Policy Chapters and Sections

Career Planning and Customer-Centered Service Delivery (CCSD) Principles

Chapter: 4 Section: 2
Effective Date: 10/27/2026
Expiration Date: Continuing
Published Date: 10/28/2026 10:10:00 AM
Status: Current
Version: 15

Tags: Adult, Youth, One-Stop, Dislocated Worker

  1. A Customer-Centered Service Delivery (CCSD) model is not a single action. It is a set of interconnected principles that shape how the workforce system respectfully engages with and serves people throughout their journey. CCSD is designed to strengthen overall service quality and responsiveness, promote positive customer outcomes, and support Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) performance measures. A customer‑centered approach does not make performance harder to achieve; it makes strong outcomes more likely by aligning services with each customer’s goals, needs, and strengths. Illinois’ CCSD model is guided by the following principles:
    1. Individualized Services: Ensuring tailored support that reflects each customer's unique situation, goals, strengths, and needs;
    2. Respect & Dignity: Demonstrating empathy, understanding, and genuine appreciation for each customer's perspective and lived experience;
    3. Empowerment & Choice: Supporting customers in making informed decisions about their own goals, pathways, services, and next steps;
    4. Collaboration & Partnership: Working with customers as partners;
    5. Strengths-Based Approach: Building on what customers already have—assets, skills, interests, and prior experience — rather than focusing only on deficits;
    6. Holistic Support: Addressing employment, education, and supportive services together so challenges don't stand in the way of progress; and
    7. Continuous Improvement: Actively seeking and using customer feedback to make services better over time.
  2. Local Workforce Innovation Boards (LWIBs) must ensure that local policies, procedures, and practices support statewide consistency and do not create unnecessary barriers to WIOA services.  At a minimum, local policies, procedures, and practices must:
    1. Provide “No Wrong Door” access so customers can enter the workforce system virtually, in person, through an American Job Center (AJC), or through a partner agency and still be connected to appropriate services;
    2. Remove unnecessary customer-facing steps, duplicative forms, repeated workshops or orientations and delays before eligibility determination or service delivery;
    3. Allow customers to request assistance at any point in the intake, application, assessment, career planning, service delivery, transition, or follow-up process;
    4. Use IWDS 2.0 as the statewide system of record for required WIOA Title I documentation, services, referrals, outcomes, case notes, and follow-up;
    5. Protect personally identifiable information (PII) by utilizing appropriate information security and privacy measures;
    6. Ensure meaningful access for customers with disabilities, customers with limited English proficiency, customers with low literacy, customers who need assistive technology, and customers accessing services virtually or in person;
    7. Inform customers of available accommodations and language assistance at the earliest point of contact and throughout participation;
    8. Use professional judgment to tailor services while documenting how service decisions align with customer goals, assessments, eligibility, and the Universal Career Plan (UCP); and
    9. Prevent service classification, referral, enrollment, or exit practices that manipulate performance results or selectively limit services to customers perceived as easier to serve.
  3. LWIBs retain authority to establish local funding priorities, supportive service policies, internal review procedures (i.e., oversight, quality assurance, and compliance processes used to evaluate local WIOA program operations), and priority populations consistent with federal and state requirements. However, local policies may not restrict customer choice, require local residency or employment as a condition of access, or impose additional customer-facing intake requirements.
  4. To support LWIBs in providing standardized and consistent customer-centered service delivery, the Office of Employment and Training (OET) has developed the Illinois Workforce Development System (IWDS 2.0) case management system, which does the following:
    1. Incorporates a seamless intake process that allows customers to access self-service and complete pre-screening if they are interested in WIOA services. This process contains “off-ramps” in every phase to allow customers to contact local American Job Centers (AJC) staff for assistance;
    2. Equips Career Planners with tools to efficiently document, plan, and coordinate services, reducing administrative burden and supporting better decision-making; and
    3. Includes a Career Planner Homepage designed to help manage caseloads efficiently. The home page provides a centralized view of assigned cases and generates automated notifications to alert Career Planners of activities and deadlines approaching.
  5. Illinois utilizes a customer journey framework to support customers from initial contact through follow-up.
    1.  The framework consists of the following phases:
      1. Phase 0 – Universal Access and Basic Career Services
      2. Phase 1 – Intake and Initial Engagement
      3. Phase 2 – Eligibility Determination and Certification
      4. Phase 3 – Assessment
      5. Phase 4 – Universal Career Planning
      6. Phase 5 – Service Delivery and Monitoring
      7. Phase 6 – Transition/Exit
      8. Phase 7 – Follow-Up
    2. Each phase is designed to promote customer engagement, informed decision-making, timely service delivery, accurate documentation, and successful outcomes.
    3. The Phases of the Customer Journey document outlines the phases, their purpose, the action needed by staff, and the customer’s status (see the Attachments tab).
  6. This policy contains the following sections:
    1. Universal Access and Basic Career Services; Section 4.2.1
    2. Intake and Initial Engagement; Section 4.2.2
    3. Eligibility Determination and Certification; Section 4.2.3
    4. Assessment; Section 4.2.4
    5. Universal Career Planning; Section 4.2.5
    6. Service Delivery and Monitoring; Section 4.2.6
    7. Recording Outcomes and Transition; Section 4.2.7
    8. Follow-Up; Section 4.2.8
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