective, based on projections of future use. |
| Testing | Usability testing is a method of testing the functionality of a website, app or other digital product by observing real users as they attempt to use it. |
| Use case | A written description of how users will perform tasks with a digital tool and how they will resolve a challenge or problem with the tool. |
| User experience (UX) design | How a user interacts with and experiences a digital tool or service. It includes a person’s perceptions of utility, ease of use and efficiency. |
| User experience (UX) research | The systematic study of target users and their requirements, to add realistic context and insights to a design process. |
Apply to co-design with us
How to submit your proposal
To submit your proposal, complete the application form at https://h1l529nwvhy.typeform.com/to/Xeepmjb4 before 11:59PM ET on October 19, 2022.
If you have questions about this initiative, including your organization’s eligibility, the application process or other related matters please contact Anne Patterson, director of communications at LMIC, at anne.patterson@lmic-cimt.ca.