read a case study and answers the following questions:

How did the City of Virginia Beach use technology to assist in workforce planning?

How did the City of Virginia Beach achieve the support of the municipal government for the program?

Do you believe there were different issues in terms of gaining proper support of the middle managers?

Do you believe the WordPad information could be used to support other managerial decision-making? If so, how?

What recommendations would you make for other organizations considering the use of the WordPad technology?

Case Study: The City of Virginia Beach's Tool for Planning Innovative Workforce Kris Miracle No longer just a seaside resort, Virginia Beach has grown into a thriving, vibrant community supported not just by the local military and government but also by industry and retail development. Truly a "Community for a Lifetime," Virginia Beach was rated by USA Weekend Magazine in 2003 as the best place to live in America. The city offers its citizens opportunities in education, entertainment, shop- ping and outdoor recreation. The municipal government bas about 6,000 employ ees who provide support to nearly half a million residents. The Human Resources Department, with about 45 employees, includes the divisions of Staffing and Compensation, Employee Relations, Occupational Health, Safety, Training, and Administration. Human Resources is currently pioneering a workforce development initiative to help the city counter challenging demographic and technological changes that face the country's government and private sector employees alike. The City of Virginia Beach's Human Resources and Communications and Information Technology Departments collaborated to develop Workforce Planning and Development (WorkPAD) software. WorkPAD, winner of the 2003 E-Town State and Local Government Award for government agency best practices in E-Town, enables planners to pull data from the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) database, the Virginia Retirement System, and numerous other resources to enhance workforce planning efforts. Managers can query this system to produce reports detailing projected retirement statistics, workforce demographics, vacancy reports, and much more. This innovative software also features an online KSA and Competency Assessment piece that enables employees and supervisors to tailor career development paths. To introduce this innovative tool to the city's leadership, Human Resources realized that an effective communications strategy could make or break their Workforce Planning and Development initiative. R apidly evolving technology, dramatically shifting workforce demographics, ever-increasing globalization, and a maturing workforce have combined to challenge human resource professionals of the 21st century. Government agencies large and small have begun to analyze their workforces carefully to consider how best to prepare their workers to meet tomorrow's challenges. In the City of Virginia Beach, the Department of Human Resources has identified that 1,035 city