We prepare affirmative action plans on either a flat-fee or as-worked basis using the same attention to detail that the OFCCP will use in evaluating contractor data.

An affirmative action plan has two major components to it: data analyses and narratives. The data analyses look back at the past 12 months' data, and the narratives look forward. The narratives address what the employer needs to do going forward based on what the employer observed about itself in its analysis of the data from the end of the prior year.

Thus, the process is iterative. We begin our process by supplying our clients with an Excel workbook that helps to guide the client in extracting data from its HRIS or payroll system and applicant tracking system. Loosely described, we expect a snapshot of the beginning of the year population, an end of the year population, hire, applicant, promotion, and termination data.

Upon receipt, our analysts put that data through its paces, cross-checking it for internal reliability and consistency, and an attorney or law clerk reviews those cross-checks before returning them to the client. Once the client responds to all cross checks, our analysts integrate the responses. Under attorney supervision and in partnership with our client's direction, our analysts develop job groups, assign census codes, set feeder pools, map the job group structure to all of the transaction data (applicants, hires, promotions and terminations), and then run the required analyses:

• Workforce Analysis
• Job Group Analysis
• Incumbency versus Availability Analysis (Utilization Analysis/Goals)
• Two Factor Analysis
• External Availability Analysis
• Internal Availability Analysis
• Veteran Hiring Benchmark
• Disability Utilization Goals

In addition, as attorneys we are able to provide advice and counsel to our AAP clients about the meaning and interpretation of hire, promotion, and termination impact ratio analyses under the protection of attorney-client privilege. An impact ratio analysis is an examination of the rate at which men are hired compared to women, and the rate at which each race is being selected compared to the most-favored race. When those rates are statistically significantly different from each other, additional data gathering or legal direction may be necessary.

Finally, we evaluate compensation and also will provide advice and counsel to our AAP clients about issues that may need to be researched or discussed, under the protection of attorney-client privilege. (Please visit our separate website section if you are interested in learning more about our capacity to evaluate pay equity using more sophisticated mathematical analysis).

Once all these analyses are ready in draft, we supply our client with PDFs of the analyses and draft narratives and set a time to review them by telephone or web meeting. The ball then passes to the client to examine the draft analyses, and gather information that we will weave into the narratives and narrative addendums about outreach, action-oriented programs designed to address any problem areas, examples in support of internal audit and reporting, and other regulatory requirements. Once we receive client approval on the data and have integrated all the changes to the template narratives, we supply final AAPs to the client via secure upload through Box, or any other secure mechanism set up by our clients. For those companies that want physical loose-leaf binders, we can supply those, as well.

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