The Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD), a multicollege district serving eight counties in east central Iowa, has developed a procedure for conducting labor market assessments to provide the data necessary for their long-range decision-making and strategic planning efforts. The major purpose of these assessments is to provide direction to the development and revision of competency-based vocational programs. Since the information obtained from the assessment is used in making programmatic as well as budgetary decisions, the assessment process was developed in such a way as to give faculty and administrators a sense of ownership of the process. All survey and assessment efforts are managed by the EICCD Office of Academic Affairs and Planning. To date, assessments have been conducted in 19 occupational/program areas. The following common core of information is collected in each occupational/program area assessed: demographics of local businesses and industries, current and projected local employment needs, entry-level job requirements, minimal educational levels required, current wage/salary for new employees, current employees' continuing education needs, and emerging trends in the specific occupational areas. Questions unique to each area assessed (as identified by the assessment task force) are also included in the individual assessments. (MN)