The YOS and COS Redesign Project is off and running!

The project officially started during the first part of December 2019 and the redesign team has made good progress in the last month. Here is an overview of the project and a quick update on the status of the work.

Project Objective

We have heard you loud and clear.

During November 2019, our project and change management partner, True Owl, conducted a sentiment survey on the current YOS and COS. Over 1,300 affiliate staff members responded to this survey, and the results are very clear. The current YOS and COS are too long and there are concerns that in some instances the questions being asked might not be appropriate for the Littles taking the surveys.

The objective of the current redesign project is to address the concerns you have raised about survey length and content while also striving to maintain the validity of the surveys. The goal is to create YOS and COS surveys that are easy to administer, reliable, valid, and appropriate for the Littles taking them.

Project Timeline and Network Input

The plan is to unveil the new YOS and COS at this year’s National Conference in June and have training and implementation complete by fall of this year.

Between now and the National Conference, the project team will be conducting two additional surveys to get your feedback and input on the design of the surveys. We will release the first of these surveys next week to obtain detailed input on what changes you would like to see made to the current YOS and COS. The project team will use this information to draft versions of the new surveys, which we plan to release to the network in March, along with the second network survey.  This second survey will give staff a chance to offer their input on what additional changes should be made. The information gathered from this survey will guide the final revision of the new surveys.

Project Leadership

This project is led by its Executive Project Sponsor, Mandy Bisceglia. Mandy currently serves as BBBSA’s Chief Agency Officer (CAO). Prior to her role as CAO, Mandy was the BBBSA Director of Affiliate Support. In her 15 years of service to BBBS, Mandy has held numerous affiliate program related positions, first at BBBS of the Capital Region and later at BBBS of Tampa Bay.

Dr. Jessica Mitchell is the project’s Lead Research Subject Matter Expert. In this role, Jessica will work beside Mandy to provide guidance on sound research and evaluation techniques and practices. Jessica currently serves as BBBSA’s Associate Director, Research and Evaluation.

Kevin Turgeon from True Owl is providing project and change management leadership for the project. Kevin previously served as the project and change manager for the Matchforce implementation project.

The YOS and COS redesign effort will be guided by a group of 12 affiliate staff members selected by each affinity group’s leadership.

Affiliate Task Force

An affiliate task force will guide all decisions regarding the design of the new YOS and COS.  The task force will consist of 12 staff members selected by each affinity group’s leadership team. The members of this task force will be announced within the next two weeks.

A New Year

It is a new year and a new start for the YOS and COS. We fully understand your concerns about the current YOS and COS, and we sincerely apologize for these tools not meeting your needs.

Here are our New Year’s resolutions to you:

• We will listen to you throughout the redesign process
• We will keep you updated fully on the project
• We will create a YOS and a COS that meets your needs

We look forward to working with you in 2020 to improve our data collection processes, of which the YOS and COS are integral tools.