VELA adds an observability layer to Registered Apprenticeship operations by capturing in-the-moment OJT activity, normalizing it to competencies, and attaching supervisor verification—so sponsors and state partners can monitor progress and compliance as it happens, not after the fact.
One system of record. Real-time visibility. Audit-grade evidence.
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The challenge
Most apprenticeship systems are built for retrospective reporting:
- Logs entered days or weeks later
- Hours summarized without clear skill evidence
- Inconsistent labeling across occupations, sites, and employers
- Problems discovered at quarterly reviews—when it's too late to intervene cheaply
That creates a predictable failure mode: programs drift quietly (low engagement, weak supervision, stalled competencies) until the data finally surfaces.
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The solution
VELA instruments apprenticeship like a production system:
Real-time OJT capture at the edge
Apprentices log work in the moment (voice/mobile) to produce time-stamped, event-level evidence.
Structured evidence objects
Each entry is converted into a machine-readable record that supports:
- Work performed (what happened, when, how long)
- Competency demonstrated (mapped to a standardized ID)
- Verification (supervisor approval + timestamps)
Normalized labels across programs
A shared taxonomy enables cross-site and cross-occupation comparability, reducing reporting drift and misclassification.
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Why observability changes outcomes
Observability shifts apprenticeship management from "reporting" to "control":
Leading indicators instead of lagging indicators
Sponsors can see early signals such as:
- logging frequency drop-off
- approval bottlenecks
- stalled competency progression
- site-level or supervisor-level training yield
Faster intervention loops
When a cohort stalls, teams can act immediately:
- coaching outreach
- supervisor enablement
- sponsor corrective actions
- targeted support by work process area
Higher-trust compliance
Audit readiness becomes a byproduct of daily operations:
- timestamped records
- supervisor validation chain
- competency traceability aligned to work process schedules
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Results to highlight (the metrics that matter)
Use trendlines and distributions, not just totals.
Timeliness
- Work performed → log submitted (median)
- Log submitted → supervisor approval (median)
Coverage
- % of records with narrative/transcript
- % of records mapped to competencies
- % apprentices logging weekly (or per pay period)
Quality / trust
- Approval rate
- Reject/edit rate
- Missing-field rate
Progress
- Competency velocity (competencies per month)
- Stall rate (no logs for X days)
- Time-to-first-log / time-to-first-approval
Governance
- Cross-site comparability (normalized label coverage)
- Audit pack completeness
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Architecture that scales across programs
VELA provides a consistent pipeline that works across occupations and employers:
Capture → Normalize → Verify → Observe → Export
- Capture: voice/mobile OJT events
- Normalize: map to canonical competencies/work processes
- Verify: supervisor approval with identity + timestamps
- Observe: leading indicators and anomaly detection
- Export: state/federal-ready reporting extracts (PIRL-aligned outputs where applicable)
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What this enables for stakeholders
Sponsors and intermediaries
- Fewer silent failures
- Reduced administrative burden
- Cleaner audits and faster reviews
- Comparable performance across sites
State ATOs and governance bodies
- Near real-time compliance monitoring
- Early warning on failing sponsors or occupations
- System-wide analytics without manual reconciliation
WIOA performance accountability
- Stronger evidence for measurable progress (competency progression)
- Improved data quality and validation integrity
- Better readiness for downstream outcomes linkage (employment/earnings via admin data)
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Bottom line
Observability is the missing dimension in apprenticeship operations.
VELA turns OJT into a continuous, verifiable evidence stream—so apprenticeship programs become measurable, manageable, and governable at scale.