Development and upgrade services for the SILA employment intermediation and guidance system

Employment guidance and intermediation are two core aspects of the digital transformation process under way at the Andalusian Employment Service (SAE). The agency, which belongs to the Regional Government of Andalusia, has managed active employment policy in the region since the National Public Employment Service transferred this responsibility to it in 2001.

Its aim is to ensure jobseekers find employment that fits their skills and experience, as well as help companies find the staff they need. This means matching supply and demand, improving employability, and combating labour market slack by helping fill the almost 150,000 job vacancies in Spain.

The solution used by the Andalusian Employment Service to manage and allow jobseekers to search for vacancies is known as SILA. This replaced the previous system known as Hermes, developed by Ayesa.

SILA provides users with up-to-date information on job openings, including the details, requirements and conditions of each position. It also offers employment guidance and resources to help jobseekers increase their employability.

Since its inception, the Andalusian Employment Service has entrusted Ayesa to develop and upgrade its intermediation solutions. This latest project has seen the company provide technological and functional upgrade services for SILA, as part of a joint venture alongside Babel.

Ayesa and Babel have been responsible for restructuring the services and applications of the Andalusian Employment Service in order to ensure their full integration. This has involved providing functional and technological upgrade services for SILA, the aim being to improve employment intermediation in Andalusia, increase the employability of jobseekers and allow companies in the region to fill their vacancies.

Throughout the process, the integrity of data has been preserved and the solution is now capable of accessing information in real time from the Public Employment Services Information System (SISPE) as well as other applications used by the Andalusian Employment Service.

The contract has seen Ayesa provide software development services to modernise the way the Andalusian Employment Service functions; 24/7 assistance for issues relating to the information systems; and operational and support services for the agency’s IT team.

The project has brought with it a number of clear benefits. These include making the agency’s operations more efficient, thereby increasing the quality of its services; improving the employability of jobseekers in the region; helping companies fill vacancies; and allowing members of the public to easily access financial assistance and services offered by the Andalusian Employment Service.

The system is now used by almost 700,000 jobseekers in Andalusia, as well as by those looking to further their skills. This is in addition to companies throughout the region, which benefit from its intermediation and guidance services, as well as staff at the agency, whose work has been made more efficient.

Ultimately, the upgrade has improved public perception of the services and applications offered by the Andalusian Employment Service, in addition to increasing satisfaction among its employees.

• Frameworks: Angular 16, Java Server Pages and Spring Boot
• Programming languages: Java 1.8 and TypeScript
• Servers: Apache and WebLogic 12.2
• Build tool: Maven
• Databases: Oracle 19c
• Integrations: Keycloak 21 single sign on solution, as well as ELK for trace and data analysis and search
• Continuous deployment: Jenkins
• Quality assurance: SonarQube
• Reports: JasperReports Library
• Automated testing: JUnit (unit tests) and Cypress (Angular)