The mission of connecting employers and job seekers may be getting a little easier for the Southcentral Kentucky Workforce Development Board and its partner agencies.

The workforce board voted Thursday to enter into a contract with the iDashboards software company to develop custom database software that is expected to allow the region’s agencies that deal with workforce issues to share common data.

Founded in 2003, Michigan-based iDashboards develops software programs that simplify the process of gathering and interpreting data used by businesses, government agencies and nonprofits.

Workforce Board President and CEO Robert Boone, who has been in that position since Aug. 1, presented the iDashboards contract to the board. The contract was approved unanimously.

The contract calls for an initial expenditure of $25,290 for iDashboards to develop the software that can be used by 15 different partners. The contract includes no license fee for the first two years, but each user will pay an annual fee of $450 after that.

Boone said the software is needed for the workforce board and partner agencies such as the Office for Employment and Training and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation to share common data.

“Right now, our partners don’t have a common database,” Boone said. “It’s hard to move people toward a common goal if we don’t have the data.

“This will help the whole partner system move toward the same goal of filling jobs. It will allow us to see progress and discover what’s working and what’s not working. We need good data in order to reach our goals.”

Lori Strumpf of Washington, D.C.-based Strumpf Associates, who has been helping the workforce board in its efforts to comply with the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, said the contract with iDashboards will help the board meet WIOA requirements.

“One of the things in our memorandum of agreement with our partner agencies is that we’re committed to sharing information and working together,” Strumpf said. “This will help us do that.”

Strumpf said whatever software iDashboards develops will be customized to meet the local workforce board’s needs.

“They don’t control the system,” she said. “They create a system and then train you on how to use it.”

Boone said the list of users of the system is still being developed but will include Goodwill Industries, Job Corps, Community Action of Southern Kentucky and ResCare Workforce Services.

“The goal is to have 15 partners,” he said. “We have 11 now. We’ll have partner meetings with iDashboards and they’ll build it for us.”

Also at Thursday’s meeting, Strumpf reported that the workforce board is now up to six partner affiliate sites, which are places that job seekers can go to learn about job openings and other workforce-related services. Sites are now available in Hart, Butler and Logan counties. The affiliate sites complement the work of the Kentucky Career Center on Bowling Green’s Chestnut Street.