Methodology · 36C77626Q0191
How the five tasks connect into one pipeline.
VHA's scale — roughly 380,000 employees across three pay systems — means the work only holds together if the tasks share one data spine. Below: the task-by-task approach, the engagement sequence, and the dual-layer quality control that makes every number defensible.
Salary-Survey Identification & Purchasing
Identify and license the published compensation surveys that cover VHA's clinical, allied-health, and administrative occupations.
HSG Approach
We maintain active licenses across the healthcare survey market — SullivanCotter, MGMA, AMGA, ECRI, Mercer — plus the BLS OEWS public anchor required for nurse locality pay. Each occupation is matched to its most authoritative source.
Tour the Survey Source LibraryEmployee-Data & Survey-Findings Analysis
Match VHA occupations to survey benchmarks and compute competitive position by percentile.
HSG Approach
A confidence-scored crosswalk engine maps each VHA occupation to benchmark jobs, then computes P10–P90, compa-ratio, market index, and range penetration — surfacing exactly where VHA leads or lags the market.
Open the Benchmarking DashboardApplication of Geographic Differentials
Adjust market data to each facility's local labor market — the core of the §7451 Nurse Locality Pay System.
HSG Approach
We anchor every facility to BLS OEWS metro wage data and layer an ERI cost-of-labor model, producing per-facility geographic factors and the annual local labor-market survey each VAMC director must file.
Explore Geographic DifferentialsCloud-Based Database (4A–4I)
Provide the cloud platform that reformats, enters, analyzes, and reports the data end-to-end.
HSG Approach
Our cloud platform runs the full pipeline (4A–4I) — secure ingest, survey reformatting, job-match, percentile analysis, geographic differentials, catalog versioning, dashboards, and immutable audit lineage. This portal is a working demonstration of it.
Walk the Task 4 PipelineJob-Architecture Catalog Maintenance
Maintain a versioned catalog of VHA occupations, families, levels, and benchmark crosswalks.
HSG Approach
A governed, effective-dated catalog ties every occupation to its pay authority (Title 38 / Hybrid / Title 5), grade band, headcount, and benchmark source — with full change history the VA retains.
Browse the Job-Architecture CatalogEngagement Sequence
A twelve-week analytical cycle, refreshed on cadence.
Weeks 1–2 · Mobilize
Survey licensing & data intake
Confirm survey-license coverage, execute the VHA employee-data extract spec (Task 4B), and stand up the secure cloud tenancy.
Weeks 3–5 · Architect
Job-architecture catalog build
Map every occupation to pay authority, family, level, and benchmark source (Task 5). CJE sign-off on each crosswalk.
Weeks 5–8 · Analyze
Survey reformatting & benchmarking
Normalize survey files (4C), run the job-match engine (4D), and compute percentiles, compa-ratio, and market index (Task 2 / 4E).
Weeks 7–10 · Localize
Geographic differentials
Anchor each facility to BLS OEWS metro data, layer the ERI cost-of-labor model, and produce per-facility §7451 locality factors (Task 3 / 4F).
Weeks 9–12 · Report
Dashboards & survey packets
Publish facility/VISN dashboards (4H), generate the survey report packets, and lock the source-to-recommendation audit trail (4I).
Cadence illustrative. The §7451 nurse-locality cycle repeats annually per facility, with an off-cycle 30-day review triggered whenever BLS publishes new OEWS metro data.
Quality Control
Every number passes through two layers and one log.
AI-assisted first pass
Survey-to-occupation matches and percentile calculations are generated by the platform with a confidence score on every crosswalk.
Credentialed expert review
A Certified Job Evaluator reviews and signs off on every mapping and grade-band determination before it reaches the VA.
Immutable reconciliation log
Each AI-generated value and each human override is recorded in the AI/Expert Reconciliation Log — the auditable spine of Task 4I.